Do-It-Yourself Broadcasting: Writing Weblogs in a Knowledge Society

The practice of weblogging--or "blogging," as it is popularly known--has gone through a series of growth spurts during the past four years. At present, a weblog is best defined as "a website that is updated frequently, with new material posted at the top of the page" (Blood, 2002b). Two recent developments, in particular, provide a background for this paper. These are the acquisition of Blogger.com by the search engine giant, Google, and the increasingly easy access to free and user-friendly blogging software and server host space, such that anyone can operate their own "blog" for the price of accessing an Internet service and the time and creative energy it takes to establish and maintain a blog. This paper briefly describes blogging as an online practice that takes numerous forms and considers two or three of the windows it provides on contemporary educational practice. The paper begins with a brief overview of setting up a basic blog and distinguishes some different types of blogs in terms of their "look" and "feel." It then discusses blogging in relation to some ideas about "powerful writing" that have been more or less influential in recent years and considers some limits of metacognitivist educational applications in the light of what the paper says. Finally, the paper considers the notion of blogs as "backup brains" in relation to social practices mediated by writing. (Contains 6 figures and 16 references.) (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 1 Do -ItYourself Broadcasting: Writing Weblogs in a Knowledge Society PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy.