Yet another graduate student (Blogademia) is doing a thesis on weblogs. This must be my fourth or fifth survey I've come across the past couple of months. Doing them is completely painless. My rationale is: if I can help out a fellow graduate student, why not? I mean, if I needed volunteers to complete my thesis, theoretically people should be as willing too. (However, considering my field, I assume more people would be less willing to be guniea pigs.)
This project is not merely about statistics though. The author of this experiment is trying to determine writing styles in blogging and how it correlates with the blogger. It's interesting--since most cursory glances at a random blog already convey a whole wealth of meaning to what the blogger is about, how he or she organizes things, and even to some extent whether the blogger deals only with surface issues or is more inward-looking.
Professors of writing classes always say that writers must develop their own unique style. Styles may be unique, but they still fall into general categories. I notice that I typically use three different styles of writing in this weblog. There is the formal approach which is used in essays and essay-like non-fiction. The descriptive approach comes in handy for fiction or more contemplative works. And then there is the informal style which is characterized with frequent use of pronouns and a speech-inspired pattern. More often than not, I mix the styles (of which this particular post is an example).
I think it would be fascinating to find out if there is a typical blog writing style or (as I have casually observed) if blog writing is like any other non-technical writing--people write as it suits their own personality.
