Blogging
A weblog – a "blog" for short – is a web page with short articles – "posts" – listed in chronological order of entry. There are lots of tools for creating blogs, but they all offer users a simple way to publish and update a Web site regularly without knowing very much about programming. This simplicity made blogging a popular means of creating public diaries or journals.
But diaries are sold with locks for a specific reason: Having complete strangers read your innermost thoughts and opinions isn't always a good thing. Blogging has morphed into a form of citizen journalism – anyone can post information about information about any subject, any time.
There are millions of blogs already and each day brings thousands more. Many will be dormant just as quickly as they go up. Some will never get beyond a close circle of friends. But a few will reach the celebrated heights of blogdom (no, that’s probably not a word, but it sounds nice). For some editors the key to success is providing a steady stream of headlines, such as The Drudge Report. Others, such as Instapundit, find fame in the political arena. Those tend to be the blogs the mainstream media (MSM in blog parlance) follow.
While some blogs have gained respect and influence, others have highlighted the limitations of the medium. The blog Dooce became famous when Heather Armstrong, the blog’s creator, was fired for publishing gossip about her employer. She now has her own catch phrase: To be "dooced" is to be fired for writing a blog.
But the vast majority of bloggers are not famous or unemployed. Some are hobbyists (think crafts blogs, scrapbooking blogs and knitting blogs), fans (think sports blogs and music blogs) or pop culture enthusiasts (think gossip blogs and celebrity blogs). Is there a place for you in the blogosphere? Of course. First, let's examine what a blog looks like.
Unless you're already familiar with blogs (and if you are, you're probably not reading this, anyway), the structure and format might seem slightly foreign. For every post, or item put on a blog, there are some basic elements – dateline, headline, byline. But you might also encounter permalink, comments and trackbacks. So consider this a blog primer.
This one's pretty standard: The headline is the line that appears at the top of the post, usually in bold type. If there is more than one post per day, a date will appear at the top of the last post for the day.
The body is the actual post. Sometimes there is no text at all, just pictures, audio or video. Some bloggers, in order to keep the length of the main page at a minimum, break off the post at a certain world limit. A link to "read more" will take readers to the full post.
Footer
The footer contains most of the interactive elements of the blog, allowing
readers to communicate with the author and each other:
• Time
Most blogs have a time noted at the bottom of each post – this is the
time that the post was published onto the page.
• Permalink
This link represents a permanent link (hence "permalink") to
that particular post. Posts generally fall off the page as they are archived,
so one way to retain a permanent reference to a specific post is to use
the permalink. It will either be labeled outright or linked to the time
of the post.
• Author
The byline is most important in community blogs, where multiple contributors
are writing to the same blog. The author's name or nickname will generally
be linked to an e-mail address, profile page, or archive of previous posts.
• E-mail link
A link to a contact e-mail address can be found attached to the author's
name or to a symbol.
• Comments
Say you see a particularly funny, inspired or infuriating post. You could
send an e-mail to the author, or you could post your admiration/complaint
for all the world to see. The comment link is like a bulletin board –
anyone can read your comment, and anyone can reply. On some blogs, the
comment section is the most entertaining feature.
• Trackbacks
The beauty of blogs is that it is really easy to reference another blog
or post on a blog, making an infinite network of links. If one blog links
to a post on another blog, a "trackback" reference will appear
on the blog that has been linked to. This comes in handy for readers who
want to know what other bloggers thought about a particular post, or which
blogs have linked to a post.
• Categories
Some bloggers separate their posts by subject matter to make it easier
for readers to browse the site. The category for the post will generally
appear in the footer next to the author's name.
•
Archives
Most bloggers will provide readers with access to entire archives of past
posts. These links will be found on either side of the main content section,
and will be labeled according to week or month.
RSS feeds
RSS is a format for bloggers to provide headlines and short excerpts of
their posts to a "reader" or "aggregator," making
it easy for people to keep up-to-date with the latest entries to their
favorite sites. These programs – including our own blog reader – will
aggregate or "read" a large number of RSS feeds at once, highlighting
the most recently updated sites and providing links back to the sites
for full posts. The RSS feed is linked to a bright orange, rectangular
icon with the letters "XML." To load your favorite blogs into
a reader, simply click on the orange rectangle on your favorite blog and
copy and paste the URL into the appropriate section of your reader.
PODCASTS
Believe it or not, there is more than one type of blog. We've covered
the basic Weblog, which is generally text with some pictures. Sort of
like the Hyundai of blogs. Then there's the moblog (aka: the Honda), which
is a blog updated by mobile phone, using text messages and pictures. And
the video blog (aka: the Audi), updated via video phone or digital camera.
And last (that is, until the next wave of technology goes around) there's
the Podcast (aka: the Mercedes) – a type of audio blog that can be downloaded
to your iPod on a regular basis.