Blog Post #3 Research Gaps
There seems to be a good amount of research that discusses how technology affects maker communities. But as technology continues to evolve, so will methods of learning and connections among people and communities. Below are some research gaps that can be explored to further understand the nuances of technologies in crafting spaces.
The first is comparison that shows how maker communities existed before the COVID-19 pandemic and then changed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The perception is that many people picked up crafting hobbies and shared their hobbies online in an attempt to connect with other people online while people were quarantined and could not connect in person. In that moment, technology helped bridge crafting community gaps when in-person meetings were not being held. It would also be interesting to study how these communities continued to change when quarantining was no longer required. This research gap could be addressed with a qualitative study that does a short survey to determine how crafters' routines changed because of the pandemic.
Next is how algorithms influence craft-related content for users. By now, it is common knowledge that the algorithms of search engines, social media apps, and video platforms values certain content over others and, therefore, gatekeeps what it shows to users. Studying the patterns of content that the algorithms prioritize might shed light on what it really wants users to see, namely aesthetic and heavily edited content that is highly viewed, interacted with, and shared. This is even further complicated by AI, showing people products that don't or can't exist, insisting on a maker standard that is not attainable. This research gap could be addressed by a quantitative study that explores what content appears the most within similar communities.
Finally, there is the issue of how the commercialization of arts and crafts platform, such as Etsy, affects crafting communities. Etsy used to be a platform where small business artists could sell their wares to customers not local to the artists, thus helping expand their business. Now, Etsy is flooded with sellers who filter in cheap products represented with AI photos, and this pushed out many small business artists who found that competing with these sellers was not worth it. This research gap could be addressed by a qualitative study that interviews small business crafters and the effects of these platforms.
Further research can be conducted in these spaces to assess the influence of these gaps as well as help solve problems to ensure that crafting communities can continue to thrive. I would be happy to explore any one of them for my research project.
Hi Aleesha,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your Lit. Review writing assignment, I really like all of your ideas here especially the first (how maker communities thrived before and during covid) and the last one (re commercialization of arts/crafts platform). I am certain the research design/method you'll come up with will not only add to existing scholarship on technology/digital platforms and maker communities, but also technical communication overall. I imagine several possibilities that an investigation such as this might take -- i.e., from the perspective of community members, of the reader, and so forth. Of course, any data collected would probably substantiate your sources' claims with more insights and reflections on TWDR.
Upon execution of your research design/method (post-6401), such a rhetorical angle should be a welcome addition to our discipline. :) Whether you realize it or not, I believe you've established a good opening/edge here to pursue your topic all the more. I'm looking forward to chatting with you more about your proposal.
Best,
Dr. B