Track:
Internet and Digital Economy
Minitrack:
Research 2.0: Web 2.0 and Virtual Worlds as
Research
Environments
Web 2.0 has created a new environment of participation and
collaboration for users and scholars. Users in the Web 2.0
environment are creating new content, tools and technologies in
collaboration with other individuals, world-wide. A large number
of studies have been conducted to understand how online
communities (including social networks) form and evolve, how
members communicate in computer-mediated environments, benefits of
community membership, and other related topics. However, few
studies examine the potential of Web 2.0 technologies and virtual
worlds for advancing theory, method and methodology in the design
and implementation of qualitative and quantitative research.
Studies of research practice, including ethical and legal
implications of conducting research in virtual environments, are
needed to facilitate innovative and appropriate use of these new
technologies for social research.
The Web 2.0 environment offers many new opportunities for
researchers undertaking both qualitative and quantitative research
(e.g., increased potential for collecting data from online
communities and social networks around the globe). However, these
technologies can also be used by researchers to enhance the
research process (e.g., facilitating research collaboration
between project team members to develop tools and technologies to
analyze data and write papers). Understanding the privacy and
legal implications in both contexts – i.e., the implementation of
the study, as well as the research process – is an area that
warrants further exploration in a minitrack environment. This
minitrack would invite papers on topics including (but not limited
to):
Topics
-
Changing landscape for qualitative and quantitative
research due to emergence of Web 2.0 and virtual worlds;
-
Development of online research communities;
-
Online collaborative techniques in Web 2.0
environments for advancing research methodologies;
-
Use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies in data
collection and analyses;
-
Use of Web 2.0 platforms and virtual worlds (e.g.,
Second Life) such as avatars, online communities, for conducting
qualitative and quantitative research;
-
Effectiveness of Web 2.0 for increasing
participating rates in research (e.g., questionnaire response rates;
online focus groups);
-
Using user-generated content as a data source in
research;
-
Ethical and legal issues (e.g., privacy; copyright)
in conducting qualitative and quantitative research in virtual
environments;
-
Use of social computing in building research
communities;
-
Role of social computing in the advancement of data
collection techniques;
-
New data collection approaches in Web 2.0
environments.
Please visit
http://www.ualberta.ca/~drathi/hicss-43/research2.0.html for more
information.
Minitrack Co-Chairs:
Lisa M. Given (Primary Contact)
School of Library and Information Studies
International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (IIQM)
3-20 Rutherford South, University of Alberta
Edmonton AB, Canada T6G 2J4
Phone: 780-492-2033
Fax: 780-492-2430
Department Phone: 780-492-4578
Email: lisa.given@ualberta.ca
Dinesh Rathi
School of Library and Information Studies
3-20 Rutherford South,
University of Alberta
Edmonton AB, Canada T6G 2J4
Phone: 780-492-8797
Fax: 780-492-2430
Department Phone: 780-492-4578
Email: drathi@ualberta.ca
