I will be conducting a 5-day training course in online research methods, with particular focus on analysing social media network data. The course is part of the ACSPRI 2010 Spring Program (http://www.acspri.org.au) and runs 27 Sep to 1 Oct, hosted by Monash University, Clayton Campus (Melbourne). Here is the blurb for the course: The World Wide Web is only around 20 years old, but it has become central to our economic, political and social lives. This course will provide students with thorough training in online research methods for social science Internet research. While "obtrusive" social research methods (e.g. online surveys and focus groups) will be covered, there is greater emphasis on unobstrusive research methods, e.g. quantitative analysis of digital trace data from websites, blogsites, microblogs (Twitter) and social networking sites such as Facebook. The course has a mixture of lectures and practical sessions. Practical sessions will be focused on unobtrusive online research and will involve the use of the VOSON System (collection/analysis of hyperlink networks), VOSON-sns (collection/analysis of social network service data) and NodeXL (Microsoft Excel 2007 template for social network analysis). By taking this course, students will acquire important skills necessary for conducting empirical social science Internet research both in academic and industry settings. ------------------------------------- Dr Robert Ackland Fellow and Masters Coordinator, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, The Australian National University e-mail: robert.ackland@anu.edu.au homepage: http://adsri.anu.edu.au/people/robert.php project: http://voson.anu.edu.au Information about the Master of Social Research (Social Science of the Internet specialisation): http://adsri.anu.edu.au/study/msr.php -------------------------------------