A Method for Collecting Case Study Information via the Internet

The Internet is rapidly becoming the communications infrastructure. With its advantages of speed, availability, and `different time, different place' mode of communication, it can be successfully harnessed to accomplish tasks that previously required face-to-face meetings. Such meetings can consume large travel budgets and staff time, and therefore alternative mechanisms that achieve the same results for less cost should be welcomed. One of these new uses of the Internet is to collect case study material. This paper presents a method that has been successfully employed by the author to collect 15 case studies of X.500 implementations. The method described herein consists of three phases: preparation, correspondence and documentation phases. Each of the phases is described, and the author also presents useful tips that he gained during the course of his studies. The method should provide future researchers with a framework which can be successfully employed to productively utilise the resources of the Internet.