MACT

Posts related to my time as a student in the Communications and Technology MA program at the University of Alberta.

Presentation of MACT Research at the ‘Friends of the U of A’ Annual Meeting

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Enterprise Square, Edmonton

Enterprise Square, Edmonton

A group of us from the MACT program were invited as guests to attend the Friends of the University of Alberta annual general meeting on May 23rd at the Faculty Club. It was a great event that brought together the U of A Alumni group, the local business community and academic researchers. The Faculty of Extension and members of its MACT program were asked to provide a presentation showcasing their research accomplishments and the role they’ve played in the community.

Faculty of Extension Dean Katy Campbell started things off for us discussing the history of the faculty and the current research being done locally and internationally. A short video was shared with the group.

MACT Research

Dr. Ann Curry, a professor for the MACT program, then gave some background information about the program and what topics students cover. Dr. Curry currently teaches the Research Methods course for the program and has written books on censorship and intellectual freedom. More about Dr. Curry can be found at the MACT Professoriate Directory.

I then presented my research of online hockey fans and their role in the development of information regarding the game. I didn’t get into too much details about research methods, content analysis, etc, and instead talked about how fans are engaging with the game using hockey analytics. You can find my final research abstract, along with those of other MACT graduates here: MACT Student Research Project Abstracts.

Glenn Kubish then discussed his current research project examining the Stephen Duckett ‘cookie affair’. Glenn explained how the event played out from the newsroom’s point of view and in the digital world. For an excellent summary of his research, you can read “C is for Convergence!” or check out his blog.

Heather Gray discussed her current research into video conferencing and how an individuals perception of another person can change depending on how much of the person they see. Heather brought some great stats from her study that would be of interest to anyone that uses videoconferencing. You can check out her blog for more.

Teresa Sturgess then discussed her research into mobile device etiquette and the potential impact it has on businesses. Teresa’s research is an interesting one since companies are typically consumed with keeping up with mobile technology, that the personal, human impacts could be overlooked. You can check out her blog for more.

Dr. Tommy Barker, the newest professor of the MACT program, then discussed his research in risk communication with an emphasis on public health. Dr. Barker will also be teaching the Case Studies in Risk Communication course this year. More about Dr. Barker can be found at the MACT Professoriate Directory.

Thoughts

The event was a great opportunity for the MACT program to connect with the community and promote its research and accomplishments. I strongly feel the MACT program and its students will continue to play an integral role in the development of the communications and technology field. It’s especially encouraging to see past and current students using the tools and networks available to connect their work to various industries, to academic research development and to the community.

I’d like to thank the MACT Program, the Faculty of Extension, and the Alumni Association for the opportunity!

Research Ideas

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

If I had extended my tenure as a student, my research would have probably focused solely on hockey fans who conduct data analytics. Blogs, which was the focus of my MACT final project, would play a prominent role, along with other social media tools and analytics software.

That got me thinking of what other research projects could possibly spin out from the research I did complete. Here’s my random, evolving list:

–       History of hockey analytics

–       Comparison of hockey fans across teams, regions and their online activity

–       Does following a horrible team make you more likely to get into hockey analytics? Looking at you, Oilers fans.

–       Interview people who do hockey analytics to find out why they do it, what methods they use, what barriers they face and/or what they think the future holds for hockey analytics.

SuperFan 2.0 – Exploring the Produsage Qualities of Hockey Fans

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Here’s the extended abstract for my final research paper entitled SuperFan 2.0 – Exploring the Produsage Qualities of Hockey Fans.

Introduction and Problem Definition

Professional sports are a billion dollar industry as fans attend live events, collect merchandise and gamble on outcomes. Information is also a major product of professional sports and has been used by sports fans to predict outcomes, participate in fantasy league contests and to interact with other fans. Past research has depicted fans as simple consumers of professional sports. Fans have various reasons to follow sports and use various technological tools to stay informed and interact with other fans. There was found to be a lack of research regarding the role hockey fans play in the creation, development and distribution of information. The advancement of technological tools, combined with the participatory culture fans operate within, has given fans more opportunities to be creators and distributors of information.

Methodology

This study is designed to answer the following research question:

Based on the key principles of produsage (Bruns, 2008), can hockey fans be considered “produsers”?

This study used a qualitative content analysis to examine a single fan generated hockey blog. Content from this blog, including the homepage, options for users of the blog and blog articles, was coded using the following four key principles of produsage as a guide:

  1. Open Participation, Communal Evaluation – Produsage environments are open to all to get a wide array of experience and contributions.
  2. Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy – Leadership within the project depends on the contribution the individual makes. Those whose contributions are valuable to the project will elevate their status within the community.
  3. Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process – Rather than a finished product, the aim of produsage is to evolve and continuously improve the shared content within a community.
  4. Common Property, Individual Rewards – Individuals working within a produsage environment are motivated by their ability to contribute to a communal purpose. Produsage environments ensure that the shared content will not be exploited and will remain available to those who contribute to the project.

Findings are based on the activity of hockey fans on the selected blog. These findings are then categorized by produsage principle and reviewed to ensure reliability and validity.

Results

Based on a review of one hockey blog and its users, hockey fans can be considered produsers. Hockey fans who engage with the game through blogging meet the four key characteristics of produsage. Fan activity has changed the traditional production-consumption model as fans are now taking on a greater role in producing content. The blog articles and corresponding comments function as an example of a fan community sharing content and developing information within a participatory culture.

Conclusion

The research question is addressed by comparing the findings of the content analysis to the four key principles of produsage. How professional sports leagues such as the National Hockey League can engage with their fans in a produsage environment is discussed. The weaknesses of the study, as well as areas for further research are also addressed.

Community-Based Research and Evaluation

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

A graduate certificate is currently being offered by The University of Alberta’s Community University Partnership (CUP), which focuses on community based research and evaluation. The program brings together researchers, practitioners and community members to share knowledge to develop and refine best practices.

The Community Based Research and Evaluation (CBRE) certificate program requires four courses:

 – INT-D 500 – Introduction to community-based research and evaluation
 – one (*3) graduate-level course in program planning and evaluation
 – one (*3) graduate-level course in quantitative research methods
 – one (*3) graduate-level course in qualitative research methods

Unfortunately for MACT students, COMM 501 (Applied Research in Communication and Technology) cannot be used to fulfill the course requirements. Here’s a description of the course:

Course overview: Introduction to quantitative and qualitative approaches for conducting research into technology-mediated communications. Guides students in their topic selection and development for their culminating project.

Learning objectives

  • Understand the necessity and process of grounding research questions and methodologies within a body of scientific literature
  • Demonstrate a knowledge of the differences and similarities between two main research approaches – qualitative and quantitative
  • Become familiar with a number of specific data collection methods
  • Explore the research process and scientific method
  • Focused the students’ research question for the applied research project, its relation to the appropriate literature, and a choice of suitable research methods.

I find this odd for two reasons:

  1. The COMM 501 course is very heavy on research methods and theory, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods.
  2. Both the CBRE certificate program and the MACT program are under the same Faculty. If anything, the two programs should work together to accommodate and benefit both sides.

Potential Benefits

For MACT students: Additional course work seems like a good supplement to a graduate degree, especially for students in the MACT program whose final research project is community focussed.

For the MACT Program: Students complete additional course work that could be applied to the MACT key competenices. 

For the CBRE Program: Potentially more students working towards the certificate.  More students from different fields would benefit CBRE and achieve the goals of the program. 

If any MACT students are interested in putting together a case to get COMM 501 accepted as an approved course, I’d be happy to help. I don’t have interest in completing the certificate any time soon, but figured there might be some interest among current and future MACT students.

Get Blogging Comrades

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Melk Abbey Library, Austria (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Our MACT cohort has done a lot of exceptional work. Both as individuals and as a group, we’ve completed all sorts of research papers and case studies to better understand communication and technology and apply our findings to our professional fields. To me the purpose of what we’ve done as students is not to just summarize our findings for a grade, but to extend the information available to us. As graduate students we have to continue building on the theories and artifacts to build new knowledge.

As a cohort, we have an opportunity to play a major role in the knowledge surrounding communication and technology. We have all sorts of tools available to us that weren’t around for the theorists we’ve learned from. We have to capitalize on the very tools and environment we’ve studied to share what we know.

I hope every student, regardless of cohort or faculty, is able to publish their work and knowledge in some form. Whether it’s through social media, conferences, poster sessions or other outlets, letting the next group of students know what we’ve done will only help develop our field. Knowledge is meant to be shared and extended.

I’ve personally found blogging to be a quick and easy way to share information and connect with others. No need to publish every day. Even a quick blurb about some of your work or anything related to it. Be sure to use tags, provide links and search for related blogs.

Related article: MACT Experience

Qualitative Content Analysis

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My research project is utilizing qualitative content analysis to see if online hockey fans can be considered produsers. This method isn’t as common as the quantitative approach, but does have its strengths as an analytical tool.

There’s a few excellent sources of information regarding this approach. None, however, being more useful than this article. Zhang (2009) provides a summary of other research done on this method to illustrate its strength and weaknesses. It then provides steps to follow when conducting qualitative content analysis.

I’ve selected one hockey blog and will examine its homepage as well as a few blog posts. What I’ll do is comb through the blog and code/mark-up/highlight whatever content falls under the categories outlined in my codebook. I’ve established four categories, reflecting the four key characteristics of produsage (Bruns, 2008). I’ve established a codebook to sort my observations and interpretations of the blog. Definitely a rigorous process to ensure that my coding is accurate and consistent.

Bruns, A. (2009). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Zhang, Y. & Wildemuth, B.M. (2009). Qualitative analysis of content. In B. Wildemuth (Ed.), Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library. Retrieved October 18, 2011 from http://ils.unc.edu/~yanz/Content_analysis.pdf

MACT Project Update

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

The process of getting my research project approved by the University of Alberta is underway. A quick update on what exactly I’ll be doing:

My research study will be exploring this new breed of hockey fans that’s doing more than just consuming information. Instead, fans are creating, developing, sharing and maintaining information as a collective group.

I’ve selected a fan blog dedicated to the Edmonton Oilers as my sample. Using Bruns’ four principles of produsage as categories, I’ll explore different features of the fan site. It’ll be a content analysis, but with a qualitative approach rather than quantitative. What this means is, instead of counting frequencies or randomly selecting data, I’ll be sorting what I observe into themes and then analyzing the collected data.

What I hope to uncover is that hockey fans who blog are more than prosumers, or individuals who are really good at consuming and being what the NHL wants them to be. Instead, these fans can be considered produsers, who continuously extend the content they consume by working with others and various technological tools.

Bruns, A. (2009). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Zhang, Y. & Wildemuth, B.M. (2009). Qualitative analysis of content. In B. Wildemuth (Ed.), Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library. Retrieved October 18, 2011 from http://ils.unc.edu/~yanz/Content_analysis.pdf

Superfan 2.0

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Leaning towards calling my research project “Superfan 2.0”.

A superfan is someone who falls under the prosumer definition. They catch games, collect merchandise and follow the game religiously. They have a solid understanding of the game and are on top of the latest news and information. But with new technology, fans have evolved and now play a more active role within the game. These fans create content related to the game and work within a network to develop information and knowledge. The 2.0 part of it refers to O’Reilly’s definition of web 2.0 and the technology fans have used to create, maintain and share information.

Think the term Superfan 2.0 suits them just right.

MACT Experience

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Source: PhD Comics

I’ve finished my last elective and am now ready to start the final project this fall. Researching my topic and finalizing the paper will take until early 2012.

There’s no question that a graduate program is extremely challenging mentally. There’s all sorts of information to soak in and apply leaving little time for anything else. For me personally, there has been a lot of frustration and stress chasing a master’s degree, but it’s been a rewarding experience.

Some advice for anyone looking into the MACT program or any other graduate studies:

1. Have a plan. Working full time and coming home to readings, assignments and groupwork takes a lot of time. Plan out your course work and stick to it.

2. Make time for your own stuff. You’ll have to sacrifice a lot so the challenge is figuring out what you can and can’t cut out.

3. Book a time slot in the week for catching up on stuff. Your studying time will get pushed around a lot, so be ready to make-up for it.

4. Use your cohort and faculty for support. It might be tough to explain to family and friends why you’re spending all that money on a graduate program, let alone what exactly you’re studying.

5. Choose a topic you genuinely want to research. You’ll be spending hours and hours studying it, so make it enjoyable. Motivation to read a 30+ page article can be difficult to find, so do something you have a real interest in.

It’s an exciting time to be a graduate student. Traditional methods of learning  are still around, but its worth exploring the new methods and tools available to students. I found that a lot of topics in communications and technology remain unchartered and students have the freedom to explore these areas further.