Presentation by Mark-Shane Scale and Anabel Quan-Haase (University of Western Ontario) at #Influence12 – Symposium & Workshop on Measuring Influence on Social Media Sep. 28-29 at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

1. Categorizing blogs as
information sources:
Mark-Shane Scale Anabel Quan-Haase
Faculty of Information & Media SocioDigital.info Lab
Studies Faculty of Information & Media
The University of Western Ontario Studies
1151 Richmond Street The University of Western Ontario
London, ON, CA N6A 5B7 1151 Richmond Street
mscale2@uwo.ca London, ON, CA N6A 5B7
aquan@uwo.ca 1

2. Topic outline
1. Why study this topic?
2. Definition and typologies of information sources
3. Definitions of Blogs
4. Blogs as information sources
5. Conclusions
6. References
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3. Why study this topic?
Information needs and use research generally study
the characteristics of information sources used in
every day life and for work purposes.
 Blogs are globally important for work and everyday
life
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4. Observation of the global
importance of blogs for work and
everyday life
Information sources
for mainstream Journalist continuously use blogs
journalism to discover what is
newsworthy, what will attract
public interest, experts on
issues, fact checking of their
reports, feedback on their work
and sources of news for further
investigation.
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5. Observation of the global
importance of blogs for work and
everyday life
Alternative news Blogs focus on the
sources & personal individual and ordinary
experience person’s
experience, providing an
Zhuo, Wellman, and Yu, 2011
alternative reporting of
who policies affect and
Through social media
how these policies affect
one can broadcast and daily life.
access personal (Bailey, Cammaerts &Carpentier
experiences worldwide 2008)
and alternative news
sources
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6. Observation of the global
importance of blogs for work and
everyday life
Sources of Public
opinion
information sources for
foreign policy
experts/analysts
(Drezner and Farrell, 2005)
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7. Observation of the global
importance of blogs for work and
everyday life
Blogs keep users up to
Current Awareness date on subjects of
Reitz (2004) interest (Clyde, 2004).
‘content of a
document or source “The best weblogs are
reflects the existing authoritative sources of
state of knowledge current information and
about the subject’ opinion related to their
topic.”
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8. Observation of the global
importance of blogs for work and
everyday life Company information
about products and
Business information services offered by
Reitz (2004) company
(Vaughan, Tang, & Du, 2010;
Kline, Burstein, De Keijzer &
‘specialized Berger, 2005)
information
needs of persons Customer opinions and
engaged in views
business’
(Gorry & Westbrook, 2011)
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9. In summary, for work & everyday
life, blogs provide the following
information:
Primary &
secondary Referrals to
sources sources
(channels) as
well as are Company/institutional
sources information versus
personal and other life
writing genres of
information
News &
current
awareness
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10. Where do blogs fit in existing/
official information typologies?
Blogs and other social media do not
neatly fit into existing categories of
information sources.
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11. Official definition of an
information source
book document
database
person
That provides information
(Stevenson & Collin, 2006)
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12. Combined typologies of
information sources
Based on Leckie, Pettigrew and Sylvain’s (1996)
and Hertzum, Andersen, Andersen and Hansen
(2002)
People
(conversation, interviews
meetings etc.)
Document
(written, electronic or printed text)
Personal
(own knowledge gained
from experience & practice)
Virtual
(Avatars or virtual agents)
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13. Combined typologies of
information sources
including 2 new categories of events and visits, expanding documents to include registers based on Byström (2005) and
changing personal source to experience 13

14. Blogs defined
Agreed properties
Webpages or websites
Briefly & regularly updated
Content chronologically arranged
Dynamic & constantly evolving
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15. Blogs defined
Disputed
 Genre of communication or medium
 Typologies of blogs that exist
 Metaphors for blogs, such as:
o Citizen journalism?
o Personal websites?
o Online diaries?
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16. Blogs incorporate documents
Maxwell (2008) states that blogs:
“are repositories of PDF scans of useful tidbits
of legal information that either are not offered
through the conventional legal publishing
channels or are offered by the blog at no
charge.”
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17. Blogs as people sources
 According to Zhuo, Wellman, and Yu (2011):
social media in general amplifies the
traditional word of mouth exchange of
information while disseminating information
to a broader audience outside of
friends, family and one's personal network.
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18. Blogs as personal sources
 In Pew Internet Research survey on Bloggers by
Amanda Lenhart and Susannah Fox (2006, July
19), it is found that:
“most bloggers are primarily interested in
creative, personal expression – documenting
individual experiences, sharing practical
knowledge, or just keeping in touch with
friends and family.”
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2006/Bloggers.aspx
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19. In summary, blogs incorporate
multiple information sources
Document sources
 Organisations and agencies posting or sharing
documents on blogs
People sources
 Sources of conversation
Personal sources
 Personal reflection on events & knowledge sharing
stories
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20. New framework for studying how
blogs function as information
sources
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21. Begin with broader definition
of an information source
Anything that a person
turns to in order to
properly answer a
question.
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22. Proposed classification of
information available on blogs
Nonfiction Mixed Fiction
 News & current  Entertainment news  Literary works based
awareness or events (Celebrity gossip etc.) on reality
 Alternatives to news  Personal
 Fantasy
 Life writing genre
 Documents
 Company/organisational
/institutional storytelling
Based on Based on
investigation with imagination, creative
Based on subjective
the aim of being commentary of or
opinion, interpretati
objective reimagining reality
on, personal
experience, observati
on or memory
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23. Questions, comments, criticis
ms?
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24. References
Bailey, O. G. (2008). Blogs in the second Iraqi war: Alternative media challenging the
mainstream?” In O. G. Bailey, B. Cammaerts & N. Carpentier. Understanding Alternative Media.(
pp.72- 83). New York: Open University Press.
boyd, d. (2006). A Blogger’s blog: Exploring the definition of a medium. Reconstruction, 6(4)
Retrieved from http://reconstruction.eserver.org/064/boyd.shtml
Clyde, L. (2004a). Weblogs and libraries. Oxford: Chandos.
Clyde , L. (2004b). Weblogs – are you serious? The Electronic Library, 22 (5), 390-392 . doi
10.1108/02640470410561893
Dean, J. (2010). Blog theory: Feedback and capture in the circuits of drive. Cambridge;
Malden, MA: Polity.
Drezner, D. W. & Farrell, H. (2005). Web of influence. In D. Kline, D. Burstein, A.J. Keijzer. &
P.Berger. (Eds.). Blog! How the newest media revolution is changing politics, business, and culture.
(pp 83-97). New York: CDS Books in association with Squibnocket Partners LLC.
Garden, M. (2012). Defining blog: A fool’s errand or a necessary undertaking.
Journalism, 13(4), 483-499. doi:10.1177/1464884911421700
Herring, S. C., Scheidt, L. A., Bonus, S., & Wright, E. (2004). "Bridging the gap: A genre analysis of
weblogs. Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
(HICSS'04) - Track 4, 2004,
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25. References
Hertzum, M., Andersen, H. H. K., Andersen, V., & Hansen, C. B. (2002). Trust in information sources: Seeking
information from people, documents, and virtual agents. Interacting with Computers, 14(5), 575-599.
doi:10.1016/S0953-5438(02)00023-1
Kline, D., Burstein, D., De Keijzer, A. J., & Berger, P. (2005). Blog! :How the newest media revolution is changing
politics, business, and culture. New York: CDS Books in association with Squibnocket Partners LLC.
Leckie, G. J., Pettigrew, K. E., & Sylvain, C. (1996). Modeling the information seeking of professionals: A general
model derived from research on engineers, health care professionals, and lawyers. The Library
Quarterly, 66(2), 161-193. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4309109
Lenhart, A., & Fox, S. (2006). Bloggers: A portrait of the internet’s new storytellers. Pew Internet & American Life
Project. Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2006/PIP%20Bloggers%20Report%20July%2019%202006.
pdf.pdf
Maxwell, R. (2008). Flash and substance: Blogs as alternative sources of legal information. The CRIVSheet, The
Newsletter of American Association of Law Libraries [AALL] ‘s Committee on Relations with Information
Vendors, 30 (2), 9-10. Retrieved 8/17/2012, from http://www.aallnet.org/main-
menu/Publications/spectrum/Archives/Vol-12/pub_sp0802/pub-sp0802-criv.pdf
Stevenson, J. & Collin, P. H. (2006). Dictionary of information and library management (2nd ed.). London: A & C
Black.
Vaughan, L., Tang, J., & Du, J. (2010). Constructing business profiles based on keyword patterns on web sites.
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61(6), 1120-1129. doi:
10.1002/asi.21321
Zhuo, X., Wellman, B., & Yu, J. (2011). Egypt: The first Internet revolt? Peace Magazine, 27(3), 6-10. Retrieved
from http://peacemagazine.org/archive/v27n3p06.htm
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