The corporate blog as an emerging genre of computer ... - Oapen

A classification of blogs following Herring 35
S7 Norms Varied Implicit norms of
social conduct,
language, confidentiality;
Codified in
blogging policies (see
chapter 3)
S8 Code Varied Following patterns
found in private
blogs; avoidance of
jargon (see chapter
3)
Table 2.2: Situation factors of blogs following Herring (2007)
S1: Participation structure
Blogs can be understood as manifesting two separate participation structures,
one that applies to the single blog, its author and readership, and another that
applies to the blogosphere (the “world of blogs”) as a (virtual) whole.
From the perspective of the individual blogger, the communicative process
of blog writing and reading is 1-to-N communication and not unlike broadcasting
or mass publishing in pre-digital contexts. While readers can interact with
the blogger by posting comments (when permitted), these may be moderated
and (at least in theory) even edited by the blogger. The blogger controls the
discourse structure to the extent that all messages found in his blog must be assumed
to be endorsed by him, whether he is the author or (merely) the publisher
of a contribution. 9 A blog is therefore a self-directed discourse environment: it
may contain contributions from different speakers, but both his own contributions
and those made by others can be assumed to follow his communicative
intent, something that is markedly different in face-to-face conversation (see
section 2.10). The distribution of power between blogger and readership is also
asymmetrical. The blogger’s contributions occupy a privileged space (see figure
2.9) and are required, while the comments are shown below blog posts and are
optional (meaning that where they are allowed they are not required for the
blog to be considered operational). In a July 2006 report on blogging by the
Pew Internet & American Life Project, 87% of the bloggers interviewed said
they allowed comments (Lenhart and Fox, 2006).
At the same time, the blogosphere on a global level is conceptualized as
an open, fundamentally democratic discourse environment, where anyone can
voice their opinion. 10 While the relationship between blogger and reader can
be described as asymmetrical as long as the reader is restricted to the role of
commentator, it becomes symmetrical at once if the reader himself assumes the
role of blogger. Though differences in popularity between individual blogs are
stark, this is the result of non-technical differences – at least initially, all blogs are
created equal. Their availability to anyone with a computer, Internet connection
and a minimal time investment makes them accessible to potentially anyone.
9 This is also reflected in the legal status of website content. The site owner is generally
held responsible for all messages appearing on his site, even if they are not his own.
10 ”A new medium for civic engagement” is the expression used by Kerbel and Bloom (2005,
p. 3), who see political blogs as a new way of participating in politics.