DO YOU BLOG?
The Internet is the most hype-prone creation in the history of mankind. Let any trend take hold on the Web, and soon it's the talk of news programs and magazines, or the foundation for yet another new economy. Anyone remember "push" technology? It was THE buzz for several months, then suddenly nobody cared any longer. Terms like B2B and P2P are on the lips of every Wall Street trader for a few weeks, then no one can remember what they stand for.
One recent Web trend, however, is as notable for its lack of hype as for the throngs of netizens who participate in it. It's called the Web log—or blog, for short—and it is quietly turning the Web into what everyone always thought it would become: a true medium for the masses. Blogs give anyone a place to voice an opinion, express a thought, explain something, and interact in very personal ways.
This article introduces Web logs and tells you how you can create one of your own.
WHAT'S A BLOG?An Internet purist might define a blog as a Web page, not too different from any other. After all, that's what it is. But the concept behind blogs is different from traditional Web pages.
As the term was originally coined, a Web log is a Web page that contains a frequently updated log of events. A Web master, for example, might create a Web log that registers transactions on his or her Web site, such as the number of hits per day, the most frequently visited pages, the files downloaded, and so on. If a Web site uses cookies to track information about its visitors, the results of that tracking might be collected in a Web log.
Today, however, Web logs have become more personalized…to the point that the term has a new meaning. A blog is still a frequently updated log, in the form of a Web page (or a collection of them), but individuals are creating and posting their own personal blogs by the thousands. Individual Web loggers—called bloggers—use them to speak out on every imaginable topic, to provide links to articles of interest, to publish their own writing and artwork, and (of course) to link to other blogs.
The result is an ever-growing network of blogs, numbering in the tens of thousands. A new type of aggregation Web site is popping up, too, where you can find dozens of blogs collected together. These sites often provide tools that enable visitors to create, post, and maintain their own blogs, link to content from other sites, and collaborate on projects.
WHERE CONTENT IS STILL KINGOn the surface, the concept of a daily online diary may seem boring, and some blogs are pretty dull. That's because many bloggers take the "log" concept to its extreme, literally cataloging their every thought, move, and emotion on a daily or hourly basis, for anyone to read.
Most bloggers, however, use their personal Web space more creatively, as a place to publish their writing (poetry is a very popular blog topic), drawings, cartoons, gossip, and other types of content. Some bloggers use their sites to collect information on news and current events, with a liberal sprinkling of commentary.
Blogs fall into two basic categories:
Personal. In personal blogs, you can find everything from the aforementioned diary-style entries and poetry to news and analysis of current events. Personal blogs can be very general in nature, covering the blogger's range of interests, or they can be very specific, focused on a single topic, event, or person.
Informational. Informational blogs attempt to share facts and information about a topic, such as computer programs or illnesses. As with personal blogs, informational Web logs can be very general or very specific in nature.
Of course, some informational blogs are very personal, and vice versa. There are no rules when it comes to creating a blog; every blogger is free to express his or her ideas in any way. As with literature and art, the blog's visitor is left to interpret the blog's ultimate meaning and value. In fact, many blogs encourage visitors to share their thoughts about the blog, posting them on the spot.
Regardless of their type, most blogs are filled with links to other blogs, as well as links to articles, newsgroups, discussion groups, and Web sites. The links usually relate to the blog's main theme, but may be categorized. A blog may present links alone, or the blogger may add comments or descriptions with each one. Sarcasm and cynicism reign supreme on many blogs, which is fine, but blog consumers should be careful about taking blog-based information too seriously; check it out instead of taking it at face value.
TOO COOL FOR HYPEOne of the most intriguing things about blogs and bloggers is the almost complete lack of hype surrounding them. They are seldom mentioned in news reports, despite the fact that blogs are rapidly growing in popularity and that blog-aggregation sites are springing up all over the Web.
The lack of media attention, however, is probably due to the fact that blogs are so non-commercial. No blog is likely to attract the attention of venture capitalists, and blogs don't provide the basis for any earth-shaking economic fads. In fact, bloggers generally shun commercialism. Most blogs do not feature advertising of any sort, lest their highly personal nature become diluted. Die-hard bloggers (like died-in-the-wool Usenet users) see banner ads, cookies, and other such e-business trappings as the downfall of individualism on the Web; their sites, conversely, are strictly a place where people can gather and share ideas and commentary without being besieged with commercial appeals.
Bloggers, too, don't seem to talk much about their online work. They seldom try to attract attention or draw visitors to their pages. The prevailing attitude among bloggers seems to be "I posted it. If people find it and want to read it, great. If not, that's fine."
This casual, hype-averse style is more than just attitude. It is helping to draw bloggers and visitors together, creating a sense of community that many feel is lacking from the Web. It also serves as a mantra for people who believe expression and ideas are more valuable than marketing and profits.
CHECK ONE OUT; CREATE ONE, IF YOU LIKEAs mentioned already, there are thousands of blogs to be found on the Web. The easiest way to check out some blogs is to visit an aggregation site like Blogger or visit some of the more well-rounded stand-alone blogs like ObscureStore or MemePool.
If you want to create a blog, you can go about it in a couple of ways. But first, remember this: blogs are less about technology than about expression. True, any blog is a collection of documents, formatted and tied together with HTML, and posted on a Web server. Like any other Web site or page, a blog has a URL and can feature components from plain text, to animations, to the latest cutting-edge Java applets. But that is less important than the information and ideas expressed in the blog.
You can create a blog just like any other Web page; get an HTML editor, create some pages, and find an ISP to post them. You can also use the tools provided by many free Web-space providers. At Blogger, for example, you can create your own pages from scratch, or you can use online templates to quickly set up a professionally-designed set of pages at no cost. Other providers, such as Yahoo! and Geocities, provide the same types of tools, but don't advertise them as being blog-specific. But hey, any site can be a blog, if that's what you want it to be.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
How was the term Web log originally used?
How are blogs more commonly used today?
What are the two main categories of blogs?
Why aren't blogs "hyped" very much?
How can you create a blog?
ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
As the term was originally coined, a Web log is a Web page that contains a frequently updated log of events.
Today, Web logs have become more personalized…to the point that the term has a new meaning. A blog is still a frequently updated log, in the form of a Web page (or a collection of them), but individuals are creating and posting their own personal blogs by the thousands. Individual Web loggers—called bloggers—use them to speak out on every imaginable topic, to provide links to articles of interest, to publish their own writing and artwork, and to link to other blogs.
The two main categories of blogs are personal blogs and informational blogs.
The lack of media attention is probably due to the fact that blogs are so non-commercial. No blog is likely to attract the attention of venture capitalists, and blogs don't provide the basis for any earth-shaking economic fads. In fact, bloggers generally shun commercialism. Most blogs do not feature advertising of any sort, lest their highly personal nature become diluted. Die-hard bloggers (like died-in-the-wool Usenet users) see banner ads, cookies, and other such e-business trappings as the downfall of individualism on the Web; their sites, conversely, are strictly a place where people can gather and share ideas and commentary without being doused with commercial appeals. Bloggers, too, don't seem to talk much about their online work. They seldom try to attract attention or draw visitors to their pages.
You can create a blog on your own, like a traditional Web page, by creating HTML documents and posting them on a Web server. You can also use free online tools provided by many Web-space providers, such as Blogger or Geocities.
CREATE a BLOG www.google.com/blogger
