I have already posted how I am planning to attend Northern Voice, and since I take an evidence-based research approach to my work and studies, I am applying for one of their travel bursaries.
I am applying for this not just because I am traveling to Vancouver from New York (by way of Houston and Seattle where I transfer planes with a 12 hour total flight on the first day to get there), nor is it because I (as a working graduate student) am always short of funds. Rather, it is because I believe the contribution I can make to the conference through a research project I am proposing will begin to fill a gap in the literature that may be helpful for others to know more about. Lots of people write about why and how people blog, while fewer people do this in a formalized research manner to ultimately publish and present their findings in an academic, peer-reviewed milieu.
I am proposing, along with my colleague Robin, a qualitative research project to investigate something we can not readily locate in the literature–blogger motivation. We are planning to ask if people self-identify themselves as bloggers or individuals who actively participate in social media. If so, and they consent to participate, they will be asked how they remain motivated to maintain and actively post to their blog. As a closet researcher who believes in following accepted research practices, this project will be submitted for formal IRB (institutional review board) approval at my university, the participants at the conference will be anonymous, the responses will be coded, and findings will be shared with the Northern Voice community, with the larger research community, and with and anybody else who is interested in learning more about this topic.
We believe there has been some discussion about this, but we have not found any research (following formal processes and procedures) that helps us to understand the phenomena. The community that makes up the Northern Voice experience will be offered an opportunity to expand the knowledge of the blogging experience. I hope the bursary award committee agrees with the value in this project and offers to support and participate in it.
