http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/ Musings on Rhetoric and Research en-us 2004-11-27T12:42:35-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#011321 One more item to add to the days we talked about Internet Studies and the Lotus Marketplace case (or, why my mother keeps forwarding me (false) consumer alerts on Swiffer Wet Jets, Ziploc bags, etc, etc, with the best of intentions): Lies, Damn Lies, and E-Mail Recent research suggests that e-mail exchanges build trust more slowly than other forms of communication — but now a Cornell University study argues that the opposite should be true, because people are considerably more likely to lie over the phone and in faee-to-face conversation than in e-mail. For the survey a set of Cornell... nyssa003 2004-11-27T12:42:35-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#011214 Pretty stressful, I would say. Reading Creswell made me anxious because of the clarity of procedure he described, and the difficulty to actually perform it. For example, an obvious distinction such as the one among the purpose, the problem, and the research questions suddenly becomes “threatening” when you realize that even something “so simple” can get mixed up in your head. Articulating clearly your intention and categorizing a bunch of interconnected ideas into proper boxes is not as easy as it seems to be. The examples Creswell provided are very useful, though maybe a bit tempting to step into a... anto0082 2004-11-24T01:54:14-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#010823 As I helplessly watch my "errors" post on the blog site (I hit the 'return' key to position my name under the title...why the did it then post?!?), I am reminded of just how new a communication tool this medium is. While those who are already quite savvy in their use of computer-mediated communication might argue that the word 'new' no longer applies, others (myself included) are still acclimating to both the possibilities and restrictions of these tools. The unprecedented ways inwhich we now exchange information and make connections can be challenging to more traditional approaches to communication. The formal... coggi007 2004-11-18T11:31:56-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#010806 coggi007 2004-11-18T09:34:44-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#010805 coggi007 2004-11-18T09:34:42-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/cat_week_11_1116.html#010769 Gender and the Internet. More specific, women and the Internet. Even more specific, feminism and the Internet. Being born in 1979, I will probably never see the rise of a more significant medium than the Internet. Being a man, I am asked to consider the impact of gender, women, and feminism on this medium. I have a difficult time being indifferent. What strikes me are the hopes and disillusionment. Like the settlement of the West to the suburbs (I’m reading Erma Bombeck’s hilarious The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank), optimism guides our explorations. Disillusionment quickly follows. To... Week 11 11/16 tayl0464 2004-11-17T22:20:57-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#010361 Some thoughts/reflections/questions on Foss and Brock Foss defines rhetoric as the “action humans perform when they use symbols for the purpose of communicating with one another.” Foss goes on to say that communication by and between animals is not considered rhetoric. If the purpose in limiting rhetoric to that which occurs among humans is simply to limit and define the domain of rhetoric for the purpose of its study, this distinction makes sense. The study of rhetoric is the study of human usage. However, if such a distinction is made to deny the possibility that animals do or could use... bank0019 2004-11-13T17:46:15-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#010077 Hi, Before class started several of us were talking about exit polls and accuracy (statistically!). I mentioned I had a "local" site, one of our very own, that I had found interesting. Here is the link and just dig around. http://www.econ.umn.edu/~amoro/Research/presprobs.html Heather... habe0076 2004-11-10T07:58:13-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/cat_final_project.html#010012 I have a real interest in either Internet technologies (including IP, copyright, collaboration, and social interaction) as well as rhetoric of science stuff, as long as it's in the emerging technology area (such as genetic technologies, AIDS research, etc.) I'm studying collaboratories for my thesis, so that would be an interesting topic, if you'd be interested. Also have an interest in eugenics, and public sphere participation.... Final Project tsch0070 2004-11-09T14:06:20-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#009187 As you may have gathered from some of the questions I’ve been asking in class, I’m a bit hung up on process. (“You mean you can proceed with your research, even if you haven’t nailed your research questions yet?”) I blame my recent background in medical research, where so much tends to be quantified (even the social aspects of a study) and believed to be, if not completely unbiased, at least objective and above reproach in terms of validity and reliability. I think this is why it’s difficult for me to truly accept that valid and reliable research can... bhudson 2004-11-05T14:44:40-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/cat_week_9_112.html#009046 Going into yesterday's class my questions were: What differentiate's case studies from other forms of qualitative research? And how does one perform a case study? How does a researcher decide whether or not to use the real names of their web sources? Since I am doing my thesis research on websites I'm wrestling with the issue of naming my sources. I looked at narratives posted on personal websites that are publicly available via webrings. All the sites were created by individuals with a chronic illness, which would likely make this a vulnerable population. However, I've been treating their narratives as... Week 9 11/2 north015 2004-11-03T13:50:48-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/cat_week_9_112.html#009028 Yesterday's class was completely different from what I thought it would be, but I have to say I learned a lot, though not necessarily about how to conduct a case study. I enjoyed Dr. Hill-Duin's presentation because I'm currently involved in a partnership that, given Dr. Hill-Duin's lecture, is most likely doomed to fail. Basically, the Wisconsin Technical College System and the UW-System have decided that in the interest of offering anytime-anywhere education, tech schools and universities should offer classes that transfer between the two systems. The administrators in the WTCS system and UW system think this is a great... Week 9 11/2 lent0064 2004-11-03T10:56:27-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/cat_miscnews.html#008911 As you may know from the flyers around the department, Dr. Barbara L'Eplattenier will be visiting us this Friday, Nov. 5. (She's from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is my former professor.) One of the talks she'll be giving is relevant to material we've covered in this class, so I thought I'd mention it here. Her session on "Conducting Archival Research on the Internet" will be at 4:15 in Magrath 6, with dinner to follow at the former Ciatti's (now called the Chianti Grill.) Anyone who can't make it to the talk but is interested in discussing... Misc/News kenne329 2004-11-01T20:08:50-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/cat_week_8_1026.html#008872 When we broke for discussion this week the group I was in talked a lot about the definition of ethnography. I think I tend to define ethnography by its tool: the field note. The presence or absence of field notes really clinches the question for me if a researcher is doing fieldwork or something else. However, I think my implicit, hazy definition is flawed: what is the difference between an ethnographer, journalist, fiction or creative nonfiction writer taking notes for themselves in the field for the purpose of writing them up later? The intent of all three is to represent... Week 8 10/26 nyssa003 2004-11-01T10:47:33-06:00 http://blog.lib.umn.edu/koem0006/gurak/#008833 1) It was interesting for me to note the similarities in laying out the methods and heuristics of analysis that were apparent in Janel’s discourse analysis of the televised classroom and Berkenkotter and Nyssa’s genre-linguistic analysis of the Zoo magazine. It seems that both were quite reliant on bracketing their terms such that they could be used to dissect and store the parts for more granular examination. These two are, I think, good examples of how a mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) approach is needed in some contexts. The problems that need to be addressed in these situations are not problems... arrig002 2004-10-31T16:34:12-06:00