[Air-l] Methodological research around blogs

[Adolfo Estalella]

Hi Kat, I some articles that treat the issue of using a blog as part of the
research are:

Takhteyev, Y., & Hall, J. (2005, 14-15 mayo). Blogging Together: Digital
Expression in a Real-Life Community. Paper presented at the Social Software
in the Academy Workshop, University of Southern California Annenberg Center.

Blogging Thoughts (pdf) Torill Mortensen and Jill Walker: "Blogging
thoughts: personal publication as an online research tool," in: Researching
ICTs in Context, ed. Andrew Morrison, InterMedia Report, 3/2002, Oslo 2002
http://www.intermedia.uio.no/konferanser/skikt-02/docs/Researching_ICTs_in_context-Ch11-Mortensen-Walker.pdf

Efimova, L. (2004, 2-3 de abril). Discovering the iceberg of knowledge work:
A weblog case. Paper presented at the Fifth European Conference on
Organizational Knowledge, Learning and Capabilities (OKLC04), Innsbruck
(Austria).
https://doc.telin.nl/dscgi/ds.py/Get/File-34786

I myself am using a blog as part of a ethnography of blogs and bloggers.
While some researchers have approach the blog as a field diary (a few
researchers and pH D. students have tried that in Spain) I think that it is
not possible for different issues, the main one the privacy and respect to
your informants.

In my research design I pointed to three different issues arguing in favour
of using a blog as part of my fieldwork: (i) for orienting the research,
learning the same practices of bloggers, (ii) for gaining credibility and
building rapport among bloggers, and (iii) as a way for observing the ethics
obligations of the research, declaring my presence in the field.

After 12 months I can say that not only the three objectives have been
accomplished but my blog have been an invaluable artefact for establishing
and maintaining relationships in the field. However, it is not easy: it is
highly time consuming (as many other activities in ethnography) and you, as
a researcher, are highly exposed. People are able to question you and to ask
for explanation in any moment, indeed, I have been involve in a few hot
debates that have been initiated by other bloggers and readers. The position
of the ethnographer can be hotly contested, I have been questioned and I
have been force to give explanations (a kind of explanations that I would
have never been force to give if I had not written a blog). In that way, the
blog is a risky artefact in the fieldwork, but I am complete convinced that
in my research I would have not been to get access to some kind of people
and I had hardly get aware of certain kind of practices of blogger if I had
not written a blog.

If you want to discuss it in large you can write to my email.

Regards

adolfo


Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 12:51:21 +0100 (BST)
> From: sop01kj at gold.ac.uk
> Subject: [Air-l] Methodological research around blogs
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Message-ID:
>         <58627.83.146.14.199.1177156281.squirrel at secure2.gold.ac.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Hi everyone
>
> We are researchers at Goldsmiths and associated with INCITE
> (www.studioincite.com). We're interested in how blogs are being used for
> social research and have found blogs such as
> http://becomingananthropologist.blogspot.com/ but very little explicit
> discussion about blogs as a methodological tool. One exception is Kris
> Cohen?s work and his article in Media, Culture and Society -
> http://www.photosleavehome.blogspot.com/ - and Adam Reed?s work -
> http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/anthropology/staffprofiles/reed.htm
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations or references which might be helpful
> in trying to find out if there is any methodological research around blogs
> or photoblogs as ways of collecting data from participants or acting as
> fieldwork/visual diaries? And are there any other research groups
> interested in this?
>
> Many thanks
> Kat Jungickel - PhD Student, Sociology Dept
> Vicky Skiftou -  Academic researcher, Sociology Dept
> v.skiftou at gold.ac.uk, 0207 9197484
>
>

-- 
Adolfo Estalella (http://www.estalella.es)
http://estalella.wordress.com
http://somia.wordpress.com

Ph D. Knowledge Society Program
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (http://www.uoc.edu)
Phone: 00 34 936 735 077
Fax: 0034 936 641 970
Mail: jestalellaf at uoc.edu / adolfoestalella at gmail.com

Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)
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