 Women's Voices Boom in the Blogosphere—By Rose Aguilar Published: July, 2006 When it comes to equal pay and executive positions, women still lag behind in the field of technology. But in the world of blogs, known as the "blogosphere," women are thriving. Technorati, a popular blog search engine that tracks more than 45 million blogs, estimates that approximately 70,000 new blogs are created every day and the size of the blogosphere doubles at least twice a year. It's difficult to quantify the number of women bloggers, since not all bloggers reveal their identities, but a quick look on the Internet shows that women are blogging more than ever. While Technorati's numbers are impressive, many women say they are still unfamiliar with blogs, rarely use them, or don't even understand what they are. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, defines a blog as a "website where regular entries are made (such as in a journal or diary) and presented in reverse chronological order." Some function as personal online diaries, but many blogs provide news or comment on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local happenings. Though many blogs are primarily textual, most combine text, images, or video, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other mediaphotographs. "The first blogs were known as 'online diaries', and started in 1994," reports Wikipedia. "The term"'weblog' [from "logging the web"] itself was coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997." Blogs come in many forms. Some are written like personal journals, while others offer reflections, facts, and opinions about social and political issues, much like a magazine. Like so many online users, Britt Bravo wasn't familiar with blogs until she learned about her neighbor's last August. "Up until that point, I had thought of blogs as being for people who were solely interested in politics and technology," she says. "I read my neighbor's blog and thought, 'This is great,' so I started my own." A few days later, Bravo, a nonprofit consultant and career adviser, created "Have Fun — Do Good," a blog that highlights the work women are doing in the nonprofit world. Bravo's latest posts include an interview with Ilyse Hogue, the global finance campaign director for the Rainforest Action Network, and information about the fight to save the South Central Farm in Los Angeles, the largest urban community garden in the United States. Since discovering blogs, Bravo, like so many bloggers, no longer relies on the traditional media for her news. "I know more about what's going on because I'm reading people I actually trust," she says. "I get more information of what I want and less of what I don't want." After almost a year of blogging, Bravo is also a contributing editor to BlogHer, an online guide for women bloggers. "We have found that women who start blogging become fascinated by the technology," says Elisa Camahort, co-founder of BlogHer. "These are women who've become extremely techno savvy in the online world and that's going to have an impact on companies. Women have been a big part of driving this technological development." | ||
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