Monday, October 20, 2008

Word of the week 20 - 26 October 2008: BLOG


A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. In 1997 the name ‘weblog’ was used for the first time by Jorn Barger who called his site in this way. The term ‘blog’ was coined three years later by Peter Merholz who broke the word ‘weblog’ into ‘we blog’ and the new word ‘blog’ started to function as both a noun and a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.



There are various types of blogs:

A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog.

Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs or legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs). An edublog is a blog written by or for teachers and maintained for the purpose of classroom instruction.

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