FRIESEN NORMAN PHILIP, PhD / BAKARDJIEVA, MARIA, PhD

To contact us: Send necessary questions & comments to:

• norm.friesen@gmail.com for the first set of presentations & the first assignment
• bakardji@ucalgary.ca for the second set of presentations and the second assignment

IMPORTANT: USE "IRM" in the title/subject for your message, to help us sort our messages!

Goals:
To introduce students to existing approaches in Internet research combining theoretical, epistemological and methodological aspects and issues,
Emphasis on the ways that these have been studied by Canadian researchers.
 

NEWS:

• List of Blogs in the class is available. (updated!)

Grading: Based on Participation & Review Assignment

• Participation Required: in class as well as online.
  • A rubric for marking your participation is here
    
  • Presentations will generally be made available here either before or after they are given in class. Note that material other than that contained in the PowerPoint file will be covered in class, and will be important in completing your assignments.
    • Presentations for June 22:
      • Course Overview (course_overview_1.ppt)
      • Introduction to the Internet (internet_basics.ppt)
      • Web Analytics as Internet Research (web_analytics.ppt)
      • Lawrence Lessig at the Centre for American Progress (http://www.archive.org/details/igovernance_rawfootage_l2a)
      • Blogs and Blog Assignment (blogs.ppt)
      • Audio program on Wikipedia (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1344426)
      • Introduction to Qualitative vs. Quantitative research (qual-quant.ppt)
    • Presentations for June 23:
      • Summary for June 22 (Review_of_22.06.ppt)
      • Canadian Research in Online Discussion
      • Introduction (canadians_discussion.ppt)
      • David Noble & Digital Diploma Mills: Summary (noble.ppt)
      • Community of Inquiry model & Content Analysis (commofinq.ppt)
      • Critical Theory (kritischetheorie.ppt; only first part of presentation covered)
      • Common Internet "Myths" (internet_myths.ppt)
    • Presentations for June 29
      • Review of main principles of social research:
        • The research process
        • Paradigms in social theory
        • Methodology and methods
      • The Internet as an object of research:
        • Choosing a theoretical approach
        • delimiting the research object;
        • asking research questions
        • choosing a methodology
        • designing a study
          (see: Soc_research.ppt)
      • Presentations for June 30
      • Research methods and their Internet counterparts. The researcher-respondent relationship on the Internet. (Methods.ppt)
        • Survey
        • Observation
        • Interview
        • Textual analysis
        • Virtual communities and their ethnographies: principles and examples
      • The ethics of ‘virtual’ research (see: Research_Ethics.ppt)
      • Network Analysis: principles and examples
      • Studying Internet Users
      • Studying the Internet in everyday life

The Review Assignment:

1. Choose a relevant article listed on this page (from New Media & Society, the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, and a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Communication). Sign up for the article in class (a sign-up sheet will be provided).
   
2. Create a blog by June 23. The instructions for doing so are provided here.
   
3. Write a short (900 -1200 word) review of the article. This report should not only give a brief overview of the article's contents, but should also contextualize it in some way, and articulate a response to it. You can contextualize the article reviewed in terms of what you have learned thus far in the course. Your response to the article can be critical or positive, or can suggest further areas for research: but whatever your response, please back it up or support it. This support can take the form of evidence from your own experience or from a quality source. This evidence can also take the form of an argument that you are developing in the review. For further guidelines for the type of academic writing expected in this assignment, see Writing Criteria.
   
4. Post a draft of your review to your blog by June 27.
   
5. Read and comment on at least two other reviews by June 29. (Comment only on those blogs or reviews where there are one or fewer comments.)
   
6. Submit a final version of your review to norm.friesen@gmail.com by the end of the course, June 30.

The Project Proposal Assignment:

Due by July 7, 2007

Identify an issue or aspect about the Internet (a research question); why it is important/why you are interested in it; what type of methodology you would employ to study it, and why you would study it that way.  

Your proposal should contain all the main elements of a research proposal as discussed in class: a research question, a simple theoretical framework; a specified methodology, a research design, a description of the methods that will be used, and a brief discussion of the ethics of the project. The rational behind the choice of your theory, methodology and method(s) should be clearly explained. The logical connections between the different elements of the proposal should be outlined: Why do you think this methodology and methods will provide the best route toward answering your research question? How do you plan to apply them – lay out your practical steps. How will you analyze the data? What do you expect your findings and contributions to be? Give examples of similar Internet-related studies that have successfully applied the methodology and methods you have chosen.

The proposal should be clearly written. Use simple, but informative language.  Length: 6-8 pages double spaced.

Grades:

• 20%: discussion participation (on blogs; in class)
• 30%: Assignment 1: Article Review (the quality of your review)
• 50%: Assignment 2: Research Proposal

Required Readings (subject to revision):

• Hine, C. (2005). The Virtual Objects of Ethnography. In Hine, C. (Ed.) Virtual Method: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg. 
   
• Kivits, J. (2005). Online interviewing and the research relationship. In Hine, C. (Ed.) Virtual Method: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg.
   
• Mackay, H. (2005). New connections, familiar settings: issues in the ethnographic study of new media use at home. In Hine, C. (Ed.) Virtual Method: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg.
   
• Orgad, S. (2005). From online to offline and back: moving from online to offline relationships with research informants. In Hine, C. (Ed.) Virtual Method: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg.
   
• Rutter, J. & Smith, G. W. H. (2005). Ethnographic presence in a nebulous setting. In Hine, C. (Ed.) Virtual Method: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg.
   
• Schneider, S. M. (2005). Web sphere analysis: an approach to studying online action. In Hine, C. (Ed.) Virtual Method: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg.

Recommended Readings:

• Bakardjieva, M. (2005). Researching the Internet at Home. Chapter 3 from: Bakardjieva, M., Internet Society: The Internet in Everyday Life. London: Sage.
   
• Bakardjieva, M. (2003). Virtual togetherness: an everyday-life perspective. New Media & Society. 25:3; 291–313.
   
• Ess, M. (2002). Introduction. Ethics and Information Technology 4: 177–188, 2002.
   
• Garton, L., Haythornthwaite, C. & Wellman, B. (1998). Studying On-line Social Networks. In Jones, S. Doing Internet Research: Critical Methods and Issues for Studying the Net. London: Sage.
   
• Hurrell, C. (2006, January 10). Civility in Online Discussion: The Case of the Foreign Policy Dialogue. Canadian Journal of Communication [Online], 30(4). Available: http://www.cjc-online.ca/viewarticle.php?id=1529.
   
• Markham, A. N. (2004) "The Internet as Research Context" in Qualitative Research Practice, (Seale, C., J. F. Gubrium, D. Silverman and G. Gobo eds) Sage Publications, London ; Thousand Oaks, Calif., pp. xix, 620 p. http://faculty.uvi.edu/users/amarkha/writing/Seale.htm
   
• Stern, S.R. (2003). Encountering distressing information in online research: a consideration of legal and ethical responsibilities. New Media & Society. 5(2):249–266
  
  
• Wittel, A. (2000) Ethnography on the Move: From Field to Net to Internet. Forum: Qualitative Social Research Volume 1, No. 1 – 2000, January. In English:
  http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-00/1-00wittel-e.htm Auf Deutsch(!): http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-00/1-00wittel-d.htm

Surveys & Survey Resources:

Studying the Internet through surveys: The World Internet Project: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

Studying social issues through Internet-based surveys:
The National Geographic Survey: Witte, J. , Amoroso, L., & Howard, P. (2000). Research Methodology: Method and Representation in Internet-Based Survey Tools–Mobility, Community, and Cultural Identity in Survey2000 Social Science Computer Review, 18; 179 (sscr.pdf)

Canadian Internet Surveys
Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS)
See results reported at : http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060815/d060815b.htm
See methodology description at: http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4432&lang=en&db=IMDB&dbg=f&adm=8&dis=2#b3

You may be able to find an active survey to examine and, optionally, fill out at the Edinburgh-Southampton Social Psychology Web-lab: http://socpsy.psy.ed.ac.uk/