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04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 2
Course business
Join the mailing list! cmc@ischool.berkeley.edu Instructions in the News section here:
http://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i290-12/f07/
Annotate at least one reading per week Critical response, not summary
Office hours Tue + Thu 2–3 p.m. in 305A South Hall
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 6
Rheingold’s Study: An Early Online Community
(Whole Earth ’Lectronic Link)
At this time, geography still played an important role because of BBSes (local telephone access)
Less use of pseudonyms (identity persistence) Less initial distrust
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 7
What is an online/virtual community?
Social Spaces
Role-playing
Professional Groups
Work-related discussion groups
Medical and Illness support groups
Geographically related groups
Tech/Software Support
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 8
Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.
Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 9
Potential “to change our lives”Rheingold (1995)
Political change (aggregate social level)
Person-to-person interaction(interpersonal interaction level)
Perception, thoughts, personalities (individual level)
Macro
Micro
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 10
The Internet as Panopticon?The Internet as Panopticon?
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 11
The Promise of the Internet as a Social Network
Accessibility of Networks
Usefulness of Networks
Multiplexity of Networks
Strong ties
Weak ties
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 12
How do we know if the ‘promise’ is being fulfilled?
How is Internet use related to general social interaction?
How does offline interaction relate to online interaction?
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 13
Studies of Physical Communities and Internet Use
Syntopia project (1995–1997; 2000)
HomeNet (1998; 2002)
Netville Studies (e.g., Hampton and Wellman 2003)
Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS) 2003
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 14
They argue that research design contributes somewhat to different results.
“
”— Rice et al. (2007)
on Shklovski et al. (2006)
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 15
Differences in research design
Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal(vs. experiments?)
How are variables operationalized?
Where did the sample come from? Syntopia: national random-digit dialing OxIS: geographic, by district then by address
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 16
US data
In 1995, Internet use (including longer term) associated with more social interaction with friends.
Making more phone calls and writing letters not really associated with Internet usage, controlling for socio-demographic factors.
Those with more Internet expertise tend to be more likely to be members of at least one online community and to have met at least one friend online.
In 1995 data, more online social interaction is not related to more offline social interaction.
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 17
US: Informational vs. social use
1995 2000
Interaction with family online 42% 23%
Membership in online communities 26% 10%
Developing online friendships 12% 14%
Meeting online friends in person 17% 10%
Are early adopters more interested in socializing online?
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 18
British Data
Internet users are less likely than non-users to write letters to friends and family who live far away.
However, Internet users are more likely to meet with far-away friends and family (offline).
04/18/23 Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore 19
Sociability
Most analyses do not show a relationship between Internet usage and offline interpersonal interaction. (Sociodemographics better account for any relationships.)
In 1995, Internet usage does appear to be related to more social interaction, but by 2000 Internet experience appears to account for more social interaction.
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