I think Gordon Douglas recently brought up issue of the ever bothersome lagtime between scholarship and the real world out there. I am thinking about this issue as well these days but in relation to a methodological framework for using all of the new media technologies as primary source data.
My dissertation is by no means ABOUT social media/blogs, etc. - but there are some amazing dialogues going on via twitter, facebook event pages/comments, etc that resonate with my research question. Some of this is richer and more complex than anything I've accessed through interview or observation, particularly the dialogue between opposing groups that are using social media as a facilitator.
I am curious if anyone else is using these mediums as data and if so, what kind of framework for collection, filtering, and analysis they are using (one of the things that is overwhelming about using this material is there is just so much of it floating around cyberspace). Also -- does anyone know of any great articles/etc. out there that address this new source and the implications of using it (e.g. ethically, in terms of validity, etc)?
Finally a pragmatic question - what are the best programs (for a PC) for getting snapshots of this material that holds up as citation worthy (and that said, how does one cite this stuff to begin with)?!
