Blogging or Believing? Do themes presented by scholarly discourse correlate with the casual conversations of people through the world wide web?

  • Stephanie di Palma La Trobe University

Abstract

This article reports on a study that compared the formal themes and ideas discussed in the traditional academic arenas of the scholarly journal and texts with those raised in the 'New Media' forums of fan-sites and blogs. Using the Twilight texts and web sites as the most popular and frequented forums, the study found that there was little appreciable difference between the two areas of discourse; the fans were saying much the same as the 'authorities'. This raises the question of what distinguishes an academically 'authoritative' voice from that of an enthusiast.

Author Biography

Stephanie di Palma, La Trobe University
Savid Beagley is Lecturer in Children's Literature and Literacy at La Trobe University's Bendigo campus, Victoria, Australia, where he teaches units in Genres, History, Australian and Post-colonial children's literature. He has previously taught in secondary schools, and has been a school and university librarian.
Section
Jabberwocky