aureliom
My latest post in blogspot,
http://parentleadershipined.blogspot.com/2008/11/equal-air-time-but-you-have-to-be.html begins, "I'm blogging at a very interesting site socialvoice.liveworld.com.
Another blogger, much more experienced, is Judith's blog: Through the virtual looking glass - online focus groups"
I'm hoping to get readers of my other blog to explore this blog site. I'm very interested in reading other blogs and sharing what I find interesting through my own blogs.
I'm also trying to bridge the social groups and networks that I am part of that don't participate in computer communication networks with this 'social media' world of online networks. I want to keep a strong connection with both worlds without idealizing or damning either.
2 Comments
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://www.craigslistdecoded.info
aureliom, I was interested to read your thoughtful post here, and at blogspot, and I'll repeat the comment I made over there;

Aurelio, you're absolutely right. All the benefits of online focus groups only click in once the participants are actually connected. Access to be heard by researchers and their clients – whatever the medium - is always going to be an issue for those who don't have transportation to a centre where focus groups are being held, who aren't in the malls or grocery stores where people with clipboards stop shoppers to get their opinions, who don't have phones to receive the survey calls, and who simply don't have an address.

Someone who doesn't have keyboarding skills or facility with language will definitely be at a disadvantage online (even having leapt the hurdle of computer access). The person who doesn't have speech or language abilities in a face-to-face interview or discussion would also encounter an uneven playing field, and find their voice not being heard, or understood.

And of course, if an individual is outside the identified target group (by geographic location, income, age, gender, political identification, or whatever), they're excluded too.

There is no one right answer, and your real-life interviews and discussions absolutely look like the way to go for the population that is under-served by technology, even as you work to improve their access to it.
 
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