[Air-L] Air-L Fw: Re: Missing Data in Qualitative and Quantitative Online Research

[Lois Scheidt]

Andre,

So would you say that what is missing in the research projects themselves,
or maybe in the overarching research environment, is the "critical" element
of the discourse? I wonder if the monoculturalization, you note, is common
in emerging research disciplines (using that term loosely as I know there is
much debate on internet research as a discipline) as they sort out what
foci, tools, etc. to port from other venues?

I would like to hear you thoughts, and other as well.

Lois

On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 12:53 PM, Andre Brock <andre.brock at gmail.com>  wrote:

    Following up on Lois' (my shero) excellent response, I'd like to add my
own observations.

    WRT blogging platforms, i find that a lot of work out there ignores the
mediating work done by blogging software.  Yes, the platforms are
content-agnostic (heh), but each platform works differently to construct the
discourses published by the blog author and expanded upon in the comments.
As Lois pointed out, some blogs hand code, which leads to them possibly not
showing up in subject search queries.  I would like to add to this that
depending on the blogs hosting situation,  comment structure and
interactivity will change dramatically depending on the  moderation and
presentation (threading/avatar/anti-spam) possibilities available.

    as a reviewer, I'm often bemused by the lack of interrogation of
cultural ideologies, both online and offline, that are articulated in online
media.  Specifically, research into "mainstream" (non-POC or "straight" or
"masculine") cultures often uncritically accepts the tenets and beliefs
expressed by that community as "normal".  Meanwhile, any research on
underrepresented online cultures MUST work to establish both the differences
and similarities of that culture to the mainstream.

    The dearth of published research on race and online media is a problem
as well, as it exposes the lack of diversity in our field.  (well, it's
actually a good thing for me, but plays hell with my bibliographies)  Even
more interesting is the lack of research on race AND gender or race AND
sexuality; how did we get locked into such monocultural perspectives on
Internet and New Media use and design?

    Just some additional food for thought...

    André

-- 
Lois Ann Scheidt
Doctoral Candidate - School of Library and Information Science, Indiana
University, Bloomington IN USA
Webpage:  http://www.loisscheidt.com
CV:  http://www.loisscheidt.com/cv.html
Blog:  http://www.professional-lurker.com