Did I mention I am taking a Sociology course this semester? Perhaps I complained about how I have to leave home at 5:30 in the morning to get to my class before starting my full work day. Anyways, I am embarking on a paper for that class, and I decided I was interested in looking at home-themed blogs from a sociological stand point. I am most interested in learning about the connections female bloggers have made across the country through this medium, and the social support and passing of ideas that comes from this. So, if you read or write blogs of this nature, I would love to hear from you. I am particularly interested to hear from women who are stay at home moms, work from home, or only work part time, who spend much of their time in the home, and from people in more remote areas who have created a greater network outside their own actual location through these means. But really, I would love to hear from everyone!
I have been so fascinated and impressed in the last year by the strong feeling of community and support observable between the bloggers I have encountered.
I have formulated a pretty simple questionnaire and will be sending them to some of the bloggers I have encountered. These questions are open to all, and the more responses I can get, the better, so I want your help! Anyone who wishes to voice an opinion about their experiences in the home blogging community, friendships you have made, support you have given and received, I would love to hear from you!
If you wish to give me some insight on your experiences, please feel free to comment here or to email me at hannahtaube@gmail.com (as for confidentiality, the only person who will see the answers sent to my email is me, and perhaps my professor, though I will not be using names and specifics, only quotes and trends.) And if you know of other people who may also have something to say, please send them my way!
The formal questions:
first, a bit about you:
Here are my answers as an example, and hey, now you can get to know me a bit.
What part of the country do you live in: New England
Describe your neighborhood/town briefly: I live in an somewhat urban neighborhood with a lot of young families, students, and immigrants, accessibility to public transportation and mostly apartment buildings and multifamily houses set close together
Describe briefly your family- are you married, do you have kids?
I am single with no children. I live separately from my parents and sister, but am lucky to have them nearby
Describe briefly your living situation and work place:
I share an apartment with roommates and work full time at an office
Then, a bit about blogging:
How long have you been reading home themed blogs? Writing one?:
I started reading home themed blogs a little over a year ago to pass the time at work- soon I was addicted. I started a food blog last march, and have in recent months started posting more home decor/organizing themed posts
Do you comment on other home-themed blogs?
I am just starting to- I want to network more and interact with more bloggers, but thus far I haven't done it that much.
Do you have any close friends whose blogs you read? Are they friends you met before blogging? Are they friends you see in person?
I have had a few very nice interactions with other bloggers, but have not yet built any close blog friendships here. However, one of my closest friends is someone I met through my previous, personal blog on live journal. She is now one of my blog followers. I also have in person friends and family members who read my blog, many of which I do not get the chance to see very often.
Have you received any recent advice or support from a fellow blogger you would like to share
I have recently received some great supportive comments from other bloggers, it really kept me at it! Thank you!
Do you feel that blogging and other social networking enables you to interact more with people you may have things in common with than you would otherwise?
I really think it has been eye-opening. I have gotten to be inspired by real people who share my interests, many of whom are so talented and tasteful I am a bit jealous!
Anything else you would like to add about your experience with the social aspects of home themed blogging?
I am pretty happy this lead me to a topic for my sociology paper! I hope some people will respond!
Ok, that's it. I know it is sort of long. I am hoping that other people out there like taking surveys as much as I do. If you would like to help, but don't have time to answer all the questions above, even just a statement on your general experience with the social community of home blogging would be a huge help!
Once again my email is hannahtaube@gmail.com if you wish to respond.
I'll help a little, would you just send me a message through my blog with the questionnaire to remind me?
ReplyDeletehi Hannah Jacklyn, I live in the midwest, am married, and have no kids. My neighborhood is similar to yours, and my husband and I work in a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteWe wanted a place on the web where we could share our photos, 3D art, poetry, and adventures in cooking, and we've been doing this for about a year a half now I think.
I enjoy reading other people's blogs, especially those related to cooking, but I also have other interests so enjoy reading a variety of things.
I comment on people's blogs, but other than that, I'm not involved in social networking.
I haven't made any close friends through my blogging experience although some of my friends have blogs of their own.
Blogging has been a way for me to share things with family and friends that I might not otherwise be able to do.
Sharing recipes and photos of what we cook is one example. Another example is when my husband and I went on a road trip with my folks, I kept a journal, and we took lots of pictures. Then when we returned, I made a post about the road trip.
We were able to share our trip with others just by giving them the link to that post, and my folks were able to do the same when they wanted to show their friends who live far away photos of the trip.
I like that we're able to share certain aspects of our lives with others. And in turn, I enjoy that other folks are also able to share with us. For example, we've been considering making a trip to Peurto Rico or New Zealand next year. I wanted to learn more about those countries first-hand...and not the usual stuff you find in books.
I learned a lot from reading blogs of people who have traveled and/or lived in those placed. It's been very interesting!
Anyway, I hope the information helps you with your paper. :)
Sheila,
ReplyDeleteThank you for responding to my survey! I working away on my paper, the responses I received have truly been helpful!