Cultural Meanings of Personal Networks
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Irina Shklovski
Although there has been a substantial amount of research on computer-mediated communication, very little has been said on the issue of cultural differences in assessing the uses and interpretations of current technologies. Advances in communication technologies allow people not only to maintain existing relationships but also to reconnect with ties that had faded due to relocation and distance. New communication technologies such as, for example, social network sites enable people to re-activate weaker ties that maybe share a collective history but little current context. Yet we do not know why people seek out such ties and whether they benefit from them. Focusing on environments where social relationships are paramount for survival and where computer-mediated communication applications are just entering the popular discourse can help us examine how cultural preferences, social needs and constraints of available infrastructure shape the use of computer-mediated communication for relational maintenance. This project will focus on people’s personal networks manifested as connections to co-located contacts in post-soviet countries and to the Russian-speaking Diaspora. Russian-language social network sites provide citizens of these countries with new opportunities to reconnect within the Russian Diaspora, to re-establish connections lost due to out-migration, and to revitalize local connections that have deteriorated due to higher levels of local migration in economically volatile environments. Studying such settings can give a novel perspective on how cultural preferences, social needs and constraints of available infrastructure influence user’s decisions and use patterns. Contextual study of Internet and social network site use is especially valuable in a culture that differs from the predominantly Western perspective that developed or provided templates for the majority of current computer-mediated communication applications.
Thursday, February 5 5:29 pm
We actually have some around blogs and Russian language users being obvious nodes in the larger scheme of things. Ill see if I can share that with you, if you want.
Are you going to say compare the social network sites with past bulletin board sites? This would seem to be one way to address not only “constraints” of the infrastructure (and it is interesting that infrastructure is always about “constraint” for ubicomp people - i would assume if they were studying women’s lingerie, they would focus on the ease of use and comfort of a women’s corset
) Could be ubicomp is full of S&M people. OK, so I’m sort of kidding, but I think it is non-trivial when a starting point is on technical limitations instead of around people and their practices (though I know this are not disconnected for you but for many others the people/practices get lost)
Too bad you can’t hook up with the Chinese 1.5 person and the semiotics person because the 3 of you together on one set of people/site would have a fantastically complete and compelling study.
I’m interested in what innovative methods you might bring to this. It seems like it is ripe for some cool stuff.
Thursday, February 5 5:31 pm
I hate I can’t edit posts. This is the 3rd one I wanted to go back and change. Anyway, I meant to say we have some NETWORK DATA around blogs and Russian language users. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll see if I can get it. It doesn’t directly relate to your project, necessarily, so it is fine if you aren’t interested in it.
Thursday, February 5 7:44 pm
hey Rogerio, Dawn and I did a light paper on Orkut and Brazil that might be of interest to you. The paper does not address any of the issues you are looking at EXCEPT the idea cultural issues around social networking sites.
Abstract 2.0: If We Are All Shouting, Is There Anyone Left To Listen?
DAWN NAFUS, ROGERIO PAULA KEN ANDERSON
Ethnographic Praxis In Industry Conference Proceedings, Volume 2007, Issue 1 (October 2007) Pages: 66-77
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