Thoughts on Blogger

The blogging assignment was one I was looking forward to because I have had multiple blogs in the past. My greatest familiarity has been with Blogger because I began using it as a teenager when I wanted to post my drawings and poetry for other people to see. Before deciding to use Blogger however I tested out some of the other options listed in the course wiki. I started with edublogs and while it seemed helpful and capable of doing what I needed for the blog; it had a number of features that were not necessary for me. The ability to set content controls was one of these things. In the future if I ever am working with young children I believe I would use it but it is currently not what I need. Medium was the next blog platform I tried and though I enjoy the suggestions for blogs and people to follow the actual features available during creation were a letdown. It was difficult for me to determine how to insert images into my blog and the layout restrictions bothered me. Medium will not be incorporated into my PLN. 

When it comes to my PLN I will be using Blogger for my own blog posts and occasionally for connecting with others. The available options for changing the look of text and ability to add in videos/images seemed to be the greatest benefits to me of the site. Also when making my new blog I was allowed to enter a custom domain for the page if I wanted too. Knowing this I feel I could easily integrate the blog into a professional website. Edublogs will be something I bookmark for later use. I think it would be great for any kind of work based interaction with children. Kids could publish book reviews, content they create, links to content, and comment on new things they have learned easily on this site. It also seems like a good way to keep parents in the loop. Edublogs seems like a good place to go for ideas when creating lessons for children as well. 

When working with patrons in the future I feel that blogger will be a great way to teach people how to create their own blogs. It seems like a simple way to teach patrons how to change layout and design to suit their personal/professional goals. The options are not difficult to understand and the html use options will be useful in any advanced lessons given to patrons. Blogger has a number of blogs for patrons to search through to find ones that will provide information about their hobbies and interests for those interested in connecting with other people on the web. For children I would start them off with edublogs since it has controls around content to ensure children are not exposed to images or information that would be age inappropriate.