Annotated Bibliography A to B

I have two concurrent post topics at the moment, the meme series and now this on blogging research references.  I’ll use titles and tags to keep them separate, but I am guessing that both will take me awhile to get through, so be patient.  Soon I’ll return to my decidedly non-thematic approach.

Asllani, A., Ettkin, L. P., & Ashvini, S. (2008). Sharing knowledge with conversational technologies: web logs versus discussion boards. International Journal of Information Technology & Management, 7(2), 217-230.

The article compares web logs or blogs to discussion boards as two alternative conversational technologies in the process of knowledge sharing and retention. In order to efficiently manage such a resource, organisations are using information technology to acquire, store and communicate data, information and knowledge. The results of an experimental study show that blogs are more successful technologies when used to communicate tacit knowledge and when they are intended for a general audience. Discussion boards can be used more efficiently to communicate specific, explicit knowledge to a specialised audience.

NOTE:  I have not been able to get a copy of this article yet, it is still embargoed from our uni library.

Bell, A., Crothers, C., Goodwin, I., Kripalani, K., Sherman, K., & Smith, P. (2007). World Internet Project: The Internet in New Zealand 2007 Final Report. Auckland: Institute of Culture Discourse & Communication (ICDC).

From 2007, the Institute of Culture Discourse & Communication (ICDC) is conducting a long-term survey to track trends in internet use and to document the role and impact of the Internet in New Zealand society.  The Internet has changed how business and trade deals are made; how schools and other academic institutions, councils, media and advertisers operate. The Internet also impacts on family interaction, the ways in which people form new friendships, and the communities to which people belong.  The World Internet Project New Zealand (WIP NZ) is an extensive research project which aims to provide important information about the social, cultural, political and economic influence of the Internet and related digital technologies.  ICDC’s longitudinal survey includes a cross-section of participants aged 12 and up across New Zealand. A quota ensures that people of Māori, Pasifika and Asian descent and the range of age-groups are not under-represented.  The survey investigates Internet access and targets Internet users as well as non-users; who uses this technology and what they do online. It also considers off-line activities such as how much time is spent with friends and family. Other questions address issues such as the effects of the Internet on language use and cultural development; the role of the Internet in accessing information or purchasing products; and how the Internet affects the educational and social development of New Zealand children.  In addition to studying the impact of the Internet, the survey tracks the effectiveness of strategies to address issues such as the digital divide between rich and poor; urban and rural.

NOTE:  Nice statistical information for those of us doing research in NZ.  I also use the Pew Internet & American Life Project data and plan to modify the blogging-related questions for my research.

Bell, D. (2001). An introduction to cybercultures. London; New York: Routledge.

An Introduction to Cybercultures provides an accessible guide to the major forms, practices and meanings of this rapidly growing field. From the evolution of hardware and software to the emergence of cyberpunk, film and fiction, David Bell introduces readers to the key aspects of cyberculture, including email, the internet, digital imaging tecnologies, computer games and digital special effects. Each chapter contains ‘hot links’ to key articles in its companion volume, The Cybercultures Reader, suggestions for further reading, and details of relevant websites. Individual chapters examine: * Cybercultures: An Introduction * Storying Cyberspace * Cultural Studies in Cyberspace * Community and Cyberculture * Identities in Cyberculture * Bodies in Cyberculture * Cyber Subcultures * Researching Cybercultures

NOTE:  Good CMC background – but pre-blog era

Bjerke, B. (2007). Face-to-face Research: Interviews, Conversations and Dialogs. In B. Gustavsson (Ed.), The principles of knowledge creation: Research methods in the social sciences (pp. 225-242). Cheltenham, U.K.; Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar.

Swedish scholars introduce quantitative and qualitative research methods in the social sciences not in a general approach describing the various features or process, but as specific examples from their own fields of management, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy. They emphasize fitting the research method to the particular question it is being asked to answer, and the particular conditions in which it must function.

NOTE:  A good primer on history, motivation for using, and mechanics of interviewing.  I used this to understand how blog-based “interviewing” might work as a research method.

Blanchard, A. (2004). Blogs as Virtual Communities: Identifying a Sense of Community in the Julie/Julia Project. Journal. Retrieved from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html

Researchers, practitioners, and the media have used the term virtual community to refer to vastly different computer-mediated communication (CMC) groups. EBay, a soap opera newsgroup, The WELL, a website for wristwatch enthusiasts, and more have all been referred to as virtual communities (Baym, 1995; Boyd, 2002; Rheingold, 1993; Rothaermel & Sugiyama, 2001). Should blogs be considered virtual communities, too?  To answer this question, we must understand, first, why virtual communities are considered important, and, second, what the characteristics of a virtual community are. Then, we must determine if at least some blogs have these characteristics.

NOTE:  Good companion to the heaps of sources on pre-blog CMC.  Gives basic information about how blog-based research works and a case study.

Boden, D., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1991). Structure-in-Action: An Introduction. In D. Boden & D. H. Zimmerman (Eds.), Talk and social structure: Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (pp. 3-21). Berkeley University of California Press.

Talk is at the heart of everyday existence, yet social scientists have traditionally treated it as peripheral to human affairs and social structure. This collection of original essays offers a new and different perspective that sees talk as the fundamental framework of social interaction and social institutions.

NOTE:  One of many ethnography books I used to get up to speed on the qualitative research methodology.  I didn’t heavily cite this one, but just skimmed it for background and history.

Burrell, G., & Morgan, G. (1979). Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis: Elements of the sociology of corporate life. Aldershot: Heinemann Educational Books.

The authors argue in this book that social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four broad paradigms, based upon different sets of meta-theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of social science and the nature of society. The four paradigms – Functionalist, Interpretive, Radical Humanist and Radical Structuralist – derive from quite distinct intellectual traditions, and present four mutually exclusive views of the social work. Each stands in its own right, and generates its own distinctive approach to the analysis of social life.  The authors provide extensive reviews of the four paradigms, tracing the evolution and inter-relationships between the various sociological schools of thought within each. They then proceed to relate theories of organisation to this wider background.  This book covers a great range of intellectual territory. It makes a number of important contributions to our understanding of sociology and organisational analysis, and will prove an invaluable guide to theorists, researchers and students in a variety of social science disciplines. It stands as a discourse in social theory, drawing upon the general area of organisation studies – industrial sociology, organisation theory, organisational psychology, and industrial relations – as a means of illustrating more general sociological themes. In addition to reviewing and evaluating existing work, it provides a framework for appraising future developments in the area of organisational analysis, and suggests the form which some of these developments are likely to take.

NOTE:  I have used this book in several papers I have taken.  It provides a very helpful reference frame for the research paradigms.  I use to give context to the blog-based methods based on the interpretive paradigm.  I use it enough that I am considering buying it.