As Monty Python Flying Circus used to say, “Now for something completely different!” I am going to attempt to define two complex concepts and attempt to connect those concepts to the everyday world of social media. Those two terms are infotaxis and stigmergy. Both refer to a similar natural function, that is changing embedded information in an environment …
Facebook seems to be following the example set by other sites (like Twitter) to give instant feedback to their users. The news-feed that provides information to the user about their friends will auto-refresh on a regular basis. A series of filters will also be connected to the news feed as a a way of limiting …
It is very easy to dismiss the concept of the nanocelebrity if you do not take into account several of the factors that make online socialization different from traditional socialization and traditional mediation. Lev Grossman began to explore these factors when Time named “You” the Person of the Year in 2006. He begins his article …
It was hard for me to start writing this week. Suffering from a combination of writer’s block and a series of allergies made it tough to put words on the screen. However, there came from the Internet a significant amount of chatter that the writer’s block or sickness didn’t matter anymore. The discussion among those …
I went back home after teaching on Monday. My wife looked angry. This is never a good sign. We had some small talk. Then, she asks me a question that shocked me… “why are you listed as single on Facebook?” Huh?!? I rush to my laptop to check my status , and sure enough, I was …
The last three months of the research process will be the virtual ethnography research method. I will talk to ten students from each of the universities based on the interview pool or if there is attrition in the pool, a new group of students from those who took the survey based on the selection protocol …
For student development theory to fit into the context of this dissertation research project, it is crucial to focus on the academic environment as a web of interaction and, more importantly, as “webs of learning opportunities.” Benjamin et al. (2007) looked at the first weeks of the first year of college as the foundation of …
Virtual ethnography will begin at the end of the interview stage. I will randomly choose five Facebook users from each campus from those who participated in the interview process. I will send those selected an email explaining virtual ethnography and how I’m interested in the Facebook presence. I would further explain that no personal information …
After reading many articles on sociable media and listening to conference presentations, I wanted to focus on the connection between the technology, students and the social psychological aspects of student development. It seems that Facebook exists between the confines of the technology and the participatory culture that’s developed around the superstructure of Facebook. Jenkins would …
The purpose of my dissertation will be to observe incoming “traditional freshmen” (e.g. 18- to-20 year old students coming to college for the first time) at three Midwestern universities whose hometowns are small towns, where the population is less than 5,000 residents, and see how those freshmen use Facebook as a coping mechanism. Facebook is …