E L I S A B E T T A L O C A T E L L I

U N I V E R S I T À C A T T O L I C A D E L S A C R O C U O R E D I M I L A N O

Personal blogs and social shaping: a qualitative approach

@WARM: Workshop on Advanced Research Methods –Università “Carlo BO” - Urbino

30th September 2010

Blogs as User Generated Contents

What are blogs?

Timeline

Web logs (diaries of

web navigation)

Online personal diaries

Websites organized in

a chronological reverse order

Personal stream of

news feed in chronological reverse order

1997 1999 2003 2006 2008

First blogsin USA

First blogsin Italy

SplinderMySpaceHi5LinkedIn

Google buysBlogger

2004

Facebook

TwitterNetlogBadoo

Facebook success in Italy

2010

August: Facebook isthe mostvisitedwebsite

Methodology

Objectives Investigate the microsocial processes of blog appropriation focus on bloggers (blog owners).

Understand blogs developement in Italy.

Qualitative approach, focused on the context of use (Mason, 1996).

Importance of following users in their practices to understand their “personal economies of meaning” (Silverstone - Hirsch 1992).

Mix of different methodologies, integrated and not “balkanized” (Lievrouw – Livingstone, 2006)

Focus onpersonal blogs. No triangulation of methodologies (Cardano, 2003) but multi-sited approach (Marcus, 1995).

Field of research as a “field of relations” (Hine, 2000).

Researched as a bricoleur (Denzin – Lincoln, 2000).

Continuous comparison between hypothesis and data hermeneutic approach and Grounded Theory (Glaser, Strauss, 1967).

Explorative research

Participant observation

Semi-structured interviews

Blog desk analysis

Methodology

Methodology

(1) Explorative research follow the “biography of the object” (Kopytoff 1992) in USA and Italy Culural product as a key for a firts interpretation (Griswold, 1994; Colombo, 2001, 2003

Articles, essays, books, blogs with blogs history in USA and Italy Archive.org

Identification of three phases in Italian blogsphere (now updating): 2000: Early blogger 2003: Creation of Splinder 2006: Google buys Blogger …?

Need to meet blogger and their practices

(2) Participant observation at three blogger events: VlogEurope, Milan, 18th-19th November 2006 PiùBlog, Rome, 8th-10th December RomeCamp, Rome, 21° January 2007

Methodology

Snowball and theoretical sampling;

Three cities (Milan, Rome; Turin);

Divided into the three phases;

Enter the field (Hine 2000; Roversi 2001)

(3) 26 Semi-structured interviews (12 females e 14 males) Privileged instrument for exploring microsocial field of

blog incorporation into daily practices (Silverstone 1992) and its “subjective meaning” (Roversi 2001) both at a material and symbolic level.

Exploration of feelings, perceptions, and images of blog use (also done with the request of drawing their own’sblog image)

(4) 50 Blog analysis (26 males and 24 females) Textual analysis with a semiotic grid (Cosenza 20062)

Results

A double structure (Cfr. Hine 2000): Artifact Context of communication

Strong interaction between Individuals Technology Social discourse

Blog as a “boundary object” (Star - Griesemer 1989) Blogger as a “processor” able to convert a technological infrastructure in

social and cultural values (Silverstone - Hirsch 1994) Social Shaping of Technology as a theoretical framework for

comprehending the results. MacKenzie e Wajcman 1988 Bijker et al. 1989 Bijker 1995 Fulk 1993; Schneider 2000

Blog as a “configurationaltechnology” (Fleck 1988):

Its elements are shaped in the context of use

Interpretive flexibility (Williams – Edge 1996) Material (script); Symbolical (meaning)

User as prosumer (Toffler 1987): Consume and active production of contents

Knowledge distribution: Horizontal (peer to peer) Vertical (groups; “opinion leaders”; experts)

Closure Early blogger and relevant social groups Relevant institutional subjects

Importance of imagination in technology adoption and use

Results

Going further: social networks

Two qualitative research on social networks: Qualitative analysis (ethnography) of 6 profiles (3 male; 3 females) of

social networks profiles of social media heavy users (Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed + blog)

50 telephonic interviews to young adults (19-15 years old) about new media appropriation (mobile phone, IM, SN, blog) + social network profiles analysis (cfr. www.testimonidigitali.it and Giaccardi 2010 forthcoming).

Social networks are similar to blogs:

Open (although less flexible in some case) structure; Need of user to close it; Performing elements; Role of the institutional subjects in the space definition; Relevance of the year of adoption on the meaning attributed to the

social network.

Methodological issues

Blog and social networks as both objects and instruments of research Becoming “friend” of the panel (?) Privacy (?) Accountability (?)

Contextualization of profiles and contents Focus on subjects Mix different methods of research “Multimodal methodology”

(Dicks 2006)

Sample What about the relationship between blogs and social

networks and blogs and mainstream media? 4° stage of development?

Thanks for your attention

elisabetta.locatelli@unicatt.it

theblogup.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/elisabettalocatelli

twitter.com/donnabetta

Bibliography

Beer D., Burrows R. (2007), “Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations”, in Sociological Research Online, vol. 12, Issue 5, disponibile al sito www.socresonline.org.uk/cgi-bin/perlfect/search/search.pl?q=sure&showurl=%2F12%2F5%2F17.html

Bijker W. E., Pinch T., Hughes T.P. (1989), The Social Construction of Technological Systems, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. - London.

Blood R. (2002), The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining your Blog, PerseusBooks Group, (trad. it.: Weblog…il tuo diario online, Mondadori, Milano 2003).

Blood R. (ed.) (2002), We’ve Got Blog: how weblogs are changing our culture, Perseus Books Group. Cosenza G. (20082), Semiotica dei nuovi media, Laterza, Roma-Bari. Cardano M. (2003), Tecniche di ricerca qualitativa. Percorsi di ricerca nelle scienze sociali, Carocci, Milano. Colombo F. (2001), in Colombo F., Farinotti L., Pasquali F., I margini della cultura, Franco Angeli, Milano,

2001. Colombo F. (2003), Introduzione allo studio dei media, Carocci, Roma, 2003. Di Fraia G. (a cura di) (2007), Blog-grafie. Identità narrative in rete, Guerini e Associati, Milano. Dicks B., Soyinka B., Coffey A. (2006), “Multimodal Ethnography”, in Qualitative Research, vol. 6 (1), 77-96. Glaser B. G., Strauss A. L. (1967), The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research,

Aldine Publishing Company, New York,. Griswold W. (1994), Cultures and Societies in a Changing World, Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, Cal.,

(trad. it.: Sociologia della cultura, Il Mulino, Bologna 2005). Hine C. (ed.) (2005), Virtual Methods. Issues in Social Research on the Internet, Berg, Oxford,New York. Hine C. (2000), Virtual Etnography, Sage, London. Jones, S. (ed.) (1999), Doing Internet Research. Critical Issues and Methods for Examining the Net, Sage

Publications, London et al.

Bibliography

Kopytoff I. (1992), “The Cultural Life of Things: Commoditization as a Process”, in Appadurai A. (ed.), The Social Life of Things. Commodities in a Cultural Perspective, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Lievrouw L. A., Livingstone S. (2006), Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Social Consequences of ICTs. Updated Student Edition, Sage, London et al., (trad. it.: Capire i nuovi media, Hopli, Milano 2007).

MacKenzie D., Wajcman J. (1988), The Social Shaping of Technology: How the Refrigetor got its Hum, Milton Keynes, Philadelphia.

Marcus G. E. (1995), “Ethnography in/of the World System: the Emergence of Multisided Ethnography”, in Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 24, 95-117.

Mason J. (1996), Qualitative Researching, Sage, London. Murthy D. (2008), “Digital Ethnography: An Examination of the Use of New Technologies for Social

Research”, in Sociology, vol. 42. Roversi A. (2001), Chat line: luoghi ed esperienze della vita in rete, Il Mulino, Bologna. Salzano D. (2008), Etnografie della rete. Pratiche comunicative tra online e offline, Franco Angeli, Milano. Schneider V. (2000), “Evolution in Cyberspace: the Adaptation of NationalVideotext Systems to the Internet”,

in The Information Society, vol. 16, 319-328. Silverstone R., Hirsch E. (eds.) (1992), Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Space,

Routledge, London. Star S. L., Griesemer J. R. (1989), “Institutional Ecology, “Translation” and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and

Professional in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39”, in Social Studies of Science, Sage, London et al, vol. 19, 387-420.

Williams R., “The Social Shaping of Information and Communications Technologies”, disponibile al sitohttp://www.rcss.ed.ac.uk/SLIM/public/phase1/SSICT.html. Zucca G. (2008), “Limiti e problemi della ricerca qualitativa ai tempi del web 2.0: il caso dei blog”, paper discusso durante il convegno AIS - Metodologia il 6-7-8 novembre 2008 a Milano.