The journal I wrote on my current conceptualization of my seminar project:
I am researching blogs that are used to track and log research, as well as to journal the research process. These blogs have been termed both research blogs and k-logs or klogs, short for knowledge logs. I plan to research as many k-logs that I can find online and to read criticism related to this topic (e.g., Into the Blogosphere, and “Blogging Thoughts: Personal Publication as an Online Research Tool“). Questions that I am interested in answering (or exploring possible answers to) include:
1.What is a k-log? (questions of genre, form, appearance, etc.)
2.How are k-logs used?
3.How does the use of a k-log affect research?
4.How do communities of k-logs function? Or, how do researchers use k-logs in collaboration?
5.What are the possibilities for using k-logs in education? How can the use of k-logs contribute to the research process for students? What about creating a community of researchers in the classroom? The possibilities of collaboration among students?
6.What are the ramifications for publication of research and thoughts before the final product? For example, what are the ramifications of publishing the research process, something that usually is not discussed? What are the possibilities for “stealing“ knowledge before it’s published in an more traditional manner?
7.How are k-logs used differently within different disciplines? That is, do science researchers blog differently from humanities researchers?
8.If research blogging changes the way that research is conducted, is it for the better or for the worse, or neither?
This project is important because instantaneous online publishing is becoming a norm in our culture, and some researchers have already moved toward this style of publication. The ramifications are important because it could (or it might not) change the way research and writing is done in academia. It is important to analyze and be critical of new technologies and understand how they work and how they affect culture. One could view research blogging as a revolutionary way to do research (creating communality, collaboration, and restructuring the traditional way a research paper is constructed) or an awful affront to the way research and publication could be done, and a watering down of ideas (because posts tend to be more conversational, short, and on the fly). Of course, there is a middle ground between these two extremes, and I would like to find an understanding of how k-logs, research, academic discourse, and culture intersect.
