Digital research in Germany
In: Sociologičeskij žurnal: Sociological journal, Volume 25, Issue 4, p. 184-196
ISSN: 1684-1581
This article is devoted to systemizing the stages of online research development in Germany, based on analyzing the reports of the main German-language conference on online research (General online Research Conference). The article focuses on the thematic and methodical evolution of online research since 1995 till the present day, emphasizing the most popular methods and areas of science where using this type of research is widespread. The author describes the history of online research and identifies four stages of online research development in Germany: online research as a method (Stage 1); atomization of subject areas (Stage 2); technological development and methodological improvement (Stage 3); distribution of Big Data (Stage 4). The stages are arranged by year, with systemization based on the thematic and methodical orientation during a particular period. The author analyzes the features of each of the stages in terms of technological innovation. The transformation of traditional offline methods in web space is also considered in the article. Particular attention is paid to the fact that both Russian and German languages have no single conceptual apparatus, and use a very broad list of terms in their specialized literature. This was the motivation behind compiling a terminological thesaurus within this work.