what is a blog?

A blog or weblog is a web site that contains posts published in reverse chronological order. Some call this an "easy web site" because the software is simple to set up and use, and allows for comments about posts, emailing posts, archiving posts, links, photos, information about the blog owner, etc. Please explore some of the blog described below. If you would like to set up a blog, there are suggestions for free and pay blog services.

encouraging educators to blog - motivations for educators to take up blogging

how to create a blog

• Some university have blogging software available for faculty use. Check with your IT department.
• Google Blogger - a free, well-designed, customizable, easy to use blogging service that lets you use Google's server for your blog (like Educational Equity, Politics, and Policy in Texas) or put your blog on your own home page (like feminist geek blog about blogs).
• There are other free blogs that you can find by going to Google and searching for "free blogs". This site only recommends free software that has been tested personally. Check back for more recommendations.

blogs to explore

History New Network Blogs - Several George Mason University blogs. "Among the many duties we assume are these: To expose politicians who misrepresent history. To point out bogus analogies. To deflate beguiling myths. To remind Americans of the irony of history. To put events in context. To remind us all of the complexity of history." Example of rich academic multiple blog site with excellent index. (archived from 2003)

Historiological Notes: Industrialisation and 19th century feminism - Kristine Brorson's personal weblog, Oslo, Sweden. Interesting content, format, and links to scholarly resources. (archived from August 2004)

The Diary of Samuel Pepys - presentation of the diaries of the renowned 17th century diarist in a daily weblog format. A new entry written by Pepys is published each day; 1 January 1660 was published on 1 January 2003. Amazing site.

Educational Equity, Politics, and Policy in Texas - posts on accountability, testing, dropouts, bilingual education, school finance, race, class, and gender issues with some additional focus at the national level. A Latina and Latino focus is also provided, reflecting Angela Valenzuela's work as a scholar and researcher of Texas education policy and politics. (archived from October 2004)

World History Blog - about different aspects of world history and teaching history. Was maintained by historian Miland Brown. Interesting, and demonstrates the commercial potential of blogs. (archive from December 2003 leads to the current website.

feminist blogs - independent alternatives to malestream media - "community of weblogs by self-identified feminists, women’s liberationists, womanists, and pro-feminist men." (Note: the archive from September 2004 now leads to https://www.doulike.com/blog/relationship/feminist-blogs/)

Of historic interest - Can a university "force disclosure of force disclosure of the names of bloggers behind a site they say ridicules and harasses students and faculty members?" See Cloaked in Cyberspace for more about the issue, and read the Take Back Our Campus blog.

The Edublog Awards - the "Eddies" - explore award-winning scholarly and education focused bloggers. Women are consciously represented, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your perspective..... Read "Women’s edublog participation - To make sure the contribution of women edubloggers is recognised?" (through 2015. Now an insecure website...)

Webby (Best of the Web) Award-winning Blogs - cutting-edge commercial blogs that illustrate various aspects of the medium's potential.

learn more about blogs

• Globe of Blogs - extensive searchable, international blog database.
• Also see blogcatalog - blog directory listing hundreds of blogs by type. (tried to link to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine; domain is for sale page aways comes up.)