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Comunicar Journal 25: Quality Television (Vol. 13 - 2005)
Weblogues: a new instrument for the promotion of the communication between television and viewers
Neusa Baltasar
Weblogs, also referred to as Blogs, are a very important tool in our days and its growth in the last few years is the confirmation of the importance they have in the Portuguese mediatic context.
This new communication instrument can be defined as a frequently updated website or personal diary where the contents are inserted by chronological order and the most recent content is always the one that appears first on top of the site. Blogs are usually pointers to other websites or blogs and they often include comments from the readers. One of its most interesting features is that they can be created and maintained by a group with common interests, and be a debate and reflection space for the group members or they can be open to the community comments if that’s their members’ option. If the Internet was already considered a privileged space for communication and information exchange, blogs came to reinforce these potentials even more in the sense that they sustain themselves as a meeting point among people with common interests. Blogs offer the opportunity for everyone (with a computer and Internet connection) to access information, comment it, express their ideas and opinions, share their knowledge, etc.
It is in this perspective that we consider blogs can, as an expression and reflection space, fill in a gap that exists in television – the audience space, their answer, opinion, etc. In Portugal there are many blogs related to media education and some about television in particular and they are a reference of critical analysis and reflection.
This paper is based in the study of some of these blogs related to media education and television, as for instance Crianças e Media, Educação para os Media, Educomunicação/Educomunicación and Irreal tv. We aim at doing an analysis in what concerns their goals, contents, functionality and dynamics. Departing from this analysis we intend to deepen knowledge about this kind of blogs and its worth to reflection and to increase critical thought towards television and media in general. We also aim at drawing attention to the small part television occupies as creator of a dialogue space for their audience and to the fact that it should be more involved in creating initiatives and promoting interaction with their audience.
Keywords
Television and audience, communication, new media, media education, interactivity