Our group chose to look into the first assignment option. For the sake of convenience, here's the original question:
You are an aspiring research assistant for a major social science project entitled “Emotional Information Seeking: ICTs and the commercialization of emotional and affective spaces online.” The project broadly investigates why ICTs are increasingly tailored towards emotional communication, resources, and identities, as part of a larger trend in marketing and commercialization.
At this stage it is too early to undertake in-depth qualitative interviews. Your supervisor has asked that you select a specific example of an online environment tailored towards emotional information seeking, which might serve as an ideal case study for the project.
Either individually or in small groups, pick any example, and prepare a 200 - 400 word explanation of the site/app. Include what it is, who it is tailor to, what emotional relations might exist, why it would make an ideal case study for the larger project, and (if applicable) the potential methodological challenges you will have to address. Post to blog.
Explanation:
Our group consisted of Chantel, Mike, Elison and me (Polina). We chose the "Pinterest" site as our case study. Pinterest is "an online pinboard" (taken from the site's description). It invites you to "share what you love". Basically, a user can create a profile where they post images that appeal to them, with the ability to add comments to the images. The profile can be linked to Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.
We considered the site to be a good case study for several reasons:
- There is the possibility of generating lots of rich data that's already somewhat organized by the user (through categories such as "to get in my closet" or "too cute for words").
- Since the project has to do with consumerism and commercialization, Pinterest is ideal as it demonstrates how stores infiltrate our social lives, and how our identities are shaped by the objects we single out. We even found an article advising stores on how to use Pinterest to generate sales!
- We liked the fact that there could be an interesting visual component to the research.
- Ethnographic sensibility is all about how people make meanings, and how these meanings are inscribed into their information environment. Pinterest is a perfect space for people to do just that.
Challenges:
- We have no access to what people didn't "love" - they only pin what they find agreeable.
- We don't have a complete profile of the user for the purposes of categorization (gender, age, socioeconomic status, etc.)
- It is very easy to impose the researcher's interpretation on the images - the users do not have the ability to give feedback (unless you contact them for more in depth interviews later on...)
*My own challenge would probably be tearing myself away from all the cute puppies photos... But that's just me. :)
You are an aspiring research assistant for a major social science project entitled “Emotional Information Seeking: ICTs and the commercialization of emotional and affective spaces online.” The project broadly investigates why ICTs are increasingly tailored towards emotional communication, resources, and identities, as part of a larger trend in marketing and commercialization.
At this stage it is too early to undertake in-depth qualitative interviews. Your supervisor has asked that you select a specific example of an online environment tailored towards emotional information seeking, which might serve as an ideal case study for the project.
Either individually or in small groups, pick any example, and prepare a 200 - 400 word explanation of the site/app. Include what it is, who it is tailor to, what emotional relations might exist, why it would make an ideal case study for the larger project, and (if applicable) the potential methodological challenges you will have to address. Post to blog.
Explanation:
Our group consisted of Chantel, Mike, Elison and me (Polina). We chose the "Pinterest" site as our case study. Pinterest is "an online pinboard" (taken from the site's description). It invites you to "share what you love". Basically, a user can create a profile where they post images that appeal to them, with the ability to add comments to the images. The profile can be linked to Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.
We considered the site to be a good case study for several reasons:
- There is the possibility of generating lots of rich data that's already somewhat organized by the user (through categories such as "to get in my closet" or "too cute for words").
- Since the project has to do with consumerism and commercialization, Pinterest is ideal as it demonstrates how stores infiltrate our social lives, and how our identities are shaped by the objects we single out. We even found an article advising stores on how to use Pinterest to generate sales!
- We liked the fact that there could be an interesting visual component to the research.
- Ethnographic sensibility is all about how people make meanings, and how these meanings are inscribed into their information environment. Pinterest is a perfect space for people to do just that.
Challenges:
- We have no access to what people didn't "love" - they only pin what they find agreeable.
- We don't have a complete profile of the user for the purposes of categorization (gender, age, socioeconomic status, etc.)
- It is very easy to impose the researcher's interpretation on the images - the users do not have the ability to give feedback (unless you contact them for more in depth interviews later on...)
*My own challenge would probably be tearing myself away from all the cute puppies photos... But that's just me. :)
Thanks, Polina, for typing this up! It was a good idea, to look at Pinterest!
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you very much Polina!
ReplyDelete