Online Research

I must say that I am struggling within myself with the merits of online research. I definitely see it as a new area of interest. It has developed into it's own society. However, I still find myself in the old-school thought that "real" research should be relevant to real lives. So, to me, what happens online isn't "real life" for people. I use the internet for fun and finding information. I use it for communicating with friends, family, colleagues, and students. But, even with all of these uses, I don't consider it my "real life." When I think of the types of people that would think online communication is their real life, I think of the stereotypical gamer who sits in his basement all day and night playing World of Warcraft and never interacting with people face-to-face.

With this said, I don't know how I feel about online research. Jen has talked about her MySpace study and the different issues she's had with that. It's made me view the space in a different way. However, I'm not sure that how girls portrayed themselves on MySpace is what they would claim is the "real" them, or whether it's a persona. How can we know? And, does it matter?

The readings brought up intersting ideas of how careful we need to be even (or, perhaps, especially?) with online research. Most people don't realize how open their information is when they post things online. We tend to believe that only our friends and family will look at what we've done. But, anything online is open to anyone who wants to search for it. The idea is really creepy. So, are we, as online researchers, also creepy stalkers? Or, since our intentions are not malicious, is the internet a free space for us to gather information? It is true that people will act more like themselves if they don't know that they are being studied. However, all of the ethical issues that we've talked about in class come forward and need to be addressed.

I know this is a lot of babbling, but that's because I don't have a clear understanding in my own mind of where I think online research should reside. I need to learn more and think more about it before I feel I can make a real choice in the matter.