option 1

An online community that I am a part of is my group of friends from home. About twenty to thirty of us correspond through facebook. I would consider almost all ties from this network to be strong ties. There are few people in the network that I seldom talk to. The members of this community consist of my friends from high school and new friends I have made since then. All these people live within one town’s distance away, so more or less five minutes of driving.

Common ground is a very strong factor in keeping this group together. Everyone in it has known each other for several years. Many of them went to the same high school as me on Long Island, while others went to schools close by. We all have common interests when it comes to partying and having a good time, and when people are back from college for a weekend we always have a big get together. While the separation of members by physical distance has a negative effective in relation to group commitment and time demands, everyone participates actively. I would say that we make up for our time constraints through the quality of our interactions through both Ftf and CmC as opposed to having numerous interactions.

The majority of the communications I have during the year with this group is done using asynchronous media such as facebook. My friends leave messages every so often but are unlikely to be talking everyday using instant messaging. Facebook is far better suited to my friends levels of commitment and their time constraints considering their obligations outside of the online space. I believe the presence of pictures on facebook has enhanced the sense of community held by the group. Being able to view pictures of each other counteracts the low frequency of our communications. When I am home the community actually uses more cmc for small pieces of information, but we communicate for the most part by phone or by word of mouth.

In regards to the impressions of the community, because we have known each other extensively before using CmC and our CmC interactions are limited, I would argue that no significant impressions are made. SIP theory would say that impressions would take a long time to form using such a network, but that is in regard to people you are just meeting. Because all the people in my community are very familiar to me I don’t believe I even pay attention to anything but shared pictures and actual dialogue. The impression formation areas of the profile seem to have little impact on the way our group operates.

Eric

Option 2: Brunswikian Model

The Brunswikian Lens Model allows one to asses someone’s personality from an online space. The two main components of this model are functional achievement and Individual-environmental links. Functional achievement is obtained by considering cue validity and cue utilization. Cue validity relates to the target’s personality. Cue utilization occurs when one selects certain environmental cues to make judgments. The effect of both of these lead to functional achievement, in which an accurate inference is creates. Individual-environmental links is composed of four mechanisms. Two terms to be familiar with are identity claims, which are things you purposely do to remind others of your identity, and behavioral residue, which are things you have done that demonstrate it.

The Brunswikian Lens Model can be illustrated by looking at a Facebook profile. The first mechanism involved is called self-directed identity claims. These claims are personal statements one makes that reinforce how he or she views themselves. The part of facebook that allows one to record interests and activities is an area where people are able to display characteristics they feel they possess. My friends profile shows interests that all maintain a common theme of being a carefree, easy going person. Whether or not this is true is not known, but what is known is that my friend feels she possess these characteristics. A second mechanism is other-directed identity claims. These claims are statements one makes to reinforce how others view them. One area where this is illustrated online is in the groups that my friend joined. She is part of a group in support of Darfur, and also one that supports registering to vote. Other people may look at these groups and think that my friend is active in the community and strongly supports her beliefs. The third mechanism is interior behavioral residue which reflect upon past and future behaviors according to the current space. The Newsfeed on Facebook updates automatically as my friend changes aspects of her Facebook profile. I see her newsfeed updates about once every two days, so I would conclude that she isn’t an “intense facebooker”. The final mechanism is exterior behavioral residue, which reflections upon behaviors not related to the current space. Photos on Facebook show events that occur spaces other than facebook, which correlates well to this concept. Her photos mostly consist of hanging out with the same group of five girls in various environments.

From looking at my friend’s facebook profile, I can make some conclusions about her personality. I don’t think she is a neurotic person, since she isn’t an avid facebook participant. She isn’t extroverted because she enjoys hanging out with friends in a variety of situations. I do believe she is conscientious because I know that she does untag pictures that she thinks she doesn’t look good in. From her groups, she is agreeable and very open-minded person and encourages others to be open-minded as well.

Assignment 7, Option 2 - An AIM Weak Tie

Using the Brunswikian Lens Model, I decided to assess one of my “weak ties’” personalities through AIM. I actually went to her AIM page which is found by right clicking and clicking on “Get AIM Page”
This person had nearly everything filled out…even her address! The address would classify as an other-directed identity claim since it tells those from the outside where to send her US Mail. Another example of an other directed identity claim she put down are 3 words that describe her. She is “smart, emotional and understanding” which gives those on the outside an idea of her traits and how it would be working with her. The listing of her address could also be considered an exterior behavioral residue because my tie’s address reflects an offline aspect of his life. Next, she has the lyrics to a popular song of the past called “Award Tour” by a Tribe Called Quest.” Since she aspires to be a mogul in the music business, I would consider this a self directed identity claim because it says something about her experiences (or at least her up and coming experiences), but is only intended for those who are familiar with the meaning of the song and her aspirations.
My friend also copied an IM conversation between her and me in which I gave her a little motivation regarding her pursuing her dreams. This is an example of interior behavioral residue because it is a relatively private CMC conversation generated inside the medium of instant messenger.

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Question 7 Option 1

While attempting to come up with an idea for this weeks blog assignment that would fit under Haythornwaite’s SNA principles, I came up with the rather simple idea of just examining the random British kids I lived in a dorm with last year when I went abroad. I went abroad the first semester of my junior year and it was an amazing experience – besides traveling all the time and never attending class I got to meet some really cool international kids I likely never would have met. After a week of being there I was friends with kids from the UAE, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Pakistan, pretty much everywhere. The concept of the “Gemeinschaft” is created on strong ties, shared focus, and common language. I found each of these at my time in London.

According to Haythornthwaite, the ties I originally had to these people were weak. The first day or two I was on british soil – I really hated the place. The majority of people around me were brits and I thought they were just downright strange. They have a weird sense of humor, everyone has a different form of the british accent (some you cant even understand even though you know theyre speaking English), and they eat mayonnaise on absolutely everything. So I strictly hung out with my American friends and went to places only Americans generally go to.

Ultimately though, as I spent more time around these people, I developed common ground with them and my ties between these “nodes” became stronger. After I got over the whole fact that brits generally wont talk to you unless you approach them and after I got over seeing people eating raw mayonnaise out of a jar, I began to appreciate them as people who were just like us. Realizing I had this common ground with just about anyone I met was probably the biggest reward I received out of the whole experience. All kids are pretty much the same. In every setting there’s the kid whos shy, the kids whose annoying, the kid who studies too much and the kid who gets way to drunk all the time and you just know hes on the verge of failing. Reciprocity existed through us commenting on our different cultures. We all talked about certain stereotypes we each had against each other and which were true and which aren’t.

As far as CMC affecting this in the short term I would say it did not have a significant effect. IM’ing someone a few doors down is just annoying. But in the long term it definitely helped me keep my “Gemeinschaft” going longer than it would normally. Calling England is quite expensive and I likely wont see anyone in person for a long time whereas CMC is cheap and easy.

Assignment 7, Option 1: Cornell Racing

http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu/

Cornell Racing, more properly known as Cornell Formula SAE (FSAE), is both a team and a research class in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. It is a community of students who work together to design, test, manufacture, and race a formula style, open-wheel race car. There are differences within the students who are involved with FSAE. As a freshman you are only allowed to volunteer, with a requirement of 10 hours a week. Undergraduate students taking it for credit must give an overall average of 20 hours a week. There are also graduate students who work on the car in respect to their graduate work and also have other requirements.

Cornell Racing has become one of my most interesting and important communities. A community is described by Haythornwaite as a web of “relationships that crisscross and reinforce one another” and “requires a measure of commitment to a set of shared values, mores, meanings and a shared historical identity.” (2007) Very similar to Haythornwaite is the idea from Gemeinschaft, which believes that communities are based on strong interpersonal ties, and a common purpose and language or identity. Lastly, a community can be more simply described as a group of actors (people) who are connected through ties, either strong or weak, and are focused around a central idea or activity. To better understand the dynamics of a community Haythornwaite uses the Social Network Analysis to investigate what is exchanged, communicated and shared within a community. This examination includes exploring the community’s social capital, which includes its social network, common ground, and reciprocity.

As previously stated a social network is made up of ties and actors. In my case the actors are other members of the team, our faculty advisors, and our sponsors. There are varying degrees of strength of ties between the actors and can be analyzed as either a strong or a weak tie. A strong tie implies frequent interaction whereas a weak tie is rare contact, but can lead to unique resources. An example of strong ties can be found between the student team members. Because we spend so much time together and all work so hard for a common goal this leads to stronger ties. Examples of weak ties would be our sponsors. We do not usually have much interaction with our sponsors, but they are great resources as they have access to information and materials that we don’t. Also many members of the team go on to work for various sponsors after graduation.

Common ground is the factor which largely helps to create the strength of the Cornell Racing team. Because both individuals and the team as a whole have shared experiences and similar goals we are able to work that much harder and trust and rely on each other to a greater extent. The examples of common ground within my community are also parts of the psychological recipe for creating a cohesive group. These parts include group symbols, initiations, challenging entrance requirements, and heavy time demands.

Cornell Racing has its own logo, which is put on everything from the car to team apparel. Team apparel is a form of common ground because it is worn to competitions, sponsorship meetings, and even on a daily basis to class. Another example of common ground is the challenging entrance requirements in order for one to become a team member. Every member of the team has to undergo extensive interviews and is then hand selected by the team. The class requirements are also forms of common ground that help to strengthen the ties of the team. Everyone on the team have similar requirements from putting in so many hours a week to our design presentations (preliminary, secondary, and final design). Common ground is shared not only by what we wear, how we got in, or what we have to do, but also by our shared interests and goals. Everyone on the team has an interest in cars in some shape, whether it’s the mechanical, electrical, or design part of them. The team also has a goal to win at competition. So far the Cornell FSAE team have been 9-time world champions, and we hope to make it 10 after this spring.

Our community is strengthened not only by factors like common ground, but also because Cornell Racing incorporates both FtF and CMC into our daily interactions and this helps to strengthen the ties within the community. This idea that communities which combine the use of the face-to-face and computer mediated communication create stronger bonds and share more frequently and effectively than communities that only use one of these systems is shared by Etzioni and Etzioni. There are various examples of both the FtF and CMC interactions within the team. Some examples of our FtF interactions include out weekly meetings with our Faculty Advisor, subteam meetings, driving days, and normal interactions when working in the lab. Our community also has various ways of interacting online such as our list serves and website.

Our team has several list serves, from one for the entire team to smaller ones for each subteam. These list serves create constant interaction through emails regarding updates about the car, help needed, parts, sponsors, and etcetera. There is also one additional list serve known as nasty, which is another interior sub culture of the team. A member of the team can get “nasty-ed” if they leave their account or email open on one of the team computers. If the unfortunate team member leaves their email open then usually another member of the team will make an email from their account with funny or absurd comments and such and send it to the nasty list serve. This will usually result in good natured teasing the following day.

These online and offline interactions lead to a high level of reciprocity. Not only is there a high level of response to actions and thoughts of one another, but these responses are often positive in nature. We often congratulate each other on a good well done, encourage each other for working hard, and enjoy the general good attitude of the team. Although it is infrequent there are times when there are negative responses, but it usually for the good of the team or individual. For example if someone is goofing around with one of the machines they may be reprimanded, but this is done with concern for their safety.

Cornell Racing is a unique community that is an experience to remember for a lifetime.

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Assignment 7: Option 1

A community that I am active in is the Big Red Marching Band. This organization has developed into a community that fits the concept of Gemeinschaft. He describes Gemeinschaft as “a collective based on strong interpersonal ties, face-to-face interaction, a shared focus and common purpose, language and identity.” Between rehearsals, football games, road trips, and parties, BRMB members form many ties. Information often spreads through the band according to both leadership structure and social ties. Given the size of the band (over 150 members, plus alumni who frequently visit and remain part of the community) most of the ties are relatively weak. Any given member can most likely identify any other member and have a general idea of their personality. The strong ties are often within individual sections, and then with select other individuals. Members of a section share the same traditions and are together on the field. As a result, information is often freely shared within the members of a section. Information from a second section often arrives to the first section through individuals who have a strong tie to a member of the second section. The result is that there are many small communities within the larger BRMB community.

The primary reason the band has a such a strong sense of community is the common ground shared by the members. With rehearsals three nights a week, and then usually spending almost all of Saturday together at the football game, in addition to frequent parties, members have a great deal of common ground. They all joined the organization due to their interest in playing music and participating in the band. Even the weak ties within the band might be considered a strong tie in a different community. It is almost guaranteed that any two individuals in band have a close friend in common.

The primary CMC within the BRMB community is through the various email listserves. Every member of the band is on Band-l. This listserve, while often used for basic schedule information and announcements, also frequently has just random conversations and banter. On any given day, I would estimate about 10 emails are sent over the listserve. There are also language norms through most of the emails that serves to further cement the community identity. In addition to the full band listserve, each section has its own, which is often used to supplement the main listserve (in other words, to make fun of everyone else). The email communication lends itself to the hyperpersonal model in that personality traits come across amplified in the medium. For instance, one member who tends to send longwinded emails forms a distinct impression on everyone, and as a result of their perception, that member continues to send the emails to form his distinct persona.

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Gates and Gemeinscaft

A community that I am active in is the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) community.

Caroline Haythornthwaite articulates on Tonnies idea of community. She defines Gemeinschaft as community and Gesellschaft as society. More specifically, Gemeinschafc are all the nuances and subtleties that define a community. These can include strong interpersonal ties, face-to-face interaction, a shared focus and common purpose, language and identity. This is characteristic of perhaps a small village. By contrast, Gesellschafl describes all that we associate with a failed community. This can mean people living near each other yet not connected by any interpersonal commitment, lacking any connective purpose or concern with nearby surroundings. This is probably more relevant in large bustling city-type environment.

My commitment to GMS reflects the Gemeinchafc community in that most GMS scholars have built a strong CMC relationship guided by academics, hobbies and interests. Many of us belong to the GMS facebook group, but far more of us know each other through GMS forums on the site itself. It is here we post questions of all sorts, ranging from global issues to leadership. Being part of this community is constantly motivating and inspiring.

This is a picture of the tabs on our homepage that push for this Gemeinchafc community:

Haythornwaite further looks at social communities and uses Social Network Analysis to determine what is exchanged, communicated, and shared within a community. Most GMS members form a “web of affect-laden relationships that criss-cross and reinforce one another” (Etzioni & Etzioni)- this is what defines any community. Our “affect-laden relationships” have transitioned us from being academic buddies, to online friends to best friends. We are always in this constant cycle of exchanging, communicating and sharing that further bolsters our GMS community.

Haythornwaite further elaborates on the different kinds of social capital, including networking, common ground, and reciprocity. We have a strong social network mediated by the computer. We know each others interests and based on that, if we come across something of interest to someone else, that person should prepare to have their mail-boxes flooded. Also, through video chat and photos people tag of us, we are able to keep track of the GMS member’s life outside the GMS circle.

What forms our common group is this GMS identity. We are all GMS scholars, and so this is our uniting factor. Reciprocity is defined as being an ongoing relationship where neither party expects anything in return. We are always informing each other of new updates on the GMS site, learning of the new perks for GMS members, and pretty much anything else, from help in a subject, to help in personal issues. Literally, I describe the GMS circle as an online family.

I completely agree to what Etzioni & Etzioni said regarding how the CMC and FtF modes of communication form stronger networks. At first, I only knew GMS members through the CMC environment. Afterwards, we were flown into D.C. It was here, that GMS members met and were able to talk face to face. Something about face to face interaction puts things into perspective. Before FtF interaction my conversation with the GMS member can be likened to a mere chat with a robot. After I met these GMS members in D.C., we formed strong ties. Since then I have visited universities just to meet my GMS friends. It’s interesting to note that the limiting CMC conversation I had with Kim, is now not so limiting- she has probably become one of my closest friends. The GMC circle is a perfect example of Gemeinschafc- a community of closeness.

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Assignment 7, Option 2

"A guide for dealing with the fact you just suck”.

That was the title of a forum member(codenamed EntityG)’s new thread at a music video editing/creating community. Upon opening the forum window, I was slightly taken aback by the topic, though not at all surprised by the poster of said topic. Actually, my first guess as to the author of the thread was absolutely correct. Though the title of the thread may seem out of line, and possibly considered mild flaming, I expected to see EntityG link to a good article about constructive criticism. In other words, EntityG has developed such a presence in this online domain, that his behaviors are easily identifiable. But how did I come to develop these thoughts about his personality?

“Brunswik’s lens model describes one process by which individuals make inferences about the characteristics of others” (Walther, 6). The Lens Model is made up of three parts: cue validation, cue utilization, and functional achievement. Functional achievement (the last part) is when cue validation and cue utilization co-occur to allow an individual to make an accurate assessment about a certain target.

In order to proceed in making judgments about a target, the Brunswikian model emphasizes the importance of a target’s environment. Four mechanisms are used to connect targets to their surrounding environments: self-directed identity claims, other-directed identity claims, interior behavioral residue, and exterior behavioral residue. In the case of a target’s asynchronous forum persona, I have made the following assumptions:

1. Self-directed identity claims (claims made by the target that are used to benefit or reinforce his self-views) are represented by the user’s profile.
2. Other-directed identity claims (statements to others about how they would like to be regarded) are represented by the user’s avatar or profile picture.
3. Interior behavioral residue (traces of behavior from the actual webspace) is represented by the user’s forum posts.
4. Exterior behavioral residue (traces of behavior from outside the webspace) is represented by the user’s uploaded video creations (as the community is home to music video editing).

As is seen in EntityG’s profile, he’s not a friendly person. On the contrary, his few comments are sarcastic and condescending. This demonstrates EntityG’s triteness and a lack of profundity in a way. EntityG’s avatar (above) has not changed for years, projecting a stable-self image. His video creations seem like immature and sarcastic uploads, maintaining the idea that this guy is nothing less than a shallow troll of a jerk.

Up to this point, EntityG appears to show no degree of openness, agreeableness, or conscientiousness (and probably a bit of neuroticism). But the major set-back occurs from the user’s forum posts, or what I have deemed his internal behavioral residue since all users’ posts are reviewable. Though EntityG does post insensitive comments every so often, many of his contributions to more elaborate threads/topics are profound, deep, and representative of a “devil’s advocate” (or the voice that provides alternative thought). A forum treat is to catch one of his posts about his personal life and why his online persona is so bitter. It is strange to see that when interaction with other people is most tangible, EntityG’s openness and extraversion seem to increase.

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Assignment 7: Option 2

The Brunswikian Lens Model describes the process of how we evaluated and make inferences of the personality characteristics of others based on their behavior cues. This model makes the assumption that behavior is a byproduct of personality and should be judged as such. We as observers should consider these environmental cues as a lens through which to view targets. Cue validity refers to a cue correctly representing the target’s personality. Cue utilization refers to the fact that observers do not make inferences based on all cues, but select certain environmental cues. Functional achievement is the link between the two when cue validity and cue utilization both happen. In other words, the observer makes an accurate inference about the target’s personality by choosing a cue that is reflective of the target’s personality.

For this assignment, I choose to analyze Beth, a facebook friend who I am an acquaintance of. I found her to be overly bubbly and slightly annoying. I noticed she has 693 friends at her school, which is highly suspicious. She also has added many of the new applications, meaning I have to scroll down for five minutes to reach her long list of groups. She has a detailed and perky information section. My cue utilization focuses on her daily, sometimes hourly status, updating (which is the biggest annoyance). This made me think she is a needy person who spends too much time on facebook. As for cue validity, my knowledge of her over time shows that this is true. Since my inference has both cue validity and utilization, functional achievement occurs.

According to Goslin et al., there are four mechanisms that link individuals to environment. First, self-directed identity claims are statements by the target that benefit the target and reinforce self-view. This would be the about me section where Beth states she is a social butterfly, which is something she probably believes about herself and is reassuring herself is true. Second, other directed identity claims are statements by the target to reinforce desired view by others. This would include the number of groups Beth joined that are “socially desirable” such as “ridiculously good looking people”. This is something she wants to be associated with by people who view her facebook. Third, interior behavioral residue is a reflection of past behaviors or possible future behavior within the immediate environment. Beth’s minifeed whos me that she recently updated asking friends to pet her facebook pet falls under this category since it reflect behavior within facebook of needing people to be active and involved with her profile. Fourth, exterior behavioral residue is a reflection of past behaviors or possible future behavior outside the immediate environment. Her update about her being unable to stay awake in bio class is an example since this tells me something about her personality outside of facebook.

I can make inferences on Beth’s personality based on my observations. Beth’s extremely cheerful personality, as judged by her posts and about me, made me think she is a bit neurotic. Her constant facebook activity such as excessive status updating and adding new friends made me think of her as extroverted. I consider her open since she has a reveals personal details on her facebook wall such as about her strengths and weaknesses in the about me section (social butterfly who is a sucker for musicians). Reading the content of her notes and updates, I saw that she is generally agreeable and makes positive and upbeat comments. Her lack of response to other people’s comments on her wall makes me think she is not very conscientious. This was hard for me to judge, so I looked at her wall-to-wall conversations to see if and to what extent she responded to other people.

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Assignment #1: Option 1 Brotherhood

Hey,

Like many of my other fellow classmates I am a member of the Greek community here at Cornell as a brother of a Fraternity. According to Gemeinschaft we form a community under the basis of having strong personal ties as brothers, a common purpose of upholding our duties as members, and similar interest and perspectives. We make up the “actors” in this community by satisfying all of these principles according to Gemeinschaft. Since most of the brothers live together we all have strong ties that are similar among us, as opposed to weak ties which are rare contact. Social capital is employed by all of our efforts to invest in the fraternity and take advantage of social benefits and resources. One example could be networking with alumni, which are weaker ties that make excellent resources for jobs and knowledge.

Social capital is also observed through the Etzioni & Etzioni model. We have a group of social relationships and bonding establishing a social network. Equal measures of commitment and shared values to form common ground. And our interlinked relationships reinforce one another to give reciprocity. An example of reciprocity would be an idea being generated and the input of all the brothers being taken into account. The community is also present both offline and online in CMC. In CMC such things as facebook groups and listserves help brothers keep in contact with each other and maintain strong ties even when away for say a vacation. Also a lot of information and planning can be done using CMC were data is stored and recorded. An example of this is using e-mail to inform all the brothers simultaneously of meeting locations, times, and information. Thus this is how Greek life fits into social network analysis.

7: Anatomy of a Blog

The author of a blog reveals a good deal about himself through his writing. Especially on a blog that's updated frequently, the writer makes many identity claims and consequently leaves ample behavioral residue to provide an interesting personality analysis for the Brunswikian Lens model. For this week's post, I took a look at the posts on a certain popular blog (which shall remain nameless here to protect the innocent) and came up with some conclusions about the personality of its authors.

This particular blog has a news-related focus, so many of the cues present themselves in the editorializing that surrounds the stories, and to perhaps an equal degree in the selection of stories itself. This topic coverage serves as a big other-directed identity claim. Readers can immediately identify the authors' political and positional biases based on the presentation of stories on the blog. A case could probably be made for describing these identity claims as self-directed as well; undoubtedly, the authors can quickly confirm their own self-perceptions with a scan of the blog's syndication feed.

The story selection also creates a significant interior behavioral residue; readers complain when particular topics are covered too often or too infrequently. Also, continuing coverage of news topics generates a distinct residue; how the authors react initially to a topic is how they will be expected to behave in the future, in turn coloring the readers' perception of the authors. This “anticipation of future behavior” is the most important side-effect of the behavioral residue; often times, readers will post comments along the lines of “Oh, I bet you guys are going to continue bashing Person X, it seems to be all you can do.” This sort of “forward-looking” comments generates a good deal of the discussion on the blog, and confirms that behavioral residue is certainly having a significant effect on readers.

Another avenue for transmission of cues on the blog is through commenting; although authors do not directly interact with readers on some blogs, this is certainly not the case on this blog. When discussions get heated, the authors will jump right in to defend their opinions. Other times, a flippant comment by an author will end up generating more discussion than the original article. These comments make clear identity claims that are certainly other-directed. More important, though, are residual cues in the comments. These short, often one-line (or less) posts are mostly unedited and written in an informal Internet slang. Amongst the readers, they generate a distinctly different image – one that is less cautious and deferent, and in many cases less intelligent – than the cleanly-edited “party line” main posts.

Alright, based on these observations, let's take a crack at analyzing the authors' personalities, based on the five-factor model. Their lowest scores would be in agreeableness and neuroticism. Rarely, if ever, have the editors retreated from a position after it has been advanced, either in comments or in the main posts. Many of their comments will be something like “If you don't like our coverage that much, go start your own blog,” indicating a low degree of sympathy with the opinions of others. Similarly, the fact that their news coverage is generally not colored by public user comments indicates a low degree of neuroticism; the blog keeps on going, despite flames and attacks from parties on all sides.

In terms of available cues, determining a level of extroversion is somewhat difficult. None of the cues directly indicate a particular level of this trait, although assuming a relatively high level of extroversion in a person who has decided to start a public blog is not unreasonable at all. Additionally, assumptions follow on the same basis for a high level of conscientiousness and openness, despite a lack of direct cues.

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Assignment 7, Option 1

As a sophomore at Cornell, I have passed the initial adjustment phase from high school student to college student. In high school, I belonged to a number of extracurricular groups and activities, but at Cornell, I spent my first year focusing on my academics and forming social relationships. Since I established myself in both of these areas, I began the year looking to join other Cornell activities. Nostalgic for the old days of high school musicals and chorus concerts, this year I joined an all-female a capella singing group, The Touchtones (http://www.thetouchtones.com/index.html).

Joining The Touchtones opened me up to a whole new community at Cornell that consists of all the a capella groups on campus. I have found that the a capella community is very vibrant, diverse, and active, providing a great opportunity for social capital. As noted by Haythornthwaite’s “Social networks and online community” (2007), the a capella community would be considered a Gemeinschaft because of a number of reasons. First, many people within the community have strong interpersonal ties. I have formed these kinds of relationships with people within my own group. Second, we all have the shared focus and common purpose to sing and entertain the Cornell community. Lastly, we share a common language and identity. Our common language consists of a capella and music terms like perc, B flat, and pitch.

Using a Social Network Analysis, The Touchtones are the center of this egocentric network. The other singing groups, and the people in these groups, are considered the actors. Some strong ties exist between my group and other groups that we perform with often. Many of the individual members of these groups have ties to each other, creating a dense network. Weak ties exist between our group and groups we do not perform with as often. Although these ties are weak, they can connect us to unique resources, like other performance opportunities. We all share the common ground of a love for singing and performance. Often we join together to entertain the Cornell community for a good cause, as is happening this weekend at IthacAID XVI,which will benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Alzheimer's Association. Reciprocity occurs when we give each other feedback on performances and song selections.

The Touchtones communicate in a CMC setting through a listserv and a website. The listserv allows the musical director to send us songs and rehearsal schedules. In turn, we can all email each other when we have announcements or suggestions. The website is used to communicate to outsiders who wish to find out more about us. Here we can post clips of songs, pictures, and information about upcoming events.

Anyone looking for a “Gemeinschaft” should definitely consider joining the a capella community at Cornell. Through SNA attributes, common ground, and reciprocity, I have discovered my newfound community to be extremely positive and rewarding.

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7.1 - Family as a community

A community that I am active in both online and off is with my family. In Haythornwaite’s paper on social networks, she reports Tönnies idea of a community, or Gemeinschaft, as “a collective based on strong interpersonal ties, face-to-face interaction, a shared focus and common purpose, [and] language and identity” (2007). This definition perfectly describes the close-knit family community that I am part of, which includes my parents, my brother, and my aunts’ families. Haythornwaite examines social communities and used Social Network Analysis to determine what is exchanged, communicated, and shared within a community. She also talks about different kinds of social capital, including networking, common ground, and reciprocity.

Our community has a strong network, and shares a high degree of common ground. Even though our individual nuclear families live relatively close to one another and get together face-to-face often, there has been an active CMC element for years. We have an email list where we share anything from interesting news stories, funny videos, vacation countdowns, and general updates. Most of us have Apple computers and use the built in video chat, and publish photos to our .mac accounts. We even use this awesome paint program that is integrated with the web to easily share our created images; I get regular doodles in my inbox from my younger cousins. The ties between all of us “actors,” as Haythornwaite would call us are strong since all of the “adults” have known each other for over twenty years and have shared both common goals and set-backs, and all of us children have been a part of this community for our entire lives.

Reciprocity is also plays a large role in our community and strengthens the relationship between us. Reciprocity can be defined in this context as when actors give help without return expectation, back and forth. There have been many times that a family member would come across an interesting engineering article, or see something advertised, and pass the information along to me. We are also on the lookout for interesting programs for one another; just the other day I forwarded a link to my mother and aunts (who love cooking), for an innovative program where you can store and share your recipes.

Etzioni and Etzioni (1999) found that communities that utilize both FtF and CMC aspects can form stronger bonds more effectively than communities that rely on one only. In my family community I believe this can not be truer. Before everyone got into computers and found useful internet resources, our community was not as close as I perceive it to be today. We share many more “inside” jokes, common stories, and learn more about each other from using both forms of communication than we did previously, due to online and offline synergies. I don’t feel like I am missing out on much even though I am now seeing much less of my family face to face than ever before, which I attribute to our community’s usage of CMC.

(The one program I mentioned in here is still in public beta www.plasq.com/skitch. It is an awesome program; check it out if you have a mac! I still have three invites left to give away if anyone wants them!)

A7.1: In the Moonshadow of a Giant

Each online community has a function, such forum communities meant for socializing or gaming communities that meet for a common activity, but Castle Moonshadow combines the purposes of both. A group of people from Canada and the United States created Castle Moonshadow on MSN Groups for the purpose of role-playing, role-playing in anything from medieval fantasy to tech-punk post apocalyptic worlds. My newfound friends and I created characters to live in each of these worlds, drawing from our background of Robert Heinlein and J. R. R. Tolkien, our Wheels of Time and Hitchhiker’s Guides. Castle Moonshadow was not only a community in it of itself, but a community created by a community.

Many of the core members from Toronto knew each other from school, and recognizing their coinciding interests, decided to form MS (Moonshadow) online. Slowly, the group drew others, others who loved to read and write, who didn’t necessarily have the advantage of nearby like-minded people and would jump at the opportunity to live out a world pieced together by the pens of others, others such as myself. Occasionally, we would also discuss ideas that we had or books that we read that would be excellent for a roleplay. Soon enough, everyone knew each other, either in person, in the MS discussion board, or in the role-playing chat.

Although it paid to work out the general gist prior to a roleplay with someone you knew, it was common for people to wing it and to have their characters act on and react to others. Attention was in short supply; one could only control their character so much. Thus, many of the veteran role players would greet newbies (in character, of course)…or fall on them, or attack them, and so on. In time, the newcomers would understand that they were expected to respond in kind, and interact with everyone else. Often times, I would be role-playing with someone I only knew of, but our characters would have a very engaging conversation with each other. This reciprocity became the norm, and eventually extended past the boundaries of the game.

As we became more and more familiar with each other, we began to talk to each other outside of MS. Sometimes, we would help each other with proofreading essays (a tremendous advantage when your editor is also a good writer) or suggest movies and books that we read recently. Another example of community reciprocity arose when one of the founders of MS became suicidally depressed. Her friends from Moonshadow and I often tried to keep her spirits up, offering help whenever we could. All of these characteristics, the interpersonal interactions, the common creative and literary background, the purpose of role-playing, and the reciprocity in and outside of role-playing are all indicative of community as described by Hawthornwaite. Sadly, in recent years, MS has been disbanded, but the community still remains between its members.

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Assignment 7:2 Brunswikian Model

This summer I traveled to Israel with forty other Cornell students. Naturally, I didn’t get to know everyone well because we were only there for ten days. For this assignment, I chose to analyze one girl from the trip. Using the Brunswikian Lens Model, I was able to deduce certain characteristics about her personality.

Walther’s Brunswikian Lens Model states that people emit clues about their personality when producing certain behaviors. Others can then judge these clues and make inferences about the individual’s character. The actual model consists of three parts: cue validity, cue utilization, and functional achievement. Cue validity refers to the accuracy of a particular behavioral clue reflecting on an individual’s personality. Cue utilization refers to how an observer will apply the behavioral clue. Since observers do not consider all the relevant cues when judging someone, they will select certain cues to analyze from the surrounding environment. Lastly, functional achievement is when both cue validity and cue utilization occur so that an observer correctly judges the individual being scrutinized.

In an online space such as facebook, the Brunswikian Model says people use the following four mechanisms to emit clues: self directed identity claims, other-directed identity claims, interior behavioral residue, and exterior behavioral residue. When analyzing Jane’s profile, she had several other-identity claims which are symbols that communicate to others how an individual wants to perceived.. She listed many interests from museums to secret handshakes to books intended for 12 year olds, which shows she is trying to assert her sense of humor, as well as her more mature side. Jane also has a map on her facebook to show how many countries she has traveled to, as well as the “happy hour” application which she probably included to be perceived as social. For self-directed identity claims, which are assertions made by the individual to reinforce how they see themselves, Jane included her relationship status with a current boyfriend. The majority of her identity claims were directed toward others.

Interior behavioral residue refers to the signs of her behavior that are evident within the space of facebook. Her high count of recent wall posts suggests that she is very social. As far as exterior behavioral residue, Jane has advertised in her status that she is attending a Maroon 5 concert. This is an exterior behavioral residue clue because it is occurring outside of the facebook environment.

Rating Jane on the big five personality traits seemed relatively easy. Because she had several recent wall posts and participated in the “happy hour” application I would classify her as highly extraverted. Judging her wall-to-wall interactions with others showed me that she is also quite agreeable, since she is pleasant and thorough in her responses. I would also rate her high in conscientiousness because she seemed to respond within the same day to all of her wall posts. Since she had several self-directed identity claims, I think that Jane is relatively open; however, she masks several information categories with humor such as being married to a friend. I don’t have enough information to rate her on neuroticism, but none of her “personality byproducts” led me to believe that she is at all neurotic.

Walther’s Brunswikian Model made it very easy to assess Jane’s personality from facebook. The identity claims and behavioral residues that she emitted made it easy for me to rate her on the Big Five personality factors.

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assignment 7: option 1

There are numerous communities present online, many of which are previously formed offline which expand its community in CMC. A community that I am apart of is the Alpha Xi Delta group on Facebook. Once Facebook started becoming really popular, AXD decided to make a group for our members to join with the hopes of expanding our network. I am affiliated with my chapter’s group as well as the national chapter’s group. “Actors”, according to Gemeinschaft, share a common purpose and focus and have strong interpersonal ties. To name a few, we have a common purpose and focus of being the best sister possible and contributing to society whether it’s raising money for a particular organization or volunteering our time to raise awareness about a certain cause. Another very important component is sharing a common language and identity. There are special songs, phrases, acronyms (for example TFJ), group events, and various other traditions which are only known by AXD sisters. And so, out group members are at a disadvantage. Members have strong interpersonal ties and CMC provides us with the opportunity to maintain, and sometimes even strengthen, those ties. For example, I recently transferred to Cornell and having an AXD Facebook group allows me to maintain strong ties with my close friends and stay updated with what’s new in their lives. However, with other girls whom I may not be so close with, those ties won’t be as strong as the frequency between us isn’t as significant.

In addition to the Gemeinschaft, SNA is used to examine how and what is exchanged and communicated between members in groups. “Who members talk to, to whom they give money, goods, and support to, and with whom do they attend social events” are all factors which is invested by SNA. Etzioni and Etzioni describe aspects of social network, common ground, and reciprocity to explain social capital. Similar to the Gemeinschaft, members share values, mores and meanings in addition to historical identity. Historical identity is something that plays a big part in uniting us members as one and solidifying us a sorority. Many traditions that are practiced and followed by any sorority, team groups, or what have you stem from the past and help to build and maintain uniqueness and exclusivity. Every single member is committed to the principles and ideals of the sorority, which is another characteristic described by Etzioni and Etzioni’s common ground. The social network component encompasses the web, relationships, and bonding. CMC allows existing friendships to develop and grow in addition to bonding and making new friendships. There are endless opportunities made available by online spaces and this is why it’s deemed to be another version of a “community”. Lastly, reciprocity among members is high as we are there to reinforce one another’s thoughts and actions.

CMC helps to with the development and growth of the AXD community. People are able to maintain friendships and stay connected across great distances. Also, other chapters are able to connect via Facebook groups to share ideas, stories, and just to embrace the sisterly bond.

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Assignment #1 High School Soccer

When most people look at online communities and social networks, they see them from the point of view of Gemeinschaft, or Gesellschaft. The Gemeinschaft, or “community,” is based on strong ties, shared focus, and common language. The Gesellschaft, or “society,” is comprised of those who live together but lack connection and have no shared purpose or concern. The community I would like to look at is an online high school soccer community which certainly falls into the Gemeinschaft description.

Caroline Haythornthwaite looks at the components of community and defines the members of the community as “actors” and the bonds they create as “ties. The “actors” in this network are past, current, and future soccer players but also numerous fans and other members of the community are part of the forum. According to SNA attributes, when actors exchange information, or advice etc, they have formed a relation which connects the actors. This connection between actors is called a tie. The ties between the members of captialregionsoccer.com are very weak. Weak ties are, “When little is shared and interaction is infrequent…Those with whom we have weaker ties tend to be different from us and operate in different social circles from us.” However, these ties can grow and become stronger as members of the community begin to gain more understanding and common ground.

When I came to Cornell last year, I was extremely excited to be moving on to a different part of my life; however, at the same time, I was a little reluctant to leave my hometown. I had a great time in high school, and I was a big fan of high school sports. Cornell was slightly unsettling to me because I was afraid that I would lose touch with my high school soccer team. Luckily, I found a community that allowed me to keep in contact with my team and all of the other teams in my area. www.captialregionsoccer.com is a forum where people from the capital district of New York gather to talk about high school soccer.

The community ties within the forum are maintained by members of the group, who all happen to share the common love for high school soccer. This common ground is essential for the community to thrive as people in the forums understand that posts should be mainly about games and feelings about different teams, and other side chatter should be kept to a minimum. Furthermore, more involved members in the forums take the role of moderator, assuring that all posts are acceptable to post. Since there is discussion about high school students, inappropriate posts are not tolerable and if there were allowed to be posted, would destroy the community fairly quickly. Finally, a culture of reciprocity exists as members of the community reinforce each others actions in responding to posts and using the same language throughout posts.

The capital region soccer community has strong bonds. This doesn’t come to much surprise looking at Etzioni and Etzioni who suggests that “communities that combine both f2f and CMC systems would be able to bond better and share values more effectively than communities that rely upon only one or the other mode of communication.” The synergies between the online, and the offline community, intersect in the forums and create an even stronger sense of community. People who meet and watch games f2f create bonds with each other, and bring these ties back to the forums where those with weaker ties communicate and build stronger bonds off of those first hand experiences with the game. This cycle continues endlessly in the forum building up the ties between members making them stronger. This is an interesting point to notice because it shows weak ties, as mentioned earlier, interacting with stronger ones, and becoming more involved in the community, building stronger ties. Haythornthwaite doesn’t really discuss this phenomenon, but it seems to follow almost a hyper personal model in which there is an intensification cycle of strengthening ties.

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7.2 - AIM Profiles

One of the most popular modern time-wasting methods for college students, other than Facebook of course, is AIM away message and profile checking. I decided to analyze a friend's profile through the Brunswikian Lens Model in order to classify the way that he presented himself.

The first thing in my friend's profile is his address at school. This classifies as an other-directed identity claim because not only does it tell people what school he attends but also where to send him mail. It could also be considered an exterior behavioral residue because my friend's school address reflects an offline aspect of his life. Next, he has the lyrics to a popular song. I personally don't know the exact meaning of the song, but I suspect that based on the lyrics they are an inside joke with some of his friends from high school. This would be a self directed identity claim because it says something about his experiences, but it isn't intended for people like myself who are unfamiliar with the joke. The song lyrics are light-hearted and humorous, which suggests that my friend is an agreeable person, even without knowing exactly why he included them in his profile.

My friend’s profile also includes a list of “Things I Like:” which is an other directed identity claim. This list would lead the casual observer to view my friend as conscientious, but also fairly neurotic. This list is an other directed identity claim because it tells others something about my friend’s personality traits. My friend also copied an IM conversation between himself and another one of our friends into his profile. This is an example of interior behavioral residue because it is a conversation generated inside the medium of instant messenger and the log of the conversation has been copied over to illustrate something funny one of our friends once said. The conversation from my friends profile is an Animal House style quote about college, and might lead the casual observer of his profile to; combined with his school address, stereotype him as a wild partying college student.

Much like Facebook, people use their AIM profile for everything from inside jokes to listing information about them that hints at their offline personality. The difference with AIM is that most people who are looking at your profile already know you, so inside jokes may be more appropriate in your AIM profile than on Facebook. This lends itself to more self directed identity claims than Facebook which lends itself to more other directed identity claims.

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Assignm∑nt #7, Option 1: GR∑∑K Life

With our Greek letters plastered across all of our clothing, our infamous fraternity and sorority events, and our constant advertising and quartering for various philanthropic activities and parties, it is not hard to notice the Greek community at Cornell. Although it is not quite as stereotypical, extreme, or cult-like as ABC Family’s newest hit show, Greek (see: http://abcfamily.go.com/abcfamily/path/section_Shows+Greek/page_Detail), makes it out to be, Cornell’s Greek community is most definitely one of the strongest on campus.

According to Tonnies’ (1887[1955]) Gemeinschaft idea, a community is a collective based on strong interpersonal ties, a shared focus, common purpose, language, and identity, and the Greek community here at Cornell is just that. We have extremely strong interpersonal ties, and due to our language, identities, and purpose for joining whatever Greek organization we are in, share a positive, utopic bond that links us together.

According to the social network analysis, all members of a community are actors who are connected, linked, or tied by the maintenance of one or more relations. Actors are generally the people of the network (although they do not always have to be people), and in the Greek community, the actors are those brothers and sisters who are in any of the 68 houses on campus. Relations connect actors, and this connection may be based on the exchange of intangibles, such as information, social support, or advice, or tangibles, such as money, goods, and services. Relations in the Greek community are made up of both intangible and tangible connections, as the underlying theme of the Greek community is helping each other and the larger community out when possible. It is not uncommon for chapters to support other chapters in various social or philanthropic events or to offer their services through donations, volunteerism, or social support when need be.

Like in all communities, ties in the Greek community can be strong or weak. A tie is strong when actors maintain many relations, particularly when those relations include social and emotional support and intimacy or self-disclosure. Strong ties in the Greek community are those people or chapters that we interact with on somewhat daily basis; they are usually the people who share common ground. While most common ground in the Greek community is based on a shared social scene, it too includes shared values, morals, meanings, interests, or a shared historical identification.

A tie is weak when little is shared and interaction is infrequent. Weak ties are maintained with people who we describe as acquaintances, or someone we know from work. Those with whom we have weaker ties tend to be different from us and operate in different social circles from us, yet these weak ties do have an enormous strength. Since they operate in different social circles, the strength of weak ties is that they have access to different information. Those chapters of the Greek community that we have weak ties with are beneficial in the fact they can provide new and different information and resources to us, and we in return can provide chapters with similar types of information. This is the idea of reciprocity in a network; members may give help to one person in a community or a network, and the return does not only have to be to that person, but to others as well. This type of reciprocity is important for initiating and sustaining the overall Greek community.

CMC most definitely affects the Greek community at Cornell, and it does so in a variety of ways. To begin with, every single Greek organization on this campus has a publicly visible Facebook group devoted to it, and the members too usually have it in their profile somewhere. This allows people to identify people as being Greek or not Greek, and it additionally helps strengthen the Greek community. Furthermore, the use of Greek houses’ listerves too affects this community, as it makes it extremely easy to pass along information from one house to the next.

According to Etzioni and Etzioni (1999), because the Greek community interacts via multiple modes, it is likely to have the best community outcome. Since us Greeks interact both over CMC systems and in face-to-face situations, we are able to bond better and share values more effectively than communities that rely upon on one or the other mode of communication. Because we not only interact daily in face-to-face settings, but additionally over Facebook and emails, the Greek community at Cornell is one of the strongest on campus.

I encourage anyone who is interested in becoming a member of the Greek community to check it out. It is a truly amazing and once in a lifetime experience that everyone should take part in. Information on joining this community can be found by visiting the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, or by checking out http://www.dos.cornell.edu/fsa/.

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Assignment 7, Option 1

As many of you can probably relate, my inbox is constantly flooded with e-mail messages, most of which are not directed exclusively at me. Instead, the majority of the e-mail messages I receive are sent to hundreds, if not thousands of individuals, all of whom are listed on what is known as a list serve. I probably belong to about 20 list serves, some of which I joined voluntarily, but most of which I simply got placed on for a variety of reasons. Regardless of my level of interest for each group, however, each list serve that I belong to is representative of a community.

One community that I belong to is my sorority. Due to our e-mail list serve, any member of the sorority can send an e-mail to every member of the house. According to Social Networking Analysis, the sorority list serve produces social capital, enabling all members of the house access to the same information.

One aspect that contributes to the production of social capital is the social network that is created. When an e-mail is sent through the list serve, the sender takes the role of the “actor”, establishing ties between me and the 100 other members of the community. With each e-mail I receive, ties are made between my own egocentric network, and the various other actors on the list serve. While all members of the list serve can be considered to be strong ties due to our frequent contact with each other, often times weak ties are established as well. Members of the list serve will often times forward messages they received from individuals in their own separate social networks and forward them to the list serve. In such an instance, my egocentric network establishes weak ties with a unique source, or someone I do not otherwise have frequent contact with. I often find such weak ties beneficial for they expose me to individuals I would not encounter within my own strong social network.

Additionally, the sorority list serve exemplifies the common ground principle, in that it fosters “commitment to shared values, mores meanings, and a shared historical identification” (Haythornwaite, 2007). Everyone on the sorority list serve is on it for the same reason, due to the fact that all 100 individuals chose to join the sorority in order to establish a shared identity. Common ground feeds into the social capital of the network in that all of the members of the list serve require similar knowledge. Everyone similarly benefits from the knowledge distributed to the list serve, which is often in regards to weekly chapter meetings, social and philanthropic events.

Lastly, the concept of reciprocity is seen through the list serve in that “affective-laden relationships” are established. While the president may iterate general messages through the list serve, various other individuals reciprocate and add further information that needs to be addressed. For example, the philanthropy chair will organize a certain event in correlation with the budget that was allotted and voiced by the finance chair. Relationships therefore built off of what was said by other actors in the network.

There is no doubt that CMC facilitates the inner workings of the sorority. While it is clear that such communities were able to survive before the use of computers, it can be assumed that some communities have since become more efficient through the use of CMC, such as a list serve. There is an evident online/offline synergy between the real-life FtF interaction of the sorority and the CMC that occurs through the list serve. The amount of information that needs to be provided to the entire community would be impossible to condense into our once-a-week chapter meetings. The list serve allows members of the sorority to elaborate on, or respond to what was mentioned at the meeting. While the list serve will never be able to replace chapter meetings it in no doubt enhances the networking abilities that the network strives to achieve.

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Wicky-Scratch-Wicky-Brunswikian Lens!

Besides sounding awesome, is there anything to this whole Brunswikian Lens Model? No.
Wait... Yes! This model offers an insightful look into how individuals infer the characteristics of others via environmental cues (Walther 2007). Essentially, this means that people leave a "behavioral footprint" that reflects their personality to those that correct the right cues. If a cue accurately reflects a person's uncers were being so picky :-p.” This claim has shared meaning that suggests that some sort of prestige was required to get into the party (i.e. s/he is also of elite standing). But the reason this is other directed is because the individual expresses this elitism even though posting on someone else’s wall as an expression of relief/complementation.

I then examined this person’s “behavioral residues.” I suddenly feel like some socio-chemist searching for the grimy slug-trails left by hapless Facebookians. No. I am a scholar with honorable intentions. Interior behavioral residue would be unintentional evidence of behaviors (past or future) that would linger in the Facebook context. While digging up long-forgotten freshman-era Facebook groups is one clear way to examine this, I decided that a more unintentional display of interior behavior would be available in the Newsfeed. And so it was! It turns out that s/he recently friended several of the members of a Facebook group trying to save grey wolves (someone’s got to do it!). This residue is left in the wake of the individual’s behaviors for observers to use as cues about the profiler. Additionally, I dug up some exterior behavioral residues by examining both wall posts and photos posted by friends. These cues give me an idea of what his/her behaviors are like outside of the Facebook environment. Apparently they involve lots of leather and tomatoes…

Anyways. These four mechanisms enabled me to form an impression of my subject along the five factor scale of neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, extraversion and conscientiousness. Neuroticism was hard for me to judge, but the wolf saving group certainly hinted at large amount of conscientiousness. Additionally, their rather cryptic lists of interests led me to feel that they were not very open, but their large number of Facebook friends made me think that this person was probably rather extraverted. And finally, a few wall post interactions allowed me to guage that this person would rather argue until they died from lack of conflict than admit to being wrong. Not so agreeable. But whether or not I’ve utilized the cues with the most validity is the true argument!

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online community

Unfortunately the community I belong to, is one that 99.9% of all other college students belong to, so I apologize for my lack of originality. Facebook.com (as if anyone doesn’t know the site..) happens to provide an excellent example of a social network. It’s tag line epitomizes the definition of social networking. “Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you.” It is a web of “friends,” based on varying degrees of intimacy. Facebook actually allows users to explicity identify weak ties vs. strong ties, when they ask “how do you know this person?” One can click a variety of different responses, ranging from “__ is my brother” to an all together open-ended response to be filled in by the user.
Strong ties can be identified as those people with whom you have frequent contact, similar interests, and accesses to the same resources and information. These people are visible on a facebook profile as those who, comment on your wall most often, post inside jokes, and supply many of your pictures “added by others.” Weak ties are also easy to spot on facebook. These ties can be defined as those with whom you have rare contact. These users may connect you to unique resources, and may lead you to a plethora of jobs offerings, as opposed to those who you share strong ties with. Weak ties on facebook can be seen as those who have friended you, but you have never met in real life, or those who post infrequently to try and maintain a superficial relationship.
Facebook employs the other main characteristics of a social network as well. Those who make up your friend-base share a certain common ground with you. There is a certain level of commitment that accompanies a “friendship” on facebook. “Friends” share varying levels of similar values, understandings, and historical identities. Growing up in the same era that exemplifies the prominence of social networking, enables users to essentially share and identify with the same culture.
Addtionally, The quality of reciprocity is a key element of facebook, and probably responsible for why some users may check their profile upwards of 3-5 times a day. Other “friends,” and users have an affect on the relationships you may forge, and the portrayal of your profile. Everyone can identify with the albeit embarrassing, but ever-present excitement of seeing one or more new “notifications,” and the disappointment of a lack there-of. The comments your friends make on your pictures and walls, and the photos they tag of you help reinforce your relationship with one another, and your relationship with facebook itself. It is my prediction that with out any friends on this network, one would get bored of it, and not feel a need to ever use it. It is the bonding and reinforcing of ties that enables the popularity of this network.
Facebook as a social network, literally “connecting you (and keeping you connected) with the people around you” employs the basic principles of common ground and reciprocity to maintain its success and popularity as a functional social network. One of the benefits of being a user on this network, is the availability of increased social capital. The effects of network access include the facilitation of information flow, including job opportunities, the exertion of influence on other users, and the availability of social credentials.
Fundamentally, facebook appears on the surface as a superficial tool to aid in procrastination, but it is a complex social network, offering more than meets the eye.

Blog Assignment 7: Social Network Analysis

Social Network Analysis is utilized in Haythornwaite's 2007 paper as a tool for studying the exchanges and interactions of communities. According to SNA, these communities can be classified as comprising nodes and ties: nodes stand in for people and groups, and ties connect different notes of people.

A good example of a community to be analyzed in in terms of SNA is the same one I used in my last blog, the message board community of Pojo.com, of which I served as a moderator for several years. This message board has tens of thousands of members, and while not all of them are active, there are still thousands that are, making it a pretty massive community. As a result, there could be many things to classify as nodes: since the board focuses on gaming but is not exclusive to any one game, various nodes could be the different users who frequent the boards for different games. These nodes could contain anywhere from a dozen or so people for the smaller games to well into the thousands for the more popular ones.

And to be sure, there were plenty of people who frequented the boards for more than one game; these served as ties, which allowed for the bridging of gaps between the games. This in addition to several areas of the board set aside for general talk and other topics allowed for the development of a cohesive identity for all users of the board as people who went to Pojo.com, despite its size. Also to be taken into consideration should be the fact that with thousands of users playing the same game, firmer common ground obviously emerged within those nodes than within the community as a whole; but the fact that the users, united by the fact that they all at least played some game for which boards existed on Pojo and chose to use Pojo's boards instead of its rivals was, at least, common ground that was strong enough. Indeed, a strong tie among some of the older members existed between the ones who had been active on the boards throughout its previous incarnations and older versions.

Obviously this is a community that came to exist through CMC and is thus very strongly affected by it, but individual nodes often come to be because various groups of people united on certain 'teams' (groups of people who played to win prizes in big tournaments together, even though they were mostly individual games) or by geographical closeness - through FtF interactions, one person would join and then tell his friends, who would join, and so forth. So on a smaller level, CMC and the community in general served as a tool to strengthen the ties between local nodes of people.

And conversely, the community has also led to many FtF meetings for people who otherwise never would have encountered one another. People post messages looking for rides to various tournaments; the site becomes a resource for locating other site members with whom to meet up at large, FtF events. I personally have met many people who recognized me from my role as a moderator on the message boards, just because the board was such a massive community that it had members everywhere, including the places I would go locally.

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7-1: Who's who on Bauer 2?

One of my biggest social networks here at Cornell is my dorm. I live in Bauer Hall (part of the Court Resort) on the second floor. Within the first week of school, I felt a very close bond with about half of the floor. Over the past few months, I have slowly developed bonds with every single person on Bauer 2. We do everything together: eat, go to class, do homework, go out on weekends, workout, and so much more. The people on my floor are my closest friends, my tightest network, and my strongest ties here at Cornell.




In the Bauer 2 network, there are both strong ties and weak ties. The people who live in my suite and the suite next to mine are my strongest ties. I have weaker ties with the people around the corner at the end of the hall. The strong ties that I have here show all of the features of a strong link: we have frequent contact, our network is dense, we have similar likes and dislikes (homophily), and we have access to the same resources and information.

Within this community, there is a lot of social capital. Besides the social network of ties, bonding, and relationships, there is also common ground and reciprocity between the actors in the network. For common ground, like in the Etzioni & Etzioni (1999) excerpt we looked at in class, the members of my community share the same commitment to our common values, mores, and social norms. The fact that we live in such close proximity and share common interests also goes back to Wallace’s (1999) attraction factors of proximity and common ground. Because we have these attraction factors, our bonds have grown, strengthening our ties within our network. The density of these ties and the strong bonds between the actors definitely contribute to reciprocity within Bauer 2.

This community isn’t so much affected by CMC as it is supplemented by it. For example, if I need to contact any of the people in the community, I can usually just walk down the hall. We do use Facebook if we want to give each other a message or inform them of something and the person is busy/asleep/at class. Most of our communication is face-to-face. However, if I’m leaving class and want to meet up with these friends for lunch, I can send out a bulk text message. Going back to the Media Richness Theory, this lean media is optimal because it is an unequivocal message. There are also several online spaces for our community, most of which are Facebook groups. First is the general “Court-Kay-Bauer: 2007-2008” group for the whole CKB community. More specific is “Bauer Hall: 07-08” which is just for people in Bauer hall. Finally is the group “Who’s who on Bauer 2,” a group just for the people in the community of people on 2nd floor Bauer. The people in my community use these groups, facebook messages, walls, and many, many text messages to keep in contact throughout the entire day!

Assignment 7- Option 1 PRIDE

A social network that I belong to is Facebook. A staple for many college students, Facebook has revolutionized the way strangers can meet, interact, and understand each other in a short amount of time. Within Facebook, I belong to a variety of groups, one entitled PRIDE, which is the team name of my camp’s Staff Softball Team. This online community consists of approximately fifteen people and it is a tightly knit group where everybody knows each other. This is unique compared to most, because many groups are global and can contain people who are unfamiliar with each other.

According to SNA or Social Network Analysis, this group contains a unique network structure; there are fifteen actors and ties which link all of the actors together. The overarching tie is the softball team itself, but within the team there are other ties (connections) such as position on the field, how many years each person knows each other, how many years we have been at camp, and other familiarities. During the summer (the season which camp takes place), the ties are strongest. Ties can be strong or weak due to the frequency of contact with each person. The more contact and familiarity with a specific actor, the greater the tie. One important aspect of SNA that is found within this online community is Social Capital. For this group, social capital provides information to and from members of the group, influences other groups, and builds a reputation which stimulations group growth and notoriety among other people. Those whom are the out-group and not a part of PRIDE, lack this social capital because they are not a part of the group, they do not understand its customs/traditions. These people lack ties with people who are a part of this unique social network.

Other ways that this group is unique is due to the common ground that each member shares. We all understand what pride means to the team; it is not just a word, it is a way of acting and carrying ourselves. We know what it means to wear the word pride across our chest in the navy and gold lettering; this is just one tie that brings us all together. Moreover, we share common ground on the surface level by being on the same team, wearing the same uniforms, going to the same camp, and holding similar values of sportsmanship, leadership, and a love for winning. The fact that we as a group all agree on similar values, and carry ourselves in similar manners means that our social network and ties are reciprocal. A group such as this on Facebook confirms our common ground and social capital as we have agreed to be a part of the group that is viewable to others.

I feel as though this group of people is so close online because we have such a strong relationship face-to-face (initially and predominately Gemeinschaft). Yet, having other people recognize how close we are (by having a group online and having to request to be in the group) in CMC, means that we are close in another medium. This group on Facebook allows others to see our closeness, the ties we have, and other want to be in the group because of this. Pictures displaying our four consecutive championship titles, jerseys, and personal connections between each individual on PRIDE are synergies and ties which will be strong within us forever. Again, CMC allows for us to communicate as a group in a different way, which only enhances our common ground and closeness as a group in another medium.

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