In this process, a small photo is taken by a mobile phone and emailed to a moblogging website along with a headline and, occasionally, a witty caption or message. People sometimes even post video or audio files. Other users leave comments and ratings.
"I got a camera phone and didn't really know what to do with the increasing number of pictures that I was taking," said Moblog.co.uk user and London freelance photographer Steve Sheriff.
"So I put 'camera phone pictures' into Google and stumbled onto Moblog."
There are annoying hipster moblogs that look like a bad-eyeliner-day MySpace lineup. There are artsy moblogs with motion-blurred lights and surreal closeups. There are sushi moblogs (perhaps in deference to the art's Japanese roots), beer moblogs, breast moblogs, and moblogs published by what could only be the crazy cat-ladies of small-town America.
From the pop-cultural to the downright existential, with tiny photos ranging from grainy to sublime, moblogs are the amateur sociologist's playground.
Some websites, such as MoblogUK and textamerica, have community moblogs, where multiple users can post their favorite pics in a particular theme. The subjects range from artistic to mundane to borderline pornographic.
There are also community blogs, such as textamerica's Identify Game, of closeups of various objects; these become kind of a guessing game among members. Is it a remote control? A pregnancy test? Someone's navel piercing? You decide!
Other moblog prototypes popped up in 2001 and 2002, but the phenomenon wasn't supported by U.S. cell phone technology on a critical-mass level until recently.
The term itself was created by information architect Adam Greenfield in 2002; he later organized the 2003 First International Moblogging Conference in Tokyo.
It should be noted that this aspect of cell technology isn't completely without redemption. Textamerica's community moblog on the 2003 Southern California fires captures some surprisingly good images of an event of national importance. The same website also has pages devoted to the 2003 East Coast blackout, Hurricane Isabel, and certain grassroots political movements.
Like every tech-forward fad, moblogging is huge in Japan. A lot of early moblog development started in Japan because of its status as one of the first countries in the world where camera phones were commercially available.
In 2004, Singapore launched the first national moblog. Currently titled National Day 2005, the site is now soliciting video, image, and text submissions for use in National Day celebrations on Aug. 9, 2006.
In recent years, Western users have picked up on moblogging too. In the U.S., users can set up accounts on textamerica.com, MafiaMoblog.org, or Moblog.co.uk, among other sites. Also, many users are now posting pics from traditional digital cameras as well as the lower-quality cameras built into cell phones.
"For me," said Sheriff, "Moblog is a way to get an audience for my photography. Having comments enabled has improved my style and picture choice."
Sheriff, who has used several camera phones and digital cameras during his year-and-a-half moblogging stint, said, "I am a better photographer because of Moblog, and it has also driven me to take a camera pretty much everywhere."
On the other side of the pond, Curse the PhotoG! is the photojournal of Manhattan photographer Rob Boudon, who said he got the idea to start moblogging from a girlfriend.
"I thought it looked pretty cool, and I wanted to start my own. Since I have friends and family who live far away from me, I thought it would be a great opportunity for them to see what was going on in my life."
So, what is it that makes a good moblog great?
"The most important factor in making a good blog is 'personal connection,' said Boudon.
"The better a blogger is at creating a connection with a viewer, the better the blog. The more you care about the subject, the more you'll want to come back to see the next entry. People who know how to take powerful or compelling pictures also have a leg up on those who don't. Good bloggers have to be good storytellers. Even if someone has a more interesting life than someone else, what matters most is the delivery."
"There is no set rule for a good moblog," said Sheriff, "but the main thing is for them to be an honest reflection of the person. After a short time, you recognize whose shot is whose just by the style of picture.
"There are lots of different style moblogs that I look at depending upon my mood. I like funny blogs, political blogs, quirky blogs, and ones that just look stunning."
"I also think that people use moblogs to find like-minded people to have a chat with," said Sheriff.
"It is replacing the garden fence. I have met quite a few friends in this country and others via Moblog. I even met my girlfriend on Moblog, which at first embarrassed me because it's quite geeky. But now, it makes perfect sense. Is it better to meet your lover in a pub when you're drunk? At work where you're bored? Or online after six months of chatting on all kinds of topics?"
So get a free account, grab your camera or cell phone, and moblog yourself into a 120-pixel tizzy. As long as you resist moblogging your cat, your lunch, the sunset, or an alcoholic beverage, you can escape the clicked and capture the poignant moments of your life in a totally public forum, which is why technology exists in the first place.
