Adolescent Quiz CultureAnyone who has used LiveJournal or any of the personal publishing services out there has seen them: the quizzes and surveys which take up the equivalent of 3 pages of space in your browser telling you all about what kind of soul your friend has or what celebrity wants to marry them. (See example at right).Studying the LJ Quiz CultureNinety percent of blog users are between the ages of 13 and 29, meaning that a majority of LJ quiz-takers are adolescents.“At heart, an online journal is like a hyperflexible adolescent body but better, because in real life, it takes money and physical effort to add a piercing, or to switch from zip-jacketed mod to Abercrombie prepster. LiveJournal or Blurty offers a creative outlet with a hundred moving parts.” - excerpt from
My So-Called Blog
By Emily Nussbaum
For a my childhood studies class, I am writing a research proposal for studying the development of identity in adolescents through LiveJournal quizzes. I will be using my Viral Media final project to develop a set of quizzes for LJ that will provide me with more data. [Read it here] Some questions I am addressing in my paper are:*How does posting the quiz/survey results help the adolescent shape his/her online identity? *Can a quiz/survey be an accurate way to anonymously collect data on adolescent identity on the internet? *Can the viral nature of LJ quizzes work to the advantage of someone studying adolescents, and how does it compare with physical questionnaires? |
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