Social Bookmarking - Social bookmarking is an activity performed over a computer network that allows users to save and categorize personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as subscribe to the lists of others - a personal knowledge management tool. The concept of shared online bookmarks goes back to 1996. I am not aware of anyone who has used a social bookmark as a vehicle to study. At this writing, Sage offers the following social bookmarks:

Citeulike – Originally started in 2004 and further developed in 2006, this cite is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly and scientific references. More than 2 million articles, More than 3,000 added in one day. http://www.citeulike.org

Connotea – Similar to citeulike and delicious. Created in 2004, target audience is scientists. http://www.connotea.org/

Delicious – Founded in 2003, Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet. http://delicious.com/about

Digg – Digg is a place to discover and share content from around the Web, from the smallest blog to major news outlets. Everything is submitted and voted on by people like you. http://digg.com/register/

Social Networking – A social network service builds online communities among people who share similar interests and activities. Most are web-based. These social network sites provide new ways for people to interact and share information. Some sites are lists of former classmates. The two most widely used in North America are Facebook and MySpace. Researchers have become interested in using the culture of a social network as a type of subculture to study. Issues regarding confidentiality and privacy have been raised with regard to studying these networks. Facebook and MySpace are public networks; as such, anyone can join.

Facebook – A free-access social network site. It is privately owned. Originally founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg when he was a Harvard student. Initially included college students from prestigious universities. According to Forbes Top400, Zuckerberg is the 321st richest person in the world, with a net worth of $1.5 Billion.

MySpace – A free-access social network site. In June 2006 it was the most popular site in the United States. By April 2008 FaceBook overtook it. Following the start of Friendster, several eUniverse employees started MySpace in 2003. The first users were eUniverse employees. Revenues come from advertising.

Listservs, Internet Forums, and other electronic mailing lists – LISTSERV is the first electronic mailing list. Before listserv, requests were managed manually. LISTSERV is a registered trademark with the Patent Office. So actually using the term “listserv” is inappropriate; rather use the term electronic mailing list. I am not sure the extent to which research has been completed using this type of network.

Yahoo Groups – Launched in 1998, this site serves as an extension of a message board or calendar. Member needs to be invited to join. One nice feature is that files can be uploaded. Retrieved February 4, 2009 at http://groups.yahoo.com/.

Search Engines – A web search engine is a tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. For a complete list of all search engines go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines For a history of the development of search engines, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_Engine#History. The two search engines most widely used are Google and Yahoo.

Google – Co-founded by Brin and Page in 1998 while they were students at Stanford. Originally began as a search engine, it now includes many functions such as google image, google maps, google books, and google earth. Revenue comes from advertising.

Yahoo – A strong competitor of Google, Yahoo was founded in 1994 by Jerry Yang and another student at Stanford. The original term comes from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Based on Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web and called “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” Various talks with Microsoft about acquiring Yahoo. http://www.yahoo.com/

Twitter – A social network and microblog site. You can sign up for free. It is a microblog since the maximum length per message is 140 characters. Users can send and read each others’ updates (called tweets). According to Pogue (nytimes.com/pogue) in the New York Times of February 12, 2009, there’s nothing quite like Twitter. http://twitter.com

YouTube – a video sharing website where users upload and share video clips. In November 2006 bought by Google for $1.65 billion. Uses Adobe Flash video technology. Founded by early employees of PayPal in 2005. http://www.youtube.com/

Flickr – an image and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community platform. Widely used by bloggers as a photo repository. As of November 2008 it hosts more than 3 billion images. Developed by a Canadian company (Ludicorp) in 2004. Now owned by Yahoo. http://www.flickr.com/

Wiki – a page or a collection of web pages. Anyone who accesses it can modify or add to it. Often used to create collaborative web pages. Wikipedia is the best known.
A TiddlyWiki, developed by Jeremy Ruston, is like a blog because it is divided into chunks. Read by hyperlinking rather than in sequence.

Skype – Skype is a free software program that will let you talk and see across the Internet. You can also make videos or do instant messages (IM). http://www.skype.com/

Qualitative Research Web Sites
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/web.html
Prepared by Ron Chenail
Location: The Qualitative Report, Nova Southeastern University
Last Update: December 2008
Key features: An alphabetical listing with links to numerous websites. No information is provided except the link so you cannot tell whether it will be helpful for your needs.

Qualitative Research in Education Home Page
http://www.unm.edu/~jka/qualres.html
Prepared by Jan Armstrong
Location: University of New Mexico
Last update: May 2008
Key features: Links to various resources.

Qual Page
http://www.qualitativeresearch.uga.edu/QualPage/
Prepared by Judith Preissle (originally developed by Judy Norris)
Location: University of Georgia
Last update: February 2007
Key features: Includes more than a dozen relevant topics.

A number of blogs exist that are relevant. However, some blogs are more in the marketing research arena and are not relevant. So, if you are searching on your own, you might reach some in appropriate ones. Some blogs are old and I have chosen not to include anything that does not post an entry during 2008.

The Qualitative Research Blog
http://www.reshmaanand.com/.
Prepared by Reshma Anand
Location: Bangalore, India
Last post: 12/30/2008
Key features: On what goes on behind the one way mirror...stories about qual research and more...
Usage: 2006 = 26 entries; 2007 = 22 entries; research methods = 12 entries

The Qualitative Research Web Ring
http://www.ringsurf.com/ring/qualitativeresearch/
Prepared by Ron Chenail
Location:
Last post:
Key features: Not exactly a blog, this site will link you to qualitative research on the web. You can add your own link by joining. Registration is simple. After you register, you can build your own ring.

Qualitative Research Blog
http://methodologyblog.imaginativespaces.net/blog
Prepared by John Schostak
Location: Enquiry Learning Unit, Manchester University, England
Last Post: 7/26/2008
Key features: Scholarly; addresses qualitative topics
Usage: 2008
Note: Site may not be currently active.

Kate’s Qualitative Research Fluency Blog 2007
http://katec.wordpress.com/
Prepared by Kate
Location: Qualitative Research Doctoral Seminar, University of Pittsburgh
Last Post: 4/29/2007
Key features: Part of a class assignment. You can get a variety of information . Her thoughts for Week 9 are especially interesting. She introduces questions and her thinking about the topic based on the reading.

Docs 2007 qual blog
http://docs2007.wordpress.com/
Prepared by docsqualities
Location: University of Pittsburgh
Last Post: 2007
Key features: Another example from the class assignment. This blog has links to other student blogs. Students discuss their thinking about the assignment and comments.

FreshMinds Research Blog
http://blogs.freshminds.co.uk/research/
Prepared by a team of individuals
Location: UK
Last Post: 1/5/2009
Key features: This blog contains many topics. Look under Methodology for those most related to qualitative research. The site is very active with many people posting. You might find some new ideas here.

The Future Place Blog
http://thefutureplace.typepad.com/the_future_place/2007/11/facebook-debate.html
Prepared by Ray Poynter
Location: Managing Director, The Future Place, Nottingham, UK
Last Post: 1/6/2009
Key features: This blog states that Facebook has a lively discussion going on about the boundaries of the term qualitative research. Much of this is related to market research, but you might find some interesting ideas. Many of the discussants are Indian, but you will see Ron Chenail who is editor of The Qualitative Report. I only joined Facebook the last week of December 2008 so did not participate in the discussion.

The Journey (PHD)
http://www.nickyphd.blogspot.com/
Prepared by Nichola Genders
Location: British
Last Post: January 2009
Key features: A nursing student blog. Very thoughtful. She writes about phenomenology and narrative biography. She is interested in using a social networking site—I assume she means Facebook or MySpace.

Blogs about: Qualitative Research
http://wordpress.com/tag/qualitative-research/
Prepared by a variety of authors since this is a collection of blogs. Includes Sam Ladner, Jeplerts, Clemson University students, Katie Harris (marketing research), Maureen Flynn-Burhoe, among others
Location:
Last Post: 1/4/2009. Many entries are recent
Key features: This site appears to be a collection of blogs of qualitative research.

Conversations with Dina
http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/10/29/qualitative-research-wiki/
Prepared by Dina Mehta
Location: India?
Last Post: 11/1/2008
Key features: A variety of postings by this young woman. Not sure this site is still active.

My Qualitative Tiddly Wiki
http://technology-escapades.net/qualitative.htm
Prepared by Cynthia Russell
Location: The University of Tennessee Health Center
Last Post: 1/12/2008
Key features: Of special interest is the link to some 20 journals publishing qualitative research. Brings together important resources about Qualitative Research. It includes a variety of content covering online resources, games, definitions, journals, conferences.
Note: This site has not been active in about a year so you may not find any new items on it. (I suggest you look at this since reading this way is what qualitative research is all about.)

Silence and Voice
http://silenceandvoice.com/archives/2009/01/
Prepared by Jeffrey Keefer in Twitter. Teaches at NYU. Teaches graduate course in research.
Location: New York
Last Post: 1/4/2009
Key features: Jeffrey says he facilitates postmodern research and practice. A very active site; he seems to post daily. Very personal. Look in his Categories under Research and you will find some very interesting comments. In his October 2008 list of online research resources, you will find some very interesting references. Be sure to give this site a bit of scrutiny since Jeffrey is very active and multi-faceted.

Facebook – Qualitative Research Discussion Group.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=4547384484&topic=2825#/group.php?gid=4547384484
You have to be a member of Facebook to enter this, but you can join very easily. This is the link I followed.

The Qualitative Research Web Ring
http://kerlins.net/bobbi/research/qualresearch/
Key features: A comprehensive site that is regularly updated. Kerlin is the Learning Technology Coordinator at Queen’s University in Canada. She keeps the site very current. You will find an excellent bibliography. Make sure you visit the various links in this site.

Online syllabi offer interesting ideas about concepts, assignments, and readings. Here are links to some. Compare your syllabus with those of others.

A link to a number of qualitative research syllabi
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/syllabi.html
There are more than 20 syllabi cited at this location. Some are quite general.

The University of Georgia, College of Education.
http://www.coe.uga.edu/syllabus/qual/index.html
They offer many courses in qualitative research. You can find a link to all of the courses they offer.

EPSE 595. Introduction to Qualitative Research
http://mathison.edublogs.org/
Sandra Mathison
University of British Columbia
This syllabus has links to qualitative journals and resources.

Qualitative Research Methods
http://www.kimgregson.com/qualitative_research/qual_research_syllabus.html
Kim Gregson
Ithaca College
Includes a weekly schedule with many interesting links. I especially liked the article by Labuschagne called Qualitative Research—Airy Fairy or Fundamental? This professor expects students to contribute to a blog regularly.

POLSCI 796B – Qualitative Research Methods
http://people.umass.edu/stu/Qual/QualSyllabus08.pdf
Stuart Shulman
University of Massachusetts
Requires that students post to a qualitative research fluency blog. Responses to readings also are posted to blogs. Students are expected to learn the software ATLAS.ti.