Internet Archaeol. 14. Heyworth. Blogs

2. Blogging

2.1 What are blogs?

"A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically – like a what's new page or a journal. The content and purpose of blogs vary greatly – from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction. Blog posts are like instant messages to the web." (http://www.blogger.com/about.pyra)

Many blogs are online diaries recording personal experiences and thoughts, but increasingly blogs are also being used to disseminate news and information.

There are a number of online services (often free, depending on the level of functionality required) to allow users to create and maintain blogs (such as Blogger http://www.blogger.com) as well as software that can be downloaded and run locally (such as Moveable Type http://www.movabletype.org).

2.2 Archaeology blogs

Archaeoblog is a weblog published by the Council for British Archaeology (see http://www.britarch.ac.uk/archaeoblog), which has been publishing since March 2003.

Figure 1: Screenshot of home page for Archaeoblog

Archaeoblog is essentially a simple listing of short notes and items of news relating to UK archaeology, usually with direct hypertext links to other relevant web sites carrying more detail. Anyone can access the weblog pages on a regular basis to catch up with recently published material, but can also elect to receive email alerts every time a new item is published.

Currently Archaeoblog is maintained by a single person, but multiple authors are possible using the Blogger service, and images can also be incorporated (subject to copyright restrictions).

There are a limited number of other news blogs that relate to archaeology e.g. Archaeology in Europe maintained by David Beard (http:/www.archaeology.eu.com/weblog).

Figure 2: Screenshot of home page for Archaeology in Europe weblog

Blogs are an excellent and cheap publishing system which can be used to disseminate information, but they are still 'passive' in that users have to remember to visit the web pages on a regular basis to keep up-to-date with new postings.