Welcome to the Blogging with WordPress Participants

Hi all!

Welcome to the blog I use when I’m teaching blogging and Web 2.0 to SEMLS members. This is the first time I am offering the Blogging with WordPress class online (I have done a similar face-to-face class several times), but this class was one of the pieces of the Learning 2.0 class I have offered twice over the past year.

I will offer a story of my first experience with the Internet, which I must say was a negative experience. I first used the Internet in my pre-librarian life when I worked as a newspaper reporter on Cape Cod. The newspaper eventually set up a computer that had a dial-up connection to the Internet. We all circled around the computer for a couple of days before really trying to do anything on it. One day, one of my colleagues was writing an article where he thought it would be useful to incorporate some information on the history of household tools. So we logged on to the Internet and typed tools into the Yahoo search box (Yahoo being the search tool of choice at that time.) It was a very frustrating experience as almost every hit was related to technology tools, not the standard household tool.

What a long way we’ve come since then! But I always try to remember this experience because I know our less-savvy users are still encountering similar experiences when they are trying to find information. I am always on the lookout for tools that will make that experience easier for them.

I hope you enjoy the class. I’ve been taking a look at your blogs and am very excited about the work you are doing!