Blogs, Blogging, the Blogosphere

Feminist Theologies: Past, Present, and Future by Gina Messina-Dysert

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

I had the great honor to be a part of the Feminist Theologies: Past, Present, and Future panel on February 7, 2012 to... more I had the great honor to be a part of the Feminist Theologies: Past, Present, and Future panel on February 7, 2012 to celebrate The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theology.  I presented with some feminist foremothers who have had a tremendous impact on me and my feminist ideals.  To say it was a wonderful experience would be a complete understatement.

Below is the talk I shared at the conference.  It focuses on my personal experience with feminist theology, the Feminism and Religion project, and how digital print will shape the future of feminist theology.  A very special thanks to John Erickson for organizing this important event.

It is truly a pleasure to be here today to celebrate the publication of The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theology.  Certainly a foundational text that will be instrumental in moving the field of feminist theology forward by connecting feminists from different cultural and geographical backgrounds to discuss women and religion in a globalized world.

Storytelling through blogging: A knowledge management and therapeutic tool in policing

by Simon Burnett

SIPR Newsletter, September 2011

Venting, joining and educating: Motivations for knowledge sharing in the UK police blogosphere

by Simon Burnett

Published in Business Information Review 2012 29: 57

This article examines motivations for knowledge sharing in blogs written by police officers. It draws on the findings... more This article examines motivations for knowledge sharing in blogs written by police officers. It draws on the findings of a
research project completed in 2011 based on content analysis of 63 blogs.

Bloggers’ Community Characteristics and Influence within Greek Political Blogosphere

by Kostas Zafiropoulos

Future Internet 2012, 4(2), 396-412; doi:10.3390/fi4020396
Article
Bloggers’ Community Characteristics and Influence within Greek Political Blogosphere
Kostas Zafiropoulos, Vasiliki Vrana and Dimitrios Vagianos

This paper investigates the properties of central or core political blogs. They can be located as clusters of blogs... more This paper investigates the properties of central or core political blogs. They can be located as clusters of blogs whose members have many incoming links. Other blogs form clouds around them in the sense that they link the core blogs. A case study records Greek political blogs and their incoming links reported through their blogrolls. The adjacency matrix from the blogs’ social network is analyzed and clusters are located. Three of them, those with the larger numbers of incoming links, may be considered to be central. Next, four measures of influence are used to test the influence of the central blogs. The findings suggest that there are many kinds of central blogs, influential and non-influential, and high influence does not always involve high hyperlinking.

Ai Weiwei and Klein, Caroline, 2011 Ai Weiwei’s Blog; and Ai Weiwei: Architecture, reviewed by Simone Hancox

by Simone Hancox

Published in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

A review on two books, one of Ai’s blogs, edited and translated by Lee Ambrozy, and another by Caroline Klein on Ai’s... more A review on two books, one of Ai’s blogs, edited and translated by Lee Ambrozy, and another by Caroline Klein on Ai’s architecture.

Mapping intermedia news flows : topical discussions in the Australian and French political blogospheres

by Tim Highfield

PhD thesis (March 2008 - November 2011).

The growth of technologies and tools branded as "new media" or "Web 2.0" has sparked much... more The growth of technologies and tools branded as "new media" or "Web 2.0" has sparked much discussion about the internet and its place in all facets of social life. Such debate includes the potential for blogs and citizen journalism projects to replace or alter journalism and mainstream media practices. However, while the journalism-blog dynamic has attracted the most attention, the actual work of political bloggers, the roles they play in the mediasphere and the resources they use, has been comparatively ignored.

This project will look at political blogging in Australia and France - sites commenting on or promoting political events and ideas, and run by citizens, politicians, and journalists alike. In doing so, the structure of networks formed by bloggers and the nature of communication within political blogospheres will be examined. Previous studies of political blogging around the world have focussed on individual nations, finding that in some cases the networks are divided between different political ideologies. By comparing two countries with different political representation (two-party dominated system vs. a wider political spectrum), this study will determine the structure of these political blogospheres, and correlate these structures with the political environment in which they are situated.

The thesis adapts concepts from communication and media theories, including framing, agenda setting, and opinion leaders, to examine the work of political bloggers and their place within the mediasphere. As well as developing a hybrid theoretical base for research into blogs and other online communication, the project outlines new methodologies for carrying out studies of online activity through the analysis of several topical networks within the wider activity collected for this project. The project draws on hyperlink and textual data collected from a sample of Australian and French blogs between January and August 2009. From this data, the thesis provides an overview of "everyday" political blogging, showing posting patterns over several months of activity, away from national elections and their associated campaigns. However, while other work in this field has looked solely at cumulative networks, treating collected data as a static network, this project will also look at specific cases to see how the blogospheres change with time and topics of discussion. Three case studies are used within the thesis to examine how blogs cover politics, featuring an international political event (the Obama inauguration), and local political topics (the opposition to the "Création et Internet", or HADOPI, law in France, the "Utegate" scandal in Australia).

By using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, the study analyses data collected from a population of sites from both countries, looking at their linking patterns, relationship with mainstream media, and topics of interest. This project will subsequently help to further develop methodologies in this field and provide new and detailed information on both online networks and internet-based political communication in Australia and France.

Where do bloggers blog? Platform transitions within the historical Dutch blogosphere

by Anne Helmond

Co-authored with Esther Weltevrede. Published in First Monday, Volume 17 Number 2 (2 February 2012).

The blogosphere has played an instrumental role in the transition and the evolution of linking technologies and... more The blogosphere has played an instrumental role in the transition and the evolution of linking technologies and practices. This research traces and maps historical changes in the Dutch blogosphere and the interconnections between blogs, which — traditionally considered — turn a set of blogs into a blogosphere. This paper will discuss the definition of the blogosphere by asking who the actors are which make up the blogosphere through its interconnections. This research aims to repurpose the Wayback Machine so as to trace and map transitions in linking technologies and practices in the blogosphere over time by means of digital methods and custom software. We are then able to create yearly network visualizations of the historical Dutch blogosphere (1999–2009). This approach allows us to study the emergence and decline of blog platforms and social media platforms within the blogosphere and it also allows us to investigate local blog cultures.

Mapping the Norwegian Blogosphere: Methodological Challenges in Internationalizing Internet Research

by Hallvard Moe

Social Science Computer Review, 2011

Even as the blog has become an established genre of computer-mediated communication, questions remain about how... more Even as the blog has become an established genre of computer-mediated communication, questions remain about how different blogs are from mass media, and what the transformative potential of blog- ging is. This article argues for the need for further explorations, especially outside the Anglo-American blogosphere. The article discusses key challenges in light of an ongoing research project aiming to gain insight into how blogging in Norway—a small democratic nation state with a correspondingly small language area—compares to other cases and to assess how online media participation matters for the structure of the public sphere. On this basis, the article presents preliminary findings from a mapping of the Norwegian blogosphere.

Critical analysis of blogging in public relations.

by Michael L. Kent

Public Relations review

This essay conducts an analysis of blogs as public relations tools. Following an overview of blogs, attention is given... more This essay conducts an analysis of blogs as public relations tools. Following an overview of blogs, attention is given to how blogs can be used more effectively by public relations professionals, and how blogs are favored by communication firms and consultants as essential public relations tools. The essay concludes that while blogs have incredible potential as research, framing, and persuasion tools, their utility as a public relations tool is currently limited.

“Human Rights and Wrongs: Blogging News of Everyday Life in Palestine"

by Cynthia Carter

co-authored by Zayyan, H. and Carter, C. (2009) in Allan, S. (ed), Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives, New York: Peter Lang.

Blogging, Communication, and Privacy Management: Development of the Blogging Privacy Management Measure

by Jeffrey T. Child

Published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology with Pearson and Petronio

This study applied Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory to the context of blogging and developed a validated,... more This study applied Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory to the context of blogging and developed a validated, theory-based measure of blogging privacy management. Across three studies, 823 college student bloggers completed an online survey. In study one (n =176), exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis techniques tested four potential models. Study two (n =291) cross-validated the final factor structure obtained in the fourth model with a separate sample. Study three (n =356) tested the discriminant and predictive validity of the measure by comparing it to the self-consciousness scale. The Blogging Privacy Management Measure (BPMM) is a multidimensional, valid, and reliable construct. Future research could explore the influence of family values about privacy on blogging privacy rule management.

Blogging Privacy Management Rule Development: The Impact of Self-Monitoring Skills, Concern for Appropriateness, and Blogging Frequency

by Jeffrey T. Child

Published in Computers in Human Behavior with Agyeman-Budu

The current study utilized communication privacy management (CPM) theory to examine how individuals’ blogging privacy... more The current study utilized communication privacy management (CPM) theory to examine how individuals’ blogging privacy management rules are related to their communication-based personality dispositions (self-monitoring skills and concern for enacting socially appropriate interactions). The study also explored relationships between the same dispositions and blogging frequency. Overall, 356 bloggers completed an online survey instrument. Regression analysis provided support for both hypotheses. Bloggers with higher self-monitoring skills had a more private orientation towards their blogging privacy management practices. Bloggers’ CFA level was related to more public and open blogging permeability rules. High self-monitors and high CFA dispositions were positively related to blogging frequency. Implications of the study to current computer-mediated communication (CMC) theory and research are discussed.

Unpacking the Paradoxes of privacy in CMC Relationships: The Challenges of Blogging and Relational Communication on the Internet

by Jeffrey T. Child

Published in the Edited Book Computer-Mediated Communication in Personal Relationships with Petronio

This chapter explores social networking website (SNS) research related to communication and the management of private... more This chapter explores social networking website (SNS) research related to communication and the management of private information.  The chapter examines CPM Theory, SNS disclosure practices, and the influence of several factors of variations in disclosure practices.  A critical area of future research includes the exploration of diverse boundary crossing behaviors as social media allows fuzzy boundaries where professional, personal, and familial privacy bounaries may collide. Finally, the interface between privacy management and identity management is discussed in the chapter.

Blog Scrubbing: Exploring Triggers that Change Privacy Rules

by Jeffrey T. Child

Published in Computers in Human Behavior with Petronio, Agyeman-Budu, and Westermann

An increasing number of individuals of all ages maintain important interpersonal relationships through blogs.Wide... more An increasing number of individuals of all ages maintain important interpersonal relationships through blogs.Wide variation exists in how people disclose and manage their privacy on these blogs, particularlyconcerning the choices made about leaving information permanently visible on blogs or retrieving it sometime after an initial posting. This study applies Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory to explore the process of privacy rule adaptation for blogging by examining situations that have triggered bloggers to change their privacy rules to enact blog post deletion practices (‘‘blog scrubbing’’). Overall, open-ended responses from 356 bloggers were content analyzed. Chi-square analysis revealed differences in the frequency of triggers that changed the blogging post privacy rules and the proactive versus reactive nature of blogging privacy management deletion practices. Bloggers’ critical incidents that activate privacy rule changes demonstrate that impression management triggers, personal safety identity triggers, relational triggers, and legal/disciplinary triggers resulted in greater alteration of individual privacy rules used to protect these bloggers from the privileged online community of individuals granted access to an individual’s blog.Thus, bloggers essentially ‘‘scrubbed’’ their blog site and adapted their typical privacy rules with new ones that better protected them from the online community regarding that particular blogged information.

WHAT MAKES CORPORATE BLOGS SUCCESSFUL?–A CROSS-CULTURAL EMPRICAL STUDY OF CORPORATE BLOG CHARACTERISTICS

by Nils König

Human Documents Research: From the Diary to the Blog

by Nicholas Hookway

Entering the blogosphere': some strategies for using blogs in social research

by Nicholas Hookway

'Early career Victorianists and social media: impact, audience and online identities' (forthcoming)

by Amber Regis

Forthcoming in *Journal of Victorian Culture*, 17:3 (2012).

Review of Scott Rosenberg's 'Say Everything'

by Alex Grech

International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media
Volume 7 Number 2

This book is essential for an insider's account of the history of blogging. This book is essential for an insider's account of the history of blogging.

Best of The ELearning Guild's Learning Solutions: Top Articles from the EMagazine's First Five Years

by Joyce Seitzinger

Book chapter: Be Constructive: Blogs, Podcasts & Wikis as Constructivist Learning Tools