Issue 16.11
The word Blog is a shortening of the two words “Web Log” and means a web site that is controlled and maintained with a specific purpose, but which is open to additions or comments from the readers. On a regular web site, you don’t want other people changing or adding to your content, especially if you are trying to sell something or promote a certain point of view. With a blog, you can involve others in your online experience.
Blogs can be used for a variety of purposes. Some use one as a personal diary. They keep it private by settings they create on the hosting site. Others do the same, but allow others (either the general public or specific invited guests) to view and or comment on what they write. When blogs are public, they can become quite popular if their topics or insights are interesting to a wide range of people. The recent film, “Julie and Julia” is the story of a woman who tries to cook all the recipes in Julia Child’s Cookbook and how that experience affects her and the people around her. It’s a fun little film and is based on a true story of how recording your life in a blog can change and affect you and your readers.
There are many other types of blogs such as photo-blogs, art blogs and music blogs where people share what they have created or things they especially like. There are political and philosophy blogs that encourage people to engage in debate and discussion about a wide range of topics. Some of these become very popular and intense.
Finally, there are video logs or v-logs. These are similar to regular blogs, but rather than writing things down, the authors simply video tape what they want to say and then allow others to respond either with videos or with written input. A couple of examples of this are http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/ and http://www.realclearsports.com/video_log/.
Blogs and associated types of logs can be a lot of fun to get involved with and are easy to set up and use. If you want to create one for yourself, an easy way is to go to http://wordpress.com/ or http://www.blogspot.com. I have even created one of my own so you can see how it’s done and comment or ask questions easily. You can go to http://shaunsgeekspeak.blogspot.com/ to take a look. You can also browse other people’s blogs and get ideas for your own blog.
Have fun, but remember, stay safe – and make sure you have a backup of anything important.
Shaun McCausland has been in the computer industry for 30 years (locally with Musicomp & Bits ‘N’ Bytes) and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions, you can reach him through his website at www.bitsnbytescomputers.com or at 668-7118.