Technically Speaking: Blah, Blah, Blog

IE E E S P E C T R U M • D ec em be r 20 03 I t’s the nature of Internet manias: they tend to leave almost as fast as they come, with only the rarest of rages sticking around for the long haul. Of the Internet “in things” that have remained “in,” perhaps the most surprising is the humble Web log, or blog. This is a kind of digital diary, a Web page to which a writer posts chronological entries on a particular topic. The main difference between a blog and a regular Web site is that the blog’s information is updated frequently, often several times a day or more. No one knows how many blogs exist, but a search of the Whois database returns over 20 000 domain names that include the word “blog.” A recent survey by Perseus Development Corp., in Braintree, Mass., estimated that there are over 4.1 million blogs just on blog-hosting sites such as LiveJournal and BlogCity. It’s likely that there are at least as many standalone blogs. The Perseus survey also showed that about two-thirds of the blogs hadn’t been updated in over two months, so the total number of active bloggers is probably somewhat less than three million. That so few blogs remain active highlights an undeniable fact of blogging life: it’s difficult and timeconsuming to keep a blog fresh with constant new entries (called blog blurbs). Yet blogs of all stripes still spring up every day like so many mushrooms after a spring rain. So most blogs may be transitory, but the collection of blogs—called variously blogistan, the blogverse, or, most often, the blogosphere—remains vibrant. Bloggers tend to be passionate about their hobby, and the best among them—the so-called blogerati or blognoscenti— are genuine stars, with dedicated followers. These include the likes of writer Doc Searles (doc.weblogs.com), the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Cory Doctorow (boingboing.net), journalist Andrew Sullivan (www.andrewsullivan.com), and technoguru Esther Dyson (release4.blogspot.com). The vast majority of blogs are nothing more than everso-slightly glorified online diaries that record the daily trials and tribulations of the blogger. The worst of these journal blogs are dismissed as kittyblogs (since so many of them describe what their cat has done that day) or bloggerel (blog doggerel), and these bloggers are often accused of oversharing (providing too much detail about their personal Technically Speaking is a commentary on new words that arise in technical culture and communications. Readers are invited to respond to IEEE Spectrum at techspkg@ieee.org. L O U B E A C H Blah, Blah, Blog