Preface - Blogging in the Global Society: Cultural, Political and Geographical Aspects

Abstract

During the last decade, the Internet and the Web have undergone a remarkable expansion, permeating all aspects of people’s lives and resulting in an unprecedented growth of social interaction technologies. As perhaps the best-known example of social media globally, blogging has experienced outstanding growth, evolving from an online version of old-fashioned personal journaling into a global mass medium. Merging the storytelling and editorial powers of the newsroom, blogging puts publishing and broadcasting into the hands of any individual who is determined to let the world hear his or her voice. Blogs create a personalized, two-way multimedia rich online communication channel. A blog’s ability to effortlessly create mosaics with words, images, video, audio, and animation releases the creative energy of the individual, increases human agency, ignites a personal quest for change, and creates social, political, and economical momentum for societal transformation.

Although blogging has been a subject of many scholarly investigations, there is still a noticeable lack of publications that can provide a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural analysis of the phenomenon on a global scale. Aimed to explore the phenomenon of blogging in the contexts and settings of today’s society, this book delves into the social, cultural, economic, political, and critical dimensions of blogging around the world. Furthermore, this text examines the similarities, distinctions, implications, and specific characteristics of blogs, bloggers, and blogging from various perspectives and viewpoints. The chapters featured in this collection address a subject of keen interest to academics, practitioners, and citizens alike. The authors address a pressing demand for knowledge by offering their international expertise and specialization in areas ranging from communication and computer science to law and religion while applying a cornucopia of research methods. By bringing together contributors from academic and professional fields, this volume advances the fast-growing area of knowledge dealing with the theory and practice of blogging across continents.

Keywords: blogs, blogging, social media, social interaction technologies, culture

JEL Classification: O30, O31