Really, what is it?
Or, a log (coming from the word logbook, which was used to chart sea journeys) published on the web. What makes a blog a "blog?"
Chronology. As a type of logbook, the reader should be able to read past posts by the author and look forward to new posts. Blogs should be read regularly, over time.
Design. Blog authors are as consumed with the appearance of their text on screen as the actual content of their blog.
Personality. Blogs are written by and subject to the opinion of an individual.
Connection to the readers. Blogs should allow and encourage readers to make comments on the content.
The aspect of a blog is more of a medium (defined by the material and layout) than a genre (defined by content) as the medium allows users to publish simply what they choose, due to the personal quality of blogs. Blogs are so personal because they are so easy to maintain and develop over time, especially with the existence of Blog editors (such as Blogger.com)
To make a blog:
1) Choose a host or personal URL
2) Choose a template
3) Fill with content
(Writing + Connections/Links + Frequent updates = a recipe for success)
According to Rettberg, there are three major types of blogs:
A personal (diary) style blog, a filter blog, and a topic-driven blog.
Personal Blog study
Dooce was one of the first people to be fired (dooced) from her job for her blog content. She's a designer, mother, pet owner and blogs about daily life. She warns:
"Never write about work on the Internet unless your boss knows and sanctions the fact that YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WORK ON THE INTERNET."
Filter Blog study
Filter blogs record the writer's finds on the web. Kottke combines web finds and personal commentary/story as per his interests.
Topic Driven Blog study
Topic-driven blogs focus on various topics of the author's taste. They are sometimes run by a collaborative group. Topic-driven blogs prioritize upon commentary between posters and commentators. Dailykos is a political topic blog. Most blogs of this genre use quotes and links to back up arguments and promote discussion in the political forum.
History of Weblogs
1990: Tim Berners-Lee invents and implements the World Wide Web (the internet had existed for years prior and was used primarily for scientific communication).
1993: The WWW opens to the general public with Mosaic, which allowed embedded images for the first time. Many people begin to create personal web pages, but they were not meant to be updated often.
1994: People begin start online diaries. Justin Hall is one of the first, whose website is a massive web of links that was hand-coded until 2003.
1997: Jorn Barger coins the term weblog; people begin using links in their weblogs to build arguments.
1998: Open Diary launches free hosting/editing templates for blogs online for the first time.
1999: Peter Merholz shortens the word "weblog" to "blog"
1999: First free weblogging tool (Pitas) goes online, then Blogger later that year.
2002: Oxford English Dictionary defines the word "blog"
2007: Technorati tracks over 70 million blogs
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