Overview/Background/History
In 1993 Barclay Barrios declared it was the year of the blog. While blogs were in existence prior to Barrios' declaration 1993 seemed to be a year they emerged into the academic lexicon and imagination. Since then, blogs have been a popular topic for the field of computers and
composition, New Media scholars and tech geeks, not
necessarily in that order.
When I first began researching blogs the first thing I
addressed in an essay or presentation was the definition of a
blog. Not every member of an academic audience was
familiar with the technology and there were varying
frameworks and areas in which blogs could be discussed.
Currently, I rarely use the definition (blogs, short for web- log, a chronological series of posts or entries on any number of topics published electronically typically through a blog host or service provider) and instead concentrate my efforts on the specific feature or function of the blog I am discussing. I still focus on situating my understanding and theories of blogs but no longer assume the audience is unaware of the phenonoma, especially considering the popularity of social network sites which provide blog access.
However, like most forums blogs have a history. Rebecca Blood
has an excellent overview on the history of blogging. Written in 2000, a time when blogs and bloggers seemed to struggle to define this new space in which they wrote and participated,Blood discusses style, customizable template design and the posssibilities of the blog forum.
Early blog research had as its agenda possibilities. Instructors, particularly writing instructores wondered, "What do blogs offer me? My students?" And in many ways the research we do on blogs is still asking as well as complicating that question.