Internet Research Methods: A Canadian Perspective

Earlier in June and July, I had the pleasure of teaching a course with Maria Bakardjieva (right) at the Leopold Franzens Universität in Innsbruck, Austria.

It was an excellent experience to work with the issues (appropriate methodologies, timely research questions, research epistemologies) involved in studying the Internet in general. These aren't necessarily that different from the methods, theories and issues that come up in e-learning, but they tend to be a bit less positivistic and more explicitly or methodologically descriptive. Ethnography, for example, is everywhere in internet studies. Critical (political) and historical research, as a further example, abounds in the Canadian Journal of Communication which was used in the course as a source of articles for student review.

Check out the course website, which has our presentations and other materials.