What is a web log (‘blog)? Ten years ago it was “What is a web site?”
A web log is a blog (also a ‘blog) it’s an on-line journal, a diary, a captian’s log. The next question is then “Why?” followed by a response of “Why Not? and the conversation goes downhill from there.
It gets grouped in with The Matrix and TiVo:
No one can be told what The Matrix is.
No one can be told what TiVo is.
No one can be told what blogging is.
I’m not kidding, it took me the longest time to ”get it“ although part of my issue was I can do most of this already (the long way) so it wasn’t clicking. But once you get it….
It’s so many things at once and it’s a little different than what people are used to; or it’s what they are used to and they just can’t see it. I’ve talked about some of this (all of this?) before but I’m here today since I’ve found a few good articles and wanted to mention them:
The Fundamental Elements of Weblogging.
When Blogging Goes Bad: A Cautionary Tale About Blogs…
Weblogs: a history and perspective (circa 2000)
Formation of Norms in a Blog Community
A few more things. Depending on the ‘blog:
Readers can post comments
Other bloggers (who are readers) can easily link back to one of your entries.
Some ‘blogs can have multiple authors (although I’d say most have just one).
Topics can be sorted by category