Plant Services - March 2008 - (Page 41)

WEB HUNTER Tooting horns Blogs put news and opinions where they can inspire your response o you remember the first time you connected a modem to your 8088 processor and tied into some bulletin board system? Later, you might have gained access to Usenet, a topic covered in this column in November 1997. Well, the latest and greatest in mass communication is the blog. It’s a system by which people with an opinion or news, plus time on their hands, can put their thoughts out there to elicit a reaction from opinionated people, who are invited to critique and respond. Then, those responses appear below the original posting, thus starting a thread of communication that unfolds right there on your monitor. Based on empirical evidence, highly opinionated people seem to favor blogs that focus on politics and on all things high-tech. If nothing else, the world of blogs clearly shows that whatever your particular combination of views and beliefs might be, D you’ll find. It explains the fundamental differences between a blog and a traditional Web site. If you catch blog fever, you’ll not be content merely reading something posted by strangers. Brain’s piece also shows you how easy it is to establish a brand-new blog and publish your own words of wisdom for the assembled masses out there. If you go this route, let me know. We’ve got a few readers who might want to hear about your efforts. Developing best practices If you catch blog fever, you’ll not be content merely reading something posted by strangers. they aren’t universally accepted. It’s just as easy to find a blog with content you endorse as it is to find one that sometimes causes you severe psychological discomfort – even damage. As you read on, remember that the blogs cited here represent the bloggers’ opinions and not necessarily those of the staff at Plant Services magazine. With that disclaimer out of the way, join me as I wade into that digital morass we call the Web in search of practical, zero-cost, noncommercial, registration-free resources that might get you thinking in a new way. Remember, we search the Web so you don’t have to. Blogging 101 The best researchers perform a literature search to get the lay of the land and learn something from those who’ve already attempted to cover the territory. A good introduction to the bloggy world is appropriate here. Consider a generally reliable Web site, http://computer.howstuffworks.com/blog. htm, which contains Marshall Brain’s “How Blogs Work,” a concise tutorial that can serve as a user’s guide for any blog March 2008 This citation is an example of a blog that might be of use in your plant. The content seems to be dedicated to the proposition that forklift accidents occur primarily because of human error. The author, who goes by the pseudonym of “health care trainer,” has been posting material each month on an irregular basis since December 2005. Each entry is relatively short and could be used as the basis of an in-house material-handling training program. If you’re interested in such things, roll your mouse to http://forklift-safety-train ing.blogspot.com and aim for “Archives,” which you’ll find just below the “Previous posts” section. Clicking on one of the dates takes you to the several posts made during that month. I didn’t see any feedback or comments from readers, so I conclude that the postings are entirely correct as they stand, nobody reads them or they can’t be located online very easily. I suspect it’s the latter. It appears here because a quirky Web search I ran uncovered its existence. Another example of a blog that has a connection to the world of maintenance is found at http://wordpress.com/tag/ industrial-maintenance. Of the more than a dozen posts found there, focus on the bits by someone named Bill (the others are a bit too commercial for the purposes of this column). Bill talks about NEMA ratings, control panels and motors in a terse, jargon-free manner. In addition to letting you post a response to each of his information bites, there’s a link you can use to get more information. Those links all track back to Jim Gaylord, president of Rantro Industrial Controls Ltd., in Mallorytown, Ontario. Blogs are anywhere Another facet of the maintenance arena that should be of interest to the plant professional is automation. And who 41 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://forklift-safety-training.blogspot.com http://forklift-safety-training.blogspot.com http://wordpress.com/tag/industrial-maintenance http://wordpress.com/tag/industrial-maintenance http://computer.howstuffworks.com/blog.htm http://computer.howstuffworks.com/blog.htm http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Plant Services - March 2008

Plant Services - March 2008 Contents From The Editor Letters The PS Files Up and Running Crisis Corner What Works Asset Manager: Enterprise Thinking Technology Toolbox: Hydrogen In Action Cover Story: Get Real Electrical: Reliable Distribution Power Transmission: When the Belt Breaks Web Hunter: Tooting Horns In the Trenches Product Picks Classifieds Fast Facts Energy Expert: Energy versus Sustainability

Plant Services - March 2008

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