Great discussion on (cyber)space. The paper below of mine links it to longterm discussions in community sociology of space and place. I really like this article, if I do say so myself. Barry Wellman, "Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Networked Individualism." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 25,2 (June, 2001): 227-52. PS: Nancy Baym discussed the Copher finding, "the more (online), the more offline" in Wellman-Haythornthwaite's Internet in Everyday Life. same finding appears in Quan, et al and Boase, Chen & Wellman, altho we didn't select articles on that basis. Pew studies find the same thing. As does Castells, et al in Catalonia. Bernie Hogan finds a softer version: Internet use doesn't seem to lower other forms of communication (ASA conf, last August). I am starting to think this is a reliable finding, at least in the soft version. Barry, Idiot Clown Professor, among other things _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________
Barry Wellman writes:
PS: Nancy Baym discussed the Copher finding, "the more (online), the more offline" in Wellman-Haythornthwaite's Internet in Everyday Life. same finding appears in Quan, et al and Boase, Chen & Wellman, altho we didn't select articles on that basis. Pew studies find the same thing.
As does Castells, et al in Catalonia.
Bernie Hogan finds a softer version: Internet use doesn't seem to lower other forms of communication (ASA conf, last August). I am starting to think this is a reliable finding, at least in the soft version.
My colleagues and I also report the same finding in a college student sample (more use of internet is correlated with more f2f and telephone communication) in an article to be published in New Media and Society later this year. Nancy
I am also convinced by the many evidences that e-sociability doesn't replace classic forms of sociability and that people with mediated communications tend to be generally the ones with the larger personal networks. However, what if we restrict the analysis to work hours? If the time-budget is fixed? It's been established that groupware uses are time-consuming. So, it would be logical to make the inference that more "intranet communication" means less communications the "older forms", wouldn't be? Then, the question is wether the relationships with co-workers, and sense of belonging to a group inside the organization, might be affected. Again, thanks for those references. They provide a basis for reflexion and discussion. But I would be surprise not to find any allegation of the "negative impacts of CMC inside organizations" in the litterature! Guillaume
Barry Wellman writes:
PS: Nancy Baym discussed the Copher finding, "the more (online), the more offline" in Wellman-Haythornthwaite's Internet in Everyday Life. same finding appears in Quan, et al and Boase, Chen & Wellman, altho we didn't select articles on that basis. Pew studies find the same thing.
As does Castells, et al in Catalonia.
Bernie Hogan finds a softer version: Internet use doesn't seem to lower other forms of communication (ASA conf, last August). I am starting to think this is a reliable finding, at least in the soft version.
My colleagues and I also report the same finding in a college student sample (more use of internet is correlated with more f2f and telephone communication) in an article to be published in New Media and Society later this year.
Nancy
As ever different disciplines have interestingly different perspectives. I suspect that ethologists, evolutionary psychologists and, perhaps, George Lakoff et al would point out that our brains have been honed over several million years to help us survive in a spatial world. So it is no surprise that we employ spatial metaphors to describe, explain and 'organise' new experiences nor that Kant's 3 questions are compelling (to most of us :-). That said Michele is clearly right to ask questions about what such metaphors are doing to the analysis and design of these 'new' phenomena and 'experiences'. I am reminded of a rather heated debate I had with some 'virtual worlds' researchers at the ECSCW 97 conference whose 3D workflow system demanded that to delete a 'document' I had to 'pick it up' with the mouse, 'walk' [literally if you will] to the 'wastebasket' and 'drop it in'. For them, a re-creation of reality was the 'perfect design'. I just wanted to delete a document. Which brings me back to my interpretation of Michele's point: we need to be careful not to take our metaphors literally. Ben -- Dr Ben Anderson t: +44 (0)7710 187 806 www.essex.ac.uk/chimera
participants (4)
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Barry Wellman -
Ben Anderson -
Guillaume Latzko-Toth -
Nancy Baym