The popularity of blogs has grown remarkably in recent years. Using blogging tools, anyone can create their own personal web space, write what they like, and publish as often as they like.

Blogs can provide an excellent method of communicating. For example, a blog can be used to share personal news and family photographs with geographically distant family members, or can be used to join a group of people who share the same interests and hobbies. If used on an intranet, for example, blogs can provide an effective collaborative working environment allowing small groups of users to post comments, files and related links in a way that is easier than through email or discussion forums.

Above all, blogging can be a fun activity which has attracted a large number of users.

It’s possible that schools may want to consider blogs as a method of online publishing, perhaps creating class blogs, or using blogs creatively to support a specific school project.

It’s also possible for an organisation, such as a school, to install its own blog server (there are kits that can be downloaded free of charge from the internet) to provide blogspace for its own community. These would then be as public as the school wanted them to be - if the blog server were on an intranet, for example, they would be visible only to the users of that intranet.