Thesis Topics
Alright. So I've been thinking a good deal about Thesis Topics, and I've narrowed things down. Figured I'd put up a public rambling about where my thoughts are, just to see if someone braindrops something that could cause me to sit up and go "OOOOOooooooooh." It's happened before. For those of you curious, all of these take place within Persistent Worlds online. The basic concepts could be examined either as a collective whole, or as an isolate, generally. There are exceptions
Topic
Communities/micronationsBasic ConceptsFormation of
Structure of
Purpose for
Communication within
Culture of
Impact on "real life"
Values withinAdvantagesAlready familiar with several
Target audience tends to be collected into one location, with easily
accessed means of communication
A wide variety of such groups exist, such as Victorian, Gorean, LGBT,
Bakufu, Tellurian, etc. thus allowing for a good
comparison/contrast structure
Study taps heavily into concepts important to communications
studies
Studies do exist that can provide a foundation for further researchDisadvantagesEssential needs permission of key leaders to get anywhere
Study probably would not break new ground
Requires interaction with groups that may be wary, or less than
pleasant to be aroundDiscussionIn many ways this would be cake to do. I am familiar with several micronations within my P.W. of choice, and can easily find more within it. Many of these groups would probably be open to study, if approached respectfully, allowing me to get a good look at what these groups are, how they operate, what they mean to their participants, and where they might be going in the future. Unfortunately, I don't see this leading to anything particularly groundbreaking, as internet groups have been studied in the past, so all I would be doing is providing an additional context for verifying what has already been done. A conservative and fairly easy study.
TopicGenderBasic ConceptsCommunications differences between
How it is represented visually and in text
What expectations there are in regard to roles, how they are met,
and what they mean
Faking it
Perceptions of
Equality of
Porportions of representation, both of RL gender and PW genderAdvantagesAn area I've already done some research in
Gender studies are already heavily documented, giving a good
grounding
Deals in fundamental questions relevent even outside of the net
Attention grabbing
Very easy to find subjects to study as everyone has a gender
Covers territory that is fairly new, since pre-internet days made
"cross-dressing" difficult to to do well
Asks important questions that have policy implications
Delves deeply into the opportunities and dangers that new
communications technologies representDisadvantagesCould be highly controversial
Runs the risk of accusations of sensationalistic topic for attention
gettings sake
Potentially politicizing
Have to be able to find willing study subjects who may not want to
reveal themselves
Deals with stereotyping
Gets into questions of sexuality, which can be very difficult to handle
wellDiscussionThis could be an absolutely fascinating to study to do. I've already done some work on the subject (such as the Senior Thesis I did asking if people could detect fakes in a persistent environment online) so I'm already familiar with it. Further, it delves into areas that are fascinating, such as asking what our current beliefs are regarding gender, how it is represented, how it impacts us, what we think about non-traditional aspects of it, and such. However, it could be a pretty risky study to do, as it also delves into topics that can be come highly politicized, such as feminism and transexual rights. Further, it also demands a great deal of trust, as I would have to be able to discuss with people things that they might be very uncomfortable revealing (such as real life gender, or orientation, and the like). Plus there are a number of ethical considerations. Not to mention it likely will involve discussions of sexuality as well, and that is always a very sensitive topic to get into. Potentially powerful study, but with significant risk.
TopicIdentityBasic ConceptsWhy people choose the appearances and backgrounds they do
How much RL influence is brought into creation of background,
how much is created, and why?
Why do some people choose a single appearance, while others have
multiple variations?
Why do people choose alternative (gender/race/species)
appearances?
Do people's perspectives and opinions change based on avatar?
What influence do gender/race/species play in this?
Do people intentionally communicate through their avatar choices?
What? Unintentional?
Transgender behavior onlineAdvantagesI don't think this has been done before
Gets into the quite new area of non-verbal communication online,
something that has not been possible until very recently
Gets into questions of what appearance means to us in an area
where everything can be chosen, rather than us being stuck
with what we were born with
Large pool of people to select fromDisadvantagesRequires people be willing to reveal a good deal of personal RL data
about themselves
Gets into questions of what counts as "normal" vs. "deviant"
Relies very heavily on subjective rather than objective reasoning and
thought, which is very subject to interpretation and easily messed
up
Could swerve into potentially controversial ground ("furries,"
"anatomically correct avatars")
Without much pre-existing literature on the subject it would be very
easy to screw up owing to a lack of guidance to help base the
research on.DiscussionThis could be a lot of fun. Aside from a simple picture, avatars are a reasonably new phenomenon within online communications. The tech has only really recently allowed for people to go beyond "pick sex, race, skin color, hair color, and uniform color" as a means of differentiating between graphic representations. With the extremes of flexibility we now have, avatar appearance has entered a realm where we have as much, no... even MORE variety in appearance than we have in real life (thanks to the ability to create non-human avatars.) So we now have the opportunity to choose very elaborate and detailed ways to represent ourselves, when previously the best we could do towards that end was cosmetics on top of what nature gave us. Decoding the meanings of what we are presenting could be very valuable for a variety of disciplines. A potentially ground-breaking study.
TopicSexualityBasic ConceptsWhat does cybersex entail?
Why do people engage in it?
Does it have RL impacts? What are they? Why? What does this
mean?
How is it displayed/communicated?
What role does it play within people's cyber-lives?
What roles do people take?
Alternative sexuality and variations of behavior
Dating
Relationships, in world vs. out world
Perceptions of
Sexual identityAdvantagesWould certainly garner attention and interest
Covers an area that certainly needs to be understood so we can
formulate policies regarding it
Has potential to be ground breaking
Looks at subject with potential to have major impacts on people's
lives, and deals with important social structures being debated
offline as well as onlineDisadvantagesFinding people willing to be research subjects entails a LOT of risk
Has the potential to be percieved as sensationalistic
Requires a great deal of invasion into people's very personal lives
both in world and out
HUGE ethical considerations
Exposure to the underworld of the internet, including areas that are
potentially unethical/illegal
Dramadramadrama
How participatory would I have to be?DiscussionCall this the Unholy Hand Grenade of research. This is a subject that my professor last year brought up. She had heard it happens, had no idea about how any of it works, and felt it was something that really, REALLY needed to be studied. This, of course, means that if I studied it I'd be playing straight to at least one of the board that will judge my work. Not that this would be the chief reason I would do it, but it is a consideration. The implications of really analyzing and understanding this very controversial subject has huge, huge reach in terms of business, law, sociology, technology... But it's also a very dangerous subject. For many it crosses all sorts of taboos religiously, socially, politically... I'd run the risk of not only exposing myself to criticism of voyuerism and sensationalism, but depending on where the research takes me, I could even run into risky legal territory. What happens if I find myself interviewing someone who collects child porn? Research ethics say I have to keep a lid on it to protect the confidentiality needed to perform research. Legally, I become an accessory if I don't report it. And that is just one example. An explosive research project, it's just a question of whether it's a good boom or a bad one.
TopicAgeBasic ConceptsAre there differences in how different age groups approach
Persistent Worlds?
Is there an age gap in terms of acceptance?
Is there an age gap in terms of accessibility?
Is there an age gap in terms of uses?
What breakdown of representation is there?
How do people percieve the different age demographics?
Are they represented? How?AdvantagesA very simple, straightforward study
Relies fairly heavily on objective rather than subjective data
Shouldn't rock the boat too badlyDisadvantagesSimple and noncontroversial also means somewhat staid and boring
Might be too simple for someone wanting to demonstrate he's hot
stuff
Have to get and verify RL statistics from research subjectsDiscussionTo be honest, I'm not enthusiastic about this one. It would probably be the simplest and safest option, so I haven't thrown it out, but I really don't feel like it's challenging enough, or that I could really shine with it.
TopicNormsBasic ConceptsPolite vs. impolite language
Polite vs. impolite behavior
Body norms
Development
Role played
Enforcement
BreakdownsAdvantagesGets to look at how the world wide web has brought together
people from diverse cultures and established rules of
behavior that cross cultural boundaries
Studies normative culture to find commonalities, and differences,
between groups, and analyzes why those exist
Very much oriented towards the social impact of computer
mediated communicationsDisadvantagesDeals heavily with very subjective judgments regarding right and
wrong
Could result in having to deal with very controversial or even flat
out legally questionable groups while looking for variances
Many groups don't like having their norms poked at
Asking "who makes the rules, and why?" tends to get one shot atDiscussionGetting tired enough of writing that I'm starting to cut things short here. *laughs* Let's just say this could be a little tricky, but is still fairly straightforward
METHODS:
Survey,
Interview,
Observation,
Ethnography/biographical
Topic
Communities/micronationsBasic ConceptsFormation of
Structure of
Purpose for
Communication within
Culture of
Impact on "real life"
Values withinAdvantagesAlready familiar with several
Target audience tends to be collected into one location, with easily
accessed means of communication
A wide variety of such groups exist, such as Victorian, Gorean, LGBT,
Bakufu, Tellurian, etc. thus allowing for a good
comparison/contrast structure
Study taps heavily into concepts important to communications
studies
Studies do exist that can provide a foundation for further researchDisadvantagesEssential needs permission of key leaders to get anywhere
Study probably would not break new ground
Requires interaction with groups that may be wary, or less than
pleasant to be aroundDiscussionIn many ways this would be cake to do. I am familiar with several micronations within my P.W. of choice, and can easily find more within it. Many of these groups would probably be open to study, if approached respectfully, allowing me to get a good look at what these groups are, how they operate, what they mean to their participants, and where they might be going in the future. Unfortunately, I don't see this leading to anything particularly groundbreaking, as internet groups have been studied in the past, so all I would be doing is providing an additional context for verifying what has already been done. A conservative and fairly easy study.
TopicGenderBasic ConceptsCommunications differences between
How it is represented visually and in text
What expectations there are in regard to roles, how they are met,
and what they mean
Faking it
Perceptions of
Equality of
Porportions of representation, both of RL gender and PW genderAdvantagesAn area I've already done some research in
Gender studies are already heavily documented, giving a good
grounding
Deals in fundamental questions relevent even outside of the net
Attention grabbing
Very easy to find subjects to study as everyone has a gender
Covers territory that is fairly new, since pre-internet days made
"cross-dressing" difficult to to do well
Asks important questions that have policy implications
Delves deeply into the opportunities and dangers that new
communications technologies representDisadvantagesCould be highly controversial
Runs the risk of accusations of sensationalistic topic for attention
gettings sake
Potentially politicizing
Have to be able to find willing study subjects who may not want to
reveal themselves
Deals with stereotyping
Gets into questions of sexuality, which can be very difficult to handle
wellDiscussionThis could be an absolutely fascinating to study to do. I've already done some work on the subject (such as the Senior Thesis I did asking if people could detect fakes in a persistent environment online) so I'm already familiar with it. Further, it delves into areas that are fascinating, such as asking what our current beliefs are regarding gender, how it is represented, how it impacts us, what we think about non-traditional aspects of it, and such. However, it could be a pretty risky study to do, as it also delves into topics that can be come highly politicized, such as feminism and transexual rights. Further, it also demands a great deal of trust, as I would have to be able to discuss with people things that they might be very uncomfortable revealing (such as real life gender, or orientation, and the like). Plus there are a number of ethical considerations. Not to mention it likely will involve discussions of sexuality as well, and that is always a very sensitive topic to get into. Potentially powerful study, but with significant risk.
TopicIdentityBasic ConceptsWhy people choose the appearances and backgrounds they do
How much RL influence is brought into creation of background,
how much is created, and why?
Why do some people choose a single appearance, while others have
multiple variations?
Why do people choose alternative (gender/race/species)
appearances?
Do people's perspectives and opinions change based on avatar?
What influence do gender/race/species play in this?
Do people intentionally communicate through their avatar choices?
What? Unintentional?
Transgender behavior onlineAdvantagesI don't think this has been done before
Gets into the quite new area of non-verbal communication online,
something that has not been possible until very recently
Gets into questions of what appearance means to us in an area
where everything can be chosen, rather than us being stuck
with what we were born with
Large pool of people to select fromDisadvantagesRequires people be willing to reveal a good deal of personal RL data
about themselves
Gets into questions of what counts as "normal" vs. "deviant"
Relies very heavily on subjective rather than objective reasoning and
thought, which is very subject to interpretation and easily messed
up
Could swerve into potentially controversial ground ("furries,"
"anatomically correct avatars")
Without much pre-existing literature on the subject it would be very
easy to screw up owing to a lack of guidance to help base the
research on.DiscussionThis could be a lot of fun. Aside from a simple picture, avatars are a reasonably new phenomenon within online communications. The tech has only really recently allowed for people to go beyond "pick sex, race, skin color, hair color, and uniform color" as a means of differentiating between graphic representations. With the extremes of flexibility we now have, avatar appearance has entered a realm where we have as much, no... even MORE variety in appearance than we have in real life (thanks to the ability to create non-human avatars.) So we now have the opportunity to choose very elaborate and detailed ways to represent ourselves, when previously the best we could do towards that end was cosmetics on top of what nature gave us. Decoding the meanings of what we are presenting could be very valuable for a variety of disciplines. A potentially ground-breaking study.
TopicSexualityBasic ConceptsWhat does cybersex entail?
Why do people engage in it?
Does it have RL impacts? What are they? Why? What does this
mean?
How is it displayed/communicated?
What role does it play within people's cyber-lives?
What roles do people take?
Alternative sexuality and variations of behavior
Dating
Relationships, in world vs. out world
Perceptions of
Sexual identityAdvantagesWould certainly garner attention and interest
Covers an area that certainly needs to be understood so we can
formulate policies regarding it
Has potential to be ground breaking
Looks at subject with potential to have major impacts on people's
lives, and deals with important social structures being debated
offline as well as onlineDisadvantagesFinding people willing to be research subjects entails a LOT of risk
Has the potential to be percieved as sensationalistic
Requires a great deal of invasion into people's very personal lives
both in world and out
HUGE ethical considerations
Exposure to the underworld of the internet, including areas that are
potentially unethical/illegal
Dramadramadrama
How participatory would I have to be?DiscussionCall this the Unholy Hand Grenade of research. This is a subject that my professor last year brought up. She had heard it happens, had no idea about how any of it works, and felt it was something that really, REALLY needed to be studied. This, of course, means that if I studied it I'd be playing straight to at least one of the board that will judge my work. Not that this would be the chief reason I would do it, but it is a consideration. The implications of really analyzing and understanding this very controversial subject has huge, huge reach in terms of business, law, sociology, technology... But it's also a very dangerous subject. For many it crosses all sorts of taboos religiously, socially, politically... I'd run the risk of not only exposing myself to criticism of voyuerism and sensationalism, but depending on where the research takes me, I could even run into risky legal territory. What happens if I find myself interviewing someone who collects child porn? Research ethics say I have to keep a lid on it to protect the confidentiality needed to perform research. Legally, I become an accessory if I don't report it. And that is just one example. An explosive research project, it's just a question of whether it's a good boom or a bad one.
TopicAgeBasic ConceptsAre there differences in how different age groups approach
Persistent Worlds?
Is there an age gap in terms of acceptance?
Is there an age gap in terms of accessibility?
Is there an age gap in terms of uses?
What breakdown of representation is there?
How do people percieve the different age demographics?
Are they represented? How?AdvantagesA very simple, straightforward study
Relies fairly heavily on objective rather than subjective data
Shouldn't rock the boat too badlyDisadvantagesSimple and noncontroversial also means somewhat staid and boring
Might be too simple for someone wanting to demonstrate he's hot
stuff
Have to get and verify RL statistics from research subjectsDiscussionTo be honest, I'm not enthusiastic about this one. It would probably be the simplest and safest option, so I haven't thrown it out, but I really don't feel like it's challenging enough, or that I could really shine with it.
TopicNormsBasic ConceptsPolite vs. impolite language
Polite vs. impolite behavior
Body norms
Development
Role played
Enforcement
BreakdownsAdvantagesGets to look at how the world wide web has brought together
people from diverse cultures and established rules of
behavior that cross cultural boundaries
Studies normative culture to find commonalities, and differences,
between groups, and analyzes why those exist
Very much oriented towards the social impact of computer
mediated communicationsDisadvantagesDeals heavily with very subjective judgments regarding right and
wrong
Could result in having to deal with very controversial or even flat
out legally questionable groups while looking for variances
Many groups don't like having their norms poked at
Asking "who makes the rules, and why?" tends to get one shot atDiscussionGetting tired enough of writing that I'm starting to cut things short here. *laughs* Let's just say this could be a little tricky, but is still fairly straightforward
METHODS:
Survey,
Interview,
Observation,
Ethnography/biographical