All right, what the heck is a “blog”?  No, it’s not some mutant genetic cross between a bloodhound and a frog.  Blog is short for weblog, and is all the rage right now on the internet.  A blog (also known as a web journal) is basically a small web site wherein literally anyone with a computer, an internet connection, a browser, and a point of view, can post a running commentary and “let off steam” about anything.  Think of it as a “cyber diary”.  Unlike the diary you may have grown up with, this diary can be read by the whole cyber world (or, just your password-protected intimate circle).  And, if you so choose, the people who read your diary can post their opinion of your opinion.  Then others can post their opinions of your opinions of another’s opinions, and, well, you get the point.

Blogs can be used for communicating anything -  news, opinions, project schedules, recipes, etc.  I’m sure - like anything else on the free speech internet superhighway - you name it, and there’s probably a blog site devoted to it.  There are an estimated 1.2 million blogs on the internet today, and the number is growing rapidly.  What makes this new communication tool attractive over, say, creating a “conventional” web site, is that blogs can be built, maintained, and updated with relative ease.  And, in many cases, they’re free.

So, how do you make a blog?  There are basically two ways – through a browser-based-blog-builder (boy, that’s a lot of alliteration), or a stand-alone software application.  Using either means, there are basically two steps.  First, you create the style of your blog site pages, selecting the colors, fonts, and images for the look you want.  Then, you start filling up your blog with the information you want to present.  The blog creation tools keep track of the dates of your diatribes and organize them for you and your readers, as well as automating the upload (called “publishing”) chores for you.

The resulting blog site generally contains the most recent post (or links to it) on the opening page, and a calendar through which you select entries from earlier dates.  You can also search all blog entries for specific words, phrases, titles, and subjects.

Blogs, like all web sites, live on a web server somewhere.  On-line browser-based services offer free blog hosting and server space in exchange for posting advertising of their choice on each page.  If you already have server space, you can build your blog there as well.  Apple is offering free blog authoring software, aptly titled “iBlog”, to all .Mac subscribers.  iBlog creates a blog site on your .Mac Home Page, integrating with your Address Book application if you want to notify all your contacts of your latest blog entry.

Blogs, being web sites, show up in Google and Yahoo searches.  In fact, Google recently had to restrict their search criteria because blog sites were crowding out more “legitimate” resources.

When I say “legitimate”, don’t get me wrong.  Free speech is a right to be protected.  However, “in my opinion”, there is a distinct difference between a published scientific journal or researched news report, and the blogged opinions of a sixteen-year-old kid from Reseda who’s ranting about some facet of life that he thinks he knows about from watching MTV’s “Real World”.

Wait, could it be?  I’ve created my first blog.  No, if it’s in the paper, it can’t be a blog.  Let’s see, Times Record…  OK, it’s my first “TRog”.

To see some blogs in action and to learn more, check out www.livejournal.com and www.blogger.com.  Happy blogging

© 2003 Peter F. Zimowski