Weblogs, also known as 'blogs', are yet another form of communication on the Internet. You might have read about weblogs recently and wondered what the buzz was all about.

"A Weblog (which is sometimes written as "web log" or "weblog") is a Web site of personal or non-commercial origin that uses a dated log format that is updated on a daily or very frequent basis with new information about a particular subject or range of subjects. The information can be written by the site owner, gleaned from other Web sites or other sources, or contributed by users.

As a format and content approach for a Web site, the Weblog seems popular because the viewer knows that something changes every day, there is a personal (rather than bland commercial) point-of-view, and, on some sites, there is an opportunity to collaborate or respond with the Web site and its participants.

A Web log often has the quality of being a kind of "log of our times" from a particular point-of-view. Generally, Weblogs are devoted to one or several subjects or themes, usually of topical interest, and, in general, can be thought of as developing commentaries, individual or collective on their particular themes. A Weblog may consist of the recorded ideas of an individual (a sort of diary) or be a complex collaboration open to anyone. Most of the latter are moderated discussions."

Currently, the most popular Weblog is Slashdot.org, the product of programmer and graphic artist Rob Malden and several colleagues. Slashdot.org carries discussion thread on many subjects including: Money, Quake (the game), Netscape, Sun Microsystems, Hardware, and Linux. Slashdot.org solicits and posts interesting stories reported by contributors, includes a link to the story, and manages the threads of the ensuing discussion by other users. Another well-known Weblog is Jorn Barger's Robot Wisdom Log, which is more of collection of daily highlights from other Web sites. Jessamyn West's librarian.net is a daily log of items interesting to librarians and possibly others, too.

(Source http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213547,00.html)

You may be thinking, 'I don't have time to read the email that I currently receive, why do I need weblogs?'

Weblogs can be used as productivity tools. For example, weblogs are used by engineers at Cisco to post and read information about ongoing projects.

Weblogs are also popular for journalistic or artistic communication. Andrew Sullivan, the journalist, and Dan Perkins, the cartoonist creator of "This Modern World", each have their own weblogs. Dan Perkins posits "it creates a deeper bond with the audience, and it keeps people coming back to the site...when the product of your business is something as intangible as the expression of ideas, the more people thinking about those ideas, the better".

Are weblogs just a fad? If you want to reach an audience, using email is more effective than depending on individual readers to check a weblog. But, with the backlash against spam and the growing volume of email, weblogs on specific topics might become more popular. Allowing readers to have more control over accessing information is a positive aspect of this new form of expression.

• Slashdot
• RobotWisdom log
• Librarian net
• Andrew Sullivan
• This Modern World