C - Blogging Communities

Individuals express themselves through blogs (Huffaker 2005). When a common ground and links connecting to other bloggers are included , a blogging community is formed, also referred to as the blogosphere (Huffaker 2005).

A blogging community is formed through hyperlinks, such as blogrolls, tagging, RSS and commenting (White 2006). These are the elements that link a community’s members. It is through comments that members understand each other and share opinions and thoughts. Therefore, a blogging community is further bonded through commenting.

According to White (2006), there are three types of blogging communities.

• Single blog centric community – Communities are based on one single blog with the blog owner representing the community’s central identity. The authority belongs to the blog owner, enabling him to determine the rules.

• The Central Connecting Topic Community – A community sharing a mutual passion, interconnected using hyperlinks.

• The Boundaried Community - Blogs and blog readers assembled on one site or platform, with some featuring a central focus. Registration is compulsory to be a member. Social connections are underlined often.

Diary Addictions

Diary Addictions is a 'blogshop reviewer' which is under Central Connecting Topic Community, with its members sharing a mutual passion which is shopping in online stores or blogshops, as prices offered are more affordable with more variety of clothes.

Blogrings contain blogs are self-identified to have a shared topic (White 2006). In the image above, the left sidebar features a blogring that has numerous links to blogshops. Diary Addictions also established a mailing list to formalise a network of its readers (White 2006).

Reference List

1. Huffaker, D 2005, Let Them Blog: Using Weblogs to Advance Literacy in the K-12 Classroom, viewed 18 April 2010, <http://www.davehuffaker.com/papers/Huffaker2005_LetThemBlog.pdf>.

2. White, N 2006, Blogs and Community - launching a new paradigm for online community?, viewed 19 April 2010, <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2006/edition-11-editorial/blogs-and-community-–-launching-a-new-paradigm-for-online-community>.

B. Classification of blogs & opinion about the most appropriate classification approach.

A good classification system is called for due to the fact that  blogs are recognised to be unstable as they remain to mutate and hybridise (Subramaniam and Tan 2009), and that a plethora of blogs have burgeoned so vastly. In my opinion, ‘good’ means holistic, and answers the questions ‘what’ and ‘why’.

One of the blog classification types I am familiar with is by media type. This is because it is extremely straightforward – a blog that features videos is called a videolog or vlog, and that which features photos is called a photolog.

Youtube : One of the mediums used for vlogging.
Photo source : Google Images

An example of photoblog. Click for source.

Despite its simplicity, I think that this classifications system is inferior to Margaret Simons’ classification. A glaring fact is that the list of media types need to be updated as new technologies emerge – hence, it is not a holistic system. It also does not tell you what the subject and the purpose of the blog is. Simons’ classification, on the other hand, meets all 3 criteria of a good system.

However, Simons has classified blogs into 9 types which leans on the larger side (Simons 2008). Classifications that are so large could hinder rather than guide and cause confusion as there may be overlaps. For example, Pamphleteering and Advocacy are similar as both are used to push a particular point of view.

Reference List
1. Simons, M 2008, A taxonomy of blogs, viewed 19 April 2010, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2372882.htm#transcript>.

2. Subramaniam, R and Tan, LWH 2009, Handbook of research on new media literacy at the K-12 level: Issues and Challenges Volume 1, viewed 19 April 2010, <http://books.google.com.my/books?id=wkVednJXY4gC&pg=PA6&dq=taxonomy+of+blogs&hl=en&ei=R3nNS_mIB5LDrAfjyal7&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=taxonomy%20of%20blogs&f=false>.

A - Blogs as current phenomenon & benefits to the community

The ubiquity of blogs today is analogous to the pop phenomenon Spice Girls created a decade ago. This proof is in the numbers – there were over 5 million blogs tracked by Technorati in June 2009. Of the 2900 bloggers surveyed by Technorati in 2009, 72% are hobbyists while the remainders are professionals. Findings from the survey conclude that bloggers are predominantly highly educated, affluent, male and between 18-44 years old.

Source : Technorati

In technologically advanced nations like the US, video blogging has become increasingly popular. In the survey, video-blogging comes in second with corporates as the majority of the video-bloggers. Take Michelle Phan, an American blogger who posts how-to-make-up videos, for example. Her popularity has caught Lancome’s eye and the cosmetic brand has made her the official online spokesperson. Most Asian countries, like Malaysia and Singapore prefer posting photos such as Singaporean blogger Dawn Yang.

Screenshots of dawnyang.com

For countries frequently in the political spotlight, blogs serve as a powerful political tool. In Iran where media is restricted, blogs can provide another side of the story and the realities that have been screened by “Big Brother”. Newspapers must obtain license, and majority of the 'key reformist newspapers' are closed down (Usher 2006). Therefore, reformist and opposition journalists proceeded to opening blogs to bypass the press censorship (Usher 2006).

Reference List
1. McLean, J 2009, State of the Blogosphere 2009 Introduction - Page3, viewed 17 April 2010, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009-introduction/page-3/>.

2. Sussman, M 2009, Day 1: Who Are The Bloggers? SOTB 2009 - Page 3, viewed 17 April 2010, <http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-1-who-are-the-bloggers1/page-3/>.

3. Usher, S 2006, Iran's leaders harness media power, viewed 19 April 2010, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4804328.stm>.

Bibliography
1. Orwell, G 1949, 1984, Signet Classic, United States of America.

Purpose of this blog

This blog's purpose is to feature various topics related to publication and design, with hopes that knowledge pertaining to this field will expand. This blog is targeted at students who are involved with the subject Issues in Publication and Design (COMM 1043), the academic staff, and also readers who are interested with the publication and design field.