#4 - Commenting is important

The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs according to this article in Wikipedia. A blog is a vehicle for a group of people with common interests to communicate, share, and learn in spite of barriers of time and distance.

Discovery Resources

How to comment like a king (or queen!) - from The Coolcat Teacher Blog

Your comments? - from The Blue Skunk Blog

Edublogger Etiquette - Responding to Comments - from Drapes Takes blog

The 10 commandments of blog commenting - from Brown Thoughts blog

10 techniques to get more comments on your blog - from ProBlogger

Commenting using an alias vs. your real name - from Blogging Basics 101


Discovery Exercise:

1. Read 2-3 of the blog posts above about the importance of commenting.

2. Since commenting has been described as essential for building a blog's community and interaction, we want you to have the opportunity to comment on your colleagues' blogs. Choose at least five (5) of your Learning 2.0 - 23 Things colleagues' blogs (found in the sidebar) to read and comment on throughout this course.

3. In Things 10 and 11, you will learn how to find blogs of personal interest to you. If you already know how to do this, select two blogs of interest to you from the blogosphere at large and make at least one comment on each of these. These blogs should not be a part of our Learning 2.0 - 23 Things community.

4. For your Thing #4 post:

• explain why commenting helps create a sense of community and interaction
• discuss two other points from the readings about commenting that you found important
• give the names of the seven blogs (5 from our group + 2 others of your choice) you selected to read and comment on and tell why you selected them
• discuss the comments that you chose to make and why you made them
  

NOTE:
Since you are just starting the 23 Things, it is understood that you will be making your comments at various times throughout the course. To fulfill this requirement for Thing #4, you may:

1. Create your Thing #4 post as usual and as you make your comments, come back to the post, use the edit feature, and add the information about the comments you made.
OR
2. Do your blog post about this activity at the end of the course. As long as you label the post with "Thing # 4," it does not have to appear in numerical order.