Online web journals more than digital diaries
Campus Times
November 7, 2003
Actors are doing it. Athletes too. Even presidential candidates.
With more than 4 million of them online, it is likely that someone you
know is publishing a blog on the Internet.
The first Web logs, or blogs, emerged four years ago literally as online
diaries, like those found on Web sites such as livejournal.com or xanga.com.
"Blogging was a way to track stories that I could potentially turn
into articles," said John Gorenfeld, a freelance journalist who blogs
at gorenfeld.net.
Since then the blog has evolved from a novelty shared among friends
into a powerful tool for communication.
Today subjects of blogs are only limited by the imaginations and interests
of their authors, or bloggers.
No longer do those fleeting thoughts or weighty epiphanies need to pass
from the moment blog it and share it with the world.
Heard a good joke? Share it on your blog. Had a bad day? Get it off
your chest and onto your screen.
There are personal blogs, political blogs, commercial blogs, public
service blogs, travel blogs, humor blogs and photo blogs even blogs
about other blogs.
Almost all follow the same format, a chronological sequence of entries
posted on a single topic or theme.
Blogs fulfill some of the socially empowering promises of the Internet.
In an age where a select few sources broadcast to the masses, anyone
with access to the Internet can now reach a global audience.
Without a multi-million dollar promotional budget, this audience is
likely to be small.
Still, the very ease of instant global publishing introduces new responsibilities
it is all too easy to send out ill-conceived opinions or reactions.
Journalist Gregg Easterbrook earned biting criticism for comments in
his Oct. 13 blog entry at the The New Republic Online that were perceived
as insensitive to Jews.
In a polemic on Hollywood violence, Easterbrook wrote that the producers
of the movie "Kill Bill" were "Jewish executives (who) worship
money above all else."
Despite his rapid retraction and apology, Easterbrook was fired from
his job as a contributor to ESPN.
"Even the best writers need a blog editor," said Jim Romenesko,
an online reporter at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
For the unwashed, unedited masses, creating a blog is a simple process
that requires no knowledge of the code that goes into a Web page.
Anyone can publish a blog, as a multitude of free hosts offer accounts
to those with Internet access.
Blogger.com is
the most popular of these with more than one million users, and the service
is now entirely free since being acquired by Google in February.
Creating a blog site on Blogger.com
is a simple process that only takes a couple of minutes and is entirely
free.
Users can opt to host their own blog at a pre-existing Web site, or
let Blogger.com host
it for them.
All you need is something to say or not.
Dissatisfaction with the mainstream news media has resulted in blogs
dedicated to calling out the large news organizations on poor work, omissions
or contradictions.
Leaning to the left at atrios.blogspot.com or to the right at andrewsullivan.com, these watchdogs of the watchdogs
have pushed topics into public discourse that were not getting airtime.
Public figures have embraced blogs as inexpensive promotional tools.
Actors blog from behind-the-scenes on their latest projects, such as
Ian "Gandalf" McKellen's blog at mckellan.com.
Early surges in support for presidential hopeful Howard Dean were attributed
to blog.deanforamerica.com.