Go ahead, define "Blog"
How exactly do we define the word, BLOG?
Shall we ask our friends? No, that will end up with as many
definitions as we have friends. Do we look at what recognized
valid sources might say? Hmm, just what is a "recognized , valid, source?" With that as as guiding search light we night get into that foofaraw [1] over whether or not a blog is a form of journalism [2], which is certainly not today's topic. That's fodder for another entry another day.
Should we look it up in the dictionary? Well, that might
work, except that the Webster's Collegiate Dictionary by my desk is
over 20 years old, and blogs are a more recent addition to the lexicon.
Do we make like the NY
Times [3], and refer to blog as a shorthand terminology for "web logs, a
personal journal website kept on the internet." Note: that's from memory; the
Times probably is wordier and more sterile, clinical, and standoffish. But let's also give credit where due: David Pogue [4], an excellent writer [5] who can be read every Thursday in the Times' Circuits Section [6],
knows what a blog is, and even refers to blogs as blogs. So do
William Safire, Maureen Dowd, and a number of the other Op-Ed
writers. But the Times remains rather stodgy, taking an official
sort of brick'n'mortar position.
Odd, isn't it? After all, the Times just bought [7] the very popular blog-like site, About.com [8], and enlisted consultant and New Media uber blogger Jeff Jarvis [9]
over to help provide them with some newtech guidance. That seems like a win-win proposition if ever there was one!
Sooner or later maybe the Times will define blogs as blogs. Hope
so, anyway.
So let's look around for some web-based definitions. Do we go with dictionary.com [10]? Here's a screenshot from looking it up [10] over there:
Links:
[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/08/17.html
[2] http://www.eggplant-productions.com/programs/
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/
[4] http://www.nytimes.com/ref/technology/bio-pogue.html
[5] http://www.davidpogue.com/
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/circuits/
[7] http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=NYT&script=411&layout=-6&item_id=676519
[8] http://about.com/
[9] http://www.buzzmachine.com/
[10] http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=blog
[11] http://wikipedia.org
[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
[13] http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=blog definition&btnG=Search
[14] http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&oi=defmore&q=define:Blog
[15] http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/
[16] http://www.marketingerms.com