I haven't linked to an explicit blog-based article for a while - like any tool with a bit of history, blogging has become more accepted and transparent. Blogging is no longer the direct focus of dialogue. Instead, we focus on what it does and what it enables (and how edubloggers long for those days when saying "blog" or "wiki" required an explanation before continuing the discussion!). Wall Street Journal announces a tenth blogiversary (it seems that blog is more of a root word to be repurposed as desired by authors than a term with meaning in itself): "In the decade since their conception, blogs, once a smorgasbord of links, have evolved into vehicles for a fuller, more forceful and opinionated prose." See also a short history of blogging (which disputes the accuracy of WSJ assertion of "the first blogger")
Posted by gsiemens at July 16, 2007 11:04 AM | TrackBackThe WSJ article is of course just so much tripe, neither useful nor informative.
The Blog Herald history of blogging is somewhat better, though its attribution to Bond and Rees is most certainly incorrect, not because the authors didn't use the word (though, notably, they didn't use the word) but because they were not talking about blogging, but rather, recording meetings.
Also, the oft-cited quote of Jesse James Garrett's "23 known blogs" should not be mentioned without also the statement that it was certainly false; many more blogs - including my own - had started up by then.
And I don't know why LiveJournal always gets short shrift in these articles; it started months ahead of Blogger and achieved a far larger user community than Userland ever did.
Posted by: Stephen Downes at July 16, 2007 12:28 PM