Personal journalism and workplace blogs

Today we're going to look at 'personal journalism'. This does sound like a slightly odd term. I'm using it to refer to the kind of personal writing you often find on blogs, in which people document their ordinary (or not so ordinary) lives. These kinds of blogs often feel very close to diaries - but because they're made public via the net, some of them can end up feeling close to 'journalism' or having a kind of journalistic effect.

That's only some of them. Most remain purely personal, designed mainly for friends and family. But some seem to become 'journalistic' in their effects, as more people read them and as the media pays attention to them.

One of the best examples of this kind of thing is workplace blogging. Lots of ordinary people keep blogs about their day jobs. These blogs are usually anonymous, to protect the bloggers from their employers. People use their blogs to moan about their jobs, share funny stories and let off steam. Most don't see what they do as journalism. But can they have a journalistic effect? Can we read them as journalism?

James Richards, an academic from Heriot-Watt University, is researching workplace blogs. He's written a good definition of what this sort of blog is and also has collected a good list of reasons why workplace bloggers do what they do.

Visit one of these links - you'll see he's put together a huge list of links to different workplace bloggers. I'd like you to look at a couple of workbloggers. Try to find one you like.

Read through what they say. Think about whether they're telling you anything new and whether you could class this as 'journalism'. Write a quick review and link to the blog you're covering. We'll talk about the things you find in class