Coye Cheshire July 15, 2015 // Computer-Mediated Communication The Nature of Community

Project Wiki & Discussion Forum  Keep those projects coming! Many of you already posted to wiki, so take a look even if you have not posted an idea.  Forums: We are looking for your experiences with online communities – good experiences, bad, or just relating an example. Helpful if you can post a few thoughts before class on Thursday. 7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication1

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication2 Today Community, Boundaries and Symbols More on defining your “problem” for the CMC final project

“Mechanical Solidarity”“Organic Solidarity” “Classic” Conception of Community (The Chicago School) 7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication3

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication4 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.”

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication5 Community Boundaries

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication6 other, outgroup ingroup other, outgroup

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication7 Symbols and Community

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication8 Symbols versus Emblems, Signs

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication9 from 37signals.com

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7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication11 Symbolic Meaning (and variation) within Communities “Patriotism”

Symbolic variation within CMC communities… 7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication12

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication13 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. “ ”

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication14 Community Boundaries and Symbols “Symbols do not so much express meaning as give us the capacity to make meaning.”

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication15 Community Boundaries and Symbols Public face (symbolically simple) Private face (symbolically complex) “ ”

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication16 Some questions to consider (and for you to share in forums) Other examples of communities in CMC and the use of symbols? How does the community define its boundaries? If there have been times when those boundaries were violated, how did members respond?

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication17 Thinking about your final project: defining and justifying a good problem

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication18 What makes a good research problem? Research Questions for Theoretical Development or Practical Application

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication19 How Research is Supposed to Work ProblemMethod Data Collection Support or Reject Hypotheses How Research Really Works…

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication20 Defining Problems for A Good CMC Final Project  What is an example research or design problem? “an interrogative sentence or statement that asks: What relation exists between two or more concepts?” “an interrogative sentence or statement that asks: What elements of a given system affect (or might affect) the behavior(s) of users, and in what specific ways?”

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication21 Characteristics of good problems 1)Should state the concepts to be related clearly and unambiguously 2)Should be testable (research) or constructible (design) – even if you don’t test it or build it! (robertnlee.com)

7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication22 Specific Criteria for a Problem  What are we going to learn as the result of the proposed project that we do not know now?  Why is it worth knowing?  How will we know that the conclusions are valid? How do we know if a solution is viable?

A few examples we have already mentioned:  Design, prototype or build a novel CMC system  Experiment using a CMC system  Analyze or visualize interaction in a CMC system Importantly, everyone should: (1) build on a strong theoretical foundation (2) use this foundation to justify the solution 7/15/2015Computer-Mediated Communication23