Lois,
you say "This is not purely a k-log since the blogger is also a living person. Rather it is a mixed genre with features of a k-log, a filter, and a diary."

This makes me wondering...

1. Which definition of k-log you use (and used for you HICSS paper)... I would guess that something along John Robb's definition (e.g. ttp://www.blogroots.com/chapters.blog/id/4). Right?

2. In your words I read "k-logs are not personal", if it's so are they blogs at all?

3. My experience with professional weblogs is that all of them are like yours - mix of personal and professional, thinking and linking. For example in my own I think aloud when write papers, post notes on papers I read, share links and citations, write about my frustrations and happiness with this and that, post announcements about interesting events... How would you classify a weblog like that according to the categories in your HICSS paper?

Great questions Lilia and you have a cool blog as well. To answer your questions:

1) We defined a k-log as a knowledge focused blog where the knowledge issues predominate. Using the definition of blog as "frequently modified web pages in which dated entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence." For our AoIR and HICSS presentations the examples have been technical related blogs, specifically http://www.mikemcbrideonline.com/officebeta/ This definition makes the focus of the blog external to the blogger and specific to a knowledge management activity. Therefore, k-logs and filters differ only in their focus, with filters being external to the blogger as well, but with a more general focus. I would agree that this definition appears to be similar to the site you reference. Thank you for that URL as well, it is new to me.

2) I would say that k-logs are blogs using the definition I gave in the above response. I do think that the definitions are still in transition with writers about early blogs separating blogs and journals/online diaries into separate categories. I also expect that as we see the adoption of blogging software for non-blogging purposes that the definition of a weblog may require additional development. I do think k-logs are blogs, just very finely focused blogs with potential short update lives, it is difficult to routinely post to a blog without significant amounts of personal material creeping into the writing. Significant personal material in a k-log would switch the genre from k-log to mixed, using our HICCS criteria.

3) For the HICCS paper we classified a blog that had significant amounts of personal material with externally focused material (filter or k-log) as a mixed genre blog. We defined ?mixed? genre as containing significant amounts of material that would belong to two or more of the defined genres. In fact, our entire mixed genre category contained mixes between journal/diary and one or more of the other categories. Of course this is significantly different then much of the media coverage of blogs and blogging where blogging is pictured as being primarily an activity that is external to the blogger, with linking to news related materials and added commentary.