I'm probably going to get hammered for this, so consider the following posting a pre-emptive reply to "the question raised by Jeff Ooi":http://www.jeffooi.com/archives/000383.php : what did i really mean by a "proper blog" in "my interview":http://www.aizuddindanian.com/voi/archives/000461.html appearing in The Edge last weekend?
In an attempt to give blogging some structure, i think what separates it from regular John/Jane Doe websites are the following:
# Regularly updated - if not daily, at least with some semblance of consistency
# Contains embedded links - not just links on the side bar to other blogs or to other frequently visited or recommended websites like "Malaysiakini":http://www.malaysiakini.com/ or "Hotmail":http://www.hotmail.com/. The major factor of the blogging philosophy is that it points its readers to "additional reading" on any particular topic - that's what the links are for
# Interactive features - this could be a commenting system, this could be a request for readers to write-in via email
# *VERY IMPORTANT* A personal touch - i reckon a blog is a blog when its written by a personality or a group of personalities. That personality may remain anonymous but the manner in which a blog is represented in cyberspace should be identifiably connected to a particular individual or small group of individuals (i.e. community/group blogging)
This definition has been synthesized through a number of sources: "here":http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2002/06/13/megnut.html, "here":http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,718517,00.html, "here":http://www.andrewsullivan.com/main_article.php?artnum=20020224 (this link is the infamous "Bloggers Manifesto" by "Andrew Sullivan":http://www.andrewsullivan.com/, an equally infamous blogger), "here":http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/1999/05/28/weblogs/print.html and "here":http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,50443,00.html.
Also, worth a read is Rebecca Blood's account of "the history of weblogs":http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html.
And, trust you me, just in case "you were wondering":http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,81500,00.asp, blogs "are NOT vanity sites":http://news.com.com/2010-1074-897638.html. So get that particular idea out of your mind. But, having said that, the blogs that win the "Anti-Bloggies":http://www.antibloggies.com/ do seem very strange.
For a list of articles on the Web about the blogging phenomena (this is a very rich resource), go to "MarketingTerms.com":http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/.
The definition above obviously rules out a lot of websites that call themselves blogs. But it also rules in a lot of websites that you may not normally associate as a blog. For example, while some may argue that Malaysiakini is an online newspaper, i would argue that there are some very strong blogging elements/characteristics embedded in the site. Alternatively, a website that is just about the daily life of an individual (e.g. "I woke up. I had breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had sex. Then i went to sleep." - over and over again, ad nauseum) is probably not, by the definition that i've provided, a blog.
Of course, its a free world. If you think your site is a blog eventhough it falls outside the definition i prescribe to, i would be the last to tell you that you're wrong.
Considering what i think a blog is, that is the reason why i said that blogging requires a critical mind and mental discipline. Without an inquisitive mind, you wouldn't be bothered enough to find out what's going on around you, thus no links, thus no analysis. Don't be put off by this: analysis of simple matters is just as valuable as analysis of current local and international affairs. Its the ability to build a perspective that matters, not what that perspective actually is.
Mental discipline is needed to write regularly. This doesn't mean that a person who doesn't update regularly or doesn't keep a blog is not a mentally disciplined person. It means that in order to maintain a blog, it does require a decision to commit to the activity and a desire to follow through on that commitment. If you choose not to, that's ok too - perhaps that is why i mentioned in the interview that as many as 20% of the blogs in the Great Malaysian Blog List had to be recently culled: their owners decided that blogging was not for them and decided to move on to other activities. Its not important that they dropped out and discontinued their blogs; what's important is that they tried, then made a conscious decision not to continue.
I'm not sure why "Oon Yeoh":http://www.malaysiakini.com/transitions/ insisted on labelling me a "blogging evangelist" in the interview, because i don't think i am. What i would say about myself is that i hope for as many Malaysians as possible to take up blogging as an activity of the mind. We are only as good as our minds let us be; its time for us to exercise it.
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