810 Blogging Lab

Many people are familiar with traditional web pages. If they see one, they can identify it. In the past few years, blogs have become increasingly popular. However, if shown one, not everyone would identify it as a blog. Traditional web pages offer information. They may include hypertext links, pictures and of course text penned by the creator. Web pages have a variety of reasons to be published -- information, advertisements, etc. Blogs tend to be more of a communication tool. If I were to have a web page about Thomas Edison, it would be informational. I could include pictures of him and his inventions. I could embed links to Menlo Park or his hometown. A blog would more likely be written by someone and include information and pictures. But blogs are often linked to other with a similar interest. A curator at Menlo Park could be linked. The curator might then blog about the inventions you could see at Menlo Park. A reader of my blog on Thomas Edison could connect with the curator and ask them questions. The curator could then carry out a discussion through a series of blogs with those that ask questions and me. A blog is like a living web site. In fact the definition of blog is a "a diary on a web site" and a "web log". While a traditional web site is out there for people to see, a blog is there to interact with the author and readers/subscribers.