Introduction

Short introduction to blogs

You already know that: A blog or a web log is a kind of diary, which is publicly managed by one or more persons. Blogs differ from other internet tools by their structure: all entries are arranged in chronological order; the most recent entry appearing on top. This chronological structure explains the attraction of blogs: they do not require sophisticated design.

When you make your first entry in your blog, you publish your first posting. You do not need any special software for this (although it is available). Simply logon to your web log and click on “new post“. Give your posting a title and write the actual entry. Save and – you’re done!

What might not seem so simple at first glance, like someone else wishes to refer to a specific posting in your blog, can actually be accomplished very easily. Fortunately, there are permalinks for this purpose. A permalink is a URL that points to a specific blogging entry even after the entry has passed from the front page into the blog archives. You do not have to worry about programming permalinks. The web log software does that for you.

When you make a comment on your blog about a subject posted on another blog, TrackBack is used to enable that blog to link back to your comment on your blog. TrackBack is a cross referencing system between blogs. It also allows a title and excerpt of the comment to be included with the link.(Blogosphere refers to the community of bloggers connected by a trackback network.)

Occasionally readers of your blog will write a comment to one of your postings. This is not published immediately. You will receive a message from your blog, as soon as a new comment appears. Only you decide whether the comment is to be published or not.

In order to look for new postings, your readers (students, colleagues, relatives and friends) do not have to visit your blog each time. Every blog can be subscribed to and/or syndicated. To do that, a special weblog address (the RSS-Feed) must be entered into a so-called RSS- Reader. RSS-readers collect the newly entered postings from different blogs and display these in a clear and well-arranged manner. RSS readers are often free of charge, available for all Windows and Mac computers, as well as internet applications and mobile devices.

Which blogs exist for “my” topics?

The blog search engine Technorati helps you find blogs for any topic under the sun.

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