Faculty member publishes book on global blogging Thursday, January 19, 2012
School of Communication faculty member Tatyana Dumova has published an edited book (with Richard Fiordo, University of North Dakota), Blogging in the Global Society: Cultural, Political and Geographical Aspects (Information Science Reference, 2012).
The book presents a cross-disciplinary analysis of the diverse factors affecting blogging practices, traces the diffusion of blogging as a global communication innovation, uncovers particularities and patterns of blog adoption in different cultures and geographical regions, and sheds light on the current trends in the global blogosphere.
At the time when blogging as a medium is going through a transition, Blogging in the Global Society provides a forum for sharing ideas and exchanging views among scholars and professionals. The chapters featured in this collection concentrate on a subject of keen interest to academics, industry practitioners, and citizen bloggers alike. The authors address a pressing demand for knowledge by offering their international expertise and specialization in areas ranging from communication and computer science to law and religion while applying a cornucopia of research methods. By bringing together contributors from academic and professional fields, this volume advances the fast-growing area of knowledge dealing with the theory and practice of blogging across continents.
In the concluding chapter, "Social Interaction Technologies and the Future of Blogging," Dumova surveys the global blogosphere landscape for the latest trends and developments to evaluate the overall direction that blogging might take in the future. Applying evolutionary futures research approach to the global blogging environment, Dumova's chapter seeks to answer the question of what the future holds for blogging. Dumova utilizes the method of environmental scanning drawn from the methodological toolbox of futures studies and critically analyzes statistical data, industry reports, white papers, survey results, and expert reviews along with a wide range of ideas, issues, and perspectives originating from the blogging community.
Dumova concludes that network-based peer production and social media convergence are the major driving forces behind the current transformation of blogs. The participatory and inclusive nature of social interaction technologies makes blogging a medium of choice for disseminating user-driven content and particularly suitable for bottom-up grassroots initiatives, creativity, and innovation. As with every new technology, in blogging humans face the dilemma of maximizing the positive effects and minimizing the potential negative impact. The future of blogging, therefore, depends on whether or not people will be able to overcome the challenges associated with this evolving communication technology and put it to work to fulfill legitimate human needs.
The book has already drawn attention and can be found on the shelves of libraries in different parts of the world, including Bavarian State Library, Vrije University Amsterdam, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Ottawa, Queensland University of Technology, as well as the University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of Chicago, University of Maryland, and other libraries.
References:
Dumova, T., & Fiordo, R. (Eds.). (2012). Blogging in the global society: Cultural, political and geographical aspects. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
Dumova, T. (2012). Social interaction technologies and the future of blogging. In T. Dumova & R. Fiordo (Eds.), Blogging in the global society: Cultural, political and geographical aspects (pp. 249-274). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.