Blogs are currently receiving a great deal of attention in the popular media. In some cases blogs are being called "the next killer application," and "a replacement for email." While a portion of this attention is warranted, in the end a blog is simply a website. But blogs may also represent an empowering technology ? a step toward "leveling the (publishing) playing field." Blogs can certainly reduce the technical threshold for publishing on the web. Personal web publishing, as blogging is sometimes called, means that individual citizens can reach potentially a worldwide audience via the Internet. This article focuses on: professional development through blogging and syndication, using blogs in scholarship, and instructional blogging.