Workshop: Online community analysis (course content)

This is that space in the semester where you get to do your own online community analysis. I can’t tell you which community or for what to look. That’s up to you — and dependent on your research question(s). This said, you can email me if you are wondering where to start, tell me what kinds of information from online communities you think you could use, and then I will try to help.

As a series of steps, your research should look more or less like the following:

1 Choose the online community (or communities) you want to study. Go there (virtually, I mean).

2 If required and you are not already an “insider,” join the group. If not required, skip this step.

3 Hang out. Listen. Watch. Scroll back through time. Look for patterns. Look for aaanything relevant to your research. (How do people interact? How do they “speak”? What do people say? Are they using memes or images or audios or videos? To what ends? Are there themes? Etc., etc., etc.)

4 Take notes. Save screenshots. Document anything you think you can use when thinking about and then drafting your final paper later.

Very important, often forgotten: It is okay to try out a method and fail to find usable data via that method. If you aren’t finding anything useful, try changing the community you are studying. If you still cannot find anything useful, in your post to the Canvas discussion this week: name at least two online communities you studied, followed by the word “nothing.” I will reach out to you with additional ideas as they occur to me.

Good luck,

DP
May 2019