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 26 September 2023:
      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, Calif.: 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.

References

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