Add Stuff to Your Blog

We discussed in class how to take your blog to the next level by adding links or images/video to go along with -- and add to -- your posts and comments in texts. So the blog becomes more than a discussion between the author and readers; it becomes connected to other information, other discussions, other ideas through links, and it evokes or extends ideas through visual means.

But we also discussed how you need to be good scholars and give credit for information, ideas, or media you use in your blog (this includes formal citations as well as less formal acknowledgments). You need to do this whether you paraphrase, synthesize, or quote from the other sources. Making your sources known to your reader gives you more authority, and is just the right thing to do -- give credit where credit is due.

In addition, we discussed how we need to have permission to use images or video that is copyrighted because we are PUBLISHING on the Internet and not just using this in a classroom setting. We are disseminating these things to others, and it's illegal to take other people's stuff and put it out there for all the world to see. One way around this is to use works that have already given permission to be used through a "creative commons" license.

Here are some sources you might find helpful:
Embedded Video and Copyright
Fair Use and Blogging
25+ Sources for Creative Commons Content