From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A weblog (often web log, also known as a blog, see below) is a website which contains periodic, reverse chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage. Individual posts (which taken together are the weblog) either share a particular theme, or a single or small group of authors.
The totality of weblogs and blog-related webs is usually called the blogosphere [1]. The format of weblogs varies, from simple bullet lists of hyperlinks, to article summaries with user-provided comments and ratings. Individual weblog entries are almost always date and time-stamped, with the newest post at the top of the page. Because links are so important to weblogs, most blogs have a way of archiving older entries and generating a static address for individual entries; this static link is referred to as a permalink. The latest headlines, with hyperlinks and summaries, are offered in weblogs in the RSS XML-format, to be read with a RSS feedreader.
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Weblogs have some similarities with wikis, in that they may stimulate community interaction, and some allow reader feedback. Weblogs do not generally permit readers to modify existing text, though some exist that do (see, blikis, chat rooms).
The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997.
The shorter version, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz who in April or May of 1999 broke the word weblog into the phrase "wee' blog" in the sidebar of his weblog [5]. This was interpreted as a short form of the noun [6] and also as a verb, to blog, meaning "to edit one's weblog or a post to one's weblog". Usage spread during 1999 and the word was popularized by Pyra's creation of their weblog service Blogger. The Oxford English Dictionary has considered including it in their dictionary. [7]
Many more advanced bloggers prefer to generate their blogs by using server-side software tools such as Movable Type and Manila to publish on their own Web site or a third party site, or to host a group of blogs for a company or school. Such programs provide greater flexibility and power, but require more knowledge. If they provide a Web interface for editing, server-based systems may reduce the ease of creating and editing text for travellers, some of whom like to produce their travelblogs from Internet cafes as they travel around the globe.
Many blogging tools have also been developed to improve the blogging experience, with commonly used ones providing blogrolls and feedback comment systems. Well known examples of these are blogrolling and the commenting system HaloScan. Tools such as w.bloggar allow users to maintain their Web hosted blog without the need to use the (generally somewhat slower) Web based editing tools.[8] Enhancements to weblog technology continue to be developed, such as the TrackBack feature introduced by Movable Type in 2002 and subsequently adopted by other software companies (e.g., Userland) to enable automatic notification between websites of related content -- such as a post on a particular topic or one which responds to a post on another blog [9].
Blogs with features such as TrackBack are credited with complicating search engine page ranking techniques [10] [11] and confusing (perhaps deliberately gaming) search engines that try to establish context.
Web hosting companies and online publications also provide blog creation tools, such as Salon, Tripod, and America Online, which calls its subscriber blogs "journals."
Online diaries are integrated into the daily lives of many teenagers and college students, with communications between friends playing out over their blogs. Even fights may be posted in the diaries, with not-so-veiled insults of each other easily readable by all their friends, enemies, and complete strangers. Online diaries may also be a bane to job seekers, if their diaries are discovered by potential employers.
Another common blog type is a topical blog. It focusses on a specific niche, often a technical one. (An example is a Google Blog, covering nothing but Google news.)
A weblog which is written by more than one person about a specific topic. It can be either open to everyone or limited to a group of people.
Examples:
 Radios Golden Years: The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs, 1930-1960 |
 A Thirty-Year History of Programs Carried on National Radio Networks in the United States, 1926-1956. |
 Radio Drama: A Comprehensive Chronicle of American Network Programs, 1932-1962 |
 Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931-1972 | ||||
 Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of over 1800 Shows |
 Media Log: A Guide to Film, Television, and Radio Programs Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Pu |
 Great Radio Audience Participation Shows: Seventeen Programs from the 1940s and 1950s |
 Radio Program Ideabook. | ||||
 Greater than the bomb : the first publication in English of a radio program broadcast internationally in 1950 and repeated many times since |
