my communities

In an effort to remind myself of the variety of online communities I've been involved in over the years, I did a vanity search on google. Ouch, the earliest stuff I can find is 20 years old. I got started on US patents lists in the late 80's and followed that quickly with some Grateful Dead newsgroups. I've been a member of and officer in the Engineering Libraries Division of the American Society of Engineering Education. I was on a committee to look into rebuilding universities in Afghanistan. I wrote articles for the Engineering Schools newsletter at Purdue and for professional library journals.

I did a teleconference out of the College of DuPage (during the winter) and gave a virtual presentation at a conference in Norway. I've organized, moderated and presented at national conferences. I designed and delivered an online course at Purdue for 8 semesters.

All of this is out on the public web and I could live with any and all of it being studied.

I've also got a page on a website where I am listed as Sheila C, there is lots of very personal info about me on the page that I kept up for 2-3 years. I left it there because someone in the community might find it useful. I would not mind it being used because I believe that it would be difficult, but not impossible, to trace it back to me.

Otherwise, if my name is attached to it, I don't mind it being viewed, or read, or studied because I consider the web a public space.

more later. sheila

more research ideas

the bibliometrics thing has been done, even if it is valuable in the long run, what new information can I get by using a tried and true method on Technical Communication Quarterly? What if I used the tried and true method on Kairos? or some other online only (new media scholarly product) title? What do authors of the new media products cite and how is that different from what has been cited inthe past?

more to come. sheila

ideas for research for 5377

I've been thinking about what topics I might research and I've come up with a few:

1. How do university faculty (or TCR or english dept) at TTU manage their information? A survey that asks faculty (using surveymonkey) about how they keep the files that support their own research. IRB needed.

2. What are the knowledge management characteristics of TCR faculty and graduate students? (onsite vs distance) another survey using surveymonkey. IRB needed.

3. Citation analysis of the five major journals in TCR. (IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Technical Communication, and Technical Communication Quarterly) Might be too big, just focus on TCQ this summer.

4. Self citation in TCR (same five journals)

5. How homogeneous or heterogeneous is TCR? (citation analysis)

I would need IRB for the first two, but not for the last three. What I haven't done on the first two is to check and see it these articles have already been done. oy, sheila

5377 Introduction

When I introduced myself last week, I forgot to say that I am a phd student in TCR and an employee at TTU. So I am like the onsite students because I am onsite, but I am not fulltime which makes me more like the distance students.

I get confused by the threads in the MOO, but I'll get better.

more later. sheila