Blogging through conflict: Sojourners in the age of social media

Ban Al-Ani, Gloria Mark, Bryan Semaan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Social media enables the creation of online communities across physical boundaries. Blogs, or weblogs, enable bloggers to interact with a range of followers. We sought to conduct a qualitative study of the nature of the interactions that emerge in a blog community whose members are experiencing the impacts of ongoing conflict. We chose the Iraqi blogging community as a case study and focused on investigating the role of intercultural interactions in shaping people's experiences during conflict. We found that intercultural interactions aided people by providing support, finding commonality, building a knowledge base, and in giving advice on restoring infrastructure. The intercultural interactions provided alternative views of an event constructed from diverse cultural perspectives. We found that the intercultural interactions we observed suggest a degree of intercultural competency within the blogosphere.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 3rd ACM International Conference on Intercultural Collaboration, ICIC '10
Pages29-38
Number of pages10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes
Event3rd ACM International Conference on Intercultural Collaboration, ICIC '10 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: Aug 19 2010Aug 20 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 3rd ACM International Conference on Intercultural Collaboration, ICIC '10

Other

Other3rd ACM International Conference on Intercultural Collaboration, ICIC '10
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityCopenhagen
Period8/19/108/20/10

Keywords

  • Blogs
  • Disrupted environment
  • Intercultural
  • Qualitative study
  • Social media

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Blogging through conflict: Sojourners in the age of social media'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this