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The Blogosphere

IMKE CSC2006 Kaido Kikkas. The Blogosphere. “We blog”. The favoured pastime of the 21 st century On an average, over 15,000 new weblogs are created per day - a new blog every 5.8 seconds - and over 275,000 individual posts every day (Technorati)

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The Blogosphere

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  1. IMKE CSC2006 Kaido Kikkas The Blogosphere

  2. “We blog” • The favoured pastime of the 21st century • On an average, over 15,000 new weblogs are created per day - a new blog every 5.8 seconds - and over 275,000 individual posts every day (Technorati) • blog.tr.ee has 997 blogs registered (26.10.06) • But people actually started similar things long ago

  3. Chronicles • Records of things that happen • Nabonidus in Mesopotamia • the Chronicles in the Old Testament • Hendrick the Lett, Balthazar Russow • Typically does not focus on certain events • Usually quite subjective views

  4. Commonplace books • In England from the 15th century (paper became affordable) • Large personal scrapbooks with very diverse content – from words of wisdom to recipes. Mostly used for philosophical thoughts and quotes • What was done was essentially sampling – the 'mashup' seen in today's networked world

  5. Diary • Personal narrative, often meant for author only • Early examples include • Record of Coming to the South – the travel diary of Li Ao, a Chinese envoy travelling in Southern China in 809 AD • the personal diaries of Japanese nobility • Often considered valuable historical accounts • See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diarists

  6. The Community Memory • A terminal-based communication system that was active in San Francisco in 1972-74 • Used the XDM-940 computer located in San Francisco, the first and most famous terminal was located in a music shop in Berkeley • ASR-33 teletype, 110 baud phone line • Allowed leaving messages and searching them by keywords • Benway, the first “network personality”

  7. BBS • January 1978, Ward Christensen • CBBS – dial-in system using a single 110-baud modem • Modem speeds improved (300, 1200, 2800... up to the 33,6K and 56,6K) • The prime time was during the 80s, but exists up to today

  8. Fidonet • A type of BBS-based network • Based on zones – all nodes exchanged their content daily (during the Zone Mail Hour); in this sense similar to Usenet news servers • Allowed NetMail and file transfer by attachments • Better BBS-s had multiple lines and modems • Was popular in Estonia at the end of the Soviet period • relatively uncontrolled • free local calls (flat rate)

  9. The Web • Tim Berners-Lee, CERN 1991 • The first web page - http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html (includes a sort of a blog!) • Free protocol with extensive possibilities => a rapid spread all over the world to the ubiquity of today

  10. A side issue: Gopher vs WWW • Gopher: Minnesota University 1991 • A simple menu-based hierarchical system • Started earlier than the Web and spread rapidly • 1993 – MU starts its licensing program, 2 months later Berners-Lee declares the Web free • WWW was a more advanced protocol, but without the licensing change, Gopher would have likely lasted much longer

  11. Early bloggers • Claudio Pinhanez, Open Diary in MIT 1994-96 • Justin Hall, Swarthmore College • the Web Ethics course • Justin's Links from the Underground, a combination of a Web guide and a very personal diary • 1996 – the book 24 Hours in Cyberspace • 1998 – launch of Xanga.com and Diarist.net • 1999 – Brad Graham uses the term “blogosphere” • Escribitionism

  12. Evolution • 1997 – Jorn Barger uses “weblog” (to log his surfing) on his site robotwisdom.com • 1999 – Peter Merholz, “we blog” => “(to) blog” • New additions: • permalinks • blogroll • trackback • Blogs start influencing traditional media

  13. Technical aspects • The free software breakthrough – LAMP stack: it is possible to launch an Intenet server with low costs • Lots of online services – prices were sensible due to market pressure • Lots of dedicated free/open-source software – Wordpress, Textpattern and many others

  14. Syndication • A vital component of the blog explosion • RSS and Atom – end of the 90s • Allows consolidated tracking of a large number of blogs • Lots of free solutions available

  15. Types of blog • By media: • “classic” blog • linklog • photoblog • videoblog (vlog) • moblog • By genre – general or dedicated • By status – personal, corporate(internal, external) • An interesting combo: bliki (wikiblog, bloki)

  16. Blogs vs traditional media • Mixed feelings • Some journalists also blog – more freedom of expression, no bureaucracy or censorship • Fear of competition – may also short-circuit attempts of various media spins • Increasingly a political tool (“miserable failure” in Google!)

  17. Cultural aspect • Some otherwise rather closed societies have blogs as a major source of (relatively) liberal discussion. E.g. Iran and China • The existence of the Bible in a national language as a landmark is not alone anymore – the same role is increasingly played by native blogs and Wikipedia

  18. Legal issues • 2002 – Heather Armstrong is “dooced” by her employer for remarks in her blog • various cases of high-level persecution based on blog entries • Owner of Dallas Mavericks was fined for criticizing NBA on his blog • An American stewardess was fired after publishing some objected photos in her blog • ...and of course, there is the everlasting IP stuff

  19. Summary • A combination of human need of expression (aggravated by the growing alienation seen in Western world) and modern technical tools to allow it • Can be a powerful cultural and political tool

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