We are often asked, “What is a blog?”. The word “blog” is a contraction for “web log” and refers to a website comprised of regular entries or “posts.” Post are usually text based, but can contain graphics and video. Posts are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
Before blogging came on the scene, online communities were connecting through e-mail lists, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and forums. During the past decade, the Internet has seen an explosion of blogs and blogging platforms.
In a blog, posts are divided into “categories” that are set-up to help make it easy to find information on topics about which there are regular posts. On the LA Stage Blog we regularly post about upcoming workshops, season announcements and national theater news, key perspectives on the the performing arts in Los Angeles, and other topics, and we have categories to represent these topics. Blogs are further categorized by using “tags”, which are keywords that may or may not appear in a post itself, but make it easier to find the posts a reader is interested in when searching the blog or the entire world wide web.
To make a blog an effective two way communication tool for the community it serves, the posting of comments allow conversations, or “threads” to take place directly following an article, not on a separate forum, allowing the readers to weigh in on posts along side the original article.
Also, through “RSS” or “Really Simple Syndication” a blog provides a “feed” to which readers and other bloggers may subscribe. This provides a stripped down version of a blog’s content so that you can keep up with new posts as they happen without having to constantly monitor the blog and see what posts you may have missed as new ones appear and push the older ones into archives.
With this blog we are posting the news and activities of our members and partners in the performing arts community of greater Los Angeles.
We provide a schedule of show openings, events for the community, a record of reviews, point of view commentary, and open forum for readers to respond.
To learn more about how blogs work, check out this video, which explains a bit more, as its title says, in “plain english.”
To learn more about our blog, please explore our archives and associate pages.
If you have any questions, or if you’d like to contribute, contact us or leave a comment.
Thanks for checking out the LA Stage Blog!
