Blog Terminology

I came across a magazine article enumerating the various words that have sprung from the new-fangled activity called blogging. Incidentally, the magazine is IEEE Spectrum, a monthly publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., and the magazine article contributor is Paul McFedries, a technical and language writer with over 40 books to his credit. He also runs a website and mailing list that tracks new words and phrases.

The word blog itself is derived from Web log. A blog is a kind of digital diary, a web page to which a writer posts entries chronologically on any topic. It is different from a regular website because the blog’s information is updated frequently, even several times a day.

No one is quite sure how many blogs exist, although a recent survey by Perseus Development Corporation, based in Braintree, Massachusetts, estimated that there are over 4.1 million blogs just on blog-hosting sites such as LiveJournal and BlogCity alone. However, the survey also showed that about two-thirds of the blogs had not been updated in over two months, so the total number of actual active blogs could only be less than three million.

So what are the blog words that have come about according to Mr. McFedries? Many are actually quite self-explanatory. Here they are:

Blogger – person who maintains a blog

Blogerati or Blognoscenti – bloggers who are passionate about their hobby and their blogs; the stars among the many bloggers

Blog Blurb – New entry into a blog

Blogistan, Blogverse or Blogosphere – the collection of blogs and everything else associated to blogs and blogging

Standalone Blog – a blog not connected to a blog-hosting site

Journal Blog – on-line diaries that record the daily trials and tribulations of the blogger

Kittyblog – a word coined for journal blogs of the “oh-hum” variety (since, apparently, blogs falling under this category describe what their cat did that day)

Bloggerel – a synonym of kittyblog, joining the words blog and doggerel

Over-sharing – providing too much detail about a blogger’s personal life

Blogorrhea – a blogger condition in which too much information is posted in general

The following are a few of the many kinds of blogs devoted to particular topics:

Blawg – a blog related to legal matters or is maintained by a lawyer

Bleg – a blog used to beg for help or money

Advocacy Blog – a blog supporting a political cause

News Blog or Pundit Blog – a blog examining mainstream news media and punditry

Blews – a blog that breaks its own news; not to be confused with a News Blog

Tech Blog – a blog focusing on technology

Edu-blog – a blog that discusses education issues

Warblog – a blog that tackles war, particularly on the efforts against terrorism

Photog – a blog that posts pictures, particularly candid shots of people in public places

Moblog – a blog maintained and updated using a mobile device such as a notebook, a palmtop computer or a cellphone

With all these new blog words, the terminology leads me to add one of our own. Arkiboks is an arkiblog, a blog devoted to the most current trends and issues in architecture and the whys and wherefores of the architect and the architect-to-be.

In our own way, we are part of the blogosphere! Keep it up, Arkiboks!