In class Jim Groom kept saying just star your comments to keep track of them. I had no idea what he was talking about. Therefore, I also have no record of what I commented on the first half of the class. As you all know participation (commenting on others work) is 15% of the grade in DS106. I’m sure this was an easy concept for most, but for those of you just starting to take this class who may be like me, here’s a tutorial. If I had known this since day one it would have made it a lot easier for me, so hopefully this will make your lives easier!

Step One, Where to Go: go to http://www.google.com/reader

Step Two, Getting Started: log in to your existing account or create a new account

Step Three, The Basics:

In your google reader feed you will be able to read recent posts from the websites you have subscribed to. If you want to see posts from a specific site go to the left hand column under subscriptions and click on the site. You will now see new posts from only that site. If you want to see post from all sites you have subscribed to go to the left had column and press “All Items.” Now you are able to read posts from everyone you have subscribed to.

Step Four, Commenting:

In order to comment on someone elses work, you must click on the title of their blog post (usually blue). This will take you to that blog post on their website. From there you are able to comment on the post. Depending on how the owner of the site set up their website you may have to fill in some information in order to comment. Don’t worry, nothing is secret now a days anyway! once you have commented on another classmates work, leaving them with excellent feedback, return to google reader. You can do this by either pressing back or returning to the google reader tab depending on how your system operates.

Step Five, Tracking Comments:

This is the most important step so pay attention! In order to track comments simply press on the start next to the title of the post that you just commented on. This is right next to the blue words you just clicked on to view and comment on the post. Once you have stared the post it will turn yellow. This lets you know that the post has been successfully stared.

If you accidentally star the wrong post the solution is simple. You just click the star again and it goes back to white. The white start lets you know that the blog post is not currently stared.

Step Six, Finding Your Comments:

Now that your comments have been stared, finding them later will be easy. If you want to find you comments simply go the left hand column and select “Starred Items.” There will be all of the blog posts that you have commented on. To see you comments you just simply click on the title of the post (taking you to their website) and scroll down until you see your comment.

Commenting on Google Reader is both fun and easy!