E-rmeneuTIC: Studies and methodological research of the new areas and uses of information and communication technologies

The expansion of new information and communication technologies generates new areas of relationship among people, virtual and non-virtual. This impact of ICTs on society is becoming a common object of study in the framework of social and human sciences. Therefore, the need of thinking about the methodologies used in these studies is becoming acute. The group e-rmeneuTIC aims to investigate on the effects of new technologies on society (and vice versa) but focusing particularly on the study of mechanisms of production of research itself.

The idea is to create a knowledge database on the ways in which we investigate the new digitized portions of our society. We should take into account that research in these areas is thorough and of quality, but without forgetting that traditional epistemology and its associate methodologies could not be completely adequate for these new objects of study, which would need to be complemented by other research techniques, or there might even be changes in epistemological paradigms.

The group e-rmeneuTIC intends to do methodological research as well as research on the area of society and technology. Some of their aims are to analyze different methodologies, to propose new tools and new forms of interpretation of the information obtained, to analyze the ways in which findings are communicated, emphasizing the productive role of writing, and detecting effects of authority and power resulting from the knowledge production device used.

The relationship between subjects and researchers, as well as among the researchers themselves, deserves special attention, since it implies being able to take advantage of the potential of collaborative work allowed by new technologies, to develop new participant-research tools, and it should allow us to account for our ethical commitment regarding research subjects.


Keywords:

Epistemology, Research methodology in ICTs, Internet, Ethics of research, Social psychology of science and technology


Researchers:

Adriana Gil Juárez agilj@uoc.edu
Montserrat Vall-llovera i Llovet
mvall-llovera@uoc.edu
Joel Feliu i Samuel-Lajeunesse joel.feliu@uab.es
Josep Seguí i Dolz jseguid@uoc.edu
Mercé Ribas i Tur mribast@uoc.edu
Jordi Sanz Porras jsanzpo@uoc.edu
Yann Bona Beauvois ybona@uoc.edu
M. Carmen Peñaranda Cólera mpenaranda@uoc.edu
María Teresa Martín Zamora mmartinza@uoc.edu