Mapping the Norwegian Blogosphere: Methodological Challenges in Internationalizing Internet Research

Even as the blog has become an established genre of computer-mediated communication, questions remain about how different blogs are from mass media, and what the transformative potential of blogging is. This article argues for the need for further explorations, especially outside the Anglo-American blogosphere. The article discusses key challenges in light of an ongoing research project aiming to gain insight into how blogging in Norway-a small democratic nation state with a correspondingly small language area-compares to other cases and to assess how online media participation matters for the structure of the public sphere. On this basis, the article presents preliminary findings from a mapping of the Norwegian blogosphere.