SCHOLARS AND THEIR BLOGS: CHARACTERISTICS, PREFERENCES, AND PERCEPTIONS IMPACTING DIGITAL PRESERVATION Carolyn F. Hank A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Information and Library Science. Chapel Hill 2011 Approved by: Helen R. Tibbo Lynn Silipigni Connaway Jeffrey Pomerantz Paul Jones Richard Marciano ABSTRACT CAROLYN F. HANK: Scholars and their Blogs: Characteristics, Preferences, and Perceptions Impacting Digital Preservation (Under the direction of Dr. Helen R. Tibbo) This descriptive study investigated scholars who blog in the areas of history, economics, law, biology, chemistry and physics, as well as attributes of their respective blogs. It offers an examination of scholars‘ attitudes and perceptions of their blogs in relation to the system of scholarly communication and their preferences for digital preservation. Further, it investigates blog publishing behaviors and blog characteristics that influence preservation action. Findings are drawn from 153 questionnaires, 24 interviews, and content analysis of 93 blogs. Most feel their respective blogs are representative of their cumulative scholarly record. A majority see their blogging as benefitting several aspects of their scholarly lives, contributing to a sense of improvement in their teaching, writing, and research activities, as well as in communications with peers. It was found that scholars who blog are generally interested in blog preservation with a strong sense of personal responsibility. Most feel their blogs should be preserved for both personal and public access and use into the indefinite, rather than short-term, future. Scholars who blog identify themselves as most responsible for blog preservation. Concerning capability, scholars perceive blog service providers, hosts, and networks as most capable. National and institutional-based libraries and archives, as well as institutional IT departments, are perceived as least responsible and capable for preservation of scholars‘ respective blogs. Although over half of questionnaire respondents save their blog ii content, in whole or in part, and many interviewees expressed a sophisticated understanding of issues of digital preservation, the findings also indicate that bloggers exhibit behaviors and preferences complicating digital preservation action, including issues related to rights and use, co-producer dependencies, and content integrity. For example, most use a blog publishing application and hosting service, many report editing and deleting of blog posts after publication, and less than half of blogs feature explicit rights and use statements. iii To my Mom and Dad for supporting whatever it is that I dream up, and to my most important dreams come true: Maddy, Kennedy, Raegan, Izzy, Vin and Jackie. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have read a few dissertation acknowledgements that use the ―it takes a village‖ metaphor to acknowledge those contributing to the respective authors‘ success. In my case, I think it more apt to say it takes several ―villages:‖ faculty, friends, and colleagues at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS); friends and colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), particularly the University Libraries; friends and colleagues from other institutions in the field; and family and friends who have been supportive of me long before this journey toward a Ph.D. began. A much deserved thank you to the members of my committee, Drs. Helen R. Tibbo (Chair), Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Jeffery Pomerantz, and Richard Marciano, and Paul Jones. They provided me with exceptional support throughout. In addition to serving on my committee, I also had the privilege of working with each of them on other projects throughout the years. My committee members not only provided excellent guidance in my dissertation completion, but also greatly contributed to my overall professional development. Since this is Carolina, I think a basketball reference is appropriate. I was lucky to have the guidance of several other individuals who each served as a sort of ―sixth man‖ on my dissertation committee, providing suggestions and guidance as I developed my research design and wrote my dissertation. Thank you to my ―bench,‖ Drs. Christopher (Cal) Lee and Deborah Barreau, and Yvonne Belanger. Additionally, SILS faculty and staff, both current and former, were always available to listen, encourage and provide other support over the years. A thank you to the exceptional faculty and staff at SILS. v I‘d like to make special mention of my relationship with Helen. I have worked closely with Helen since my first day in the Ph.D. program and on a range of projects. Helen not only provided me with many opportunities for professional development, she also encouraged and supported my own ideas. Our relationship extended beyond simply advisor- advisee; she made me feel much more like a trusted, respected colleague than simply an advisee, and her influence and impact is evident from any casual look at my CV. Further, our close working relationship and the resulting opportunities for developing my research, teaching and service experience enabled me to cultivate relationships with many members of the campus community as well as researchers, educators, and practitioners at other institutions. While I have benefited professionally in many ways from the many contacts made through these opportunities, I do want to specifically acknowledge a few of those who offered support and encouragement specific to my dissertation pursuit. At the University Libraries at UNC, thank you to Dave Pcolar, Natasha Smith, Janis Holder, and members of the Digital Curation/Institutional Repository Committee and the Carolina Digital Repository program and Steering Committee. Also, thank you to Drs. Kathy and Bill Wisser, Simmons College; Richard Davis, University of London Computer Centre; Dr. Megan Winget, University of Texas at Austin; Dr. Nancy McGovern, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan; Dr. P. Bryan Heidorn, University of Arizona; and Dr. Seamus Ross, University of Toronto. The research reported in this dissertation was informed by an earlier exploratory study on bloggers‘ perceptions on digital preservation. I would like to thank my collaborators on that study, Dr. Songphan Choemprayong and Laura Sheble, as well as my valued dissertation committee member, Paul Jones, who served as our study‘s faculty advisor. This vi earlier work was extremely beneficial in helping me to design and implement my dissertation research. My parents let me live out my long ago ―only child‖ fantasy, cooking, cleaning, and otherwise providing for me during the three months I wrote this dissertation (and in the process, with photos to prove it, letting me take over two guest bedrooms, the dining room table, a coffee table in the den, and about one-fourth of their kitchen counter space). But this ―only child‖ depiction is not entirely appropriate as my siblings, as well as friends, opened up their homes to me and my ―mobile office‖ during this time. In particular, my sister Lara and her husband Mike let me take over their phone line for many hours over an extended period to conduct interviews, as did my dear friend Craig. As they always do, my family provided encouragement and support throughout my Ph.D. pursuit. I am happy to have only had a brief glimpse of life as the ―only‖ child as I could not imagine a life without all of them. A much deserved thank you to my immediate family: my mom and dad; my brother Steve (and Kendra); my sister Lara (and Mike, Kennedy and Raegan); my brother Scott (and Maddy and Izzy); my brother Jeremy (and Sue, Vin, and Jackie); and my sister Katie. I would like to acknowledge and thank my colleagues who assisted in pre-testing my instruments and otherwise shared ideas and suggestions, as well as other friends and members of my extended family for their kind words of encouragement throughout the dissertation process and, when needed, providing the requisite distractions (a.k.a., cocktails): Maureen and Josh Aronson; John Blythe; Jason Brabbs; Mike Brown and Liz Wing; Mike Canup and Daniela Vidal; Shawn Casey and Willis Arrington; Alex Chassanoff; Ken Chestnutt; Dr. Songphan Choemprayong; Tex Clark; Marc Conte; Megan Crouch; Richard Davis; Jackie Dean; Billy Doherty; Phil Edwards; Todd Gannon; Lisa and Danny Gregory; vii Scott Grimsley; Samantha Guss; Gayle Gutter; Jackie Gutter and Zach Snyder; Dr. Pam Gutter and Tammy Moore; Christy Hank; Dana Hanson-Baldauf; Perla Innocenti; Dr. Jacob Kramer-Duffield; Craig Kullik; Irene Marik; Louise Mercurio; Michael Merrill; John and Bev Mielke; Lori Richards; Terrell Russell and Kelly Marks; Dave, Amy and Jerry Pcolar; Stephanie and Will Peterson; Emily Shreefter; Don Sizemore; Chelcy and Fred Stutzman; Dr. Cassidy Sugimoto, and Thomas; Frances Tibbo; Gardner Treneman; Amy Van Scoy; Jean Wagner; Jewel Ward; Dr. Meredith Weiss; Dr. Megan Winget; and Drs. Kathy and Bill Wisser. I utilized the Academic Blog Portal (http://www.academicblogs.org/) in compiling my samples. Thank you to Dr. Henry Farrell, the portal‘s chief editor, and his senior editors. The portal was invaluable to me in conducting my research. A grateful acknowledgement to Beta Phi Mu. My dissertation research was supported by a 2010 Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship awarded by Beta Phi Mu. Finally, I would