Book review: An Introduction to Global Media for the Twenty-First Century by Ole J Mjøs

Abstract

through language in personal blogs, she illustrates the effectiveness of the inclusion of both a systematic coding scheme for labeling the screen-based data (i.e., blog posts and comments) and a further questionnaire design for examining the behind-the-scenes user-based intentions of communicators, forming an integrated objectivity-cumsubjectivity-integrated perspective. Finally, Riki Thompson (Chapter 14) continues to focus on the ethnographic-based approach to digital discourse analysis and focuses on how researcher reflexivity works in different stages of the research process. In her project of a multimodal analysis of online dating texts, she includes participants’ reflective interview procedures throughout the duration of her study to better elucidate the cognitive mechanism of why people create the digital texts that they do. To sum up, this volume is an ideal reference book to advance our understanding of research methods in digital discourse studies. The vastness and diversity in the transdisciplinary domain of digital communication have cultivated creativity and flexibility when exploring its discursive interactions. Throughout the book, the most significant contribution is its reminding significance in clarifying the common methodological challenges and mistakes that can happen in the research process of digital discourse analysis and offering helpful suggestions and recommendations on how to avoid them. Although the absence of certain research topics (e.g., emoji, retweeting, self-presentation, etc.) may disappoint some critical readers, its valuable insights in providing methodological guidance for future digital discourse studies still make it a highly thought-provoking publication for anyone interested in this field.