I'm going through my notes on weblogs and the academy. The introduction of a course on weblogs this fall at UC-Berkeley has been cited as the sign that blogs are being co-opted by the establishment (and, says one of the course's professors, Paul Grabowicz, conversely a sign that the academy has lost its mind).

Rich Gordon, professor of new media at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, says the academy is just playing catch-up:


What's happened is a couple years ago, a few people had begun weblogging, but the mainstream press and society didn't realize it was going on. The only people aware of it was the techie community. ... All of the suden in the past 6-12 mo the mainstram media, and society have discovered weblogging, and along with that is a huge proliferation in the number of weblogs.