|
Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2012
FollowMe.IntDev.Com: International Development in the Blogosphere
by
Ryann Manning
|
Abstract
This article explores online blogs as a new forum for discussing ideas and practices in international development. Based on a qualitative study of conversations that take place across multiple blogs, I conclude that the blogosphere combines features of a public sphere, in which people convene to discuss issues of public interest, and an invisible college, in which experts create, verify, and legitimise knowledge and expertise. Blogs have the potential to be inclusive and participatory, but they also exclude many groups and privilege certain forms of expertise, and are dominated by a sophisticated and wired global elite.
Keywords: Development Economics;
Interpersonal Communication;
Knowledge Acquisition;
Experience and Expertise;
Globalization;
Blogs;