Defense Date

3-1-2013

Graduation Date

2013

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Communication and Rhetorical Studies

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Calvin Troup

Committee Member

Janie Fritz

Committee Member

Ronald Arnett

Keywords

Blogging, Communication, Public

Abstract

This project examines personal blogging through the philosophy of Hannah Arendt and her understanding of public, private and social. Personal blogging is the latest in a long history of self-representational writing with each form taking on a more public overtone. By utlizing Hannah Arendt's philosophy in this manner, this project provides a venue for her work in the realm of today's mediated world. Hannah Arendt's understanding of public, private, and social allows us to better understand the need for boundaries and the need for both a public and private space in our lives. Utilizing several interpersonal communication theories, including Boundary Management and Parasocial Framework, to better understand how people navigate public, private, and social boundaries in communications.

Chapter One examines the evolution of self-representational writing. Looking at the diary, the journal and the personal blog, this chapter examines the similarities and differences of these genres. Chapter Two explains Hannah Arendt's philosophy of public, private and social more fully and applies thesm to the different genres of self-representational writing. Chapter 3 discusses the evolution of communicaiton technology and different theories of interpersonal communication including Boundary Management theory, the para-social framework extablished by Horton and Wohl, and the effect of technology on interpersonal communication. Chapter 4 looks at the evolution of personal blogs from their inception so that computer insiders could share new links on the Internet to today's personal journals and interest-driven content. Chapter 5 looks ahead. How can Arendt's philosophy be used to navigate not only personal blogs, but all computer-mediated communication today and in the future.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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