Looking for a topic for a minor research dissertation

Its my final year in my M.Sc. Management Information Systems at Trinity College, and I will soon have to choose a topic for the minor dissertation to end this postgrad course with. I have been going over a number of subjects, and find myself torn between topics that are either far too broad for a 20k research paper or less than inspiring. I'm currently looking at a shortlist, but am still mulling ideas about.

I have to narrow the focus to a specific question in each of them, but these are a few of the areas I currently think about:

The religion of platforms
I am thinking about comparing the dedication to a specific platform to the involvement with an organized religion. In this context, a platform can be anything from a framework (jQuery vs. MooTools), to a programming language (PHP vs. .NET) or and operating system (Linux vs. Windows). As an example, I would like to examine the spread of an organized religion to the spread of a particular platform, as well as the transferability of religious concepts and entities, such as monotheism or prophets, disciples and gurus.

The personality of systems
I believe that more often than not, complex, proprietary or legacy systems are not rationally understandable to their users. They must be treated like a black box and as such, they can tend to display mannerisms or produce opinionated outputs. In this context, I would like to examine how tools of human communication science, such as the Interactive Model Of Meaning Making, apply to the communication with such systems. As an example, Google's inner workings are not clear to the user, yet people very quickly develop a strategy of submitting queries, and hence communicating with the system.

Virtual Reality as the Final Frontier
Space has long been heralded as the final frontier for humanity, but I believe that, like the seafarers of the golden age of sail that were limited by a two dimensional drive for expansion, we today are limited by a three dimensional perception of boundaries. In Virtual Reality, such a limit of dimensions does not apply.
Many people today have already forgone the pursuit of extraterrestial boundaries in lieu of closer, more achievable spaces for expansion. These substitutes are the readily available alternate realities such as MMORPGS that we as consumers have access to today. Crude but simple examples of a not simply three dimensional experience are instanced pieces of virtual reality, as already heavily used in online games such as World of Warcraft

Augmented Reality and Telepresence 
I think that the next big leap in communication will come in the possibly overlapping areas of augmented reality and telepresence. On the one hand, augmented reality will allow us to interact with the world and each other based on a richer cognitive experience of the surroundings that we find ourselves in. On the other hand, telepresence will allow us to detach the mind from the body and go to places that we are either not able to visit, or where a physical visit is not feasible.This will have a profound impact on human communication and collaboration and the exploration of space and realities.

The browserless future of the World Wide Web
Thinking in smaller boundaries than the topics above, I believe that the days of the browser as a tool to navigate the web are numbered. This demise comes with the emergence of more and more non-desktop devices, such as smartphones, photoframes and TV Screens as well as widget driven platforms that decouple access to information from the traditionally limiting confines of a full screen browser. This will have a profound impact on web strategies in commerce in particular and the sharing of knowledge in general.

The influence of SciFi on Science in the area of ICT
In a classic chicken before the egg question, I want to examine the causalities between Science Fiction themes and ICT, trying to distill if works of Science Fiction greatly influence the direction of science in this area, or if the relationship is of the opposite nature. Classic instances to examine include the geosynchronous orbit as proposed by A.C. Clarke or the impact of popular science fiction universes such as Star Trek on the design of consumer devices such as PDAs.

There are a number of other options and areas I would like to explore, but I think the biggest challenge will lie in formulating a research question that is manageable in the 6 to 8 month time frame given for the dissertation. As I am not about to give up the demanding but exciting dayjob at X Communications, I may yet have to write about something rather uninspired, such as the impact of the introduction of cheap laser printing on the bill presentment process in Irish SMEs in and around the Ballysomewhere industrial park before and after the recession... That would be a pity, but part time students have to be mindful of their time, so it may yet happen.