The Blog and the Blogoshpere

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the new media phenomenon of blogs, which is a log or journal recording an individual's thoughts and opinions that is published on the Internet through hosting sites, and the blogosphere, which is the totality of blogs linked to each through hypertext, as a disseminator of information and as a new medium for social organization. The author concludes that the future of the blogosphere will likely be as a complementary information medium to traditional hierarchical media models given that it better harnesses the ideas of a collective than can institutionalized public broadcast media. The paper projects that, when blog hosting companies are purchased by larger media corporations, their bloggers will likely find greater restrictions placed upon their speech, similar to the blogosphere in the People's Republic of China.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Blogs and the Blogosphere: A Brief Description
Theorizing Blogs and the Blogosphere
The Blogosphere and Corporate Power
Conclusion: The Future of the Blogosphere

From the Paper:

"As we have seen, a theoretical and historical analysis of new media technologies, such as the blogosphere, suggests that these revolutionary new media can only be fully understood within the broader frame of their social and political context. Applying this theoretical insight to the medium of the blogosphere reveals complex dynamic tensions within the blogosphere between populist expression and corporate power. These tensions reflect both the importance of this new medium from the perspective of major transnational corporations, as well as their interest in co-opting or assimilating its populist power to meet corporate agendas."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Armstrong, Stephen. "Bloggers for Hire." New Statesman. August 26, 2006, 26-27.
• Caldwell, John Thorton. "Introduction: Theorizing the Digital Landrush." In Electronic Media and Technoculture, ed. John Thorton Caldwell, 1-34. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2000.
• Einhorn, Bruce. "Mad as Hell in China's Blogosphere." Business Week. 3997. August 26, 2006, 39.
• Foley, John. "Are you Blogging Yet?" Information Week. July 22, 2002. Accessed: December 5, 2006. http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020719S0001/1
• Franklin, Ursula. The Real World of Technology: Revised Edition. Toronto: Anansi Press, 1999.

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