More than happy to give the conclusions when I’m finished, gonna be another couple of years yet though unfortunately!
In terms of my chosen area of study, I’m mainly coming from a sociological/criminological point of view to try and understand the relationship between the way that the mainstream media discuss NPS and the harms associated with them, and the way in which the same topics are covered on ‘alternative’ media, such as forums, specifically the way that online forums effect people’s perceptions of NPS, their harms and how to minimise harm (e.g. harm reduction practices, warning about dodgy substances, dosing and so on). As a secondary topic I’m also interested in government and private corp censoring of alternative media sources e.g. closing down sites, the recent ISP ‘porn’ filters and their impact on people being able to access forums and websites that provide harm reduction info, and corporate walled gardens such as Facebook, ISPs, mobile browsers, Google etc.
Theoretically I’m coming from a neo-marxist position, mainly Gramsci and Stuart Hall, and their theories on government and corporate control in terms of cultural hegenomy (Gramsci) and media agenda setting and moral panic (Hall, Chomsky). I originally avoided Marxist theories, but after going over a few others they seem to be the most applicable.
Hope that gives a bit more detail!
Also, I’m not totally sure of the forum rules – am I okay to post the survey in the research chemicals thread as well as here, or would that be looked upon as spamming? I use these forums a lot but don’t tend to post much so any advice is much appreciated 🙂
