trees are people too

As burgeons the popularity of blogging, it is only natural that more studies will be conducted to define this new medium. Scholars are trying to categorise, define and conclude on what blogs are and why they are so successful in engaging an audience. When looking to our studies of teleology and hypertext, this kind of study – an essay written on a blog, pertaining to a concluding reason why – seems somewhat ironic. But studies will be ongoing and evolving, and probably as transient as the blogs themselves. Thinking of our wiki project and creative research, I wonder how long until we see this become the preferred method of analysis and research. Maybe we will never let go of our leanings towards linearity, our need for closure. The abstract remains too challenging.

Defining a blog, this fluid entity, is not an easy thing, as is pointed out in this article. To truly understand the popularity of blogs one must move beyond the technical aspects (it contains RSS, it is ordered chronologically) and into the human-computer relation. An understanding of how viewers read and engage with blogs helps identify the readerly and writerly qualities, and might bring me closer to applying these to my own work…

Reader response theory aids in the identification and understanding of audiences in literary criticism. When discussing blogs, “the reality and meaning of a blog exists neither solely in the blog itself nor solely in the reader, but rather in the reader’s active interpretation of, and interaction with, the blog”. This might be said to apply to all manner of hypertexts, or even printed texts that demand an additional engagement from the reader (choose your own adventure, I :heart: you)

The study found that reading blogs – regular visiting, reading and commenting – became habitual internet practice, much like reading email. It was an action users would do regularly – as regularly as the author would post – and formulated dedication and loyalty to the content. The temporal qualities of the blog drove the users need to engage with the updated content on a regular, and often routine, basis. Another feature for many users was the sense of community that a blog offered – despite being essentially a one to many activity, readers were inclined to feel a personal connection to the author (due to the informal style? The manner of reading?? The specialised content??) – even when they did not actively participate (i.e. comment). For this reason, although comments on blogs can be volatile and meaningless, most readers felt their engagement with the blog and the community it fostered demanded respect. They therefore attempted to make their comments ‘insightful and cogent’.

Readers interact with blogs quite unlike they do with any other medium. But rather than this engagement and collaboration resulting in a fragmented and fractured text, a blog encourages unity, community and alliance unlike any other media. A blogs’ relevance and quality increases to both readers and writers as they strive for meaningful exchange and, more astonishingly, communication of ideas between total strangers.