Understanding Blogs

Understanding Blogs

Blog is actually a shortened version of the word "weblog." The word is used as a noun referring to the actual weblog and also as a verb meaning "to edit or post to one's weblog."

A very simplified definition of a blog as used today would be as follows:

Blog: a journal displayed over the internet that is updated often and is meant for display to the public; this journal is most often displayed in reverse chronological order.

There are a number of different types of blogs. Each is slightly different in how it is written or in the way in which it is delivered to the audience.

Media - includes Vlogs (video blogs), linklogs (link blogs), and photologs (blogs of photographs).

Device - Some blogs are categorized by the type of program used to compose the blog. Some are done strictly on computer programs while others are moblogs, or those written on mobile devices such as phones or PDAs.

Genre - A final descriptive element of the blog is the genre or topic area in which the blog galls. For example, blogs typically fall into one subject area such as politics, travel, consumer products, and/or others.

Most blogs have the same general structure, although some will vary slightly. Below is a typical blog structure:

Title: This is the 'headline' for the post. Body: This is the main content of the post. Permalink: This is a url that will direct readers to a full length article, if available. This option is not always used, especially in personal blogs. Post Date: This tells the date and time of publication. Comments: These are remarks that are left by readers regarding the post. Categories (Tags): This is usually a listing of previous articles that are related to the current article. Trackbacks (pingback): These are links to other sites that are relevant to the particular blog entry.

Now that you know what a blog is and how one is set up, how can you create one of your own? Most blogs that are online today are fairly easy to maintain and do not require the use of a web developer. They are pretty easy to navigate by any normal computer user. Web applications can help you to easily create or make changes to your blog and to promote your site to potential readers.

So what is a web application? It is something that can be used by regular internet users via a network such as the World Wide Web. They are easy to use and require little installation and memory space to run. With these applications, bloggers can make updates from just about anywhere in the world as long as there is internet access. This allows bloggers to easily maintain their blog without having to host their own server. Many systems suc as Ecto, Elicit, and Blogger let maintain without even being online at the time. Users can compose or edit without internet connection and simply connect to publish the blog. Other applications allow a combination of blog and wiki, called bliki.