Blogging
The word "Blog" defined
The word blog came from the word weblog or web log which was first used by G. Raikundalia & M. Rees, two lecturers from Bond University on the Gold Coast, Australia at a conference on August 14, 1995. They were discussing “a Web browser access to various meeting document information, such as minutes, tabled documents, reports and document indexes. Applications are being developed to take standard electronic meeting log files, post process them in a variety of ways, and generate a series of indexes and summary files. These files are formatted in HTML and exploit hyperlinks to the full in order to relate the different types of information” (Source 1). More generally, blogs are frequently updated jouranl enteries made by individuals that are listed in reverse chronological order (Source 4).
Common Features of Blogs
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Headline: Each post has a headline or title to tell you what it’s about.
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Blog post: The main text or the article, sometimes with photos or videos.
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Permalink: A web address that will bring you to that particular blog post. Short for “permanent link.”
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Comments: A forum that runs below each blog post, allowing readers to give their own opinion on the post. Bloggers can turn comments on or off, or can filter them to keep out abusive commentary or spam. (I lay out some possible ways to moderate online forums here.)
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Trackback: A way to show other blogs that have linked to a particular blog post.
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RSS feed: A news feed that allows you to subscribe to a blog, thereby getting headlines or full text from the blog in your RSS news reader or personalized news page such as My Yahoo or Google Homepage. You can learn more about RSS here.
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Blogroll: This is a kind of shout-out to other blogs that the blogger likes or recommends. It’s a simple list of links to other blogs that runs in the sidebar of a blog.
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Bio or About page: Explanatory page that explains who the blogger is, what the blog is about, and how to contact the blogger.
(Source 4)
A Brief History of Blogging
In 1994, Nathan Hall created his own homepage containing links and reviews of other sites. He later started a journal that was accessible through a table of contents on the site. In the journal, Hall chronicles his everyday life and arranges entries in chronological order. This is the beginning of what many people today consider blogging.
Hall was followed by Dave Winer in 1996 that kept a journal on the 24 Hours of Democracy Project. Winer, who was the head of the Userland Company, began selling a blogging software program called Radio Userland. This program was the first of its kind to help enable individuals to set up web blogs. In 1997 Winer launched Scripting News, which is still currently running, making it one of the longest active web blogs on the net.
In 1999 there were 23 known web blog sites listed with the Infosift directory serviced by Jesse James Garrett. This number would soon explode thanks to the creation of the first web blog portal during that year by Brigitte Eaton. The Eatonweb Portal was based upon daily entries people made. Pyra also launched the free Blogger blogging service which made it even easier for individuals to set up blogs. At the same time, Peter Merholz announced that he would no longer use the term web blog but would instead refer to it as wee-blog. The wee- was later dropped altogether in favor of the shortened term blog.
The blogs at this time contained many links with some commentary and essays written by the authors. Mostly the authors were trying to redirect users to sites that they felt were worthy of attention. Individuals making these blogs were usually the computer literate. This format changed after the invention of programs like Blogger. People were now using blogs as journals and were often updated several times a day. The links shown on these new bloggers’ pages would send the user to another related blog (Source 4).
The Blogging Phenomenon
Today, Blogs are one of the most used features on the internet. There are blogs dedicated to every subject from celebrity gossip to eating disorders. In September of 2007 there were over 103 million blogs on the web. They are now being used to connect different types of media including music, videos, and photography.
Blogs have become a cultural phenomenon because they offer a simple, cheap way for anyone with an Internet connection to start their own global publication. The result is that the spheres of journalism, politics and business — to name a few — have been changed inexorably by the rise of expert bloggers who offer alternative voices that hadn’t been heard previously (Source 4).
Timeline for Blogging
January 1994
Swarthmore student Justin Hall creates first blog ever, Links.net.
December 1997
Online diarist Jorn Barger coins the term “Weblog” for “logging the Web.”
April 1999
Programmer Peter Merholz shortens “Weblog” to “blog.”
August 1999
Blogger rolls out the first popular, free blog-creation service.
January 2000
Boing Boing is born.
July 2000
AndrewSullivan.com launches.
February 2002
Heather Armstrong is fired for discussing her job on her blog, Dooce. “Dooced” becomes a verb: “Fired for blogging.”
August 2002
Nick Denton launches Gizmodo, the first in what will become a blog empire. Blogads launches, the first broker of blog advertising.
December 2002
Talking Points Memo highlights Trent Lott’s racially charged comments; thirteen days later, Lott resigns from his post as Senate majority leader.
December 2002
Gawker launches, igniting the gossip-blog boom.
March 2003
“Salam Pax,” an anonymous Iraqi blogger, gains worldwide audience during the Iraq war.
June 2003
Google launches AdSense, matching ads to blog content.
August 2003
The first avalanche of ads on political blogs.
September 2003
Jason Calacanis founds Weblogs, Inc., which eventually grows into a portfolio of 85 blogs.
January 2004
Denton launches Wonkette.
March 2004
Calacanis poaches Gizmodo writer Peter Rojas from Denton. Denton proclaims himself “royally shafted” on his personal blog.
December 2004
Merriam-Webster declares “blog” the “Word of the Year.”
January 2005
Study finds that 32 million Americans read blogs.
May 2005
The Huffington Post launches.
October 2005
Calacanis sells his blogs to AOL for $25 million.
December 2005
An estimated $100 million worth of blog ads are sold this year.
January 2006
Time leases Andrew Sullivan’s blog, adding it to its Website.
February 2006
The Huffington Post surges to become fourth most-linked-to blog.
(Source 2)
Setting Up A Blog
We have provided links to several sites that will assist in individuals creating their own blog.
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/
http://wordpress.com/
https://www.blogger.com/start
https://www.typepade.com
Group members
- Ella Beale
- Amanda Hamilton
- Kathryn Jones
Sources
Source 1 http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
Source 2 http://nymag.com/news/media/15971/
Source 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
Source 4 http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/05/digging_deeperyour_guide_to_bl.html
Drafts
Keep your drafts here so you can refer to earlier versions.
Draft 1
Draft 2
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