Live blogging technology allows the user or a team of producers to create a live stream of text commentary and other information such as images and video. This media information can be pre-prepared in media libraries to load into the stream at the appropriate moment or can be posted on the fly. The live blog is made available to others in a viewing pane embedded in a website or blog post. The readers do not need to register or be a member of anything. Access is open to all and two-way features such as instant messaging and polls are also available.

Live blogging allows people to publish and share their responses to live events such as sports, media, or conferences. For instance, one service called ScribbleLive suggests a ‘two-screen experience’ for media stackers (people who use multiple media simultaneously) whereby friends participate online while watching their favourite television show. One friend becomes the host live blogger facilitating group gossip and a multimedia commentary ‘enriched media experience’ during the television broadcast.

In addition to covering events, the technology can also be used to make an educational event such as a lecture, so that in effect it becomes virtual classroom technology allowing a dispersed audience to be ‘present’ online. It could also be used to enhance or augment a classroom session such as a lecture, seminar or lab where internet access is available. As part of an experiment with alternatives to traditional lectures, I have been using Articulate and Slideshare to publish online lectures as slideshows with audio. In addition, and I think more effectively, I have also been trying the CoverItLive live blogging tool as a virtual classroom technology.

I haven’t reflected upon live blogging as a communication tool in terms of how to communicate with different types of information such as text, image, audio, video and so on. But I do like the instant publishing and replay functions of live blogging and the ease with which guests can take part through polls and instant messaging. I have found this really does encourage participation and engagement with the lecture content. I have quite enjoyed using this format and I wonder how participation can be increased even further. Are there any other tools that could be run alongside the live blog or ways of allowing the audience to contribute more content? For me it involved quite a lot of preparation in terms of writing the lecture and putting it into Cover It Live mode, but so far I am encouraged by the experience to consider how best to bring together multimedia commentary and information with the more participatory features such as polling and messaging to create a really valuable virtual lecture event.