Blogging made it to the cover of The Globe And Mail in an article by Graeme Smith titled, “Bloggers learn lesson: Don’t trash your boss”. The story, which ultimately is anecdotal and uninformative, tells about a woman fired from her job with the Nunavit Tourism agency when she posted pictures that were not complementary.
Much more interesting, and the lead article of the Educause Review, is an article by Stephen Downes on Educational Blogging (September/October 2004,†Volume 39, Number 5. p. 14-26.) This article has one of the best short histories and discussions of what blogging is that I have read, but you have to get past the opening section on school children using blogs for the meat. Downes gives a good list of educational uses.
A quote from Downes,
Despite obvious appearances, blogging isnít really about writing at all; thatís just the end point of the process, the outcome that occurs more or less naturally if everything else has been done right. Blogging is about, first, reading. But more important, it is about reading what is of interest to you: your culture, your community, your ideas. And it is about engaging with the content and with the authors of what you have readóreflecting, criticizing, questioning, reacting. If a student has nothing to blog about, it is not because he or she has nothing to write about or has a boring life. It is because the student has not yet stretched out to the larger world, has not yet learned to meaningfully engage in a community. (p. 25)
This issue of the Educause Review also has articles on wikis and games.