Young people in virtual community : creating knowledge in cyberspaceCreating Knowledge V. August 2008

Pia Södergård

Åbo Akademi University

Library / Department of Information Studies

Metanetwork (Standard model)

Network of networks which links up computer resources for public access

Designed to safeguard the transfer of information (Leiner et al., 2003)

Platform for CMC

Computer network which connects computers and people behind these computers = computer-supported social network (Wellman et al., 1996)

Asynchronous communication & possibilities to store information

Information is embedded in the social networks that connect people to each other (Haythorntwaite, 2001)

Internet as cyberspace

A cultural approach to the Internet A spatial metaphor – ”frontier region” Earlier cyberculture studies more enthusiastic and

praising than later, critical studies (Silver, 2003) Later cyberculture studies emphasize connections

between cyberspace and ”Real Life”. Information is ”everywhere”(Porter, 1997; Jones,

1995)

Advantages and disadvantages of the approach Changing perspective between life in the

community and ”real life” Provided a way of talking about information

without using the word information False expectations

The study, method and material Why do young people participate in virtual

communities? What kind of value does it add to a young person’s life to be a member of a community?

Qualitative data, gathered through observations and thematic interviews.Themes inspired by cyberculture studies

29 Swedish-speaking Finns from different areas of the Swedish-speaking regions in Finland

Members of LunarStorm webcommunity

LunarStorm community www.lunarstorm.se Members have a ”nest” of their own Presentation, net-diary and photo album Frinds list, status points, top list etc. E-mail, guestbook entries, chat rooms,

discussion groups Consumer information, quizzes, radio

Identity establishment : conventions to be followed Sincere in order to be meaningful The aim is to describe one’s ”actual self” Basic facts: First name (given name or pet

name), age, geographical location, present occupation or concerns

Basic facts unlike the basic facts of the ”real world”

Additional elements are needed to arouse interest. Plagiarism disapproved of.

Quantitative aspects are also important A very long presentation = person is a ”lunar

freak”- a no lifer Difference vs. Similarity Visible social network = source of surprise

and wonder to the viewer

Strategies of evaluation

Two strategies of evaluation: comparison and cognitive authorities

Comparison between presentation and person in real life, between different elements in the presentation, between presentation and behaviour

Friends act as cognitive authorities (Wilson, 1983)

To sum up

Qualitative and quantitative aspects of information

Evaluation criteria: the authority of the source, the accurateness and truthfulness of information

Activities in the community

Testing different functions LunarStorm-routine (part of a wider Internet-

routine Interactive and non-interactive behaviour

(e.g. Burnett’s (2000) typology) Information oriented/not information oriented

Non-interactive behaviours

Keeping track of people

Checking on people

Information: what they formulate about themselves, their registered behaviour, the social structure

Relevant information (Barry & Schamber, 1998) Easily accessible Up-to-date A form that is understandable and palpable It varies It can be verified It comes from a source that is reliable

Interactive behaviour

Very demanding Implied aim to develop relations Communicating with friends (c.f. Enochsson,

2005, Thulin, 2004) List of friends – an auxiliary structure Guestbook the most important application Standard message structure:

Hi, I’m okay, how r u? Hugs

Sustains contact Ritual with the aim of uniting people (Carey,

1989) Develops trust (Iacono and Weisband, 1997)

In conclusion

Tool for developing information literacy Tool for getting to know oneself Tool for developing trust in a relationship Tool for developing social capital

Dimensions of Social Capital (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998) Structural dimension Relational dimension Cognitive dimension

The creation of a knowledge base Information about people’s everyday lives,

how to be, how to describe your way of being, your position in a social network

Varied, different perspectives, reliable Embedded in a social structure and

accessible to those who are a part of that structure

Thank you!

E-mail: pia.sodergard@abo.fi

References

Barlow, J. P. (1996). A declaration of the independence of cyberspace. [On-line] Tillgänglig 14.6.2006 från: http://homes.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html.

Barry, C. L., & Schamber, L. (1997). User’s criteria for relevance evaluation : a cross-situational comparison. Information Processing and Management, 34, 219-236.

Burnett, G. (2000). Information exchange in virtual communities : a typology. Information Research, 5, (4). [On-line] Tillgänglig 9.4.2002 från: http://InformationR.net/ir/5-4/paper82.html

Carey, J. W. (1989). Communication as culture : essays on media and society. Boston : Unwin Hyman.

Chryssochoou, X. (2003). Studying identity in social psychology : some thoughts on the definition of identity and its relation to action. Journal of Language and Politics, 2, 225-241.

Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95-120.

Donath, J.(1999). Identity and deception in the virtual community. I: M. A. Smith, & P. Kollock (Eds.), Communities in cyberspace (s. 29-59). London : Routledge.

Enochsson, A. (2005). Ett annat sätt att umgås – yngre tonåringar i virtuella gemenskaper. Tidskrift för lärarutbildning och forskning, (1-2), s. 81-99.

Haythornthwaite, C. (2001). Tie strength and the impact of new media. I: Proceedings of the 34th Hawai’i International Conference On System Sciences (HICSS), January 3-6. Maui, Hawaii. Vol. 1. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society.

Herring, S. (2002). Computer-mediated communication on the Internet. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 36, 109-168.

Hirsh, S. G. (1999). Children’s relevance criteria and information seeking on electronic resources. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50, 1265-1283.

Iacono, C. S., & Weisband, S. (1997). Developing trust in virtual teams. I: Proceedings of the 30th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). January 7-10. Maui, Hawaii. Vol. 2, 412-420.

Jones, S. G. (1995). Understanding community in the Information Age. I: S. G. Jones (Ed.) Cybersociety : computer-mediated communication and community (s. 10-35). London : Sage.

Leiner, B. M., Cerf, V.G, Clark, D.D., Kahn, R.E., Kleinrock, L., Lynch, D.C et al. (2003). A brief history of the Internet. Version 3.32. [On-line] Tillgänglig 12.5.2006 från: http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml

Lin, N. (2001). Social capital : a theory of social structure and action. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Lloyd, A. (2006). Information literacy landscapes : an emerging picture. Journal of Documentation, 62, 570-583.

Nahapiet, J., & Ghoshal, S. (1998). Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23, 40-54.

Porter, D. (1997). Introduction. I: D. Porter (Ed) Internet culture (s. x-xviii). New York : Routledge.

Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone : America’s declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6 (1), 65-78.

Rousseau, D. M.,Sitkin, S. B., Burt, R. S., & Camerer, C. (2004). Introduction to special topic forum: Not so different after all : a cross-discipline view of trust. The Academy of Management Review, 23, 393-404.

Silver, D. (2000). Looking backwards, looking forwards : cyberculture studies 1990-2000. I: D. Gauntlett (Ed.). Web studies : rewiring media studies for the digital age. (s. 19-30). London : Arnold.

Thulin, E. (2004). Ungdomars virtuella rörlighet : användningen av dator, internet och mobiltelefon i ett geografiskt perspektiv. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet. Kulturgeografiska institutionen.

Wellman, B., Salaff, J., Dimitrova, D., Garton, J., Gulia, M. & Haythornthwaite, C. (1996). Computer networks as social networks : collaborative work, telework, and virtual community. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 213-238.

Wilson, P. (1983). Second-hand knowledge : an inquiry into cognitive authority. Westport, CT : Greenwood Press.