In order to find answers to the above-mentioned questions, three different data collection methods are applied. First, questionnaires are distributed asking informants about their use of various communication tools, sources of information, use of hyperlinks, and attitudes towards plagiarism. Secondly, a website analysis of online profiles of active linguists is undertaken to compare whether there are differences in the provision of information concerning aspects such as online biographies, personal information, and bibliographies of publications as well as links to particular publications and other pages. These pages are analysed to distinguish how scholars present themselves online and thus how scholars communicate on the web as well as to discover variations among scholars around the globe. This way, we can find out whether globalisation has an impact on academic communication, as well as whether specific nations prefer specific styles of providing information online. Profiles of active linguists from the following countries are observed: USA, UK, Netherlands, Germany and Australia.

Finally, video material recorded with the screen-capture program Camtasia is collected, which allows us to gather hands-on information on what people in fact do when using the Internet for academic purposes. The test persons receive a task to complete on the computer while Camtasia records their every move. While the subjects carry out an Internet search, Camtasia records their mouse movements, their movements from one page to another, their use or negligence of hyperlinks and other Internet-related activities. After the Internet search, the test persons are asked to write an essay on their findings as well as their steps of search, thus providing us with a summary of what the subjects think they did while searching for appropriate academic information, which can be compared to the video of what they actually did during the process. It will also give us insight into how scholars digest information and the 'copy-and-paste' and quoting behaviour when writing a text.

PROJECT TEAM

Senior researchers
Professor Dr. Klaus P. Schneider (University of Bonn)
Professor Dr. Irena Vassileva (New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria)
Professor Dr. Diana Yankova (New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria)

Junior researchers
Assistant Professor Dr. Mariya Chankova (South-West University “N. Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria)
Dr. Esther Breuer (University of Cologne)