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Well... it's about me. The daily shit of my ('non- illfe. Stuff | find on the web. Things day to day life. And some other crap. WowT Doesn't it sound fun? Location: London, England E
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an inside look on my highschool life in japan l Location: Yokosuka, Japan
Blog days
Online rants and insights into the modern world are gaining momentum and power. Tim Abrahams looks at the blogging phenomenon.
t's a word you're hearing bandied about more and more these days but basically a blog (from ‘weblog‘) is a frequently updated website. which usually appears in diary form. Iimbedded within the text are live links to other websites. Initially blogs were used by software designers to describe
their design process and to encourage help from fellow
software creators. But in recent times they‘ve been growing in power. perhaps the most famous example being the 'Baghdad Blogger' (thebadghdadblog.com/ home) whose diaries of life in Iraq following the arrival of coalition forces proved the net can reach
further than any news team. So if
you‘re going try blogging yourself. follow the golden rules.
1. BE INSPIRED
In the days leading up to the US presidential vote. one result was certain. ZIXH was the election that proved the power of the bloggers. It
was ostensibly normal members of
the public with their own websites who forced Iiox News to apologise for the made-up John Kerry quotes that appeared on its website after the first televised presidential debate ('I)idn't my nails and cuticles look great'." was one). Blogs like www.newshounds.us took on the big boys. Others like www.littlegreenfootballs.com show
that the Republicans are lighting
their corner online as well. (liven the speed with which www. wolfpacksfortruth.org was est- ablished after a Republican
scaremongering advert. it is clear
that blogging has passed out of the hands of private individuals and into the realm of party-sponsored media strategy.
2. BE IRRITATED
In the UK. blogs are a long way from assuming such an auspicious place in the political life of the country. Instead of taking on gladiatorial roles. British bloggers are happier whingeing than fighting. They can do it in a straightforward confessional fashion — callcentrediary«1‘ blogspot.com — or indeed in a more ambiguous way — the licentious belledejour-uk.b|ogspot.com being the famous and archetypal example. For every one of these. however. there are l()() inferior examples that only get looked at by the bloggers
of other inferior sites. It‘s either
sub-Ruzzlt' titilation written by lonely goth girls or a 50-year-old call centre team leader. who is still surprised that no-one has asked him to write his novel yet. Surely you can do better.
3. BE UNAFRAID
Blogging is not difficult to do. www.blogger.com is a site owned by those lovely people at Google.
Offering the same ease and speed of
use as everyone‘s favourite search engine. bloggert lets you blog for free in seconds. with instant access to a large community of fellow users. The one problem is that your site will look like every other one on the internet: clean. well-ordered but ultimately generic. If you want to look different you might want to try www.wordpress.org. Here you can download blogging freeware. which you can add to your homepage. although you need to check the specification. Then you can introduce the RSS feature to your blog. which will alert subscribers to your site to all new blogs. RSS is a tool used by most serious blogger-readers to keep track of their favourite writers.
4. TELL US SOMETHING WE DON'T KNOW
The most successful blogs all give us an insight into a world that the average reader knows nothing about. in a pithy style that. vitally.
leaves the reader wanting more. If
it‘s about your place of work. don‘t tell us everything — just that one funny story. liven better. give us some information. Do you spend £50 on CDs and go to see at least one gig every week'.’ [)0 you subsequently read the music press and think. ‘what a load of shite"? Take it to pieces in your blog and tell everyone what they should be listening too. Does your hobby make you an expert? Are you an
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6 Blogger
BRITISH BLOGGERS ARE HAPPIER WHINGEING THAN FIGHTING
activist‘.’ Are you working for a political party'.’ Then blog. But if you fancy becoming a whistlcblower. don’t take a picture of yourself in your uniform and stick it on your site. The lovely flight attendant at queenofsky.
journalspace.com did so and got
suspended. The silly cow.
5. BE GOOD
Once you've started. keep going and become dependable. Write something short and sweet once a week. If you want to write more of a musing online diary. then make sure it is well written and original. Look at the boring drivel at the front of most Saturday magazines and outdo it. Julie Burchill says that she probably wouldn't have made it in the media as it stands today. If she were starting out today. Burchill would blog. So like the good lady at her best and most vituperative. give Us a well constructed. completely idiosyncratic take on the world. (not just your own life). It should incense us because of its incendiary ideas not because of its shoddiness. NB Try not to be as rude about your fellow bloggers as we have been. They are your first readership.
6. TELL US ABOUT IT
If you run a good blog yourself or know of one. then let us know about it. Send your thoughts to blog@ list.co.uk.
4—18 No; 2004 THE LIST 1 15