scholars in the blogosphere

SCHOLARS IN THE

BLOGOSPHERE

CAROLYN.HANK@MCGILL.CA

Assistant Professor ▪ School of Information Studies

P&T BROWN BAG LECTURE SERIES ▪ 18 APR 2012 ▪ SLIS ▪ IUB

Questionnaires

Interviews

Blog Analysis BLOGGER

BLOG

03 | xx research questions units & data sources

History| Economics | Law | BioChemPhys

06 | xx population blogs

<http://www.academicblogs.org>

ACADEMIC BLOG PORTAL

06 | xx population blog eligibility

1. PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

2. PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH

3. KNOWLEDGE OR PERSONAL BLOG

4. TIME-STAMPED POSTS

5. ACTIVELY PUBLISHED TO

6. AT LEAST 1 YEAR OLD

7. PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS (RE: AUTHORSHIP)

8. AUTHORED BY 1 OR MORE “SCHOLARS”

8a. [CO-BLOGS] POSTED W/IN 1 MONTH

8b. [CO-BLOGS] MEETS SCHOLAR CRITERIA

9. [ALL BLOGS] BLOGGER CONTACT INFO

blogger eligibility

part 1

(29%)

125 Single-Blogs | 63 Co-Blogs

History| Economics | Law | BioChemPhys

06 | xx population eligible blogs (N=644)

107 Single-Bloggers | 187 Co-Bloggers

eligible bloggers

Completed sample:

153 respondents

RR 1: QI: 63% | QII: 46% | QI/II: 52%

Outcome rates derived from Internet surveys of specifically named persons

from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR, 2009)

questionnaires (N=294)

24 semi-structured

phone interviews

72 (47%) of QI & QII respondents expressed interest

interviews

Coded 93 blogs

57 to 63 Indicators

(on/off blog)

Authorship Attributes

Blog Elements & Features

Rights & Disclaimers

Authority & Audience

Blog Publishing Activity

Post Features

Archiving

blog analysis (SR: 49.5%)

results

%

post-secondary institution

OCCUPATION

BLOGGER

%

(n=58)

Distinguished/

Chaired Prof.

Professor/

Full Prof. +

OCCUPATION

BLOGGER

AGE

years

(range 25 to 70 years old)

mean real age

BLOGGER

(range 0 to 39 years)

mean professional age

years

AGE

BLOGGER

ESTABLISHED PUBLICATION AND SERVICE

HISTORY

BLOGGER

IDENTITY

Real name | Both | Pseudonym

84 13 8 % % %

BLOG

(57% between 5 to 8 years old)

mean blog age

years

BLOG AGE

BLOG

%

first blog published to

BLOG HISTORY

BLOGGER

%

BLOG INSTANCES

publish to 2 or more blogs

BLOGGER

BLOGGING OVER TIME

About the same 35%

Somewhat more 14%

Somewhat less 25%

A lot less 17%

A lot more 8%

BLOGGER

%

do not tweet

MICROBLOGGING

BLOGGER

%

make all of their posts

publicly available

POSTING

BLOGGER

%

POSTING

update their blog 1+

times per week

BLOGGER

%

POSTING

published a new post

within the previous week

BLOG

Average posts per month

(range 1 to 324)

posts

POSTING

BLOG

PRIMARY AUDIENCE

0% 100%

General public

Colleagues and

professional peers

Everyone else students, family, friends, others

8%

32%

61%

BLOGGER

Public 100%

Subject to

critical

review 68%

Allows use and

exchange 94%

Scholarly

record

80%

66% agree with

all three criteria

Association of Research

Libraries (1986).

Braxton, J.M., Luckey, W.,

& Helland, P. (2002).

SCHOLARSHIP

BLOGGER

%

… to present

INVITATIONS

BLOGGER

%

… to collaborate

INVITATIONS

BLOGGER

%

… to serve

INVITATIONS

BLOGGER

%

INVITATIONS

… to publish

BLOGGER

SCHOLARY LIFE

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY

RESEARCH CREATIVITY

RESEARCH QUALITY

WRITING QUALITY

WRITING EFFICIENCY

SHARING PRE-PUBS

TEACHING QUALITY

WORK ENJOYMENT

GREATER VISIBILITY

PROMOTION

IMPROVED

NEITHER

IMPAIRED

BLOGGER

%

ENGAGEMENT

employ a post

commenting feature

BLOGGER

%

respond to comments

ENGAGEMENT

BLOGGER

%

COMMENTS

of most recent posts

had zero comments

BLOG

COMMENTS 2009

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

0 1 2-3 4-5 6-10 11-19 ≥ 20

COMMENTS

PO

STS

BLOG

So looked at

earlier posts

BLOG

COMMENTS

RIGHTS & USE

Creative

Commons (n=13)

Copyright

Statement (n=34)

%

no rights or use statements

at blog or post level

BLOG

%

DISCLAIMERS

have an explicit or implicit

disclaimer-style statement

Own

opinion

Not

responsible

Advice

BLOG

%

COMMENT POLICY

have an explicit or implicit

comment policy or guidelines

Moderation

Tone &

language

Copyright &

licenses

BLOG

%

EDITING

edit posts after publication

BLOGGER

Spelling/

Grammar

Rephrasing

Incorrect Info

Published before

ready

… only 2 blogs included

a policy or statement

BLOG

%

DELETING

delete posts after publication

BLOGGER

Duplicate

Post

“Post Regret”

Too sensitive or

revealing

%

Agree preservation for public access & use

into the indefinite future (strongly or somewhat)

BLOGGER

PRESERVATION

BLOGGER

PRESERVATION

0% 100%

Personal access/use

Indefinite future

Public access/use

Indefinite future

Personal access/use

Short-term future

Public access/use

Short-term future

16%

19%

76%

80%

%

Purposefully save entire blog via an

archiving service or independently

BLOGGER

SAVING

%

SAVING

Purposefully save some

blog components

BLOGGER

Export tools

Personal

back-ups

Document/text files

Via syndication

services

if? What

SADNESS

C’EST LA VIE

RELIEF DOUBT

ANGER

Devastated,

both emotionally and

professionally.

Pretty

bad.

Very

sad.

SADNESS

C’EST LA VIE

RELIEF DOUBT

ANGER

SADNESS

C’EST LA VIE

RELIEF DOUBT

ANGER

Mad as hell.

I’d do something

drastic [in response].

Pretty

peeved. Angry

& upset.

SADNESS

C’EST LA VIE

RELIEF DOUBT

ANGER

I don’t have to

do it anymore. I get half an hour of my

life back.

SADNESS

C’EST LA VIE

RELIEF DOUBT

ANGER

Not welcomed

but not tragic …

I’d get over it.

Probably

have a drink & forget about it.

Pour another cup

of coffee & get back to work. Drop out …

until something else

comes along.

SADNESS

C’EST LA VIE

RELIEF DOUBT

ANGER

It would take an

extreme catastrophe.

How would

that happen?

Blogs Teaching

materials

Books

Journal

articles

Blogs

Personnel

Communications

Books

Journal

articles

Filter

Blogs

Class

Blogs

Traditional

Publications

Blogs

Law review

articles

Blogs

Books

Journal

articles

Blogs

Email

Self-

Publications

Peer-

Reviewed

Publications

Journal

articles

Filter

Blogs

Works-in-

progress

Blogs

Published

Papers

Blogs

Peer-

Reviewed

Publications

Informal

Publications

Blogs

Lab

Notebooks

Published

Papers

Dissertations

& Theses

Monographs

Select

Blog Posts

Books

Blogs

Books

Journal

articles

Journal

articles

Book

Reviews

Blogs

Journal

articles

Teaching

materials

Scientific &

Scholarly

Research

Pedagogical

Research & Tools

Blogs

LOWER HIGHER

PRESERVATION PRIORITY

BLOG DELETION

%

have deleted a blog

BLOGGER PERCEPTIONS

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

RESPONSIBILITY CAPABILITY

Blogger

Co-Author(s)

Provider/Host/Network

Search Engine

Public Trust

preservation BLOGGER PERCEPTIONS

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

RESPONSIBILITY CAPABILITY

Blogger

Co-Author(s)

Provider/Host/Network

Search Engine

Public Trust

Nat'l Library

Nat'l Archive

Inst'l Library

Inst'l Archive

Inst'l IT Dept

preservation BLOGGER PERCEPTIONS

Better things to do

Personal responsibility

Personal communications

Bad experience

BLOGGER PERCEPTIONS

first line of

defense

first line of

defense

final line of

defense

part 2 … or, what’s next

1. PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

2. PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH

3. KNOWLEDGE OR PERSONAL BLOG

4. TIME-STAMPED POSTS

5. ACTIVELY PUBLISHED TO

6. AT LEAST 1 YEAR OLD

7. PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS (RE: AUTHORSHIP)

8. AUTHORED BY 1 OR MORE “SCHOLARS”

BLOG

Not actively

published to

in previous

3 months (n=156)

left no message behind

on where they went or

if they would be back

BLOG

%

AVAILABLE BUT INACTIVE

THE BLOG

BREAK-UP POST

BLOG

DEAR JOHN …

A Comparison of Communication

and Preservation Perceptions and

Practices between Blogging

LIS Scholar-Practitioners and

LIS Scholar-Researchers

THE BIBLIOBLOGOSPHERE

Awarded 2012 OCLC/ALISE LIS Research Grant

(Co-PI: Dr. Cassidy Sugimoto, Indiana-Bloomington)

THANK YOU CAROLYN HANK

Email: carolyn.hank@mcgill.ca

Phone: (001)514.398.4684

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/carolynhank/

Slideshow:

QUESTIONS?