What is a research weblog?

There are many kinds of weblogs (personal diaries, creative writing, tech blogs, news blogs, war blogs), but in the context of this course we are only dealing with research blogs. In the context we’re using them they could be defined as networked research journals.

A research weblog is quite a few things

• a Content Management System (CMS)• a collection of annotated resources• a discourse community• a reflective critical space• a public writing and thinking

What makes up a blog?

• regular writing • noting (through commentary and links) other online resources• noting (through commentary and links) other weblogs• writing ‘out’ of ideas, problems, solutions, and questions

What a blog isn’t

A blog is not the same as a diary or a journal.

It is

public
networked (interlinked)
dynamic (constantly updated)
internally and externally reflective i.e. not (only) argumentative or factual
informal but critical in style, i.e. midway between academic discourse (as in your essay) and interpersonal discourse (as in chatting with/emailing friends)

Of course, the best way to learn what an effective research blog is all about is to visit some and to develop your own.

Why use a blog?

Different people blog for quite different reasons. A research blog documents your research, your ideas and activities. It is informal, but by writing out your ideas you give them more purchase. It also helps you to connect and engage in reflective dialogue with people thinking and writing about similar topics and issues (i.e. your colleagues in the course, and quite possibly far beyond the course)

This post courtesy of Jean Burgess.
N.B. Some of the material used in this section has been adapted from Adrian Miles' introduction to research blogging, available here. Thanks, Adrian.