On another note, I realised a few days ago that my research has generated MASSES of extra documentation of many kinds (handwritten and electronic notes by the bucketload, tables of blog posts, tables of categories of my own and others' invention, all the postings on this blog of course, my personal research diary from last term...).
What IS all this stuff? What happens to it when I finish? It's a kind of record of the process of thinking through all these ideas and it bears eloquent witness, I think, to the fact that a dissertation is no mean feat.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
I <3 Data :)
So, the quest for data, lovely data continues. I am ticking off blogs and categories literally by the tens as the days roll by. Content analysis is actually quite a time-consuming and detailed business, when you get down to it.
I am still in the market for a catchy title: if you are a reader / follower of this blog (presumably a "follower" need not actually read it, just like "joining" Facebook groups doesn't actually commit you in any way!) then please will you post some suggestions for a snappy blogging/content analysis/academic libraries/information literacy-related title in the com-box for this post?
The more buzz-words the better!
I must say, I feel my own information literacy increasing even as I analyse the blogs. There are some shining examples of IL best practice out there, and some really cool resources and tools linked to and described by all you pragmatic bibliobloggers (TM) out there.
Hopefully, I can somehow represent this wealth of knowledge, experience and obvious enthusiasm in my final dissertation. My monthly supervision was yesterday and focussed on running through my results so far, figuring out how they can be presented (shiny graphs and percentages, woo hoo!) and what kind of story they can be made to tell (lies, damned lies...).
I was pretty pleased to find that my supervisor agreed that they do actually tell some kind of story, even the basic numbers regarding how many blogs there are, how often people post etc.
The Multi-Faceted Content Analysis (TM) proper gives another side to the "story" and a third "facet" should consist of an anecdotal report based on my reading of the blogs (after all, I have pretty much reviewed the whole of this "sphere", limited as it is to UK university blogging) and illustrated (literally) with example postings.
It's very tempting to get all sentimental about "my" blogs and keep on adding data ad infinitum but it seems more realistic to aim for ad nauseam and keep my "n" to a level I can cope with. After all, I have to submit this thing. Thankfully, most of the blogs in the UK population ("N") don't fit my criteria for content analysing (based on posting frequency and consistency, not quality at all!) so it's been quick to get through a lot!
I am still in the market for a catchy title: if you are a reader / follower of this blog (presumably a "follower" need not actually read it, just like "joining" Facebook groups doesn't actually commit you in any way!) then please will you post some suggestions for a snappy blogging/content analysis/academic libraries/information literacy-related title in the com-box for this post?
The more buzz-words the better!
I must say, I feel my own information literacy increasing even as I analyse the blogs. There are some shining examples of IL best practice out there, and some really cool resources and tools linked to and described by all you pragmatic bibliobloggers (TM) out there.
Hopefully, I can somehow represent this wealth of knowledge, experience and obvious enthusiasm in my final dissertation. My monthly supervision was yesterday and focussed on running through my results so far, figuring out how they can be presented (shiny graphs and percentages, woo hoo!) and what kind of story they can be made to tell (lies, damned lies...).
I was pretty pleased to find that my supervisor agreed that they do actually tell some kind of story, even the basic numbers regarding how many blogs there are, how often people post etc.
The Multi-Faceted Content Analysis (TM) proper gives another side to the "story" and a third "facet" should consist of an anecdotal report based on my reading of the blogs (after all, I have pretty much reviewed the whole of this "sphere", limited as it is to UK university blogging) and illustrated (literally) with example postings.
It's very tempting to get all sentimental about "my" blogs and keep on adding data ad infinitum but it seems more realistic to aim for ad nauseam and keep my "n" to a level I can cope with. After all, I have to submit this thing. Thankfully, most of the blogs in the UK population ("N") don't fit my criteria for content analysing (based on posting frequency and consistency, not quality at all!) so it's been quick to get through a lot!
Monday, 25 August 2008
The exultation!
Finally, I have data. I have RESULTS!
I've got through 30 blogs in the last 2 days, 10 of which have actually fit my criteria for analysis, so I have a serious chunk of data.
Plus, my previous pilots (all 3 of them!) have produced enough statistics to make some nice, wavy graphs.
I also found a uni library blog which links to my research.
It's a good feeling. I will plow on later today, and maybe until the end of August, before I start tying up the loose ends and trying to figure out what all of this actually means!
I have just given up most of a bank holiday weekend to do research. I must be a potential PhD candidate, surely? ;)
I've got through 30 blogs in the last 2 days, 10 of which have actually fit my criteria for analysis, so I have a serious chunk of data.
Plus, my previous pilots (all 3 of them!) have produced enough statistics to make some nice, wavy graphs.
I also found a uni library blog which links to my research.
It's a good feeling. I will plow on later today, and maybe until the end of August, before I start tying up the loose ends and trying to figure out what all of this actually means!
I have just given up most of a bank holiday weekend to do research. I must be a potential PhD candidate, surely? ;)
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Title: an exploration of the categorisation and labeling of things
I have had a title kicking around for months.
In fact, I've already written large amounts of my final dissertation, in a kind of hypothetical (my supervisor termed it "brain-dump") fashion.
Today I sifted through the huge piles of data I already collected, learned some new statistical functions of Excel, and realised I can get this thing off my back a lot sooner than I expected.
In fact, I've already written large amounts of my final dissertation, in a kind of hypothetical (my supervisor termed it "brain-dump") fashion.
Today I sifted through the huge piles of data I already collected, learned some new statistical functions of Excel, and realised I can get this thing off my back a lot sooner than I expected.
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Some tidbits.
I have found some handy hints on writing up.
And dragged up a useful content analysis guide from my bookmarks on my old pc :s
Ah, well. Back to the data trawling tomorrow. I had a great birthday party last night so I've been taking it easy!
And dragged up a useful content analysis guide from my bookmarks on my old pc :s
Ah, well. Back to the data trawling tomorrow. I had a great birthday party last night so I've been taking it easy!
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Library 2.0 Masters Thesis!
I just dug up this great thesis on Library 2.0 by Michael Habib. That's going on my reading list!
He engages with the meaing of the "2.0" and develops a methodology that can be applied to libraries - and then uses an academic library as an example. Very relevant.
He engages with the meaing of the "2.0" and develops a methodology that can be applied to libraries - and then uses an academic library as an example. Very relevant.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Something strange...
...I thought I'd seen the last of Teen Second Life back at the Lib 2.0 You? conference...
...and it struck me as very strange at the time. Since my PC at home doesn't seem capable of much more than a few Word documents and a bit of 'Net browsing at any one time, I haven't experimented any further with the memory-intensive SecondLife, but looking for some education theories to bolster my dissertation introduction I stumbled on this:
http://www.schome.ac.uk/
Yes, "Schome" is coming, neither school nor home (actually it's a surreal educational online graphic adventure roleplay, in pre-1990s language!).
There are some truly bizarre photomontages on their blog, of these kids with strange digitally-created heads. I hope this isn't the future of education, just for the sake of good taste!
Seriously, I am a library school student who spends more than half his time online, but come on! This is very strange. It's not like I'm unfamiliar with change in IT; my lifespan has exactly (to the day, actually) coincided with that of the PC, so I've pretty much "tracked changes" since the beginning, and only just kept up, but now I feel like a digital old-timer!
I suppose blogging is just "so '90s" now.
...and it struck me as very strange at the time. Since my PC at home doesn't seem capable of much more than a few Word documents and a bit of 'Net browsing at any one time, I haven't experimented any further with the memory-intensive SecondLife, but looking for some education theories to bolster my dissertation introduction I stumbled on this:
http://www.schome.ac.uk/
Yes, "Schome" is coming, neither school nor home (actually it's a surreal educational online graphic adventure roleplay, in pre-1990s language!).
There are some truly bizarre photomontages on their blog, of these kids with strange digitally-created heads. I hope this isn't the future of education, just for the sake of good taste!
Seriously, I am a library school student who spends more than half his time online, but come on! This is very strange. It's not like I'm unfamiliar with change in IT; my lifespan has exactly (to the day, actually) coincided with that of the PC, so I've pretty much "tracked changes" since the beginning, and only just kept up, but now I feel like a digital old-timer!
I suppose blogging is just "so '90s" now.
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