Using unconventional media to disseminate qualitative research

This article draws on a project (funded by the Qualiti node of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods) that investigated the implications of using non-conventional media for representing
and disseminating qualitative research findings. It follows a series of previous, ESRC-funded projects investigating the methodological and empirical uses of hypermedia and multimedia for qualitative fieldwork-based research1. Following Weaver and Atkinson’s early work on hypertext for qualitative analysis (1994), in 2002-2005 the team constructed an innovative, digital ‘ethnographic hypermedia environment’ (EHE) containing an interactive multimedia dataset, analysis and authoring. This suggested further research was needed on the differences in meaning produced through mixed media digital authoring as opposed to traditional written print. Whilst scholarly dissemination is still dominated by print, the ready availability of new technologies allowing web-based audiovisual media and ‘hyperlinking’ (clickable text) invites questions about what roles different media can play in scholarly output today. For example, can edited video-sequences be used in ways analogous to a print article? And with what effect on the integrity and credibility of scholarly argumentation?