Blogs
The "blog" (short for "weblog" (Blood, 2000) ) was originally intended as a sort of online journal where an author could post personal observations, usually on a daily basis. Blogs are most distinguishable from other types of "CMS's" in that each "post" is a separate entity in itself, but these posts end up appearing sequentially (latest post at the top of the page) on the website homepage.
As such, for better or for worse, standard IA tasks such as pre-defining a definite site structure with a heirarchy of content and navigational links - before content creation - is not necessary. Nearly all blogs follow a strictly linear system of moving from the "new" posts on the front page to "older" posts - usually categorised by post month or year, on subsequent levels.
Another method of site organization that blogs employ (and perhaps truly popularized) is through the "tagging" of posts with subject terms. Tagging is a form of folksonomy a classification system derived from user-generated electronic tags or keywords that annotate and describe online content. Folksonomy where subjects are created on the fly without the aid of a controlled thesuarus. As a result of this, menu links created automatically from a list of tags can quickly become unweildy, and even a single user over time can end up tagging similar items with completely different tags.
Again, as with all OSS software, what once began as a simple single user journal entry system has "evolved" into blogs that can have multiple authors, blogs that allow comments on particular posts (either anonymously or restricted only to "members" of that blog), and blogs that employ plugins and modules to allow for creation of "static" pages (like contact pages), automatic sitemap creation (for better Google indexing), Twitter and Facebook feeds, and even e-commerce solutions. The possibilities for complication are almsost endless.
Although still often used for personal journal type sites, blogs are perhaps best known these days as sources of "unofficial" news. Indeed, the surge in popularity of blogging in the last decade has resulted in much debate about the future of journalism itself and the credibility of blogs as "real news" (Gunter, Campbell, Touri, Gibson., 2009, p. 187) . (Not to mention blogs now keeping whole armies of lawyers in business with defamation and libel suits)
Why use a blog for my site?
- If you only intend on creating discreet "articles" or "posts" for your site, blogs were custom built for this purpose.
- If you only intend to have a few pages on your site, blogging tools can create a very simple "normal" site without you needing to create any sort of site structure or navigational system
- If you don't have access to any sort of web hosting, there are many blogging platforms that will allow you to create a blog on their webspace for no cost.
- Blogs are probably the best solution for those with no technical or html coding skills whatsoever. You can sign up for an online blogging service and be creating your first post in minutes.
The Further Reading page on this site lists resources where you can find links to lots of blog software, or you can read my review of WordPress.