The rise of blogging: Articulation as a dynamic of technological stabilization

Abstract

This article conceptualizes the emergence and stabilization of blogging as a process of articulation; that is, the establishment of a non-necessary link between a group of internet users, websites, metaphors, and practices of content creation. Data for this study come from a mixed-methods research design. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework that combines constructionist sociology of technology, communication and media research, and cultural studies, this article analyzes three important dynamics of articulation that shaped the rise of blogging from 1997 to 1999: the constitution of patterns of similarity between certain websites; the adoption of the term ‘weblog’ to identify this group of websites and their associated metaphors and content creation practices; and the coalescence of their creators into a self-defined community of users. This case affords significant opportunities for thinking about the contemporary appropriation of blogs and the dynamics of stabilization and use of new media.