History 561: Spring 2010
The Spanish Conquest of the Americas

Registering your own blog

The first thing we must do this semester is set each of you up with your own blog. It’s very easy to do. There are many free blogging services out there, the two most popular being Blogger and Wordpress.

First off, what is a blog anyway?

What will your “news” stories be? Well, they will be summaries, reactions, and critiques to our weekly readings, lectures, and discussions. Your blog is your own personal space on the web in which to interact with this class. Of course, it is also a public space. Everything you publish on your site will be fed directly onto this one, and also available to the world. Keep that in mind as you write. Your audience is me, as your professor, but also your colleagues in class and anyone else who might stumble upon your humble corner of the internets.

How to begin? Well, Wordpress.com has simple instructions for registering your own blog here and  here.

You can also start with the how-to video from wordpress.tv:

Once you’ve registered a blog, make sure to email me with your name, your blog’s name, and its url (that’s the blog’s web address). Once you’ve done that, feel free to customize your space anyway you’d like.