This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.
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21 May 2003
If you are a business interested in blogging, it helps to have a concise definition of what blogging is. Dana Blankenhorn sums it up nicely…
Blogs are instant publishing. You write, you cut-and-paste images, you cut-and-paste links, you customize everything through a WYSIWIG interface, and with one click you publish.There is no Webmaster. There is no gatekeeper (necessarily). There’s just you, your PC, your Internet connection, and a form.
Trying to explain a blog to a non-blogger (like your boss) is pointless. You need to stop trying to explain what makes a blog special and instead explain what makes a blog easy. Blogs are the push-button publishing that everyone hyped inthe early days of the web. Blogging software makes it easy for anyone to publish. That’s all a blog is. That’s all the magic. Sometimes something simple is the hardest to define.
But Chris's comment goes to the debate - is a blog the action of push button publishing (which doesn't make "corporate blogs" a walking contradiction) or is it the end result of the site created by the action? When I'm trying to explain a blog to someone that has never seen one, I use a description much like the one you have here - it is a fast and easy way to publish to the web. Blog software can be bent and shaped to create almost any type of site that you want - I could use MT to generate the website for the law firm where I work. When I am trying to explain MY blog to someone, then it becomes an issue of the community and the larger global conversation. And on that note, I'll finish this conversation over on my site, with a trackback ping of course!
There is a lot of "blogging" going on and a lot of explaining of what blogging is. I guess I'm slow but no one has explained what it is in a way I could totally understand it. Simple question: Is it a published article, opinion, dissemination of info, short stories, challenge. . .and is it published for everyone to read? What is the logic and reason behind one? Thanks. Just being dumb
This discussion has been closed.
Chris Pirillo
May 22, 2003 11:10 PM
Ah, but I've argued that what makes blogging "blogging" is the community that surrounds the page. It's instantly part of a larger global conversation. It's brutal honesty. It's exposing your strengths AND weaknesses to the rest of the world - which is why "corporate blogs" are a walking contradiction.