blogject

English

Etymology

Blend of blog +‎ object. Coined by American academic Julian Bleecker in 2005.

Noun

blogject (plural blogjects)

1. (technology, neologism) A physical object that automatically posts updates about its current location and state online.
   • 2006 March 14, Roland Piquepaille, “The new world of 'blogjects'”, in ZDNET‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-09-26:

     As I don't want to be too long, here are the essential attributes of blogjects.

     • Blogjects track and trace where they are and where they’ve been;
     • Blogjects have self-contained (embedded) histories of their encounters and experiences;
     • Blogjects always have some form of agency — they can foment action and participate; they have an assertive voice within the social web.
     • And these blogjects can lead to a new world where "things" matter for co-habitation or co-participation.

   • 2006 May 26, “Blogject Watch: Julian Bleecker’s Car”, in Wired‎^[2], San Francisco, C.A.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 May 2024:

     Julian Bleecker discusses the ins and outs of turning his car into a blogject.

   • 2009, Cory Doctorow, Makers, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, page 295:

     I scour every photo feed published for anything that appears to be a photo of me. Most of it's from blogjects, CCTV cameras, and crap like that.

   • 2013, Malcolm McCullough, “Inscribing the Ambient Commons”, in Ulrik Ekman, editor, Throughout: Art and Culture Emerging With Ubiquitous Computing, Cambridge, M.A., London: The MIT Press, →ISBN, page 450:

     Design business conferences such as Lift and Where 2.0 feature the latest blogjects, mashups, and distributed narrative installations.

Usage notes

• The concept of "blogjects" gained significant coverage around the late 2000s, but the term has since faded into obscurity.

Related terms

• logject

 

References

• Paul McFedries (1996–2024) “blogject”, in Word Spy, Logophilia Limited.