Blogging: An Introductory Look at an Old Pastime in a New Medium
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419050610713691 |
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| Pages | 27-28 |
| Author | Michelle L. Young |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Blogging: An Introductory Look at an Old
Pastime in a New Medium
Michelle L. Young
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 8 2006, pp. 27-28, #Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050610713691 27
If I asked you to write down and
share with me your personal thoughts
on politics, religion, your secret desires,
your career aspirations, or your daily
activities, would you? Would you
publish your diary or journal in the
newspaper for your friends, family, and
strangers to read? What would you be
willing to share with the world?
People have been recording their
thoughts for centuries. These ledgers,
diaries, and journals have been used for
personal expression, work-related
activities, and much more. Their format
has traditionally been paper and ink (or
a variation thereof). In today's global
society, the internet is our gateway to
the world. We are able to communicate
and share information with people we
have never met through a simple point
and click. Technology has been
evolving the ways in which we think
about and share information. It tests our
thoughts on the need (or perception) of
privacy as well.
You may be asking, what is a ``blog''
anyway? A blog can be defined as an
online diary or journal, also known as a
weblog. It is a place for you to put your
ideas out for the world to see, a place
for feedback from others, or even a
place to vent. It is whatever you want it
to be and look like ± it reflects you. In
looking at the Wikipedia http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and
the history of the blog, in the pre-1990s
people were using ham radios and the
AP wire (like chat rooms) to
communicate, in the 1990s internet
forum software, usenets, newsgroups,
and threads were popular. By 1994, the
first blogs were called ``online diaries,''
and by 1997 the term ``weblog'' was
coined by Jorn Barger, also know as the
``American blogger.'' The term weblog
would be shortened just two years later
to the term we now use, ``blog.'' That
said, you still hear the old terms, the
new one, and others are surely being
created. No matter what you call it, it is
basically online journaling.
Although started more than 12 years
ago, the popularity of the blog is still on
the rise. According to the National
Institute for Technology and Liberal
Education's Blog Census (www.
blogcensus.net/) some of the top
blogging languages are: English,
Portuguese, Polish, Farsi, French,
Spanish, German, and Italian. The blog,
called ``BlogCount.com'' (http://dijest.
com/bc/) estimates roughly 2.4 million
to 2.9 million active weblogs as of June
2003 and, ``Microsoft announced more
than 4.5 million spaces (their term for
weblogs) have been created. That's 3
million added in about 90 days, since 11
January 2005.''
So who is blogging these days and
what types of blogs do they have? It is
rare that you go to a web site now and
not see a blog link or you searchthe web
and not find someone's blog.
Businesses, politicians, news
organizations, internal company
departments, librarians, teachers,
homemakers, radical groups, parents,
grandparents, and kids are just a small
representation of who is blogging. They
have all types of blogs including but not
limited to personal, paid, spam, photo,
cultural, social, hobby, and political
blogs.
Many people ask me, why blog?
Why not simply write in a private
journal or create a web site if you want
to put yourself in the public eye? Some
of the answers I give are, to share your
ideas, to share your life, to stir up
emotions in people, to communicate, to
share your personal interests with other
like-minded people, to share your
personal journeys and yourself with
others, and to acquire new friends and
simply stated, why not? I love the
answer to this question that is posted on
the ``Information wants to be free''blog
written by a Distance Education
Librarian named Meredith at Norwich
University (http://meredith.wolfwater.
com/wordpress/index.php/2005/10/02/
why-blog/). She talks about how she
started it and why she cannot stop. She
illustrates how it has helped her as a
writer and makes her more aware of
what she is writing about and why. We
all have our reasons, you have to find
and reconcile your own for why to do it,
how to do it and what motivates you to
keep doing it.
There are also reasons to not blog.
One of the most compelling reasons
that I have found is to protect you from
being fired. There have been many
professionals who blog (whether related
to their profession or personal beliefs
and interests). Employers have been
reported as viewing blogging as
potentially hazardous to their
company's image, a security risk, and a
poor or inappropriate use of company
time. They have either fired their
employees outright or, have given them
an opportunity to delete the blog or be
fired. In 2003, Todd Bishop of the
Seattle Times (http://seattlepi.nwsource.
com/business/146115_blogger30.html
wrote about Michael Hanscom from
Seattle who maintains a personal blog
but writes about his work and personal
interests in the blog (this is a common
practice by bloggers). Microsoft fired
him after he posted a photo of a pallet of
Macintosh computers he saw on the
loading dock at work and had
mentioned in the post, ``It looks like
somebody over in Microsoft land is
getting some new toys.'' Microsoft
considered his post a security threat and
let him go. In addition to employment
issues, be thinking about college
admissions too. The National
Association for College Admission
Counseling (www.nacacnet.org/
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