Looking into the Abyss

[Apologies for the lateness of the following entry, which relates to material from week 3]

Luker's very honest examination of the difference between a research interest and a research question touches a few nerves with me (and I'm sure I'm not alone). It is difficult, especially at this early stage in the course of my studies in information, to face the gulf between keen enthusiasm coupled with a growing cache of background knowledge, and a clearly-defined set of goals that are simultaneously comprehensive and achievable. I also find it somewhat difficult to associate my particular case, which has the long-term goal of developing new digital research-tool applications, with the sort of inquiry Luker describes, which almost exclusively has as its goal the development of a theory about the ways some phenomenon that already exists in the world operates. The discrepancy made me realize that as I develop my research topic, I can benefit greatly from developing clearly-defined avenues of inquiry into how applications similar to the ones I intend to develop have either succeeded or failed, and, as an adjunct, examining the similarities and differences between pre-existing projects and my own intended one both as a means of clarifying the parameters of my project for myself and creating a "pitch" to convince others that it is a project worth developing.