Wow...I don't even know where to begin. I have been learning so much since this class started. I am so much more aware of how I write content, review digital content, and consider the digital environment. I took a short break from researching my restaurant idea and instead focused on learning the digital research methods. I feel a little behind in the course (since this is the first grad course I've taken at Texas Tech and have never seen the background material) however, I spent the entire weekend reading our textbooks and considering how to apply the material to the task at hand.
I had never considered before the issue of private information vs. public. I've just assumed that everyone knew that just about everything on the web was searchable. I was taught from an early age to not type anything that I could potentially be embarrassed by or regret later. It was a good learning experience to have my assumptions trumped by research.
I also thought the concept of the participants helping the researcher vs. the researcher helping the particpants was intriguing. I had assumed prior to the reading that the researcher would be a lurker and make as minimal an impact as possible. To become more of a community member and interact with the community while researching must be a difficult position to maintain.
I'm still trying to figure out which methods are best suited to my research, but so far I feel I'm heading in the right direction.
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Ali you said what is on my mind! I have a very limited background on digital research methods so this has been a steep learning curve for me as well.
Prior to this class, I had not spent a lot of time thinking about the impact of a researcher within an online community. If I was at an in-person medical support group and a researcher was in the group, I would not feel comfortable. Prior to this class I did not consider the implications of a similar situation in an online environment. It would be interesting to see the influence that the outside presence had on either group and the similarities and differences between the two.
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