I have wanted to do a column on blogging for a while now. The primary reason that I haven't to date is that, quite frankly, I don't blog and I don't know much about it. Since I try to be at least somewhat authoritative in these columns, I hesitated to write about something that I am in fact pretty much totally ignorant of!
But you may have been exposed to the term "blogging" in news coverage of the recent political conventions. The "bloggers" appeared to be an alternate source of news or opinions about the goings-on there. Since you are all now exposed, I will try to cover the basics so that you will know what it is all about. And, as most people, you will then ignore blogging and go about your daily lives untouched by this latest craze.
The term "blog" is a conjunction or shortening of "web log". The term "web" refers to the World Wide Web (WWW) or more generically the Internet itself. To "log" is to create a written record, usually chronological in nature. You often hear about logs being kept on ships, or the famous line: "Ship's log, star date 122462.7 - Scotty has informed me for the third time today that the warp engines are about to explode; Bones says that new crewman with the red shirt is dead".
Blogs are, very simply, records of somebody's thoughts, musings, or experiences that they themselves post on the web. I think blogs were technical in nature in the beginning, mostly dealing with computer or Internet issues. Over time, the use of blogs has expanded to many fields, including politics. Much credit is give to bloggers for analyzing the data in the recent Dan Rather scandal.
I think that blogs are a direct outgrowth of frustration with chat rooms or newsgroups on the Internet. The problem with a chat room or a newsgroup is that anyone can post to them - there is no attempt to police them or to limit postings to things that are accurate or technically correct. Any opinion voiced in a chat room or newsgroup is usually bombarded with many differing opinions and related (or unrelated) discussions, often silencing the original thought is a mass of confusion.
People who really do have valid, clear thoughts have had enough of this, and blogging appeals to them because it is only their thoughts - take 'em or leave 'em - and nobody can dispute it except in their own, separate blog. Of course, there are lots of bloggers who aren't clear, or factual, or honest, and you have to separate them yourself.
To set up a blog, you can create your own webpage, or use one of the blog authoring services or software. To read a blog, you merely have to go to the bloggers website and follow the directions. You find about various blogs available in email from friends, online news accounts, blog listing websites, or just hearing about them in other blogs.
The important thing to remember is that the blogger (person authoring the blog) may be anyone - there is no policing of blogs, there are no rules or regulations, data is often not factual and is the personal opinion of the blogger. As such, you have to take it all with very large grains of salt. The newspaper, TV, or radio press has very clear rules and guidelines about accuracy and slander, but the bloggers have none. So, be careful what you read and even more about what you believe.
Me? I am going to close the book on blogging and go back to listening to Dan Rather. Or, maybe not.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).