Chi2008 Blog Readers Talk

Exploring the Role of the Reader in the Activity of Blogging Eric Baumer, Mark Sueyoshi, Bill Tomlinson University of California, Irvine CHI 2008 – Florence, Italy April 9, 2008

Blogs Abound
Increasing numbers of blogs
Increasing research on blogging
What about the reader?
Readers' practices, roles, and perceptions

Reader Response Theory
Meaning neither in text nor in reader, but in interactions
“ good literature... permits, invites, or even compels good reading” (Lewis 1961)‏
Blog enables explicit interaction

Methods
Qualitative study, ethnographic methodology, emic perspective
Semi-structured, open-ended interviews
Demographic survey
Iterative coding process, open then axial

Participants
15 readers, 11 female, 4 male
Students or young professionals
Ages 18-33, avg. 23.3
Diverse reading habits

Findings
Common practices
Definition of the term “blog”
Identity presentation and perception
“ Being a part” of a blog

Common Practices
Habitual, like checking email
Not information overload
Non-chronous – timing less relevant than position
Overloaded terminology

What is a blog?
Usually structural or technical definition
“ It depends”
“ A blog is something that's still going on, that still has a conversation going on, that has people commenting,... it [has] this dialogue between the person who's posting and the people who are reading... ”
Interactional definition

Presentation and Perception
Authenticity, personal
Online/offline identity negotiation
Reader's expectations
Reader's felt obligations

“ Being a Part”
Partly belonging, partly participation
“ Just by reading I feel like I'm participating”
Connection to blog, connection to blogger

Conclusion and Future
Readership in other social media: Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia
Readers of specific blogs
Tools for reflective reading
Social implications

Acknowledgments
California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2)‏
Summer Undergraduate Research Funding in Information Technology (SURF-IT)‏
Social Code Group
Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

Questions?
Eric Baumer
[email_address]
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~ebaumer

Chi2008 Blog Readers Talk

by ebaumer on Apr 14, 2008

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Chi2008 Blog Readers Talk — Presentation Transcript