Today’s Byte is pretty specific but I hope a few folks will it useful. For a more general tip…After my last Byte John in Hibbing had a good suggestion for a fax to email tool: Faxaway: http://www.faxaway.com/
A couple of people lately have asked me about policies for online forums. You want the flexibility to allow for free flow of conversation but you also want to ensure productive and respectful exchanges. I looked at a bunch of policies over the weekend and found that they usually hit on the following key topics.
Respect and tone
Set the tone. Is this a family-friendly list? Does the list focus on a singular topic or is it designed for a particular group? Spell out such expectations.
Inappropriate material
No copyright material
Don’t post private emails
Nothing you wouldn’t want your grandma to see
Nothing abusive, especially to other list members
Tech details
Do you need to be over 18?
Is there a limit to the number of posts in a day?
Do you allow attachments?
Spam and ads
Does the post genuinely add value to the conversation or is it an ad?
Moderation and consequences
Having a moderation plan in place before you need it will make life easier if you need to enforce it
I have been moderating email and web-based lists for more than 10 years. I find that most people are happy to comply with policies. A few folks will accidentally break the rules – usually by posting too often or posting to the list when they intended to post a private email – leading to their own embarrassment more than anything else. There are a few spammers out there who you can usually catch immediately and ban. Their spam talks about medical cures or hot dates. There are a few cantankerous people who stay on topic and are borderline abusive or too focused on their opinions, which often only related tangentially to the list. They are the reason that it’s good to have moderation policies in place.
Sorry I’ve been terrible about the Byte of the Week lately. I’m back in Ireland – but only for 6 weeks. You can see what we’re doing here: http://10qs.wordpress.com/
Sticking with the Twitter theme I started a while ago I wanted to end by talking about how you can add your Twitter feed to your blog. Next week I promise to not be so geeky.
In the latest version of WordPress, you simply need to add the “Twitter” widget. Then add your username to the widget and you should be set up.
For older versions of WordPress..
Go to your Twitter Account:
http://twitter.com/AnnT – the address will look something like this except with your name, not mine. You can get to it by going to www.twitter.com and clicking on your picture (assuming you have a Twitter account).
Click on the “RSS feed of ___’s updates” link. Copy the address of that page.
Go to your blog.
Click on Presentation.
Click on Widgets.
Drag an RSS box into the sidebar.
Double click on the box and add enter in the address of the RSS feed (as found above.)
For Blogger
Go to settings, click on Layout
Add a Gadget
Choose Feed – and again enter the RSS feed address as found above.
So you sign up for the service. Then you use their search to find products and you collect credit that you can turn into money. The credit range seems to vary from 2-30 percent, depending on the product and vendors I imagine. You can’t get the credit for 60 days, which makes sense and covers them from people buying and returning stuff.
I don’t buy a lot online so I don’t know if I’m going to get much of a chance to test it out. I know that Microsoft’s search engine has not achieved the market share it wanted and having purchased ads on it, I can tell you it didn’t have great appeal to advertisers. So something had to happen.
Maybe this will take off, maybe not – but there you go if you buy a lot online, here’s a chance to make/save some money.
OK I have a little time today and I’m back trying 23 Things on a Stick. Thing 7 is communication tools. There is a list of communication tools to try, videos to watch and articles to read. Then the assignment is to talk about how we use those tools in the library, so I’m going to improvise a bit.
Email: I live and die by email. If you want to reach me, email me. That is especially true now that I am in Dublin and most of my clients are still in Minnesota. I love it because, its quick, I can address it in my own time, and I have a record of all correspondence – which helps when I get forgetful.
Instant Messaging (IM): I have used IM for more than a year. I think it can be really useful when you are collaborating with someone but I find the problem is that it requires real time attention. I don’t always want to drop what I’m doing to answer an IM.
Text Messaging (SMS): I have to admit that I’ve become more of a texter since I’ve been in Dublin. It is more popular here than back home because it is ridiculously expensive to a make a cell phone (mobile) call here. It is a quick and easy way to convey info. I envision a lifetime of “Sorry. I’m l8” texts in my future as my kids get older.
Web Conferencing: I have presented at a few web conferences and attended even more. I prefer the conference tools that allow you to archive the presentation so that you can watch in your own time. That being said web conferencing can be a great way to offer training to a group that is geographically dispersed. If you haven’t ever attended a web conference, you can check out OPAL (http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm), a great tool for web conferencing. (You can also find a conference to attend from that page.)
Below are a few quick instructional videos for folks who are looking to post article to the Blandin on Broadband (Bob) blog. The information is general enough to applicable to any WordPress blog.
Each BoB author will receive an email from WordPress inviting them to become a member and become an author. To sign up with WordPress, please follow the instructions in that email. You will not need to set up a blog; you will only need a username. (WordPress will ask.)
The following videos will (hopefully) help you:
Set Up Your Profile Name (so that you can sign your posts)
search engine Google and you’ll see what I mean. Google sells ads on the right hand side of the page and above the “regular” search results; they are labeled as sponsorships or paid ads. These spaces aren’t always taken, but they are available to the highest bidder. Today we’re going to talk about how keyword ads work from the buyer perspective. There are two main vendors for search engine keyword ads: Google and Overture, who sells space for a consortium of search engines such as MSN, Yahoo and others. (They are like the Coke and Pepsi of the soda world, and like the soda world there are some fine Fresca options too, but today we’ll keep conversation to the biggies.)
Google and Overture sell keyword ads. These are text-only ads that appear when a searcher types in the keyword terms you (the buyer) have selected. There is no charge to appear (that appearance is called an impression); you are only charged when a searcher clicks on your ad to go to your site.
There is no set price for a keyword ad. You determine how much you will pay for each click and you bid against others who want the same terms. The cheapest bid you can place is $.10; the price takes off from there. (For example I know that the term “laser etching” goes for more than $3.00 per click.) The more competitive the industry is, the more expensive the top ranking is. While, Google and Overture make it fairly easy for their buyers to determine the going rate for a keyword term, it’s not always as easy for others to find it.
There is an expectation that you (the ad buyer) will spend a certain limit each month. Google has a set amount they will charge you per month regardless of clicks; Overture will ask that your ad receive a certain percentage of clicks per impressions or they will pull your individual ads. Both services seem to be OK if you spend at least $20 per month. Each service allows you to pre-pay or be billed for the service. And each is pretty good at letting you pre-determine limits, either by day or month. Once your limit is reached, your ad will no longer be shown for that day or month.
I think the heat is getting to the computers – everyone I know seems to be experiencing some kind of computer problem. So it seems like a good time to talk about fixing and avoiding problems.
Step One: cure the problems by avoiding them at the onset. You can help do that with a virus checker. There are two main competitors and I have been happy with each at different times: Norton and McAfee. Neither is free – but both are worth the time and money.
Step Two: update your virus definitions. How you do this will depend on your Internet connection and your virus checker – but without updating the definitions you will not stop more recent viruses. Read through the web site of your selected virus checker for the specifics. (Often you can have them automatically update on an ongoing or scheduled basis.)
Step Three: when you run into an error statement try to find a fix by performing a key word search using the error statement on Microsoft’s Support Page. Their knowledge database is huge – I am almost always successful here – and the fixes are generally fairly easy to understand. I’m not a Mac user so I can’t attest to the Mac Support Page but I bet it’s good too.
Step Four: just in case you run into troubles – backup your files. If you can burn a CD – then save it all to CD. If you can’t or if you want a backup of your backup, consider an online resource such as @Backup, where you can save your files online.
