Open education

# 6.4.1 Blogs

Blogs were a relatively early technology adopted by a few practitioners in education. The informal nature of the communication that takes place in blogs, and the removal of the filter for publishing, meant they appealed to some educators. Ideas could be shared easily and, because blogs tend to link to each other and users comment on each other’s blogs, they soon gave rise to a community of ‘edubloggers’.

This type of exchange seemed more personal and intimate than the formal publication routes, and the publication route more immediate. This made blogs a useful medium for experimenting, sharing ideas and connecting with a global network of peers.

Vanessa Dennen (2009) studied a number of academic bloggers, and argues that they use blogs to construct an online identity, which forms a significant part of their overall academic identity. She highlights six tools used in constructing an identity on a blog:

1. Name and blog title
2. Profiles
3. Post content
4. Voice
5. Affiliations
6. Visual design.

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