I think blogging grew out of the journal thing...but I'm not sure on the history, I'm a recent convert myself.
Anyway, the point is to present some good information here and there in a condensed, "newsy" form. It'll be a bit like a newspaper or such that publishes content with much less emphasis on discussion. It's mainly to reach out to a different group of people that don't really read forums and to present our best content in a more condensed and readable form for others.
