In summary her essay highlights the intertwined realm of the Internet in people's lives and the difficulty of deciding how to collect offline and online data for research and then sift through the collection to make structured and compelling arguments. Traditionally online has been viewed as a "virtual landscape" of less "authentic" or "truthful" experiences and data. Yet, platforms such as television and telephones are considered an offline landscape by those same traditional standards – save for Maria Bkardjieva’s argument of “on-page, on-screen, on-line and off.” As we move forward with innovation and technology, online and offline are merging in various ways to erase the silos of varying degrees of authenticity.
There are situations that call for just online data formulate answers to questions. There are situations that call for only offline data to formulate answers to questions. And there are situations that call for data to be collected from both areas to find answers. Yet, there will ultimately have to be a decision as to how any of the data helps to answer the root questions of research and study objectives.
Some study cases will present a situation that the notions of offline and online are one in the same. There will be others that will present situations that require the two notions are divided and may or may not influence the other. The complex issue of using online and offline data virtually boils down to a rather un-formulaic "it depends..."
How the study will be structured will be based mostly on the objective of the study as it relates to the subjects in the study. It would not be out of the question for a study to begin from one notion, offline or online, and migrate into the other in an effort to gain more validity and context of the data sets. Though there are difficulties moving from online to an offline environment without garnering the trust of the subjects or finding potential subjects “lurking” about the online landscape.
After sorting through the difficulties of performing research online and offline, there will be another juncture of difficulty of interpreting the data. Are the two realms separate? Are they intertwined as one? Does one only help to provide context to the other in an effort to understand the data better? Again, the study objectives will dictate the inclusion or exclusion of the corresponding data.
Then comes the problem of presenting the data in a fashion that reflects the nature of the study and objectives. Determining how to quantify between online and offline data sets again will have to be constructed around the goals of the research and how they effectively and accurately represent the findings.
In an effort to boil the chapter down and iron out the remaining elements: be aware of the objectives of your study and how the subjects’ integration of Internet elements effect each person’s “online” and “offline” lives as they relate to your questions. Not all situations will bare the same stipulations with regard to collecting and interpreting the data. Every situation could be different and will need to be analyzed to allow for the best research methods to be used.
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As a simple informal test of research, I posted a question to my Twitter and Facebook accounts to try and get a glimpse into what people who use social media think of social media as.
The question:
Do you consider social media a productive common communication tool like a phone or just a gadget/toy to play with?
The results:
191 Facebook friends - 13 responsesResponses:
202 Followers - 3 responses
Dana
I think for a lot of people, it has transformed from one into the other. I think many social networking sites were created to be gadgets/toys to play with and have kind of evolved into a useful tool. Ive made a few bucks here and there from marketing myself on social networking websites. Nothing wrong with that!
Barbara
For me, it's a productive communication tool. It helps get things done, you can learn from it, and connect to people when you couldn't do it ordinarily. Case in point, you're asking this question in a media based format to get the information you need to be productive.
Sandra
it's a communication tool. have you seen the recent harvard study on this? http://bit.ly/wh7wa
Stephen
it's a gadget, and either people will get tired of it or it'll start getting regulated. In my humble opinion.
chris_lawson
@joshualawton SM is useful. Not toy. It keeps me informed of stuff I am interested in via a format I can manage and use. Good 4 my needs.
Brittany
definitely use it as a tool. i met my roommate here and made a bunch of friends via facebook before coming to georgetown.
Brenda
Narcissistic / voyeuristic addictive time-consuming toy
Issac
Common tool for me.
Monica
gadget for the most part
Trevor
A tool that hasn't yet reached its potential. It's a great way to monitor what people are thinking/wondering about. It's less useful in finding story contacts.
Barbara Ford
@joshualawton It's a pair of brown shoes that go with everything. Functional and available.
Silvia
A combo of the above mentioned.
Mike
Drunken Monkeys Hoooo!!!!!
Richard
It helped me to save money on my AT&T bill via the 15% discount. (In ten years that will be $1500 in savings.) Crowdsourcing the info on what discounts my friends got helped me to get that 15% discount.
Mark Leffingwell It's a toy. Mostly people say what they are doing like "I'm riding my bike" or "at a movie". Nothing useful. Over Twitter (posted on both Facebook and Twitter in response)
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- What are some difficulties with the "research" with regard to collecting the data and then eventually interpreting the data?
- Would this be a valid online only research project?
- What elements of offline research would help contextualize the study?
- How should the final data set be presented?
- What do the number of responses in relation to the number of people polled mean? How would this effect a resulting study?
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One of the responses included information about two Harvard Business school studies – one about Twitter and one about social media users – as well as a link to a story in the Miami Herald about how social media and technology is altering the governance landscape. Both of these articles highlight the ever changing integration of digital media and the Internet into our lives, blurring that line of offline and online slightly more each day. How will this effect your studies?
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