Blogs
From HLWIKI Canada
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IntroductionSee also Bloggers - Legal aspects, Social networking and Web 2.0 A blog is a regularly-updated site of entries usually arranged in reverse chronological order. Blogs have been central to the rise of web 2.0 and form the basis of a lot of social activity and knowledge exchange on the web. According to Blogger: "...a blog is a web site where you write entries on an ongoing basis, sometimes daily. Blogs are published by individuals and their style is personal and informal." Blogs provide forums for conversation, debate and reflective practice. They should be thought of as virtual office spaces and places to share stories, pictures and interesting ideas. Internationally, there is a growing community of health librarian and medical blogs. Many popular medical bloggers started blogging in 2004 and 2005. (See Google blogsearch) Some readers say they enjoy hearing directly from health professionals and librarians, and may account, in part, for the popularity of blogs. Health librarians who blog are few in number but many use their blogs for outreach, professional development and raising the profile of the profession. In some professions, there is a move to creating resources for better blog etiquette. Microblogging is a type of mini-blogging using tools such as Twitter, Yammer and Jaiku. HistoryThe modern blog evolved from the online diary where users kept accounts of their personal lives. Early bloggers were called online diarists, journalists and journalers. Many initial blogs were link-driven (and a source of blogspam). Many blogs had combinations of interesting links, commentaries and personal thoughts of bloggers and consequently many became well-known. Some blogs formed within communities of bulletin board readers, usenet groups and e-mail listservs; some came into being as extensions of personal webpages and provided options for readers to leave comments. Initially, bloggers created their own spaces similar in appearance and function to webpages. Weblog editors used HTML coding to create sites, spent several off-work hours every day surfing the web and posting. Originally, the community of bloggers that had expertise to manipulate the Web to exercise their thoughts and ideas was relatively limited, but all of that has changed. According to technorati.com, there are more than 140 million blogs as of December 2009. Bloggers wield enormous influence in shaping public opinion in business, politics and even librarianship. Setting up a blog takes minutes, and does not require a lot of technical knowledge. Main parts of a blogA complete blog will encompass the following:
A blog entry optionally includes the following:
Types of blogsNot all bloggers share the same goals, intent or objectives when starting their own blogs. It's best to be familiar with your choices so as to fully understand how to communicate by your readers/ audience. Understanding that there are more options available to you, here are some popular blog types as shown on Wikipedia on Types of Blogs
Blogging platforms
Future of bloggingThe future of blogging looks secure but some web experts suggest that there will be a drop in interest in blogs due to tools like Twitter. Various news reports such as this CNET report suggests that "... blogs have been credited with everything from CBS News anchorman Dan Rather's departure, to unauthorized previews of the latest Apple Computer products, to new transparency in presidential campaigns. The big question is whether blogs[...]have the staying power to become more than just online diaries." Blogs are in a process of evolution and redefinition; they started as personal accounts of one's life and evolved into useful vehicles for communication. Librarians and information specialists have taken to blogging in larger numbers and more popular bloggers in the United States include Steven Cohen, Jenny Levine and OCLC's Lorcan Dempsey. Canadian bloggers are also prominent. References
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