Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Workshop Overview

• Welcome and Introductions

• Introduction to the UNSW Blogs Platform

• Wordpress Basics

• UNSW Blogs Terms of Use & Publishing Policies

• Plugins – Bells and Whistles (Additional Features!)

• Help and Resources

• Questions and General Discussion

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Intro to the

UNSW Blogs Platform

– Open Source blogging platform used

– Wordpress is used to enable a wide range of blogging spaces including Wordpress.com, UMW Blogs (University of Mary Washington Blogs), TAFENSW – Sydney Institute Blogs, Edublogs

Powered by the Wordpress Multi-User Platform

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Wordpress Basics

• WordPressMU is an open source blog publishing / content management application

• Allows for publication of multiple blogs on one platform and is extremely customisable

• Includes the ability to develop Custom Themes (templates) and installation of plugins and widgets to ensure flexibility

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

UNSW Blogs Terms of Use & Publishing

Policies• The Terms of Use and Guidelines Publishing on the

UNSW Blogs platform are currently under development

• The Terms of Use and Guidelines should allow for flexibility and sharing, as well as ensuring that relevant university polices are met.

• Consideration should be given to policies for both professional and personal use of online tools such as blog, wikis and social software

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Existing Policies to Consider

• TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute’s Terms of Use and Guidelines for the myLearning Platform (Wikis and blogs) See: http://termsofuse.sydneyinstitute.wikispaces.net/

• BBC Guidelines for Online PublishingSee: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/

• BBC Guidelines for Personal Use of Online and Social Media SitesSee:http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/personalweb/index.shtml

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute Guidelines

See: http://termsofuse.sydneyinstitute.wikispaces.net/

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

UNSW Blog Themes

• A small collection of UNSW Blog Themes have been developed and more are on the way!

• Themes have been designed to meet UNSW Branding obligations, but still allow for a level of user customisation and personalisation

• Themes are designed for use with a wide range of plugins, plus ‘widgetised’ to allow for extensive sidebar and content customisation.

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Themes: Course Blog Theme

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Themes: UNSW Blogs - Simple

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

PLUGINS!• In general, most standard

Wordpress Plugins work with WPMU, however there are some exceptions.

• Some standard Wordpress plugins require extra customisation to work on the WPMU platform securely.

• Plugins can be activated and deactivated on a per-blog basis.

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Plugins: Podcasting and Vodcasting

• UNSW Blogs allows for podcasting and vodcasting using the Blubrry PowerPress Plugin

• Blubrry is a 3rd party plugin and is used on the Blubrry Social Network which has a focus on podcasting. It enables users to:

– Easily add/modify/remove podcast episodes from blog posts and pages – Integrated audio/video media player – Podcast Only Feed and integrated feeds– iTunes RSS tags – Enhanced iTunes summaries from blog posts option – iTunes album/cover art – Ping iTunes – Media size detection – Duration detection (mp3 only)

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Blubrry Podcasting/Vodcasting Interface

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Embedding Multimedia

• Wordpress MU allow for the embedding of various multimedia and web 2.0 resources including sites like Youtube, Flickr and Slideshare.net

• Various Plugins have been installed to enhance this feature, allowing for seamless integration of content and ‘mashups’!

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Sidebars and Widgets!

• Wordpress allows for customisation of blog sidebars via Widgets.

• A wide range of widgets have been installed on the UNSW Blogs Platform, including tools to embed multimedia, web 2.0 tools and various additional features.

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Questions and Discussion!

Note: We will publish these slides on the TELT Blog shortly and encourage you to continue the discussion online!

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

USEFUL LINKS

• UNSW Blogs: http://blogs.unsw.edu.au• TELT WIKI – Blogging Resources:• Wordpress MU: http://mu.wordpress.org• Jo Kay’s Website: http://jokay.com.au

Workshop for UNSW Staff with Jo Kay, May 2009

Contact Jo!Jo Kay, Freelance Virtual Worlds, Web Design, eLearning & Facilitation

– Blog: http://jokay.com.au– Wiki: http://jokay.wikispaces.com– Portfolio Site: http://jaspercat.net – Email: joannamkay@gmail.com– Twitter: http://twitter.com/jokay – Islands of jokaydia: http://jokaydia.com – Mob: 0405179622