What is a blog?

The name blog comes from a contraction of “web log”. A blog is a place on the Internet where authors can publish their thoughts and opinions and invite feedback and discussion from others.

What was the purpose of this blog?

The Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog provided an opportunity to have an open conversation and shape the thinking about how to communicate the critical need for individual pandemic flu preparedness at home and within workplaces and communities.

Who were the contributors?

Contributors are national leaders from the healthcare, faith-based, business and community sectors.

The views expressed on the site by non-federal government bloggers and commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Federal Government.

May I participate in the conversation?

The blog ran for 5 weeks (May 22 - June 27,2007) and comments have been turned off. While the blog was active, it was open to the public for commenting. Comments were moderated according to our Comment Policy.

In what order do the posts appear on the blog?

Posts were added in reverse chronological order, with the newest post at the top of the home page. If you would like to find older posts, you can use the “previous post” function at the bottom of the page.

How can I find information on a specific topic?

You can use the search function to search all posts by keyword. You can also see all of the blog posts for each topic by clicking on the topic name in the right hand navigation bar. Once in a topic area, you can scroll between posts by clicking “previous post” or “next post”.

What if I want to see all of the posts by one author?

You can click on the “Posts” link under their photo on one of their posts or in their bio.

How can I share a post from this site?

Use the “Email this Post” link below the post to send a link to the post to a friend, family member or colleague.

What are the browser requirements for this blog?

This blog works best when viewed on Windows and Mac platforms with the following browsers:

• Windows PC (1024×768): Internet Explorer 6.x - 7.x, Firefox 1.5.x - 2.x
• Macintosh (1024×768): Firefox 1.5.x - 2.x, Safari 2.x

Site performance on other browsers may not be optimal. Free downloads of the newest versions of the Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari browsers are available online.

What is a Permalink?

A Permalink is a link to a blog post’s unique Web page.

What is a Trackback?

A Trackback is a link to a blog post’s unique web page which automatically notifies that blog that you have referenced it within your own post.

What does “Add to Technorati” mean?

By clicking on the link, you will let Technorati, a popular blog search engine, know that you like a blog post, which will potentially encourage others to read it as well. It will also make it easier to find if you want to do so in the future. You will need to set up a Technorati account if you do not have one already, which can be done at no cost.

What does “Add to del.icio.us” mean?

By clicking on the link, you will save the link to the post to del.icio.us, a popular social bookmarking site. By “tagging” it with “pandemicflu” or other relevant searchable tags, you will make it easier to find if you want to do so in the future and for others who are interested in the topic to find it as well. You will need to set up a del.icio.us account if you do not have one already, which can be done at no cost.

How do I use the RSS feed?

About RSS — RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an easy way to keep up with your favorite news and information. An RSS feed contains headlines, summaries and links to full news stories. If you click an RSS link, you will see XML (or eXtensible Markup Language) code in your browser. This is to be expected, since you do not view RSS content through a browser. You view the headlines through an RSS news reader (also called an RSS aggregator).

What are RSS Readers? — RSS news readers are small software programs or Web applications that aggregate RSS feeds and display the information. They allow you to scan headlines from hundreds of news sources in a central location.

Where Do I Get an RSS Reader? — A wide range of RSS readers are available from the Web. Most are free to use. Searching the popular search engines will give you a variety of RSS readers you can install.

How Do I Use This Feed? — The first step, as described below, is to choose an RSS reader. Each reader has a slightly different way of adding a new feed, but in most cases, here’s how it works: 1) Click on the link to the News Feed. 2) From your browser, copy the URL that appears in your Address Bar. 3) Paste that URL into the ‘Add New Channel’ section of the reader. You should be all set! The RSS feed will start to display and regularly update the headlines for you.

Where can I find more information about pandemic influenza?

Please visit www.pandemicflu.gov.