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WEBLOG

DEFINITION:“Blogs are frequently updated web pages on whichauthors post short comments about news items,interesting websites, their thoughts and more.”

Blogs are part of a nanopublishing revolution that allows individuals toexpress themselves to the world. Blogs are easy to create, easy to maintainand fun to read.

“A weblog (or 'blog') can be thought of as an online journal that an individual can continuously updatewith his or her own words, ideas, and thoughtsthrough software that enables one to easily doso.”WHAT IS A WEBLOG OR BLOG?...AN INTRODUCTION

A weblog, or “blog” for short, is a kind of website or a part of awebsite. It is usually, but not always, run by a single person and they publishbits of writing on the weblog fairly frequently — maybe a few times eachday, or once a day, or less often. These bits of writing, perhaps called“entries” or “posts,” generally appear on the front page of the weblog in1

reverse chronological order, that is, with the newest entry at the top of thepage, with older entries progressively further down. Entries of a certain ageoften disappear from the front page but all entries are usually archived onseparate pages, perhaps organized by date or topic, for posterity.Entries are usually fairly short, maybe a sentence or a paragraph, butcan be much longer. Entries might be written about other websites orentries on other websites, including links to them, but they might also bethe author’s thoughts on events, politics, their own life… anything. There isa grey area between weblogs and journals/diaries which are always morepersonal and tend not to link to other websites so much. The most oftencited history of weblogs isRebecca Blood’s.A weblog (or 'blog') can be thought of as an online journal that anindividual can continuously update with his or her own words, ideas, andthoughts through software that enables one to easily do so. Unlike astandard website, weblog entries are made by typing directly into thebrowser and with the click of a button are instantly published on theinternet. All basic document formatting, like spacing, bold, italics,underline, and creating links, requires no knowledge of HTML or FTP (FileTransfer Protocol), so that anyone who can type, copy, and paste can createand maintain a weblog. However, with a very basic knowledge of HTML,users can extend their ability to customize the layout of their blog and evenadd pictures to enhance its attractiveness. Similar to an open journal, the2

accumulation of writings and other content creates both a record of learningand a resource for others. Furthermore, a weblog is interactive, in the sensethat readers can respond to any given entry with a comment and eventhreaded discussions can take place depending on the software chosen.

Blogs - a short history:

In the early days of the Internet, each new page was a cause forcelebration. The early pioneers watched in excitement as the network grew,and they wanted to keep people informed about this growth. In 1992,Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee created the firstwhat’s New page.It hadhotlinks to the new pages springing up on the Net.As the Internet grew and the World Wide Web came about, otherprogrammers created hand-coded pages with their recommendations forsurfing the Net – they “filtered” the Net. Justin Hall started hisfilter login1994. In 1998, Jorn Barger coined the term “weblog.”Soon, says weblogger and authorRebecca Blood, these “link-drivensites” were very popular, and webloggers became a community. Each weblogincluded a list of similar filter sites.In 1999, websitesBloggerandPitasbegan to offer a simpler way to create a weblog. These hosted services allowed any person to easily sign up,create a blog, and write numerous postings. All without having to knowHTML.3