Two texts, two ways, one research

The Texts of David Gauntlett (2004) and David Silver (2006) are both summaries of issues and chalenges regarding the study of the Internet. They both are trying to present their views on what the role of internet is in the modern society and when compared two different approaches of dealing with the problen can be seen. David Silver tries to present us with a systematic overview on how internet research should be done and represents in his article a very organised and sistematic overwiev of the topics presenting other authors and their work. Even if he claimes that his aricle is not a blueprint for an investigation it is not far from it.
David Gauntlett's article on the other hand is a lot easier to read and is presenting us with the past work of the author and his more personal experience with the internet. His article is more apropriate for the general public and is allso written in such a way.

Personally I find that both articles deal with what the internet research should be focused on and how this should be done. But even if they are different in this aspects they have one crucial thing in commun and that is the percetion of time. Internet has made the world smaller and its research must be applied to that fact. In both articles I senced a feeling of despear as they both reflect on how a apparently small change can have great consequences in the world of internet and therefore in the internet research. I would say that the historic analisis that Gauntlett makes in his article confirms that and his somewhat more relaxed attitude should be applied to the world of e-science. Silver's article on the other hand is a offers a great overviev of the past research and is more important for the teoretical part.

The two articles are different in their approach as they are intendid for different use. One more theoretical and scientific, the other one more general and less complicated. If the two approaches would be combined I believe that they would form the perfect base for a research. So to say the two articles are like two sides of the same medal. Different but insuficient withouth the other.


Sources:
- Silver, D. (2006). Introduction: Where is Internet Studies? Critical Cyberculture Studies, 1-14. New York: New York University Press.
- Gauntlett, D. (2004). Introduction. D. Gauntlett, R. Horsley: Web.Studies, 2nd Edition. London: Hodder Arnold.