Blogging: the use of digital representation of the migration experience

Abstract

To understand the migrant experience, researchers have traditionally used methods such as ethnography and the analysis of written records to analyse the process of migration; however a new primary source – new-media or digital records – is becoming more and more relevant to the field. The new primary sources take many forms, but a common new-medium, used by those migrating from Greece in the second decade of the twenty-first century, is that of blogs. This preliminary and exploratory study seeks to examine blogs written by people choosing to leave Greece. Using a qualitative analysis of themes extrapolated from blog posts, both personal and practical, this study illustrates themes discussed by bloggers to communicate their experience, and suggests further uses for new-media in the field of migration studies.