Blogging through conflict: sojourners in the age of social media

Authors:
Ban Al-Ani;Gloria Mark;Bryan Semaan
Affiliations:
Department of Informatics Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA;Department of Informatics Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA;Department of Informatics Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Intercultural collaboration
Year:
2010

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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.