History of the Weblog

My own personal history of the weblog starts back in 1995 or 96 when I started handcoding a site I called IndigoURL. I didn't call it a weblog, instead I called it an iURL (short for individual URL) with the tagline "You Are Your URL." A philosophy of the net developed on the FutureCulture elist that meant to all the net citizens you are what you post online. Something which is even truer today as the art of Googling someone to reveal information continues to grow (Google just added a 20 year timeline of USENET history to their searches). I thought that the more you put on your own site about your past, your interests, your future, the more you could control your presence on the web. My original site was two columns, diary on the left and a long list of links on the right with the intent to openly display my 'self' for all to see.

So, I was not suprised when the community of others who kept iURLs began to grow. The term 'weblog' came along, which seemed better than online diary or online journal, the most frequently used terms of the day. Rebecca Blood, who was one of the early movers, has written an important article that tracks the history of the weblog and the software changes that have made it possible. Ironically, she still codes her site by hand.