Blogs

toc =The History of Blogs=

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997. This term was then officially shortened to "blog" by Peter Merholz in 1999. It was at this same time that James Garrett announced that there were already 23 existing blogs ([|Riley, Duncan: A Short History of Blogs]). Since that time blogs have exploded online, generating a fair amount of controversy in their wake. Large companies have adopted the technology for their employees; [|Microsoft], for instance, has a blogging system publicly viewable from their website; [|Google] too has created a blog.

=What is a Blog?=

A blog is short for the term [|web log], which is an online version of a diary or journal written in chronological order. Blogs can range from particular topics such as politics, recent events, or science, as a means of imparting knowledge or they can be used as a means of personal expression similar to a diary entry. Blogs usually consist of a combination of words and images and can also link to web sites and other blogs, which can help form an online network or online community. Blogs in more recent times are being used for promoting companies and products. For example, retail clothing stores such as [|Stylexchange] has their own blog on MySpace.com or Macromedia's Blog is used to release new information about products and any other new information.

Blogs are frequently updated websites in reverse chronological order. Blogs have grown in popularity at an alarming rate since the year 2000. Blogging allows individuals to publish their material and distribute it on the Internet. The person writing the blog can decide whether or not a blog can be read by all or read by a selected few. As well blogs can also be updated and written by a group of people. Maintaining a good blog is difficult as it requires a lot of attention and time.

Recent innovations that brought together multimedia blogs; such as [|Vox]. These blogs now incorporate all the useful features into one domain. Vox can support audio, video, photos, book selection and much more. This highlights the continuous development of blogs.

Types of Blogs Organized by Medium
= =
 * podcasting - blogs focused on audio sound
 * There is a large number of [|examples of podcasts]
 * Vlogs - blogs focused on videos
 * Photoblog - a website whose primary content is photographs displayed in a log format usually divided by some sort of categories.

=Advantages of Having a Blog=

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 * Frequently updated
 * Require little technical skills (WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get)
 * Strong personal tone
 * Variety of styles
 * Many topics
 * Time sequenced
 * Chronological
 * Discuss and Inform
 * Single page
 * Informal in tone
 * Keep in touch with family and friends
 * Record and document any aspect of life the user chooses
 * "Travel blogs" to keep track of your trips
 * Promote companies and products
 * Mass communication
 * links to other blogs
 * Could be useful tool for educational purposes.
 * Social Networking / Community

=Disadvantages of Having a Blog=

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 * Trackable: blogs can be traced by anyone (ie: your boss at work) and this might inturrupt and influence things one would say on "their own" blog
 * Blogs are hard to manage, anyone with internet acces can post on your board, people may post bad or false content, go off topic or slander against other members of the board
 * can get messy when the blogger has little technical skills, therefore visitors may not be interested
 * If not used properly could became yet another addiction in our world already full of addictions.

=Blogs in Education=

Blogs have found their way into educational institutions. The University of Toronto has several unofficial blogs, such as the one used by the [|law department]. Just as in other situations, educational blogs allow greater communication and the highlighting and extention of important events and ideas.

=Controversy=

Since their inception blogs have become more than just online diaries. Many people write in them as if they were a private diary, which often leads to explosive revalations to readers. A recent bank robber and self-proclaimed anti-US revolutionary under house arrest is currently [|blogging his side of things] from his home computer. Of particular interest are corperate blogs and political blogs, as well as news blogs. There have been numerous reports of businesses firing employees after finding out that they were releasing inflamatory comments on the internal workings of the company, or their personal dislikes for certain employees/bosses. In the political realm, several blogs have revealed multiple behind-the-scenes scoops; in one recent case a previously anti-gay republican came out of the closet after being outed by a former lover on the lover's blog. Senator Foley, a powerful force in the fight against pedophilia, quit office after [|a blog] posted several inappropriate messages he had sent to underage children. Because they lend themselves to the sharing of possibly sensative information, blogs have found a new role in reporting stories that many media outlets overlook and ignore, leading to confrontation on numerous occasions. Some look to blogs as the [|revival of investigative journalism], in a time when many news sources have turned to 'just the facts' reporting.

=The following websites offer Blog spaces=

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 * [|Blogger]
 * [|DeadJournal]
 * [|LiveJournal]
 * [|MySpace]
 * [|Google Blog]
 * [|Xanga]
 * [|BlogsCanada]
 * [|Open Diary]
 * [|Vox]

=Blog Spaces Online=

[|Engadget] There are news about the different types of technology that will be released.

[|theCancerblog]

[|autoblog] This is a automobile blog.

[|styledash] This is a fashion blog.

[|Hypebeast] This is a blog about the current street trends for men.

=Examples of Blog Editing Applications=


 * [|Writely]

=Celebrity Bloggers=

Popular bloggers can attract as many as 2 million hits per day. For example, celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton claims to be the source for Hollywood dish posting on gossip, juicy celebrity rumors, celeb scandals, and the latest celebrity gossip. What attracts people to this site is the fact that information is posted throughout the day. Viewers get up to the minute news on celebrities as opposed to having to wait a day, or a week for tabloids. Also, postings are not censored by the editors and people are able to give instant feedback via mail or forum. = = =References=

http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/06/a-short-history-of-blogging/ (October 28, 2006) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog http://www.adobe.com/devnet/logged_in/ekrimen_blogs.html http://wiki.photoblogs.org/wiki/What_is_a_Photoblog