Information and food blogging as serious leisure

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore aspects of creating, seeking, sharing and management of information in food blogging as serious leisure.Design/methodology/approach – Participants' conceptualisation of food blogging and the role of information in it is interpreted through in‐depth interviews and analysis of activity on the UK Food Bloggers Association web site.Findings – Food blogging as a leisure pursuit resulted in the creation of new information sources, for which existing information is a source of inspiration. The content, and style of blogs, and so their nature as information sources, were influenced by the extent of involvement in a professional‐amateur‐public (PAP) system. Information about publics or audiences was of great concern and a focus of collegial information sharing. The management of content implies greater personal information management needs, but the data did not show great awareness of this, rather interviewees were concerned with access management. Pre‐professional...