Survey Reaction
Dateline: 12/15/97
As a coda to my survey of online diarists, which has commandeered this space for nearly a month, I asked several people I consider experts on the genre to comment on the overall findings.
I did this for your benefit, dear reader - I hope these comments will add further context to the survey results - as well as for my own. When writing about the Web it's easy to become cocooned in one's own bookmarks. I'd like to know if what I found squares with others' experience of online diaries.
To wit:
Sue Haiken:
Technology offers us new ways to communicate, and therefore gives us, as individuals and as a society, the potential to redefine ourselves (identity) and our perceptions of the world (truth). Despite the recent explosion in online diaries, the phenomenon is still emergent and it is impossible to say what effects this form of expression will have on society, and vice-versa.
What does seem clear at this point is that online diaries reflect a current cultural shift in thinking about truth and identity: Universal truths are giving way to increasingly individual perceptions and belief systems; static identities are becoming more fluid. Perhaps the most frustrating theme of the survey articles - the pervasive lack of consensus - is also the most revealing.
When a culture is made up of individuals in flux, reflected by diarists who "experiment with their identities" (Survey - Part Three) the very notion of definition seems almost irrelevant.
Sue Haiken is a graduate student in media studies currently working on a masters thesis on web journals.
I saw the diary (mine) as offering people a look into my life and my thoughts - much the way Geraldo lets us peek into Middle-American views on society, or Barbara Walters lets us peek into the lives of the famous. Later I saw the same thing more as a soap opera with people becoming fans and even addicts of my life's happenings. I kind of liked this interpretation, and I see the growth of [the] Open Pages [Webring] as support for this. Not only do we have the exposure pieces, we also have the community interactions of Melrose Place. The day the Spot became mega popular I knew something was up...
There are many reasons to write online. There is room for case studies or profiles of the several types of online diarists:
The exhibitionist
The celeb
The sympathy mongerer
The entertainer
The sharer
The follower: a fan turned diarist
The participant (variant of the fan - writes about other online diarists)
The spoofer
Different types of diarists attract different readers and create different experiences. I suspect that each of these types has several adherents, and that there are few people who span more than say two of the types in any significant manner.
There's also the distinction between those who've started writing online without knowing of the community of diarists, or even of one such as myself, and those who knew of Open Pages or other diaries, and desired to get involved "officially" ... There is a sense nowadays that you will be joining a community rather than the one three years ago of trailblazing in a new media. In many ways, I personally have trouble identifying with the newer diarists. They seem to be following a trend of self-expression, a trend which I had only dreamed of when I started. Funny that I write this comment on the same day that I decide to leave off writing my own diary online...
There is an unspoken agreement that diarists keep to generally. Each of us is telling the truth. It's not supposed to be questioned. It's adhered to without question. And if ever the issue arises, we find ways of telling the truth no matter what. Moving the diary to a new location, going anonymous, writing vaguely, or releasing the written entries on a timed delay - the one thing none of us has decided to do is simply lie. It's remarkable, and it to is true. More than anything, I think this is what has defined the genre. The survey hints at this in the stats in Part Two on telling the truth, fictionalizing entries, rewriting entries later, and even a split on self-censoring. Who is doing the writing is important, both to the author and to the readers. I think the readers would be heartbroken or angry if they found out that a fiction was being woven.
This sure feels like a new genre. I was never a writer previously. Over three years, I've learned a thousand little things to keep what I write to the point, interesting, and enticing - to me and to my readers. And I've never been interested in any form of offline diary keeping. Without the feedback, it wouldn't be worth it...
I've always wanted to be known by everyone in the world. And to a vast extent, I have achieved just that.
Carolyn Burke's site is widely considered the pioneering example of an online diary. She is also the president of FSC Internet.
One diarist reported addressing specific people in his diary, because "messages have a different meaning and rule of order if said publicly instead of privately." Does online publication give a private message more import? More credence? (e.g., "marry me" or "I'll never get married.")
87% reported at least a little self-censoring, and 70% of those censor to protect the feelings of others: I think censorship is even more more common in a private journal. I strive not to censor, but I know I sometimes do - to protect my own feelings. Censoring for others seems more noble.
48% use the journal to reach out to others with similar problems or experiences. If a private journal can be used as therapy, maybe an online journal is a kind of group therapy.
82% of onliners have kept a private diary, and 34% still do: I was surprised to find out recently that both the Serbian teenager who wrote Zlata's Diary and Anne Frank wrote with the idea of publication. Zlata found out halfway through her diary that UNICEF planned to publish it. Anne started a separate volume when she heard of a project to publish war diaries. The original play was based mostly on her public "diary." The new version uses more of her "real" private diary.
Online journals lie somewhere between the extremes of private confession and press release, but where? If Zlata and Anne - two "traditional" journal writers - wrote for publication, self-presentation in diaries is just a matter of degree. Online journals take it a little farther, knowing they'll get a hundred hits tomorrow.
I agree that, whatever they are, online diaries are "a boon to readers." After the dark ages, new art and theater arose from the church and the street. Online journals are a new art form rising from the i-highway.
Catherine deCuir is the Journals Guide for The Mining Company, http://journals.about.com.
