I have begun blogging. I am a blogger.
For those of you who don’t know what blogging is, Wikipedia explains that a blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.
A blog is an interesting entity that shares commentary on news or any particular subject such as Torah scrolls in Jerusalem, cooking Jewish food in Thailand, or mini collies. Many blogs, such as my own, are personal diaries of thoughts and activities. A typical blog combines text, images and links to other blogs, Web pages and other media related to its topic.
The compelling thing about blogs is that they can be very interactive. By this I mean that readers are encouraged to read blog posts (articles, ideas, etc.) and comment on what they have read. In essence, a blog creates a thread of discussion, debate or storytelling on a given topic that can go on for pages. This is the talmudic aspect of blogging. (For more on this idea, read The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey Between Worlds, by Jonathan Rosen).
There are private, personal, corporate, thinking-media-type and genre blogs. As of December 2007, the blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.
Your blog can be updated on a daily, hourly or weekly basis. (Not surprisingly, according to the Huffington Post, which features a number of well-respected bloggers, of the more than 100 million blogs online, only 7.5 million have been updated in the last 90 days.)
My blog is called Avrum’s Blog and can be found at http://avrum.net. It’s a work in progress, but it’s showing positive results, such as an average of 150 daily hits. I describe my blog as an online community where people can present wondrous ideas about slices of life, the spirit, being Jewish and activism.
I have written blog postings on topics such as Gilad Schalit: 1,000 days in Captivity; Jews: We Don’t Stand up for Ourselves; A Call for a (Jewish) Community Mobilization Plan; Have you Ever Saved a Life?; Are Old People Sexy?, and On Being a Jewish Emissary.
In order to encourage a wider community of thought, I have invited guest writers to contribute, such as Rabbi Reuven Tradburks, spiritual leader of Toronto’s Kehillat Shaarei Torah and president of the Vaad Harabonim of Toronto (the main body of local Orthodox rabbis).
I’m still discovering my blogging voice, but I’m already quite excited about having the opportunity to free associate through blogging and post ideas as they come to me. It’s literally invigorating.
Give blogging a try. It’s free. It will give you the chance to write (something many people want to do) and be heard, far and wide, about issues and ideas that interest you. Blogging gives you a voice as loud as anyone else’s.
Blogging is quickly becoming the tool of choice for many writers and a must for anyone involved in business or social activism, or an individual or group committed to a concept, product, idea or approach to change. One blog I discovered is about kippot. Who would have known there are so many newfangled designs available?
If you want to read some blogs before diving in, type Bloglines, BlogScope, and Technorati into your search engines and discover a whole new world of writing possibilities.
Consider creating a blog for yourself. Write about the beauty of the Jewish people or about ways to fight anti-Semitism. Write about poetry, the thought that just came into your mind, immigration law, gardening or darning socks.
Blogging: it’s a developing world that’s bringing enormous change to media, thought and our way of life.
Visit avrum.net. Sudan/Sderot?