Part
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Definition
A brief definition of weblogs might be useful. Weblogs are generally considered
to have the following features: short, usually personal commentary punctuated
by links; reverse chronological order, usually with archives. Authorship may
be individual or collective, audience may be general or specifically targeted
by subject, and content may or may not include images. Weblog design is secondary
but still important. Weblogs are received within genres (tech-oriented, public
affairs, personal, institutional, etc.), with a fair degree of overlap between
these.
The personal stance and the near-total absence of editorial filters between
writer and audience create problems of authenticity. How do weblog authors manage
to create a sense of trust? Given the fluidity of the web, I argue that authenticity
should be regarded as created by interaction between text and audience (sometimes
literal interaction, sometimes conceptual or attenuated). The rest of this paper
will examine some of these textual features which encourage interaction, with
particular emphasis on the visual.
Non-visual factors
Most of the factors involved with creating authenticity in weblogs (and other
electronic texts) are non-visual.
-- Institutions. We encounter some weblogs, like other internet texts, under
the imprimatur of organizations. Mickey
Kaus’ weblog appears on Slate,
Kevin Drum (Calpundit) on Washington
Monthly, Eric Alterman offers his Altercations
on MSNBC, and so on. Other weblogs are identified with institutions (Evan Williams
and Meg Hourihan are both linked with Blogger, Joshua
Micah Marshall with Washington Monthly and other print publications, and
some corporate executives now keep weblogs). Credibility of the institution
transfers to the weblog.
-- Reputation. One of the most common ways in which audiences find their way
to a weblog is through a link or reference from another weblog, weblog host,
or reference from another text (bloghost or print news article). The more such
links there are, the more influential we may assume a weblog is (apart from
a few successful attempts to game the software). Links are indexed (e.g., Popdex,
Daypop or Blogdex).
-- Ideology. Readers are far more ready to approve the ethos of a writer advancing
positions they agree with, and for the most part this content is expressed verbally.
Ideology is more evident in some genres than others, e.g., public affairs weblogs
or quasi-journalistic weblogs rather than personal weblogs.
-- Currency. Weblogs are supposed to be frequently updated, and if they lie
dormant for a month or more, the writer may be considered unserious.
-- Tech savvy. Particularly with tech-oriented weblogs, the writer’s authenticity
is established not only by content of posts and use of technical language, but
also by design factors which gravitate toward high-end users (e.g., preference
for smaller, sans-serif type fonts and large screen sizes).
Even though these are more significant factors than the strictly visual elements,
the latter should not be overlooked. How a weblog looks is an important factor
in whether audiences look further or not: unappealing colors, small or unaesthetic
type font, or confusing navigation can discourage first-time readers from looking
further.
Visual factors
Initially weblogs had to be designed and stored entirely by their authors, meaning
that pages were built using composing software (if not HTML), and requiring
at least a small capacity for technical work. While many weblogs are still created
and maintained in this way, most have gone either to using specialized software
such as Movable Type or to being created and maintained on a bloghost site.
These typically allow users to choose among default templates for design, thus
exhibiting the web equivalent of creativity through consumer choice. More savvy
users can tweak the templates in some respects. Initially most bloghosts offered
a choice of free but small storage or modestly priced storage with more technical
capacities. Because of the popularity of bloghosts, many of the design choices
exhibited by weblogs are influenced by the templates made available to newbies.
One visual factor to consider, particularly among better-known bloggers, is the degree of contrast with default settings in bloghosts. An example of this would be Rebecca Blood’s site, What’s in Rebecca’s Pocket. (Image from 5/26/04.)
The content of this site tends to focus on media and culture. The design esthetic here is modernist, with a combination of sans-serif fonts (apart from the title GIF) and Courier (simulated typewriter script), a clean, white background with a lot of open screen real estate, and minimal use of colors. Because of the limited visual distractions, the site focuses attention on the content.
Another site which contrasts with most default settings in weblogs is Evhead, Evan Williams’ site. (Image from 5/26/04.)
Like Rebecca Blood’s site, this one is kind to small browser settings: the basic background color is white, resizing margins in greenish-gray, with few other colors present as distractions. The basic text font is Trebuchet.
Professionals' weblogs need to display their design chops with occasional improvements.