Bloggery

Yes, I'm still here and still working on my research project.  I'm now trying to actually write it up, but it's hard going.  This is always the hardest part - the blank page and trying to organise chaotic thoughts into some sort of order.  I have writer's block - of a sort - the wrong thoughts are wanting expression - the ones that aren't completely relevant to my actual research.

I've read a lot about blogs over the past year.  It amuses me some of the hype and anti-hype surrounding blog use.  The journal bloggers, like you and me, are looked down upon with contempt by some as if we create some sort of spam - overcrowding the net with our private musings who no-one else is supposed to give a damn about.  You can just see the sort of person who says this sort of thing.  For one thing, how can you overcrowd a virtual space?  Sure there's a lot of crap out there, but you don't have to look at it and you can only look at one page at a time and you've presumably chosen to look at it.  But here's an actual example of this type of anti-blog comment:

"Blogging is a form of vanity publishing: You can dress it up in fancy terms, call it 'paradigm shifting' or a 'disruptive technology', the truth is that blogs consist of senseless teenage waffle.  Adopting the blogger lifestyle is the literary equivalent of attaching tinselly-sprinkles to the handlebars of your bicycle.  In the world of blogging '0 Comments' is an unambiguous statistic that means absolutely nobody cares.  The awful truth about blogging is that there are far more people who write blogs than actually read blogs."  Randi Mooney (from "Zero Comments: Blogging and critical internet culture" by Geert Lovink)

I could pick this apart bit by bit but what is the problem?  The blog on the internet is just another outlet for people's thoughts.  So people make their inner thoughts public, instead of writing in a book in their bedrooms.  So what?  What is wrong with people expressing themselves - whether it's a young teenager struggling with love or depression, a lonely woman, a journalist or the manager of a corporation?  They're all valid.  Blogs don't have to be useful.  They're just the outpourings of human thought - like any written material anywhere.  They're all the result of thoughts. 

Randi... obviously doesn't realise that '0 thoughts' does NOT mean people do not read blogs.  Anyone who has a hit counter can tell you that lots of people may visit your blog and read the posts but not comment.  Sometimes comments are not required, necessary, or you just don't know what to say in response to some posts.  Some posts are very private and you don't want to intrude, but just reflect that we're all the same and we all have our problems and can relate, even if we say nothing.  In this way the blog is wonderful for bringing some humanity to the often lonely world of the internet (before all the 'social networking' sites).  It makes you realise you're not alone in your feelings.  Others have felt the same desperation, the same hope, the same dream, the same fear.  And it gives you some strength and validation.  People like Randi are the ones who don't give a shit.

Blogs are not just 'vanity publishing' anyway.  There are a lot more blogs now which are written by staff of organisations for staff and customers and they're finding the medium useful.  So what's wrong with blogs?  Nothing as far as I see.  To criticise blogs is to criticise any medium of expression.  To do so is idiotic.

I've added a couple more links to useful bibliographies about weblogs.  Most of these links are now dated.  I've come across very few up-to-date articles on the state of the blogosphere in the last year, especially for libraries.  Perhaps the hype is over.  It appears the years 2003-2004 were the years of growing awareness about the increasing number of blogs.  I, myself, have been blogging since 2000 so it's rather amusing to have read the hype surrounding the phenomenon.  I remember reading something on a website about blogs - the new online medium.  What is it? I asked myself.  It's like an online journal.  Great! I thought.  I was simply transferring my thoughts from paper, as a diary-writer, to a computer screen.  I thought no more of it.  Blogger back then was even more of a nightmare to use than it is now.  It's improved a lot but it should have improved a long long time ago.

I've rambled somewhat, thinking back on the past.  What I'm also finding difficult to find at the moment are up-to-date statistics on the adoption of RSS.

Again, if you see anything, do let me know.

I discovered today that an unpublished thesis I printed out last year and didn't really take much notice of at the time, is very very useful for the slightly different slant I'm adopting for my research this year.  I'm glad I printed out as much as I did.  It would be a pain to have to find them all again to re-read them.

Enough for now.  I've spent too much time browsing, again, when I should be refining my topic.  The trouble is, when I read about blogging, it makes me want to blog!

Yes, it's been almost a year since I was last here.  I finished the Research Methodology paper and had to do a couple of others before embarking on my actual research.  That time has now come so it's back into it in earnest.  A lot has happened in the blogosphere since I researched it a year ago.  There are a LOT more library weblogs.  I think many libraries are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon.  Web 2.0 is what they call the interactive websites and technology we now have, from, obviously, blogging, to wikis, podcasts, community websites such as Myspace and Bebo, etc.  Libraries want to get in on this but are they doing it successfully?  Last year I could only find about 2 library weblogs in New Zealand.  Now there are over 10 and that's just from ones I've been told about.  I haven't seriously searched for others yet, but I'm sure there are a lot more.  They are probably in response to the library conference in November last year in Wellington, which focussed on Web 2.0 technologies and encouraged libraries to start blogging.  This makes my research easier - it's now time to evaluate the blogs created and see if they're meeting the needs and expectations of users and libraries.

I came back here to check on the links I'd collected and actually remembered my password!  I didn't think I would remember, so updating this blog was not on my list of things to do today.  So hello!

It's been a bit difficult getting back into the swing of things.  With such a long gap between reviewing the literature and writing a proposal, to actually starting the research, it's meant time spent reviewing everything I wrote last year.  My focus has changed a little and there has since been another research project undertaken locally by another MLIS student.  Thankfully for me, her research was more of a content analysis.

I may be back, but can't promise anything.  I changed libraries and my new work keeps me busy, with later hours. I barely have time to come online, let alone keep up with changes.  If anyone sees anything written about library weblogs within the last year, do let me know! 

Good evening and welcome!  Had a bit of a break after finishing off the literature review.  Still feel a need to search out more literature and have requested a couple of items from another academic library.  The vast majority of information that I've found has been as a result of searching blogs themselves.  When I found relevant information pertaining to blogs on a blog, the blogger kindly listed links to more information.  Papers discovered in this way listed references of more information and blogs so one link snowballs.  Before embarking on this project, I hadn't seriously considered blogs as a source of information but I quickly learned that they certainly are.  And this doesn't even take into account those blogs which serve a journalistic purpose.

So, back on track and needing much more work.  Trying, currently, to work on different methodologies.  There is a limited time frame to come up with a grant proposal, so need to get a structured plan in place.

Back soon, when time allows.

Long time no write - here anyway.  I had to write a lit review as an exercise, which took some time.

It appears library weblogs are not much written about.  They are also difficult to find.  Many of them don't allow comments, don't market themselves, are impossible to find from a library homepage, don't provide RSS feeds, etc etc.  Not doing themselves many favours.

Having a bit of a break.  Back soon.