Chi2008 Blog Readers Talk

Exploring the Role of the Reader in the Activity of

Blogging

Eric Baumer, Mark Sueyoshi, Bill TomlinsonUniversity of California, Irvine

CHI 2008 – Florence, ItalyApril 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

ebaumer@ics.uci.edu

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~ebaumer