what is a blog anyway

The night is late; a few too many wines have been knocked back while watching the Friday night movie. Once again my housemates are engaged in a senseless debate over which Aussie soap the main actress is from. Arguments are presented, voiced are raised until finally some shouts…

“JUST GOOGLE IT!”

Four and a half seconds later the laptop is out and within a few short minutes one housemate victoriously announces her point was correct. Game over.

So common is this phenomenon that the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has recently entered the term.

google: to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.

This is an example of how the increased importance of online and information networking has precipitated from the computer elite into mainstream society. Unfortunately not all online networking platforms have received such definition. The constructing of blogs and the blogging environment is a prime example of this. A quick “google” of Blog/definition will reveal the wealth of inconsistencies in relation to defining both the purpose and structural elements of a Blog. Herring et al. (2004, p.1) points out these inconstancies, stating that their characteristics have yet to be systematically described, despite their pervasive popularity. The only real consistent structural description offered relates to the pages list of dated entries, displayed in reverse chronological order (Herring et al., 2004, p.1).

Whilst the majority of blogs are opinion pieces or personal narratives and journals(Crucial Marketing, 2008) there is a growing popularity in academic and industry specific blogging, as well as an abundance of political blogs. Whilst the structure free environment of this medium allows creative freedom in personal blogs, the lack of configuration requirements leaves much room for error and question when constructing an academic or professional blog. If one is not yet immersed in the world of blogging, how are they to know the level of scholarly or professional language necessary to still be engaging to the consumer whom visits or seeks the blogging sites.

Unfortunately this may be a symptom of the user-led content creation or produsage environment which characterises the blogging. These bloggers or produsers are not expert, but ordinary citizens (Flew, 2005, p.65). They have no obligation to conform to traditional models ofjournalism, writing styles or even academic integrity. Whilst the rules to report or essay writing are clear and easily identifiable such is not the case with blogging. In order for a new user to create a blog which is professionally or academically credible, yet still engaging to the blogger audience, the creator cannot simply follow simple set of guidelines. Instead a new user must personally engage in the blogging environment, continuously analysing and evaluating trends and blog successes to model their own blogs upon. And even then its still an inaccurate science, as the environment is as volatile as its users (Herring et al., 2004, p.11). However a positive side effect of the structure less nature of blogs is the creative opportunities it encourages, allowing bloggers to continuously develop innovative means of utilising their web space for creative, intellectual and social leverage (Flew, 2005, p.62).

Another Blog to Note
http://samaraschulz.blogspot.com/

Bibliography:

Crucial Marketing. (2008). Marketing Terms. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/

Flew, T. (2005). New Media: an introduction (2nd ed.). South Melbourne: Normanby Road.

Herring, C., Scheidt, L., Bonus, S. and Wright, E. (2004) Bridging the Gap: A Genre Analysis of Weblogs. School of Library and Information Science
Indiana University: Bloomington.