The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[55] on 17 December
1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who
jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the
sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.[56][57][58]
Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both
a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to
post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection
with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of
the terms.[59]
[edit]
Origins
Before blogging became popular, digital communities took many
forms, including Usenet, commercial online services such as GEnie,
BiX and the early CompuServe, e-mail lists[60] and Bulletin Board
Systems (BBS). In the 1990s, Internet forum software, such as
WebEx, created running conversations with "threads." Threads are
topical connections between messages on a metaphorical
"corkboard."
The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would
keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers
called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers. Justin
Hall, who began personal blogging in 1994 while a student at
Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest
bloggers,[61] as is Jerry Pournelle.[citation needed] Dave Winer's
Scripting News is also credited with being one of the oldest and
longest running weblogs.[62][63] Another early blog was Wearable
Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person's personal life
combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a
wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site in 1994. This
practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with
text was referred to as sousveillance, and such journals were also
used as evidence in legal matters.
Early blogs were simply manually updated components of common Web
sites. However, the evolution of tools to facilitate the production
and maintenance of Web articles posted in reverse chronological
order made the publishing process feasible to a much larger, less
technical, population. Ultimately, this resulted in the distinct
class of online publishing that produces blogs we recognize today.
For instance, the use of some sort of browser-based software is now
a typical aspect of "blogging". Blogs can be hosted by dedicated
blog hosting services, or they can be run using blog software, or
on regular web hosting services.