[Air-L] Studying online community

[Annamari Martinviita]

Hello everyone,

I'm just getting started on my PhD studies, unfunded as yet, regarding 
new social technologies and online communities and would really 
appreciate any hints, tips and advice members of this list may have on 
good information sources, relevant publications, events and so on.

Broadly speaking, I'm interested in how communities extend from the 
online to the offline and vice versa, how participation in online 
communities becomes part of every-day life, how the lines between 
offline and online communication and relationship building are blurred 
as access to online social tools becomes ubiquitous. More specifically, 
I am looking at how new social technologies affect local communities and 
what developers should take into consideration while creating new tools 
with a view of fostering online community. I hope to come up with 
results that offer an insight into how the concept of community is 
changing for members of a hyper-connected society, and the implications 
of that change for local communities. My research approach is ethnographic.

It would be great to hear from others with similar interests, and also 
perhaps to discover fellow "sufferers" at similar stages of their 
academic careers, for a bit of mutual support and encouragement. :) Of 
course, any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Best regards,

Annamari Martinviita
PhD student
University of Oulu, Finland
martinvi at mail.student.oulu.fi