Meetings

Blogging with Perl

Jason Scott Gessner

Tuesday Oct 14th 2003 at 7:00pm
College of DuPage, SRC 1450a

Abstract

Blogging is a large force in online publishing right now, and shows no signs of stopping. Everyone from frustrated high school students to professionaljournalists and authors are setting up blogs. Even many presidential candidates and tv celebrities have blogs! But what is a blog? Are they simply a format for ranting and raving about a niche subject? Can blogging software become a platform for cheap, distributed and effective publishing?

This presentation will attempt to give some perspective on the world of blogging and demonstrated how perl can be a useful tool to create, analyze and use these systems for a wide variety of purposes.

Presentation Outline

1.Blog Basics
	1.1.What is a Blog?
	1.2.I hate the word 'blog'.
	1.3.What software exists for setting up a blog?
		1.3.1.Hosted Services
			1.3.1.1.Blogger
			1.3.1.2.LiveJournal
			1.3.1.3.TypePad
			1.3.1.4.use.perl.org journals
			1.3.1.5.AOL Journals (aol subscribers only).
			1.3.1.6.Radio Userland
		1.3.2.Services that can be installed on your own server
			1.3.2.1.Blosxom
			1.3.2.2.MovableType
			1.3.2.3.GreyMatter
			1.3.2.4.Slash
			1.3.2.5.Wordpress
2.How can I use perl with my blog?
	2.1.General Info
	2.2.Blogger API
	2.3.MetaWeblog API
	2.4.Movable Type Extended API
	2.5.Net::Blogger
	2.6.MT.pm
	2.7.WWW::Mechanize
3.Uses for these APIs: Alternative Interfaces
	3.1.Cell Phones
	3.2.Email
	3.3.Instant Messenger
	3.4.CVS Change Log Page
	3.5.Test Failures Log
4.What APIs are out there to find out who is talking about my site?
	4.1.Trackback
	4.2.Technorati
	4.3.Good Ol' Fashioned Google
5.How can I syndicate my site or find out when other people have updated their sites?
	5.1.HEAD
	5.2.PING
	5.3.RSS/RDF
6.What does the future hold?
	6.1.Echo/ATOM API
	6.2.Syndication formats?
	6.3.Semantic Web?
	6.4.Wiki Integration
7.Questions?

Speaker Bio

Jason Scott Gessner is a digital artist and programmer who has been using perl for pleasure and profit for the last 5 years. His blog is available at http://www.multiply.org/notebook .

Getting to the meeting

The next Perl SIG meeting of UniForum Chicago will be:

        October 14th, 2003
	7:00pm to 9:00pm
        College of DuPage
        Building SRC, Rm 1450a
        22nd and Lambert
        Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599

Take 355 to Butterfield Rd (Rt 56).
Take Butterfield West to Lambert Rd, then Lambert Rd North to Circle Drive.
Turn right and look for Lot P (fka Lot 8) or the Faculty/Staff parking lot (just north of Lot P).
Walk to the SRC building, and enter through the south entryway.
Room 1450 is on the first floor, accessable through the cafeteria by walking through it to the far north end.

All UniForum Chicago general and SIG meetings are open to the public free of charge.

Contact Deborah Vose at (630) 829-7033 or vosede@lidp.com for additional information about the meeting.

For more information about UniForum Chicago contact nemec@xnet.com.