2. Blogs: Bizarre and Brilliant Lib 5050-375 Catawba Spring 2004 Susan Dudley

3. 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

4. Types 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.

5. Common Blog Features Newest 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.

6. A 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.

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

8. Current 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.

9. Blogs of particular interest to librarians: Brilliant Education Librarian Weblog http://www.educationlibrarian.com/ http://www.educationlibrarian.com/ Blogdex http://blogdex.nethttp://blogdex.net ResourceShelf http://www.resourceshelf.com http://www.resourceshelf.com Peter Scott’s Library Blog http://blog.xrefer.com http://blog.xrefer.com Sitelines http://www.workingfaster.com/sitel ines/ http://www.workingfaster.com/sitel ines/ …and Bizarre Conan the Librarian’s Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/li brant/ http://www.livejournal.com/users/li brant/ Ref Grunt http://refgrunt.blogspot.com/ http://refgrunt.blogspot.com/ Laughing Librarian http://www.laughinglibrarian.com/ http://www.laughinglibrarian.com/ L.A.C.K.: Librarians are Corrupting Kids http://www.lemurlove.com/lack/ne wsblog.htm http://www.lemurlove.com/lack/ne wsblog.htm