This document summarizes the findings of a survey of bloggers about their perspectives on blog preservation. Key findings include: - Most bloggers spend 1-2 hours per week working on their blogs and read other blogs daily. Over 20% have been blogging for 3 years or more. - Bloggers host their blogs in a variety of places, most commonly on blog service provider sites. They compose and edit posts using various tools. - While most bloggers agree their own blogs should be preserved, there is less agreement that all blogs deserve preservation. The document outlines criteria for selecting blogs for preservation. - Future work should reconsider sampling approaches, retool survey instruments, and focus on archival activities, intellectual property, and access scenarios

1. Informing Blog
Appraisal Through
Bloggers’ Perspectives
Carolyn Hank
Laura Sheble
Songphan Choemprayong
School of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://persistentblog.wordpress.com

2. Bloggers
%
post several posts a week

3. Bloggers
hours
working on blogs a week
(Mode = 1 - 2 hours)

4. Bloggers
%
read other blogs daily

5. core group
33
Web Survey
46 questions
Active bloggers
completed surveys
Snowball Technique
Method…

6. Bloggers
%
have blogged for 3 years or more

7. Bloggers
% %
contribute to two or contribute to two or
more single-author blogs more collaborative blogs

8. Identity
%
20% 24 %
Real name | Both | Pseudonym

9. Topical Areas
Professional
Technology Personal
Academic News Politics
Hobbies Entertainment Family/friend
Religion Business Health Sport
.

10. Audiences
Customer
7.40%
Family 27.40%
Myself* 40.90%
General Public 54.40%
Friends 55.80%
Colleagues/Professional Peers 63.70%

11. Preservation
% %
agree that their own agree that every
blogs should be blog should be
preserved preserved

12. Hosting
1.60% | Other non-commercial server
2.10% | Aggregated blogs
3.60% | Commercial blog provider
3.60% | Server at school
7.30% | Social networking site
13.50% | Server at work
14.50% | Commercial server
16.10% | Own server
Blog service provider 86%

13. Composing
Often use
blog editor
Alternative way:
Word processor (desktop and online)
Email composer
Mobile phone/PDA
Desktop plug-in blog editor
Instant messenger

14. Password
2% require
password to
view ALL %
posts
require password to view
certain posts on their blogs

15. EDIT Posts
Spelling & grammatical errors
Rephrasing
Update links
% Erroneous information
edited content after
it was posted

16. DELETE Posts
-Remove opinions that are no
longer hold
Remove information that is no longer
correct
% -Erroneous information
deleted content
after it was posted

17. DELETE Entire
Blog
%
have deleted an
entire blog

18. Presentation
%
have changed the
appearance of their
blogs

19. Duplication
% %
duplicate some blog duplicate some
posts. comments
(18% duplicate all) (12% duplicate all)

20. Responsibility
100%
Blog authors/owners
90%
80% IT department
Software providers
70% Libraries/archives
60% Public trust
50% Search engine
40%
30%
Own blog Blogs in general
Blog general

21. Characteristics
* Unique/innovative content
* Cultural significance of bloggers
* Preservation preference
* Popularity - general
Important

22. Characteristics
* # of occasional bloggers
* Age of blog
* Size of blog
Unimportant

23. Selection
Criteria
context
content
style
format
audience
author

24. Selection
Criteria
context Blogosphere
(all, as many)
content Representation
(time/society)
style Future use
Significance
format (cultural, social, political)
audience
author

25. Selection
Criteria
context Subject
(e.g. art & culture, politics
content & government, science &
technology, sociology,
style education, history)
Attribute
format (original, innovative,
quality, authoritative)
audience
author

26. Selection
Criteria
context Expressive
Citizen journalism
content Commentary
Advocacy
style Scholarship
Utilitarian
format
audience
author

27. Selection
Criteria
context Text Photos
content Video Audio Other_multimedia
Comments
style K e y w o r d s
format L i n k s
Imported_images
audience B o o k m a r k s
author Imported_tags Feeds

28. Selection
Criteria
context Popularity
(e.g. readership)
content Impact
(e.g. reference, citation)
style Location
(e.g. regional, community)
format Public discourse
(cultural, social, political)
audience Audience preference
author Expert preference

29. Selection
Criteria
context Professional
Personal
content Institutional
Collaborative
style Expert & Notable
format Author preference
audience
author

30. Exclusion
Criteria
context | ephemeral & insignificant
content | personal & inappropriate
style | hate speech
format | splog, storage concerns
audience | popularity
author | personal

31. Conclusions
Findings Future
Bloggers are interested Reconsider our sampling
Save some but not all Retool the instrument
New content added Dedicated foci:
Old content altered ….. Archival activities
Personal responsibility ….. Intellectual Property
Defining roles of others ….. Access scenarios