Blog Post #1
Topic Interests
A topic that I thought would be interesting to research is the disinformation the is spread throughout social media and how that effects the consumers of that information. I thought that this topic would be very interesting to study because everyone uses social media. We are able to access multiple sites of social media just by the touch of our fingertips; however, it is interesting to know what the effect of disinformation has on all of us consuming this social media. However, where I am struggling to settle on this topic is how I would convey this research. I know overall this type of research would fall under the interpretivist category and maybe even postmodern. I think I would attempt to construct my data by using mostly qualitative data. I assume that will be the majority of my research because everything on social media is non-numeric. Overall, discussing social media and how it affects a consumer would be a very interesting topic, as well as conducting research and creating a conclusion, I just need to work on how I plan to construct this research plan.
Siera,
ReplyDeleteI really like your topic idea! I know that there's alot in our emphasis that has to do with the spread of information. I like that technical communication takes a part in serving the community as a pubic good. There are so many things that can be misconstrued and it can lead many astray. I think that in itself could be a very interesting topic and I am excited tos ee what you come up with for that! I really think that pulling from digital rhetoric and the components of technical communication will add a lot to that as well. Good luck!!!
Hi Ciera,
ReplyDeleteGreat initial thoughts here!! Having that qualitative design in mind for this type of topic really presents a lot of possibilities for investigation. Another angle might be to simply analyze how certain issues are being framed online (e.g., Twitter hashtags), dissecting the content's implication/meaning/slant, and considering the number of retweets (or number of views on Facebook video posts, Instagram photo posts), and so on, based on a theoretical framework.
As always, start plowing through some scholarly articles for ideas (I'll also introduce the Lit. Review writing assignment #1 next week) and once you're ready to identify your direction -- whether content analysis, qualitative, and/or other types of research method -- let me know and maybe we can set a brief conference to talk about it, ok? Am here.... =))
Dr. B