Over the years, I have been a little hesitant to write on my own blog about blogging and my work at the Times, given that I spend my day and sometimes night hours talking about blogs and online strategies here at The New York Times and with other friends in the publishing arts.

In the last few months, though, I have been taking steps towards organizing my thoughts on blogging and online publishing, and writing about them in a more structured fashion. Starting in late September, my colleague, Kathleen McElroy, and I will be teaching an online course for The New York Times titled, “How to Start a Blog”. This course is meant to serve two purposes: To give the uninitiated a fresh look at the anatomy, social and literary functions of a blog – both from the reader’s and writer’s perspective — and to help that person start a new, focused blog from scratch.

We will start out by looking at how people read blogs, and we will try to make you familiar with the common language that makes up the larger web. In the second part of the course, we will turn you into a publisher and give you the tools you’ll need to start blogging and building a community of your own.

The 2-week online class is $90 and is hosted by The New York Times Knowledge Network.

This class is in no way a guide to the secrets and strategies of The New York Times blogs, but rather a patient and methodical look at how blogs operate and are read, paired with the basic tools for starting and maintaining blog – which, I guess, is a strategy of its own.

If you are looking for a more in-depth course, then you might look at the Hyperlocal Blogging course that Mary Ann Giordano will be teaching starting in October. This class will cover the fundamentals of community journalism and local reporting to help you boot up a hyperlocal blog of your own.

Registration closes on September 19th. Feel free to leave any questions about the course in the comments below, and I will do my best to address them.