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Reading guide for a blog:

Type of blog?

·       Instructional blog on how to select and care for hedgehog as pet

·       Niche blog on pets (“petbloglady”)

Who is the author? What is the purpose? Who is the intended audience?

·       the author is not mentioned by name in or after the blog. However, in the “about me” section the author is introduced. (Canadian, 55 years old, hobbies etc)

·       purpose: informing “beginners” on how to care for hedgehogs, how to get them, cage them, feeding them.

·       Audience: people that possibly think about getting a hedgehog as pet, or are generally interested in caring for them, want to inform themselves, have no preceding knowledge (therefore “beginners”)

Is the blog part of a genre ecology of other genres?

Instruction/online guide?

Could be found in a book/magazine as well? (how to care for hedgehogs…)

Register and purpose?

Inform:

·       Large number of imperatives: you need to, make sure, add a few toys, you must check…

Involve:

·       As a hedgehog owner, ... (creating a sense of team and belonging)

·       Directly addressing reader: Before you start picking out a hedgehog,...

·       With the right care, your hedgehog can be a fun, playful companion for many years. (conversational style in lexical choices)

Audience engagement?

·       Imperatives: see above

·       No personal asides, but matter of fact listing and instructions

·       Visual features: 3 pictures (unmistakably cute) to appeal to the reader

·       You: many times, reader is being involved

·       No “I”

·       No personal information or experience added (not clear if author has hedgehog as well or is just well informed)

·       Hyperlinks to other blogs (by author herself but also others) for more specific information

·       Convey benefit to audience: With the right care, your hedgehog can be a fun, playful companion for many years./ The domesticated hedgehog is intelligent, friendly, and can make for a great companion.

·       Monologic, but readers are able to leave a comment

·       Strongly connotated verbs and adjectives: essential, require, need to, ...

Author identity?

·       Doesn’t mention herself, not known if she owns hedgehof herself. Cites/uses many links to other blogs though, seems to be informed on what she writes about.

·       Not in blog itself but through layout/title of website establishes herself as competent instruction giver and informer

·       Authoritative voice through imperatives (as mentioned above)

Lay out and visuals?

What do you notice about the lay out and visuals of the blog? Identify specific examples. Why do you think this layout and visuals were selected?

·       Images used (3), cuteness, title also in first image – promote hedgehogs as pets

·       Images shown before and after the first 2 paragraphs (regular layout of text and images)

·       Sequence of paragraphs:

o   introduction (without title)

o    pic

o   2 paragraphs on selecting hedgehog

o   Pic

o   Paragraph on housing requirements

o   Paragraph on dietary needs

o   Short conclusion paragraph without title

·       Subheadings:  3, guide reader through text to destination, follow comprehensible path, Subheadings are numbered but false (all number 1), therefore not great formatting

·       Sentence and paragraph length all roughly the same (regular layout)

·       No quotes

·       No unnecessary empty space

·       Calibri font? Not too formal, goes with general easy going layout of whole website

·       No bolding

·       No bullet points, text as coherent

Headlines?

Title and 3 subheadings

·       2 subheadings: -ing form: selecting and housing

·       3rd subheading: nouns

·       Clear and precise, readers know where to look for specific information, straight forward

·       Short in length

Discourse Particularities:

Register: neutral

Instruction giving

No essential Rhetorical devices detectable

Introduction?

·       Short

·       Declarative sentences, one imperative

·       Characterize the pet and make them appealing for possible owners (intelligent, friendly..)

·       Justify text: Need for information on how to keep them (what the text will give later on)

·       Prepare audience on what will follow

Conclusion?

·       Only 2 sentences

·       Short stop? Sudden ending

·       One sentence with new information (Just like with any other pet, remember to keep an eye out for any signs of disease or odd behavior.) other repeats what was said in introduction (With the right care, your hedgehog can be a fun, playful companion for many years.)

Genre ecology of the internet?

Text incorporates hyperlinks to other blogs, more information there if needed. Blog itself seen as introduction, more infos or more specific infos can be found elsewhere and blog helps find them/direct reader to them.

Not directly stated however (not said: find more information here…, but through hyperlink on content words in text): ex: The habitat should have a large exercise wheel, a heavy food bowl, and a water bottle.

Story design:

Hook: in introduction paragraph, with cute images

Hold: more and more information interesting for possible owners

Payoff: repeat rewarding experience of owning hedgehog at the end

# data[].attributes.body
Type of blog?

Mixture of instructional and informational (“Beginner’s Guide”) niche blog about pets

Personal rather than corporate

Who is the author? What is the purpose? Who is the intended audience?

The author does not explicitly identify herself in the blog. According to the “About me” page of the website, “Petbloglady” is a Canadian woman in her 50s that runs the blog as a hobby/secondary job.

The purpose of the blog entry is to inform and instruct people that are interested in owning a hedgehog as a pet about the general requirements for doing so.

The audience are people interested in owning a hedgehog.

Is the blog part of a genre ecology of other genres?

It is somewhat reminiscent of a WikiHow article. Generally, it resembles articles that are instructional in some general sense.

Does the blog remind you of any other offline equivalent genres?

It does not really remind me of any offline genres, at least not in the form it is presented. It does resemble other online genres (WikiHow etc.).

Register and purpose?

While the language is not exactly formal but rather neutral, there is not much of a trace of the author’s personality in the text. The author does not refer to herself or her own experiences and rarely uses language that reflects her own feelings about the subject (“these cute little animals”). This reflects the instructional/informational purpose of the blog.

Audience engagement?

The author does not try to align with the audience by any specific linguistic means. The main mode of exchange is through imperatives which is used frequently throughout the text (e.g. “Add some soft bedding …”; “make sure you get …” etc.). As indicated above, there is rarely any language that reflects the author’s stance.

One thing that might serve to align the author with the readers are the pictures of hedgehogs she uses in the blog. Especially the first one, which is framed with hearts, might serve to communicate that author and reader share a love for pets and hedgehog in particular.

A total of seven hyperlinks appear in the sections dedicated to the housing and dietary needs of hedgehogs. Four of these refer to a website called “Hedgehog World”, which offers more detailed information and reviews of hedgehog-related products written in blog or article form. One hyperlink refers to a blog on the website of a veterinary. One hyperlink refers to a scientific article about insectivores. The final hyperlink refers to another blog entry of the same blog which was written by a guest author.

Author identity?

See above.

Lay out and visuals?

The beginning of the blog is constructed from the title, the date and a picture (which includes the title again). The main text is divided into an introduction followed by another picture, three sections with subheadings (all of which are numbered with “1.” and with another picture between the first two, but not between the final two) and a short conclusion that is directly added after the last subheading. The individual sections consist of one or, in one case, two paragraphs of medium length. The sentences are also mostly of medium length. The font choice is not remarkable and is consistent throughout the blog. The heading and the subheadings are printed in bold, the rest of the text is not.

Headlines?

The headlines are concise and informational. They do not really engage the reader, but offer succinct information on what the section is about (“Selecting your hedgehog”, “Housing requirements”, “Dietary needs”)

Discourse Particularities:

The register is neutral, and the information is presented factually. There is frequent use of imperatives, but no use of rhetorical devices such as metaphors, rhetorical questions or humor.

Introduction?

Interestingly, the introduction’s move structure is similar of that of abstracts. First, it gives reasons why one would want to own a hedgehog (“not your usual household pets”, “intelligent, friendly, and can make for a great companion”). The it explains why the blog’s topic is relevant (“As with any pet, it is essential to research hedgehogs, their required care, food, habitat needs, and habits to help you take better care of them”) while at the same time giving an outline of the blog entry’s content. Then, it addresses the reader (“As a hedgehog owner, you need …”) and describing the profits of owning a hedgehog (and reading the blog entry) by stating that “raising and caring for these cute little animals can be a fun, rewarding experience”. Finally, it restates the topic (“Here’s a guide on how to care for a hedgehog.”).

Similarly to an abstracts’ purpose, the introduction’s purpose seems to be explaining why the blog entry’s content is relevant to the reader and outlining what it will be about. It also sets up a friendly relation of “expert-lay person” between author and reader.

Conclusion?

The conclusion is only two sentences long and is supposed to encourage responsible behavior of the pet owner (“remember to keep an eye out for any signs of disease or odd behavior”) and restate the advantage of owning a hedgehog (“can be a fun, playful companion for many years”).

Genre ecology of the internet?

See “audience engagement”

Story design:

No.

# data[].attributes.body
Reading guide for a blog:

Type of blog?

This is an instructional blog. The title already gives away that it is meant to give instructions to the readers.

It’s not just a niche blog, but I would argue it to be a niche blog within the niche of pets, since hedgehogs are rather unusual to keep at home.

The writer talks about her personal interests, but it might not be called a personal brand since it doesn’t seem to be marketed.

Who is the author? What is the purpose? Who is the intended audience?

Author: Anonymous, calls herself the Pet Blog Lady

Purpose: Give people interested in hedgehogs the basic information to care for them.

Audience: People interested in unusual pets in general and hedgehogs in particular.

Is the blog part of a genre ecology of other genres?

I would argue it’s part of the genre of a pet blog.

Does the blog remind you of any other offline equivalent genres (diary? Photo album? Travel log? Review? Editorials? Personal webpages)

Register and purpose?

The author uses an informal, but informative register. Example: ”You also need to pick out the right hedgehog variety that is suitable for your lifestyle.”

Audience engagement?

The author has provided a contact form at the end of the article. Readers can also subscribe to the blog or share it on Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook.

She does not use many strategies to create a feeling of community, but she does use cute pictures to illustrate her article and evoke a reaction in the reader.

She does use imperatives, e.g. “Just like with any other pet, remember to keep an eye out for any signs of disease or odd behavior.”

Features to build a relationship with the audience

She uses “you” a lot and no “we” or “I”. The effect is a rather direct instruction-giving to the reader which is not very engaging or appealing (at least to me).

Author identity?

The author does not take much of a stance. She merely gives directions on how to take care of the hedgehog, which reflects her opinion but does not represent a stance itself I think. Example: “...make sure you get a solid-based cage or cover the bottom...”.

Lay out and visuals?

The author has used some images of baby hedgehogs. They are cute, but do not relate to the author or reader personally. It would be better to personalize the pictures.

She uses subheadings for each section, but numbers them all “1.”, which is quite confusing and unprofessional.

There are few white spaces and she uses a standard font (only the subheadings are in bold).

Headlines?

The headline is concise and gives a good idea on what to expect from the article. There are no personal pronouns or adjectives used. She promises a beginner’s guide and delivers a very surface-level interpretation of such a guide, ignoring a lot of information that would be helpful for readers.

Discourse Particularities:

Please see above for the register.

The writer uses a mixture of a journalistic and a scientific mode but does not give the type of information required for either of them.

Rhetorical devices

There are no rhetorical devices used apart from maybe sometimes a surface-level comparison with other pets.

Introduction?

An alliteration “small, spikey ... scared”

Positive adjectives to describe the hedgehog and intrigue the reader.

Abrupt transition between general introduction and specifics on the article, but she does mention what the reader can expect.

Conclusion?

There is no conclusion.

Genre ecology of the internet?

Please see above for the various links to social media.

Story design:

Hook: “The domesticated hedgehog is intelligent, friendly, and can make for a great companion.”

Hold: “Before you start picking out a hedgehog...”

No payoff