By: Bill Keogan, University Libraries
April 04, 2005
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a weblog or blog
(as this sort of website has become known) as, “A frequently
updated web site consisting of personal observations, excerpts from
other sources, etc. typically run by a single person, and usually
with hyperlinks from other sites; an online journal or
diary”. Although the OED lists an instance of a
weblog being mentioned in print as early as 1997, they have come
into the popular consciousness in the last couple of
years. Material found in blogs ranges from inane occasional
thoughts of individuals with seemingly too much time on their
hands, to sophisticated commentaries about current events, which
include hyperlinks to articles in newspapers and magazines.
Such blogs as Wonkette
and Talking Points
Memo have come to be significant sources for those who get
their news online. Other sites that have blog-like elements,
such as Arts and Letters
Daily and the Drudge Report, have also
become important sources for people trying to keep up with current
events. The New York Times recently had an
article about the growing number of blogs. The Times reported
that in recent months it was bloggers that brought to light the
problems with the documents on which Dan Rather’s report about
George W. Bush’s National Guard service was based. More
recently, the article noted, pressure from bloggers has forced the
resignations of CNN’s chief news executive and White House
reporter.
Other than when one of these bloggers rises to the level of
being mentioned in a major newspaper or magazine, how is influence
measured in the blogosphere? One unofficial measure is how
often a particular blog is mentioned by other bloggers. This
is called blogrolling. A number of blogs have become popular
enough to have advertisers place paid ads on them. Some
marketers have also begun sending review copies of books and even
new camera models to certain bloggers in the hope of creating a
buzz. While a few bloggers may be motivated by mercenary
concerns, many of the more serious minded types began blogging
“because we couldn’t say what we wanted to say elsewhere,” as
Wonkette’s Ana Marie Cox suggested recently on the Charlie Rose
Show (2/15/05—transcript available through Lexis
Nexis). She added a bit later that she liked “this ability to
post immediately no matter what you’re thinking,” and to “get
immediate feedback.” On the same show, Andrew Sullivan, a
prominent blogger and former editor of the New Republic
said blogging is “literally thinking out loud.” This may be
looked upon as a mixed blessing by some academics used to doing
extensive research and mulling over an issue for days or weeks
before putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard.
Who blogs?
An article in the December 2004 issue of the Communications of
the ACM reported that 3 out of 4 bloggers were between the
ages of 16 and 24. That still may be true, though the
astounding growth in the number of bloggers makes it difficult to
say anything definite about demographics here. Anecdotally,
two St. John’s faculty members to whom I spoke about blogging and
who expressed interest in the topic, said that, while they did not
have blogs, their children did. The website Technorati, which claims to
track nearly 6.9 million blogs, reports that, “A new weblog is
created every 7.4 seconds, which means there are about 12,000 new
blogs a day. Bloggers – people who write weblogs – update
their weblogs regularly; there are about 275,000 posts daily, or
about 10,800 blog updates an hour.” It should be noted that, as
with other websites that people have created, many blogs have been
abandoned. It is common to find the latest entry was written months
ago.
Academic Blogs
It is not surprising that blogs have found their way into the field
of higher education. Many blogs by people in the academic
community contain wry commentary on college life (e.g. http://academicgame.blogspot.com/). On
the other hand, the Chronicle of Higher Education and
other educational journals also have had articles about classroom
uses for weblogs. Some teachers have had their students create
blogs to: expose students to the technology; encourage them to
write; and provide an easy vehicle for other students and perhaps
even people not in the class to comment on student writing. It
could be noted that one could do some of these same things in a
more private setting via email or by using WebCT or the “groups”
module on St. John’s Central. Another site that provides an
example of how blogs might be used for educational purposes is one
entitled the MHC
Bounty: A Journal at Sea. This blog chronicles the activities
of a group of students taking a course in Piloting Seamanship and
Tall Ship Handling. Such a site creates a permanent record of
these students’ experiences and might even garner some good
publicity for the university or the department offering this
course. One could envision St. John’s students creating blogs
for Discover New York classes or for service learning
experiences. According to the Chronicle of Higher
Education, a number of colleges have encouraged some of their
current students to create journals about college life, which can
be shown to perspective students (“How the Web Can Speak to
Perspective Students”, Chronicle 4/30/04). Blogs have also
been used to discuss such issues as plagiarism and distance
education.
Blogging – How to
As the numbers noted above might indicate, anyone with an Internet
connection can have a blog. One needs to know little more than
how to log onto a website to start blogging. There are a
number of companies that provide free blog space. One of these
is Blogger.com. By following a few simple steps, one an be blogging
away in minutes. The next question is: where will one find the
time to continue blogging? The CTL Newsletter would be
interested in hearing from members of the St. John’s community
about their personal experiences with blogging.
Caveat Blogger
As some people have found out, blogging can have its
hazards. As ABC news reported on
February 9, 2005, a number of bloggers have lost their jobs
because they have posted entries their employers deemed
inappropriate. ABC reported that one woman who was fired had
not even mentioned her company’s name nor did she mention her own
name or the names of people with whom she worked. Yet she was
let go after her supervisors read the woman’s negative comments
about many of her co-workers. The ABC reporter pointed out
that the Internet is not as anonymous as some people believe, and
that blogging is “a new and increasingly prevalent cause for
termination.”
Missed the Wave?
If you feel that you have missed the blog wave, maybe
jumping right to the “next big thing” is the answer. On
February 18 of this year, the New York Times had an
article entitled “Tired of TiVo? Beyond Blogs? Podcasts Are
Here.” Podcasts? Now there’s a whole other story.
Some Blogs by/about Academics
http://academicgame.blogspot.com/
http://www.erinoconnor.org/
http://littleprofessor.typepad.com/the_little_professor/
http://maplestreet.blogs.com/trying/
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/
http://infavorofthinking.blogspot.com/
http://www.cheekyprof.com/
http://learningcurves.blogspot.com/
http://cavlec.yarinareth.net/
http://wildwilliam.blogspot.com/
http://www.bigarmwoman.com/
http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/
http://chronicle.com/jobs/blogs.htm/
http://rhetorica.net/professors_who_blog.htm
http://blog-bib.blogspot.com/
Blogs By St. John’s University Law School
Faculty
International Law and
Politics
http://lawofnations.blogspot.com/
Catholic Legal Theory
http://www.mirrorofjustice.com/
Reprinted by permission of Dr. Maura Flannery, Director of the
Center for Teaching and Learning. The original publication may
be viewed in the March 2005 edition of the CTL
Newsletter.