Scheduled Seminar Discussions

Guiding the E-Researcher: January 18-29, 2010
Facilitator: Janet Salmons

We are accustomed to live social interaction on the Internet. Text or chat have become a part of everyday culture. We use video calls to stay in touch with distant friends and family members, attend online meetings or webinars; we jump into Second Life for fun or learning. We may know how to use synchronous tools, but do we know how to use them for scholarly research?

While social conversation and research interviews share some characteristics, the purpose, protocol, and context are quite different. This SCoPE seminar will explore key e-research steps needed for educators, graduate students, and community leaders to use synchronous tools for scholarly interviews.

The seminar will draw on Janet's new book on the subject, Online Interviews in Real Time. Some of you may recall a previous SCoPE Seminar with Janet, Collaborate Online, which included an Elluminate session on "Studying Electronic Collaboration: Research, Theories and Methods."

Week 1. Research with Synchronous Online Interviews: Design Factors
Thinking about key questions such as:

• Why collect data with synchronous online interviews?
• What ethical issues must be addressed? What will the institutional or ethics reviewers want to know?
• What sampling approach should I use?

Week 2. Preparing for the Online Interview
Consider important issues before beginning online interviews, including:

• Should I use a structured, semi-structured or unstructured interview style?
• How do decisions about the interview approach relate to the selection of communications technology?

In addition to asynchronous discussions, two synchronous events in week two will demonstrate the use of Elluminate and Vidyo for online interviews.

1. Mulit-Channel Meeting Spaces (Elluminate) - January 25, 2010 Elluminate recording |
2. Vidyo - January 29, 2010 at:
   a) 19:00 GMT - time and date
   b) 21:00 GMT - time and date