By Heather Kryszak

If you've been surfing the Web for the past year or five, you've more than likely have heard of "blogs" or Web logs.

Personal Internet journals have been showing up on the Internet more and more frequently. Updated and written in a personal tone, a blog is a diary or journal where the writer or "blogger" will write their observations on the world or provide links to useful Websites. Different bloggers write about different themes, like a newspaper columnist but with no specialized training necessary.

Websites such as such as Live Journal and Blogspot, provide individuals with easy-to-use programs making it so that virtually any person can get a blog online.

Jenny Beck, a senior at Buffalo State College, is a frequent blogger.

"I mostly do it to keep up on what everyone is doing that I don’t get to see everyday and to just write things that I want off my chest,” she said. "I don’t make it public so everyone can see it. A big reason I blog is because I don’t like to write, when I write in a journal for too long my hand starts to hurt eventually but not with 'blogging'."

For some, blogs are strictly a place to vent about daily observations. Blogs can be used to make political statements, promote products, provide research information, and give tutorials.

Bill Eager, also a senior at BSC, uses his blog for more personal reasons.

“I blog as an outlet for my creativity and storytelling, but I also blog to redistribute news and information I get (primarily from other bloggers),” Eager said. “I consider myself a stop on an underground information railroad, albeit an obscure stop.”

Blogs have become so commonplace that the word "blog" was Merriam-Webster's word of the year in 2004. It has even become a category on the hit television game show, Jeopardy. Newsweek magazine even recommends a few notable blogs each week to its readers.

There is even a blog specifically for students that attend BSC.  For more information on blogging, visit www.livejournal.com.

Contact Heather Kryszak at: kryshm19@mail.buffalostate.edu