- Introduction
About what theme I am going to speak and why:
- weblogs
Structure (Agenda) of this presentation
- why blogs are important
- what are weblogs
- what are the most famous one
- Why is the topic important?
- threat to traditional media
- blogs are subjective but independent
- bypass gatekeeper
- What are weblogs?
- Jorn Barger:
- A weblog (sometimes called a blog or a newspage or a filter) is a webpage where a weblogger (sometimes called a blogger, or a pre-surfer) ‘logs’ all the other webpages she finds interesting.”
- “The format is normally to add the newest entry at the top of the page, so that repeat visitors can catch up by simply reading down the page until they reach a link they saw on their last visit.”
- promote interesting sites, engage discussion and propagate new developments
- Watchblogs, Blawgs and Litblogs
- VBlogs, Linklogs, Artblogs, Phlogs, Moblogs
- „Those written by journalists;
- Those written by professionals about their industry;
- Those written by individuals at the scene of a major event;
- Those that link primarily to news about current events”.
Presentation – full text:
Hello,
My name is Fabian and I am studying Journalism and Mass Communication in Austria. Today I want to speak about weblogs. So I will begin my presentation with an introduction why weblogs are important or at least could become important in future. Secondly, I will explain what a weblog is, and finally tell you, what kinds of blogs are most widely read.
Why this topic is an important one?
One of the most discussed things today is the changing media consumption. The traditional media, such as television or newspapers, feel threaten by the Internet; but what exactly is meant with the term “Internet”? Not the Internet as a whole is a threat, but the new technologies are, which allows the consumer to produce own material very easily; it is the new participatory culture that threats the traditional media. Blogs are the best example for technologies, where you can produce your own material very easily and share it with others. In opposition to journalist products, blogs are very subjective, but on the other hand they are also very independent. They could bypass the gatekeeper function of traditional media. Today it is not clear, if blogs could become competitors for the traditional media and if blogs could influence and change the media system. Nevertheless these questions are incredibly important, as it could change everything.
What is a “weblog”?
The name “weblog” was coined 1997 by Jorn Barger. Barger was one of the first blogger. He defined weblogs as “A weblog (sometimes called a blog or a newspage or a filter) is a webpage where a weblogger (sometimes called a blogger, or a pre-surfer) ‘logs’ all the other webpages she finds interesting.” and “The format is normally to add the newest entry at the top of the page, so that repeat visitors can catch up by simply reading down the page until they reach a link they saw on their last visit.”
At the beginning, blogs were used for orientation within the Internet. The earliest bloggers tried to promote interesting sites, engage discussion and propagate new developments.
Accordingly it was very easy to identify a weblog. Nowadays it is much more difficult. For example there are Watchblogs, Blawgs and Litblogs. Watchblogs watches the traditional media and making their mistakes or hidden campaigns public, Blawgs focus on Law and Litblogs on Literature. The only real common thing is that the newest entry is on top of the page and the other entries follow. It is controversial if the periodicity should be factor or not. The most famous blogs are updated at least once a week. But there also existing “Live-Blogs” where people comment live from a specific event and only for a specific time. Also, many blogs allow comments to interact with their users, however not every blog has this function. Today, there are also other categories of Blogs such as VBlogs, Linklogs, Artblogs, Phlogs, Moblogs.
Vblogs are blogs who focus on Videos, Linklogs are blogs where you only post links like delicious, Phlogs are Photoblogs, and Moblogs means mobile blogging; bloggers posting from their mobile devices.
You can see there are many different kinds of blogs, also the genres are very different: From Blawgs to Fun- or Edublogs, everything is possible. Nevertheless, the most read blogs are from
- „Those written by journalists;
- Those written by professionals about their industry;
- Those written by individuals at the scene of a major event;
- Those that link primarily to news about current events”.
I hope, I could give you a good overview of what blogs are. Telling about my experiences as a blogger.