[Air-L] All that Twitters is not Gold

[Matthew Allen]

Hi Ehon

Thanks for posing some useful questions (and yes, even in Western Australia we follow the curse of media commentary on the internet).

Can I suggest that you (and scholars more generally) might usefully do two things to refine our discussions.

First, I think we should distinguish between social media and social networking. They are related but, clearly, I can engage quite deeply with social media forms without engaging in social networking and vice versa. I think the research question we ought to be asking is "what is the relationship between the production, consumption and circulation of media through socially oriented online services and the processes by which people form, exploit, manage and break social network relations?"

Second, I think we should continue to consider the difference between communities and networks: these are multiply intertwined but, again, are not quite the same thing. Virtual communities have been around (both as constructs, objects and as a concept) for 30 years now. Social networks are like communities, perhaps part of communities, and social networking sustains communities and interlinks them. But, a community is not a network; moreover, what online social networking has done is take the emphasis off the 'virtual' (as a dichotomous term opposed to 'real'). Virtual interaction now layers on top of and weaves through interactions in the physical world to the point where they are almost part of each other.

In terms of information, why not look at some of the research being done in the UK - Rebecca Eynon, Sonia Livingstone, Chris Jones - on young people and new social media technologies? And, always worth a look is Henry Jenkins and his crusade/campaign on digital media literacy.

Associate Professor Matthew Allen
Head, Department of Internet Studies
School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts
Curtin University of Technology
CRICOS provider code: 00301J (WA); 02637B (NSW)
+61892663511 http://netstudies.curtin.edu.au and http://netcrit.net
2008 ALTC Teaching Fellow
Life Member, Association of Internet Researchers
 


-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Ehon Chan
Sent: Monday, 19 July 2010 9:45 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: [Air-L] All that Twitters is not Gold

Hi guys,

I am speaking at an event this week and I thought I'd try to get some
different perspectives, thoughts and ideas from others on the issue.

The whole topic is on social media and how it has changed the way humans
interact, so if anyone has any great articles, research or has any thoughts
on the following questions, it would be great to hear from you guys.

It's a pretty big issue in Australia at the moment as the government is
proposing to implement internet filtering in Australia, a recent article
says that kids who are on social media like Twitter and Facebook are
"becoming dumber" and there are a lot of skeptics all around.

The questions I've been thinking about and have been asked to talk about:
- What are the implications for social inclusion and cross generational
communication?
- Has social networking changed campaigns and causes (would love case
studies and examples like Iran election?)
- Will virtual communities replace physical ones or do new technologies
increase our opportunities to connect and participate?
- Are they available to everyone?

I would love case studies and examples if possible - or even just some
braindump so I can search them up.

Thanks all!

Cheers,
Ehon



Ehon Chan
t: +61 433 510 005 | w: www.ehonchan.com | Skype: ehon.chan | twitter: @ehon

Director of Research | Youth, Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation
Brisbane (YES Brisbane) www.yesbrisbane.com.au
Research Officer | Teaching and Educational Development Institute
www.tedi.uq.edu.au
Academic Support | School of Education, University of Queensland
www.uq.edu.au/education
Author | Digital For Good www.twitter.com/digitalforgood
Youth Ambassador | Inspire Foundation www.inspire.org.au
Researcher | Project Australia www.projectaustralia.org.au
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