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Note: You will need to register (set-up user name & password) at the Blog site to be able to post comments. Below and after a brief description of Blogs and how to use is a set of basic instructions for using the Blog site.

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What Is A Blog? A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. It significantly differs from a forums or newsgroups.

Some Blog Terms.

1. Blog. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log.

2. Blogging. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called blogging.

3. Blog Posts. Individual articles on a blog are called blog posts, posts, or entries.

4. Blogger. A person who posts these entries is called a blogger.

What Can Be Posted on a Blog? A blog comprises text, hypertext, images, and links (to other webpages and to video, audio, and other files. Posting is very simple and conventional.

What Do Blogs Discuss?

1. Almost Anything of Interest. Often blogs focus on a particular area of interest such as Washington, D.C.'s Political happenings. Some blogs discuss personal experiences - a type of electronic diary.

a. Personal Blog or Online Diary. These diaries are part of the daily lives of many teenagers and college students. Friends use blogs to communicate with each other.

b. Cultural Blog. These discuss music, sports, theater, other arts, and popular culture. They are among the most read blogs.

c. Topical Blog. These focus on a niche. For example, the Google Blog covers nothing but news about Google. Local blogs are a type of topical blog - Neighborhood reporting is ideal for blogging as Locals are the best witnesses of local events.

d. Business Blog. Both amateur and professional investors use blogs to share stock tips. Business blogs are used to promote as well as to defame businesses, to argue economic concepts, to disseminate information, and more.

e. Science Blog. Scientists have mixed feelings about these blogs - on one hand, they are an excellent way to disseminate and discuss data on the other hand, this informal means of publication (form of bypassing the peer review system) could damage the credibility of science.

f. Political Blog. These are among the most common forms of blogs. Most political blogs are news driven, and as such political bloggers will link to articles from news web sites, often adding their own comments as well. Other political blogs heavily feature original commentary, with occasional hyperlinks to back up the blogger's talking points.

2. The Commitment to Excellence Blog. The purpose of this blog is to supplement and enhance communication among Masons currently in the Commitment to Excellence (CE) process (1st, 2nd, & 3d Levels all included). This Blog is a communications site that allows both CE Lodge Participants, CE Facilitators, and CE Sponsors to post their observations about CE. Here Best Practices might be shared as well as sticky challenges and general words of advice. With many minds sharing their experiences, more education about CE can be produces and, hopefully, gleaned.

The Commitment to Excellence Blog is a companion site to the Commitment to Excellence website links hosted by The Masonic Builders (www.masonicbuilders.org) . The Blog is hosted by BLOGGER - Blogspot, a product of Google - at www.blogger.com. At this site, you can set up a user name and password to be eligible to discuss on this Blog or any others that exit at the BLOGGER site. More below on How to set up your username and password.

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How Do Blogs Differ from Familiar Web Based Communication?

1. How Blogs Differ from Web Sites. A blog has certain attributes that distinguish it from a standard web page:

a. It allows for easy creation of new pages.

b. It allows for easy filtering of content for various presentations: by date, category, author, or other attributes.

c. It allows the administrator (Richard McNeill of The Masonic Builders Blog) to invite and add other authors, whose permission and access are easily managed.

2. How Blogs Differ from Forums or Newsgroups.

a. Only the author or authoring group can create new subjects for discussion on a blog.

b. The blog owners or editors will initiate and frame discussion steering the situation to their specifications.

3. Blogs and Digital Media.

a. Videoblogging. While straight text and hyperlinks dominate today's blogs, some blogs emphasize images - such as web comics and photoblogs.

b. Podcasting. Some textual blogs link to audio files (podcasting). For example an audio niche of podcasting is the MP3blog, which specializes in posting music of specific types.

c. Moblog. A shortened term for Mobile blog - these blogs can be accessed and posted to from mobile cell phones and other devices such as a PDA (personal digital assistant). Moblogs may require special software.

I Want to Begin Communicating on The Commitment to Excellence Blog

Step One - Go to BLOGGER Web Site. You will be asked to create:

1. User Name and Password.

2. Create a Personal Blog for Yourself - Name it anything you want. This site will either be active or not active - depends on you.

3. Set up a Personal Profile. You answer only questions that you wish to -some are mandatory so that there is an identity of who is posting to various blogs - control for mischief making.

Another advantage of the personal profile is that your stated interests and other material supplied will connect you with the power of the Google Search Engine - You can search for other Bloggers having similar interests - for example, if you have an interest in sailing, the search will identify all the other registered (at the BLOGGER web site) who are interested in sailing.

Step Two - You Now Have An Identity & Can Access Any Blog at BLOGGER.

1. Directly Access Masonic Builders' Blog. Anytime you want to go directly to The Masonic Builders' Blog, type URL: http://www.commitment-to-excellence.blogspot.com into your Internet Browser. You will be at the Blog Site.

2. Other Blogs at BLOGGER. From The Masonic Builders' Blog site you might want to search for other.

Step Three - Read the Blog Posting and Then Comment If You Wish

1. Postings are Current & Archived. When you arrive at the desired Blog, you will see current postings and hyperlinks to Archived (past) postings. Click appropriately as needed and read

2. Respond to Comments If You Wish. Scroll to bottom of page (text that you are reading) - click on Comment. If you don't have user name or password, you will be prompted to set up an account.

If you simply want to read commentary, do so. There is no requirement to post anything. The Masonic Builders' Blog intends to provide information of interest to Masonic Leaders. You may read for education only or decide to post your own comments. We hope you contribute to the total knowledge base.

I'm Ready To Begin

Directly Take Me to The Commitment to Excellence Blog site - Click Here OR

Register Me At BLOGGER - Click Here

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