Blogger: Peter S. Lopez
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
How to Splatter Your Brains On Blogs!
++++++++++Being on the Internet
I am blessed to have a Hewlett-Packard Pentium computer, Internet access with Comcast via a wireless broadband connection and have been online now for a few
years posting Emails, low-ridin' on the web, checking out lots of websites and moderating online groups.
To be online is like being in another dimension outside of ordinary reality. I have met several people I first ‘met’ online in ‘real life’. One click of a link leads to another and another. Thus, I have a semblance of life in three spheres of connected reality: online on the Internet, offline out in the community and inline in my own personal life.
Today I am the Group Moderator for the Humane-Rights-Agenda Yahoo Group online that has about 400 Members. Plus, among others groups online, I am in on the Digital Divide Network Discussion List, which promotes bridging the digital divide between the ‘haves’ with regular Internet access from their computers, and the ‘have-nots’ who do not have computer-Internet access.
One day I got an Email by a Group Member and an online friend who invited me to be a contributor to his blog. I checked it out his blog, created my first blog, toyed with the blog settings and it was on!
I figured out more or less what a blog was about, became a blogger and I decided to make a companion blog for my Yahoo Group in order to promote it, have a wider Internet presence and create user-friendly archives. So I did some research about blogs, blogging and started my own blog.
What the heck is a blog anyway?
I noticed sometime back that the term ‘blog’ was popping up more and more on the Internet, on my main cable channel CNN-TV and mentioned by others I know on the Internet. At first I thought a blog was just for professional business people with high-tech expertise and you had to be really techno-savvy, but such was not the case.
To me, the term ‘blog’ is short for a business log on the Internet and different kinds of blogs can be used for different purposes. According to Wikipedia, Jorn Barger coined the term ‘weblog’ in 1997. ‘Blog’ was accepted as a noun (weblog shortened) and as a verb (‘to blog’ meaning ‘to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog’). After a slow start, blogging rapidly gained in popularity: the site Xanga, launched in 1996, had only 100 diaries by 1997, and over 50,000,000 as of December 2005. According to The Blog Herald, a blog about blogs, as of October 2005 there were over 100 million blogs and the figures are growing exponentially as they multiply themselves.
Related Link:
http://www.blogherald.com/2005/10/10/the-blog-herald-blog-count-october-2005/
In a way, having a blog is like having your own individual web page, but it is easier to create, maintain and manipulate compared to web page design. You can have an online daily journal as a blog, have a general theme like gardening or an archive for your favorite poems. Your only limitation is your wild imagination. A blog can be about whatever you want it to be.
What you need to get your blog on!
To get your blog on all you need is a regular computer with Internet access. Just think of a computer as a fancy typewriter and the Internet as a bunch of folks sharing stuff via the World Wide Web through websites, online groups, Emails and nowadays with blogs. Internet Power with its high technology intimidates many people, especially older people who can live without all that high-tech jazz, but a basic blog is really easy once you get the simple basics of it down. Plus, being computer literate, Internet savvy and working software programs are now basic job skills in many of today’s high-tech equipped professional occupations.
Your First Blog
The entire user-friendly software program you need you can download for free onto your computer. Then, you can start blogging onto your blog from a regular Windows document, from your Email program like a regular Email and nowadays you can even blog text messages and pictures from your mobile phone. People with little or no technical background can create, update and maintain a blog. Once you make your first blog you can share your blog with family, friends online and others. If you screw up you can always delete it and start all over fresh when you refresh!
Kinds of Blogs
I have few blogs that I keep up for different purposes. For example, I have one for my humane rights online group; one for my progressive recovery group; one that serves as an open online journal and one for my archives where documents, pictures and research results are stored. My blogs help free up space on my computer’s hard drive because it is all stored online. Plus, I can access them anywhere in the world with a computer-Internet connection. The best approach is to study about blogs, do not be afraid to experiment and to check out other blogs for tips and techniques for your own blog.
Get your blog on!
Have the courage to read and act upon this article! As long as there is an Internet there will be blogs, online groups, Emails, chat rooms and other forms of human communications. It is really easy to ‘get your blog on’ and it makes you certified ‘cool’. Any simpleton can get an Email address, but a blog is a real step up in being Internet savvy. Plus, a blog is a great way to express yourself, will help with your creative writing and can be a great way to share with others through words, pictures and key links.
Relevant Blog Links
Suggested Book: Blogging For Dummies = By Brad Hill
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0471770841.html
A Bloggers' Code of Ethics
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000215.php
Blog for America
http://blogforamerica.com/
Digital Divide Network Blogs
http://www.digitaldivide.net/blogs/
Yahoo Blog Link
http://360.yahoo.com/
MSN Spaces
http://spaces.msn.com/
Global Voices Online
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/
How to Create Your Own Blog
Author: Andy Carvin, EDC Center for Media & Community | December 8th, 2004
http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=69++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Happy Blogging Blogger!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
http://liberation-now.blogspot.com/
http://www.0101aztlan.net/index.html
Update= 10-18-2006
No comments:
Post a Comment