(Russian) writer-bloggers: Digital perfection and the aesthetics of imperfection

Abstract

This article explores readings of (micro)blogging services as outlets for playful, "imperfect" language. Adopting a transcultural approach, it examines a blog category that has attracted scarce academic attention to date: the creative worker's blog. Through a qualitative analysis of metalinguistic statements by 14 Russian writer-bloggers, the author tests 2 interdependent hypotheses: (H1) through metalinguistic statements and pragmatic strategies, writers present language play and "imperfect" language as prototypical for new media; and (H2) If H1 is correct, the writer-blogger's preference for "imperfect" language caters into a broader cultural-philosophical anxiety - one of foregrounding imperfection as an aesthetic counterresponse to digital perfection. © 2014 International Communication Association.