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What’s a Weblog, Anyway?

I suspect many of us who write weblogs have attempted to describe what a weblog is to someone who’s never seen one before. I may describe my own as similar to a daily column where I write mostly about web design, technology, and related topics. That barely scratches the surface to describe my weblog or weblogs in general, and that description may not even begin to fit others' weblogs, either, as each one is unique; however, by relating to a term or phrase someone is already familiar with, such as a daily column, the person at least gets an idea about my weblog.

There’s plenty around the Web about weblogs, their common elements, history, and more, including a new essay in the making by Dave Winer, What Makes a Weblog a Weblog. The accompanying comments from others along with Dave’s responses are interesting reading, too, including the digs and cutting remarks back and forth.

Current links to Dave’s essay via Technorati or Popdex reveals an abundance of webloggers writing and linking about it. Not to be missed among those links is Elwyn Jenkins' Microdoc News comments Saturday, Blogs, Wikis and Knowledge Building.
[hat tip: Audioblog/Mobileblogging News]

Others have described or defined weblogs before Dave’s new essay, of course, and some have even written books about weblogs and the experience of blogging. Here are a few notable articles on the Web:

• Anatomy of a Weblog
  By Cameron Barrett. Terrific article about weblogs with Cameron’s insightful thoughts and links.
• History of Weblogs
  By Dave Winer. See what Dave previously wrote, updated last year.
• Part I: What is a Weblog? - A three-part interview with the authors of “Running Weblogs with Slash.”
  Interesting reading here also with authors David Krieger, chromatic, and Brian Aker, this time via microcontentnews.com by John Hiler.
• The Art of Blogging
  By George Siemens. Well done article about weblogs, including what they are, tools used, writing, more.
  [hat tip: blogtalk.net]
• Weblogs: A History and Perspective
  By Rebecca Blood. This is a popular article about weblogs. You may understand why when you read it.
• Waging Peace: Using Our Powers for Good
  By Rebecca Blood. Keynote speech given at the recent Blogtalk in Vienna. Excellent commentary and thoughts about weblogs, writing, communicating, more.
• What the Hell is a Weblog? And Why Won’t They Leave Me Alone?
  By Derek Powazek. Terrific article and links. Not to be missed also is What the Hell is a Weblog? You Tell Me. There are plenty of ideas and thoughts about weblogs, personal experiences and stories, and interesting comments.
• What We’re Doing When We Blog
  By Meg Hourihan for O'Reillynet.com. Insightful, interesting article about weblogging.
  [hat tip: Reforming Project Management]

Comments

Comments, Trackbacks: 2 so far. Add yours!

1. I just talked to an old very good friend of mine to whom I haven't spoken for a few months. I've just sent her an email about this weblog, because she will be very interested in reading about what is...

   29 Dec, 2003Trackback from nine and more

   trackback #1 permalink ·

2. I just talked to an old very good friend of mine to whom I haven't spoken for a few months. I've just sent her an email about this weblog, because she will be very interested in reading about what is...

   29 May, 2004Trackback from nine and more

   trackback #2 permalink ·

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