Reading on any level can certainly boost education, but many underestimate the educational value of reading blogs. This is in part due to the inconsistency regarding blogs, as well as bloggersÑthose who write the blogs. Essentially anyone can have their own blog; this is why when choosing which ones to follow it’s important to do the proper research. Blogs can range from any topic and do not require an expert level of knowledge in any field. Anyone from a high school student to a Nobel Prize winner can have their own blog on any topic. By finding material that is written by professionals in their field you are certain to get the most out of the blog and can supplement and boost your education.
Blogs
Blogs emerged in the late 90’s with the advent of web publishing tools that allowed for the online publication of content by non-technical users. Non-technical users refers to the fact that before these web publishing tools anyone who wanted to blog needed knowledge of HTML and FTP in order to publish anything on the web. The word “blog” itself comes from the contraction of the two words web log, as it is related to content that is on the web and consists of posts. Originally posts usually appeared in a reverse chronological order, however now they can appear in any order that is desired. Early blogs were authored by single individuals, now they can be written by a vast number of authors and guest posting has become highly popular. Now, media outlets, think tanks, universities, and interest groups are just a few examples of groups that use a large pool of authors to make up their blog networks. What makes a blog different from a static page is that the reader has the ability to interact with the blogger. This interaction is usually done through comments and allows the blog to almost become a social network.
Blog Topics
Blogs typically act as a diary of sorts and allow for the blogger to voice their thoughts and opinions about subjects that are of interest to them. However, recently blogs have changed to cover any topic in anyway. Many educational blogs feature professionals within a field educating their readership on current events. For example, when the Higgs-Boson was discovered there was a lot of technical information, and unless someone was a novice in the study of physics the discovery was difficult to understand. Bloggers specializing in the field of physics took to the web and put the information into laymen terms. Some even created a “vlog”, which is a video weblog to help explain the history and discovery of the Higgs-Boson. This allowed for a wider array of individuals to understand something that under normal circumstances would only be understood by professionals.
Educational Blogs
Blogs are a great educational tool when it comes to supplementing any field that a better understanding is desired. However, it’s important to know what to look for when finding the best ones out there. The best blogs that offer an educational boost are those that are connected with universities and have a professional as the author or as one of the guest bloggers. Another good way to look into the authenticity of the blog is to take a look at the credentials of the posts author. A highly specific blog post should feature an author with credentials in that field. Most educational blogs will be associated with a university or association and will be part of the website.
The World Wide Web offers much in the realm of educational tools and information. Reading is a great way to boost education, but it’s important that the material and content that is being read is well researched and has professional backing. Due to the nature of blog networks today it’s important to properly research the authors and the networks themselves to allow for the most education experience available.
Author Bio: Ryan Ayers is a writer who creates informative articles in relation to education. In this article, he describe the educational benefits of reading blogs and aims to encourage further study with an online masters in special education.
