Topic of Interest
Since I am a psychology major, I would be most interested in how technical writing, especially online writing, can influence behavior. News apps and how effectively they balance opposing viewpoints would be an interesting area of study. Recently, there are apps that have attempted to label news organizations and show people a variety of sources based on those labels. How effective are these apps in showing users a balanced perspective? Another topic I think would be interesting is how social media apps would best help people meet others. Which social media websites encourage meeting new people and establishing meaningful connections? What do these sites do right that others don't? So far, these are the topics I can think of that would most interest me.
Hi Drew!
ReplyDeleteI think the ideas that you have for possible research all sound really interesting! I too, had a similar idea to look at different apps to see if meaningful relationships could be developed over this medium. I was thinking of looking mainly at dating apps, but I think any kind of social media app would bring up a lot of different data, since that's so used among our generation. I also think researching about how different news sources are being labeled and organized with your major would be super cool. The many different theories in psychology being compared to how the news is perceived would also probably bring you a lot of different sources and data that you could analyze. I think it would also be interesting to take a look at the way that certain news apps portray the stories they find most important; because this would really show what they want to prioritize.
Good luck with your research!
Your idea of research about the news apps and the sources they provide is interesting. One thing you can consider is whether these apps are considered ethical. You are on that same idea of thought with wondering if these apps are showing users a balanced perspective. Technical communicators, whether they know it or not, have a lot of power at their disposal. They can influence the way we see information and what we should get out of it. Technical communication could very well be a breeding ground for ethical issues in the field because writers are the ones who decide what to and what to not include.
ReplyDeleteHi Drew,
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. However, some apps, depending on their purpose, tend to allow users to follow the news outlets they wish. This topic seems to broad to research. Are there any specific apps that you would research?
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ReplyDeleteHi Drew,
ReplyDeleteI also like the topics you mentioned here so far in concert with examining how effective a specific app is in meeting its rhetorical purpose, etc. There are various directions you may take for either type of investigation/focus (even tweaking your goals as you discover prior research), but the gist of both topics overall seem ideal within a PTW research context.
For instance, I really love the idea of comparing a couple news apps and gathering data about a particular current event of interest and seeing which one they prioritize based on how they highlight stuff, and so on. Textual analysis and/or other types of qualitative data collection are def. possible here.
As for the social media apps, there are existing scholarships on this from a technical communication standpoint and it's good to start plowing through some PTW sources/journals to see what angle you might take that would inform the "writing" process itself for contribution to the PTW field.
Keep reading up more on either topic and once a viable focus surfaces that might interest you, let me know and maybe we can set a brief Zoom meeting to tease out further what you have in mind, ok? Am here... :)