Evolution Basin Sunrise: Effects of the Internet on Sociality, Empirical Research, Sociality Increases

Welcome to Information Technology and Society

Week 11



Here's the wiki with course material: http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/FrontPage.





In this class we'll focus on how the information technology revolution developed, especially vis-a-vis long time Berkeley Professor Manuel Castells' research on the Network Society, as well as http://webnographers.org - a wiki bibliography on virtual ethnography.



I invite your questions, and I'll post a version of the text from each class to http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/FrontPage over the weeks.

There's already a lot of information on this wiki, which will develop with this class.



And please join the Google Group for World University and School - like Wikipedia with MIT Open Course Ware -

http://groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School.







[10:40] Aphilo Aarde: Hello

[11:01] Aphilo Aarde: Hi Buffy!

[11:01] Buffy Beale: Hi!

[11:02] Buffy Beale: thinking I should switch to my other computer this one is wireless and laggy

[11:02] Buffy Beale: brb

[11:02] Aphilo Aarde: sounds good

[11:03] Aphilo Aarde: Greetings Andromeda!

[11:03] Andromeda Mesmer: Hi, Aphilo!

[11:04] Aphilo Aarde: Welcome Back!

[11:04] Aphilo Aarde: How are you? I just downloaded the new viewer, on a Windows XP so I'm getting to know it

[11:05] Aphilo Aarde: Buffy should be here shortly.

[11:05] Aphilo Aarde: Have you joined by any chance the World University and School Google Group

[11:05] Andromeda Mesmer: No -- I am completely filled up with groups and picks.

[11:06] Andromeda Mesmer: I am not hearing good reviews of the new viewer, so am going to stay away from it for now.

[11:06] Aphilo Aarde: I know what you mean - thanks also for orchestrating Frank Sweets

[11:06] Aphilo Aarde: course at World Univeristy and School

[11:07] Aphilo Aarde: My hard drive died last night on my MacBook so I'm

[11:07] Andromeda Mesmer: Well, glad that worked out. He put me in charge of security at his place --keep away griefers.

[11:07] Aphilo Aarde: using it ... it takes time to get familiar with new locations for functions, but everything is the same.

[11:08] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[11:08] Conover's Flight-Helper 6.3.3 (WEAR ME!): Flight-helper is ready and operational.

[11:08] Buffy Beale: Hi made it back

[11:08] Aphilo Aarde: Welcome back, Buffy!

[11:08] Aphilo Aarde: Glad you were able to get here.

[11:09] Buffy Beale: much better connection now

[11:09] Aphilo Aarde: Great ... I'm working on Windows xp today =- my MacBook harddrive died last night - with the new viewer so everything is a little different.

[11:09] Aphilo Aarde: Yet everything is the same.

[11:09] Buffy Beale: oh noooo

[11:09] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[11:09] Buffy Beale: :)

[11:10] Andromeda Mesmer: I have had some problems too. Local connection -- but also SL has not been behaving well at all, and people who I know are interested in investigating other synthetic worlds.

[11:10] Buffy Beale: yes Reaction Grid is getting popular

[11:10] Andromeda Mesmer: I met the editor of the Alphaville Herald -- previously called the Second Life Herald --

[11:10] Aphilo Aarde: Yes ... painful ... still under warrantee ... the timing was bad ... last night at 10 p, and I was teaching this class on Harvard's virtual

[11:10] Aphilo Aarde: island at 11 this morning.

[11:10] Buffy Beale: rats Aphilo

[11:10] Aphilo Aarde: interesting ... what's the url?

[11:10] Aphilo Aarde: Andromeda?

[11:11] Andromeda Mesmer: Let me look -- one moment.

[11:12] Aphilo Aarde: ok

[11:12] Aphilo Aarde: Welcome, Oronoque

[11:12] Andromeda Mesmer: It is a newspaper with a salacious part -- but there are some interesting parts to it.

[11:12] Andromeda Mesmer: http://alphavilleherald.com/

[11:12] Aphilo Aarde: I suspect it's an interesting record

[11:12] Aphilo Aarde: I may add it to World University & School's Library Resources

[11:13] Buffy Beale: Hi Oro

[11:13] Oronoque Westland: sorry, I was in viewer 2 and and could not tp

[11:13] Oronoque Westland: hi everyone

[11:14] Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources

[11:14] Aphilo Aarde: Here are the library resources

[11:14] Andromeda Mesmer: Usual comment about Viewer 2 -

[11:14] Aphilo Aarde: where I may add the Second Life newspaper

[11:14] Buffy Beale: Aphilo had a big crash from v2 yesterday

[11:14] Buffy Beale: resources?

[11:15] Aphilo Aarde: Yes ... my hard drive died on my macbook - I think I have a great back up ... but it's painful

[11:15] Aphilo Aarde: at 10pm on a Friday night, when I'm teaching here at 11 am ...

[11:16] Andromeda Mesmer: http://dwellonit.taterunino.net/2010/04/08/on-being-a-fool/#more-2284

[11:16] Aphilo Aarde: And it's such a headache ... under warrantee... but I wish information technologies were more reliable.

[11:16] Andromeda Mesmer: That is some commentary about the new "Terms of Service" that we all signed, otherwise, no logging into SL.

[11:16] Aphilo Aarde: And if mischief still occurs on this real time worldwide network, that this would stop.

[11:16] Aphilo Aarde: Thanks, A

[11:17] Aphilo Aarde: I think one has to guard against technology failure and mischief by making backups, and having redundancy ... just like this distributed network.

[11:17] Aphilo Aarde: But before we begin, I 'd like to show you

[11:18] Andromeda Mesmer: http://www.massively.com/bloggers/tateru-nino/

[11:18] Aphilo Aarde: Thanks

[11:18] Aphilo Aarde: the beginning medical, law and music schools at World Univeristy and School =-

[11:18] Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses

[11:19] Andromeda Mesmer: That's great to know.

[11:19] Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#World_University.27s_Schools

[11:19] Aphilo Aarde: So I hope these schools will be free and open,

[11:19] Aphilo Aarde: and open their doors to matriculating classes in 2014

[11:19] Aphilo Aarde: ... perhaps in conjunction with great universities ...

[11:20] Aphilo Aarde: In the meantime, World University and School is a free, open, growing, teaching and learning opportunity.

[11:20] Aphilo Aarde: where you can teach to your web cameras like

[11:20] Buffy Beale: claps madly

[11:20] Andromeda Mesmer: :)

[11:21] Aphilo Aarde: Frank Morelli, a New York Philharmonic Bassoonist = does in the music school

[11:21] Aphilo Aarde: or like the Keith Grey Banjo workshop in 9 parts from

[11:21] Oronoque Westland: this is SO GREAT

[11:21] Aphilo Aarde: the Strawberry Creek Music Festibal

[11:21] Oronoque Westland: I am looking for classes on how to make the web accessible, but have no money in $ or L

[11:22] Aphilo Aarde: But WUaS also has a wiki schedule with Google calendar

[11:22] Aphilo Aarde: Hi Jurate!

[11:22] Oronoque Westland: hey Ju...long time

[11:22] Ju Roussel: Oups. Don't break TOS, don't mention my last name.

[11:22] Aphilo Aarde: where all of you - by joining theWUaS Google Group -

[11:22] Aphilo Aarde: can teach when you want.

[11:22] Ju Roussel: Hello!

[11:23] Aphilo Aarde: http://groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School

[11:23] Aphilo Aarde: Please join this Google Group if you want updates, and to schedule or take a class and to see the World University Moderators' lists

[11:23] Aphilo Aarde: There's also a Facebook group

[11:24] Aphilo Aarde: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141

[11:24] Aphilo Aarde: And all of this will be up on today's transcript

[11:24] Aphilo Aarde: athttps://socinfotech.pbworks.com

[11:24] Oronoque Westland: do you think (and this is a general question, not a criticism) that we may be using too many different Web 2.0 tools...hard to keep track of where things have been posted, etc

[11:24] Aphilo Aarde: eventually ... with my dead hard drive, this may not be today.

[11:25] Aphilo Aarde: Perhaps, Oro = andyet we're fortunate to have so many tools, as well as so much information

[11:25] Andromeda Mesmer: Better to have fewer --easier to keep track of.

[11:26] Aphilo Aarde: so too much is good, and then we have to learn how to navigate our own sailboats or surfboards on this tidal wave

[11:26] Ju Roussel: I love the diversity. A badge of honor to manage bookmarks and gadgets in order and to not miss stuff. I'd love google docs of the planet's face though... So mediocre.

[11:26] Aphilo Aarde: (I'm going back to read more closely what you've been saying during this intro)

[11:26] Buffy Beale: I think we have to play with them to learn them, then decide which ones are best

[11:28] Oronoque Westland: I am attending a webinair next week on " "social media listening dashboard", describing how nonprofits can use free and low-cost services to track and stay notified about online communications that relate to their work and brand. Best practices for coordinating online communications will be addressed, and specific how-to's will provide participants with the information they need to get started in their online listening.

"

[11:28] Aphilo Aarde: Yes, Ju ... I agree that so much is great and then I'm curious how engaging it all can lead to more than "Flow" experiences ... but even bliss and ecstatic experience s

[11:28] Aphilo Aarde: Interesting Oro

[11:29] Buffy Beale: is that at the NPC Oro?

[11:29] Oronoque Westland: http://www.netsquared.org/blog/clairesale/techsoup-webinar-social-media-listening-dashboard

[11:29] Oronoque Westland: yes Buffy

[11:30] Aphilo Aarde: In terms of web 2.0 one approach to this abundance of IT if it feels like too much, is to become less of a consumer of information and more of a producer of information such that writing and creating it becomes the way you sail your boat or guide your surfboard

[11:30] Buffy Beale: great! I'm going too

[11:30] Aphilo Aarde: The overwhelming qualities of too much Inforamtion Technology can be transformed by one's own agency

[11:30] Aphilo Aarde: Thanks

[11:31] Ju Roussel: Now that The Library of Congress has decided to archive twitter messages!

[11:31] Andromeda Mesmer: I didn't know that -- just twitter messages in the US? or where?

[11:31] Aphilo Aarde: Ju, I added that archive right under the LOC itself at World University and School's Library Resources page:

[11:32] Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources#Academic_Archive_or_Library

[11:32] Aphilo Aarde: under Library of Congress Twitter Archive

[11:32] Oronoque Westland: @Aphilo...but when yoiu want to share info, whether your creative work or an event, whatever, you need to post in many different places

[11:33] Aphilo Aarde: And Oro, there is a web page video that is great posted at WUaS because it doesn't even use a web page design program and it therefore shows you how parts of the web work

[11:34] Aphilo Aarde: in new basic ways = a way to become more of a producer

[11:34] Oronoque Westland: so much to learn, to experience, to love

[11:34] Buffy Beale: yes exciting times we're in

[11:34] Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Subjects

[11:35] Aphilo Aarde: and look under Web Page Design and Production

[11:35] Ju Roussel: It would be nice to have a "social media central". Friendfeed collects my tweets and pictures and posts them on my facebook. Metafilter collects services in the same manner. The problem is that those aggregator services seem to be unable to catch up with new social media services! Think of Avatars United. It's 100% closetet.

[11:35] Aphilo Aarde: Yes ... Oro ... I;'ve been at some techsoup gatherings in SF where people have talked about the best

[11:35] Aphilo Aarde: software to do this

[11:36] Aphilo Aarde: and for infinitely expanding web sites and resources, no tools will

[11:36] Aphilo Aarde: encompass or aggregate them all

[11:36] Aphilo Aarde: So, my strategy

[11:36] Andromeda Mesmer: Aphilo - looks like huge changes here, and also coming, since you conducted this series 2 years ago.

[11:36] Aphilo Aarde: is to produce information in a few places

[11:37] Aphilo Aarde: like FB and Twitter which lots of people read ... or know one's audience

[11:37] Oronoque Westland: this is why I showed my students a bit about the use of RSS feeds

[11:38] Aphilo Aarde: So let's carry on from last week's class

[11:38] Oronoque Westland: so they can gather info from various sites in one place

[11:38] Oronoque Westland: sorry

[11:38] Aphilo Aarde: where we were looking at

[11:38] Aphilo Aarde: how people changed with the introduction of the internet and its popularization.

[11:39] Aphilo Aarde: Yes, I would pick the best reader and aggregator and then visit the sites I know about = I like Google Reader with its focus on Blogs, personally

[11:40] Aphilo Aarde: ... So what people found was that the internet had very little effect on sociality, contrary to a lot of media veiws.

[11:40] Aphilo Aarde: And these researchers found that the people's relationship to the Internet is being patterned around life.

[11:41] Aphilo Aarde: And that people, as the internet firts become greatly popular in the mid 1990s used email more.

[11:41] Aphilo Aarde: Boring.

[11:41] Oronoque Westland: are you referring to a negative impact when you say "very little effect on sociality, contrary to a lot of media veiws"?

[11:41] Aphilo Aarde: But this was a competely different view than what the media portrayed.

[11:41] Aphilo Aarde: Yes, Oro ...

[11:42] Oronoque Westland: that was my fear back then, glad to be proven wrong

[11:42] Aphilo Aarde: And the best sources for much of these books and papers as thisesearch continues

[11:42] Aphilo Aarde: *research noew 17 years later ... with much more of it

[11:43] Aphilo Aarde: is http://www.webnographers.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

[11:43] Aphilo Aarde: Yes, Oro ... the benefit of empirical research is that

[11:43] Andromeda Mesmer: Story a couple of days ago on CNN I believe - about how New Yorkers were using the social media to find out which friends were close by in RL, getting suggestions about restaurants and so on -- enhance RL

[11:43] Aphilo Aarde: it dispels myths and popular , sometimes misfocused views ... with data

[11:44] Aphilo Aarde: to get at what's really happening ...

[11:44] Aphilo Aarde: :) Yes, A ... so sociality is extended in a broad sense and in new ways

[11:45] Aphilo Aarde: with new networks ... this course being one example, Second Life being another, and Twitter another, with Facebook Friends and

[11:45] Aphilo Aarde: yet another.

[11:45] Aphilo Aarde: So the worry was that the internet would affect people negatively

[11:45] Aphilo Aarde: and what researchers found was that the internet conforms to lifestyle

[11:46] Aphilo Aarde: So, Professor DiMaggio at Princeton

[11:46] Aphilo Aarde: a sociologist

[11:46] Aphilo Aarde: examined how people ternet

[11:46] Aphilo Aarde: using the internet

[11:47] Oronoque Westland: /a SL consultant forgot to log out of SL after a conference he hosted...I heard all of his at home conversation...since I did not know him I tracked him down using the internet and called him at home...at first he was angry (thought I stalked him I guess) then when he listened to my explanation he was appreciative...all his personal conversation had been streaming into SL

[11:47] Aphilo Aarde: affected their reading of books ... or what the correlation was.

[11:47] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[11:47] Buffy Beale: nice Oro

[11:48] Oronoque Westland: internet can be helpful/dangerous that way

[11:48] Aphilo Aarde: The web changes dynamics of privacy in remarkable ways, just as replicative technologies or mass media have over more than a century

[11:48] Aphilo Aarde: but at a different scale ...

[11:49] Aphilo Aarde: and now focused explicitly on information

[11:49] Aphilo Aarde: Even though listening to others was possible in even the 30s secretively,

[11:49] Aphilo Aarde: its scale and scope were very very different ... expense and primitiveness were significant limiting factors.

[11:50] Aphilo Aarde: So Dimaggio's study on the correlation of internet usage and book reading ...

[11:50] Aphilo Aarde: showed that the more people used the internet just as it was becoming popular, the more they read books

[11:51] Aphilo Aarde: He found this at all levels of education

[11:51] Aphilo Aarde: by controlling for variables like Educational level

[11:52] Buffy Beale: interesting

[11:52] Aphilo Aarde: in his empirical studies, and doing the statistical work based on sampling and study design

[11:52] Aphilo Aarde: In the year 2000 UCLA

[11:52] Aphilo Aarde: conducted a study

[11:53] Aphilo Aarde: a survey with a representative sample

[11:53] Aphilo Aarde: to examine directly the hypothesis that the internet destroys family life

[11:53] Aphilo Aarde: by asking about this directly

[11:53] Oronoque Westland: DiMaggio P, Hargittai E, Neuman WR, Robinson JP. 2001. "Social Implications of the internet." Annual Review of Sociology.



Read more at Suite101: The Internet and Social Relationships: Facebook, MySpace, Online: Research Refutes Cyber Socializing Fears http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_internet_and_social_relationships#ixzz0lNwPRGaj

[11:54] Aphilo Aarde: thus dispelling myths about this - and UPenn Professor Keith Hampton just recently

[11:54] Oronoque Westland: just found that reference

[11:54] Aphilo Aarde: in Facebook posted a USA Today article - from all places -

[11:54] Oronoque Westland: I am surprised at these results --- my university students seem to be doing less reading of books

[11:55] Aphilo Aarde: which reported on something similar - and which Hampton who is a key and leading reseracher in these questions today for to be a strong article, yet relatively accurate

[11:55] Aphilo Aarde: Thanks Oro

[11:55] Aphilo Aarde: \Let's add this to webnographers.org - where I don't think this article is posted yet.

[11:55] Oronoque Westland: I have to push "media literacy" hard so that they understand that internet equivalents of Cliff Notes is not good reading

[11:56] Aphilo Aarde: Interesting to see how studies develop longitudinally, when researchers, for example, ask similar questions a decade later, for example.

[11:56] Aphilo Aarde: DiMaggio was asking these questions around 1995 ...

[11:56] Aphilo Aarde: but what's important, Oro, is to get at the empirical data

[11:57] Aphilo Aarde: And I wonder about quality of reading.

[11:58] Aphilo Aarde: If people are reading a lot on the web academically, or in the infinite number of web sites, which continue to grow, now, at the expense of reading books. Would another DiMaggio study

[11:58] Andromeda Mesmer: My impression is that the number of books sold is going down - that could be one way of checking the data.

[11:58] Aphilo Aarde: show a change due to the accessibility of more onling books for example , here:

[11:59] Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Library_Resources

[11:59] Aphilo Aarde: such a richness of resources has many effects, so we're lucky to have these first studies, just as the web was becomiung popular

[12:00] Oronoque Westland: then we need to factor in e-texts, Kindle, Googlebooks...it is very complicated

[12:00] Aphilo Aarde: both as baseline data, but also as indication of key concerns of reserachers and the public.

[12:01] Aphilo Aarde: That's certainly data which would be fascinating, Andormeda, to correlate with a new DiMaggio reading study, as with as with Kindle usage.

[12:01] Aphilo Aarde: I don't know of many papers at webnographers.org about this and contermporary at this time, but what you just posted Oro may be just that

[12:02] Aphilo Aarde: and webnographers.org is actually big now ... and, if interested, specifically in these questions, I'd check there first.

[12:02] Aphilo Aarde: So, to return to what researchers were finding,

[12:03] Aphilo Aarde: Internet users in the early to mid-90s, with the popularization of the web, tended to read MORE literature, go to more movies, read more books, play more sports, and watch more sports, than non-internet users.

[12:04] Aphilo Aarde: Now early adopters pof the internet, or all educational levels, may well

[12:04] Aphilo Aarde: have been folks who engage in life, and who engage symbolically

[12:04] Oronoque Westland: /how did the educational background of the average internet user of 15-20 years ago compare to the average user today?

[12:05] Aphilo Aarde: Dimaggio's study, in spite of controlling for all variables, including educational level, sounds like it could refer to a Princeton NJ sample, and not neccesarily representative

[12:05] Aphilo Aarde: of the whole US for example.

[12:06] Aphilo Aarde: I think your question Oro is best examined at Pew, and by reading the literature on Digital Natives and youth.

[12:07] Aphilo Aarde: That around 70-80% of the US has internet access may be a starting point.

[12:07] Aphilo Aarde: http://www.webnographers.org/index.php?title=Papers

[12:07] Aphilo Aarde: http://www.webnographers.org/index.php?title=Papers#Digital_Natives_and_Youth is one section where I would begin.

[12:07] Aphilo Aarde: Let's take a break soon for 10 minutes,

[12:08] Buffy Beale: ok

[12:08] Aphilo Aarde: but I hope that, for example, will help continue to transform the ducational possibilities

[12:08] Aphilo Aarde: And any longitudinal studies you'd like to add into this developing World University and Shcool

[12:08] Oronoque Westland: /I suspect the internet user of 15-20 years ago was an adventurer (i.e. eager to learn new and challenging things), today's user is using a tool that is supposed to work when you turn it on

[12:08] Aphilo Aarde: might begin to assess how

[12:09] Aphilo Aarde: innovations in education affect number of people engaging the internet

[12:09] Oronoque Westland: today's user would be unwilling to deal with DOS, for example, in my view

[12:09] Aphilo Aarde: That's one interesting profile.

[12:09] Andromeda Mesmer: LOL

[12:09] Buffy Beale: for sure Oro

[12:10] Aphilo Aarde: And starting a study of profiles then and now would be an interesting approach

[12:10] Aphilo Aarde: Well let's take a 10 minute break

[12:10] Oronoque Westland: anyone here who knows DOS must have gray hair like me lol

[12:11] Aphilo Aarde: and come back to the DOS

[12:11] Oronoque Westland: ok

[12:11] Andromeda MesmerAndromeda Mesmer thinks that the dye pot hides everything like that.

[12:11] Oronoque Westland: I hide my gray behind the SL viewer

[12:11] Aphilo Aarde: Disk Operating System, one of the first computer operating systems before the world wide web in 1989, even

[12:12] Oronoque Westland: yup

[12:12] Andromeda Mesmer: Well, I would use it if there was no alternative - and still remember some of those early games fondly ...

[12:12] Aphilo Aarde: See you in 10 minutes at 23 minutes past, for a little break.

[12:24] Buffy Beale: back

[12:26] Aphilo Aarde: Hello Again

[12:26] Buffy Beale: hi

[12:26] Aphilo Aarde: Here's the transcript from today, thus far - http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/InfoTechSoc11

[12:26] Aphilo Aarde: which I was able to get posted

[12:27] Buffy Beale: lol u were supposed to be taking a break

[12:27] Andromeda Mesmer: giggle

[12:27] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[12:27] Aphilo Aarde: So to return to what we're exploring

[12:27] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[12:28] Aphilo Aarde: the only thing that internet users in DiMaggio's study did differently

[12:28] Aphilo Aarde: and less of

[12:28] Aphilo Aarde: was watch less TV

[12:28] Aphilo Aarde: To recap ... Internet users studied in this research, in the aggregate

[12:29] Aphilo Aarde: read more literature, went to more movies, read more books, played more sports, watched more sports than non-internet users just as the internet came out , and the only thing they did less of was watch television

[12:30] Aphilo Aarde: This data is a significantly different from what many people thought.

[12:30] Aphilo Aarde: And the UCLA study

[12:31] Aphilo Aarde: BY ASKING

[12:31] Aphilo Aarde: this to people in their sample

[12:31] Aphilo Aarde: in 2000 which was directly exploring the hypothesis that the internet destroys family life

[12:32] Aphilo Aarde: and compared with the previous year, 75% declared that Internet activity had not impacted sociability, i.e.

[12:32] Aphilo Aarde: they didn't suffer socially.

[12:32] Aphilo Aarde: This study also found that the email IMPROVED family ties

[12:33] Aphilo Aarde: So of the around 110 studies of the Internet's effects on social life just as it was becoming popular,

[12:33] Andromeda Mesmer: Oh absolutely on the family ties -- lots of opportunity to send pictures, short videos --

[12:33] Aphilo Aarde: 110 studies said one thing, and 2 studies said another.

[12:33] Oronoque Westland: curious - did they ask where people accessed the internet? I suspect in those days there were few who had home PCs, so internet access might have been concentrated during working or school hours, hence less impact on social life in the 20th century sense

[12:34] Buffy Beale: yes thats what I was thinking Oro, less home computing, less friendly GUI etc

[12:34] Aphilo Aarde: And it's a reading of the aggregate results of such studies that perhaps gest at what's really happening.

[12:34] Aphilo Aarde: Good question, Oro ... we'll get to that in a second.

[12:35] Aphilo Aarde: There are some studies that address this .. and the beauty of the intenret, like TV is that it was accessible from the home

[12:35] Oronoque Westland: @Andromeda, I cannot recall it being easy to send pics or videos 20 years ago

[12:35] Aphilo Aarde: Welcome Jonathan!

[12:35] Buffy Beale: hey JonE

[12:35] JonathanE Cortes: Hello Aphilo , hi all ,

[12:35] Oronoque Westland: love the 3D glasses

[12:36] Aphilo Aarde: Remember, much of this popularity that these researchers began to study had to do with

[12:36] Ju Roussel: Hello JonathanE

[12:36] Andromeda Mesmer: No -- I was thinking of 10 years ago.

[12:36] JonathanE Cortes: I eed them in here :-)

[12:36] Aphilo Aarde: MOSAIC - the first browser in the ealry 1990s to incorporate photos

[12:36] Oronoque Westland: my AV won't stop tying

[12:37] Aphilo Aarde: And it was GUI = the graphical user interface =- that led to the explosion of the internet

[12:37] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[12:37] Oronoque Westland: that little 6"x6" Macintosh screen

[12:37] Buffy Beale: long live the mac

[12:38] JonathanE Cortes: yes in UK we need them

[12:38] Aphilo Aarde: We have looked at some of this social history of the internet in previous classes, but Berners-Lee writing with Roger Callion in Geneva, on their own time, of http, htmo and url .. and its popularization by graduate students on a bulletin board system - was the beginning of the world wide web

[12:39] Aphilo Aarde: and its significance is that people could write to the web - edit the web ... but without pictures

[12:39] Aphilo Aarde: well one significance

[12:40] Aphilo Aarde: nice glasses Jonathan

[12:40] Aphilo Aarde: So Barry Wellman at the University of Toronto

[12:40] JonathanE Cortes: ty

[12:40] Oronoque Westland: my typist's email domain goes back to the pre-www days

[12:40] Aphilo Aarde: began to analyze networks around that time.

[12:41] Aphilo Aarde: And one significant summary of his work is here:

[12:42] Aphilo Aarde: Wang, Hua and Barry Wellman. 2010. Social Connectivity in America: Changes in Adult Friendship Network Size from 2002 to 2007.

[12:43] Aphilo Aarde: in this section of webnographers.org's 'Papers' - http://www.webnographers.org/index.php?title=Papers#Social_Networks

[12:43] Aphilo Aarde: And in one study through a National Geographic web site, which was very popular

[12:44] Oronoque Westland: ? How the Web Was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web, James Gillies, Robert Cailliau (Oxford Paperbacks, 2000) ISBN 0-19-286207-3

[12:44] Aphilo Aarde: so it offered potentially great and large sampling possibilites

[12:44] Aphilo Aarde: Thanks Oro

[12:44] Aphilo Aarde: Wellman got National Geographic and people to cooperate at answering questionnary

[12:45] Aphilo Aarde: questionnaires online and offline

[12:45] Aphilo Aarde: These site had 40,000 users in North America alone~

[12:45] Aphilo Aarde: And Wellman was asking

[12:46] Aphilo Aarde: How the use of email and the web related to friends/family social interaction

[12:46] Aphilo Aarde: So, again the effect of the internet on family life

[12:47] Aphilo Aarde: And what Wellman found was that the use of email ADDED to letter writing, phone use and other forms of communication

[12:47] Aphilo Aarde: And that email also did not substitute for these

[12:47] Aphilo Aarde: So, overall, the internet lead to more social interaction, not less

[12:48] Aphilo Aarde: So, let's chat for the last 10 minutes of class about some of these questions in our own lives

[12:48] Aphilo Aarde: as well as some of our observations and questions in general.

[12:49] Aphilo Aarde: How would you say, for example, the internet has affected your family life ... moving in many ways from a sociological approach to an anthropological approach.

[12:49] Aphilo Aarde: ?

[12:49] Aphilo Aarde: When do each of you date your use of the web to?

[12:49] Aphilo Aarde: And how has it changed how you relate to family members?

[12:49] Ju Roussel: 1996

[12:49] Aphilo Aarde: More? Less? Differently?

[12:49] JonathanE Cortes: about 94

[12:49] Aphilo Aarde: Long time, Ju

[12:50] Aphilo Aarde: And, back then, would you be outliers as individual respondents to these studies, or would you be at the top of the bell curve?

[12:50] Aphilo Aarde: Did you engage more socially as the internet came along?

[12:50] Ju Roussel: till I started? I was priviledged! Sneaking into interned-enabled labs of political science students while business and econ. departments were far behind!

[12:51] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[12:51] Aphilo Aarde: And this was all in Sweden, is that right, Ju?

[12:51] Ju Roussel: Lithuania, of course.

[12:52] Aphilo Aarde: That's right ... when did you move to Sweden? Lithuania, as field site in an anthropological study about internet practices, would be fascinating ...

[12:52] Aphilo Aarde: A place based approach to the internet.

[12:52] Ju Roussel: I spent my first 2 years looking for foreign universities, opportunities, and asking professors to send me materials for my BA thesis. No effect on family, as no one could afford internet.

[12:52] Andromeda Mesmer: In my case, I got involved in some political action in the City of Toronto, when the provincial premier decided to amalgamate all the municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto. But not of use in the immediate family, because they did not have computes.

[12:52] JonathanE Cortes: at first it was like having a gian CD ROM

[12:52] Aphilo Aarde: Was using the internet more like going to the library or the university

[12:53] Ju Roussel: Kaunas - my hometown - now is 2nd place after some Japanese city in internet connection quality.

[12:53] Buffy Beale: yes no effect for me, only used it at my office starting from Mosiac

[12:53] Oronoque Westland: I was online in the pre-www days

[12:53] Aphilo Aarde: rather than having it in your home, changing things like TV?

[12:53] Ju Roussel: Much better than Sweden hehe

[12:53] JonathanE Cortes: Im having keyboard probs (its new) so may be some typos

[12:53] Andromeda Mesmer: I had a dial up computer connection at home, and also an account at university

[12:54] JonathanE Cortes: US robotic 14 lol, them the days

[12:54] Andromeda Mesmer: What the libraries locally had -- was their catalogues online.

[12:54] Aphilo Aarde: Interesting Andromeda

[12:54] JonathanE Cortes: I remember using Inofseek

[12:55] Aphilo Aarde: All of you are long time users ... with very disparate approaches, and seemingly little effect on your own family lives

[12:55] Aphilo Aarde: it seems. Woudl you agree?

[12:55] Ju Roussel: Anyone still had a chance to use non-computerised libraries? Or should I feel an extict breed? :)

[12:55] Aphilo Aarde: Me too

[12:55] Aphilo Aarde: I used non Internet libraries, Ju!

[12:55] JonathanE Cortes: I have lots of books :-) still buy them

[12:55] Andromeda Mesmer: I'd say, no effect except for getting pictures - and organizing large family get-togethers.

[12:55] Aphilo Aarde: :) me too Jonathan

[12:56] Aphilo Aarde: I spend a lot of time on the Internet ...

[12:56] Ju Roussel: meaning carton-cards and wooden-boxes library catalogues?!

[12:56] Aphilo Aarde: it's a very interesting and engaing process.

[12:56] Aphilo Aarde: me to Ju! :)

[12:56] JonathanE Cortes: I feel that the net is part of my computer , if I dont have the net , the computer seems broken

[12:57] Aphilo Aarde: Well I'm a guest in a friend's house, so I need to take my farewell in 3 minutes

[12:57] Andromeda Mesmer: Oh, one thing back then that I did a lot of, was follow the writer J. Michael Straczynski as he described the making of the TV series Babylon 5. Each episode, the technical problems, the creative aspects, and so on.

[12:57] Aphilo Aarde: would you have said that about TV as well Jonathan?

[12:57] Aphilo Aarde: Was there a kind of seemless transition for you?

[12:58] Ju Roussel: You must be true gen Y, Jonathan. I was just a couple of years too late to that train. I hate being the latest Xer.

[12:58] Oronoque Westland: I watch TV on the internet

[12:58] JonathanE Cortes: mm, it was around 2000 when I started to think that way

[12:58] Aphilo Aarde: So that imaginary, Andromeda, affected how you thought of , and the attractiveness of engaging in inforamtion technological things?

[12:58] JonathanE Cortes: from PC point of view

[12:58] Andromeda Mesmer: Comparing the TV with the computer and ability to search online -- NO contest. I'd dispose of the TV if given a choice.

[12:58] JonathanE Cortes: me 2

[12:58] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[12:58] Andromeda Mesmer: If FORCED to choose -- the TV still has uses.

[12:59] JonathanE Cortes: my attentin span is geting shorter (for movise) I think as well ,

[12:59] Aphilo Aarde: I don't watch TV and probalby spend 4-6 hours on the internet a 3-5 days a week, when I have easy access

[12:59] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[12:59] Buffy Beale: I haven't wated TV for 10 years or more

[12:59] Oronoque Westland: I am on the net 7 days a week

[12:59] Aphilo Aarde: Well it's very nice to come to this conversation with you and to explore the internet, as well.

[13:00] JonathanE Cortes: Im in here lots also

[13:00] Andromeda Mesmer: There are things like the latest news about the Icelandic volcano ...

[13:00] Aphilo Aarde: Keep examining World University and School - it's resources grow.

[13:00] Oronoque Westland: started using computers around 1970, networking around 1987

[13:00] JonathanE Cortes: do some TV in here now , well youtube n TED

[13:00] Buffy Beale: I check in on my FB etc daily and use SL about 2x a week

[13:00] Andromeda Mesmer: And the science programs will bring on guests to talk about this volcano --

[13:00] Aphilo Aarde: There are budding Medical, Law and Music Schools now

[13:01] Oronoque Westland: volcano=nature trumps technology

[13:01] Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#World_University.27s_Schools

[13:01] Aphilo Aarde: And technologies network around them

[13:01] Aphilo Aarde: :)

[13:01] Buffy Beale: yes, and how about those metors that fell from the sky a few days ago

[13:01] Ju Roussel: Twitter is my new TV, newspapers, and email.

[13:01] Aphilo Aarde: I must go ... May 1st will be our last class ... we'll meet next week here, again at 11.

[13:01] JonathanE Cortes: IP TV may draw me in a bit ?? duno

[13:02] Oronoque Westland: ok, see you then

[13:02] Ju Roussel: Thank you Aphilo.

[13:02] JonathanE Cortes: ok thx

[13:02] Aphilo Aarde: Please feel free to carry on this conversation between you :)

[13:02] Oronoque Westland: thanks

[13:02] Buffy Beale: bye all, tahnks Aphilo

[13:02] Buffy Beale: *thanks

[13:02] JonathanE Cortes: by buffy

[13:02] Andromeda Mesmer: About Twitter -- an old IT friend says it is mostly not useful -- except, when there was a power failure in part of Toronto, he was quickly able to see just what areas of the city it was in, much more useful than any news on the radio or TV.

[13:03] Aphilo Aarde: Transcript is here:

[13:03] Aphilo Aarde: http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/InfoTechSoc11

[13:03] Aphilo Aarde: You're welcome :)

[13:03] Ju Roussel: Usually with any news, twitter is the first to register.

[13:03] Oronoque Westland: same for me and Haiti

[13:03] Aphilo Aarde: and thanks for coming

[13:03] JonathanE Cortes: cool see you next week

[13:03] Buffy Beale: Theres a 'game' going on, UrgentEvoke, its connecting a lot of people

[13:03] Oronoque Westland: bye for now

[13:03] Ju Roussel: I in fact go to check validity of any news to twitter... most often.

[13:03] JonathanE Cortes: ``which one Buffy

[13:04] Buffy Beale: http://www.urgentevoke.com

[13:04] Andromeda Mesmer: byeeethanks








(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/04/evolution-basin-sunrise-effects-of.html - April 17, 2010)