For those not familiar with the wild world of the South Dakota blogosphere, this mysterious e-world might seem daunting, but it's actually very exciting.

"Blog" is short for "web log," or a kind of Internet journal. Blog subjects range from cooking to politics to a simple diary of someone's personal experiences. Perhaps the most popular type is the political blog. These may feature the exclusive opinions of the owner, articles from "citizen journalists," or a combination thereof.

Some blogs allow the reader to submit comments about the blog posts while others don't. Often you will see a contributor on one blog post an opinion about what's been posted by a contributor on another blog.

Blogs afford the opportunity for frank public dialogue that is usually seen only in the "letters to the editor" segment of the media. And bloggers often make important discoveries that escape the mainstream media.

Political blogs ascended into mainstream dialogue back in 2004 during the presidential election campaign. Most people will recall the "Memo-gate" controversy over the dubious memo heralded by CBS and Dan Rather as disparaging President Bush's military service. Bloggers took a closer look and exposed the memo as a fake created on Microsoft Word - dated long before Microsoft Word was developed.

The "blogosphere" (a community of blogs) in South Dakota was also gaining in strength that year. Todd Epp, a Harrisburg lawyer who publishes the liberal SD Watch blog, was one of the first to interview Jeff Gannon of Talon News, who reported Tom Daschle's Washington D.C. citizenship; Gannon was later found to have pictures of himself naked appearing on a homosexual Web site.

Pat Powers, who lives in Brookings and has been active in Republican politics for years, runs the conservative South Dakota War College blog. Powers has been ahead of the curve on a number of breaking stories, including the incident concerning state Sen. Dan Sutton last year.

Sparks sometimes fly between the liberal Clean Cut Kid blog and conservative Sibby Online. Chad Schuldt, who publishes CCK, has worked for Sens. Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle in the past.

Steve Sibson of Mitchell, publishing Sibby Online, is also very active and can often be found in the halls and chambers of the Capitol building during the legislative session.

"Sibby" says he started blogging in 2003 because he realized there was a lot going on that the public wasn't being informed about.

Even the two biggest newspapers in South Dakota, the Rapid City Journal and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, have blogs. They're called "Mount Blogmore" and "Voices," respectively. Both invite reader comments.

Several other blogs of various stripes round out the South Dakota blogosphere, but these six are a sample of what's available to intrepid news consumers.

Tempers can get heated during discussions on the blogs, but unvarnished debate is in the best tradition of our free society. In our great state, we're all entitled to our opinions, but the rule of law and representative democracy will have the final say.

Bob Ellis lives and works in Rapid City. Write to bobellis@dakotavoice.com.