bliebersbach290blog

Week of Dec. 3 - 9

2006-12-08T15:22:00.000-06:00

This week I began the real planning for the end of the semester. I met with Nuhket Thursday morning. We decided we wanted to continue the blog. Her main reason to continue the blog was because she really likes being able to communicate with pet owners with the ease a blog offers. She also decided that she wanted to be the one to keep the blog up. During the meeting we added her as a administrator to the blog, so now she can sign on and post as well. In 2 weeks once that class ends I will remove myself from administrator status, and the blog will transfer completely to her.

We did also talk a little about what I've accomplished. We are not really sure how many people other than F-M Humane Society board members are visiting the blog. I've only had a couple of comments. Nuhket did also talk about the fact that integrating the blog into the organizations framework will take time, but she feels we are in the process, I agree. Nuhket was already familiar with blogging (she has a personal blog on blogger), so only a very brief into to blogger's set-up was needed. I think Nuhket will do great.

Time Log:

Meeting - 45 mins
attend class - 50 mins
draft posts - 45 mins
research how to transfer administrator status - 20 mins

Test E-mail Post

2006-12-06T13:52:00.000-06:00

This is a test post via e-mail on my blog. I decided I should make sure I know how to use this option before I suggest it to Nuhket as a possible method to continue the blog. Hopefully this post works.

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Week of Nov. 27 - Dec 2

2006-12-04T12:04:00.000-06:00

This week I encountered a new area within blogging. I sent a post to Nuhket for approval, and she wrote back that she had some problems with it. Also, Leanna (vice-president of the board) wrote back that she couldn't open the draft and her and Nuhket would talk about it Monday (today). The post is on how researchers, humane societies, and vets feel about declawing. I had also talked about animal rights activists, and Nuhket had a problem with this. I don't think the post is of a huge concern, I'll see what they have to say back to me.

time log

draft post - 45 mins
continue work on same post - 30 mins

Blog continuation plan assignment

2006-12-04T11:55:00.000-06:00

I can't write exactly what the plan is for my organizational blog yet. Nuhket and I havn't sat down to talk about it yet. She has previously expressed an interest in continuing the blog, so our discussion will start from there. My feelings are right now that the information currently posted on the blog is very interesting and useful. The problem seems to be that my audience has not participated. People may be reading the blog and not commenting, I'm just not sure.

I think changing my blog to more of a "information center" on thier website might be a good idea. For example persons adopting cats would be informed about the informative discussion on declawing on their web site. The reason I'm not sure if the info being posted needs to be in a blog is because the flow of info is only outward. There has been no flow of info from the audience back to the organization. Maybe this would come in time, or a new person taking over the blog would have more success motivating people to read and participate in the blog.

I'll sit down and talk with Nuhket this week, see what she thinks. She might want to continue the blog because it allows for very quick communication needs. These needs, if they exist within the organization, have not yet manifested themselves during my blogging time.

Information Flow Assignment

2006-11-29T19:15:00.000-06:00

For me information flow has not been a problem. From the beginning it was clear that Nukhet would be my contact, and this has worked out very well. A couple weeks into the blog I met the humane societies Vice-President, Leanne Jordahl. She hasn’t been much of a contact person in the sense that she has approved my posts, but she has been another set of eyes to read over my posts and give suggestions. She has also helped with sparking new ideas for me to write on. Only once was this “duel contact” plan a little bit of a problem. I had requested to meet with Nukhet to discuss the blog and the new direction we were going (to make sure we were still working on the same page) and it took a little e-mail tag to try and figure out when we could all meet. Eventually it was just Nukhet and me who meet, but the meeting was a little later that I had wanted.

As far as a disruption of information flow, I don’t think the blog has disrupted much. Their regular quarterly newsletter has continued. I don’t believe Nukhet has had to go to the board of directors for approval of any of my posts, she did say this would be the process for her if she had any questions. Maybe that is why she decided to bring Leanne more into the fold on the posts. She is on the board and therefore also got to see everything before it was posted.

I don’t feel information flow had any negative effect on the effectiveness of the blog. Everything worked well. The only time we really needed to use the whole network was at the beginning when I convinced Nukhet we should allow comments.

I don’t think I had any impact on the information flow in the organization. Fortunately Nukhet had the power to approve my post on her own. She did this normally within 24 hours of my sending them to her. I had no issues with the information flow within the F-M Humane Society, I would say Nukhet’s personality (she made she I was in no way ever intimidated, and that I could always ask questions) help make sure information flow would not be a problem.

Class on Monday 11/27/06

2006-11-29T19:09:00.000-06:00

I missed class on Monday, was sick with the flu. Felling better now, and saw the new assignments posted with the due date of Dec. 1. I can answer most of the questions, but I can't be 100% specific about the plans for the blog after the class ends. Nukhet and I havn't gotten that far yet, but I guess the topic is becoming more and more urgent. This weekend I will be taking my LSAT test and right now everything else is taking a back seat. I did send a draft for a post to Nukhet today, hopefully I can post it tomorrow (11/30/06).

Week of Nov. 21 - Nov. 27

2006-11-29T19:03:00.000-06:00

This was a short week, and things continued as planned. Started to do more thinking about exactily what the plan will be for the blog once the semester is over. I will be meeting with Nukhet sometime in the next couple weeks to finalize our plans. Right now it looks like the humane society is interested in having someone else take over the project, we are not sure yet who might be a good option. I continued blogging on declawing of cats. My subjects so far have been, 1.) why people declaw thier cat 2.) why people don't declaw thier cat, 3.) What the declawing procedure consists of, 4.) What vets, humane societies, and researchers think about the declawing procedure. I'll continue with a 5th post for sure, after that we will see where I'm at.

Time

50 mins - attend classs
40 mins - draft, research, and post on the blog
15 mins - think about and discuss plansfor the blog for after the class ends

Week of Nov. 13 - 20

2006-11-20T11:35:00.000-06:00

This week I simply continued my posting on declawing cats. Right now the blog seems to be just moving along very easily. I am in a pattern, and I think everything is working well. This will make it very easy for someone else to take it over once the semester ends.
I find the topic very interesting right now, and hope others are reading the posts. I had one comment last week, but certainly not what I had hoped for as far as the number of comments.

Time

50 mins class
30 drafting of blogs, posting on blogger, research

Week of Nov. 6 - 12

2006-11-13T12:13:00.000-06:00

This week I continued to work on blogging about the declawing of cats. I have my first few post drafted and am just waiting for approval. From what Dr. Baumann said in class I might not get approval until Thursday for my next post. That would surely be a disappointment, but I guess things happen.

For my posts on cat declawing I am breaking the subject down into 4 or 5 posts. The information I have found is really interesting, and very useful. Hopefully I will get comments as this is a topic all cat owners must address. All things are going smoothly right now, although as stated before I might not get much published this week.

Time committment

attend class - 50 mins
research and read on cat declawing - 90 mins
draft blogs - 30 mins

Week of Oct. 30 - Nov. 5

2006-11-06T12:11:00.000-06:00

Right now the blog seems to be moving along very smoothly. The only question I am continually asking myself is how to encourage readership, increase readership, and encourage comments.

I met with Nuhket Thursday morning of last week to discuss the blog. We made sure we were on the same page for our next posts (declawing of cats). She brought up the subject of what is going to happen to the blog when the class ends. I told her the little bit we have discussed so far, but let her know I would bring it up in class again.

Nuhket, along with the other person I have been working with (Leanna) gave me some sources to pursue for info on cat declawing. So I have been reading these, and reflecting on the best method to approch this subject from.

We also talked Thrusday morning about deformalizing the blog a little and making it read in a less acedemic stylye. I hope this will decrease and intimidation a reader may feel when thinking about commenting on the blog.

Time

Meeting - 45 mins
research - 90 mins
draft posts - 40 mins
attend class - 50 mins

Week of October 23 - 30

2006-10-31T01:48:00.000-06:00

This week was somewhat uneventful. I have been playing some e-mail tag with my contact Nukhet about setting up a meeting. I have finished blogging about my initial subject of National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. We are now deciding where to go next. I would like to discuss a subject that might inspire people to begin leaving some comments on the blog. My first set of posts told a good and useful story, but I don't feel it really allowed for useful comments. The posts didn't really inspire people to ask quesitons or to write about experiences they might have had.

Right now we have two topics we are thinking of discussing next. Declawing of cats, or the importance of spaying/neutering animals. I like the declawing topic best and believe Nukhet does too. Hopefully we move in this direction. I am meeting with her Thursday November 2nd.

This weeks time:

attend class - 50 mins
draft posts - 40 mins
draft e-mails and communicate with organization - 30 mins

Also, I did recieve an e-mail from the President of the F-M Humane Society Board of Directors. I haven't met this person yet, and I don't really know how involved (if any) she might have been in approving the blog project. Anyways the e-mail was encouraging. Posted below:

Brent, I am the president of the FM Humane Society Board of Directors. I looked at your blog today and really enjoyed it. I especially liked the installments on the adoption of Grizz. What a wonderful way to highlight the adoption process and the reason for it. I was also happy to hear how well Grizz is doing. All employees and volunteers feel especially rewarded when one of our babies finds their forever family. If you don’t have a pet now, I hope you will be in a position to adopt in the future. Your links were also helpful. I hope your professor gives you an A+ on your project! I would like to meet you one day. Thanks for highlighting our mission. Elise Leitch

Week of October 15 - 22

2006-10-23T13:24:00.000-05:00

This week I continued with my postings on the process the Nephew family went through when adopting a dog. The posts on this subject have basically been written like a story. This I feel has ment comments on the post were fairly limited to short feedback comments.

I have one more post left on the "Adoption of Grizz" process, and from here I am debating exactly what I might want to do next. I would like to post on topics that seem a little more open to comments. By this I mean that people would read the post and want to share their knowledge and experiences on the subject. Not sure how I am going to try to do this yet, but I am doing a lot of thinking about how to get more interaction from the community of readers in the blog.

I haven't talked with Nehket much this week, and will be mailing her soon to run ideas by here and see if she has any good input.

Time
attend class = 50 mins
draft and post blogs = 60 mins
brainstorm new direction for future blogs = 45 mins

Week of October 8 - 14

2006-10-16T13:07:00.000-05:00

This week I continued to post on our theme for the month "National Adopt a Shelter Dog" month. After introducing the topic for the month last week I began this week by talking with a family who has recently adopted a dog from the humane society. I talked with the Nephew family about thier recent adoption of "Grizz". The interview went very well. I felt very much like a reporter in this situation. I came up with about 15 fairly open ended questions to ask the Nephews about proir to our conversation. One thing I realized while I was writing up my questions was that depending upon the answers given I would need to follow up with different questions. I had to follow up with the right questions so the Nephews could fully tell me all about thier experience.

I had a little bit of difficulty getting a hold of the Nephews for my interview, and didn't get to talk with them until Tuesday. I had hoped to meet with them over the weekend. I really wanted to post on the blog Wed. So I made sure to e-mail Nukhet, my post approver, Monday to let her know I would be sending a draft of my post to her early Tuesday afternoon. We had problems with communication however, and I wasn't able to post until late Friday night.

I have continued to work on my next couple posts. I broke my interview information down into small groups so as not to overwhelm readers. I am happy with the direction I have. I will make sure to continue to give Nukhet more time to approve my posts.

time
50 mins = class
45 mins = interview
60 mins = preperation for interview
60 mins = prepare and post draft.
20 mins = look at others class and organization blogs.

Week of 10/1 - 10/7

2006-10-08T21:31:00.000-05:00

This week I got my first 2 blogs for my organization (F-M Humane Society) posted. I feel comfortable with the general direction we are going, and know what areas I am looking to focus on for the next few blogs. October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog month and that will be the subject of my post for a while. I did some research into the reason for making October (NASDM) and that was the subject of my second post. I have set up a meeting with a family that has recently adopted a dog and will be talking with them. This will be the subject of my next couple blogs. We got a link put up on the F-M Humane Society's Web page on Thursday 10/5, so I feel the need for post of interst and substance to be available to any readers. That way they will want to come back.

Class = 100 mins
outside class = 80 mins

Assignment 3

2006-10-02T12:37:00.000-05:00

The audience I will target within the organizational blog is people interested in pet ownership. The main target is the Fargo-Moorhead community. This people are pet owners, or just animal lovers. It is the organizations mission to care for, protect and adopt out animals. This is the audience they must focus on because it is these people that will be adopting the animals as well as donate or volunteer to help with the organizations care and protect parts. We want our audience to be comfortable on the blog. Posting a comment shouldn’t be a huge undertaking. We want an active audience.

This is the same audience we have target in the past. They have targeted them though newsletters, radio time, newspaper articles, and more. These other methods have been successful, but the blog will allow a different type of communication. The blog allows for communication from pet owners or future pet owners to the F-M Humane Society and communication from one pet owner to another. The mediums previously used have worked well, but the organization is interest in trying new methods of communication too. There was no fundamental problem with the organizations previous methods of communication.

I will write about lots of stuff. (1) October is national adopt a dog month, (2) What factors people should address when thinking of adopting an animal (3) How to address issues owners are having with pets (4) Talking with a family who has just adopted an animal and posting their questions with answers (5) answering questions posed to the F-M Humane Society from the readership. The only issues I foresee in motivating the audience are to get them to the blog, and for them to realize how helpful it can be. I also hope that people don’t find blogging intimidating.

I am to report to Nuhket as well as ask questions of her. I am also in some contact with the Vice-President of the organization. She will be another option I can turn to for information. Nuhket will approve my posts before they are posted, she will also review and approve any comments to posts.

The organization has a well put together website. I should be a site frequently visited. The organizations address is http://f-mhumanesociety.org/ . My blog is created at blogger at (http://fmhumanesociety.blogspot.com/) . There will be a link from their website to my blog. The link will be on their websites homepage. I choose to use blogger because they were happy with the choice, and so was I. The didn’t have the technical ability to ask what was best for them, they just knew blogger would work, and I didn’t have the technical ability to know what limitations blogger would pose to them nor the want, desire, or ability to learn some other way of blogging. I have no idea is their website supports FTP, I don’t know why it would matter for me.

Week of 9/22/06 - 9/29/06 weekly update

2006-10-02T12:10:00.000-05:00

This week I spent most of my time designing my organizational course blog. I feel I’m ready to start posting, just waiting for my contact to ok my first post. I also met with Nuket Friday morning to discuss our plans further.

Meeting = 45 mins
Blog making = 120 mins
Class = 80 mins

Week 4 Time Log

2006-09-25T09:55:00.000-05:00

Got lots done this week.
Started off by meeting with my organization on Tuesday, a meeting that I felt went as well as possible. See previous post for more details. I also have created my organiztion blog, and am in the process of reading my initial blog. It should be up in a day or two.

Mins - 90 meeting
- 60 creating organization blog
- 45 begin research into blogging subjects

THIS IS A TEST LINK

Meeting with organization

2006-09-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

I met this morning with my organizations, the F-M Humane Society. I met with Nukhet Headricks, she is the organizations Executive Director, and she will also be my contact for the organization.

1.) Describe the organization in which you are working.
My organization is involved in making sure animals within the community are properly taken care of and treated humanely. The organization has a board of directors that Mrs. Headricks may have to sometime consult as to the content of the blog, but mostly she will have final approval on any of my posts. I go to her with content and questions, if she needs to she will go to the board. The organization houses about 300-500 animals normally. There are a number of full time employees, as well as many volunteers. The organization is totally funded through F-M donations, and is not linked to the USHS (united states humane society) for any funding. The organization has a very good website, with frequent visiting I would think. The organization has a person who does its technical work. Mrs. Headricks simply submits content she wants on the site, and the tech. person published it. I am not sure if this tech. person is volunteer, or payed.

2.) What is the mission of the organization?
Formally the mission is: "to care for, protect and place animals for adoption in lifelong homes, and to prevent cruelty to animals by educating our community in the proper and humane care of all animals." The focus is on domestic animals, but the humane treatment of all animals is a concern. I will be working mainly with the educating part of the mission.

3.) What programs of activities does the organization undertake to fulfill its mission?
One specific program that Mrs. Headricks was working at this time was a fund raising event for the coming weekend. It is called "the paws walk". We also discussed a focus of my blog starting with October being "national adopt a dog month." The society does work in conjunction with the pound as well. The pound contacts them when an animal has not been claimed within a set time period.

4.) Who benefits from the activities of the organization?
The animals probably get some of the main benefits. They need a place to stay when they don't have homes yet, and a group of people to actively search out home for them. The community also benefits. They provide a place for citizens to turn when they are looking to adopt a pet, also they provide advise as to pet care.

5.) What groups of people help the organization accomplish its mission?
Lots of people are involved. Obviously the paid staff starting with Mrs. Headricks. She did also mention there is a waiting list to be a volunteer because so many people volunteer and there are only so many animals to be walked. The business community is also involved, especially in the fund raising department.

6.) What is the "community the organization serves?"
The community is Cass and Clay counties.

7.) What is the organization's role in the community?
They work to make sure animals (dogs and cats) are treated properly and provide a home for them until a permanent one can be found. They also work to educate the community as to proper animal care.

8.) How dependent is the community of the organization?
The community is very dependent. Pets are obviously a large part of our world today, and they serve to look out for the best interest of all pets (cats and dogs). Without the organization people search to adopt a pet would have only much less attractive offers to choose from, mainly because the society looks out for the medical issues even before the animal is adopted.

I am very happy and excited about the thought the organization has put in thus far. I feel they know what they want to do, and I am happy to take part. The main focus Mrs. Headricks would like is to be able to communicate with the general pet owning or pet wanting public on a daily or weekly basis rather than their current 3 times a year. They send out a newsletter every 4 months. She would like to address issues that need to be addressed within a couple days of the event. For instance cold weather, and what kind of precautions one might need to take with your pet in the next couple of days. Or other topics that effect pets due to a change in weather or season.

The blog can also be a place to remind people of activities or events happening. The fundraiser she was working on could have been a subject to blog upon as well as for the community to communicate about. Which brings me to her first proposed idea. The board told her they are very worried about comments, and for now she didn't think we would allow any. But I was able to use my technical expertise to advise her that we could try moderated comments. And she agreed to give it a go. I think the ability of people reading this blog to comment will be very important and useful. For instance, one may have a question about how to care for an animal, or what to do in a specific situation. Without comments I would have no idea what my readers need help with out want addressed. With moderated comments, I will first read them, and categorize them as "I don't see any problems at all" and "might have an issue". Then I will send all comments to Mrs. Headricks before anything is posted. She said it will be no problem for her to respond to me within 24-48 hours at all times for comment posting.

I foresee readers posting comments that I haven't addressed or thought of yet. Once Mrs. Headricks oks them, I would post a message addressing the issue (which will also be approved by Mrs. Headricks). Then all other readers who may have experience with the topic can comment. (of course I will moderate these comments again, making sure that bad advise isn't published). This way we are able to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge our readership will posses.

As I have already said, the organization has a great web site, and Mrs. Headricks thinks creating a blog on "blogger.com" will work great and then putting a link to it on their website. This is great because I think I can manage this technical process. I am to inform her of the address for the blog by Friday (9/22). She will be very busy this weekend, but we hope to have a link on their website by Monday or Tuesday (9/25, 9/26) And my first blog introducing what is happening should be by Wed. (9/27).

As far as blog topics, for right now they will mostly come from Mrs. Headricks. She has some ideas she would like to get addressed. First on the list is that October is National Adopt a Dog month. I am going to start researching this topic asap, and be ready to post something substantial before Oct. 1. She will continue to give me other topic to consider and address, also any ideas I have are very welcome. Likely the readership will also put forth many issues to be addressed.

As for one audience I thought we could potentially blog to (volunteers), I don't' think this will be the direction we go. I'll be in contact with Jarrett making sure I'm doing things correctly. And yes, she did mention having me over for some Turkish food once she finishes her thesis for you Dr. Baumann.

Week 3 9/9 - 9/16

2006-09-18T11:57:00.000-05:00

This weekend I attended class, with organizations being decided on Wed. I choose the FM humane organization. I then contacted the executive director and have an appiontment set up for Tuesday morning ,9/19, at 9:00 a.m. I went to the Societys website and began looking around and fimiliarizing myself with the organization. I saw what they currently have on the site. I looks like a pretty well put together site. It looks like it is frequently updated, and has lots of good information in it. From the wealth on info already on the site, I would guess they have a fairly large audience that frequently uses thier site, but there is really no way for any interatction. Communication on a organization blog will be very useful. Many ideas for content of my blog have come to mind. Ideas for an audience include: prospective pet adoptors, people who have a pet or maybe who have just adopted, volunteers or persons who provide foster homes for pets.
I'm excited to meet with Nuket, there look to be lots of areas for us to discuss.

60 mins outside of class spent.

Brent

Week 2 time journal

2006-09-13T12:55:00.000-05:00

Week 2

Attend class, pulblish concerns relating to technical issues. Begin though as to what organization I may want to work with.
time = 30 mins

Week 1 journal

2006-09-13T12:54:00.000-05:00

Week 1 work
Attended class, did Assignment 1
time = 30 mins.

Questions on the Technical side

2006-09-06T12:13:00.000-05:00

I am really hoping I will not have to know all the stuff Prof. Chen has been talking about in class. I am not a computer major nor do I want to be one. I understand this class will require me to become fimiliar with some level of computer/web technology, but I have no intention of being able to learn this stuff. I expect "my hand to be held" when it comes to setting up my blog, and interpretting what my organizations technical needs, and how to accomplish those needs.
That said, I am not learning anything in class currently from the technical side. For me I would need to see a computer screen and a sample blog so Prof. Chen can also demonstrate what he is talking about. When the board and words are only used it is very difficult for me to understand what I might need to because about 90% of the information is new. New terms, new ideas, new programs. I have no mental picture as to what is really happening. Plus I feel as though I missed computer science 101 and 201 and am know enrolled in 301.
I understand the general ideas. In order to have a web blog I need a host (somewhere to store me stuff). And I need ways of uploading my info. As for linking my blog to a organizations web site, with a little instruction I could accomplish that I believe. Creating a blog on the organizations site, I would need a little more help.
Currently class feels a lot like FDR's alphabet soup. There are a lot of interesting acronyms but I don't really know what they are for or what they do. I just hope those people that are supposed to know what they do will make sure everything will work well for me. Plus, I am waiting for the Supreme Court to start striking down Prof. Chen's acronyms. (a joke)
If i need to understand the alphabet soup I plan on spending many hours with a computer person, in making, structuring, and maintaining my blog.

Assignment 1

2006-08-28T13:46:00.000-05:00

I decided to sign up for the class after discussing it with Prof. Baumann last spring. I have always been interested in blogging, but never had the desire or opportunity to learn a lot about it. I think the skills I will learn in this class are skills I will be able to use the rest of my life. The internet and blogging are going to be around for a long time. I have no experience maintaining a blog of my own. I have commented on the blogs of others. I took this class mainly for the opportunity to learn about blogging, but working with a community organization should also be a valuable experience. I look forward to making any contacts outside the university possible. I hope to learn more about the intricacies of blogging. I like the idea of this being more of a "outside the classroom" course, and want the experience of living up to standards not just set by a professor, but by the organization with which I will be paired.

Brent Liebersbach

post 3

2006-08-28T11:48:00.000-05:00

anothe blog is

2006-08-28T11:31:00.000-05:00

this is another blog!

first post

2006-08-28T11:21:00.000-05:00

I'm changing this post in order to figure out exactly how to make a link on my blog back to the first post. I want to do this for my organization, and am practicing here.