News & Events
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003
beyond the hype - What's in a weblog?
By Brian Lamb, Office of Learning Technology
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Brian Lamb |
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The predictions made by prophets of the weblog are dizzying. Depending on who is making the claim (usually a weblogger), weblogs herald a communication revolution. They hold the potential to transform personal and public expression, reshape political participation and render traditional journalism obsolete. They’re on their way to becoming the next great “killer app” for organizational knowledge management.
Do you want a weblog?
Contact Brian at brian.lamb@ubc.ca.
Hosting, technical and moral support are all available. | |
Weblogs are increasingly touted for their potential to foster online interaction and resource sharing in the field of education. They’re also gaining attention as an alternative means to delivering instruction online.
Effectively, a weblog allows any person with an Internet connection to publish to the Web. Weblogs are a series of “posts” on a webpage, collections of hyperlinks and personal observations, usually organized chronologically with the newest content at the top.
The weblogger enters content using an Internet browser, with no web authoring tools or knowledge of HTML required. The weblog software handles formatting and organization. The technology behind most weblog systems isn’t complicated, or even particularly innovative. Their power lies in this simplicity. This ease of use is matched by versatility.
But to be honest, there’s not much new about weblogs. They’ve been around for a couple of years now. The torrent of hype has already generated a backlash. In a recent BBC News article, technology analyst Bill Thompson suggests weblogs are already “losing their appeal”, and wonders “how many days can someone keep on posting to their LiveJournal site, or visiting Blogger to add more details about their cat's mysterious illness?”
Trying to define what weblogs are, and how they might be used is a bit like explaining how the Internet might be useful – the tool is a means to support whatever work is being done. With literally millions of weblogs worldwide, and thousands of new ones being launched every day, the range of approaches and applications is truly staggering. A few selected examples:
Personal Knowledge Management
D’Arcy Norman uses his Learning Commons Weblog to update the community on developments of the CAREO learning object repository system, for which he is the lead developer. More than merely a collection of announcements, however, the page offers insight into the process of building educational software. D’Arcy also treats his weblog as an online brain, gathering resources for future reference (taking advantage of his weblog’s internal search engine), floating ideas to his readers for feedback, and responding to comments from CAREO users.
Personal portfolio
In a sense, weblogs are an evolution of the “personal page” that most web surfers are familiar with. Their chronological structure and facility for quick updates, however, promotes an element of reflection that is lacking from many static homepages, and can over time accumulate small pieces of casual work into an impressive online document. Weblogs combine the benefits of a personal workspace with demonstration of that work, and as such are especially useful to students. Arizona’s Maricopa Community College maintains a page supporting the use of weblogs as ePortfolios.
For Instructors
Weblogs are rapidly gaining favour with teachers who want a public forum that offers a space for announcements, references to resources, and a forum for informal discussion (supported by the “comment” functions of most weblog software). And although a distributed network of teacher and student weblogs cannot match the functionality of a course management system, “courseblogs” have also become increasingly popular. Randy Brown of the Learn Relearn Network links to a number of interesting applications.
Do you want to weblog?
This short overview only begins to touch on how weblogs help the individual tap the communicative power of the Internet. For a more comprehensive set of links, see the companion resource page.
But like most pleasures, weblogs are difficult to explain without personal experience. If you would like to take your own weblog out for a spin, contact me. Hosting, technical and moral support are all available.
My weblog: http://www.reusability.org/blogs/brian
More Information
Students, faculty and staff in the Faculty of Science can also contact Cyprien Lomas, Research Associate in the Science Centre for Learning and Teaching, for assistance and more information about weblogs.
About UBC's e-Strategy
UBC's e-Strategy enables students, faculty and staff to excel in one of the world's leading universities by enhancing learning, research and community through leading-edge technology initiatives.
e-Strategy is a guiding framework to align UBC's technology initiatives with the university's strategic goals. Activities include project development, information and resource sharing, and setting long terms goals for technology at UBC.
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