Mommy Blogging and Deliberative Dialogical Ethics: Being in the Ethical Moment

Abstract

This article argues that while some mommy bloggers follow ethical practices in protecting the privacy of those they write about, others have given little thought to such self-regulation, leaving room and need for the dialogical blog-based forum proposed by the authors. Since mommy blogging takes family as its subject (and often family members who are dependent minors), confidentiality and privacy issues are particularly sensitive. Apart from an early effort to codify guidelines published on the BlogHer website, there has been little blog-based or scholarly discussion of ethical blogging practices. Several examples of prominent mommy bloggers who disclose sensitive information about others without apparent privacy concerns for purposes of entertaining or informing their audience are documented. To conclude, the authors propose opening their blog—Mommy Bloglines: Ta[l]king Care—as a forum for interactive community discussion of evolving practices, with a goal of identifying some shared values amidst diversity.