Reading for 11/12/2008

For today’s class reading I read Shout into the wind and it shouts back, by Lori Kendall. LiveJournal reminded me of blogging. It is more like a diary in which you can talk about whatever you want, but I think mostly personal or everyday events. Of course a network of friends, family, and coworkers may have access to this so you have to watch what you say or don’t say. I believe this is good for people that feel they have to express every thought on their mind. Also this site is good for social networking. It is neat how you can link to friend’s journals and search their friends as well. This is similar to FaceBook or MySpace but of course this is a journal type atmosphere.

In this reading Kendall explains her two years of observation about LiveJournal and her recordings. The participants were in their late 20s to late 30s. Most of them have education up to a bachelor’s degree and she points out several of their jobs.

Some important studies she got from this were the separation of personal and work life. I think this should be the case for many things. Also surprisingly there are technicalities that LiveJournal sometimes goes through and filters can fail. This can create awkward or threatening situations in many cases. Kendall also concludes that the observers were pleased with the control they had with their own journals but were dissatisfied with the limited control on others journals.

I think that LiveJournal is a great way to relieve everything on your head and keep track of life. There are so many things that run through our heads daily that we forget. LiveJournal could be beneficial whether personal or business related. I have heard about LiveJournal but after this article I believe I will put some exploration into this site.


Kendall, Lori. (2007). "Shout into the wind, and it shouts back." Identity and interactional tensions on LiveJournal. First Monday, 12. Retrieved on August 21, 2008 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_9/kendall/index.html