Definitions of weblogs (blogs)
- “a hierarchy of text, images, media objects and data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser” (Harvard dictionary)
- “a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (‘posts’) typically displayed in reverse chronological order” (Wikipedia)
- a journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption; informal; grouped by date ; with links to older posts; informative and/or inspiring; frequently linked to other sites; addictive for bloggers (adapted from Blogger Forum)
- “a meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid pathetic life” (Urban Dictionary)
Previous research:
Susan Herring (Indiana University, 2004)
•Neither fundamentally new, nor unique genre
•Appeared in 1996 as a format, and 1997 as weblog (even 1991)
•A bridge between the multimedia HTML documents and text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC)
•A hybrid genre with multiple sources
•Made possible by free software (Blogger, Wordpress)
•Exponentially increasing in number (from 2.1 millions in 2004 to 181 millions at the end of 2011, our note)
•Classification: 4 main types (personal journals—70%; filters = reviewing other blogs—12%; k-logs= offering information on certain subjects, and mixed)
•Generic features: archives, badges, images, comments, links, calendar, guest book; frequency of posting cca. 5 days; reverse chronological order
Miller & Shepherd (North Carolina Univ.): the social function of blogs = the need to establish relations between selves
Herring & al. (2006): gender and age study of weblogs (women and teenagers are active bloggers)
Laurie McNeill ( Univ. of Michigan, 2005): the journey of the written diary to the new web genre; the community of “netizens”
Jan Schmidt (Bamberg Univ. Germany, 2007) compares the different uses of the blog format
Cornelius Puschmann (Humboldt Univ. of Berlin, 2009) focuses on corporate blogs; in his 2010 published PhD thesis he compares personal and corporate blogs; the “supergenre” of the personal blog; “the genre of the people”; “the blog prototype”
Art blog vs. artist's blog
Art blog vs. artist’s blog: art blogs may be written by other persons than artists (even institutions) and refer to art more or less in general; artist’s blogs are written by artists themselves and refer to art in particular; art,here = visual art
An occupational-type of blog: occupations may include professional activities as well; art may or may not be the profession of the artist, but it certainly is his/her occupation; “professional” blog may suggest that there are other blogs which could be negatively tagged as “unprofessional”
Communicative Purposes:
Keeping up-to-date with the art world (artists as readers and writers of blogs; their audiences)
Keeping in touch with the latest successful practices in own field
Establishing oneself as an expert in the field (with possible professional and market benefits)
Marketing oneself (a cheap way of displaying own art and gaining public)
Advertising oneself (cheaply and efficiently)
Advertising another personal website (dedicated to sales)
Selling own works directly (“buy now” button)
Creating a successful artistic practice = creating art, showing it, telling people about it, interacting with public and fellow artists; blogging as part of the practice
Arousing and maintaining interest in own art and practice (through frequent posts and good content)
Increase visibility in the art world (the networking of blogs, blogrolls, links)
Sharing own experience(s) and techniques
Getting to know oneself better (in-depth writing and thinking)
Recording thoughts, experiences, practices (a kind of personal history)
Communicating with audiences (comments and replies)
Getting feedback (to keep, change, better market own art)
Adding to other writings about art in different media
Macrostructure:
•The software structure is usually maintained with some alterations; web-design graphic artists create their own blog designs
•The titles (not always the same with the URL) tend to contain the artist’s name; sometimes they offer information about the artist (“Belinda Joynes: Artist, imaginarian and daydream believer”, “Kelly Kilmer. Artist and Instructor”), sometimes they try to be as catchy as possible (“The haunted hollow tree”, “adripndrop.blogspot.com: Artsy fartsy life”, “Notes from the Voodoo Café”)
•Most of the blogs are independent; very few are part of other websites, or homepages
•Information about the artists is provided in almost all of the 30 blogs (more or less overtly), mainly through the “About” button (sincerity, authenticity)
•Credentials and assuming some degree of expertise – present in the great majority of the blogs
•Information about the intended content of the blog is offered in more than a half
•The life expanse of the blogs (from 3-5 years to 8-9 years) and the frequency of posting (from once to six-eight times a month) prove that blogging is perceived by their authors as part of their art practice
•All of the typical macro features of the blog are present (reverse chronological order, archives, blogrolls, badges, tags/labels, sharing tools, statistics of visitors) to a great extent, proving that the artist’s blog is a sub-type of the blog prototype
•The intensive use of images (photographs, drawings, sketches) and other visuals (videos) is a particularity of the artist’s blog, very consistent with the nature of art itself
Microstructure:
Headers: title of post (reflecting the work/event) + information about date of post + reverse chronology
Footers: author + exact time of posting + tags + sharing tools + comments ( = a typical blog microfeature, re-creating a conversation type of discourse)
Links: IntraLinks (to own posts) +/- hyperlinks (to other blogs/sites)
Intensive use of images
Texts/words are used to explain the process of creation, the progress of a work, are complementary to images
Artist blog types:
Mixed = journal entries + tutorials + reviews + advertorials + news
Filter = review of exhibitions and other blogs
Other = a “blogazine” (blog + magazine + forum + TV section + newsletter)
Discourse particularities:
Register: none of them was formal; they tend to range from neutral to different degrees of familiarity (consistent with the communicative purposes)
Modes of discourse: all of them, with a prevalence of the narrative mode (personal experience, descriptive narrative of process of creation, of work-in-progress, reporting events); descriptions of the type “recipe-giving”; describing a work of art; expository and argumentative – mainly in the reviewing type of blogs
Discourse strategies: analysing works (describing + interpreting + evaluating), reviewing, recipe-giving, labelling, story-telling, commenting, confessing, reporting, interviewing (taken from journalism), quoting, paraphrasing, aknowledging sources as footnotes (taken from scientific writing), monologuing
Rhetorical devices: metaphors, similes, hyperboles, rhetorical questions, repetitions, colloquialism, humour, (self-) irony, imprecation
Morphological features:
The 1st person pronoun “I”, expressing subjectivity is used to give the feeling of authenticity; in relationship with
The 2nd person pronoun “you”- to re-create an “authentic” speech situation; the reader is part of the whole process of creation, actively involved
Very few cases of the 3rd person pronoun (with self-reference), trying to suggest some detachment and objectivity
Qualifiers are largely used (some less formal superlatives)
Tenses: mainly past (for narratives); present (for descriptions); future (e.g. for plans to develop certain themes, to use a new technique, etc)
Interjections (colloquialism)
Text entries:
A relative small number of paragraphs, coherently sequenced, accompanied by many images
Rather short (some exceptions range from no text at all to very large texts)
Special typing (upper case in some words to stress upon)
Unusual spelling (“little birdie in da house”, “y’all”)
Internet slang /Acronyms (XOXO=hugs and kisses; X=kiss; O = hug; XX = two kisses; LOL = loughing out loud, OMG = oh, my god!; DIY = do-it-yourself)
Repetitions of some letters (“Yiiiiii!”), suggesting some emotional state
Emoticons: J - smiley face; =)) - laugh; L - sad face
for further reference, please follow:
Why should artists blog?
Task1: Answer the above question, after following the link (click on the question).
one more tip: (you need to click)
Deadline: May 10, 2020
TASK 2 : Make your own artist blog, which should also contain your artist statement either as a post, or as a header, or under the About me button. Then, you should have at least three other posts.
This task actually counts as your final exam this year! (or, you may decide to make your own website, coming next!). Obviously, they need to be written in English. You need to access this link, go through the slides, add comments at the last slide.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hqDEk8Up0rlJ7M8TsEkY6fjvtsPvdwWgY9cM7OxZEZM/edit?usp=sharing
DEADLINE: MAY 31, 2020
g work of art, event
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