Adolescent Diary Blogs and the Unseen Audience

Lois Ann ScheidtSchool of Library and Information Science (SLIS)

Indiana UniversityUSA

What is a blog?

Weblogs (blogs) are frequently modified web pages in which dated entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence (Herring, Scheidt, Bonus, & Wright, 2004).

What makes a weblog a diary blog1?

Usually has a single author (Fothergill, 1974). Usually written in first person (Mcneill, 2003). Tell an episodic story (Walker, 2003) that may

be fragmentary (Hogan, 1991) and is always in process (Culley, 1985).

Open-ended and terminates when writer ceases to make entries (Bunkers, 2001).

1 Also referred to as personal journal blogs (Blood, 2002).

How do diary blogs differ from their paper-based antecedents?

Two time-worn assumptions related to paper diaries fall by the wayside when looking at diary weblogs:– That the diaries are kept only for personal

consumption. – That diary keeping is a private and secret effort.

(Bunkers, 2001)

How do you define adolescence?

Adolescence is defined as the second decade of life – ages 10-19 (Steinberg, 2002).

Adolescent diary blogs

Two studies by the SLIS BROG project have found that adolescent bloggers account for:– 34.3% (Herring et al., 2004) and – 39.0% (Herring, Kouper, Scheidt, & Wright, under

review).

Orlowski (2003) goes further, asserting that a majority of bloggers are teenage girls.

Langellier’s Audiences for Personal Narrative Performance (1998)

As a witness testifying to the experience. As a therapist unconditionally supporting emotions. As a cultural theorist assessing the contestation of

meanings, values, and identities in the performance. As a narrative analyst examining genre, truth or

strategy. A critic appraising the display of performance

knowledge and skill.

As a witness testifying to the experience

Available: http://16crayons.blogspot.com/

As a therapist unconditionally supporting emotions

Available: http://anonymuse.blogspot.com/

As a cultural theorist assessing the contestation of meanings, values, and identities in the performance

Available: http://coquet.blogspot.com/

As a narrative analyst examining genre, truth or strategy

Available: http://home.nc.rr.com/benlaz/

A critic appraising the display of performance knowledge and skill

Available: http://www.arador.org/

Methodology

Content Analysis and Ethnographic Methods Opportunity sample (N=12)

– EatonWeb Portal (http://portal.eatonweb.com) Originally a hand coded list of all the weblogs available

online (Rhodes, 2002). Now a JavaScript file that aggregates self-submission and

keywording (Rhodes, 2002).

All entries on the first page of the blog were coded.

Demographics

Blogger gender: 6 each females & males Ave entries per page = 8.5, range = 4, 21.

– Female ave 6.8 ,range 5, 14– Male ave 10.2, range 4, 21. Removing the

outlier ave = 8, range 4, 14. Ave age = 16.9 years, range = 13 – 19.

Country of origin

USA

Philippines Singapore

UK

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

Posts by Author Gender

Posts = 102 of which 89 could be fully coded

female, 41.6%

male, 58.4%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

Entries by audience type

witness, 50.6%

therapist, 12.4%

cultural theorist, 25.8%

narrative analyst, 7.9%

critic, 3.4%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Audience Type by Author Gender

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

witness therapist cultural theorist narrative analyst critic

female male

Conclusion - Females

Females show a tendency toward:– bifurcated audience focus,

internal in requesting support.external via cultural assessment.

Conclusions - Males

Males show a tendency toward:– external focus through narrative analysis. – sharing their world by asking us to witness the event

and comment on their personal performance.

Future Research

Apply the methodology to a larger dataset. Establish who the bloggers believe they are

writing to through interviews and surveys.

Contact Information for Lois Ann Scheidt

Email: lscheidt@indiana.edu Webpage: http://www.loisscheidt.com Personal Weblog:

http://www.professional-lurker.com BROG Weblog: http://www.blogninja.com