Lesson 10: Blogging Complications

In the past nine lessons, we've discussed the many merits of blogs, from offering remote access to important information to providing an outlet for strong emotion. But now it’s time we got real. Are blogs really all they’re cracked up to be?

As was mentioned earlier, basic computer literacy is a must in order for blogs and other Web 2.0 applications to be truly effective. So are Internet connectivity and access, computer access, and basic reading skills. It all boils down to skill and availability. Can you get to it and can you use it. If the answer is no to either question, the idea that blogs can reach out to everyone around the world falls flat. 

How can we move headfirst into Web 2.0 when some patrons have yet to grasp Web 1.0? How can people peruse the pages of a blog when they can’t even point and click? Are blogs only for the educated, the hip, the young? Or can they truly reach marginalized communities? Can there be a balance?

And say you do overcome the odds and begin to blog. How do you decide how much of yourself to share on this highly public forum? The number of bloggers who have been fired from their jobs due to information found on their personal blogs is staggering, and many of those dismissals are based on routine gripes with the company or co-workers, not in-depth exposés of company policy (Valentine, Fleischman, Sprague, and Goodkin, 2010, p. 106). It’s the permanence of the words, not the attitude behind them, that makes blogs dangerous, and companies can’t afford to have their images sullied by disparaging remarks, however spontaneous or trifling those remarks may be.

Blogs can do good. But they can also do bad. And they can also do nothing. And those last two, bad and nothing, those can have dangerous effects. So when we think of the future of blogging, it’s important to remember to remain objective, to think critically, and to take a step back and evaluate the blog. When you're blogging, don't (always) believe the hype.

References

Valentine, S., Fleischman, G.M., Sprague, R., & Godkin, L. (2010). Exploring the ethicality of firing employees who blog. Human Resource Management, 49(1), 87-108. doi: 10.1002/hrm.2033

Lesson 9: Intra-Library Blogging

Up to now, we've talked about blogs used for communicating with patrons and blogs used for communicating with librarians in other libraries, but there is one final category of library blog to discuss. Some library blogs serve as a means for staff members in one library to communicate with each other, which I've termed intra-library blogging.

This topic was covered briefly in Lesson 8, with the mention of blogs as cataloging tools, but there is more to intra-library blogging than this. Coleman, Thiess-White, and Fritch (2011, p. 42) report that for Kansas State University Library, intra-library blogs play an important part in allowing employees to schedule work hours, list useful websites for answering reference questions, and keep a record of the types of reference questions library workers are often asked. In essence, these blogs are online reference libraries for librarians, and just like physical libraries, they are ever-changing.

Julia Rodriguez (2010) says it well:

Web 2.0 technologies allow for that information to be placed into a forum on which others can build and contribute, with the added benefit of bringing together the combined intelligence of all participants and organizing this knowledge in a way that can be shared, searched, and passed on to new workers. (p. 108)

That’s a tall order, and a library blog can take care of it all. Intra-library blogs may be the most effective of all: they target a specific community and provide information about the organization that cannot be found elsewhere. They see a need and meet that need. Who could ask for more?

References

Coleman, J.,Thiess-White, D, & Fritch, M.E. (2011). Social software for training andmanaging reference staff. IndianaLibraries, 30(1), 40-48.

Rodriguez,J. (2010). Social software in academic libraries for internal communication andknowledge management: A comparison of two reference blog implementation. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 15,107-124. doi: 10.1080/10875301003788323

Lesson 6: Blogs in Libraries

When we think of library blogs, we often think of librarian blogs, i.e., clever observations made by librarians about the library world. But there are blogs that are distinctly about the goings-on in specific libraries, blogs that “supplement traditional means of communicating with patrons” (Steele and Greenlee, 2011, p. 114).

One such example of a library blog is the University of Pennsylvania Law Library’s Biddleblog. Not only an academic library but also a special library, this law library faced significant challenges, especially in juxtaposing the casual tone associated with blogs with the academic nature of the blog’s subject matter. Eventually, the Biddleblog staff decided that all law library staff would blog, posting book reviews, research guides, and library announcements, all while highlighting library resources such as databases and exhibits (Steele and Greenlee, 2011, p. 117).

In one critical way, Biddleblog is more successful than most such blogs: at the time the Steele and Greenlee (2011) article was published, Biddleblog had been frequently updated for the past three years, and the updates continue, with the most recent dating April 18, 2013. But Biddleblog is not without its difficulties. While the library can use a tool like Google Analytics to determine how many people are reading the blog each day, the library has yet to quantify how many of those readers are actually  library patrons, not law librarians looking for a few new ideas (Steele and Greenlee, 2011, p. 118).

While Biddleblog aims to connect with a small, specific community, some library blogs aim to connect with an entire city or metropolitan area, a challenge just as difficult as that of connecting with a smaller readership. Blogs targeting a small community struggle to attract and maintain the interest of a limited number of readers, but blogs targeting larger communities must create content diverse enough to appeal to a wider range of readers.

In a 2007 article published in First Monday, a must-see online journal covering all topics Internet, Lyons expresses that “community-focused blogs (sometimes called geo-blogs or place-blogs) are becoming increasingly viable and reliable sources for local information,” and libraries aren't missing out on their chance to get in on the action. According to Lyons (2007), there are several community-based library blogs that focus on transmitting library news as well as community news. There are even blogs that match readers to blogs focusing on their geographic areas, with some of the more popular being Placeblogger and BlogDigger Local. With the increased interest in libraries as places and promoting libraries as community hubs, locally-focused, library-supported blogs are important players in changing the face of libraries.

Though library blogs focus on different types of libraries and communities, they all share one common purpose: providing information for library users. Let’s face it—we librarians are shameless information peddlers, and blogs make it possible for the whole world to learn what we have to teach. But if the whole world isn't interested, we can at least hope that our small communities are.

References

Lyons, C. (2007, March 5). The library: A distinct local voice? First Monday, 12(3).

Steele, J., & Greenlee, E. (2011). Thinking, writing, sharing, blogging: Lessons learned from implementing a law library blog. Law Library Journal, 103(1), 113-123.

Lesson 5: Why Blog?

Justin Hall (2013), father of the blog, revealed in a recent posting celebrating his blog's 19-year anniversary that deep down, his aim was to find out "what happens if I compulsively share my thoughts online." That seems like a common theme among bloggers--isn't compulsive thought-sharing the essence of blogging? And isn't it kind of the essence of librarianship?

After all, the foundation of librarianship is bibliography--creating lists, evaluating materials, grouping & annotating resources, etc. (Stephens, 2008, p. 312). And all of these elements of bibliography have blogging correlations, from blogrolls to archives to tags to posts. Compiling information so that it can be shared is what libraries do, whether through blogs or through physical libraries.

In fact, in Michael Stephens' wonderful article The Pragmatic Biblioblogger: Examining the Motivations and Observations of Early Adopter Librarian Bloggers, Stephens (2008) finds that 40% of library bloggers surveyed blogged in order "to share information or insight." I think librarians are teachers at heart, so it makes sense that librarian bloggers would aim to share what they know with anyone who'll listen, even if it's only fellow library workers. Or perhaps, especially if it's only fellow library workers.

Stephens' (2008, p. 329) survey reveals that 51% of librarian bloggers believe that blogging has helped them  develop a sense of community with other library professionals. Working in a library can often be a very insular experience, with workers only infrequently venturing beyond their own departments.

But library blogs change that. Realizing that another person in another library in another state has had the exact experiences that you've had is powerful. It gives validity to our experiences and makes us feel that we're not alone, that we're not overreacting, that we're not a bunch of wacky librarians with crazy notions. Librarian blogs are a way to use emerging technologies (Professional development, anyone?) in order to network and share ideas. They're a way to connect, and that's important because, hey, librarians need love, too.

References

Hall, J. (2013, January 27). 19 Links. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://links.net/daze/13/01/27-19-links.html

Stephens, M. (2008). The pragmatic biblioblogger: Examining the motivations and observations of early adopter librarian bloggers. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 13(4), 311-345.

Lesson 4: Who Blogs?

As I mentioned in Lesson 1, it seems that everyone, including your mother, seems to have a blog these days. There's a blogger in every state in every color at every Starbucks in the USA. But if we're searching for more specific demographic information about bloggers, we must look no farther than the Technorati State of the Blogosphere.

Published once per year from 2004 through 2011 and representative of bloggers from 45 countries, State of the Blogosphere (2011) offers statistics concerning blogging, bloggers, social media, marketing, branding, and an assortment of other such goodies, and it's really worth a look for anyone who plans to become a serious blogger.

These reports are especially useful in our discussion about the identity of the blogger. Here are some stats (State of the Blogosphere, 2011):

• 60% of all bloggers are male
• Most bloggers are between the ages of 25-44, but a third are 44+
• California, New York, and Texas, our most populated states, have the highest concentration of bloggers (fair Georgia ranks 9th, boasting 3% of our nation's bloggers)
• Bloggers are an educated bunch: most bloggers have at least a 4-year college degree 
• Most bloggers are either married or cohabitating
• Nearly half of all bloggers work full-time, and 25% are self-employed

From this information, we can see that while bloggers can (and do) come in all shapes and sizes, the average blogger seems to be a married, college-educated American male between the ages of 25 and 44 who works full-time, lives in California, New York, or Texas, and looks something like this.

From my unofficial study of library blogs, I have determined that for the most part, library bloggers do follow this pattern. They only differ in one critical area: most library bloggers are women. This difference makes sense, considering that 80% of librarians in the US are women (Schott and Connor, 2010). Why wouldn't the blogosphere mirror the workplace?

In Lesson 5, we will be covering the motivations of bloggers and the audiences different blogs attract.

But before that, I'm opening the floor to you, dear reader.

What motivates you to blog?

(other than school assignments)

References

Schott, M.C. & Connor, E. (2010). The male medical librarian: A misunderstood minority. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 10(4), 341-348. doi: 10.1080/15323269.2010.514768

State of the blogosphere 2011: Part 1. (2011, November 4). Technorati. Retrieved April 3, 2013, from http://technorati.com/social-media/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-part1/

Lesson 3: A Brief History of Blogging

In the coming lessons, we'll be returning to the questions we encountered in Lesson 1:

Who blogs? And why?

But in order to expose the motivations of bloggers, we must first explore the history of blogging. It is necessary to consider a couple of questions.

...........................................................................................................................................

When did blogging begin?

The first weblog, links.net, was formed by college student Justin Hall in 1994, but the shortened term "blog" was coined in 1999 by Peter Merholz, after he used the term on his personal blog, peterme.com (Thompson, 2006; Mandal, 2011, p. 155).

As a side note...

But to return to our history lesson, I would be remiss to overlook the creation of Blogger.com, the very program that allows me to share my wit and wisdom with you today. Created in 1999, Blogger was one of the first free blogging services that gained popularity (Thompson, 2006). The setup was simple, requiring no knowledge of HTML coding (and often, little knowledge of anything else, including the blog's topic). It provided a free, accessible platform by which everyday people could share their ideas and experiences with the world. Who knew it'd become an empire?

When did blogs (and blogging) begin to gain a significant following?

In  Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters (Rosenberg, 2009),  journalist, blogger, and author Scott Rosenberg puts forth an interesting premise that the 9/11 terrorist attacks spawned the nation's interest in blogging. At Say Everything's open, founder of Gawker.com Nick Denton offers his thoughts about blogging's impact on his remembrances of that day.

Only through the human stories of escape or loss have I really felt the disaster...And some of the best eyewitness accounts and personal diaries of the aftermath have been published on weblogs. These stories, some laced with anecdotes of drunken binges and random flings, have a rude honesty that does not make its way through the mainstream media's good-taste filter. (Rosenberg, 2009, p. 7)

For the first time, Rosenberg (2009) writes, the American people were able to receive minute-by-minute updates from regular people, people deeply and directly affected by tragedy. In years past, Americans waited anxiously by radios and televisions for news on the sinking of the Arizona or the fate of President Kennedy, but with blogs (and the Internet, in general) news is pumped out fast, allowing for genuine pathos to color the black-and-white of the news. Though some argue that the Internet is an impersonal medium by which to share one's life, I disagree. How often is it that real people get a chance to share their experiences openly?

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In the next lesson, we will dive headfirst into the realm of the blogger, exploring such themes as motivation, identity, and purpose.

And I promise, all of this really does have something to do with libraries. Honest.

References

Mandal, P.S. (2011). Blog and its Role in Library and Information Services. Journal of Library & Information Technology, 31(3), 155-158.

Rosenberg, S. (2009). Say everything: How blogging began, what it's becoming, and why it matters. New York: Crown Publishers.

Thompson, C. (2006, February 20). The early years. New York Magazine. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/news/media/15971/

Lesson 2: Defining the Blogger

Before defining the term blogger, let's review Lesson 1. According to Merriam-Webster, a blog is

a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site.

So what exactly are the contents of a blog? There are a few basics:

• Introduction: Short biography of blog creator(s) and/or contributor(s)
• Posts: Original or linked text, images, or videos
• Comments: Reader responses 
• Blogroll: A list of other blogs with similar themes
• Widgets & Gadgets: Small, user-focused applications such as polls, weather reports, and links to social networking sites

Of course, blogs can be personalized to no end, with varying background colors and images, as well as different layouts and themes. But what really makes a blog unique is its content, and if the contents of a blog are a blog, then it follows that submitting reader comments constitutes blogging. 

Therefore, it is my assertion that those who frequent blogs and those who create blogs are bloggers just the same.

In fact, call it waiting for inspiration or just plain laziness, but it seems that Americans are more drawn to viewing and commenting on blogs than we are to creating them. According to a 2012 study by Blogging.org, Wordpress.com hosts 42 million blogs but attracts 329 million viewers who view 25 billion pages per month.

So what does all this mean for libraries?

For starters, it means that there is indeed a market for blogs, if only organizations would create them and update them regularly. The Blogging.org study agrees, reporting that while 60% of all businesses have a company blog, 65% of those businesses haven't updated their blogs in a year or more. That means that companies (and libraries) are failing to provide access for a large group of people eager to blog.

In Lesson 3, we will begin to uncover the reasons for this eagerness by briefly exploring the history of blogging and looking at how changes in our culture have impacted the blogging industry. 

Because yes, blogging is an industry.

References

Blog [Def. 1]. (n.d.). From Merriam-Webster Online, Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog

State of the Blogging World. (2012). [Infographic]. Retrieved from http://blogging.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/state-of-blogging-2012.png

Lesson 1: Defining the Blog

Your mom has one.

The Taylor Swift addict next door has one.

So does that strange man across town with the parrot.

But we’re not talking about a library card, folks.

We’re talking about a blog.

According to Merriam-Webster.com, a blog (derived from the combination of the words “web” and “log”) is

a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site.

But is this all a blog can be?

Over the course of twenty years, blogs have gone from being the playgrounds of angst-ridden basement-dwellers to being key players in pop culture, business, and politics. Today, many corporations, non-profit organizations, and individuals use blogs as a way to connect with users in order to promote their products (and themselves) and provide regularly updated information about events and practices.

Not to be left out of the loop, libraries large and small have also adopted blogs as a way to introduce patrons to library staff, rate and review books & AV materials, and keep followers in the know about library services.

Also, after the press's rather recent interest in the new generation of librarians, blogs about librarianship have cropped up in numbers rivaling those of unattended children at the library on school holidays. These blogs cover a range of topics, including helping new graduates find jobs, reporting library news, challenging stereotypes, and coping with day-to-day life as a librarian.

Library blogs serve many of the same purposes as commercial or personal blogs: they transmit information to people in hopes of gaining a following and therefore drawing in more people to partake of their services. The difference with library blogs, though, is that they aim not to reach the masses, but to reach their specific communities, whether they be colleges, small towns, or special populations like the hearing-impaired.

Localized blogs such as these have the potential to create a niche in blogging: that of a community forum in which the followers may actually meet each other in real life. Promoting libraries as community hubs is a project near and dear to my heart, but in order to do that, we must first consider two questions:

Who blogs? And why?

References

Blog [Def. 1]. (n.d.). From Merriam-Webster Online, Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog