Mike of Kokonut Pundit has something juicy for DeafReaders, Tayler, Ridor, Mishka Zena, Fookem, etc.: Empowerment in the Deaf Community: Analyzing the Posts of Internet Weblogs. The thesis was done by a Master of Art student at Bowling Green State University in Ohio last summer. Check out the PDF there.
Interesting, long read, though. Mike took issues with the thesis and pointed out the problems. I don’t know about the other D/deaf bloggers out there but I’ll give them time to chew on the thesis and maybe raise holy hell or whatever. I’m not disappointed about the author’s lack of interest in my blog, because her thesis covered D/deaf bloggers and their issues very relevant to the D/deaf community and my blog is not always a deaf-centric one, so that’s okay by me.
Good find, Mike!
02/06/2010 at 7:14 PM
Interesting. I scanned the whole thesis quickly. Will need to read it digestive-ly, if there is such a thing.
First off, it is JUST a Thesis. Just like Paddy’s Thesis. It’s a theory at best.
Some points, I will agree as far as writers having inane desire(s) to empower and bring forth issues relevant to advocacy and so on.
But, I do not see any deaf blogosphere a true reflection of the deaf community at large. The true deaf community at large is so diverse. Deaf Read does not reflect that and neither does Deaf Village. There’s more out there than what you see in either aggregator.
Also, the study was around 2006-2007, maybe prior, If I can remember my quick scanning. It would be interesting to see what if anyone takes up on studying another period…a chaotic period. That would be 2008 and a much more divisive period which would be 2009.
However, I will also agree that deaf people blog about issues that relates to their cause and/or need just as other minority groups do.
Again, it is just a thesis. A theory. Nothing more.
02/06/2010 at 7:53 PM
I agree with mcconnell, I don’t consider bloggers on DeafRead as “members”. Never did.
Interesting thesis. I’ll need to sit down and read in-depth. Now, come to think of it, I remember her asking for DeafRead statistics. Never saw the thesis until now and I have mcconnell and you to thank.
02/06/2010 at 9:44 PM
I read the paper – I think the author meant that we’re members of the Deaf Community. Not of DeafRead.
It’s an interesting paper, and I’ll have to think on it, before deciding on whether I agree with her.
02/06/2010 at 10:06 PM
Here are the exact wordings:
“….Deaf individuals as evidenced in 416 blog posts by nine individuals who are members ofthe DeafRead community.”
Maybe a typo. Who knows.
02/06/2010 at 11:06 PM
Member is defined as : one of the individuals composing a group. What did “member” mean to you all? Individual blogs posted within a group (aggregator) is considered a “member”? I don’t know why it’s a big deal. *shrug*
02/06/2010 at 11:55 PM
I see “member” as to mean to belong to something, a part of an organization, a group and such.
02/07/2010 at 1:56 AM
[...] View original post here: Bowling Green State Student Did Master Thesis on Deaf Bloggers … [...]
02/07/2010 at 12:44 PM
Ah, I stand corrected.
Well, I don’t consider it that of a big deal, personally. I’m not gonna argue semantics such as this, because it’s not that relevant to the paper.
02/28/2010 at 6:46 AM
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