[Air-l] Thank you to Aoir-ers/Internet, Japan, Sociability

[Mito Akiyoshi]

Hi everybody,

I am writing this to say thank you once again to those who responded my inquir
y on this list. Your suggestions were much appreciated. 
I just submitted my dissertation (abstract below).

Feel free to email me offlist if you are interested in my research.

I will join the faculty of Senshu University (Tokyo) in April, 2004.
If you have questions about the Internet/ICT in Japan or Japanese 
society in general, contact me. I have to confess I know very little, 
but I would be happy to share thoughs and ideas.

Thank you,
 
Mito Akiyoshi
Graduating...Dept. of Sociology, the University of Chicago
Joiniing...Dept. of Humanities, Senshu University

Unmediating Community: The Non-Diffusion of the Internet in Japan, 1985-2002

Theory: Existing sociological research on communication technology tends to de
-sensationalize its object of study in an effort to disclaim technological det
erministic accounts of its impact on community. Daniel Boorstin has argued, “
the telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more casually
 and with less effort what they had already been doing before” (Boorstin 1973
:72-3).  Similarly, Claude Fischer finds that “Americans apparently used home
 telephones to widen and deepen existing social patterns rather than to alter 
them” (Fischer 1992:262). Such an emphasis on the conservative rather than re
volutionary development of new technology is a sound and valuable approach tow
ard rigorous analysis of social implications of communication technology. 

It is crucial, at the same time, to attend to the emergence of genuinely new t
ypes of interaction and the re-prioritizing of existing relationships. Cultura
l codes that govern communicative practices do more than just naturalize and l
egitimate a new medium.  They are also employed for experimental modes of comm
unity building. The Internet is used both to maintain existing social ties and
 cultivate new forms of associations and community that would be otherwise imp
ossible. 
 
Hypotheses:  As a case in point, uses of the Internet in Japan are explored.  
The case of the Internet in Japan is an excellent example of community experim
ents with a new communication technology constrained as well as enabled by tra
ditional norms and values. I expect that the relative invisibility of the Inte
rnet in Japan is explained, not by the absence of the interest in the technolo
gy among the general public or by blind allegiance to traditional practices of
 communication, but by availability of alternative technology and by the very 
selective deployment of communicative possibilities offered by the Internet.  
   

Methods: A history of how the Internet gained acceptance in Japan. Statistical
 analysis of Internet user surveys. An ethnography of a virtual community.  

Results: When the Internet is used for a substitute for other communication me
dia, concern toward traditional norms influences the manner in which the Japan
ese make use of the Internet. The relatively well-defined system of values and
 norms, however, does not discourage them from trying out new ways of socializ
ing.