The term blog has come to refer to an impossibly diverse collection of online content, operating as a sort of umbrella term without giving any specific information about what you are likely to find when you visit a blog.
Margaret Simons has attempted to address the lack of insightful vocabulary available to adequately analyse blogs. Speaking on The Media Report, she discussed a system she has come up with that incorporates nine categories.
One of these categories is the ‘Digest Blog’, where material from around the web is collected to one site, using links or summaries. Some digest blogs feature commentary, though not all do.
I would put CyberJournalist.net in this category. Brief posts under headings including Future of Media, Innovation and Citizen Journalism inform about developments in the online media world and provide links to useful content.
The Blog Scan is particularly relevant, with links to lots of recent postings from blogs elsewhere on the web.
Tips and Tools offer online writing tips from CJ.net founder Jonathan Dube – I liked his reminders to keep it ’short and sweet’, and to ‘break it up’. This section reinforces the sense of community CJ.net tries to foster, taking advantage of the technology it analyses and advocates. You can contribute to the site through comments and wikis and you can submit your work.
CJ.net can give some invaluable tips on where to find great online content. I found a link to Vanity Fair’s Blogopticon at CJ.net, which in turn has provided hours of entertainment.
