Blogs are online journals that allow users to easily publish content on the web. A blog can cover any topic and typically displays posts in reverse chronological order. Key features of blogs include comments, feeds to subscribe to updates, and categories to organize posts. In Sri Lanka, blogs are used by journalists, students, researchers, and activists to discuss topics like politics, news, and innovation. Creating a blog involves signing up for a hosting platform and learning basic publishing skills. RSS feeds allow users to subscribe to blogs and have new content delivered without visiting websites individually. When blogging, people should take precautions like avoiding real names on sensitive topics.

1. Blogs and blogging
Sanjana Hattotuwa
TED Fellow
Founding Editor, Groundviews, www.groundviews.org

2. topics covered
• What is a blog?
• How are blogs used?
• Understanding the anatomy of a blog
• Starting your own blog
• Finding and reading other blogs
• Other resources

3. a blog is...
• Shortened form of the phrase “Web log”
• Like a diary or journal in the physical world, hosted on the web
• A website that can be easily updated by posting short items, with little or no
knowledge of programming.
• Blogs are often ordered by date and topic, with newest items at the top.
• Entries are often archived
• Can be on any topic, and feature written, video, audio and photographic content

4. a blog is...

5. a blog is...

6. a blog is...

7. a blog is...

8. blogs embrace

9. e.g. politics

10. e.g. politics

11. e.g. individual opinion

12. e.g. individual opinion

13. e.g. individual opinion

14. e.g. individual opinion

15. e.g. news

16. e.g. governance

17. e.g. innovation

18. e.g. activist

19. e.g. activist

20. what makes a blog, a blog?

21. some typical features
• Comments on posts (you can post responses to the blog)
• Feeds (others can subscribe to your blog and read it at leisure)
• Trackbacks (a way through which you are alerted when others link to your posts)
• Categories
• Site search
• Archives
• Blogroll (a list of other blogs you find interesting or deal with similar issues)

22. anatomy of a post (published)

23. anatomy of a post (backend)

24. who blogs in sri lanka?

25. who blogs in sri lanka?

26. who blogs in sri lanka?

27. who blogs in sri lanka?
• Across Sri Lanka, largely from urban centres / cities
• MSM journalists
• Youth, including from diaspora and university students
• Young researchers & thinkers
• Still more men than women
• Still more content in English, but Tamil and Sinhala content growing apace

28. creating your blog

29. creating your blog

30. reading blogs (rss)
• Really Simple Syndication – A lightweight format for distributing news headlines and
other content on the Web.
• It is an alternative means of accessing the vast amount of information that now exists
on the world wide web. Instead of the user browsing websites for information of
interest, the information is sent directly to the user.

31. what is an rss reader?
• Allows you to subscribe to blog updates from a single page
• Like a newspaper subscription - brings in new blog content to your PC without you
having to visit lots of blogs individually
• Pull in content, as opposed to go out and search for content
• Thin and light, as opposed to the page load times of websites
• Plethora of online and offline readers, including versions for smartphones

32. google rss reader

33. blog safely
• Guides for blogging on sensitive issues are available on the Internet
• Be careful when blogging about sensitive issues
• NEVER use your real name if you suspect the content you post will increase your risk
• Governments have been known to imprison bloggers or subject them to harassment
(such as in China)
• Make sure your blog is correctly set up to support the issues you want to write
about

34. blog safely

35. blog safely

36. Thank you
sanjanah@gmail.com