As mentioned in previous posts, my real life goal (at least the one relevant to this blog) is to develop a youth civic network in my community of Jersey City. So my intention is to make the final project part of the R&D for that project. Until this week, I was thinking that I would try to do a mini-study testing out some kind of civic dialog / problem solving at one site. However the more I am reading, the more I feel like I need a broader and deeper theoretical framework on which to base my network / curricular design. So now I am thinking that I should do a literature review instead.
I think that my next step is to narrow down the focus of the review. After reading articles and scanning lists of references, it seems that my project / interest straddles several research areas that don’t necessarily have much overlap. So far I’ve identified the following strands:
* the role of online participation in community and political discourse and action (adult);
* the role of online use in youth development (though not usually related to civic engagement);
* civic education (in various forms) and youth development (not usually related to technology).
I am feeling a little overwhelmed with (somewhat) relevant info seeming to come from a number of directions. Since I can't become an expert in all areas in the next months, I would love a little guidance from you to help get me going in the right direction!
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I think that one way to further narrow down the final paper is to choose a particular technology or type of technology to examine. So, you could look at the role of community portal sites in fostering political discourse and action, for example. Does that make sense? ...email me to make an appointment and we can talk about it in depth!
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