ABSTRACT
What do we hope happens when people come together online, either spontaneously or by design? Be it social action, community cohesion, learning, or idea development, we want to know whether or not something substantial is taking place. In this chapter, we continue our discussion of “objects of interest” in online talk and the three typical starting points for identifying one: Practical questions about the world, access to online talk, and/or theoretical frameworks. We then discuss strategies for narrowing the object of interest’s focus, such as on the amount of participation, the topics of the talk, or how the talk functions. Further, we note how objects of interest may be defined in terms of the presence, absence, or change over time of an entity and/or process. Finally, the importance of clearly defining the object of interest is connected back to ensuring the congruence of the overall research design.
