The article, "Moving to the Public: Weblogs in the Writing Classroom" by .

             Charles Lowe of Purdue University, and Terra Williams from Arizona State .

             University explores the world and future possibilities of Weblogs. The authors also critique a variety of current popular Weblogs.

             According to the authors, the Web has turned the notion of a diary inside out, in that "weblogs are public diaries" (Lowe). As weblogs become increasingly popular, it is likely that the "neat line we draw between our public and private selves in the real world .

             will continue to erode, grain by grain" (Lowe). .

             The authors point out that private print journals are easily replaced with weblogs, and that although weblogs are public, there are free tools available such as Blogger, that can be used for private expressive writing. Students simply choose 'no' when Blogger asks if they want a public blog site, thereby their site's location is secret and shared only with the teacher, thus ensuring privacy while enjoying the freedom to express personal information electronically. Before weblogs, teachers were encouraged to "extend the principles behind the dialogue journal to peer dialogue journals, where working in pairs or groups of three, students share journal entries" (Lowe). Peer dialogue journals are like weblogs, in that they can provide students "with the social interaction and motivation to .

             extend their writing" that is not available through private journal writing (Lowe).

             As more institutions integrate student blogging into the curriculum, the authors see a future in which classes within and among institutions will interact through the use of weblogs.