Notice: the WebSM website has not been updated since the beginning of 2018.

Web Survey Bibliography

Title Actors Invisibility: About the Necessity to Re-Think Internet Research
Author Luebcke, M., Perschke, R.
Source RC33 6th International Conference on Social Science Methodology: Recent Developments and Applications in Social Research Methodology, 2004
Year 2004
Access date 16.09.2004
Abstract To keep up with the rapid development of the Internet is one of the greatest challenges in social research nowadays. Uncountable emails are sent and received, websites are visited by growing numbers of users in search for information and masses of contributions are published in Internet forums. These new communication channels can be seen twofold: as tools for information gathering or as research subjects themselves. If we look at the Internet as a unique phenomenon we see large scale communication processes with millions of messages passed every day which can be stored and used for future analysis. But something is mostly invisible: the people behind those messages. They disappear behind email addresses and nicknames, often using more than one virtual identity to participate. Communication crosses the border of physical presence, it is substituted through the use of communicative addresses which are merely loosely connected to real people. (Stichweh 2000). The famous cartoon “On the Internet, nobody knows that you’re a dog” by Peter Steiner is an ironical description of this situation, which leads to the well known problems of online-research with sampling methods and cyberethics. Therefore, we suggest to re-think Internet research by leaving actors aside and concentrating on the visible and empirically observable objects. What can be really perceived while glancing at the Internet is sociality based on single utterances. Those messages are referring to each other building a dense network of communication, which is the only visible outcome of users communicative operations. Based on the main assumptions of Niklas Luhmanns social system theory, we are developing a set of concepts which allows us to describe and distinguish different kinds of online communication with a simple framework. Our approach focuses on messages, references, and their social visibility in time. One can use those main ideas to differentiate Internet-based communication like weblogs from online auction or from newsgroup discussions. Methodologically, our approach has the following implication: a switch-over from attribute-based research (users qualities) towards relational research (web of communication) and from static to dynamic analysis. We will present the first results of a tool for simulation and analysis (COMTE) especially designed for large scale communication. This may help to shed light on the specific qualities of online communication and to sensitize researchers who are engaged in using the Internet as a tool of research.
Year of publication2004
Bibliographic typeConferences, workshops, tutorials, presentations
Print

Web survey bibliography - Germany (361)

Page:
Page: