Blogs as Personal Journals

A journal is defined as a book for writing discrete entries arranged by date that forms a report on what has transpired over the course of a day or a particular period.  The term is often used interchangeably with diary.  Contents of journals or diaries have played a significant role in the many aspects of human civilization such as government, business and military records.

Some have sought to apply strict differences between journals and diaries to wit: dated vs. undated, regular vs. sporadic entries and outer focused vs. inner focused.  Traditionalists prefer the use of the term diary while the current preferences lean towards the word journal.  Journaling is often used as to mean hobby writing.

Journaling is an activity that is accessible to anyone with literacy as the only educational prerequisite.   Some of the most powerfully-written journals even have limitations in spelling or grammar that failed to prevent them from getting their important message across.  Keeping journals, according to some authors has a way of putting the proper perspective into their existence while being a very effective means of recording relevant events in a person’s life.

People have found another medium to chronicle their lives with the availability of Internet access.  It added a new dimension into the practice as there is now an audience that can freely read the contents of a person’s journal.  Personal storytelling attained new heights with the emergence of weblogs or blogs.  The available tools are being used to create web journals consisting of short and spontaneous entries as opposed to crafted essays.  Being naturally comfortable with networking, linking and creating a thriving online community, the weblog community continues to reinvent itself to go with the changes dictated by time.