Weblogs in Higher Education - Why Do Students (Not) Blog?

Positive impacts on learning through blogging, such as active knowledge construction and reflective writing, have been reported. However, not many students use weblogs in informal contexts, even when appropriate facilities are offered by their universities. While motivations for blogging have been subject to empirical studies, little research has addressed the issue of why students choose not to blog. This paper presents an empirical study undertaken to gain insights into the decision making process of students when deciding whether to keep a blog or not. A better understanding of students' motivations for (not) blogging may help decision makers at universities in the process of selecting, introducing, and maintaining similar services. As informal learning gains increased recognition, results of this study can help to advance appropriate designs of informal learning contexts in Higher Education. The method of ethnographic decision tree modelling was applied in an empirical study conducted at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria. Since 2004, the university has been offering free weblog accounts for all students and staff members upon entering school, not bound to any course or exam. Qualitative, open interviews were held with 3 active bloggers, 3 former bloggers, and 3 non‑ bloggers to elicit their decision criteria. Decision tree models were developed out of the interviews. It turned out that the modelling worked best when splitting the decision process into two parts: one model representing decisions on whether to start a weblog at all, and a second model representing criteria on whether to continue with a weblog once it was set up. The models were tested for their validity through questionnaires developed out of the decision tree models. 30 questionnaires have been distributed to bloggers, former bloggers and non‑ bloggers. Results show that the main reasons for students not to keep a weblog include a preference for direct (online) communication, and concerns about the loss of privacy through blogging. Furthermore, the results indicate that intrinsic motivation factors keep students blogging, whereas stopping a weblog is mostly attributable to external factors

Impacts of Blogging Motivation and Flow on Blogging Behavior

With the development of free and easy-to-use software programs, blogging has helped turn Web consumers into Web content providers. Blogging provides distinctive insight into comprehending e-consumer behavior explicitly with respect to social networking and information searching behaviors while facilitating a state of flow. The objectives of this study are to identify determinant dimensions of blogging motivations and flow, and to investigate the hypothesized relationships of the motivational blogging behavior. Analyzing data (n = 432) from a southwestern university, results reveal the critical dimensions of motivations, behaviors, and flow in blogging. Upon extending Hoffman and Novak's (1996) flow model, 14 out of 26 hypotheses were confirmed regarding the significant impacts of blogging motivations and flow on blogging behaviors. The findings revealed that the desire for information, enjoyment, and loyalty are the primary drivers for experiential blogging behavior. Specifically, information-seeking is the decisive motivation to urge experiential and e-shopping behavior concurrently. This study shows that indulgence and telepresence in flow might play pivotal mediating roles to promote the goal-oriented e-shopping behavior resulting enjoyment and loyalty-seeking motivations

All the Science That Is Fit to Blog: An Analysis of Science Blogging Practices

This dissertation examines science blogging practices, including motivations, routines and content decision rules, across a wide range of science bloggers. Previous research has largely failed to investigate science blogging practices from science bloggers’ perspective or to establish a sociological framework for understanding how science bloggers decide what to blog about. I address this gap in previous research by conducting qualitative in-depth interviews with 50 science bloggers and an extensive survey of blogging motivations, approaches, content decisions rules, values and editorial constraints for over 600 active science bloggers. Results reveal that science blog content is shaped heavily by not only individual factors including personal interest, but also a variety of social forces at levels of routines, organizations or blogging communities, and social institutions. Factors revealed herein to shape science blog content are placed into a sociological framework, an adapted version of Shoemaker and Reese’s Hierarchical Model of Influences, in order to guide current and future research on the sociology of science blogging. Shoemaker and Reese’s Hierarchical Model of Influences is a model of the factors that influence mass media content, which has been used previously by mass communication researchers to guide analysis of mass media content production. In the visual model, concentric circles represent relative hierarchical levels of influences on media content, starting an individuals and expanding out to routines, organizations, extra-media influences and ideology. I adapt this model based on the factors found herein to influence science blog content, such as bloggers’ individual motivations, editorial constraints and access to information sources

Why do People Blog: A Q Analysis of Perceptions for Blogging

The purpose of this article is to understand user perceptions of new media formats, in this case blogging. While much of the blog research identifies blogging in terms of blog types, this research identifies user perceptions of why they like to blog. By applying Q-methodology to the blogging process, this research asked bloggers to rank subjective statements of blogging. Factor analyses were then applied to the rankings, which provided three main user factors (perspectives) of blogging motivations: Memorians, Bonders, and Soap Boxers. These perspectives provide an alternative to traditional views of social media use and categories of subjective media experience

Speaking the same language?

While blogging as a form of computer-mediated communication has attracted a growing amount of academic investigation in recent years, the majority of such research has so far focused on the North American experience. 120 UK and US bloggers (equal numbers of men and women) were surveyed about their approaches to blogging, including blogging techniques, habits, motivations and rewards. At the same time, data was collected directly from respondents blogs and by means of online tools (Technorati, Surfwax and The Truth Laid Bear). In addition, a blog related to the research was established, which gave the researcher first-hand experience of the challenges of blogging and also offered the opportunity for further data collection since the surveyed bloggers were invited to comment on the research as it was ongoing. While there was much that was similar in blogging on both sides of the pond, certain differences between UK and US bloggers were established, in particular relating to their aims in blogging; how the bloggers perceived blogging (for example, whether it was an IT-related product or more related to creative writing); and satisfactions gained from blogging. In addition, this research has highlighted the growth of a financial motivation for blogging. Research into the motivations of journal bloggers has so far focused on more indirect rewards such as influencing public opinion, sharing information with friends and family, and exercising creative skills. However, a large number of respondents, from both countries, indicated that one of their reasons for keeping a blog is the hope that it will generate income. Such financial recompense might come in the form of attracting new clients to an already established small business or new work or publishing opportunities. Bloggers might also be hoping to make money through the sale of advertising on their blogs. A few respondents could even be called professional bloggers, supporting themselves entirely by their blogging. Such a financial motivation was particularly strong amongst women respondents, who may be looking for ways in which to generate income as an alternative to full-time employment outside the home. This paper is based on research conducted between September 2006 and May 2007 and supported by a research leave award from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Blogging about Family Building (Infertility, Pregnancy Loss, Adoption, Pregnancy, Trying to Conceive): Content and Blogging Motivations

To better understand the content and process of family building blogging, two interrelated studies took place. First, blogs with posts during a designated week were analyzed for content. Then, hosts of active blogs were invited to complete a survey on their blog content and reasons for blogging. Results of both content analysis and survey indicated a variety of content appearing in such blogs, with children, pregnancy, attempts to conceive, and negative emotional experiences related to those emerging as popular topics. To identify motivations for blogging about such content, a principal components analysis (PCA) suggested seven different blogging motivations: gaining attention, benefitting others, becoming a career blogger, entertaining others, documenting life events, self-expression, and forming an online social support network. To further explore blogging motivations, subgroups of bloggers (those having experienced infertility, those having experienced pregnancy loss, and those already parenting) were compared on their ratings of the seven blogging motivations with multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). While results mostly supported consistency across subgroups in motivations, there was a significant effect for infertility experience on ratings for educating others and self-expression. This investigation represents the first known attempt to capture what information is included in the growing subgenre of family building blogs and what reasons inspire bloggers to create and maintain them

Readers' use of news blogs.

Appearing at the end of the 1990s, the phenomenon of ‘blogging’ or weblogging is now attracting serious academic research. However, the majority of this research has so far focussed on the ‘bloggers’ themselves – who they are; their motivations for blogging and their relationship with the mainstream media. Limited research has been undertaken on the readers of blogs. Why are readers drawn to accessing the opinions and thoughts of mostly non-professional writers, many of whom are happy to admit to a lack of objectivity and having an axe to grind? In particular, why do people read blogs which focus on current affairs and news, and is their reading of such news blogs in addition to the electronic offerings of the mainstream media, or a substitute? This paper reports on the results of an investigation undertaken in spring 2006 into the readers of ‘news’ blogs

Why blog? (then and now): Exploring the motivations for blogging by popular American political bloggers

Abstract Despite the impact that influential American political bloggers have had on public policies and the mainstream media agenda in recent years, very little research is currently available on the most widely read political bloggers. Through a survey of 66 top American political bloggers, the present study examines this elite group by analyzing their initial and current motivations for blogging as well as their online and offline behaviors. The findings demonstrate that nearly all motivations for blogging have increased over time, with the most substantial increases occurring in extrinsic motivations. The results also reveal a significant association between extrinsic motivations and blogger online and offline political participation. This study demonstrates that future research on political blogs needs to look beyond blog readers and blog content and investigate the influential political bloggers themselves. Keywords bloggers, extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, political blogs, political participation In the past several years, political bloggers have played a significant role in the development of the American mainstream news agenda and Washington politics. For example, By now, many of the country's most influential bloggers have been blogging about political topics and current events for years. Some of them have been concentrating on political issues from the very beginning, such as Markos Moulitsas, who made it clear on his first Daily Kos post, 'I am liberal. I make no apologies Yet despite the intriguing emergence of bloggers into legitimate political circles and their apparent influence on American media and public policies, very little research on the most widely read political bloggers is currently available. While there is a growing body of research focused on political blog content Political Blogs and Their Bloggers Although blogs have received a considerable amount of attention recently, there is no clear consensus among scholars, media professionals and blog users about the definition of the word 'blog' 3 found that when blog readers describe blogs, they emphasize the interactional attributes rather than any structural features. These authors argue that it is 'more useful and informative to consider blogs not in terms of academic definitions, but rather in the terms of those involved in the activity of blogging The presence and popularity of blogs, which have been around since the early days of the world wide web, grew exponentially after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks as writers sought new outlets to express their feelings about the uncertain times and readers searched for information unavailable in the mainstream media (Blood, 2002; Unlike traditional news, most political bloggers do not subscribe to journalistic norms of objectivity; rather, their writings tend to be grounded in strong ideological assumptions Political Blogger Motivations and Behaviors The content of a blog depends heavily on the intentions of its author or authors, with some blogs serving as news aggregators, some as more personal diaries and others as political soapboxes. As boyd (2006: 3) points out in arguing that blogs should be reconceptualized as a medium rather than a genre, blogging encapsulates a 'diverse set of practices that result in the production of diverse content'. Therefore, understanding why political bloggers choose to blog is useful for expanding our understanding of the content found on those blogs. Indeed, while laying out a framework for studying mainstream media effects, Scheufele (1999) argues for the importance of analyzing why journalists adopt certain frames rather than limiting our focus to frames themselves. Similarly, Carragee and Roefs Cognitive psychologists assert that an individual's behavior is influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations Several recent studies have begun to examine the question of why bloggers blog. While these studies focused on bloggers generally, it is important to distinguish between those who blog about personal, social and cultural topics and those who concentrate on political issues, as their motivations may differ. In his study of non-'A-list' political bloggers, Wallsten (2005) found these bloggers were primarily driven by two motivations: (1) a desire for self-expression on political issues (i.e. a form of political expression) and (2) a desire to influence the distribution of social goods and social values (i.e. a form of political participation). According to this categorization, political bloggers are driven by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, the former being intrinsic and the latter extrinsic as bloggers are rewarded by perceiving the influence of their content beyond themselves. Therefore, the present study provides an investigation into the motivations for political blogging, whether these motivations change over time and if these motivations impact blogger behavior. Following the work of H1: Extrinsic motivations for blogging will increase over the blogspan. RQ1: Will intrinsic motivations for blogging change over the blogspan? Extending the work of Sampling the Most Widely Read Political Blogs To determine the top blogs, indexing sites employ a number of different methods Measures In the survey, we developed 13 possible blogger motivations based on the previous research (Blood, 2002; Beyond questions concerning motivations, the survey also measured bloggers' online and offline political behavior. In terms of bloggers' offline political behavior, we adopted political participation items widely used in political communication research new media & society XX(X) paper petition, contributed money to a political campaign or cause, worked on a political campaign, contacted elected officials, wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine, volunteered for a social group or cause and attended a protest or rally (M = 4.83, SD = 2.40, α = .86). Their response was recorded on an 11-point scale that ranged from 0 (not at all) to 10 (very frequently). Blogger online behaviors are broadly defined by two behavioral orientations of blogging: social interaction and information search In addition to these quantitative measures, bloggers were also asked the open-ended question, 'Why did you start a blog?' Responses to this question will appear later to provide further contextual information about this study's findings concerning motivations for blogging. Participants were also asked several other questions about party identification, media use and blog content that are beyond the scope of the current study. Results In response to our survey, participants rated the following three items highest for initial blogger motivations: 'to let off steam' (M = 7.00, SD = 2.93), 'to keep track of your thoughts' (M = 6.46, SD = 3.20) and 'to formulate new ideas' (M = 6.44, SD = 3.09). The three lowest initial motivators were 'to influence mainstream media' (M = 3.83, SD = 3.34), 'to help your political party or cause' (M = 4.58, SD = 3.69) and 'to serve as a political watchdog' (M = 4.79, SD = 3.40). As for current motivations for blogging, the three items that most strongly resonated with our respondents were 'to provide an alternative perspective to the mainstream media' (M = 7.87, SD = 2.43), 'to inform people about the most relevant information on topics of interest' (M = 7.61, SD = 2.31) and 'to influence public opinion' (M = 7.27, SD = 2.69). While none of these statements were considered among the top three initial motivations, the three weakest current motivators were very similar to the three lowest initial motivators: 'to influence mainstream media' (M = 5.25, SD = 3.06), 'to critique your political opponents' (M = 5.64, SD = 3.14) and 'to help your political party or cause' (M = 5.81, SD = 3.24). at SAGE Publications on March 20, 2015 nms.sagepub.com Downloaded from Ekdale et al. 9 To test the differences between initial and current levels of motivations for blogging among respondents, we conducted a paired-sample t-test. As shown in In terms of intrinsic motivations, thought process motivations also increased over the blogspan (initial: M = 6.49, SD = 2.69; current: M = 7.04, SD = 2.29; t = 2.02, d.f. = 62, p <.05), although the increase in 'to keep track of your thoughts' is not statistically significant (t = 0.96, d.f. = 60, p > .10). Finally, the catharsis motivation, 'to let off steam', was the only motivation to decrease from initial to current levels at the .1 significance level. The current mean score of 'to let of steam' was 6.57 (SD = 2.76), whereas the initial mean score was 7.00 (SD = 2.93) (t = −1.79, d.f. = 59, p < .1). To assess the relationship between motivations and behaviors, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed. The five demographic and partisanship variables were entered in a first block, followed by a second block consisting of the three types of blogger motivations: extrinsic, articulating ideas and catharsis. The equations of this model were run to make an initial assessment of which kinds of motivations have significant effects on bloggers' political behaviors. Discussion Based on the results of our survey, all motivations for blogging increased over the course of our participants' blogspans except for the motive 'to let off steam'. This finding demonstrates that for the top political bloggers included in our survey the activity of blogging reinforced their motivations for blogging. Overall, these bloggers were more motivated to blog now than when they first started blogging. In particular, the motivation 'to at SAGE Publications on March 20, 2015 nms.sagepub.com Downloaded from 10 new media & society XX (X) provide an alternative perspective to the mainstream media' exhibited the largest increase over time. This demonstrates that relative to when these bloggers first decided to provide their unique point-of-view online, they now saw an increased need to offer their perspective. They became more cognizant of the fact that, outside of traditional news media and day-to-day interactions, the blogosphere provided them with an outlet for disseminating information and expressing political opinions. Indeed, several of the responses to our open-ended motivation question indicate that many bloggers found blogging to be an effective outlet for providing alternative perspectives on political and social issues: I was skeptical of them at first -mostly saw them as vanity projects. Then I saw that they were capable of moving information around the traditional media bottlenecks and decided that it was something I could contribute to. (#33) First, I was frustrated out of my wits with the shallowness, and lack of context, background, and even facts, in political reporting. I started blogging so I could research and provide (for SOMEBODY) the information and context I wasn't seeing in establishment media. (#11

The State of Sustainable Research Software: Results from the Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE5.1)

This article summarizes motivations, organization, and activities of the Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE5.1) held in Manchester, UK in September 2017. The WSSSPE series promotes sustainable research software by positively impacting principles and best practices, careers, learning, and credit. This article discusses the Code of Conduct, idea papers, position papers, experience papers, demos, and lightning talks presented during the workshop. The main part of the article discusses the speed-blogging groups that formed during the meeting, along with the outputs of those sessions