Abstract

LIU, Jianxin. Mediating the voice of personal blogging: an analysis of Chinese A-list personal blogs. OBS* [online]. 2014, vol.8, n.1, pp.121-143. ISSN 1646-5954.

Voice reveals stance, position and other evaluative aspects of texts. In spite of its major role in establishing blogs’ recognition and participation in the social networking space, voice has not received adequate attention in online communication research. This paper attempts to explore the voice of blogs through examining personal blogs. Data were collected from three A-list Chinese personal blogs hosted on top blog service providers in China. Drawing upon appraisal analysis, this study examined the voice of personal blogs through analysing the written texts and images of the blogs. The findings revealed that personal blog authors employed different resources in constructing individualized voices. These were constrained by various factors such as gendered projections, audiences, and culturally specific rhetoric. The paper concludes with a suggestion that further research in exploring voice representations in blogs, however heterogeneous, needs to consider technological and semiotic resources, genre features, and sociocultural and institutional conditions.

Keywords : blogging; performative; evaluative; stance; attitude; voice.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )