Blog reviewing sites, directories, etc.

So, you’re recognized that blogging is a legitimate use of your language. The ability to communicate with friends and strangers alike is pretty sweet. You’ve found a bitchin’ layout that allows you to put photos of cupcakes behind your entries. You may even include a companion podcast.

In other words, you are such a blogger. But what is the next step?

For many, that is exposure. Until someone reads your blog, you are just posting your diary online, constantly awaiting validation in the form of an anonymous comment.

Your blog can be read by anyone, provided they can find it or you have an RSS feed spewing into cyberspace.But there is so much more! Enter the world of blog-reviewing sites and directories. Because Google changed our lives (Pre-Google, did we ever say, “Yeah, I yahoo!ed him?” or “quick, AOLsearch Regal Cinemas!”), everything should be catalogued for us. Luckily, blogs are. Google did a pretty bitchin’ job with its Blog Search. From this area, one can put in anything they want. I am going to say, adidas adicolor, because hello, I like shoes. When we search, google returns about a billion blog entries that mentioned my particular query. If I want to read about this, does it get any easier? No, it can’t. But, you have to work with the blog search tool. If you just want to find a photoblog, good luck with that. For cases like this, where it's not a subject but a specific type of blog you are looking for, the best bet is a directory.

Enter Blogwise, a site that sorts blogs by types and keywords. If you want a sex blog, you can find one by following the “Sex” link on “Blogs by category” from the homepage. That too, is fairly easy. But directories and searches are risky, also. What if you aren’t interested in animal-sex blogs? Clearly, you need someone to let you know what the blog is about before you visit.

And finally, we reach the point of needing reviews. Luckily, there are such sites. I pick The Weblog Review because it not only allows you to submit your blog for review (FYI, they currently aren’t) but you can read reviews about blogs. They also list most popular blogs and their favorite blogs – so if you’re looking for a “good” one, you can. It’s not a crapshoot.
With the ability to find a blog on any given topic, it becomes clear: blogs are as fun as Wikipedia

Blog Layout

So, simple design, ample graphics and pleasing, yet contrasting, color combinations are the ingredients to winning web design. The audience should be able to navigate the page easily and get stimulated by graphics. That said, the audience should not have to squint (sorry, green-and-red is not a valid combination, not even at Christmas) or admit confusion.

But what does this have to do with blogs? Even if blogs are the end-all, be-all medium of coolness and interactivity, we can’t judge them only on function. Clearly, they work: by some means you input text and “publish” your entry. Then your readers gasp at your ingenuity and witticisms. That’s all there is to it.

We judge the writing in blogs as good or bad, so it’s only fair to judge the design. If you don’t think so, talk to anyone slightly interested in newspapers or magazines. Those mediums exist for primarily what is read, but the layout is still very important.
However, thanks to the proliferation of popular blogging sites, templates are created for the authors. That means literary geniuses won’t make the mistake of mixing khaki and olive, simply because they don’t know better (or they peruse too many J. Crew catalogs).

But… that doesn’t stop the conversation. How about blogger’s layouts – they get the job done, but they’re a little tired (look at my template! ½ of my Writing for Multimedia class chose this look). Blog hosts allow users to change the templates, but that requires knowledge of HTML and CSS, which every blogger doesn’t have. Luckily, there are options besides the templates provided by hosts. For example, createblog provides templates for blogger, Livejournal, MySpace and Xanga. Goodbye, host’s layouts: hello, createblog’s layouts. While it may not be much an improvement, moving from someone’s templates to another, it is a start. <

After all, until every blogger is a web designer, we’ll have to live with templates. But, it is the blogger’s choice of which template, and what color combination, to choose. And if they choose poorly… let them know.

On a completely unrelated note, I am going to update my layout next week. I may even include a graphic or something. But not too many, or this will turn into a photoblog.

Color it badd

Continued from previous post…

In the article The impact of web page text-background colour combinations on readability, retention, aesthetics and behavioral intention by Richarrd H. Hall and Patrick Hanna, the researchers come to several conclusions regarding color choice in webpages after 136 people participated in their study:

(a) Colours with greater contrast ratio generally lead to greater readability; (b) colour combination did not significantly affect retention; (c) preferred colours (i.e. blues and chromatic colours) led to higher ratings of aesthetic quality and intention to purchase; and (d) ratings of aesthetic quality were significantly related to intention to purchase. (183)

This experiment, which included 136 particpants, included the study of two webpages (one educational, one commercial) in four color combinations. This is only a generatlization, though, for the authors point out that the relationship between background color and text color “is not as clear as it may seem” (183). Studies have pointed that the best effect is reached from contrast (ie Black-on-white), but from a chromatic relationship. However, it was hard to come to significant conclusions on this, because participants color preference could affect their interpretation of readability. Therefore, it may be impossible to declare a universal color-combination for ultimate readability. Judging a web page’s colors as spot-on isn’t possible: when participants judge aesthetics, they are influenced by their own color preferences and familiarity.

However, with all of this research aside, it is possible to say choosing the ideal combination is impossible (just make sure the colors contrast – but not too much!) as is the precise balance between text and graphic. However, both teams concluded that studying color-combination and overall aesthetics is important, because “a new user’s first or second impression of the site will most likely be important in making the user stay” (Schenkman and Jonsson, 368).

Lastly, check out The Webbies for examples of well-designed sites. Don’t take it from me. Want to see ugly?

"Beauty," Design

As promised, I am delving into aesthetics of the web. Just a little, though – it’s the equivalent of going swimming in the McKenzie in May (“My toes are in, dammit, I’m having fun”). We are going to take a quick look at color and layout and their effect on the audience, courtesy of researchers with long names.

In the article, Aesthetics and preferences of web pages Bo N. Schenkman and Fredrik U. Jonsson, the authors come to the conclusion that considering layout, text and graphics, “Beauty was an important predictor of the Overall Impression” (375).

This study was unique because participants weren’t allowed to control navigation of the sites themselves, therefore negating the affect “usability, information richness, loading speed and relevance” have on the aesthetic rating. Users tended to appreciate sites with columns, graphics and separate text (sorry, WordArt is not appreciated).

Finally, “for the first impression it is more advisable to have more illustrations than text. However, this last recommendation has to be balanced with the demands of the loading time of the computer, since it takes more time to download a web page full of graphics than to download a text page” (376). But, this point is becoming moot, as broadband connections are becoming more prevalent.

So, based on this reseach, what works (not what I think is ugly) is clean design that is graphic-laden. Sites that come to mind include adidas Originals Store, Levi’s Jeans and Style Wars 2005.

Podcasts: extension of the blog

It’s safe to say we’ve covered a lot about the blog: if people actually read, the forms, the genres, the literary qualifications and potential reach of the blog. That said, there is one important thing we haven’t covered: the podcast. While technically not a blog, the podcast has enough similarities that we could call them siblings. If you assign non-living entities those kind of titles, anyway.

A podcast is an audio presentation (can also be video, especially as far as apple’s directory is concerned) in which the author spills his guts: opinions, stories, news, music, etc. I’m not big into listening to podcasts (if I’m listening to something, it needs to include a hot man and electric guitar) but I am willing to make this generalization.

I am so happy Apple came up with a cute name for this type of activity, however I’m not so hot that they sell you TV shows under the guise as “podcasts.” Podcasts started more like radio programs, leading to civilians creating their own, and now we see it as a way to distribute Lost. When the video iPod came along, it changed the podcast from country cousin to mainstream. But, that’s enough of this tirade.

Besides similar content (forgetting that one can’t hyperlink in a podcast), blogs and podcasts are similar in their accessibility. Audience: It is extremely easy to find podcasts to listen to. Authors: It is easy to create a podcast. Also, both are relatively immediate (while it takes longer for podcasts to download than a videoblog to load, it isn’t significant) to access and post.

Larry Magid of PC Magazine wrote an article describing how to create a podcast. Magid says “The beauty of podcasting is that you can go beyond listening and create your own. All you need is a microphone, a PC, some free or low-cost software, and an Internet connection to create your own talk show, record your own commentaries, or become a DJ…”
Well said, Larry. Succinct and catchy – but because this article is from October 2005, he makes no mentioning of downloading hyped TV shows.

Here are some resources:

Podcast Alley: “The Place to find Podcasts”
Google Base:“Share your Podcasts using Google Base”

Videoblogs!

What happens when one introduces the webcam to a blogger? Besides accumulating internet stalkers, one becomes a videoblogger. Videoblogs (or Vlogs, as the incredibly hip call them) continue where the photoblog left off, only this time, there is audio and them pictures are movin’!)

Videoblogs are the 5 pm news of blogs. Bloggers (or, more attractive people hired to pretend to be the blogger) can do a variety of things with video, the least of which is provide news recapping. This genre of blogging is less structured than any other – if one looks up videoblogs, the results include news, video game reviews, trips and student art-films.

One of the more popular videoblogs online isRocketboom, which covers daily news in three minutes, including “field reports” and a traditional anchor. This one is more traditional, in that it mirrors a traditional newscast (or, one may say, The Daily Show…

Videoblogs are getting popular for the same reasons blogs are: readers can get information and be voyeuristic as well. Even though creating a videoblog is more complicated than writing a traditional blog, the audience has just as easy access. Most videoblogs rely on Quicktime or other streaming videotechnology, so that the viewer can begin watching the blog before loading is complete. Like traditional blogs, videoblogs can also be distributed via RSS or other forms of syndication.

If one is interested in making videoblogs, there are many resources to help one out – and many videobloggers link to fellow bloggers and resources, as Rocketboom does. If you still don’t quite get the videoblog, check out this article from Wired.

Here are some resources for videoblogging, if you are so inclined to try. And if you do try, you better be really funny or attractive, or you may find yourself without an audience.Freevlog:”100% More Stuff to Help you Kick-Ass at Videoblogging”
Vidblogs: Includes a forum, directory and free hosting.

Travelblogs... most versatile blog, ever.

Now, there is one particular type of blog out there that covers both text and photos. This blend is similar to a glass of milk and a Hostess, in that it is awesome. We call this the travelblog.

Now, there is one striking difference between the photoblog and those that have been previously mentioned – you must be traveling in order to have a travelblog. Other than that, the travelblog focuses on the everyday and mundane (aside from the fact that the author is not at home); it’s not just photos of an exploding Hawaiian volcano, but maybe that quiet lunch you had at a Mom-and-Pop restaurant.

Features of travelblogs include the journal function (“Today I did...) and regularly updated photos. In addition, there are blog templates that allow readers to track the author’s treks with maps and read restaurant and hotel reviews. With these additions, the travelblog may just be the most useful blog of all, if you’re interested in travel, geography, diaries, photos, maps, reviews…

As far as "blogs being literary" goes, travelblogs have no less potential. In comparison to usual literary/journalistic outlets, the travelblog is most akin to travel magazines (such as National Geographic Traveler and Conde Nast Traveler), for all the reasons stated above. However, it is more personal and involving, because the blogs aren’t maintained by paid professionals. That means, perhaps, they may be more truthful…. Ever wonder if a reviewer is being bribed to say what he or she does? With travelblogs, that's quite unlikely.

Here are links to various travelblog hosts:
real travel
TravelPost
TravelPod

Photoblogs pt. 2

In his article, Cohen spends approximately 16 pages analyzing the photoblog. Clearly, two entries devoted to it on my blog about blogs isn’t sufficient!

Last entry I left off by noting photobloggers aim to capture what many traditional bloggers do… their lives, in a nutshell. The photoblogs are supposed to express every emotion and occurrence, not just milestones or tragedies. Some have accused bloggers of being self-aggrandizing – the next step would be to accuse photobloggers of being wannabe Annie Leibovitzes

I believe the purpose of blogs, while inherently self-promotional, isn’t narcissistic. The same goes for photoblogs. When Cohen asked why photographers blog, the answer was most often

something like ‘I’m not exactly sure.’ The popularity of this answer is evidence not of a lack of productive self-reflexivity in the photoblogger, nor really of a shortage of good answers, but of something objectionable in the question. That objectionable something seems to be this: the question ‘why do you blog’ assumes that the desire to do so is an exterior condition, that desire either precedes and produces the blog, or that the blog simply effects a desired outcome. It assumes that the photoblog is a means to an end, or the end of some means. (898)

There is a large photoblogging community online, Photoblogs.org that allows users to submit their photoblogs (the site started in 2002 with just 15 links – it now has over 17,000), with mission “to connect the audience to the photoblog, and to help the photoblogging community grow and evolve.” If one is interested in photoblogs, this is a great place to start, for it allows tagging of blogs and the always-fun “random” feature. The FAQ is also helpful, for getting one involved in the community.

It’s not necessary to answer “why photoblog” – it’s more of a, why not? Since Kodak introduced consumers to film cameras, people have catalogued their lives in pictures. The photoblog is simply a quicker way of doing this, with the potential for a larger audience.

Photoblogs pt. 1

Aside from describing different types of blogs in a “here they are” manner, I haven’t looked at any other type of blog beside the basic written one. While they are the most prevalent, there are other types out there – and they are gaining popularity.

Among them is the photoblog; if we consider regular blogs literature or journalism, this blog is the complements. The photoblog can be either journalistic, artistic or even voyeuristic. The possibilities are limited only by the author/photographer. So what is the deal with photoblogs?

They are similar to traditional blogs in that they cover a wide range of topics and are regularly updated. However, photoblogs are less immediate and impulsive than blogs. According to Kris R. Cohen in Media, Culture & Society,

In talking to photobloggers, a couple of common and important ways of doing the photoblog quickly emerge. First, photobloggers tend to take a lot of photographs; most say that they take more photographs than they ever have, and that the photoblog is not only a repository for these images, but a tactic for achieving just this proliferation. So, they like to have photographs, but also, and crucially, the photographic act – looking for photographs, composing, taking, reviewing, showing – becomes newly enjoyable and newly heterogeneous in the broad context of doing a photoblog. (887)

I say photoblogs are less immediate and impulsive because the blogger cannot create photos with only their computer; they have to take photos, edit them to web-acceptable sizes, and also choose what to display. There is inherently more editing in photoblogging than regular blogging; the only opportunity a writer has to edit is while writing, yet a photographer edits in both the composition stage and in choosing what to post.

But generally speaking, the photoblogger has the same goal of sharing and communicating that the text blogger does – especially considering that they too focus on, according to Cohen, “what they call ‘the everyday,’ the ‘banal’ or the ‘mundane.”… Most photobloggers say that ‘real life’ is the desired content of their photographs.”

Blogging communities

So, blogs can provide entertainment, alternative news and practice writing. However, because of the inherent community (between casual readers, subscribers and authors) built-in, blogging can be important for education and research as well.

There exists a community of authors who blog to discuss daily encounters with patrons and keep in contact with colleagues: Librarians.

In the article “Talkin’ Blogs” from the Library Journal, librarian-bloggers are interviewed about why they blog. This ought to carry weight with anyone reading, because while I try to make a case about blogs being literary, these bloggers are actually literature and research experts. Brian Kenny and Michael Stephens ask library bloggers to discuss “the impact of their work:” they discovered that the library bloggers established a community by trading stories (they get plenty of odd questions at the reference desk) and reference content. Now, this is an ingenious use of a tool many think of as a simple diary, from Aaron Schmidt, a reference librarian:

Schmidt: We got a grant from the State of Illinois to digitize local history material… Residents and past residents send us comments and basically annotate our data with more information about the houses that they live in… it really has added value. It’s been really good for community building.

Other librarians interviewed in the article mention the blog as a news feed for fellow librarian’s pets subjects and simply as a means to organize content. This group demonstrates that there is more to the blog than writing – there is communication, interactivity, and research resulting.

Of course, there are other specialized communities that exist for the sake of entertainment (if one is a LiveJournal user, one can easily joint communities for fashion, TV, movies, etc) and experiences (see the Expat Blog).
One may (in a clichéd term) refer to everyone who blogs as a member of the blogging community (the blogosphere) but what I’d like to note is that communities exist between people who have more in common than simply blogging.

Can blogs compete with traditional journalism?

When exploring the reasons not to blog, I mentioned using the blog to expose products or entertainment before their official release. This is just another function of the blog, other than the function as diary. While I am considered if blogs are literary, there exists others who ask if bloggers are journalists. Now, there are others pursuing this (see my classmate’s blog Democracy or Debacle) so I am ill-fit to provide commentary on the topic.

However, I would like to reiterate the literary qualities of the blog, specifically its reach: like stories, novels, autobiographies (really, a book of any form) the blog can cover any topic, and have influence on other entities.

In the USA Today article “Fact vs. Opinion: Who Wins Online?” Peter Johnson asks traditional media journalists what impact blogs have. For those he interviews, they see a specific line that separates blogs from true journalism: opinion. “Independent bloggers are free to “traffic in unsourced material and street buzz, but news organizations must kept to the facts,” says Michael Clemente, who runs ABC News’ digital media.” Even so, executives say that the Web has opened up a wide variety of new outlets for reporters.”

Specifically, reporters keep blogs, which Brian Williams likens to a reporter’s notebook, something he wishes Walter Cronkite had kept. These can show thought processes, info that wasn’t published, and specifically, some subjectivity. Journalists can blog, as long as they retain objectivity; the idea is to the leave the subjectivity and opinion to those who only blog. Maybe journalism will have to rethink it’s objectivity codes to keep up with the blog… but that’s another topic.

Blogs cover many subjects of importance, influencing reporters and civilians alike. Here are some examples of the topics covered by blogs:

Politics: The Daily Kos
War: Today in Iraq
General News: Infomaniac: Behind the News
Education: The DC Education Blog

A Reason to not Blog?

There are many reasons one decides to write a blog, including communication, education and catharsis. However, I’d like to pose the question: Are there any reasons to not blog?

According to Wendy Davis in the American Bar Association journal, fear is a reason to not blog.

Some bloggers have found themselves in hot water after posting previews to shows or product releases. These bloggers fear getting sued by giant corporations with powerful lawyers – but that didn’t stop them from making the original posts.

Cases cited by Davis include Jeff Kotke’s, a blogger who had angered Sony by posting a video of Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings losing after 74 games. Word had leaked via traditional media prior to Kotke’s post, but the video is what riled the corporation. So what kind of defense does a blogger have?

Luckily for Kotke, the threats from Sony about suing for copyright infringement were only threats. However, it did raise a great issue for the blogging community to cover – the need for a team of lawyers to protect bloggers. As it stands, there are no shield laws that protect bloggers from disclosing sources as there are traditional journalists. Davis notes that the Electronic Frontier Foundation asserts that “California’s shield law confers the same rights on bloggers as on reporters for any traditional publication.” However, this is just a matter of disclosing sources. So according to these rules, Kotke still could have been held liable for publishing copyrighted material. And in any medium, copyright infringement is not fair play, so Kotke’s case becomes a moot point.

However, this question – “Any Reasons not to Blog?” isn’t about ethics and laws – it’s about the possible ramifications of blogging. So according to Davis’s article, yes it is possible to get sued (as anonymous parties did by Apple for releasing product details) as a result of blogging.

There is also the problem of employers finding blogs, and discovering either workplace-related rants, or “inappropriate” conduct by employees. However, as Davis notes, many states have laws that prohibit employers from “Firing employees for activities they undertake on their own time.”

Blogs are personal, and can be anonymous (unless the ISP is subpoened and the author revealed through IP addresses), so there isn’t much chance for getting sued. But it may be best to ask oneself, “Would I want my boss/mother/professor seeing this?” and “Am I infringing on anyone else’s property?” before posting a pirated movie clip or racy pictures in work uniform.

Blogs exist for…?

In the Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde wrote

Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

Now, Wilde was a man who dealt with aesthetics. He was concerned with all that is beautiful. After all, he was a playwright, poet, and writer of novels. He appreciated art in any form (and flamboyant clothing). He wasn’t interested in only the aesthetics of literature but people. It was as if he tried to reflect what he wrote. To him, art existed for the sake of art, not for any other purpose. However, this claim of his is contradictory, for his “art” made some judgment on Victorian values among other things. So it goes; that in some way sums up Wilde.

So why care so much about this claim of his? Other than making an excellent soundbyte, it can pertain to anything. It’s not just books that are well written or badly written, it’s people that are well dressed or badly dressed, it’s cars that are well-designed or badly designed. This statement extends to everything, particularly blogs. They can be written and designed (I’ll have to come up with an idea about dressing blogs later), either well or badly. We don’t consider someone wearing a turtleneck underneath an appliquéd vest as morally offensive, rather we say they are a bad dresser. As far as blogs go, we can say they are badly written. But we can’t judge the content in them as moral or immoral. In this case, the “art” has to be reflecting something, or as Wilde would argue, existing just because it can, and does.

I would not argue, however, that blogs exist for the sake of being blogs. From some angle we can approach them as art; but for many blog authors, there is a reason behind writing. They aren’t writing merely to have their work admired. It seems rather lofty to ascribe blogs as art, existing only for art’s sake. However, it does make sense to say they exist as well written or badly written.

However, we should consider the potential for artistic achievement in the medium. Yes, this is all so confusing: Wilde was confusing and inconsistent. There is just no way to pin down the what and why of the blog. But we can come to the conclusion that they are a legitimate form of expression, and they can be judged on basic writing conventions. Thus, they are simply well written or badly written.

How many people blog – and how many read?

One has to wonder… am I making a big deal out of this whole blog/literature thing? According to some, yes, because the whole world isn’t caught up in this blog frenzy. Apparently there are loads of people who don’t even know what blogs are (My boss isn’t one of them, though. He found my Livejournal, and every so often asks me how things “are in the blogosphere”).

According to Steve Maich in “Nothing to Blog About,” the “Mainstream Media”, or “MSM” is making a bigger deal out of blogs than anyone should:

For one thing, there are wild discrepancies in the estimates of how many blogs are actually out there. Some figure the number is as high as 30 million worldwide. But once you strip away pseudo-blogs that are really ads or scam traps, and subtract dormant sites, the numbers plunge precipitously. A couple of sites dedicated to tracking blog traffic estimate only about two to four million blogs are actively maintained.

Now, two to four million is small in comparison to the number of MySpace users (61+ million). But we shouldn’t compare blogging to other Internet phenomenons so easily. There is a reason MySpace is more popular: users can post pictures and communicate without (gasp!) writing. Plus, there’s always a chance of scoring some tail. And how many bloggers actually hook up? (Besides Trent from Pink and David from Jossip).

So, who really reads these two to four million blogs? Maich mentioned a Pew Internet & American Life Project that surveyed about 1300 people. “27 percent of Internet users regularly read blogs, but that 62 percent of the online population still didn’t know what a blog is. In fact, 40 per cent of those who said they read blogs then said they didn’t really know what a blog was.” Ouch – numbers like this don’t bode well for the importance of blogs, that is, if we can measure importance by impact.

However, we recognize that the blog is a new medium. I know the span of 10 years can seem long, but c’mon… the novel has existed for about 300 years. We can’t expect every novel-reader to know what a blog is.

Yes, blogs are literature.

Now, for the continuing question: Are blogs literature? I found an excellent post by this English teacher/blogger, Kilian Crawford, from Writing for the Web. His contribution to the query is a yes, indeed, blogs are literature. We may not see it now, but he’d like us to think of all the classic writers, and how they had contemporaries that produced drivel. Thus, if we look at the present, and “contemplate the geyser of writing unleashed by blogging technology, we should not feel disappointed that it’s a geyser of sludge.”

No matter the time, the genre or form, there will be bad writing produced. Moral of the story? If you come across a bad blog, that’s to be expected. Most literature is bad, it is only the exceptional that becomes canonized. We shouldn’t be so hard on bloggers (ourselves) as they are still working with a new medium – it can take time for exceptional writing to be produced. Besides, there’s bound to be a jewel somewhere.

As it stands, we view blogs as writing that focuses on the everyday, or as some would argue, mundane. Some critics use this fact to discount the blog’s potential. But we should view that as the defining characteristics of the blog – immediacy and accessibility. The ability for the “common man” to use and read blogs is what makes the medium unique. I hope that by linking to Crawford’s entry, it provides a better idea of why blogs are inherently literature.

This is a filter, a journal, a notebook...

El Fuerte asked me to provide an example of a notebook blog. El Fuerte is trying to determine what categories his blogs and LJs fit into.

Well, El Fuerte, the line between notebook and journals is blurry. And to be an ideal blog of any type, one would include third-party links… thus everything is a filter. But that doesn’t help El Fuerte.

Journals are shorter, more informal. Journals consist of short, every day kind of entries: they are unedited (and sometimes lack punctuation/capitalized letters…). If you do a opt for a random search on your favorite blog site, you’ll likely find one of these.
The Random Ramblings of a Random Me!
Richard Matich’s Blog

Notebooks can be based on everyday topics, but the blogger in this case labors to create a coherent, edited entry.
David Byrne Journal
dunwatt’s Xanga site

Lastly, filters serve primarily as link-providers. There is usually little copy: the audience gets to know the author based on what they link to, not what they say.
Neat Stuff
Cool Hunting

I hope that helps, El Fuerte. Again, ideally all formats of the blog include links to other blogs and sites. If the author doesn’t make use of HTML (or XML or whatever W3 standard we’re on) the blog is nothing more than a paper journal published online.

But then again, one could argue that all online journals are technically blogs because they’re published online. After all, all “blog” means is “Weblog.” And a weblog is something updated periodically, which most recent posts first. Seriously, that’s all it is, we’re kidding ourselves if we say we must include hyperlinks, a single topic, an archive or a sidebar with links.

So Many Types... and Themes

In The Weblog Handbook, Rebecca Blood notes that there are several types of blogs (6):

1. Blogs, aka short-form journals
2. Notebooks
3. Filters

This is important to note: blog types vary, so they need to be considered differently, based on content. Williams can’t judge all blogs as “diaries of nobodies” because not all blogs exist as journals. However, if blogs did exist only as journals, would that be a problem? In the field of literature, journals have incredible value. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is a journal that has remained popular since publication in 1947. Plus, there are countless important autobiographies to consider, which include everyday events in the writer’s life. And this is exactly what a journal-style blog does…

What Blood refers to as “blogs” should be referred to as journals, because “blog” encompasses so much more than does the term journal. Journals are those blogs that focus on the author’s every day life, something kept primarily for private consumption.

Notebooks are similar to journals, in that they are personal; however, they tend longer and better-edited, making them a bit more formal.

Lastly, filters are link-based. Their primary function is to introduce links to interesting sites and blogs, that the audience (which has been determined by the blog’s maintainer) should appreciate.

Although blogs can be categorized, most don’t fit a single mold. Most blogs I read, for instance, are a combination of the notebook and the filter, for they are definitely edited, with a focus on a certain topic, and with plenty of links included.

And in addition to types of blogs, the focus of the blog needs to be considered – there are photoblogs, travelblogs, fashionblogs, and my personal favorite, celebrity gossip-blogs (I know, I know, I’m trashy). And many other types I’ve failed to mention…

Where can I find the "How Not to Write a Sucky Blog" manual?

So far, I have established my belief that blogs are a legitimate literary medium, insomuch that they can be criticized. Yes, any high-schooler or hack critic can read a blog and form an opinion; it’s even better when said reader comments on the blog. But just like any other medium, comments such as “UR BLOG SUX” aren’t helpful. Instead, we need to consider criticism that is constructive.

However, finding such criticism proved to be a challenge. Amazon.com sells no “How Not to Write a Sucky Blog” or “The Post-Modern Approach to the Autobiography-in-Process, a.k.a. the Blog.” With tools such as these, writing a blog may be easier… that is, if you care enough to read something (after all, how many writers read about writing fiction? I read “In Defense of Poesy” only because I had to). Nevertheless, there are many books on blogging, such as those that can help you understand what a blog is, or how it can grow your business (sidenote: doesn’t “Grow your…” sound pretentious?). But do any of these books really criticize the blog as they should? Glancing at titles and descriptions, I think the answer is no (but then again, I can’t afford to purchase all of these books, or call in sick to find the time to read them).

We now turn to a column criticizing the blog: Zoe Williams wrote in New Statesman that blogs are nothing more than “vanity publishing.” She derides the medium because there are some pretty ugly blogs out there. But she doesn’t stop to ask, “Is The Widdy Web the only type of blog on the planet?” If she had, perhaps she wouldn’t have formed such a harsh opinion, that blogs are “the diaries of nobodies.” Perhaps she was being sarcastic… but I didn’t pick up on it. Next time, we’ll have to look at what differentiates the blog from a personal diary (or a column…) and consider some blogs that simply rock at what they’re trying to rock at.