Blogging through Conflict: Sojourners in the Age of Social Media Ban Al-Ani, Gloria Mark, and Bryan Semaan Department of Informatics Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine {balani,gmark,[email protected]} ABSTRACT

of nearly unrestricted length. This is in contrast to Twitter, for example, which places a restriction of 140 characters, or Facebook, whose most popular feature is the short status update. Furthermore, blog posts remain in the blogosphere until removed by its administrator. Bloggers can also use hyperlinks to link to other bloggers and content. Importantly, blogs are interactive: blog followers can respond to the bloggers’ post, and the blogger, as well as other followers, can respond to these comments. In this way bloggers and followers can create online communities.

Social media enables the creation of online communities across physical boundaries. Blogs, or weblogs, enable bloggers to interact with a range of followers. We sought to conduct a qualitative study of the nature of the interactions that emerge in a blog community whose members are experiencing the impacts of ongoing conflict. We chose the Iraqi blogging community as a case study and focused on investigating the role of intercultural interactions in shaping people’s experiences during conflict. We found that intercultural interactions aided people by providing support, finding commonality, building a knowledge base, and in giving advice on restoring infrastructure. The intercultural interactions provided alternative views of an event constructed from diverse cultural perspectives. We found that the intercultural interactions we observed suggest a degree of intercultural competency within the blogosphere.

Some researchers, such as Herring and colleagues [15], have characterized blogs as primarily individualistic where the writer addresses a large audience. In this paper, we show how blogs are interactive and describe the role that followers play in the blogosphere. By ‘followers’ we refer to people who follow bloggers through their blog posts and provide comments.

Author Keywords

Intercultural, blogs, qualitative environment, social media.

study,

As with any social media tool on the Internet, bloggers can write to an audience beyond their national borders. They can also receive comments from anyone in the world that has internet access. This sets up a scenario for interaction among different nationalities and cultures. In this paper we examine how different cultures interact through blogs and report on how intercultural interaction can help shape how people view a crisis.

disrupted

ACM Classification Keywords

K.4.3 [Computers and Society]: Organizational Impacts – Computer-supported cooperative work General Terms

Human Factors

CRISIS SUPPORT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

War and conflict are specific types of disasters. Whereas disasters can generally be divided into pre-, trans-, and post-impact periods [20], in war, several of these stages may be occurring simultaneously. For example, people may be striving to recover from a recent trauma, such as a bomb explosion or kidnapping. While this is happening, a new disruption may occur. The simultaneous and often disorderly enactment of these different events during war leads to a chaotic atmosphere.

INTRODUCTION

The use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Groups, and blogs, has enabled people to interact with others anywhere in the world. People can experience different cultures from their native land without having to physically travel. Blogs, or weblogs, are perhaps unique among social media applications in that they enable writers to create a narrative

It is in such a climate that survivors strive to make sense of their environment. Falkheimer and Heide [11] describe how people engage in sensemaking to better understand a crisis. In face-to-face environments people engage in sensemaking within a particular cultural context: that of friends and

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families, or fellow survivors. For example, survivors of 9/11 have formed a network where they still meet regularly.

cultures to reinforce geographic identity and connectivity with their former homeland in various ways that otherwise may not have been possible [e.g. 5, 16, 0]. In this paper we investigate intercultural interactions through one particular type of ICT-- the blog.

Sensemaking involves social construction—where meaning is produced through interaction. According to the social constructionist viewpoint, there is no “objective” meaning that can be discerned through observation. Meaning is rather cooperatively constructed by people through their relationships and interactions [14]. At the heart of social constructionist theory, it is social and collaborative.

Researchers investigating the purpose of blogging have argued that blogging is more of a personal activity – blogging is an activity akin to writing a personal diary [15]. Conversely, Nardi and colleagues [18] found that blogs are unlike a personal diary as they are highly social in nature. Researchers have also applied social network analysis to investigate the ways in which blogs are interconnected (or not). They have found that blogs that receive the most comments are typically linked to more blogs than those that receive little or no comments [e.g. 13].

We apply this notion of social construction to the topic of crisis survivors. When people undergo a crisis, they seek to restore meaning to their identity and to their environment that has been disrupted. Finding support networks is an important aspect of aiding recovery from a crisis [17] However, in war environments, it is generally not safe for people to travel to meet with friends and family, or to attend work or school, as people may encounter bombs or insurgents. The Internet and social media provide a means through which those in conflict zones can seek others to engage in sensemaking. Through social media, people are not limited to those in their local context; they can interact in a much broader intercultural context.

Other studies have examined the use of blogs by people of different cultures [e.g. 1, 2, 3, 10, 22]. For example, our review of studies of blog use by Iranians living in Iran led us to three key conclusions [1, 2]. First, there are many Iranians online relative to other ethnic groups. Second, while Iran is considered a closed and censored society, many Iranian blogs are highly political and oppositional in nature. Thus, blogging gives people an opportunity to present opinions they could not express in traditional faceto-face interactions. Finally, Iranians are transferring their political movements from their physical world to their virtual space via blogs. One instance of this is the political movement which opposes sharia laws that are prevalent in Iranian society. Resistance to such laws by women and youth is ongoing and is being expressed online via blogs [2]. In such instances, women in Iran have been able to break sociocultural boundaries by becoming more visible through their blogs, which allows them to create new identities in the blogosphere that are more representative of their true selves.

We are interested in examining how intercultural contexts aid people living in conflict zones to engage in sensemaking about their experience. This raises a number of interesting questions for us. First, how do intercultural interactions aid people living in conflict zones? Second, how do interactants from different cultures adapt to each others’ cultures, if at all, when interacting through social media? We are interested, in the context of social media, whether there is any evidence of adaptation to other cultures and intercultural competency. Per Rogers and Steinfatt [21], intercultural competence exists when people can effectively share information with others who are of different cultures. However, there are some marked differences between intercultural interaction in the physical world and on the Internet. With social media, cultural cues are less obvious than in face-to-face encounters. A visitor to a different country readily sees and experiences differences in language, customs, dress, behaviors, etc. This social information aids one in understanding how to adapt to a different culture’s practices. With social media, social information is restricted [cf 23] so these cultural cues may not be well communicated which perhaps can impact intercultural competency. With blogs, the target of our study, cultural information would be communicated primarily through interaction (blogger profiles may or may not contain cultural information).

Our review of literature led us to conclude that not many studies have examined the role blogs play during conflict [e.g., 7, 25]. Moreover, there is also a paucity of studies that have examined the role of the blog follower in the blogosphere [4]. Finally, while studies have looked at the use of blogs by people within certain cultures, to our knowledge studies that have investigated intercultural interaction in the blogosphere are scarce. RESEARCH SETTING

The focus of this study is on Iraqi weblog data published on the Internet. It extends previous studies of how people in disrupted environments use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to maintain and develop new patterns of action for various practices e.g. social life, work, and obtaining education [e.g. 6].

RELATED WORK

Over the last decade there has been a surge of interest in studying information and communication technologies (ICTs) and online communities [e.g. 8, 9]. In general, researchers have found that ICTs enable people of different

It has been found that during war, people cannot continue their typical life activities due to various environmental obstacles, e.g. insurgents and militias, bombs, curfews, and roadblocks [7]. These conditions collectively led to a

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Analysis method

reliance on ICTs in Iraq, for example. It enabled people experiencing violent conflict to maintain contact with others both inside the Iraqi borders and those abroad. These researchers found that in many instances, Iraqi social interactions were transferred from their physical environment to online environments afforded by the technologies. The technologies also allowed them to collect and disseminate information like road conditions and damages caused by violent events, among other information essential to enable them to act despite the conflict.

We began analyzing the blog data by first drawing on the schema developed by Herring et al. [15]. They state that blogs can be considered as filters when they predominately refer to events that are not part of the bloggers’ personal experience. Within this category we included blogs of the journalistic genre that include “articles” concerned with politics, religion, racism, social commentary, literature, and medicine. Herring et al. consider personal blogs as personal accounts of a blogger’s activity. We considered war diaries and personal diaries as subtypes of personal blogs. War diary blogs are public narratives, descriptions of events from a personal viewpoint, which disseminate information to a global audience [6]. Bloggers write about events related to violent conflict within the context of their daily life. Conversely, a personal diary blog is one that presents an account of daily life without any reference to the ongoing conflict. Finally, Herring et al. use the term notebook to refer to blogs that are focused on longer essays that could be personal or impersonal in nature. We found that blogs referring to art, e.g. music and photography, could be considered subtypes of notebook blogs. We chose to analyze blogs through their subtype labels to provide a greater level of detail.

This previous study of social media use by people experiencing conflict led us to our current investigation. In this study we have collected a set of blog entries and their associated comments in order to explore intercultural interactions among bloggers and their followers during the Iraqi conflict. METHODOLOGY

We manually collected a total of 216 Iraqi blog URLs from a single blog host in December 2009. These blogs were given a random number and then listed in ascending order. The first 35 blog sites were chosen for our qualitative data sample. We later found that 27 of these blogs are actively available; the other 8 had been removed from the host site. We collected the first 5 entries from each of these blog accounts and the comments associated with them, if any were available.

We coded all comments to gain a general understanding of types of blog comments,. Codes for the blog comments emerged from reading through them. We derived the following codes: support, encouragement, sympathetic, advice, query, admiration, informative, and critical (see Appendix 1 for a definition of these codes).

We chose to sample the first entries, rather than the most recent, to reduce biases. We sought to avoid biases that can be introduced because one blog existed for years whereas another was created within the last few months, for example. Such discrepancies could lead to variances in the level of maturity of the writing, and in the nature and quantity of interactions.

Figure 1 shows an overall distribution of the codes by blog type. Overall, most comments from followers expressed encouragement and support, and provided information. Journalism blogs were associated with encouragement and information comments. War diary blogs were associated with comments expressing encouragement, information, and support. We found that the blog authors also contributed comments.

60 50 40

Art DiaryPersonal DiaryWar Journalism

30 20 10 0

Ad m ira tio Au n th or Ad Re vic sp e on C se En rit i c co ur ism ag m en t L In i n fo rm k at io n Q ue Sy r m y pa th Su y pp or t

No. of comments made

The blogs we sampled were created during different timespans, ranging from 2004 to 2009. Comments were typically posted within the same day of the blog entry, although we did find some comments that were posted up to a year or more afterwards. Determining the demographics of the bloggers was challenging as many bloggers did not include demographic information in their profiles. For example, we found that ten bloggers explicitly stated they were male, while seven bloggers explicitly stated they were female. Thus of the 27 blogs in our sample, ten bloggers did not include gender information in their profile. Bloggers sometimes referred to their occupation in their profile (or in their blog entries), e.g. students, professors, teachers, journalists, but others did not include such information. Data was collected, tabulated and coded by one researcher. We collected 142 blog entries and 290 comments at the end of the data collection process, (note that we only collected the first five blog entries and the attached comments). We found that some blogs only contained one or two entries.

Types of comments

Figure 1. The distribution of comments by coding category and by blog type.

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In order to focus on intercultural interaction we next worked on identifying which comments were made by people of non-Iraqi culture. Identifying Iraqis by Iraqi subcultures was inadvisable for several reasons, despite the diversity and richness of its population. First, it is very difficult to identify ethnicity or subculture unless the blogger explicitly states it. Second, many Iraqis are of blended ethnicities and cultures due to where they live, their parentage, etc. Thus we coded comments as Iraqi or nonIraqi. A follower is considered Iraqi if an explicit reference is made to being Iraqi or an Iraqi expression is used. Iraqis living abroad were still considered Iraqis regardless of their location. We used the following criteria to identify comments that were from non-Iraqis:

by the conflict, finding commonalities across cultures, building a knowledge base and striving to restore the physical infrastructure of Iraq. Most of the comments concerned supporting the blogger and building a knowledge base. We next explain these categories in more detail. Providing support

We found numerous interactions in which followers attempted to support bloggers experiencing conflict across our coded blog types. We define supportive interactions as those which can provide sustenance through admiration, defense of opinions, encouragement to continue the interaction, and expressions which welcome interactions. We consider comments that express admiration for the blogger’s writing style, opinions, or the ability to cope, as providing support.

1) Explicit references to the follower’s culture: we analyzed comments searching for explicit references to the author’s background. Examples of explicit references that were found in comments include statements like “here in the US we…”, or “I’m from Thailand”. Comments that included non-Iraqi names were also attributed to people of non-Iraqi culture (e.g. John Hudson).

We maintain that intercultural interactions provided a unique type of support. People located outside of Iraq were able to view the conflict in Iraq through a different lens than Iraqis as they were not directly experiencing the conflict. They could use this different perspective in framing their support. For example, one non-Iraqi follower sought to support a male blogger who wrote about his experiences working as a translator for the American military stationed in Iraq:

2) Explicit queries about Iraq: these were comments that included questions about Iraq, e.g. how it was before the war, or how it is now in terms of culture or living conditions. Such comments typically demonstrated a lack of knowledge about Iraq or the events taking place.

“Unbiased reports of real life in this war are essential to maintain public support. Again, please stay safe and God bless you and yours!”

3) Use of expressions indicative of non-Iraqi culture: we found that there were several comments which referred to Iraq as “your country”. Others comments included expressions primarily associated with non-Iraqi culture like “jumping the gun”. 4) Providing experiences foreign to Iraq: We found comments referring to non-Iraqi experiences as an indication that the follower is non-Iraqi. For example, people described their experiences serving in the German and American militaries.

This follower attempts to make sense of the blog entry by asking some questions about why the translator needs to remain incognito to other Iraqis and why there is potential danger in being a translator. The danger is seen to be twofold. Some people in the allied forces do not trust the Iraqi translators. At the same time, the translators are often considered traitors by Iraqis and thus strive to conceal their identity. One American follower provides support as follows:

Since we view sensemaking of war and conflict as primarily a social phenomenon, we were interested in coding the blog entry and associated comments as a single unit to focus on the interaction. From our final set of 59 blog units, 40 contained intercultural interactions (based on the conditions listed previously). We will discuss our analysis of these interactions in the following sections.

“it must be frustrating, if the people you are working for don't always trust you. I understand they are cautious, because some translators have deceived them. We have a saying for the situation you're in - "You're between a rock and a hard place." In other words, there's no obvious or easy way to change or fix the situation you're in (translators are traitors or spies).” This comment provides us with an example of intercultural communication where an idiom, which is common in most English speaking countries, is introduced to the conversation along with an explanation of what it means. The idiom provides the Iraqi with an opportunity to experience the use of common expressions and the communication style of another culture. Furthermore, as the follower provided an explanation of its meaning, this demonstrates the follower’s awareness that the idiom may not be known to people of other cultures.

RESULTS

We derived higher-order coding categories through analyzing the blogs and coded comments together. We maintain that intercultural interactions serve to broaden the perspective of people experiencing a crisis or severe disruption. With social media, intercultural interactions give people involved in a conflict an opportunity to view events from different perspectives. We found that intercultural interactions in our sample of the blogosphere fell into the following categories: providing support to people affected

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Another follower, called ‘Average American’ writes:

…”It is quiet interesting to learn however what the Iraqis who had to leave think about the situation and those who were not in Iraq but elsewhere. I guess situations like war leave people stranded and leave very little or no room for hope. Good Luck!”

“Welcome translator!! I, among many will anxiously await your posts. You probably have a lot of knowledge to share with us. I add my concerns for your safety however. Be careful what personal information you give out…”

Thus we find that the blogger’s account provided insights that the follower had not hitherto considered and the follower attempts to support the blogger in return by acknowledging the difficulty that people must face in leaving their country and wishing her good luck. Other comments on this blogger’s plight are similar in their support as is evident in the following comment by Elle, a non-Iraqi:

We find such followers provide support for the blogger in an attempt to maintain their identity and thus their safety. While not all comments were positive there were typically many followers who posted positive comments to help the blogger overcome not only the physical dangers they are exposed to, but also to counteract the negativity of some of the comments. For example, this follower encourages the blogger to disregard the negative comments and focus on keeping safe:

“My heart goes out to you. It angers me when someone willingly make money out of another misfortune [sic]. I really do hope that your story has a happy ending. I wish you all the best and a safe journey.”

“Always, always.....do only what is safe for you and your family! We want to hear what you have to say, but not at the expense of your well being. Fortunately, the offensive comments were removed before I checked the comments. However, I'm still upset that anyone had to read them. Those type of people are what we call "trolls". Nasty little buggers, who waste bandwidth with their demented comments, that no one cares about or wants to be bothered reading.”

Some followers provided encouragement, supporting the blogger’s writing, whereas others supported her by posting words of empathy and sympathy for her situation. Finally, some followers provided practical advice, such as the following post by one follower living in Dubai who provided a link to a UAE blog site along with an offer to provide further support by offering her email address. We find that the blogger contacted this follower and later made the following comment:

The previous comment includes a term (trolls) that is common in many English-speaking countries along with an explanation of what ‘trolls’ means. By introducing what may be an uncommon expression and explaining it, this illustrates the follower’s awareness of inter-cultural communication and also suggests a degree of intercultural competency.

“Thanks secretdubai, I had a tough time trying to figure out where the email was. Mashallah great site you have there!” The blogger knows that secretdubai speaks Arabic (perhaps because secretdubai most likely lives in Dubai where Arabic is widely spoken) and uses the Arabic words Mashallah (ma-sha-Allah, which means God has willed it). Again, as with the earlier follower we described, who shares the same language as the blogger; this comment does not include a translation or an explanation for the term.

In contrast, an example of a comment of support for the same blogger from an Iraqi is: “Stay safe man! Don't worry about the e-Mukhabarat. We're all used to them. Just keep your blog sunglasses on and they'll show themselves as the fools they are.”

Finding commonality

Here the follower uses an Arab word (Mukhabarat) that is common knowledge among Arab speakers (it refers to an intelligence agency), and unlike the word ’trolls’ is not explained.

We encountered interactions where bloggers and their followers shared commonalities across different cultures. Some expressions of commonality were used to reach out to those of different cultures to seek common ground. We maintain that the actions of expressing commonalities across cultures provide a unique type of support for those experiencing conflict. Posting comments which include experiences that are common to diverse cultures not only provides a different view of the same types of experiences, but such comments also express that the Iraqis are not “alone” in experiencing the impact of conflict.

We find that support for Iraqi bloggers not only encourages the bloggers to continue writing, but it also extends to other topics as well. We found one female blogger’s site which provides its audience with an account of the trials and tribulations of being Iraqi in current times. The blogger, named ‘Rejected’, describes how she lost her job in Iraq and was forced to seek work in Dubai (in the United Arab Emirates). Her detailed story is posted as a series of entries and garners many comments, providing diverse support (from both Iraqis and non-Iraqis). One follower gives us some insight into what her account means to others who are not affected by the conflict. The follower posts the comment:

For example, one Iraqi blogger describes how much he enjoys his mother cooking Timmen Ahmer (red rice), an Iraqi dish. A non-Iraqi commenter, ‘Dreamer’, replies: “Now about your timmen ahmar, I must admit that I've never tried it but you made me curious…And cold yoghurt

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with hot timmen is the best combination in the world, it's so delicious.”

One Iraqi follower interacting with Rob suggested that Rob now owes him coffee, whereas Rob responds that the Iraqi follower needs to bring “woman’s arms”, which is an Iraqi dessert typically eaten with tea or coffee. From earlier posts we learn that Rob appears to be part of the allied military forces and has spent a year in Iraq and has become somewhat familiar with the culture. His reference to an Iraqi dessert rather than one that is typical to his culture (e.g. doughnuts, bagel) suggests his willingness to adapt to Iraqi customs. Moreover, Rob is expressing that though they are of different cultures they both share the commonality of experiencing war; both have suffered the consequences. Rob is also expressing that though they are in different roles (and different cultures) they really are quite similar through their common experiences. We maintain that such types of intercultural interactions can increase cultural awareness and intercultural competency.

The blogger replies: I miss timmen Ahmer also, I miss fish, I miss many things , yet, we have to cope with what we have. The discussion continues about food and another follower, an Iraqi no longer living in Iraq, adds: “You forgot the Lobya with Timman Ahmar, it wouldn't taste the same without Lobya. The problem with the Iraqi food is that when it is cooked in another country it tastes differently not only because of the ingredients but it lacks the smell of Iraq.” Still another follower, ‘Zappy Corleone’ who is Iraqi, describes love of a dish, Timan Ahmar (and explains it is Anbar rice) and how relatives with who Zappy shared such a meal have died. Zappy explains:

Building a knowledge base

We found that many of the interactions enabled people to expand their knowledge regarding different topics ranging from art to politics, with a significant focus on topics related to the conflict within Iraq. These interactions expanded on information provided by the blogger through their war diary, personal diary or events pertaining to the war. These entries triggered the most comments as well as interactions among the blogger and followers, and among the followers themselves. These interactions often led to clearer, more detailed accounts of events as perceived by people from their distinct perspectives.

“shame that the legacy of Timan Ahmar also died.. we lost so many things in life, have we not?” The blogger and followers have used food and cooking as a way to establish a commonality. At the same time, through their discussion of food the blogger and Iraqi followers are revealing to the non-Iraqi follower the different ways that the war has affected them (i.e. there are shortages of prized food, loved ones are no longer around, people are forced to relocate to other countries). Thus, through this intercultural exchange on the topic of food, people are able to discuss sensitive topics about the war.

It should be noted that interactions were not always limited to those between bloggers and their followers but also often extended to interactions among the followers of certain blogs. The following is just one such example in which one Iraqi blogger wanted to translate her school’s name, which includes the word “Al-Mutamaiezat”:

Another example of expressing shared experiences is illustrated in one female blogger’s description of the celebrations that she experienced at the end of the Iraq-Iran war: “…the next morning soldiers from both sides shared their breakfast. Iraqi soldiers and Iranian soldiers after 8 years of war overnight were …..! War in Iraq is different. Peace in Iraq the only one we lived was different. I am sure within ten years this land will be extremely different from all it was or it is.”

“"Al-Mutamaiezat school", I thought alot about how to translate it but I didn't find any word more suitable than "special girls school"” This entry was followed by a comment by an Iraqi follower who provided a definition of the term in a comment posted:

This entry led to comments posted by some of her followers giving an account of how they perceive war. One comment posted by ‘Rob’, a non-Iraqi, is presented below:

“The school is called a "Magnet School" in America. My two nephews attend a magnet school, that's how I know about the name.”

I wish I could see you. Get to know you and tell you that this year in Iraq will never leave me. I am a soldier, I have seen war in other places also and it is the same everywhere. You, civilians, pay a higher price than the soldiers doing the fighting. I wish I could sit down with you over coffee and tell you that you and I are NOT that much different. Maybe laugh and cry of all these things that we have seen and felt. Between those words you send, hidden somewhere, `there is a smile I wish I could see. When will we be able to smile again?”

A female Kuwaiti follower suggested “The distinguished girls school” as an alternative definition. The blogger responded that she had looked up the meaning of “magnet school” and felt that it was better suited. In this example, we find that defining an uncommon term was a collaborative effort. The Iraqi blogger recognized the need to explain the school’s status and made the decision on which definition was best suited. Another example that exemplifies this is in response to a blog created by an Iraqi male that reports the conditions the

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children of Iraq are experiencing. The entry elicits several comments from diverse followers, some of whom start interacting among themselves. For example, Melissa (who is non-Iraqi) responds to the blog:

are representative of discussions in other blogs that provided minute (often bleak) descriptions of what life is like in Iraq. In addition to Nadia, other followers were also critical of the blogger reporting on the conditions of Iraqi children, raising doubts about the authenticity of the blogger or his/her intentions in providing such information. However, we found that there were also many other followers who defended and supported the blogger. Such followers often provided their own insights that they gleaned through their interactions with people who had served in Iraq (e.g. as soldiers) or based on their personal experience.

“This is a great idea! My daughter is 11, and she and I can read these stories together and talk about what we learn, so that she can come to understand what life is like for the children of Iraq and share the stories with her friends. Thanks to you for this opportunity to share and learn from each other.” This comment was followed a few hours later by a response from another follower, ‘Nadia’, who is Iraqi:

Restoration

Melissa, if you really want to know things about Iraqi kids you should contact any Iraqi family near you and sit down and talk to them. An anonymous blog is not the way. If you don't have an Iraqi family contact the Iraqi embassy and ask them to locate nearest Iraqi group to join them in their meetings...”

Blog comments from non-Iraqis not only provided different views about the conflict but they also provided practical advice on how to restore infrastructure—from non-Iraqi points of view. The most prominent of these are comments which provide links to non-profit organizations that can help the blogger restore order in their environment.

Others come to the defense of the blogger and follower and attempt to validate the information provided by the blogger and question the validity of Nadia, the previous follower. ‘Dave’, an American writes:

One interesting example of intercultural interactions that attempt to help Iraqis restore order is evident in the very first blog entry of a 16-year old female Iraqi student. She starts her blog by introducing herself and providing readers with basic background information. She goes on to describe the conditions in her school, stating:

Nadia, You are very skeptical. I wonder why? [blogger’s name] has no agenda. He isn't asking for money. He isn't taking a side. He is just writing to give children a voice, children who are not heard or listened to. Maybe you don't know what life is like for these children. I didn't until I spent a year in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division. Maybe you don't know what it is like to stand all day on the street selling in 114 degree tempetures [sic] to make a little money to help feed your sisters, mother and baby brother when you are 7 years old. …”

“The most interesting and disgusting thing in my school is the school yard, it's some thing I can't describe with my very limited vocabularies but I'll try any way. My school lies in a very low level which causes the water to gather in its yard and stays for a long time, sometimes it stays till summer. Then the frogs will come, plenty of frogs in any size you want, but this year the headmistress made a very wise decision she simply ordered the employees to pour gasoline over the frogs and then all the frogs died, disgusting, isn't it?”

In contrast to the earlier followers we described who sought commonalities, Dave is emphasizing to Nadia how different she is from other Iraqis (i.e. she doesn’t know what life is like for the Iraqi children). His comment distances himself from Nadia and conversely shows his understanding for the life and viewpoint of the blogger, who is also Iraqi.

We found that 11 followers commented on this first entry; some making suggestions on how she can restore her school. Suggestions ranged from students taking ownership and cleaning the school themselves to digging trenches and having pipes installed to drain the stagnant water. It should be noted that installing pipes is easier to do in a conflictfree country than it would be in Iraq where allocating resources means having to overcome many challenges. Others gave useful hints of online resources that may help if the school is placed on "the adopt a school" list. One nonIraqi follower provides the following advice:

Dave goes on to provide further evidence and support for the blogger and explains the need for stories like these from Iraqis: “…Do you think the Iraqi families here in the USA who may have been here for generations or decades have any idea what life has been for these children for the last 20 years? When were you in Iraq? How many mud villages without electricity or wells have you slept in?”

“…best thing to do would be to contact the commanding officer of a coalition base and ask for their help. we love that "hearts and minds" stuff! :D”

These interactions not only support the blogger but also provide the blog audience with an opportunity to see a single experience within a larger context by bringing together fragmented views of war which are in fact interrelated. The result leads to a more holistic view of an event for both bloggers and followers alike. The discussions

Note that “hearts and minds” is an American expression that stems from the Vietnam War but may not be commonly known by non-Americans. The comment also gives Iraqis living in Iraq information on not only resources available to

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them but also insights into aspects of American culture of which they may not be aware. Non-Iraqi followers also empower Iraqis with knowledge on how to approach intercultural communication with the allied forces which can increase their intercultural competency. For example, an American follower named ‘Ann’ advises the blogger to contact a task force and supplies the URL and also writes:

provided. In these instances, we also typically found that many other followers defended the blogger or the accuracy of the bloggers’ information. Interactions among bloggers and followers led to the creation of online intercultural communities within the blogosphere that we sampled. We also found that followers came from a variety of cultures, which indicates that the Iraqi blogosphere that we studied was truly multicultural. Both bloggers and followers showed aspects of intercultural competence in the communities that were created. Some non-Iraqi followers named Iraqi food dishes to show awareness of Iraqi culture. In some cases, the bloggers and followers we studied were actually examples of multiculturism. Multiculturism refers to how different cultures can coexist in an environment and mutually benefit each other [21]. We found specific ways that different cultures offered benefits to Iraqi bloggers: through providing support, establishing commonalities, contributing to knowledge, and providing information to restore the environment.

“…I think that you could call them and ask about the debris in your school yard. Tell them that you want to know if the debris is safe, or if it is possible that there are improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under the debris. Then tell them that you would like the trash in the school yard and the "standing water" removed as it is a health hazard. Ask them how these things can be accomplished…..” It is interesting to note that Ann refrains from replacing the term "standing water" with “stagnant”, preferring to use the 16-year old blogger’s expression while introducing information (a URL) that would enable her to communicate with a task force. There were also comments which gave suggestions on how to self-organize, providing examples of other cultures’ practices. For example, one non-Iraqi follower familiar with Japanese culture suggested the following:

Researchers have identified different processes that can describe the degree of adaptation to a new culture [21]. People can assimilate, which refers to giving up their previous culture to integrate into a new one. This involves, for example, using the language, forming close ties, and adopting customs and traditions of the new culture. At the other end of the scale is cultural maintenance, where people retain their old culture though living in the new culture. In between these two types of adaptation are degrees of acculturation, where a person adapts to some aspects of the new culture while at the same time keeping many aspects of their old culture. For example, the Amish people in the United States live in self-sufficient communities but also speak English, pay taxes, and have market transactions with non-Amish people. Gypsies had historically been separated from Europeans though living in the same countries. However, more recently, gypsies have shown signs of acculturation by interacting with local people for their livelihoods (e.g. selling carpets, used cars, furniture), adopting the language of their new country, foregoing traditional dress, and moving less frequently [12].

“If I may make a suggestion, you should organize your classmates to have a contest to fix the school yard. You can clean it up and take pride in your school. In Japan there are no school janitors; the students take care of everything themselves. It's a useful exercise for everyone in the school to consider themselves part owners….” These examples illustrate how intercultural interactions can provide new ideas to solve pressing problems. The followers are sharing with the Iraqi blogger their solutions based on their cultural practices. Digging trenches, installing pipes (which is difficult to do during the current conflict in Iraq), and having school children take ownership of their school, are ideas used in other cultures for a similar problem and are introduced to the Iraqi blogger to help her take initiative in restoring her school. The blogger and followers are thus collaborating to find solutions to the blogger’s schoolyard problem.

Still another process of adaptation to another culture is when a person becomes a sojourner [21]. The sojourner visits another country temporarily yet still retains their own culture. Many people have the experience of having lived abroad for a period of time, for example as students or as employees. Sojourners know that their stay is temporary and consequently, do not usually put in the requisite effort to assimilate to the new culture. Yet there may be some degree of acculturation, for example in learning the new language, in eating local foods, or adopting new practices such as bicycling instead of driving. However, one still retains their old cultural identity, as with the “American in France”.

DISCUSSION

In this paper we examined two interrelated aspects of blogging in an intercultural context. The first aspect was how intercultural communities of bloggers and followers might help bloggers in managing experiences related to the conflict in the region. The second aspect was to examine the process of cultural adaptation in blogging as members of different cultures interact. We found that overall, the nature of interactions were supportive of Iraqis and attempted to help them overcome their negative experiences related to the conflict. We did find that some blog entries received criticism or comments expressing doubt on the trustworthiness of the information

Concepts of assimilation and acculturation have been generally discussed from the perspective of people being

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TOWARDS MULTICULTURISM WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

physically present in a land with a different culture. Social media sites such as blogs, on the other hand, enable people to “visit” other lands, as the sojourner where they can interact with people of different cultures. In our study, we found that followers from other cultures tended to act as “sojourners” visiting the bloggers’ cultural domains.

In the age of social media, increasingly more people can be connected globally. How can intercultural competence be promoted in social media use? First, we suggest that best practices that follow intercultural competence can be posted on social media websites. This can encourage an awareness of intercultural differences and may even promote discussions on this theme. Another idea involves natural language processers, which are becoming more and more sophisticated. It may be useful for unusual words or phrases to be detected by natural language software which would then prompt users to explain the terms.

In their study of distributed teams, Olson and Olson [19] consider the maxim: when in Rome do as the Romans do. However, they pose the question that when people communicate online, where is Rome? We found that in many instances followers “visited” the cultural domain of the blogger. In other words, for bloggers and followers alike, the maxim, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” applies, where “Rome” is the blogger’s cultural domain.

Embedding a cultural dictionary is another feature that can support cultural understanding and intercultural communication. A cultural dictionary can be developed by bloggers and their followers alike, in the spirit of Wikipedia. With such a dictionary bloggers and followers could list expressions used in entries that are culturallyspecific. Definitions or explanations of these expressions can then be added by the author of the blog post or a reader. The dictionary could also allow bloggers and followers to describe the cultural nuances of such terms. Such a collaborative dictionary would enable both blog authors and their followers to participate in populating the dictionary. As discussed, we found instances in which definitions were provided for uncommon terms.

We found several patterns in our data that support this idea. For example, the translation of English expressions for the non-native English speakers suggests that the dominant culture of the blog unit is Iraqi, i.e. the blogger’s cultural domain. Examples include when native English speaking followers explained language expressions and terms, such as “between a rock and a hard place” and “trolls”. Other followers named Iraqi food dishes to show they were aware of Iraqi culture. On the other hand, we observed that native Arabic speakers generally did not translate Arabic words that they used (e.g. Mashallah or e-Mukhabarat) which would benefit the nonArabic speaking followers. This observation suggests that the blog authors perhaps viewed their culture as the one to which followers should adapt. On the one hand we might expect that the blogger’s cultural domain would be the dominant culture since followers are responding to the blog content. However, we might also expect that native or proficient English speakers might assume that their culture is familiar enough to the rest of the world that it is not necessary to translate idiosyncratic words and expressions. Their assumption would be supported by the fact that these followers are responding to blogs and comments written in English. The fact that most English speaking followers did translate these cultural expressions suggests that they were doing it to communicate more effectively with the nonnative English speaking bloggers and followers. In other words, it shows a degree of cultural competency.

Another idea is to include intercultural competency as part of a training program in media literacy. There are already initiatives to promote media literacy. For example, The Media Literacy Clearinghouse provides resources for kindergarten-12th grade teachers1. Limitations

Our qualitative study of data was gathered from a single blog publishing tool. We may have missed important blogs or comments and this also raises the possibility that we also missed entire categories as a result. Furthermore, while adopting a qualitative research approach allowed us to conduct a deep analysis of each blog entry and comments, it also limited the number of blog units that we could sample. CONCLUDING REMARKS

We found that blogs gave both bloggers and their followers an opportunity to engage in dialog that would not be possible within the physical confines imposed by the ongoing conflict in Iraq. In the current climate of Iraq, it is risky to travel to meet others and Iraqis interacting with foreigners are typically labeled as traitors. The dialogue that ensued from a blog post helped bloggers construct a more holistic view of an event from diverse cultural perspectives. Our analysis of the various interactions gave us an opportunity to observe intercultural communication within the context of social media, i.e. blogs. These

We found that the Iraqis were also open to intercultural interaction (with non-Iraqis) by writing in English. The adoption of English as a common language by the majority of bloggers in our sample enabled intercultural communication. There were also Arabic blogs in our data sample which enabled Iraqis to interact with other Arabic speakers from, for example, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. Thus, the use of languages common to the followers, the efforts to communicate local expressions, the efforts to find commonalities, and the offering of support and advice based on local cultural practices led to a level of intercultural competency and the creation of multicultural communities to support people in a region of conflict.

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http://www.frankwbaker.com/default1.htm.

communications typically showed a degree of acculturation and even intercultural competency. Thus, people of different cultures entered the Iraqi blogosphere as “sojourners”, enabling interaction that would not have been possible through physical travel, in the current climate of conflict in Iraq.

9. DiMaggio, P., Eszter, H., Neuman W.R., and Robinson, J.P. (2001). Social Implications of the Internet. Ann Rev of Sociology, 27, 307–336. 10. Doostdar, A. (2004). “The Vulgar Spirit of Blogging”: On language, culture, and power in Persian Weblogestan. Amer. Anthrop., 106(4), 651-662. 11. Falkheimer, J. and Heide, M. (2006). Multicultural crisis communication: Towards a social constructionist perspective. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 14 (4), 180-189. 12. Fraser, A. (1995). The Gypsies. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK. 13. Furukawa, T., Matsuo, Y., Ohmukai, I., Uchiyama, K., and Ishizuka, M. (2007). Social networks and reading behavior in the blogosphere. Int’l Conf. on Weblogs and Social Media. 14. Gergen, K. (1985). The social constructionist movement in modern psychology. American Psychologist, 266-275. 15. Herring, S. C, Scheidt, L. A., Wright, E., & Bonus, S. (2005). Weblogs as a bridging genre. Information, Technology, & People, 18(22), 142–171. 16. Miller, D., and Slater, D. (2000). The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach. Berg, Oxford, UK. 17. Nakagawa, Y. and Shaw, R. (2004). Social capital: A missing link to disaster recovery. Int'l. Jnl of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. 22(1), 5-34. 18. Nardi, B., Schiano, D., and Gumbrecht, M. (2006). Blogging as Social Activity, or, Would You Let 900 Million People Read Your Diary? Proceedings of CSCW’04, 222-231. 19. Olson, G. M., & Olson, J. S. (2000). Distance matters. Human-Computer Interaction, 15, 139–178. 20. Quarantelli, E. and Dynes, R. (1977). Response to social crisis and disaster. Ann Rev of Sociology, vol 3, 23-49. 21. Rogers E.M., and Steinfatt, T.M. (1999). Intercultural Communication. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL. 22. Schmidt, J. (2007). Blogging practices: An analytical framework. Journal of CMC, 12, 1409-1427. 23. Sproull, L. and Kiesler, S. (1991). Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 24. Strauss, A. L. and Corbin, J. M. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Sage, California. 25. Torrey, C., Lee, M., Burke, M. Dey, A., Fussell, S., & Kiesler, S. (2007). Connected giving: Ordinary people coordinating disaster relief on the Internet. In Proc. of the 40th Hawaii Int. Conf. on Syst. Science (HICSS’07). 26. Van Den Bos, M., and Nell, L. (2006). Territorial bounds to virtual space: transnational online and offline networks of Iranian and Turkish-Kurdish immigrants in the Netherlands. Global Networks, 6(2), 201-220.

APPENDIX 1 Comment type

Explanation

Support

Follower agrees with blog opinions, or expresses thanks.

Encouragement

Follower urges to keep on writing by stating so explicitly or by welcoming the blogger to the community. Follower defends bloggers when they are criticized by other followers.

Sympathy

Follower expresses affinity with blog entries e.g. “it must be really hard” or provides stories of their own experiences that are similar to the blogger’s.

Advice

Comment includes an opinion on what to do, write about, react.

Query

Follower asks a question.

Admiration

Follower expresses admiration for blog content.

Establish link

Follower includes their own blog or email address.

Information

Comments that provide additional information about themselves or about the topic, often with humor.

Criticism

Comments that are critical of others’ comments or blog entry or are suspicious of authenticity

Table 1. Codes and their definitions used for all blog comments. REFERENCES

1. Alavi, N. (2005). We Are Iran. Soft Skull, Brooklyn, NY. 2. Alexanian, J. (2008). Poetry and Polemics: Iranian Literary Expression in the Digital Age. MELUS, 33(2), 129-152. 3. Amir-Ebrahimi, M. (2008). Transgression in Narration: The Lives of Iranian Women in Cyberspace. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 4(3), 89-118. 4. Baumer, E., Sueyoshi, M. and Tomlinson, B. (2008). Exploring the role of the reader in the activity of blogging. In Proc. Of CHI'08, 1111-1120. 5. Bernal, V. (2006). Diaspora, cyberspace and political imagination: the Eritrean diaspora online. Global Networks, 6(2) 161-179. 6. Mark, G., Semaan, B. (2009). “Expanding a Country’s Borders during War: The Internet War Diary”. International Workshop on Intercultural Collaboration IWIC 2009 (Palo Alto, February 20-21, 2009).. 7. Al-Ani, B., Mark, G. and Semaan, B. (2010). Blogging in a region of conflict: Supporting transition to recovery". Proceedings of CHI’10, 10-15 April, Atlanta, GA, 10691078. 8. Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell, Cambridge, MA.

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