the huffington post posted an article call;ed 'is texting ruining the art of conversation' which was somewhat useful in providing information but at the same time it was quite context based and didnt posess significant relevance to my research aims.
i then found an article on time magazine by scholar john mcwhorter who presented a really intelligent asnd engaging discourse on texting and its effects and ramifications on sociaety and modern culture. i really enjoyed reading it and at the bottom found that he had also presented a ted talk on this topic and so watched that too. the ted talk was fantastic and presented more in depth and explained views of the same topics in the magazine artyicle. i really enjoyed watching it not juste because of the quality of observation but also the presentationa and engagement with thew subject.
to gather more extensive research i looked on a number of other sites that linked to my second chapter and the question.
forbes magazine had an interesting article written on 'is social media sabotaging real communication' whcih had a really good generational perspective on the matter. while somewhat baseic, being that it was amagazine article, it was really useful and presented asome good ideas.
another magazine article, this time in 'social work today' called 'social media and interpersonal communication' was quite useful in citing some scholars and doctors understandings and research and theories on the topic and provided some good undertansing.
a user on 'teen ink' magazine website wrote an article called 'social netwroking and its effect on communication' which while somewhat faux-interlectual and a little activist/preachy it provided some good information on the topics and so i took notes.
on 'social media today' one writer wrote an interesting article outlining the many benefits of social media to the individual and society. while some of his comments were contestable he presented a good opposition to the stances i had gathered so far and so it was useful to have a different perspective.
to aquire a breadth of research i also looked into a number of online videos concerning the topics of my second chapter. some were more engaging and useful than others but all served a puropse of understanding the subject a bit better.
the first 'the effects of cell phones on face to face communication', on youtube, appeared to be aq student produced video and so was not very concrete in its evidence and theory but it was good for some general facts and a slightly more in depth understanding of the topic.
i took a few notes but there wasnt much worth noting down.
another video i watched was '5 ways social media is changing your brain right now' which presented an interesting and factually based exploration fo the psychological effects of social media. i learned quite a bit about social media that i didnt know and about its addictiveness etc. while it was a well presented and engaging video it didnt really posess much relevence to my essay as it was more about the brain and mind than about communication itself.
i took down notes on facts that might be useful and also just for general knowledge.
as further online research i looked at a number of websites with discourse on topics of similar application to my essay.
one site has a passage called 'social media and its effects on communication' which i thought would be useful becuase it was communication based. it provided some good information but was a bit general in parts and so i got what i could from it.
another book that i read for secondary research into my second chapter was communication and cyberspace. this book was very very helpful and presented a multitude of really interesting and thoughtful opinions, theories, contexts, and the various authors' opinions and viewpoints based on the theories.
because the book is edited by a number of scholars there was a good variety of information on the various theories so i took notes and quotes down. for the research for this chapter i also began thinking about the sections the information/quotes might be useful for and so jottedf a little 'wriotten' or 'spoken' next to sections.
further to my initial research into literature for my second chapter, i read a book called the internet and swociety. it was an interesting read and presented a lot of useful ideas and opinions relating to the impact of communication technolkogy on socety and culture and communication itself.
along with a good history of communication technology slevin presents a multitude of arguments by other scholars and criticsally explores them which was really helpful to my understanding of the different stances within the study that exist.
as part of my research for the second chapter of my dissertation i began looking into a book called thinking otherwise: philosophy, communication, technology. this book aimed to present a multitude of views about the various impacts of communication tech. the book was interesting but didnt prove very useful for the topic of my research and was too broadly based on other factors associated to the technology.
as part of my research for the first chapter i read into some of ferdinand de saussures 'course in general linguistics. the book and his writing style are really interesting and at some points quite profound. my main interest lay with his discourse on geography and its effects on communication becuase that is part of the question of my essay. i read a few different chapters of the book but took notes on the geogrpahy chapter because it was most relevant.
further to the other lecutres i watched online, i looked at one by scholar lera boroditsky at the university of san diego called 'how the languages we speak shape the ways we think'. albeit a short lecutre it was really useful in gaining further understanding of language as a construct and limitiation and offered a number of interesting and useful examples to explain each factor.
as part of my research for chapter one i was researching into linguistic determinism, a concept that poses a lot of really interesting questions and communicative observations. i tok some notes but more so just read a multitude of online material to gain a good understanding of the topics. i also looked into linguistic relativity to gain insight into a linked but differing theory.
this book explores and explains many of the different traditons that exist in communication theory. it maps the range of information and study really well and is accessible by nearly anyone. it is not over simplified yet it presents information in an understandable way. from this book i took extensive notes on a number of traditions and theories and also noted a lot of quotes relevant to my essay.
this source has provided invaluable knowledge and understanding for my dissertation and was a really insightful read
while exploring the variety of lectures on youtube i came across a very simple and inoffensive overview of a few theories involved in communication. kathleen mcconnell and andrew wood present mapping the theories of communication. its well presented in that it gives a visual representation of where these theories lie in relation to each other and what different perspectives encompass them.
i took notes on the lecture and wrote down any interting and useful quotes.
while the lecture explored some interesting positions it was not critical or academically in depth enough for the kind of information and understanding i required. it helped me to understand some things i already knew a bit better and so was not a waste of time.
as part of my secondary research, and while searching for communication theory lectures on youtube, i came across a lecture by Dr. Tim Muehlhoff at Biola University.
the lecture posed a really good introduction to communication theory in a more roundabout way which was useful to start with. at first i didnt realise but later on i found out that Biola is a private Evangelical University and as the video went on he dropped more and more references and relatyions to the bible and cristianity and, since that isnt my area of interest in terms of the essay, and because i want my research to at least try not to be religously biassed i stopped watching it about half way through. i took notes and jotted down useful quotes however.
the lecture was however useful in presenting both an overview and introduction to the subject which i found helped me to ease into the topic. the lecture also presented a number of real world anecdotes realtive to the different subject matter which helped me comprehend certain aspects.
as part of my investigation into communication and digital technology i came across a series of short documentaries, funded by ericsson (of sony ericsson), that talked about how our world is changing technologically and how this influences methods and forms of communication. i thought it was a bit suspicious that the series was funded by ericsson because i thought it would mean their influence being apparent in the bias or conclusions of the shorts. having watched the documentaries, and having done a bit of investigation into ericssons motives (generally and in relation to the series), i concluded that their role was mainly financially and that they had, as far as i could tell, left the investigations, findings and outcomes presented to the researchers and academics involved. because the conclusions were not wholly positive, in terms of technology's impact on our future, the series' motives and presentation lead me to believe that the progression and production was independent. there was a bias to an extent (as there always is) but each short did consider multiple stances and viewpoints and gave a board context to each. still a little suspicious of ericssons financial involvement, i decided to conclude that their motive was to cast the company in a better light and demonstrate to the audience that they were making changes in line with considerations for the future of the plant and humanity. whether or not this was for my own peace of mind im not completely sure, however, it let me continue to take the documentaries at face value and not question every statement. i took notes in my notebook:
