Theme 3: Reflection

This weeks seminars have given the chance to discuss the scientific papers and journals that we had chosen. Our selected papers covered a broad range of topics in the field of media technology which represented the journals in the field.  During the seminar we here divided in smaller groups and discussed our selected papers and then presented one paper for the rest of the class.

Our groups paper of choice was about how search engines might shape information by ranking large and popular websites higher than smaller sites and therefore making some trends about a specific topic more prominent [1]. Little work has previously been done about this topic.

The authors had problems with coming to any real conclusion about the issue and did not really give any clear answers. This was something that we discussed and even though it seems like the paper didn't add anything in terms of results, the method of the research could still be relevant to others who might want to do a similar study in the future. That way a study can still be a part of the scientific advancement of  even though there is any real conclusions.

When analyzing the papers it was quite hard to be able to know which type of Gregors different types of theory it really was. It was more the case on how we interpreted Gregor’s definitions and our subjective understanding of theory.We also discussed what theory really is, how we can define it and what science that can be accepted as something “true”. The conclusion of this was that for a theory to be established it need to pass through several researchers functioning as gatekeepers. When the majority of experts in the field accepts the the theory it can be accepted as true. Therefore its not about what the majority of the public feels about a theory.

1. Li, N., Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D. and Scheufele, D. A. (2013), Channeling Science Information Seekers' Attention? A Content Analysis of Top-Ranked vs. Lower-Ranked Sites in Google. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12043