Computer-Mediated Communication

1. Computer-Mediated Communication Online Communities and the Symbolic Construction of Community 1 February 2012

2. Mailing List:i216@ischool.berkeley.edu https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/listinfo/i216@ischool.berkeley.edu Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

3. Final project schedule • We will facilitate in-class group discussion of project ideas. • A project description/report will be due halfway through the semester (e.g., mid-March) • Final Projects will be presented and due as the single deliverable for the course. Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

4. More Final Project Examples! Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

5. A few examples of project types: • Design, prototype or build a novel CMC system • Experiment using a CMC system • Analyze or visualize interaction in a CMC system • Research a specific CMC system or domain of systems and collect empirical data (interviews, small survey, etc). Importantly, everyone should: (1) build on a strong theoretical foundation (2) use this foundation to justify the solution Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

6. Final Project Ideas Wiki: http://cmc2012.pbworks.com user: cmc2012@tresolini.org pass: smallestbear Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

7. Wrap up from last week: self-presentationand deception Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

8. “The problem with 'The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life' and the use of it in the discussion of CMC and identity, is that his dramaturgical metaphors are manifested in analogue examples and not intended for being use online. This is evident when talking about backstage - at home with no physical presence of people – and this is most often where we are when commutating with other people online” -Morten “I wonder if sociologists like Goffman who write about basic human functions or interactions ever take a step back and wonder, as I often do, what exactly the value is that is being added. Do they question it?”-Monica Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

9. Results — Hancock et al. % of interactions involving a lie 37% 27% 21% 14% Instant Message FtF Phone Email Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

10. Deception as an aspect of “Media Richness” • Media ‘richness’ is only a singular dimension that may mask the complexity of choice, behavior and inference of purpose. Image: Time Barrow Dissertation Research, http://blog.timebarrow.com/2009/09/media-richness-theory/ Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

11. Other Dimensions: • Synchronicity • Recordability • Distribution of Speaker/Listener Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

12. Feature-based approach * Usually Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

13. Predictions based on features • The more recordable the medium (paper-trail), the less likely people are to lie. • The more synchronous and distributed (but not recordable), the more lying will occur: • Phone most • FtF • IM • Email least • Others? Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

14. “It was surprising to me that a diary study about the mediums of deception found that participants lied most frequently on the phone. I would've thought that lying in emails, chat, or other forms of indirect communication where the two people can neither hear nor see each other is much more common than on the phone or face-to-face” - Wei “I don't agree that deception in person is as straightforward as he claims. While there are visual cues, body language and the ability to infer from your interaction, being able to judge deception F2F can be just as complex if there is no prior relationship or history with the other person” - Kristine Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

15. Detecting deception • Most people areno better thanchance • Some markers: • Higher pitch • Microexpressions • Certain body movements • Use of language may differ • “Motivation impairment effect” Source: www.humintell.com Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

16. Community Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

17. “Classic” Conception of Community (The Chicago School) “Organic Solidarity” “Mechanical Solidarity” Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

18. The ‘Myths’ of Community Simplicity and F2F “…the anatomy of social life at the micro-level is more intricate, and no less revealing, than among … the macro-level” Egalitarianism “…community generates multitudinous means of making evaluative distinctions among its members, means of differentiating among them…” Inevitable Conformity “suggests that the outward spread of cultural influences from the centre will make communities … less like their former selves…[this assumes that] people are somehow passive in relation to culture: they receive it, transmit it, but do not create it.” http://itawambahistory.blogspot.com/ Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

19. Community Boundaries Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

20. other,outgroup ingroup other,outgroup Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

21. Symbols and Community Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

22. Symbols versus Emblems, Signs Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

23. Cohen on symbolic words Justice, goodness, patriotism, duty, love, peace, life, purity, gender… “Their range of meanings can be glossed over in a commonly accepted symbol — precisely because it allows its adherents to attach their own meanings to it. They share the symbol, but do not necessarily share its meanings.” Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

24. Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication from 37signals.com

25. Symbolic meaning (and variation) within communities “Patriotism” Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

26. “ Symbols are effective because they are imprecise. … They are, therefore, ideal media through which people can speak a ‘common’ language, behave in apparently similar ways, participate in the ‘same’ rituals, pray to the ‘same’ gods, wear similar clothes, and so forth, without subordinating themselves to a tyranny of orthodoxy. Individuality and commonality are thus reconcilable. ” Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

27. Community Boundaries and Symbols “Symbols do not so much express meaning as give us the capacity to make meaning.” Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

28. Community Boundaries and Symbols Public face (symbolically simple) Private face (symbolically complex) “ ” Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

29. Cohen on subjectivity “But not all boundaries, and not all the components of any boundary, are so objectively apparent. They may be thought of, rather, as existing in the minds of their beholders. This being so, the boundary may be perceived in rather different terms, not only by people on opposite sides of it, but also by people on the same side.” — Cohen Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

30. Some questions to consider Examples of communities in CMC and the use of symbols? How does a community define its boundaries? If there have been times when those boundaries were violated, how did members respond? Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

31. http://xkcd.com/802/ Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

32. Community Boundaries Online: Facebook Newsfeed Fiasco of ‘06 “The point is, you're always presenting the identity you want to present - you never have to worry about the identity you used to present … This morning, millions of students were shown that they can't actually rewrite history. Everything they do, all of the groups they join and interests they state or friends they make - it is all being recorded.” (Fred Stutzman) Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

33. Brief History and What Makes an Online Community Anyway?

34. The Beginnings of Online Community… The first large-scale online communities were Usenet discussion groups and forums • Developed around 1979 • No official structure Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

35. https://www.msu.edu/~atf/images/treemap_all.gif Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

36. What aspects define a community? Common practices? Network ties? Symbols? Poster to post ratio? Affect-ladenrelationships? Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

37. Social networks and online community “Community emerges where the cumulative impact of interactions among individuals adds value above the level of pairwise interactions.” — Caroline Haythornthwaite Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

38. The network perspective People (nodes) Ties (edges) Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

39. Ties in a social network(as modeled in SN analysis) • Directed or undirected • Simplex or multiplex • Valued or unvalued 7 Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

40. Network approach to community • Examines interconnections to discover where groups exist rather than determining a priori that a group exists based on external criteria. • But is this a community? Or “an alliance, a collaborative work group, a collective, a cohort”? Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

41. Social networks and Social Capital • Accumulate capital • Social capital • Knowledge capital • Communion … all achieved through network ties? Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

42. The power of social capital and the structure of social networks 1 + 1 = 2 Fully connected network: N people, N(N-1)/2 ties Connections grow at a much faster rate (quadratic vs. linear) 1 + 1 > 2? 2 + 2 > 4? Bridge 6 + 6 > 12? Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

43. Anonymity and Behavior in Online Groups and Communities Photo Attribution: http://mimanifesto.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/anonymous1.jpg Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

44. Anonymity, Pseudonymity, and Identity Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

45. Shyness and Anonymity Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

46. Aggressiveness and Anonymity Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

47. Group Dynamics and Anonymity Influence Leadership Status Power Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

48. Finding Community Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

49. Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication

50. Onlinecommunities are neither built nor do they just emerge, they evolve organically and change over time. Developers cannot control online community development but they can influence it. Jenny Preece Cheshire & Fiore — Computer-Mediated Communication