Blogs: Bizarre and BrilliantBlogs: Bizarre and Brilliant

Lib 5050-375 Catawba

Spring 2004

Susan Dudley

What’s a Blog?What’s a Blog?

Blog = slang for Web log, an online publicly accessible journal generally written by an individual and updated frequently with new entries

Blogging = the act of writing in a blog Blogger = web log author

Types of blogsTypes of blogs Linking: site listing links to other websites Personal: online diary detailing the events of the

blogger’s daily life

Typically, blogs are a combination of links

and personal commentary.

Common Blog FeaturesCommon Blog FeaturesNewest content appears at the top, older

content shifts downward.Oldest content is archived, but remains

accessible.Links are available for readers to post their

comments on blog entries.

A Brief History of BloggingA Brief History of Blogging Blogs have existed since the World Wide Web

was launched by CERN and Tim Berners-Lee in 1991.

First popular blog was Netscape’s What’s New page in 1993.

Blogger introduced, 1999. Easy-to-use software for website creation eliminated the need to learn HTML (coded format language): the number of blogs on the World Wide Web explodes.

Blog StatisticsBlog Statistics(from Perseus Development Corporation’s 2002 survey)(from Perseus Development Corporation’s 2002 survey)

92% of blogs are created by people under age 30. By the end of 2004, there will be over ten million

blogs on the World Wide Web. BlogSpot (recently acquired by Google) and

LiveJournal are the top blog-hosting services. 66% of blogs are abandoned by their creator

within four months.

Current TrendsCurrent Trends Media outlets, newspapers, television stations, and

magazines have begun hiring professional bloggers: editors often review entries before allowing them to be posted.

Corporations and even the federal government are turning to blogs to quickly update and share information: password access is required to read these blogs and only authorized personnel can publish entries.

Blogs of particular interest to Blogs of particular interest to librarians:librarians:

Brilliant

Education Librarian Weblog http://www.educationlibrarian.com/

Blogdex http://blogdex.net ResourceShelf

http://www.resourceshelf.com Peter Scott’s Library Blog

http://blog.xrefer.com Sitelines

http://www.workingfaster.com/sitelines/

…and Bizarre

Conan the Librarian’s Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/librant/

Ref Grunt http://refgrunt.blogspot.com/

Laughing Librarian http://www.laughinglibrarian.com/

L.A.C.K.: Librarians are Corrupting Kids http://www.lemurlove.com/lack/newsblog.htm