In a couple of other articles this week I've referred to the University of Warwick's BlogBuilder system as a first rate example of how one institution makes potentially powerful eTools available to staff and students. I thought it might be helpful to show a few of the features of BlogBuilder from which we can all learn. This article is only possible due to the generous assistance of Warwick's John Dale.
Shown below is a pretty standard blog automatically generated by Warwick's systems. So far so normal. But readers of my previous article will recognize the importance of automating the blog creation process once tools like this become enterprise wide. So Warwick has adopted a solution similar to that of the 'commercial' blog hosters like Blogger.com et al.
Having clicked on the article's 'Edit' control I'm presented with the interface shown below. The key features of the edit interface include the all important 'Who can view this entry' menu. The ability of the author to restrict or open up their posting to a variable range of readers is a real 'killer' feature. Other notable aspects of the edit interface include: the provision for users to specify their own categories for blog postings as well as select from preset categories, e.g. General, Personal Development Planning (PDP); or the easy formatting controls which removes the need for the user to remember html tags for, say, lists.
Show below is the blog owner's administration interface which provides them with a degree of customization options. To me, the most important feature of this interface is the People section which allows the user to specify new groups of potential readers or article commentators as well a designate administrators, moderators, and other authors. What a potentially powerful tool for collaborative work this could become! You get a sense of the blog owner always having control. Nevetheless, I assume that the BlogBuilder system has the capability of imposing administrators and moderators should this be desired/required.
Online Help information is always context appropriate. Shown below is the guidance for adding a new user to a blog owner's group.
The potential application of tools such as BlogBuilder to Personal Development Planning (PDP) must be considerable. A fact obviously recognized by the Warwick eLab team because they've built it in as a preset category. It will be interesting to hear the feedback on this front later in the academic year (the first cohorts will be exposed to BlogBuilder in the next few weeks).
BlogBuilder is an excellent piece of work by the eLab team at the University of Warwick. The only pity is its tight coupling to the underlying technical infrastructure. Nevertheless, it has been inspiring to view something as well designed as this.
It would be good to think that the Further and Higher Education community could have access to tools like BlogBuilder either through some open source initiative or, alternatively, as a JISC supported service. Of course, if the latter, the thorny questions of authentication and authorization immediately raise their ugly heads but perhaps the Shibboleth Project has something to contribute here.
