Folks - Toby is a cool guy and would really appreciate your help as he tries to work on his masters degree. Take a few minutes and read the section below and if you have a few minutes, hit his survey.
Thanks.
- S.R.
Research Introduction Text
My name is Toby Hopp and I’m a longtime college sports blogger/blog
reader. I’m also a graduate communications student at San Diego State
University who is interested in studying how and why Internet users
generate content online. What precisely, you may be asking, is
"user-generated content?" Well, "user-generated content" includes
comment sections at the end of news/blog articles, messageboards,
diaries, polls, and the like.
To me, one of the great parts of the blogosphere is the interaction it
enables between readers. As a community, we’re able to provide
feedback and discuss issues in real time. However, the concept of
"user-generated content" and its subsequent social applications has
not, at this point, been thoroughly studied by communications
researchers and is, in my estimation, completely misunderstood by the
mass media.
So, if you have 10-15 minutes to spare and support empirical media
research (and the social sciences in general), please click the survey
link below. Even if you NEVER create/read content on blog or newspaper
websites, PLEASE consider taking the survey as your answers are as
important to me as the answers supplied by individuals who DO
regularly create content. Rest assured that all answers and provided
information will be strictly anonymous and kept totally confidential.
Survey Link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WSQGPZ2
For those of you interested in statistics, all collected information
will be scientifically analyzed and utilized to create an inherently
unique structural equation model. To that end, I’ll send a report out
to each participating blog which details general trends and reader
utilization issues of note.
Again, please consider taking this survey (Survey Link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WSQGPZ2) whether or not you ever create
or read "user –generated content" on blogs or newspaper sites. The
survey itself will take 10 – 15 minutes and, I promise, will be quite
painless. As stated above, research on the topic of "user-generated
content" is incredibly sparse and your participation will go a long
way in understanding the environmental factors that encourage
meaningful intra-community participation. And, of course, you’ll be
doing me a great and immeasurable favor.
The survey will be active from Monday, December 14 through Friday,
December 18. Please feel free to e-mail me at thopp@mail.sdsu.edu if
you have any questions relating to the survey or my over-arching
methodology/conceptual framework (obviously, there’s a lot more to the
study that can be reasonably described here).
Thank you for your time and please know that your participation really
does mean a great deal to me on both a professional and personal
level.
Survey Link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WSQGPZ2