Enter World: exploring mediated cultures

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Citizen Research

Taking a good idea and transferring it to another domain, Ed Boyden suggested in his Technology Review Blog that the increasing interaction available to the public with media could carry across to science. Participatory science. I love the concept of engaging communities in research that is relevant to their lives and letting them frame the questions, assist in research, and interpret the answers in a hands on manner. It is such a simple concept with enormous potential. 

Monday, July 28, 2008

Distraction and Information Overload

Stoooopid .... why the Google generation isn’t as smart as it thinks is another look at how media technology and social networking can sliver our thoughts. What most writers fail to note when lamenting the use of the Internet is that choices are involved. Brushing off Google, Microsoft, IMB, and Intel as “the companies most active in denying us our craving for depth, the great distracters” is an easy way to blame others for what one chooses to do with the access.

While skimming many things on the Internet is an option, it is also possible to become immersed in a good book or long article using the same medium. Check out the Top 100 Books being downloaded at Project Gutenberg, or read the close to 2,000-word article I’m discussing here.

In addition, it’s necessary to distinguish between multitasking and interruption. I would argue they are not the same thing. Advertisements, train announcements, the neighbor’s blaring radio ... these are not a part of multitasking. Our attention is not being intentionally split between this and another project, it is being distracted by uninvited or unexpected information. Multitasking could mean copying the information being researched into an email for a friend, while creating a post about it and keeping the database searches running for more information. There is a huge difference in the level of concentration being given to the deep thoughts about a project when it is being interpreted for various outlets versus pulling out of those deep thoughts to address something else.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Thoughts on Redefining Media

The message has transcended media. The medium is no longer the massage. McLuhan’s insight was visionary and accurate for a time. Now the same message can reach multitudes simultaneously through multiple media formats. Messages are no longer shaped for one medium upon which they travel. Media are redefining media.

Monday, July 14, 2008

dissertation progress

I finally have my pre-proposal written. Over the past year I have changed my emphasis from DIY media and attitude changes regarding mass media, to community and efficacy in media production groups, to social cohesion in online relational communities. They all have something in common, despite the different terminology. Namely they all deal with groups of people making things who are connected not by place, but by interest. In addition, they do not meet in person but choose to connect through mediated networks (at least initially ... some research has shown that relationships that form online and become strong lead to in person relationships--see McKenna et al, 2002, below).

My interest in all of these topics, including the one I’ll finally move forward with, ties into the “Risk of Loss: A Series of Folly” tag in this journal. Increasingly individuals are interacting with people and activities through media-enabled access rather than within their local communities, bringing up questions about whether the differing forms of community engagement are comparable. There is a lot of fear surrounding the transition from face-to-face communities to networked individualism.

Will neighborhoods decline if people interact online instead of locally? I’d guess no, since the level of neighborhood interaction has steadily declined with urbanization and is not the result solely of increasing participatory communities connected through media. In addition, some studies showed that interacting with people in your neighborhood through the Internet increased local activity as well--see Wellman, 2001, below for more details.

Will people lose touch with family and friends because they are addicted to the Internet? In answer to the first part: The Internet is used more to connect people with existing relationships than to create new ones. Family and friends that are already moving about the world are able to keep in touch, so it’s quite the opposite. In response to Internet addiction, I’ll have to refer you to Stuart Fischoff‘s blog. He recently covered Internet addiction rather thoroughly and well.

Is democracy at risk ... or is it in a position to flourish? There are opinions on both sides of this question. Internet as liberator and equalizer versus internet as a diversion and division that keeps people from interacting with civic events. If I had to guess, I’d stick to the middle ground. The internet is after all a tool, and how people use it depends upon their goals, personalities, existing influences ... I can’t believe that the internet alone would either make or break a government system. But then there are those Twittering politicians, who knows what waves they will cause!

But in my research, I’m not suggesting that online communities are a replacement for geographic communities. Instead I see them as an important available option for locating and interacting with like-minded groups. Group members incorporate the elements of identity formed in online groups with their offline self-concept, and this can be especially important when comparable interest groups are not available in the local community. Teams that form around massive multiplayer online role-playing games, interest groups connecting through email lists and forums, or participants in online independent media centers are examples of communities created by mediated connections rather than geography. The social nature of these groups, similar interests and values among members, and drive to meet project goals suggest that members will experience similar connections within these groups as those formed in physical spaces.

Psychological benefits of community have been shown to play a positive role in the lives of individuals, if social cohesion is present in online communities it could be theorized that similar feelings of collective efficacy, individual efficacy, and being a part of the community experience also would be present. This could specifically benefit individuals who live in neighborhoods that lack the elements of social cohesion. If online communities can provide an equivalent link to a community based on values and goals, people in communities with low social capital may be able to overcome some of the challenges presented by their neighborhoods with social support from an online community.

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McKenna, Katelyn Y. A., Green, Amie S., & Gleason, Marci E. J. (2002). Relationship formation on the Internet: What’s the big attraction? Journal of Social Issues, 58(1), 9-31. Retrieved July 8, 2008, from Wiley Interscience.

Wellman, Barry. (2001). Physical place and cyberplace: The rise of personalized networking. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 25(2), 227-252.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Media & The Community Story

The stories with which we define our lives come in large part from communication with others. At the local level that may mean through face-to-face interaction, talking on the phone, or sending an email. At the community level it may even come in the form of a neighborhood newsletter. However, there are other levels of these stories being spread by regional, national, and international media as well. The stories told about our communities that we do not experience firsthand still add to the overall beliefs about that community. Braddock is a prime example.

People in Pittsburgh are constantly asking us why we moved here, with fear or disgust in their voices. They tell us the streets aren’t safe and warn us not to walk past any recessed doorways after dark. To be sure, Braddock has had its share of violence that we’ve heard of—community history. But we have not seen any firsthand nor ever felt threatened. On the contrary our neighbors are extremely friendly, offering to help us paint and telling us how they chased off kids who were breaking the windows when the house was empty. The people at the post office are so friendly, they may even have the Douglas post office beat. On the other end, our neighborhood also has its share of crackheads. At least they ask for work rather than breaking my car window like the meth addicts in Juneau.

But the people who live here now and who are friendly are only one side of the community that we have found in Braddock. We are also members of a group Ryan likened to ex-pats in Europe. People who have moved here to do something who may not have ever met one another in any other situation, but group together because of this shared experience.

Neither of these communities we experience firsthand on a daily basis have their stories told in the regional news. When we read Google alerts and topix.com news related to Braddock it is almost always about a shooting, fire, or slaying. They aren’t even all in Braddock. They are on Braddock Avenue, which runs throughout the city, or in North Braddock. But the impression this leaves on the Pittsburghers who read this news on a daily basis is that Braddock is filled with violence.

Not once in these news feeds have I seen an article about the 70 local youth who are employed on the urban farm this summer. No coverage of how they are building raised gardens around local homes and teaching the residents to grow their own vegetables. There isn’t coverage of the heavy Americorp volunteer presence in the community and the miriad activities they are enabling. There are no articles on the rehabilitation of numerous buildings throughout the city. So many people here are fixing up buildings that I can’t go to Lowe’s without running into someone I know, and I’m there almost every day.

This discrepancy is causing a divide between the story we tell about our community and the one others in the region believe about it.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Community Funded Reporting

The potential of social networking for news, through community or independent journalism, is vast. However, there will be a gap in in-depth investigative reporting if professional organizations with funding no longer dig deeper into stories. This isn’t to say that the mass media are fulfilling this entirely. I’m skeptical of the news industry in its current form. The same wire stories are plopped into every local paper, the papers reprint articles from other papers and quote one another.

I miss the imagined days of real reporting: muckraking and breaking huge cover ups. Maybe it really happened the way I imagine it, but it certainly doesn’t happen enough now. There are some magazines out there willing to spend the money to investigate a topic over a long period of time to get to the guts, but that’s happening less and less. Despite the drawbacks of the mass media, the public taking control doesn’t yet offer a full alternative. There is only so much we can tell one another through word of mouth and without taking time out of our lives to get first-hand information. Certain individuals, or groups, will need to become amateur reporters and spend significant amounts of time and energy covering the news.

One thing that gives me hope for the future of community journalism is the development of spot.us—a 2008 winner of the Knight News Challenge. Spot.us is a news version of the UK trend to publicly fund musicians so they can make their own albums, like sellaband.com. It’s a way for a reporter to bring an idea to the public and let them decide if it’s worth covering. The articles that get funded get written, edited, and distributed.

A community-focused social network like this fills the void and levels the playing field. Amateurs and professional journalists alike will be able to apply for funding, and we the people will be able to choose what gets investigated in our communities. We Media, most definitely.