scholarly journals Content, Context, Reflexivity and the Qualitative Research Encounter: Telling Stories in the Virtual Realm

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Illingworth
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Virtual Participation

The arrival of the virtual realm and computer-mediated communication (CMC) has attracted considerable interest within the discipline. However, the full potential of computer-mediated conversation as both a research resource and medium of communication within the qualitative research encounter awaits further exploration. In this paper, I discuss the dimensions of the qualitative ‘tradition’, the recent burgeoning interest in biographical methods shaping the research agenda and the significance of the virtual realm as a locus of communication. In so doing, I draw from my recent research exploring 15 women's accounts of their experiences of infertility and assisted reproductive procedures. Often, the qualitative encounter becomes a shared medium of trust, reciprocity and revelation. This research highlights the importance of not just making ‘space’ for participants voices and words but of acknowledging the significance of the context of communication itself – paying attention to ‘where’ and ‘how’ we speak is as critical as paying attention to what might be said. Participants within this study used and translated virtual text and virtual participation into a sense-making vehicle. In this respect, the virtual space offers a new dimension to the qualitative research encounter and we need to remain aware of the opportunities this affords.

scholarly journals “Just Chatting”: Research Ethics and Cyberspace

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Whiteman
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Internet Research ◽  
Research Ethic ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Changing Role

Research conducted through computer-mediated communication is challenging traditional definitions of what is ethical research. In this article the author examines the changing role of assent/consent, confidentiality, and participant observation in qualitative research conducted in cyberspace. She concludes that REBs (research ethic boards) might be becoming more conservative in their decisions at the very moment that Internet research requires more flexibility and broader ethical definitions.

Informal Communication in Virtual Learning Environments

2011 ◽  
pp. 1164-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Beuschel ◽  
Birgit Gaiser ◽  
Susanne Draheim
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Informal Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated

Learning environments increasingly become more diverse by the use of information technology. Thereby, the share of face-to-face situations between students as well as between students and mentors becomes smaller, while the share of encounters in virtual space is growing larger. Thus, computer mediated communication (CMC) is growing in importance in all learning environments. Since standard learning environments involve both formal and informal communication, it seems reasonable to claim that without informal communication students and faculty would have difficulties in sustaining the learning processes. Beyond the ever-growing exchange of formal content, the opportunity of informal communication appears increasingly essential for the successful pursuit of online studies.

Computer-Mediated Communication

2009 ◽  
pp. 1547-1568
Author(s):  
J. Michael Blocher
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Electronic Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Computer Mediated Communications

Advancements in information technology have transformed much in all aspects of today’s society. In particular, synchronous and asynchronous electronic communication systems support countless interactions every day. However, these communication systems have specific limitations that can cause miscommunications as well. Because of that, computer-mediated communications (CMC) has been a robust research agenda in many disciplines. This is especially true of education, where online learning has become common place in all but a few universities, thus requiring learners to interact via CMC within virtual learning environments. This chapter will use educational CMC research as a lens to promote and support an understanding of how to better utilize and facilitate electronic communication, regardless of the field or endeavor.

Computer-Mediated Communication

2011 ◽  
pp. 195-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Michael Blocher
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Electronic Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Computer Mediated Communications

Advancements in information technology have transformed much in all aspects of today’s society. In particular, synchronous and asynchronous electronic communication systems support countless interactions every day. However, these communication systems have specific limitations that can cause miscommunications as well. Because of that, computer-mediated communications (CMC) has been a robust research agenda in many disciplines. This is especially true of education, where online learning has become common place in all but a few universities, thus requiring learners to interact via CMC within virtual learning environments. This chapter will use educational CMC research as a lens to promote and support an understanding of how to better utilize and facilitate electronic communication, regardless of the field or endeavor.

Informal Communication in Virtual Learning Environments

2011 ◽  
pp. 1076-1081
Author(s):  
Werner Beuschel ◽  
Birgit Gaiser ◽  
Susanne Draheim
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Informal Communication ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated

Learning environments increasingly become more diverse by the use of information technology. Thereby, the share of face-to-face situations between students as well as between students and mentors becomes smaller, while the share of encounters in virtual space is growing larger. Thus, computer mediated communication (CMC) is growing in importance in all learning environments.

Benchmarking Electonic Democracy

2011 ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
F. Amoretti
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Electronic Democracy

Electronic democracy refers to the use of information technology (IT) to expedite or transform the idea and practice of democracy. (Street, 2001, p. 4397) From the beginning, a common assumption in many discussions of e-democracy is that ICTs have the power to augur in a new political order. There are of course different ideas about what constitutes as an e-democracy, but it appears to be taken for granted that ICTs have this constructive power regardless of the conditions and environment in which they are used (Barber, 1984). Whilst the most significant experiences in the field of ICTs have been generated by bottom-up processes rooted in civil society, a great deal of e-democracy projects are characterised by the political action of national and supranational institutions. The enormous resources spent on e-democracy initiatives and the institutional structure of democratic societies that place pressure on politicians and decision makers to justify their decisions in relation to those they represent both generate a need for public evaluation tools and shared instruments of analysis. Moreover, as information technology tends to create spaces of interaction that are easily accessible and interconnected on a global scale, the need for standardised empirical definitions and indicators is attracting more and more attention (Gibson, Ward, & Rommele, 2004; Trechsel, Kies, Mendez, & Schmitter, 2004). Benchmarking, in this context, is a method of analysis that comprises the identification of significant factors that influence the perceived quality of an interactive virtual space and that facilitates a constant process of comparative monitoring and evaluation of experiences. Many institutions and research centres are currently committed to this task, deducing empirical frameworks of analysis from theoretical reflections about computer-mediated communication (CMC) and democracy, whilst simultaneously seeking to improve theories regarding electronic democracy—and democracy tout court—by the observation and comparison of diverse projects. The output of this kind of research is often a set of best practices, intended to export successful approaches from one country to another.

Listening Communities? Some Remarks on the Construction of Religious Authority in Islamic Podcasts

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Selge ◽  
Johannes Zimmermann ◽  
Jan Scholz ◽  
Max Stille
Keyword(s):  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Authority Structures

AbstractIn the context of the vivid activity of Muslim individuals and groups on the Internet and the recent technological developments in the field of computer mediated communication, podcasts offering a wide range of religious information and/or advice to Muslim (and non-Muslim) listeners play an increasingly important role. Being an integral part of the Web 2.0's online landscape and presenting, at the same time, many characteristics of more “traditional” audio media such as cassette recordings, podcasts cannot only be located at the intersection between virtual space and “real world”, but represent, as a medium, also a direct continuation of older forms of Muslim media usage for da'wa-purposes and propagandistic aims. This article attempts to analyze in how far the use of podcasts (and to a smaller extent of videocasts) by Muslim groups and individuals contributes to the emergence of a Muslim online “counter public” sometimes challenging, sometimes reinforcing existing authority structures. Special attention is paid to the question which means and features specific to this new medium Muslim podcasters use to legitimize their religious authority, and to the question in how far established symbol systems commonly relied upon in the Muslim community are used as instruments for the construction of religious online authority and the redistribution of Definitionsmacht. Furthermore, it discusses to what extent questions of “right belief” and “correct religious practice” play a role in these processes. For this purpose, style and content of four selected podcasts (Zaytuna Institute Knowledge Resource Podcast, MeccaOne Media Podcast, Ahmadiyya Podcast, Alt.muslim Review) are analyzed in order to illustrate different ways in which this new medium is used by Muslim groups today. It is shown that podcasts—as part of the overall media spectrum—are used by Muslim groups for internal and external da'wa-purposes, as well as for the reinforcement of existing power and authority structures (e.g. by projecting the presence of the group's leader both into time and into space) and as a means to cope with institutional and communal crisis. They might also become an important instrument not for the (re-)construction, but for the deconstruction of religious authority.

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