ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

“Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn’t be taken too seriously.” — Jakob Nielsen

You already have a website, blog and/or wiki. As such, you understand the basics of setting up a website, blog and/or wiki. However, you want to do more with your website, blog and/or wiki, for example, improve the design, increase your Web traffic, add useful widgets, enable easier subscription, and so on.

Furthermore, you are beginning to realize that having your website, blog and/or wiki on someone else’s platform (or web account) could be problematic. As usability guru Jakob Nielsen put it:

“Letting somebody else own your [domain] name means that they own your destiny on the Internet. They can degrade the service quality as much as they want. They can increase the price as much as they want. They can add atop your content as many pop-ups, blinking banners, or other user-repelling advertising techniques as they want. They can promote your competitor’s offers on your pages. Yes, you can walk, but at the cost of your loyal readers, links you’ve attracted from other sites, and your search engine ranking.

“The longer you stay at someone else’s domain name, the higher the cost of going independent. Yes, it’s tempting to start a new weblog on one of the services that offer free accounts. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it’s obviously cheap. But it only costs US$8 per year to get your personal domain name and own your own future. As soon as you realize you’re serious about blogging, move it away from a domain name that’s controlled by somebody else. The longer you delay, the more pain you’ll feel when you finally make the move.”

In addition, now you know that you can do so much more with a well-managed web hosting account of your own. For example, you can:

• Choose from over 150 free scripts
• Easily install your own blogs, wikis, content management systems (or portals), customer support sites, discussion boards, shopping carts, image galleries, learning management systems, web surveys, etc.
• Easily upgrade to new versions of these software at the click of a few links
• Create sub-domains for your friends, customers and/or business partners.

Course Objectives
Upon completion of the course, you shall be able to:

• Discuss meaningfully the “what”, “how” and “why” of selecting and managing your own website, blog, wiki & free software to meet the information sharing, training and other needs of a commercial or educational organization.
• Use free software to manage free-of-charge your own corporate email, calendar, and intranet information.
• Install and upgrade free software for your website at a few mouse clicks.
• Choose and install your own blog engine, customize and promote your blogs, manage team blogs, and add useful widgets and interactive media to your blogs.
• Choose and install your own wiki engine; create, administer and customize your wikis; and add useful widgets and interactive media to your wikis.
• Use RSS effectively as a publisher.

Who Should Attend: Anyone who already has a website, blog or wiki on other people’s platform and wants to learn how to install and manage their own Web, blog and/or wiki site. Managers, executives or trainers who want to facilitate reflective and/or collaborative learning. No programming knowledge needed.

Course Duration: 2 days

To Register: Visit the NTU CCE site, choose the right course and date, scroll to the bottom and click the “Register Here” link.