Blogging the blog study

Well,
half the semester is over, and it will be spring break in just one
week. That means I’m coming toward the first presentation of my
blogging study at an intercampus communication conference down at the
University of Illinois, Urbana. I’m doing in person interviews with
college student bloggers. I’ve completed 10 with undergraduates who
volunteered, and 3 with other graduate students in my department. After
the IRB approval came through, a little less than a month ago, I’ve
been swamped with recruiting and scheduling and the actual interviews.
Now I am just about to take some time to catch my breath and look back
at what I’ve got. The main thing I’m after is why people do it. No
matter the content, the basic feature of a blog is that you have to
update it, otherwise your blog is abandoned and you are not a blogger.
That makes motivation a key question in my mind. I’ll continue posting
as the project evolves.