Online study of blogs and inclusive community

Deepstambha did an online study of 150 bloggers. Questionnaires were sent to bloggers on how blogs could contribute to an inclusive society and in highlighting issues and concerns of persons with disability.
About 150 bloggers were sent the questionnaire. The following questions were asked to the bloggers:
1) Do you think the blogosphere can contribute towards highlighting the issues and concerns of the persons with disability and the terminally ill? If yes, how?
2) Can blogs be part of efforts to promote an Inclusive Society?
3) What inspired you to start your blog?
4) What are the challenges you are facing in promoting your blog?
5) Do you consider the blog as one of your achievements? If yes, how?
6) Can blogs help raise resources? How can blogs be sustained over a period of time?
7) Is blog an effective medium through which you can connect to the persons with disability across the world? If yes, how?

While almost all respondents in the study underlined that blogs do have a role in highlighting the issues and concerns of the persons with disability, some had a word of caution. For the record, only 35 per cent of the respondents replied back to our questionnaire.

Stephen Pate of http://peidisabilityalert.blogspot.com/ pointed out that the disadvantage of blogs is narrow market penetration and lack of profile. “Any media can impact society if the media themselves have the interest to readers” he emphasizes. Others felt that it is a vehicle for expression accessed by millions. One of our respondent said, “The blogosphere is exerting significant pressure to move our world in the direction of a more inclusive society because it makes the issues and concerns of people much more visible, whether we are talking about disability, or ethnic identity, or religion.”

Lorraine in her blog, http://buggeringonwards.blogspot.com has said that many people may not have a voice within their own society or culture but the internet allows everyone to speak up and have their issues and concerns heard.” She considered blog as one of her major achievement. “I have been contacted by people all around the world who tells me they have read it and enjoyed it. I have also been writing it for 18 months which is a miracle”, she exclaims.

Another blogger, Atila the Mom of http://lilwalnutbrain.blogspot.com says, “If individual bloggers are able to develop a base of readers on their own, then they can contribute towards highlighting issues and concerns of persons with disability.” In fact while doing the research we found many bloggers not revealing their own identify and instead using

Dr Rohit Trivedi, a volunteer with Arushi, Bhopal (he is not a blogger) talks succinctly on the role of blogs, “The blogosphere and other tools of the digital spaces should be used astutely to sensitise people on disability. It is a wonderful tool to develop linkages worldwide so that it strengthens advocacy efforts.” Dr Trivedi is a person with visual impairment and has been working on the issue of accessibility and inclusive education.

On the question of whether blogs can be part of efforts to promote an Inclusive Society, the respondents were unanimous asserting that the blogosphere cannot be the only tool for achieving it. Instead it could contribute only when in conjunction with other efforts especially at the grassroots and the societal level.

Many of the bloggers said they had something to say on the issue and hence they started the blog. Others were passionate to work on a particular area of disability hence they were inspired to start the blog. Many persons with disability wanted to share their experiences and this acted as a catalyst to start their own blogs. The reasons of starting a blog are varied but most importantly it is the deep interest which pushes a person to initiate a blog. For instance, Abfh in her http://autisticbfh.blogspot.com says, “I started my blog out of frustration at seeing autistic people who meekly accepted the stereotypes about autism and believed themselves to be mentally inferior. Since I started the blog, my perspective has broadened and I have started writing more about issues of family, community, and social attitudes toward disability and human differences in general.”

On the issue of challenges in promoting one’s blog, many said it was the time factor and the knowledge of blog promotion techniques which were obstacles. Hugyourkidz (real name not known) says, “You have to comment on other people’s blogs to get them to come to yours. Just writing what you think are brilliant pearls of thought aren’t enough if you don’t give two shifts what other people think.” This viewpoint is shared by many others who emphasize that unless one comment on others blog it is not easy to get visitors to one’s blog. It is all about networking.

Many of the passionate bloggers consider their blogs as some kind of achievement as they are able to put forward their views and place them in the public domain. Many feel they have been able to carry forward their advocacy efforts through their blogs. Abfh for instance says, “My blog has motivated people to develop a broader and more view of human diversity, to be more willing to accept their own differences and those of their family members, to think more about social issues, and to discuss potential ways of dealing with intolerance and other social problems.”

Our study also dealt with the issue of whether blogs can help raise resources. While most feel that it is a great challenge to raise resources and sustain it over a long period of time others had no idea of whether a blog could actually help in raising resources. “It is again a question of time,” Katie, one of the respondent underscored, “Most bloggers are simple volunteers who are into their professional lives. They do blogging only in their free time. So one can’t devote much time and hence chances of proper networking and devising strategies for raising resources are little. However it is important to learn weblog promotion techniques. ” She has a blog http://bipolarworks.wordpress.com/

Again almost all the respondents were unanimous in asserting that digital spaces like blogs are effective medium for networking notwithstanding the connectivity issues in third world countries. It helps in bringing organizations and individuals together and plays an important role in advocacy efforts worldwide.