Blog Authors and Readers Survey Presentation--Please Review, Respond, and Reuse

Many thanks to everyone who responded to my recent surveys about health sciences librarian blogs--both authors and readers.   I reported the results on Friday, and the presentation generated a fascinating question about the potential of blogs as vehicles for serious scholarship.  Hopefully I've effectively conveyed my opinion on this issue in my previous post.

Some interesting results: most people saw no difference between blogs and email lists as a source of information; hospital librarians are less likely to attempt to act on what they read in blogs than academic librarians (of course, "act" could be defined much more rigorously); and blog authors value the potential of blogs to stimulate discussion more than readers--readers generally look to the blogs as a source of news. Another thread that emerged in my research (not from the surveys per se) is of the potential of blogs to become a new source of professional networking and community.

All of this is very preliminary data. Hopefully one of my loyal readers is willing  to take the next step of examining these issues more rigorously! I certainly maintain my interest...

Please view the full presentation slides on Slideshare, and fellow bloggers are most welcome to quote from any part of the presentation in their own writings. 

[A Slideshare viewing tip: To see the presentation on your entire computer screen, click the "Full" icon at the bottom right corner of the presentation.]

Comments

[Jane]

Interesting the disconnect between authors and readers. If the point of a blog is to disseminate the news, then a few key bloggers can fill the entire need - ie, we can all stop blogging and just read David Rothman. I think the blog as news service paradigm explains why so many readers still prefer email lists.

In any case, well done and very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[Pam]

Marcus, I saw your MLA regional presentation. An audience member said something about blogs and tenure - here is some info from Walt Crawford on that very subject.
And here is the post from Walt Crawford on Blogs vs publishing some other way.
http://citesandinsights.info/v7i9a.htm