A publicly accessible web journal by an individual, recording personal experiences, commentaries, and other content, that is regularly added to and maintained. Entries (referred to as ‘postings’) are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently.

Other definitions:

Do all blogs look the same?

Blogs typically come in three "flavours" — text only, graphic & text, and video.

Text blog example ¹

Blog by Simon Holt, read the full blog here.

Graphic and text blog example ²

Blog from the website of Lesmurdie Senior High School, WA. Read the full blog here:

Video blog example ³

Video Blog from TeacherTube:

This is an excellent example of an educator utilising the video log format. Teacher R.Bosch, describes daily classroom activities, including a short video and describes student’s ecosystems 'vodcast' project which will can be veiwed on his WetPaint site.

Using the video blog format in a Rock Eisteddfod context, video logs could be used to create updates on how preparations for a Rock Eisteddfod performance are progressing, for the purpose of updating and informing other educators, students/teachers, and the wider school community.

Why start a Blog?

There are four main reasons why somebody would think about setting a blog according to the website “Cash Money Life”. The reasons are:

Informational – sharing news, information, photos, videos
Professional – enhancing your business, as a career journal, to display your writing skills, market yourself or your business
Personal – personal or family blog, thoughts and musings, as a family photo or video journal
As a business – internet marketing, consulting, brand development .⁴

Obviously blogging has educational applications, according Cochrane (2007, p. 3) the largest application of blogs in the education arena is that ‘blogging can be utilised as an online reflective journal.’ ⁵

How can I set up a blog?

There are two ways to set up a blog:

Create an online webpage/website that is regularly updated with blog entries.
Create a blog via blog creation/hosting site.

Popular free online Blog creators/hosts are:

An example of a free blog set up for this project: http://webtwo4u.wordpress.com

Visit Cyber Guide's Blogs

See Cyber Guide's Blogs in this site and our E-Rock student site. Take a look now to get more tips on Web 2.0 for learning.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REFERENCES

1. Holt, S. (2009). Sydney Schools ...you rock! [BLOG]. Retrieved 2 April, 2009, from: http://www.northside.whereilive.com.au/blogs/story/sydneys-schools-you-rock/

2. Morton, A. (2008). Rock Eisteddfod [BLOG]. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from:
http://www.lesmurdie.wa.edu.au/cgi-bin/ladisplay4.pl?learningarea=Arts#home

3. Bosch, R. (2007). Daily video log entry [VBLOG]. Retrieved from TeacherTube April 2, 2009, from: http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=I083+title=Daily_Video_Log_Entry___April_25__2007.

4. Patrick (no initial or surname supplied in document) (2009). How to start a blog. Cash Money Life website, retrieved 5 April, 2009, from:

http://www.cashmoneylife.com/2009/02/06/how-to-start-a-blog-for-fun-or-profit/

5. Cochrane, T. (2007). Mobile Blogging: A guide for Educators, Conference paper presented at Mlearn October 2007, retrieved 5 April, 2009, from:

http://dspace.edna.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2150/42018/1/Mobile+Blogging.pdf

Blogs 4 U

BLOGS 4U

BLOG (A contraction of the term Weblog)

How can I set up a blog?