Vital Habits: Community Weblogs in Action

Lou RutiglianoPhD Student

UT-Austin School of Journalism

Spectators or Participants?Walter Lippmann-Public Affairs Too Complex for Public-Experts Must Analyze it For Citizens

John Dewey-Passive Audience = Weak Democracy-Role of Press to Provide Public Forum

Dewey’s Descendents: Community Weblogs

Seek Broad Public ParticipationEncourage Conversation and InteractionGive Audience Active RoleCitizen-Driven not Institution-Driven

Four Factors to Monitor• Contributors• Interactivity• Relationship to Institutions• Level of Control

Community Weblog EvaluationLecture Conversation

Contributors Few Many

Interactivity Low High

Institutions High Presence Low Presence

Control High Low

Case Study: UnknownCity.com

Event Coverage:Unofficial SXSW

-high member interest-little information available-informal-varied, unpredictable

Results: 1) Self-Generated Coverage

Results:2) Members Build on Posts

Results:3) Offline & Online Interaction

Results:4) Central Control Critical

Conclusions-Untraditional content for an untraditional

medium-Overlap between online and offline worlds-Media as service rather than product-Centralization: a self-fulfilling prophecy