Weblogging: Another Kind of Website
This article was written for the fall 2001 edition of Berkeley Computing and Communications. Also read Raymond Yee's "The Sea Change of the Web: What is the Second-Generation, Semantic Web?"
Chris Ashley, Manager, New Program Development, IST/Interactive University (July 20, 2001)
Weblogging: Another Kind of Website
This is the first article of a three-part series about weblogs; see Part II
One day in mid-March 2000 Raymond Yee of the Interactive University[1] thought it would be a good idea to buy and experiment with Manila, a web server application capable of supporting literally thousands of weblog websites. A bargain-priced education license was purchased, and Catherine Yoes downloaded and installed it on a rather ordinary NT server. Within weeks the IU experienced a revolutionary change in thinking about what a website is, how they're hosted, what they're used for, how they're built, and who owns them. A year and a half later all of the IU's websites are being produced using weblog technology, our team communications and sharing has been vitally enhanced, a number of our team members are regularly writing on the web, as are many of our University/K-12 projects and the K-12 teachers we work with.
What is a weblog? A weblog is easy to use but less easy to explain, a technology that is becoming more widely used but still remains little known, and a writing tool that supports practicing writers and previous non-writers. Weblogs have a relatively recent but intense history[2], with implications for web publishing, journalism, and education.
During the last year articles in the New Yorker, the SF Chronicle, and elsewhere, have portrayed blogging as little more than the exuberantly recorded, vacuous byproducts of fun-loving dotcommers in search of love, new entrepreneurial opportunities, and urban fun. Fortunately, there's far more to weblogging than that.
A weblog, also called a blog, is a web-based writing space. Think of something like an on-line journal, a website an individual uses to write everyday, where all the writing and editing, and the whole look and feel of the site, is managed through a web browser from wherever the writer happens to be. A weblog is designed so that, just like a journal, the page can be turned each day, and the website itself keeps track of the date and archiving of all the writing.
Like a journal, a weblog is not static, but a dynamic, continually updated site that grows over time with the accumulation of writing and other content. Typically, weblogging takes place within a community of other webloggers who share a common interest[3]. These communities may be very loosely or closely associated, ranging, for example, from a circle of friends sharing day-to-day information, to a group of fifteen people working collaboratively on a project, or to hundreds of people who share a larger general interest. For the most part the community is the primary audience, and the weblogger quite likely has two roles, being both a writer for this community and an audience member of the other community members' weblogs, which point to, comment on, and reference each other.
While weblogs are websites that can be linked to and navigated like any other website, a quick browse through a weblog probably won't tell the reader much about what is happening there. Instead, the reader will need to follow a weblog and other blogs in the community for awhile to get a sense of the writer's interests, habits, and point of view. By following these communities over time one gets a gradual sense of a growing body of shared and managed information and knowledge.
Commonly, weblogs use XML behind the scenes, are database-driven, have a set navigation structure, and are automatically archived. This means that since the look and feel of the whole site is applied through a template to every page the owner creates, and the pages a blogger writes are automatically archived, linked in sequence, and easy to navigate to, the blogger is freed from the daily grind of creating and uploading a web page by hand.. A writer can begin blogging by easily registering and creating a site at a weblog provider's site (e.g., Manilasites[4], Blogger[5]), choosing one of the pre-designed themes, browse the preferences to get a quick feel for the technology, and then spend her worries on what the site was really created to enable: writing. Minimal HTML knowledge goes a long way, and many blogs have built in tools to format and link text within the browser window.
Typically, each day the writer flips the front page ("flip" is Manila-speak for archiving the current front page and starting with a new day's fresh, clean space to write in), writes in a form within the browser window and clicks the Submit button. Voila, instant publishing! Many bloggers return to the site throughout the day to add, edit, update, and revise. Some webloggers' content is very focused, serving as a kind of regular published column. Other webloggers instead might post a succession of smaller items, stringing together ideas, thoughts, and observations, comments on news, responses to other blogs. A blogger might establish habits that serve as writing prompts; for example, habitually writing on Tuesday about a television show broadcast on Mondays, or writing a haiku on Fridays. In addition, a weblog owner can make her site open so that others can join and leave comments or ask questions in the discussion area. A Manila weblogger may choose to give select members editor status so that the members can help manage parts of the weblog.
Two examples of weblogs that serve specific audiences and, if followed over a few days, model well the practice and value of regular weblogging, are those maintained by Dave Winer and Lloyd Nebres. Dave Winer is a software developer, and the Founder and CEO of Userland[6], maker of Manila[7]. Everyday, often throughout the day, his weblog, Scripting News[8], is built from an accumulation of references to and comments on news items and other blogs, along with his own thoughts, ideas, and reflections. If you want to know what's cooking for the future of the web, Scripting News is the daily clearinghouse of news about second generation web development[9], as well as good technology gossip and occasional commentary on social and political issues. Userland currently hosts for free thousands of blogs through Manilasites[4]; Most Read Sites[10] is a list of the 100 most visited Userland-hosted blogs, and a gateway to an amazingly active and varied world of bloggers.
Lloyd Nebres works for UC Berkeley's Academic Talent Development Program (ATDP)[11]. For several years he has taught a summer course for high school students called The Internet Classroom. Lloyd also works actively throughout the year as a mentor for many of his students, helping his charges through the delicate challenges of high school with practical, academic, and emotional support, usually aimed toward college application. For his summer 2000 course Lloyd decided to introduce weblogging using Userland's Editthispage as weblog host. Little did Lloyd know that this would turn into a thriving community of 20-some regularly-blogging high school students beyond the summer and throughout the past school year, with students introducing other friends to blogging, gradually leading to the involvement of peers, relatives, siblings, friends, and other adults. Since May 2000 Lloyd has flipped his blog daily[12], referring to and commenting on student blogs, posing questions and writing prompts, weaving together themes from various weblogs, and carefully pushing and pulling at the students to foster critical thinking and thoughtful writing. As a bonus, since Lloyd works half of the year from Maui, during this past winter his readers were treated to daily reports of the snorkeling and kayaking excursions during which he's discovered and observed green turtles, listened to migrating whales, hiked mountains, and communed with family, all recorded with sensitive observations, thoughtful writing, and timely photos. Laura Shefler, a K-12 teacher recently credentialed at Berkeley, has written a paper powerfully and appropriately titled A Pedagogy of Nudges[13], which captures and details this weblog activity. This summer Lloyd is offering two ATDP classes, The Internet Classroom [14] and the Advanced Internet Classroom[15]. Currently, an ATDP Mac server is hosting dozens of new and growing weblogs.
Examples of groups blogs are more rare but not without potential. The IU staff weblog is used for team communications, planning, and brief discussions, and for sharing news, ideas, links, and files. Regular posting of IU activity has made the team better informed about the work of other team members. The archiving feature provides content management, and creates a record of work over time. The IU weblog is for team members only, and cannot be accessed without login privileges. Another private group weblog is used by the first group of IU Vorhaus Teacher Fellows[16] during the next year as a part of this groups' teacher research into classroom practice.
Two accessible group weblogs are fun social experiments. Punkworld[17] is a loose group of ATDP students whose group front page ranges from writing as graffiti to more thoughtful dialog. Crazyland[18] was inspired by Punkworld; established by the blog-crazy Sir Clifford[19], one of Peter Ford's[20] year six hotblogging students at the British School in Amersterdam, bringing together a group of eleven and twelve year old students in Peter's class[21] who regularly write and share.
All IU sites are now built in Manila. The main IU site is a weblog with the interactive features easily turned off in that particular weblog's preferences. Another IU site[22], which details the IU future development plans, is also built using weblog technology.
Part II of this article will further explore weblog technology (XML, RSS and syndication), storytelling and new journalism, and educational applications (peer-to-peer writing and the teacher as managing editor).
[1] The Interactive University. http://iu.berkeley.edu/
[2] Chymes, M. An Incomplete Annotated History of Weblogs, 2001
http://www.chymes.org/hyper/weblogs.html
[3] Blood, R. Weblogs: A History and Perspective, 2000
http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
[4] Manilasites. http;//www.manilasites.com/
[5] Blogger. http://www.blogger.com/
[6] Userland. http://www.userland.com/
[7] What is Manila?, Userland, Inc. http://manila.userland.com/
[8] Winer, D. Scripting News. http://www.scripting.com/
[9] Yee, R. The Sea Change of the Web: What is the Second-Generation,
Semantic Web? Berkeley Computing and Communications, 2001 http://istpub.berkeley.edu:4201/bcc/Fall2001/feat.2ndgenweb.html
[10] Userland Software. Most Read Sites, http://www.userland.com/mostReadSites
[11] UC Berkeley ATDP. http://atdp.berkeley.edu
[12] Nebres, L. http://l.editthispage.com/
[13] Shefler, L. Indisciplinary Education: A Pedagogy of Nudges, 2000
http://yinzgandantananat.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$365
[14] The Internet Classroom, http://atdplogs.berkeley.edu/tic/
[15] The Advance Internet Classroom,
http://atdpweb.soe.berkeley.edu/aic01/index.html/
[16] Harris, J. IU Launches Jill Vorhaus Fellows Program, 2001
http://interactiveu.berkeley.edu:8000/IU/stories/storyReader$112
[17] Punkworld. http://128.32.60.173/punkworld/
[18] Crazyland. http://crazyland.manilasites.com/
[19] Sir Clifford. http://sirclifford.manilasites.com/
[20] Weblogs in Education. http://weblogsineducation.editthispage.com/
[21] Class 6F, British School of Amsterdam. http://class6f.manilasites.com/
[22] The Interactive University: A Future Model, http://iu.berkeley.edu/newiu/
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