Have you ever actually read a blog? I mean barring a recipe page I don’t think I’ve ever taken the time to just read what’s going on inside of someones mind, I mostly blame this on YouTube and Vlogging accessibility but nevertheless I can’t take for granted the absurdity of me doing something when I don’t really know what it is. So in this first entry I will explore the history of a blog and why it isn’t just a series of explanations.
Pinpointing the origins of the “very first blog” was harder than expected. Semantics aside at the core the word blog comes for web and log being combined, nothing extraordinary but that is part of the interest. To truly understand the interest of the blog, i'll give you a quick recap of the birth of the internet. So way back when the dinos still walked the earth, meaning the 1980s a gaggle of folks created a software called “USENET” and this function as the basis of the web as we know it, it combined multiple mostly established concepts like email and open communication networks. USENET hosted these things called newsgroups where you could post hot takes jokes and opinions and others could laugh or get angry or troll you. Very similar to Twitter and Facebook today, minus the glaring eye of BIG DATA haunting your every click. In these Spaces and ones alike, where the seeds of worldwide connection are also where the very first blogs would pop out. Feeding our need to be heard in a world that gets louder every day.
Now I could go on about the fundamentals of the BIG BAD BLOG but I’m very aware of exactly how boring this is, but I’ll include a cute infographic in my citations. I would rather further discuss why one would blog and why one would read. We can get the elementary stuff out of the way, capitalism. It’s easy enough to understand words like “Traffic”, “Networking”, “Branding”, all ring a nauseating bell but that couldn’t be the extent of the power of the blog. From the most popular blogs I could find, I surmise it has a lot to do with the neuroscience of sharing and feeling truly recognized in another person’s words. In 2011, Neuroscientist Dr. Uri Hasoon broke down Brain to brain communication saying in his Princeton Article “There is no way to understand the brain without understanding how it interacts with other brains.” Specifically he explored the ways our brains interact with storytelling and verbal communication, but the value remains that our brains frontal cortices actively seek to engage on a level unique to language.
In conclusion, (I know, clique) I think I now understand the ever vague blog and can properly find purpose in sharing in this format. It’s interesting because as I learned for this entry, it felt like I already knew the stuff I was learning. It’s like I was always meant to blog. Like maybe I shouldn’t be a poet and just blast my thoughts on the internet. Worry not, dear reader, I can do both. The blog is a diary or a story or a lesson or a prophecy. I can try to reach similarly minded people and learn along the way. I mean, who am I to draw up for you what a blog could be. Just stay tuned for the next one. We live in a society.
~Mariam Speaks
Prefix.
Welcome to the madness that is my inner dialogue, get comfy pull up a chair because I have plenty to say. First things first, what the fuck is a blog? I’m an internet native and have never ever heard of a popular blog. I think my most relevant example is gossip girl, but I will spare you the absolute snore of Utah gossip. That leads me to my next issue, what do I blog about. While twisting my spoiled hair, I thought about language and how much it means to the human experience, for being a series of made up grunts and gawks language can affect the world significantly. Words can start wars and Speech can save lives, and I carry this like a badge of honor as a poet and reflect on the ways words’ impact me. Gahhh, okay done with the sentimentals. While finishing the last twist, I understood what I seek is to understand language, and this “blog” will explore the comparisons and contrasts of similar language. When we don’t truly understand what we are saying to ourselves and others, we lose a common ground.