Now here is something to ponder, perhaps if you are feeling bored with Christmas period TV or the endless magazine puzzles we seem to get at this time of year.

Everyone knows that finding good information on the internet is like finding a needle in a haystack, right? In fact, it's worse than that because when you find a needle at least you know it's a needle, as opposed to something masquerading as a needle; you don't have to go looking for objective proof that it's a needle.

So why do so many "edubloggers" think that the concept of blogrolls, which are lists of blogs that subscribers to a blog subscribe to, and similar devices (such as, in effect, shared favourites) are so wonderful?
(Incidentally, an edublogger is someone who blogs about education. The "world" of educational blogging is usually referred to as the "edublogosphere" - as opposed to the blogosphere, which is what the rest of the blogging world inhabits. Come on, please keep up at the back!)

I can see the (superficial) attraction of having many more potential sources of information, but if finding good information is like finding a needle in a haystack, what is the point of increasing the size of the haystack?

This article was first published on 9 December 2005

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