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Revolution in diaries
Weblogs reveal personal diaries to public
A weblog is a website containing personal diaries and reflections.
In addition, weblog owners, or bloggers, also post articles of interest on their weblogs.
Browsers are free to comment and express their ideas directly on the weblogs.
The term “weblog” was coined in 1997 by an American named Jorn Barger.
In its early days, a weblog was simply a computer file that recorded all information of a server — for example, IP addresses and processes run by linked computers.
Now, it represents a series of online articles and reflections. It is also frequently used as an online diary.
Stephen Ho, 23, of Wong Tai Sin, started blogging when he was 21.
He said, “I used to post short paragraphs about my university life. I also gave my own opinions on matters like politics.”
However, he does not consider his weblog a diary.
He said, “In fact, I do not write everyday. I write only when I am free and when I feel like sharing my thoughts.”
Besides being writers in their weblogs, some bloggers act as web administrators by compiling articles contributed by different writers.
Cathy Zhao, a Year 2 engineering student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, has operated a weblog in this style for nearly 2 years.
She said, “My high school classmates send their articles to me and I choose the good ones to post on my weblog.
“The articles cover various aspects of their lives like studies and daily activities.”
Besides enabling bloggers to express themselves creatively and compiling articles from various writers, a weblog provides links to other websites.
Although the term weblog was used only for a few years, blogs have existed for almost as long as the Internet has been around.
As soon as the Internet was invented in the 1980s, Westerners began to work on developing weblogs.
The first group of Chinese users were those studying abroad. They emulated their Western friends and wrote their entries in English because weblog systems could only support English at that time.
Prof. Anthony Fung, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University, said, “In August 2002, the first blog center in the Mainland, BlogChina.com, appeared.
“It supports simplified Chinese characters.”
After two months, another blog center called elixus.org was set up in Taiwan. It supports traditional Chinese characters.
As for Hong Kong, radio programs by the Commercial Radio 2 helped to promote weblogs.
According to Prof. Fung, in early 2002, there were radio programs that talked about exchanging diaries. Disc jockeys read a piece of romantic diary every day.
These programs introduced the concept of open personal diaries to the audience.
He said, “When people listened to the diaries, they felt like they were watching Japanese TV serials. “Many people then started to write open diaries to tell others their own stories.”
Bloggers are not the only ones who derive satisfaction from having their own weblogs. Visitors to these weblogs also enjoy their experiences tremendously.
People can share the feelings of the bloggers by reading their diaries. Also, browsers find it interesting to visit well-designed weblogs.
Joey Wong, 22, of Tsing Yi, said, “It is a lot of fun browsing through my friends’ weblogs. They write many funny stories about their family members.
“I feel like experiencing those together with my friends.”
Because of the pressure of daily lives, some people may find it difficult to meet their friends outside.
Ms. Wong said that she does not have much time to chat with her friends during the day, and weblogs provide her the opportunity to keep in touch with them.
“This enables me to help my friends when they have difficulties,” said she.
Although Ms. Wong enjoys reading her friends’ blogs, she seldom visits strangers’ weblogs.
Said she: “What they write has nothing to do with me.
“In my view, knowing about a stranger’s life is meaningless.
“Besides, knowing nothing about them, I can hardly trust their stories and understand their feelings.”
Traditionally, people were very protective of their private thoughts and would never have allowed strangers to read their diaries.
With that privacy, they could then write freely about their secrets and inner thoughts.
However, according to Mr. Ho and Ms. Zhao, this privacy is relaxed somewhat in weblogs.
People are willing to expose themselves to others through their weblogs.
However, in order to preserve a little privacy, bloggers may not tell the entire story and may not present the whole image.
Prof. Fung said that telling truth in weblogs is not very important.
Rather, weblogs serve as an easy and direct channel for people to express their feelings.
He added, “Weblog diaries have become a new style of literature.
“Youngsters are far away from classic literature such as poetry. Online diaries let them give vent to their strong emotions.”
To set up a blog, one needs to register on a blog website, such as blogdot.com.
After gaining approval from a blog website, one can set up a weblog by choosing a favorite layout, background, character fonts and sizes.
After that, users can write self-descriptions, post photos and set background music to decorate their weblogs.