n. A label applied to technologies, services, and social networks that build upon the Web as a computing platform rather than merely as a hyperlinked collection of largely static web pages. In practice, services dubbed Web 2.0 reflect open standards, decentralized infrastructure, flexibility, simplicity, and, perhaps most importantly, active user-participation. Examples: blogs, wikis, craigslist.com, del.icio.us, and Flickr. [Coined in 2004 by Dale Dougherty.]

Portmanteau for web and log. n. [Coined in 1997 by Jorn Barger on his Robot Wisdom blog to describe the process of “logging the web” as he surfed.]

n. A type of collaborative, knowledge-based website that allow readers to write and edit content, maintaining a record of all changes. [From Hawai’ian wikiwiki, quick. Sometimes cited as an acronym for “what I know is.” Coined in 1995 by Ward Cunningham.]

What You See Is What You Get. n. The ability to see content you are writing or editing with the formatting it will have in a browser.

eXtensible HyperText Markup Language. n. Similar to HTML, but with a stricter syntax, allowing for automated processing of data and making it easier to deliver the same content across devices.

eXtensible Markup Language. n. File format used to represent data as well as extend and annotate HTML. Examples: RSS and Atom files are formatted as XML files.

I know bloggers aren’t supposed to apologize, but I’m just about to upload a few dozen entries all at once. I realize this will cause a bit of a stir for those subscribing to the newsfeed and for the nice people at the WELL.com blog aggregator. The entries are interlinked glossary items from the book. Each item has its own comment field and I welcome any feedback. I madly coded all the links during a couple of late-night sessions, so do let me know if you find typos or anything breaks and I’ll fix it. I hope a few people find the glossary to be of use.

n. An easy-to-update website characterized by dated entries displayed in reverse chronological order. Originally, text-based and written in an informal, conversational style, blogs increasingly feature audio, photo, and video content. Bloggers often link to other blog entries, encourage comments, engage in collaborative tagging schemes, and otherwise contribute to social networks and user-generated databases. [Coined in 1999 by Peter Merholz as a contraction for web log.]

n. Blogs. A feature that allows readers to publicly respond to blog entries. Commenting can be open to all blog visitors or restricted to designated individuals. Comments are often moderated in an attempt to control comment spam and, on some blogs, unwelcome comments. Comments are sometimes threaded, allowing visitors to comment on specific comments.

n. A form of spam that targets blog or wiki comment fields. Generally contains irrelevant links to spam originator websites. Spam filters, captchas, comment moderation, and user registration are techniques used to combat comment spam.