1. Computer-Mediated Communication
The Nature of Community

2. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
Today
Community, Boundaries and Symbols
Defining and Justifying Problems (part 1)
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

3. “Classic” Conception of Community (The Chicago School)
“Organic Solidarity”
“Mechanical Solidarity”
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

4. 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.”
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

5. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
Community Boundaries
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

6. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
ingroup
other, outgroup
other, outgroup
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

7. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
Symbols and Community
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

8. Symbols versus Emblems, Signs
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

9. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
from 37signals.com

10. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

11. Symbolic Meaning (and variation) within Communities
“Patriotism”
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

12. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore“
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. ”
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

13. Community Boundaries and Symbols
“Symbols do not so much express meaning as give us the capacity to make meaning.”
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

14. Community Boundaries and Symbols
Public face
(symbolically simple)
Private face
(symbolically complex) “ ”
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

15. Some questions to consider
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?
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

16. Defining and Justifying Problems
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

17. What makes a good research problem?
Research Questions for Theoretical Development or Practical Application
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

18. How Research is Supposed to Work
How Research Really Works…
Problem
Method
Data Collection
Support or Reject
Hypotheses
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

19. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
Defining Problems
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?”
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

20. Characteristics of good problems
Should state the concepts to be related clearly and unambiguously
Should be testable (or constructible)– even if you don’t test it or build it!
(robertnlee.com)
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

21. 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?
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore

22. Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore
A few examples:
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
9/17/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication — Cheshire & Fiore