What is a blog? What is blogging? Is it a noun? A verb? Getting a handle on these terms will make writing and talking about blogs (the noun) more efficient by eliminating some of the confusion that has evolved along the way.
Dr. Jill Walker (
jill/txt) contributed
a definition for weblog to the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory and posted it on her blog. She includes the basics (reverse chronological, variety of types and purposes, etc.) and hints at some of the collaborative potential of blogs, but comes short of a definition. To me, it's more of a description. Perhaps for something new and evloving, like blogs, we must begin with descriptions in order to distill the key aspects of the blog. There should also be a distinction between form and function. Will Richardson (
Weblogg-ed) writes extensively on the meaning and definition of a blog. He mentions that we have been blogging (reading, thinking, synthesizing, writing, collaborating, connecting) long before the current digital manifestation of the weblog.
Rebecca Blood (author of
The Weblog Handbook) provides a
comprehensive history of the digital blog, tracing its roots to early computer programmers and technology enthusiasts who used blogs as a way to filter the rapidly growing amount of information available through the Internet. From these modest beginnings, this user-friendly tool for blogging (as a verb) has become the go-to place for politics, marketing, electronics, shopping, gossip, and opinions on practically any topic you can imagine.
My focus is on how teachers use blogs to teach reading, thinking, writing, collaborating, connecting, and synthesizing. Scott McLeod (
Dangerously Irrelevant) does a fantastic job articulating the landscape of the Edublogosphere. He is currently spotlighting teacher blogs - check out his
New Voices series.
