Weblogs versus Websites & Three Favorite Weblogs

*What is the weblog?
Weblog is a kind of journal which can be published on the Internet so that everyone can read it through the Internet. Also the author can make his/her weblog either be public or private.

*What can the weblog do compared to the traditional English learning website?
Weblog puts more emphasis on the readers' feedback and responses. Readers can respond to the author's weblog so that the author can see it at once. Traditional English learning websites tend to give readers a lot of information and materials, but if readers have any response, they may leave message to the author only via e-mail. Weblog involves more interaction between the reader and the author compared with the traditional English learning website. Also readers can subscribe a weblog's RSS, so that they will know the newest publication right away.

*What is RSS/ permalinks/ traceback?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Through RSS, people can subscribe to others' sites. People can get the newest information of the websites they subscribe whenever the author publishes new stuff.
Permalink is a kind of permanent label of a person's Weblog. Through permalinks, people can easily link to individual comments on a page.
Through trackbacks, people can see when anyone else links to their pages, and can respond, either with reciprocal links, or by adding comments.

*What are some popular English learning weblogs?

The top three role model English learning weblogs for me:
賴世雄網路部落格
林威英文MP3資料庫
銘昆的家

賴世雄網路部落格:
This weblog makes me think of those good old days when I was in senior high school, in that I and my classmates listened to Ivy English magazine (常春藤英語) program almost everyday. The host of this weblog is the founder of Ivy English magazine. In this weblog, the host classifies his articles into a few categories so that readers can search for information that they want by linking to relevant category. The learners that this weblog target may be intermediate learners to high-intermediate learners, which complement the Ivy English magazine finely. In addition to the English learning materials, the weblog also includes other information which the host regards important or useful, the McDonald and KFC fast food restaurant's coupons are even included. Moreover, the host's personal feeling, recent schedule are also in the weblog. You may want to realize more about 賴世雄 by visiting his weblog. The biggest drawback of this weblog is it does not have a space for learners to interact with the host. Guestbook, comment, response and traceback are all not allowed in this weblog.
I like this weblog not because it is the best ESL learning field, but because it reminds me of those good old days. Also the host of this weblog (賴世雄) is in fact a humorous person.

林威英文MP3資料庫
I love this weblog seeing that it employs multimedia tools such as audio clips, and lovely pictures to complement his teaching. Also this weblog allows learners to write down their comment, feedback or response, though the host does not reply them frequently. The learners that this weblog target are those candidates for JCEE (Joint College Entrance Examination). The shortcoming of this weblog is that it does not have hypertext to link to other web pages. Also the teaching material (i.e. content) of this weblog just focuses on the vocabulary part. In fact the host has another teaching website, and this weblog may be just a branch of his website.

銘昆的家
This weblog has hypertext to link to other relevant websites, and a space for learners to interact with him is also included. What's more, the host classifies all of his articles into different categories in a neat and order way. The content of his article is primarily about his own English learning experience, as well as some particle English expressions. What I appreciate this website is that the host classifies articles into different difficulty levels and organizes them neatly, so that learners can choose appropriate materials according to their English proficiency. Also the description of this weblog is plain enough (he even uses Chinese) for learners to understand at once.