Tim Bray (cited in Smith 2003) defines the weblog as 'a conversation between a person and the world'. The blog provided the hitherto relatively isolated individual with a means of reaching a far greater readership, and some see this as remaining core to its use in the educational context. For example, Ferdig and Trammell (cited in Cameron and Anderson 2006) state that blogging enables 'the world to grade students and provide encouragement or feedback on their writings'.
The advantage of such an approach lies in the sense of an unknown audience, which focuses writing and demands the development of an academic voice (Smith 2003). Cameron and Anderson (2006), while questioning whether other students in the course group might constitute a 'real audience', cite Godwin-Jones (2003) who comments that 'self-publishing encourages ownership and responsibility on the part of students, who may be more thoughtful (in content and structure) if they know they are writing for a real or infinite audience.' The same paper makes reference to Cohen and Riel (1989) who 'reported that the quality of their students' work improved when preparing it for distribution beyond their class'. Dreyfus (2001) believes that risk is essential to higher levels of learning and has criticised online education for removing such risk, yet asking students to publish their own ideas and discoveries relating to course topics might be seen as a means to reintroduce this and so challenge students in a similar way to face to face discussion.
The disadvantage, however, is that the concept of work being accessible to all may create doubt and apprehension amongst learners, who after all are in the process of acquiring knowledge rather than publishing as experts. This could result in a reluctance to publicly explore new ideas or try out controversial or uncertain viewpoints. This level of access increases the possibility of flaming or of what Cameron and Anderson (2006) refer to as 'exchanges that may negatively impact learner confidence'.