Cyberculture Research Methodology & Multiple Realities

This week’s readings from Critical Cyberculture Studies offer an interesting mix of ideas about how to research issues in the discipline, whether it involves what is studied, how it is studied, and why it will improve what we learn in the discipline. Baym (2006) puts together what could be considered a reasonable essay on how to qualitatively study the Internet. While some paragraphs early in the chapter more closely resemble a rant of a disgruntled conference reviewer, she offers some perspectives that seem tautological if the reader has any methodological experience.

She makes note that a problem in Internet research is the lack of consideration for existing literature and how every scholar claiming they have found something groundbreaking in Internet research rings hollow, which suggests that scholars are not effectively reviewing literature in order to inform their research. She also notes, however, that this may in fact be due to the absence of dedicated Internet research journals. I would argue that their absence is a problem, but that our current system of Internet-based research indices permits us to look across a broader spectrum of journals coming from a variety of perspectives. This suggests that scholars that do not thoroughly research the relevant scholarship have little room for excuses about what is absent.

Baym also argues that a common problem in Internet research is that scholars make unsubstantiated claims that they are observing consistent trends without sufficient longitudinal research data. Granted, researchers need to walk a careful line when making claims on data that is only a glimpse of what could be a much larger picture. I do, however, question the nature of this problem. In order to talk about trends, Baym argues we need sufficient longitudinal data to discuss trends. If we are conducting research on Internet-based mediums that may be less than a year old, can we make claims of a trend? Perhaps the mediums we can research longitudinally on the Internet are too few for researchers to discuss trends as anything other than preliminary, with the exception of mediums meant for a short period of time (e.g. candidate Web sites during elections).

Fung (2006) examines the relationship between Cyberlife and Real life which I think offers some insights in how it explores our relationships and need to form communities and relationships on the Internet regardless of how many relationships we have in real life. He concerns himself with the commercial evils that are pervading artificial realities. I worry about how we separate our real existences from our artificial realities. A commonly explored realities in the news today is secondlife.org. There are articles talking about how individuals around the world are negotiating two lives, while utilizing the technology to promote their company’s products, like this woman in Oregon (http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/09/10/c1.cr.secondlife.0910.p1.php?section=cityregion). If you are concerned about the blurring of reality and artificial lives, then it is hard to find comfort in the recent news that HBO purchased the rights to air a documentary on Second Life (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/09/second_life_and_hbo_uhoh.html). If we are concerned about blurring the lines of reality, how do we negotiate a real-world documentary about the artificial lives of real people?

Another medium that is not without its problems is the World of Warcraft (WoW) role playing game. Previous experience with roommates leaves me seeing it as Dungeons and Dragons with a modem, but others claim it can help your lives as much as hurt them. Our own Daily Reveille covered a story this past year detailing how a young LSU student used WoW to provide relief from the real world in the aftermath of a sexual assault (http://media.www.lsureveille.com/media/storage/paper868/news/2007/02/09/Opinion/warcraft.Is.More.Than.Just.A.Game-2709255.shtml). Is this beneficial, or too much of an escape? Perhaps it is too early to say. South Park has even commented on the detriments of WoW to everyday life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jukb-gz8gS0).