• Can be fun, engaging, addicting.
• On the other hand, if the writer intends to build an audience and become a part of the online discourse, weblogs require a commitment that is not for everyone.
• Making more writing public online opens up the teacher/researcher to more criticism which may certainly affect tenure review and promotion. An alternative way of looking at this, though, is to consider that bloggers have less freedom than might at first be imagined: they must make professional audience considerations when blogging, just as whenever writing publicly.
• I hope that some people attending this presentation will take the opportunity made possible by blogging this text and continue the discussion, either here or on their own weblogs.
• See what other academics have to say about why they blog over at Crooked Timber.
• See also the other presentations from this panel session at 4C's, Clancy Ratliff's Whose Voices Get Heard? Gender Politics in the Blogosphere and Terra Williams' Community and Individual Weblogs: the 'Write' Combination for Composition Classes
  .

Return to the beginning

• Blog-City -- Free integrated blog
  software and hosting. An alternative to Blogger for those that want to try blogging.
• bloghosts -- Offers inexpensive rates
  for hosting blogs and provides a GUI-based interface for installing various
  applications such as Movable Type, WordPress, and Drupal.
• Blogger -- Established in 1999, Blogger is largely responsible for opening blogging to everyone. Still probably the most popular weblog software
  for beginners or those interested in experimenting with weblogs, Blogger offers
  free hosting. No installation required. However, Blogger lacks some of the features available with other
  weblog packages and many serious bloggers quickly outgrow it.
• Bloglines -- A web-based RSS
  news reader service. Registration is free.
• Drupal -- Drupal is best described as a full-featured
  content management system/portal that can be configured for a wide variety of website
  configurations. Can be used for an individual weblog (this
  site), a community weblog (see Kairosnews),
  or online course site with community posting and individual weblog space (see
  Terra William's Online ENC 1142 -- Writing
  Short Fiction class). However, the learning curve for administration and site
  setup is much steeper than for weblog-only applications such as MovableType and
  Wordpress.
• MovableType -- Probably the most
  popular weblog software among seasoned bloggers, MovableType offers all the
  common features of weblogs. Sofware is free to download and use (although not open source) and well-supported.
  MovableType or WordPress (mentioned below) are some of the best options for academic bloggers less likely to use the more
  advanced capabilities of Drupal or other full-featured content management
  systems.
• OpenSoureHost -- Website hosting
  service which provides free installation of any open source application listed
  at opensoureCMS (where cyberdash
  is hosted).
• SharpReader -- Windows client RSS
  news reader that you install and run from your desktop.
• TypePad -- Pay hosting service provided by Six Apart, the makers of Movable Type, offering the convenience of Blogger's hosting, but with the power of Movable Type. Probably the simplest,
  best all around option for those interested in taking up blogging seriously
  without the inclination to work with a more traditional website hosting service.
• WordPress -- An open source alternative
  to MovableType for those wanting a blog application that is less difficult to
  implement than Drupal yet more robust than Blogger.

Next: Some Final Thoughts

• 2River (Richard Long)
• blogologie (John Logie)
• changelog @ tengrrl.com
  (Traci Gardner)
• the chutry experiment (Chuck Tyron)
• Collin vs Blog (Collin Brooke)
• CultureCat: Rhetoric and Feminism(Clancy
  Ratliff)
• cyberdash (Charlie Lowe)
• datacloud (Johndan
  Johnson-Eilola)
• Dr. B's Blog! (Samantha
  Blackmon)
• Earth Wide Moth (Derek Mueller)
• Got Moxie? (Joe Moxley)
• IT: Instructional Technology (Lisa Spangenberg)
• Jocalo's Blog (John Lovas)
• Literacy Weblog (Dennis Jerz)
• making contact (cindy)
• .Markzilla (Mark Crane)
• Mister B.S. (Mikael Royer Botha-Shor)
• My Memex (Laurie Johnson)
• Pullman's Blog (George Pullman)
• The Rhetorica Network (Andrew Cline)
• richrice.com
• Steven D. Krause's Official Blog
• Stupid Undergrounds
  (Jenny Edbauer)
• this Public Address 3.0 (Jeff Ward)
• vitia (Mike Edwards)
• Weblogs in Higher Education (Ken Smith)
• Weeblog (Stephanie Holinka)
• whateverdesire (Byron
  Hawk)
• The Where Project (Tim Lindgren).
• writingfly (Terra Williams)

Example Community Blog Sites

• Computers and Composition Weblog
• eBN
• Kairosnews

Next: Software and Hosts

• Hyperlinking
• RSS
• Comments
• Referrers
• Trackback
• Blogrolls

Content Management Systems Features

• Date driven display and archiving
• RSS & RSS readers
• Searchable database
• Indexing posts by categories

Next: Example Blogs

• Can be seen as a commonplace book or expert's notebook.
• Through blog-as-filter concept, acts as a growing webliography of online resources.
• Faster dissemination of knowledge than print publication cycle.
• Encourages an expanded dialogue and building on knowledge quicker than through traditional publication cycles.
• Establishes an early publishing record for the origination of ideas.
• Opens discipline-specific discourse to other disciplines, inviting interdisciplinary
  knowledge making.
• Opens the academic knowledge making process to the public.
• Expands range of material online for a particular subject area, creating a public resource for those that might have limited or no access to traditional scholarly publications.
• Useful for soliciting research assistance from fellow scholars and practitioners.
• Useful as source material for producing more formal writing for peer-reviewed
  publication.
• Can build ethos as a researcher and scholar.
• Opportunity for entrance into network within a discipline for new scholars.
• Facilitates and makes more apparent the emergence of new fields of study.
• Can stimulate discussion on professional and social issues outside of a scholar's
  major research interest, discussion which may contribute to social change.
• Allows practioners who might not be involved in peer-reviewed scholarly
  publishing to enter discussion and contribute to knowledge development.

Next: Features

• Easy self-publishing tool available to anyone with Internet access.
• Enables publishing of snippets, less developed ideas, or drafts of works
  in progress.
• A narrative of the development of a writer's ideas and memes which can make the invention process more visible.
• Informal writing. Can be playful or conversational in tone.
• Foregrounds the intertextuality of writing.
• Invites/encourages peer response through comment postings on site and the posts of others on their weblogs.
• Favors a collaborative, social constructionist epistemology in which writing is less of a solitary act.
• As a journal which can receive feedback and response, can make keeping a
  journal more engaging and encourages daily writing.
• Does not have to be conceived of as additional work. Writing teachers can share texts that they are or should be writing already.
• Allows expression of the personal alongside academic interests.
• Can be used to provide an example of the teacher-as-writer to students.

Next: Researcher Tool and Publishing Medium