BlogRhet is written and developed by individuals both inside and outside of academia. The primary goal of BlogRhet is to serve as a type of portal or thinking ground for many of the women and men who write personal blogs to engage in "meta" conversations. We also believe that many of the conversations that take place here and among our blogging communities would be of interest to researchers interested in issues concerning the culture of blogging.
Blogs pose interesting dilemmas in terms of academic research. For instance, if we conduct a meme in order to engage community response to a set of issues or questions, do we treat this as a "survey" or human subjects testing?
Are blogs human subjects or are they texts? The fact we have to ask this question is interesting in and of itself, but for now, team BlogRhet has agreed on the following.
The blog posts and comments discussed in BlogRhet are considered authored publications. Any research stemming from collaborations or discussions in this space will cite these publications accordingly, including meme-responses.
Should any member of BlogRhet conduct empirical research through the use of questionnaires or surveys, the appropriate protocols will be taken and users will be solicited according to proper academic norms (in other words, participants will be asked to respond anonymously to an questionnaire and not publish responses online; they will be assured that their privacy is protected).
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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3 comments:
But where will you find your IRB?
love this blog. I will be back for more
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A book which might interest you is "The Virtual Community" by Howard Rheingold. It does provide some basis and interpretation of how Internet communities evolve.
Not saying I agree with the conclusions... but if nothing else, he does raise questions.
~Chani
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