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October 18, 2004
An Intro to Blogging
Hey all, not much interesting going on today, so I thought I'd write a little primer on the world of blogging. (How should one pronounce 'primer'? I lean towards the 'prymer' pronunciation, while I have heard 'prim-er' used often as well.)...Let's get started. Some of you may have no idea what the word 'blog' means. It's pretty simple really. Back in the early days when blogging was invented, online journals were called 'Weblogs'. You'll notice that the last part of the URL for this page is /weblog/. That's kind of like a shout out to history...in a way. Since technologically minded people are always on the lookout for an acronym or abbreviation, the 2 syllable noun 'weblog' was shortened to its 1 syllable contemporary: 'blog'. Enough of this history, let's get to the action. Since you're obviously already in this blog reading game, you should have a plan of action, and I intend to suggest some moves for you.
First off, I recommend using an aggregation service. Basically, these services allow you to save a list of your favorite blog sites, then instead of visiting each blog you like to read, you can go to this site and it will show all of the blogs that have been updated. The aggregator I use is Bloglines. Give it a shot, it's pretty easy to use, and really convenient.
Next, you should start a blog of your own! Having a blog is great for many reasons. First, keeping a personal journal is a great way to keep track of the things that are important in your life. Also, it's a great way to keep in touch with people. The one-to-many format allows you to keep in touch with a lot of people while exerting minimal effort (especially in comparison to more conventional types of communication). Most importantly, having your own blog makes the world of blogging more powerful! Imagine if you were the only one who owned a telephone. This highly powerful technology would be rendered completely useless! The more users of the system, the more powerful it becomes! So go get a phone! (oops, I mean blog.)
There are a ton of free services out there for blogging. The simplest system I have seen is at Blogger. They make signing up and starting your blog really easy to do. I recommend starting there. Another possible starting place is Xanga, which is a little more advanced, but has some extra features not offered on Blogger. You can also check out LiveJournal, which also has its advantages. Since they're all free services, feel free to try them all out and see which one you like best.
The system I use is called MovableType. It is really powerful, but targets a more advanced user. There's a bunch of stuff in my system that I don't comprehend at all. If you have some server space to play with and access to Perl and MySQL databases, as well as some time to tinker with settings, then check out MovableType, it might be for you.
I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I'm leaving out, but I think I promised a simple primer, so I don't want to bore you. Before I stop I must add that there are many possible uses for your blog. You can have a personal journal that can be accessed from anywhere, and nobody needs to know about it; or you can have a public journal that is shared with friends, family, and coworkers to keep everyone in the loop; or you can track your progress on a long-term task using a blog (for example, you can keep notes on what kind of exercise you do each day, or make updates on a particular project). Whatever your reason, you should try blogging, you may find a new hobby that you really enjoy! After you start your blog, be sure to send the web address to me!
Posted at October 18, 2004 09:26 PM