E- book

E- book

An electronic book (variously, e-book, ebook, digital book) is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital.

 The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as "an electronic version of a printed book, but e-books can and do exist without any printed equivalent.

 E-books are usually read on dedicated e-book readers. Personal computers and some mobile phones can also be used to read e-books.

History                       

The inventor and the title of the first e-book is not widely agreed upon. Some notable candidates are listed here.
The first e-book may be the Index Thomisticus, a heavily-annotated electronic index to the works of Thomas Aquinas, prepared by Roberto Busa beginning in the late 1940s. However, this is sometimes omitted, perhaps because the digitized text was (at least initially) a means to developing an index and concordance, rather than as a published edition in its own rights.
Alternatively, electronic books are considered by some to have started in the mid-1960s, with the NLS project headed by Doug Engelbart at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), and the Hypertext Editing System and FRESS projects headed by Andries van Dam at Brown University. The former ran on specialized hardware, while the latter ran on IBM mainframes. FRESS documents were structure-oriented rather than line-oriented, and were formatted dynamically for different users, display hardware, window sizes, and so on, as well as having automated tables of contents, indexes, and so on. All these systems also provided extensive hyperlinking, graphics, and other capabilities.
FRESS was used for primary text reading, annotation, and online discussions in several courses, including English Poetry and Biochemistry. Brown faculty made extensive use of FRESS; for example the philosopher Roderick Chisholm used it to produce several of his books. For example, in the Preface to Person and Object he writes "The book would not have been completed without the epoch-making File Retrieval and Editing System...
Brown's leadership in electronic book systems continued for many years, including navy-funded projects for electronic repair manuals ; a large-scale distributed hypermedia system known as InterMedia; a spinoff company Electronic Book Technologies that built DynaText, the first SGML-based book-reader system; and the Scholarly Technology Group's extensive work on the still-prevalent Open eBook standard.
Yet others believe that the inventor of the e-book is Michael S. Hart. In 1971, Hart was given extensive computer time by the operators of the Xerox Sigma V mainframe at the University of Illinois. Seeking a worthy use of this resource, he created his first ebook by typing the United States Declaration of Independence into a computer. Project Gutenberg was launched afterwards to create electronic copies of more books.
One early e-book implementation was the desktop prototype for a proposed notebook computer, the Dynabook, in the 1970s at PARC: a general-purpose portable personal computer capable of displaying books for reading.
 In 1992, Sony launched the Data Discman, an electronic book reader that could read e-books that were stored on CDs. One of the electronic publications that could be played on the Data Discman was called The Library of the Future.
 Early e-books were generally written for specialty areas and a limited audience, meant to be read only by small and devoted interest groups. The scope of the subject matter of these e-books included technical manuals for hardware, manufacturing techniques and other subjects. In the 1990s, the general availability of the Internet made transferring electronic files much easier, including e-books.

E-book formats

Numerous e-book formats emerged and proliferated, some supported by major software companies such as Adobe with its PDF format, and others supported by independent and open-source programmers. Multiple readers followed multiple formats, most of them specializing in only one format, and thereby fragmenting the e-book market even more. Due to exclusiveness and limited readerships of e-books, the fractured market of independent publishers and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for packaging and selling e-books.
However, in the late 1990s a consortium was formed to develop the Open eBook format as a way for authors and publishers to provide a single source document that could be handled by many book-reading software and hardware platforms. Open eBook defined required subsets of XHTML and CSS; a set of multimedia formats (others could be used, but there must also be a fallback in one of the required formats); and an XML schema for a "manifest", to list the components of a given ebook, identify a table of contents, cover art, and so on. Google Books has converted many public-domain works to this open format.
In 2010 e-books continued to gain in their own underground markets. Many e-book publishers began distributing books that were in the public domain. At the same time, authors with books that were not accepted by publishers offered their works online so they could be seen by others. Unofficial (and occasionally unauthorized) catalogs of books became available over the web, and sites devoted to e-books began disseminating information about e-books to the public

Libraries                 

U.S. Libraries began providing free e-books to the public in 1998 through their web sites and associated services, although the e-books were primarily scholarly, technical or professional in nature, and could not be downloaded. In 2003, libraries began offering free downloadable popular fiction and non-fiction e-books to the public, launching an e-book lending model that worked much more successfully for public libraries. The number of library e-book distributors and lending models continued to increase over the next few years.

 In 2010, a Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study found that 66% of public libraries in the U.S. were offering e-books, and a large movement in the library industry began seriously examining the issues related to lending e-books, acknowledging a tipping point of broad e-book usage. However, some publishers and authors have not endorsed the concept of electronic publishing, citing issues with demand, piracy and proprietary devices

Dedicated hardware readers

There have been several generations of dedicated hardware e-book readers. The Rocket eBook  and several others were introduced around 1998, but did not gain widespread acceptance.

As of 2009^[update], new marketing models for e-books were being developed and a new generation of reading hardware was produced. E-books (as opposed to ebook readers) have yet to achieve global distribution. In the United States, as of September 2009, the Amazon Kindle model and Sony's PRS-500 were the dominant e-reading devices. By March 2010, some reported that the Barnes & Noble Nook may be selling more units than the Kindle in the US.

On January 27, 2010 Apple Inc. launched a multi-function device called the iPad and announced agreements with five of the six largest publishersthat would allow Apple to distribute e-books. The iPad includes a built-in app for e-books called iBooks and the iBooks Store.

In July 2010, online bookseller Amazon.com reported sales of ebooks for its proprietary Kindle outnumbered sales of hardcover books for the first time ever during the second quarter of 2010, saying it sold 140 e-books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcovers for which there was no digital edition. By January 2011, ebook sales at Amazon had surpassed its paperback sales. In the overall U.S. market, paperback book sales are still much larger than either hardcover or e-book; the American Publishing Association estimated e-books represented 8.5% of sales as of mid-2010, up from 3% a year before.

 Advantages

Mobile availability of e-books may be provided for users with a mobile data connection, so that these e-books need not be stored on the device.

 An e-book can be offered indefinitely, without ever going "out of print". In the space that a comparably sized print book takes up, an e-reader can potentially contain thousands of e-books, limited only by its memory capacity. If space is at a premium, such as in a backpack or at home, it can be an advantage that an e-book collection takes up little room and weight.

E-book websites can include the ability to translate books into many different languages, making the works available to speakers of languages not covered by printed translations.

Depending on the device, an e-book may be readable in low light or even total darkness.

 Many newer readers have the ability to display motion, enlarge or change fonts, use Text-to-speech software to read the text aloud for visually impaired, partially sighted, elderly or dyslectic people or just for convenience, search for key terms, find definitions, or allow highlighting bookmarking and annotation.

While an e-book reader costs much more than one book, the electronic texts are at times cheaper. Moreover, a great share of e-books are available online for free, minus the minimal costs of the electronics required. Also, libraries lend more current e-book titles for limited times, free samples are available of many publications. E-books can be printed for less than the price of traditional new books using new on-demand book printers.

An e-book can be purchased/borrowed, downloaded, and used immediately, whereas when one buys or borrows a book, one must go to a bookshop, a home library, or public library during limited hours, or wait for a delivery.

The production of e-books does not consume paper and ink.

The necessary computer or e-reader uses less materials.

 Printed books use 3 times more raw materials and 78 times more water to produce.

 Depending on possible digital rights management, e-books can be backed up to recover them in the case of loss or damage and it may be possible to recover a new copy without cost from the distributor. Compared to printed publishing, it is cheaper and easier for authors to self-publish e-books. Also, the dispersal of a free e-book copy can stimulate the sales of the printed version.

Drawbacks

Ebook formats and file types continue to develop and change through time through advances and developments in technology or the introduction of new proprietary formats. While printed books remain readable for many years, e-books may need to be copied or converted to a new carrier or file type over time. Because of proprietary formats or lack of file support, formatted e-books may be unusable on certain readers. PDF and epub are growing standards, but are not universal.

Paper books can be bought and wrapped for a present and a library of books can provide visual appeal, while the digital nature of e-books makes them non-visible and intangible. E-books cannot provide the physical feel of the cover, paper, and binding of the original printed work. An author who publishes a book often puts more into the work than simply the words on the pages. E-books may cause people "to do the grazing and quick reading that screens enable, rather than be by themselves with the author's ideas".They may use the e-books simply for reference purposes rather than reading for pleasure and leisure. Books with large pictures (such as children's books) or diagrams are more inconvenient for viewing and reading.

A book will never turn off, can last for several decades or longer and would be unusable only if significantly damaged. The shelf life of a printed book exceeds that of an e-book reader, as over time the reader's battery will drain and require recharging. Due to faults in hardware or software, e-book readers may malfunction and data loss can occur. As with any piece of technology, the reader must be protected from the elements (such as extreme cold, heat, water, etc.), while print books are not susceptible to damage from electromagnetic pulses, surges, impacts, or temperatures typically found in automobiles on a hot day.

The cost of an e-book reader far exceeds that of a single book, and e-books often cost the same as their print versions. Due to the high cost of the initial investment in some form of e-reader, e-books are cost prohibitive too much of the world's population. Furthermore, there is no used e-book market, so consumers will neither be able to recoup some of their costs by selling an unwanted title they have finished, nor will they be able to buy used copies at significant discounts, as they can now easily do with printed books. Because of the high-tech appeal of the e-reader, they are a greater target for theft than an individual print book. Along with the theft of the physical device, any e-books it contains also become stolen. E-books purchased from vendors like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com are stored "in the cloud" on servers and "digital lockers" and have the benefit of being easily retrieved if an e-reading device is lost. Not all e-booksellers are cloud based; if an e-book is stolen, accidentally lost, or deleted, in the absence of a backup it may have to be repurchased.

The display resolutions of reading devices are currently lower than those of printed materials and may cause discomfort due to glare on the screen or difficulty holding the device.

Due to digital rights management, customers typically cannot resell or loan their e-books to other readers. However, some Barnes & Noble e-books are lendable for two weeks via their 'LendMe' technology.

 Additionally, the potential for piracy of e-books may make publishers and authors reluctant to distribute digitally.

 E-book readers require various toxic substances to produce, and the disposal of their batteries in particular raises environmental concerns. As technologies rapidly change and old devices become obsolete, there will be larger amounts of toxic wastes that are not easily biodegradable like paper.

The wide variety of versions, text and font sizes make citations hard because the number of the pages will be different. The only real solution would be a standard format for all devices.

Production                      

Some e-books are produced simultaneously with the production of a printed format, as described in electronic publishing, though in many instances they may not be put on sale until later. Often, e-books are produced from pre-existing hard-copy books, generally by document scanning, sometimes with the use of robotic book scanners, having the technology to quickly scan books without damaging the original print edition. Scanning a book produces a set of image files, which may additionally be converted into text format by an OCR program. Occasionally, as in some e-text projects, a book may be produced by re-entering the text from a keyboard.

As a newer development, sometimes only the electronic version of a book is produced by the publisher. It is even possible to release an e-book chapter by chapter as each chapter is written. This is useful in fields such as information technology where topics can change quickly in the months that it takes to write a typical book. It is also possible to convert an electronic book to a printed book by print on demand. However these are exceptions as tradition dictates that a book be launched in the print format and later if the author wishes an electronic version is produced.

As of 2010, there is no industry-wide e-book bestseller listbut various e-book vendors compile bestseller lists, such as those by Amazon Kindle Bestsellers.

e-Readers

e-book reader, also called an e-book device or e-reader, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals. An e-book reader is similar in form to a limited purpose tablet computer.

E-books Advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

·        Less expensive than hard cover books.

·        E-books are available online and offline. They can be found on websites as free books. E-libraries and digital libraries offer free books online. Some websites can offer the whole book,  some pages or some chapters for free such as Google books. Books can be sold and bought online such as Amazon.

·        E-books can be read on different devices for example personal computer, laptop, iPad, mobile phones, e-readers.

·        E-books can be read everywhere.

·        New talents, authors and writers who are not famous so do not find an opportunity to publish their books through publishing houses, can publish online on websites, blogs or social network service websites.

·        E-books can reach youth who are main users of internet.

·        E-books' publishing is not expensive as the traditional books publishing expenses that need papers and printing machines.

·        E-books provide the users with many and different ways of interactivity. Online, the users can write and post a comment, opinion or previews about the books. Also, people can share books online through social network service websites. Using e-readers or any electronic readers' devices, the user can customize the book by changing the font or layout of the book. Also, the user can add his or her comment; reach a specific word or sentence directly without reading the whole book by an electronic search.

·        E-books can provide multimedia by mixing texts, pictures, images, video, audio, graphics,

·        E-books save place and time in archiving.

·        E- Archives are available online.

·        E- Libraries are available online for free or by subscription.

·        There are different forms of the E-books for example on CD, DVD, USB Flash, mobile phones or can be downloaded on electronic devices directly from the internet or the bookstore.

·        E-books are flexible by their user interactivity, customization, multimediality, hyperlinks, hypermediality,……

·        E-books help researchers especially from developing countries to get the latest sources of information specifically from the internet.

·        E-books save time in getting and buying books instead of going out the house, taking transportation means, enter a bookstore and buy the book.

·        E- books can be widely spread all over the world.

·        E-books can be spread very fast comparing to the traditional books.

·        E- encyclopedia is less expensive as a traditional.

·        E-books can be saved and kept for many years without being ruined or changed their content quality, on the other hand the traditional books pages' color  can be changed by time to yellow or cut.

·        E-books can be copied many times with the same quality.

·        Readers can easily switch from one ebook to another with very little effort.

·        If you have a mobile with internet connection, instant e-book reading is possible from anywhere and at any instance.

·        A new ebook is available immediately for reading.

·        Ebooks consume fewer natural resources such as trees, water and petroleum for shipping.

·        The person can download many books in one device or one place.

Disadvantages:

·        Traditional printed books are easy and flexible to read.

·        Many people especially old and adults are used to traditional printed books.

·        E-books can have electronic and technical problems

·        E-books are causing one flow of information from the developed countries to developing countries

·        E-books are causing over flow of information.  Many information and data are available but the person can get lost with this amount of info.

·        The electronic devices are expensive to buy to be able to read the e-books.

·        Old, poor and uneducated people are not the ones who can use the e-books.

·        The publishing houses are facing economic crisis and many will be closing because of the high cost of traditional printing books ' expenses and the low revenues and sales.

·        Customization and interactivity can lead to changes in the actual form of the books

·        There are concerns  of changing the content of the original books and spread them

·        There are health concerns. E-Books can cause eyestrain.  E-Books are read on a computer or special device that is viewed on a screen.  The screen does not have the same type of resolution like print on paper has. 

·        Programs need to be compatible with the computer or device.

·        Programs need patching for security vulnerabilities. 

·        E-Book Readers require power

·        E-books do not have a defined life.   New technologies are always emerging; for example, new computers or hand held devices.  Software and hardware can become outdated that contain components that can run a user’s E-Book reader.  When upgrading to newer software, the user runs the risk of losing saved books or losing formatting of the document. 

·        E-Books can be hacked. E-book Readers are able to connect to the internet to shop for different E-books. Hackers are able to use their computers to hack E-Book readers and E-Books. People are now pirating E-Books just as they are able to pirate music.

·        E-books can be shared without publishers' permission.

·        Ebooks can be lost if someone’s hard drive fails and they had not made a backup.

·        Reading from a computer lacks the familiarity and convenience of a book. A book can be opened and papers, while the electronic text is difficult to navigate.

·        E-books are unreliable life. The paper has a much longer life than many forms of digital archiving. With the rapid development of new systems, it is difficult to assess whether the software or hardware is obsolete. 

·        E-books can get viruses.

·        Paper books don’t require a power source.

·        E-books can be vanished completely if the device has technical problems or virus.

Blogs

        BlogsA blog (web log): is a personal journal published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order so the most recent post appears first. Blogs are usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often are themed on a single subject. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
The emergence and growth of blogs in the late 1990s coincided with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users. (Previously a knowledge of such technologies as HTML and FTP had been required to publish content on the Web.)
Although not a must, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Indeed, bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs but also build social relations with their readers and other bloggers.
Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries; yet still others function more as online brand advertising of a particular individual or company. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging or vlogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.
The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers.
Types of blogs:                                             According to number of people involved in the blog:An individual blog: one person who creates the blog.
A group blog: more than one person who create the blog.
A reverse blog:  is composed by its users rather than a single blogger. This system has the characteristics of a blog, and the writing of several authors. These can be written by several contributing authors on a topic, or opened up for anyone to write. There is typically some limit to the number of entries to keep it from operating like a Web Forum.
According to the purpose:Personal blogs:
The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog. Personal bloggers usually take pride in their blog posts, even if their blog is never read. Blogs often become more than a way to just communicate; they become a way to reflect on life, or works of art. Blogging can have a sentimental quality. Few personal blogs rise to fame. One type of personal blog, referred to as a microblog, is extremely detailed and seeks to capture a moment in time. Some sites, such as Twitter, allow bloggers to share thoughts and feelings instantaneously with friends and family, and are much faster than emailing or writing.
Corporate and organizational blogs:
A blog can be private, as in most cases, or it can be for business purposes. Blogs used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs. Similar blogs for clubs and societies are called club blogs, group blogs, or by similar names; typical use is to inform members and other interested parties of club and member activities.
According to the topic of the blog:Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs (also known as travelogs), gardening blogs, house blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs.Two common types of genre blogs are art blogs and music blogs.
According to the media type:A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog. Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are called tumblelogs. Blogs that are written on typewriters and then scanned are called typecast or typecast blogs; see typecasting (blogging).
According to the device:Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog. One early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person's personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to as sousveillance. Such journals have been used as evidence in legal matters.
Community and catalogingThe Blogosphere:The collective community of all blogs is known as the blogosphere.
Blog search engines":Several blog search engines are used to search blog contents, such as Bloglines, BlogScope, and Technorati. Technorati, which is among the more popular blog search engines, provides current information on both popular searches and tags used to categorize blog postings. The research community is working on going beyond simple keyword search, by inventing new ways to navigate through huge amounts of information present in the blogosphere, as demonstrated by projects like BlogScope.
Blogging communities and directories:Several online communities exist that connect people to blogs and bloggers to other bloggers, including BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. Interest-specific blogging platforms are also available. For instance, Blogster has a sizable community of political bloggers among its members. Global Voices aggregates international bloggers, "with emphasis on voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media."
Blogging and advertising:It is common for blogs to feature advertisements either to financially benefit the blogger or to promote the blogger's favorite causes. The popularity of blogs has also given rise to "fake blogs" in which a company will create a fictional blog as a marketing tool to promote a product.
Advantages:
-         Blogs apply citizen journalism and participatory journalism.
-         Blogs are considered for young people a good opportunity for work specifically with the lack of employment.
-         Blogs are a good way to express feelings and emotions.
-         They are a good way for people to show their talents.
-         Political activists get benefits from blogs by criticizing the regimes and governments.
-           Some can create  blogs with hiding their identities to feel more free in writing and posting.
-         There are many examples of bloggers who have published books based on their blogs, e.g., Salam Pax, Ellen Simonetti, Jessica Cutler, ScrappleFace. Blog-based books have been given the name blook. A prize for the best blog-based book was initiated in 2005,[42] the Lulu Blooker Prize.[43] However, success has been elusive offline, with many of these books not selling as well as their blogs. Only blogger Tucker Max made the New York Times Bestseller List.[44] The book based on Julie Powell's blog "The Julie/Julia Project" was made into the film Julie & Julia, apparently the first to do so. So, it is a ggod opportunity for new authors and writers who can't find publishing houses to publish their books.
-         Blogs are for free so they are not expensive to use.
-         Some bloggers can be famous if their blogs gained popularity between people.
-         Blogs provide interactivity. So they bring very fast feedback from the audience.
-         Sometimes, blogs are used as a source of information and data.
-         Some blogs are a source of entertainment for people.
-         Bloggers can gain money via their blogs.
-         Blogs are used for educational purposes.
-         Blogs are used in advertising and marketing.
-         Some bloggers create their own television channels and radio stations through blogs by webcasting.
-         Bloggers can choose the followers and audiences if they want.
-         There are different gadgets available to be added on the blog.
-          Bloggers can download more gadgets from other websites.
-         Bloggers can choose the layout and design from different choices available in the website providing blogs services.
-         it is possible to hide some posts from the public.
-         It is possible to know how many people visited the blog  or a particular post and from which country.
-          Many websites are providing blog services.
-         There are awards given for the best blogs and bloggers.
Disadvantages:-         Blogging can lead to defamation or liability.
-         Blogs content is not 100percent credible.
-         Several cases have been brought before the national courts against bloggers concerning issues of defamation or liability.
-         Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes often seek to suppress blogs and/or to punish those who maintain them.
-         There are not law to control or regulate the bloggers practices.
-         Some bloggers negatively use the blogs and the freedom provided by the blogs.
-         Anonymity of some bloggers is a problem because we do not know their identities, however, there are technological ways  that can be used to track them.
-         Bloggers can be brought to court because what they write.
-         Not all the information and data available on blogs are true or real, so they can be used to spread rumors, gossips or lies.
-         Pretending being other persons from what we really are.
-         Writing personal information and posting private materials can lead to privacy invasion.
-         It is hard to gain popularity among the audiences because of the huge amount of blogs found on the internet.
BehaviorThe Blogger's Code of Conduct is a proposal by Tim O'Reilly for bloggers to enforce civility on their blogs by being civil themselves and moderating comments on their blog. The code was proposed due to threats made to blogger Kathy Sierra.[84] The idea of the code was first reported by BBC News, who quoted O'Reilly saying, "I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour, I would hope that it doesn't come through any kind of regulation it would come through self-regulation."[85]
O'Reilly and others came up with a list of seven proposed ideas:
-         Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
-         Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
-         Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
-         Ignore the trolls.
-         Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
-         If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
-         Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

"How to" Guideline series is coordinated by Helen Mongan-Rallis of the Education Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions to improve these guidelines please me at e-mail hrallis@d.umn.edu.

How to Create A Blog with Blogger.Com

By Helen Mongan-Rallis and Bruce Reeves. Last updated: September 16, 2011

1. If you don't have a person gmail account (must not be your education gmail, such as University of Minnesota gmail account), go ahead and create new gmail account now. It's important that you don't use your official education account as it doesn't have all the features that personal gmail accounts do.
   IMPORTANT: When you use your personal gmail account and your personal blog, you should use a different browser than the one that you use for your official education/university gmail, otherwise this causes problems. e.g. I use Firefox for my University of MN gmail, and Chrome for my personal gmail and personal blog.
2. Once you have created a personal gmail account, link to the https://blogger.com/start website
3. Click on the orange arrow that says "create your blog now."
4. On the "Create a Google Account" screen enter in the information required, namely:
   1. Enter your personal gmail email address, which should be the one that you want to use to be paired with your blog that you are going to create [must not be your official education one. You'll have to retype your email address in the second box.
   2. Enter password (it's a good idea to write this down somewhere safe -- or email it to yourself and then save the email so you can refer to it later if you forget it). You have to retype the password in the second box.
   3. Enter a display name
   4. Choose a user name. If you prefer people not to know who you actually are, then choose a fictitious name. e.g. 2tech4me
   5. Accept the terms (it is safe to do and won't generate junk mail).
   6. Word verification: type the letters that appear as a graphic above the verification box. This is there to ensure that the blog is being created by a person and not automatically being generated by a computer.
   7. Click on the "Continue" arrow
5. On the "Name your blog" screen:
   1. Enter title: This is the title that will appear at the top of your blog page and will also be the default name that will appear in users' browsers when they bookmark/add to favorites you blog, so choose something that will give readers a clear idea of what your blog is about
   2. Blog address: pick something that you'll remember easily and that is easy to type.
   3. Click on the "Continue" arrow
6. On the "Choose a template" screen:
   1. Scroll through the selections and click on the little radio button next to the name of the template that you choose. e.g. I chose the snapshot template. Note: you can change the template later if you decide you don't like the one you have selected, so don't spend too much time at this point worrying what will look best!
   2. Click on the "Continue" arrow
7. On the "Your blog has just been created!" screen:
   1. Click on the "Start Blogging" arrow
8. A window will appear that looks much like a word processing window. Start typing, and use the formatting bar at the top to help you format your entry. e.g. You can change font size, type of font, color, justification, create links and so on. Experiment with these to see what they do.
   1. When finished, click on "Publish Post"
9. Once you have posted an entry, a screen will appear telling you "Your blog post published successfully!"
   1. To see the results, click on the link to "View Blog."
10. To get back to your blog so that you can add a new entry or edit the existing blog, click on the little orange "B" next to the search field at the top left of your browser window. If you are already logged in, this will take you to your blog Dashboard. If you aren't logged in, then you will first need to log in (using the user name and password that you set up when you created your blog -- that's why it's important to write down what these are when you first create your blog).
11. From the dashboard you can:
    • create a new post (a new blog entry): click on the "NEW POST" button
    • change your blog settings (don't worry about this now, but do explore later)
    • edit your existing posts: to do this, click on "Edit Posts" --> this takes you to a screen that gives you the option of creating a new post or editing your entries. To edit entry, click on the "Edit" link next to the entry. This opens the blog in editing mode, and you can go ahead and edit
    • to post blog once you are done editing, click on the orange "Publish Post" button (which takes you to "Your blog post published successfully!" window, and from there, click to "View Blog").

Posting a photo or other image on your blog

1. When you are in the compose window to create a blog, you will see a little picture/icon that looks like a mountain on the tool bar (right next to the spell check icon). Click on that
2. This opens a box that gives you a choice to add an image from your computer or an image from the web. The easiest is from your computer. So click on the button that says "browse."
3. Navigate to where you have a picture saved on your computer and select it.
4. Back in the upload image window, select the layout (if you want the picture to be left, center, or right, or none). I like the option of having the text wrap around the picture as it reduces scrolling -- but this is a personal choice -- no "right" way!. Also select if you want the image to be small, medium or large. My advice: go small or medium, but avoid large as it makes the blog take too long to load.
5. Click the "Upload Image" button. It will take a little while for it to load, but that should do it! (you may need to refresh the page for you to see that the image has been uploaded).

Signing in once you have your blog set up

When you want to blog again on another day, just go to blogger.com --> at the top of the page that opens, you will see "Sign in to use Blogger with your Google Account."

• Fill in your username and password (that you created in step 3 above).
• Click "Sign In"

Posting comments on other people's blogs

To post a comment on a blog:

1. Once you are on a person's blog, click on the "Post a Comment" link that usually appears below their blog entry.
2. This will open a comment in the box. It's useful to click on the link next to this that says, "show original post" as it enables you to see what the person wrote in their blog as you are composing your comment on this.
3. Click in the comment box and type your comments.
4. Enter your blogger.com user name and password below the comment box, and then click on the blue "login and publish" button (Reason: In order to post a comment on a blogger.com blog, you need to have your own blogger account). If you are already logged in, then all you need to do is click on the "Publish Your Comment" button.

How to create a blog via blogger

How to create a blog via blogger

1-      Go to www.blogger.com

2-      Sign in email and password (you have to have a Google account)

3-      Click on (create your blog)

4-      Name your blog by writing: blog title then blog address (URL), click on check availability

5-      Click continue

6-      Choose a template from the ones available click on it then click continue

7-      Your blog has been created, congratulations

8-      To adjust and choose a design, click design

9-      Click template designer  

10-   Choose a template by clicking on it

11-   You can change the background by clicking on background

12-   Clicking on the arrow of the background, a new window will appear with different images that can be used as a background, so choose on by clicking on it then click on done

13-   You can change the colour theme by clicking on one of the suggested themes

14-   You can adjust the width by clicking on it, it is under  background on the left

15-   You can change the layout, click on it, it is under adjust the width on the left

16-   Click on the layout body that you like

17-   Choose the footer the layout that you like and click on it

18-   By clicking on advance under the layout in the left, you can make changes in the font and its colour concerning all the texts that can be found in your blog, so choose from the points available such as page text, backgrounds, links, blog title, blog description,…ect.

19-   Return to page elements to add gadgets and their places by clicking on add gadget

20-   When you choose one of the gadgets, click on the (cross sign) and click save

21-   If you want to change the place of the gadget, you can click and drag to rearrange the gadgets

22-   Click save which is on the top right of the page

23-   Click view the blog in the top middle of the page

24-   When leaving the blog, you can sign out from the right left of the page of the blog