1) Will blog authors be allowed to create their own tags?
Absolutely! All authors will have the ability to freely create two type of tags via Drupal’s Taxonomy option by default:
- Tags (free keyword tagging)
- Categories (a dropdown list of controlled vocabulary)
2) Will moderated comments from readers of the blog be allowed?
By default, the comments function for each blog is disabled. The comment function can be turned on per blog author(s) request. It is important to point out that:
- Blog author(s) will be solely responsible for moderating, approving pending comments, and deleting inappropriate comments
- All incoming comments will be in pending stage, and will need to be moderated by the blog owner(s) before they will be made available to the public
- Spam prevention means have been implemented to help preventing spam. However, UI and Lib-Taco can not guarantee that pending comments for approval will be spam-free.
- To reduce user management overhead, we will not require the visitors who want to create comment to create a user account before a comment can be submitted. However, reCapture Form + email address will be required to fill out before a comment can be submitted. Please see example: http://blogs.library.unt.edu/example/post/1
3) How will the statistics on the number of individuals viewing the blog be calculated?
Our libraries have chosen Piwik (http://piwik.org/ ) to replace Google Analytic (due to Google’s SLA issue) as the software for collecting libraries websites usage statistics.
Each blog comes automatically with its usage statistic tracking installed, and the stats will be made available to all blog authors to view via https://pw.library.unt.edu.
4) Will statistics on the blog usage be accessible to the blog authors? If not, what would the expected turnaround to get those numbers from UI be?
The statistics of UNTL blogs will be make available to all blog authors via https://pw.library.unt.edu after the requested and approved blog is installed.
5) Can the blog author of a side bar profile section with their picture and a brief bio?
The author profile (with picture and bio) feature will be made available by default with each blog installation.
The author’s full name (not euid) and the link to view this author’s profile will be accessible through each post. Please see example here: http://blogs.library.unt.edu/example/post/3. You can see the full name of the post’s author, and access to the profile is right beneath the post title. Each author will be able to create and update his/her own bio and profile picture freely.
6) Will the blogs be indexed by Google?
Yes. In addition, UI will actively help each established blog with blog marketing via the library website, and promote discoverability through all means that it may deems necessary.
7) Can we allow guest writers not affiliated with UNT?
At this point, it is beyond the scope of this blog service.
8) Can we customize the side bars?
Majority of the typical blogs features, such as archive, search, related links, latest post, and social network sharing are already made available at the installation by default. For keeping consistent branding and providing familiar user interfaces across the blogs, blog author/owner by default will not be able to customize the side bar. However, after each blog is installed, it will be in ready condition without the need of any customization. Blog author/owner will be able to:
- Edit “About” page
- Edit “Contact” Page
- Create/update Posts
- Add/Maintain Related links
- Create taxonomy (free tagging, and controlled vocabulary)
9) The web form mentions storage limits are subject to change. What are the storage limits currently?
Per image/document upload size limited is set at 2 MB per upload, and there is no limit so far on how many files can be uploaded per author for each blog.
Lastly, here is an example blog we have set up for everybody who is interested in requesting a blog to preview https://blogs.library.unt.edu/example, pretty much this is what each blog author/owner should expect from the default blog installation.
Please contact Ui.library@unt.edu for acquairing Guest logim access for a test drive.
