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A blog webring is a self-organized online network that bloggers can join based on its thematic description. Drawing upon the theory of homophily in interpersonal communication, this paper examines webring themes and explores how they may be related to the salient characteristics in human identity to which people pay more attention in online communication. Research results suggest that blogs in a webring with a mixed theme or a theme based on acquired status are associated with a higher level of conversationality, with more embedded webring-bounded hyperlinks and more member comments. Bloggers from webrings of these two types of themes reportedly have a closer social relationship with other members. They are also more positive about the likelihood of getting social support from within their webrings. In general, people are not constrained by the limited interactivity offered by blogs; many of them employ not only other online, but also offline means of communication for interactions. As webring members, people believe that much more social support is available than they originally anticipated, and the specific types of social support that are perceived to be available are not determined by how easily they may be delivered online. This study overall supports the view that meaningful social relationships are developed and maintained on the Internet, which is essentially an extension of people’s daily lives. It also underscores the necessity that contextual specificity be privileged in future research on people’s online communication. / text

This research addressed the challenges faced by women in today's society during the transition to motherhood, and explored the possible benefits of an online natural helping network of blogging peers. Given the content of the literature describing the transition to motherhood and the many hardships that pose possible obstacles for an ideal transition, this research attempted to uncover the reasons why mothers blog and what benefit, if any, they experience as a result of blogging. This study explored the following questions: Why do women blog during the transition to motherhood? What is the relationship among the seven identified variables: blogging intensity, authentic self-disclosure, perceived general social support, perceived social support from blogging, current depression, stress, and parenting competence? This dissertation employed a cross-sectional research design using a web-based survey. The data were trimmed to limit the participants to residents/citizens of the United States and mothers of preschool aged (0-5) children who lived with them four or more days per week. The data were further limited to include only those participants (N = 501) who completed the survey in its entirety. New mothers experienced benefits as a result of their authentic participation in blogging and reported key reasons that they participated including: to share their experiences with others, to preserve their memories, to interact with a like-minded audience, and to feel understood. There were significant positive correlations between authentic self-disclosure and perceived social support, and sense of parenting competency, and a negative relationship between authentic self-disclosure and maternal depression and perceived stress. Multiple regression analysis indicated that social support was the strongest predictor of current depression. Social support was also a predictor of stress and of perceived parenting competence. Additionally, social support significantly predicted authentic self-disclosure. With a growing reliance on technology and social media, social work has an obligation to identify and utilize the beneficial aspects of this medium.

This thesis explores the contemporary genre of popular digital photography, with a specific look at photographs taken in/of Iran. It focuses on the contemporary practice of 'photoblogging' or photography-based weblogging. Photoblogs are the result of the daily posting of digital photographs concerning everyday life in Iran on personal blogs specifically dedicated to photography. The title of the thesis, Camera Iranica, refers to the subject and scope of the study, as well as to its digital-ethnographic field site. I demarcate this as a conceptual and transnational cultural field, encompassing the multitude of places and spaces, on- and offline in which Iranians across the world engage in the practice of producing and viewing popular digital photography. Iranian photoblogs are shown to operate in a manner contingent upon a particular 'visual legacy' of contested cultural identity politics since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, propagated inside Iran and in 'the West'. The thesis traces the social, economic and political implications of developments in photography and digital technologies in Iran in light of this backdrop, and explores how and why Iranians in Iran and abroad are taking up popular digital photography for visual storytelling projects, with 'Iran' as their visual subject. Based on the study's empirical findings, I extrapolate theoretical arguments concerning historical and cultural understandings of digital photographs shown and seen in online environments, and propose innovative methodological strategies for digital-visual anthropologists to continue work in these fields.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to investigate Afrikaner identity in the Afrikaans blogosphere on the basis of the Afrikaner nasionalist identity that was forged during the twentieth century. The environment within which blogs function and its characteristics are discussed, after which the circumstances that led to the development of Afrikaner identity as well as the current sociopolitical position of Afrikaners are traced. Through quantitative analysis, the Afrikaans blogosphere is compared to this identity to discover too what extent the identity is still remnant in Afrikaans bloggers. It is concluded that Afrikaner nationalism is virtually extinct in the Afrikaans blogosphere and that the plurality of identities hosted by it are fragmented and paradoxical. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om identiteitsvorming in die Afrikaanse blogosfeer te ondersoek aan die hand van die Afrikaner-nasionalistiese identiteitskonstruk van die twintigste eeu. Aandag word geskenk aan die milieu waarbinne blogs funksioneer en hul aard, waarna die omstandighede waaronder Afrikaneridentiteit ontstaan sowel as die huidige sosio-politiese posisie van Afrikaners nagespeur word. Aan die hand van kwantitatiewe ondersoekmetodes word Afrikaanse blogs dan met die voorafgenoemde identiteit vergelyk in 'n poging om agter te kom in watter mate dit nog by Afrikaanse bloggers teenwoordig is. Die gevolgtrekking word gemaak dat Afrikaner-nasionalisme bykans afwesig is in die Afrikaanse blogosfeer en dat die pluraliteit van identiteite daarop gefragmenteerd en paradoksaal daar uitsien.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Journalism) -- Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / Explores the themes derived from the six tenets of the hacker ethic in blog posts about the Gautrain project over a one-year period. It also describes how citizen journalists express the six tenets of the hacker ethic when blogging about the Gautrain project.