Having already created a departmental blog and a personal blog, I created a new blog at Blogger for this "Scrapbook". I also tried creating an internet binder at http://livebinders.com/; however, found it a little unwieldy. Livebinder seems more a site for someone who can plan out their content; a blog allows one to be more spontaneous.
It is incredibly easy to create a new blog at this site. If one has a Google account, they only need to login with their Google user id; if one does not have a Google account, they can create one within a few minutes. Having previously setup a blog in Blogger and also in Wordpress, I knew more or less what to expect. Blogger's setup has changed since I originally created a new blog, so there was a little bit of a learning curve.
When one creates the blog, Blogger automatically goes into a design phase where one can select the basic design for the blog, the images that will be used in the header, the layout of the page, and additional gadgets that the user may want to include on the page. The design phase has many more options than it did before. The one feature that has not changed in Blogger is that it is not always easy to navigate the various design/layout pages or to get back to the same design page twice. In some ways it operates like a poorly designed web site, certain paths lead to dead ends and the only way out seems to be to log out and log back in. However, Blogger also provides an easy interface where one can write their thoughts, embed video, pictures, etc.
Other than for a scrapbook, a blog can be used to communicate information about new products, post PowerPoints and Reference Notes for previously given presentations; embed interesting educational You Tube videos dealing with topics that could be of interest to the faculty that I support; and connect to my Twitter account. The advantage that a blog has over a forum site within Blackboard, for example, is that faculty can subscribe to the blog via RSS and do not need to login to get information; instead the information can be pushed out to them.
A blog can be a communication tool through the comments area. Individuals can comment on a posting, receive a response to a comment, etc.
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