Mackenzie Tyler

Professor Kopp
2/15/2017

What is a Blog? Jill Walker Rettberg (2008)

Open Book Quiz

Note: you will be graded on the thoroughness and thoughtfulness with which you answer
each question. You may answer the questions underneath the questions. Please indent
your responses to make it easier for me to read. When youre done, you will be posting
this on your weebly site as a document on a Standard page called Research. I will
give you more detailed instructions in class.

1) What do HTML & CSS stand for and what do they mean? Offer an example or two.
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and is the code for writing a web page
that can be displayed in a web browser. For example, in HTML you would place the tag
<p> at the beginning and end of the paragraph in order to separate the long string of text
connected before and after that paragraph. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, this is
a way of specifying how the web browser should present or styled pages that are
marked up in HTML. An example of this would be if the CSS rule is that the first line
of every paragraph should be indented. This overrides the default settings of most web
browsers.

2) What does RSS stand for? What does it mean/do?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it is a version of a web site encoded in a
way that allows computers to easily manipulate the content. This is an additional way of
publishing that allows for blog readers to still visit a blog using their web browser while
reading it as a web page but also have the option to use an RSS reader to read the RSS
feed of a blog.

3) What is Web 2.0? What distinguishes Web 2.0 from the first wave of web
developers? Please offer some examples and explain why/how these are considered Web
2.0.
Web 2.0 is meant to characterize a second generation of websites. Web 2.0 differs from
the first wave of web developers because they focused more on the publishing content.
Web2.0 allows for users to share their own content and to use the web as a platform.

4) Please list and explain the 3 different types of blogs discussed by Rettberg. Explain
what the defining feature of each are and how they are distinct from one another. What
category do you think our niche blog fall into and why?
The 3 different types of blogs discussed by Rettberg are the personal/diary style blog,
filter blog, and topic driven blog. The personal blog can be defined as a way to
communicate with friends and blog entries about life. A diary deliberately wrote to be
shared, many bloggers use this as an outlet to vent and see themselves more clearly. Filter
blogs do not log the bloggers offline life but record the writers experiences and finds on
the web. Lastly, topic driven blogs are blogs written about topics that interest the author.
These topic-centered blogs are able to provide new information and insightful links.

5) From where does the word Blog derive? Why is this significant?
The word Blog derives from the contraction of the words Web and log. The word log
originally was referred to as a chronological record of events during a sea journey.
Specifically, the practice of measuring the speed by throwing a log attached to rope over
board to count how many knots passed through the sailors hands in thirty seconds. This is
significant as the transfer of navigation metaphor to the web is applicable.
6) Rettberg defines blogging by discussing the phenomenon in terms of genre and
medium. Please explain why she does this and how it helps us understand the genre of
blogging and how blogging functions as a medium.
Rettberg defines blogging through the phenomenon in terms of genre and medium.
Defining both, genre can be defined by their form or by their content. Within their
medium of blogs, you may be able to identify different genres or sub genres. This helps
us understand the genre of blogging as the material limitations of blogs.