What is blogs.ed?

Updated

blogs.ed (blogs.ed.ac.uk) is the University of Edinburgh's academic blogging service for staff and students. It hosts staff and student blogs for the university's "connected learning community," and qualifying University members can create their own blog instantly. The site currently reports 9,652 blogs and 12,358 users, with a public directory of blogs available to browse.

Who it's for and what you can do

The service is aimed at people within the University community who want to write, teach, or share work in public. From the homepage, the main actions are:

  • Create a blog — qualifying University members can set one up immediately.
  • Log in — existing bloggers sign in using EASE, the University's authentication system.
  • Get help — guidance on creating or updating a blog and on using WordPress.
  • Browse and search — view all public blogs or search across the whole network, or search within a single blog.

If you're unsure whether you qualify, the "Get your own blog" route is the place to check; the site states that qualifying members can create one instantly but doesn't spell out eligibility criteria on the homepage.

What kind of content lives there

The blogs are individual and varied rather than a single editorial voice. Recent posts on the homepage at the time of writing included:

  • An introduction to a learning and teaching theme on doctoral supervision, edited by an academic development staff member.
  • A student's learning log about Python libraries (pandas, scikit-learn) for an audio machine learning course.
  • A Swiss-American student's reflections on discovering Edinburgh while studying biological sciences.
  • A long-running interview-style project post.

This mix illustrates the service's purpose: course-related reflection, teaching initiatives, student life writing, and personal research projects all sit side by side.

An important caveat about the content

The site states plainly that views expressed in hosted media are those of the contributors and should not be taken as approved or endorsed by the University, nor do they necessarily reflect the University's views on any particular issue. If you're citing a blogs.ed post in academic or professional work, treat it as an individual's writing, not an official University statement.

Staying informed

The service maintains a news and announcements section for updates about the Academic Blogging Service. Contributors and interested staff can also join a public Microsoft Teams team or sign up for a mailing list to keep in touch.

Practical takeaways

  • If you're a University member wanting to blog: start at the "Create a blog" link and sign in with EASE if you already have one.
  • If you're a reader: use the network-wide search or the public blog directory to find material by topic or author.
  • If you're citing content: attribute it to the individual author and note that it isn't an official University position.
  • If you need technical help: the "Get help" section covers WordPress setup and updates.