Qualitative Researchers in the Blogosphere: Using Blogs as Diaries and Data

The Internet has long provided qualitative researchers with a means to communicate with colleagues from around the world, a source to access information and resources, and a rich environment within which to collect data and conduct research. Even if you were the only qualitative researcher in your university or company you could connect with like-minded colleagues through pioneering email lists like the University of Georgia's QUALRS-L (http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=qualrs-l&A=1) and the Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQAS) Networking Project's Qualsoftware (http://caqdas .soc.surrey. ac.uk/qual software .htm) to share ideas and seek guidance. Weblogs or blogs, a more recent addition to the array of web-based options, also appear to be offering many qualitative researchers some new and innovative ways to collaborate, communicate, and community-build. A Quick Introduction to Blogs Weblogs or blogs for short can be personal diaries shared by individuals giving us as readers a sometimes voyeuristic view into the lives and minds of these virtual authors. "At their core, weblogs are pages consisting of several posts or distinct chunks of information per page, usually arranged in reverse chronological order from the most recent post at the top of the page to the oldest post at the bottom" (Bausch, Haughey, & Hourihan, 2002, p. 7). In these posts the authors or bloggers share personal stories, links to online resources, and sometimes re-post the messages of other bloggers. Postings on popular blogs receive many follow-up rejoinders by readers who share their opinions on the bloggers' opinions. Blog postings may also be tagged by readers and sent to social bookmarking sites like Digg (http://digg.com/) where new readers can find and rate the posting. Specialized blogging search engines such as Technorati (http://technorati.com/) can also help readers find interesting bloggers, blogs, and blog postings. The ability for readers to find and promote weblogs makes the practice of blogging appealing for parties wanting to market their products and services. Many blogs are connected with businesses and provide opportunities for the bloggers to promote their professional brands and to increase awareness of their companies and missions. Their readers actually help the bloggers and their associated companies' marketing efforts by sharing and distributing the blog messages within personal networks and connections on social networking sites as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) and LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/). This practice of sharing and connecting of both people and information in a peer-to-peer collaborative spirit via the Internet is commonly called Web 2.0 (Tapscott & Williams, 2008). On a personal level bloggers not connected to a particular company can also extend their idiosyncratic brand out into the "blogosphere" through their particular choices of content focus, word styling, emotional timber, and media enhancements. This regular sharing of personal insights and observations is not an easy undertaking and the commitment of solo bloggers to sustain their blogs for years is quite remarkable given what appears to be a high rate of "blog mortality" or "blog stagnation" with many sites. Qualitative Research and Blogging The popularity and the potential of blogging have made it attractive to qualitative researchers in a number of ways. For some it is a way to share their particular view on the qualitative family of methods and their applications. For others it has been a choice to help market and promote their qualitative research services and products. For still others blogging has been a way to help their students to share their progress in becoming competent qualitative researchers. Lastly, blogging has been both a subject of qualitative researchers' studies and a means for investigators to connect with research subjects and generate data for analysis. …