Community Goes Online

‘Sad, Lonely World Discovered in Cyberspace’The HomeNet Project (Kraut et al, 1998) 93 families in Pittsburgh, USA Monitored Internet use during their first year online Questionnaires focussing on psychological well being Interviewed participants about their use

Greater Internet use associated with significant Declines in social involvement (the size of their social

networks) Increases in loneliness Increases in depression

Pseudocommunity

Inauthentic forms of community involvement brought about by increasing industrialisation and urbanisation (Beninger, 1987)

Members of developed societies are essentially ‘bowling alone’ (Putnam, 2000) – not participating in ways that support their local community.

Adolescent’s sense of community on MySpace and Facebook (Reich, 2010)A Psychological Sense of Community

(McMillan & Chavis, 1986)1. Membership

2. Influence

3. Integration and fulfilment of needs

4. Shared emotional connection

Networked IndividualismAllows people to remain connected, but as individuals rather than being rooted in the home bases of work unit and household, Individuals switch rapidly between social networks rather than remain in a group or community.

Reich (2010)

Are online communities real?Classic social science definitions of

community would suggest not.

Arguments against online community

Their members aren’t collocated They don’t interact face to face They can’t (and don’t) form the necessary

emotional bonds

Rheingold’s study of the WELL community (1993)

Text –based bulletin-board system (BBS) known as the Whole Earth Lectronic Link

Virtual ethnography - showed the meaningful emotional connections that could develop via online community

Multimodal Interactional analysis of YouTube

Where is the community? What makes it a community? What part do multimodal interactions

play in making it feel like a community?

Things to look out for? Reciprocity in communication

coordination of turn taking in conversationCommunication as ‘gift’ exchange

Ritualised behaviour openings and closings

Defining the ‘meaning’ of the communicative spaceWhat behaviours are

allowed/expected/normsHow are these norms enforced

1. Shared space/place2. Shared practice3. Shared resources and support4. Shared identities5. Interpersonal relationships

Baym (2010)

Shared Sense of Space

The Great Good Place (Third Places) Oldenburg’s three essential places in people's lives

1. the place they live,

2. the place they work, and

3. the place they gather for conviviality

Shared Sense of Space

Physical space remains an important metaphor even when interactions are happening online

Routinised activities/behaviours that are shared by the group

Updating status regularly (lifeblogging) Responding to Facebook birthday reminders Recording significant nights out/events Reciprocal comments (i.e. using them as a conversational

medium) The regularity of posts

Shared Practice

Netiquette in Text-based environments

Paralanguage and Twitter

@ RT #

Reciprocity in comments/tweets

Shared Practice – Common Language

Netiquette in multimodal environments

Photos in Facebook Gestures and body

language in YouTube vlogging

Profile pictures and backgrounds

Vlogging practices Global dance/lip sync

A Shared Practice – Common Visual Language

Shared Resources and SupportSocial capital

Bridging – exchanges typical of weak ties Bonding – social and emotional support

Common Ground Common interests or goals Shared experiences and stories

Shared Identities A group identity (e.g. YouTubers) Processes of affiliation: friending, following,

subscribing A set of consistent roles or personalities that exist

within the community: local experts; ‘answer people’; entertainers; conversationalists; fans; ‘lurkers’ (viewers of videos are not YouTubers); haters, flamers or trolls; storytellers

Shared IdentitiesYouTube Example

Interpersonal relationships Friendships and romances are also a significant part of

online communities Processes of connection: liking, favouriting, direct

messaging (moving to other media), poking Internet and in-person contact extend and enhance

each other (Wellman, 2004).

Video

Multimodal ActivityExamine different media responses to the YouTube video provided and try to understand what makes this an online ‘community’ activity.

Lucielovesyou – Hipster videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-uV9EJWl8

One group for each of the following:1.Text comments2.Video content (dialogue and sound)3.Video content (body language)4.Video content (production elements)Note times and content (e.g. quotes, events, etc.)

MediaMedia ModesModesSoundSound Speech, music, laughter, background noiseSpeech, music, laughter, background noise

VideoVideo LightingLighting Ambient lighting in Ambient lighting in homes homes

Physical presencePhysical presence Posture, facial and Posture, facial and bodily gestures, eye bodily gestures, eye contact, pointingcontact, pointing

Production elementsProduction elements On screen effects, On screen effects, framing of shots, framing of shots, cutting between cutting between scenes, etc.scenes, etc.

Physical objectsPhysical objects Placing objects in field Placing objects in field of view, gesturing with of view, gesturing with objects, objects,

PhotosPhotos Similar to video but staticSimilar to video but static

On screen textOn screen text Video titles, tags, captions, comments, Video titles, tags, captions, comments, usernames, messages usernames, messages

Multimodal Analysis Process

1. Watch the videos2. Identify themes

◦ Observe and identify significant mulitmodal events in communication – note the time

◦ Refer to existing literature on conversation to check what you see and hear – for example Goffman (1959)

3. Watch the videos4. Describe the multimodal aspects of the videos5. Roughly transcribe the video data to clarify significant

moments in communication and identify commonalities across videos

6. Watch the videos7. Final transcription in a suitable form to explain

themes and subthemes◦ Include standard annotation conventions

Feedback Session

What different stories do they tell? What modes exist within each medium ? How is this different from the exercise

yesterday? What might we be missing here? What do you think is important for online

community considering this evidence?

Multimodal transcription of video data (using my own coding scheme)

Multimodal Transcription

www.sigridnorris.com

Multimodal transcription – standardised annotation of speech: (n) pause noted in seconds = joining of words : an extension of the preceding syllable; ; rising or falling intonation for subsequent

utterance underlined text indicates spoken with particular

vocal energy - a sudden cut off to an utterance; ? a rising tone . a falling tone , a shifting continuous tone bridging

utterances.

Multimodal Description

References Reich, (2010) Adolescent’s sense of community on MySpace

and Facebook. Journal of Community Psychology 38(6) pp. 688-705

Rheingold, H. (1993) Virtual Community. Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Available online:http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html

Turkle, S. (2011) Alone Together. Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York: Basic Books.

Wellman, B. and Gulia, M. (1997) “Virtual Communities as Communities.” In Communities in Cyberspace: Perspectives on New Forms of Social Organization, edited by Peter Kollock and Marc Smith. Los Angeles: University of California Press.