Annamari - my dissertation was about the integration of online and offline social activity within a single community, and how participation became part of a daily routine for the members. You can download it here: http://www.dlfilms.com/professional/dissertation.html < / shameless self promotion> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:22:26 +0300 From: Annamari Martinviita <martinviita@gmail.com> To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Studying online community Message-ID: <4C2796E2.7060206@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Hello everyone, I'm just getting started on my PhD studies, unfunded as yet, regarding new social technologies and online communities and would really appreciate any hints, tips and advice members of this list may have on good information sources, relevant publications, events and so on. Broadly speaking, I'm interested in how communities extend from the online to the offline and vice versa, how participation in online communities becomes part of every-day life, how the lines between offline and online communication and relationship building are blurred as access to online social tools becomes ubiquitous. More specifically, I am looking at how new social technologies affect local communities and what developers should take into consideration while creating new tools with a view of fostering online community. I hope to come up with results that offer an insight into how the concept of community is changing for members of a hyper-connected society, and the implications of that change for local communities. My research approach is ethnographic. It would be great to hear from others with similar interests, and also perhaps to discover fellow "sufferers" at similar stages of their academic careers, for a bit of mutual support and encouragement. :) Of course, any advice would be hugely appreciated! Best regards, Annamari Martinviita PhD student University of Oulu, Finland martinvi@mail.student.oulu.fi This message may contain confidential information for the use of the addressee(s) above and may contain legally privileged information. If you are not the addressee, or the person responsible for delivering it to the addressee, you are hereby notified that reading, disseminating, distributing or copying this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message by mistake, immediately notify us by replying to the message and delete the original message immediately. Thank you.