Save LiveJournal! (and me!)
I'm writing a paper on preserving blogs as cultural and historical records. Paper diaries are worth their weight in gold to researchers and historians, but blogs are largely ignored - partly because there is no easy way to save them, but also because people outside the blogging community don't know what to make of them yet. My goal is to explain LiveJournal to people who know nothing about it, convince them that at least some blogs are worth caring about, and come up with hypothetical ways of choosing which blogs to keep out of the millions that exist.
I really need to find people who will allow me to use their LJ entries as examples. I would alter names, usernames, locations, etc. and give you credit (either with your name or anonymously). There is the very slight possibility that the paper will end up published in an archival journal, and if that happens I'd contact you again before it went to print (although you need not worry about privacy; no one reads archives literature anyway...).
Also, if you know of attempts to study or "save" LJ, I'd be grateful (Hunter, you mentioned a system for printing out whole journals - where was that?)
And finally, answers to any of these questions would be great. It's not a statistical survey, so just answer the ones that appeal to you.
1. How did you find out about LJ?
2. Why do you keep a Journal?
3. Do you also keep a paper diary?
4. How long have you had an LJ? How long do you think you'll keep writing in it?
5. Have you ever lost whole LJ entries or parts of them? How did you feel about it?
6. What's your favorite thing about LJ? Your least favorite?
7. Would you want all or part of your LJ to survive you? Who/where would you leave it to?
::ETA:: If an archive or library asked for a copy of your LJ for research purposes, whould you give it to them?
People who link to this post in their journals get virtual double chocolate chip cookies (maybe real ones if I can find a way to beam them to you...)
I really need to find people who will allow me to use their LJ entries as examples. I would alter names, usernames, locations, etc. and give you credit (either with your name or anonymously). There is the very slight possibility that the paper will end up published in an archival journal, and if that happens I'd contact you again before it went to print (although you need not worry about privacy; no one reads archives literature anyway...).
Also, if you know of attempts to study or "save" LJ, I'd be grateful (Hunter, you mentioned a system for printing out whole journals - where was that?)
And finally, answers to any of these questions would be great. It's not a statistical survey, so just answer the ones that appeal to you.
1. How did you find out about LJ?
2. Why do you keep a Journal?
3. Do you also keep a paper diary?
4. How long have you had an LJ? How long do you think you'll keep writing in it?
5. Have you ever lost whole LJ entries or parts of them? How did you feel about it?
6. What's your favorite thing about LJ? Your least favorite?
7. Would you want all or part of your LJ to survive you? Who/where would you leave it to?
::ETA:: If an archive or library asked for a copy of your LJ for research purposes, whould you give it to them?
People who link to this post in their journals get virtual double chocolate chip cookies (maybe real ones if I can find a way to beam them to you...)