Getting through the bog of blogs Where they came from, what they are good for Created by Brett Oppegaard for Washington State University's DTC 338 class, spring 2008 Sources: NPR.org, Time Magazine Courtesy of cartoonbank.com

What is the origin of the blog? During the first century, B.C., Julius Caesar kept a log (kind of like a blog without Internet) of his conquests of the Gauls in the Gallic War, including comments about military strategy, differences in cultures and pithy observations about life.... W hat about Thoreau's “Walden”? Courtesy of academic.shu.edu

In the modern era... The Internet is invented in More than a decade passes before people begin using it for decentralized discussion boards. Courtesy of clusterflock.org

What happened next... Brian Redman creates mod.ber in 1983, a forum in which he and friends discuss interesting things they discover online and offline. Listserv, the first discussion group software is invented in Cleveland Freenet, the first Internet community bulletin board, is created in Tim Berners-Lee launches the first Web page in 1992.

What happened next... It all breaks loose in 1994, that's when an “Open Diary” by Claudio Pinhanez of M.I.T. And Justin Hall's “personal homepage” appear, sharing intimate details about their lives. Jorn Barger begins publishing Web links in reverse chronological order in 1997, dubbing it “WebLog,” from which “blog” becomes the term to denote anything with frequent short posts, ordered from newest to oldest. Purists say it must be Web-related.

What happened next... Really Simple Syndication, or R.S.S., is developed in 1999, allowing people to subscribe to blogs. Only about two dozen blogs exist at this time. Audio blogging, called podcasting, emerges, in 2003, followed by video blogging, in 2004, generating interest in sites such as You Tube. In 2005, Garrett M. Graff becomes the first blogger to get White House press credentials. Technorati, the primary blog search engine, reports that in 2007 there were more than 100 million blogs worldwide.

What blogs do best Make connections. Links to interesting things, best sites, raise awareness. Share a personal voice. No longer the authority from the loudspeaker. Interactive. Are quick and to the point. Courtesy of ushistory.org

Tips for blogging (from Time Magazine)‏ Pick a specific topic and stick to it. Keep your design simple and your posts concise. Let links and photos speak for themselves. Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation. Post often--frequent updates keep people coming back for more. Check facts. Courtesy of oddee.com