"[9] Pauwels is particularly focussed on contemporary scientific data gathering and scholarly communications, and investigates the impact of traditional visual representational means and new media technologies on its practices.
According to Harper (1986): Becker related the emerging visual sociology to the ongoing projects of documentarians, reaching back for roots through the work of Robert Frank, the FSA, and the early reformers like Hine and Riis.
"[10] In 2007 Grady characterized the World Wide Web as "a vast bazaar of retailers, fan clubs, family gatherings, and porn sites—to mention some of the most popular venues—which are connected to other sites by explicit links or the insatiable appetite of browsers to devour whatever their search engines might ensnare.
Several authors have dealt with the implications of transferring established research methods (survey, focus groups, content analysis, interviewing) to online mode, or with the question of how to take advantage of new practices of web users (e.g. chatting) for studying culture...
[17]In his study Pauwels concluded that "while the Web forms both a unique subject and tool for cultural research... serious methodological problems still need to be overcome before these promising prospects can be realized to their full extent.
"[18] Over the years Pauwels developed three specific conceptual frameworks for three distinct domains of visual social science: These frameworks have been applied by Pauwels and others in various areas ranging from research into private image production such as family photography, organizational culture and symbolism, Internet phenomena and advertising, and health promotion in South Africa, to the conceptualisation of urban culture, and globalization.