7.1 – Don’t act like I never told ya

One of the communities that I am a part of is fan site for Kanye West. The site consists of a news queue of the latest news involving Kanye and exclusive video and audio from our favorite artist. There is also a discussion board where all of Kanye’s fans can post there feeling on the topics of the day (even the non-Kanye related ones). When one looks at the site in terms of the SNA attributes it is clear that it is a community. The message board is the main feature that displays this. When someone starts a discussion thread, members respond in a specific way to the beginning topic. In this way, a relation is started between members. This discourse between members in the presence of other members is the type of individual to individual involvement that defines the community in the SNA.

The members of the Kanye fan site share common ground. Everyone on the site who posts on the message board knows the distinction between popular rap and hip hop. Whenever anyone posts on the message board praising an artist who does not make hip hop, he/she is publicly denounced by other members on the board. The members’ knowledge of music creates a unique culture for the community. In this specific community, pop cultural icons are rejected for the icons that the members together choose to praise.

There is also a process of reciprocity in the site. Many of the threads on the message board entail one person starting a topic that agrees with the values of the site, which is then reaffirmed by various members of the site. In this way, members uphold and reinforce beliefs that are held by the group as a collective.

Assignment 7 Option 2

To look at the Brunswikian Lens model I decided to look at a friend’s profile to maximize functional achievement and therefore make accurate judgments. Knowing the target allowed me to assure cue validity (know that the cue is accurately representative of underlying personality characteristics) and cue utilization (use all possible cues because I was aware of the meaning and context of most all of them)
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First looking at her information I noticed the self directed identity claim (symbolic statement made by occupants for their own benefit intended to reinforce their self views) of her relationship status. She is listed as being in an open relationship with another girl who I know to be just a friend, therefore this must be an inside joke between the two of them. This shows that she is agreeable according to the FFM. Her interests are a mix of self directed identity claims and other directed identity claims (symbols that have shared meanings to make statements to others about how occupants would like to be regarded). Her interest in volleyball is an other directed identity claim meant to show to others that she is athletic and enjoys playing the sport. Also in her interests are self directed identity claims that include inside jokes which are understandable only to her and to close friends. She also has her mini-feed on her page report when she has added a friend, written on some one’s wall, or joined a group etc. This is an example of interior behavioral residue or physical traces of activities conducted in the immediate environment, that environment being Facebook itself. Exterior behavioral residue (residue of behaviors performed by the individual entirely outside of those immediate surroundings) in her profile includes the pictures tagged of her documenting activities outside of Facebook as well as the “events invitations” that she plans to attend or has attended.

I was not able to asses her fully on all of the five factors: openness, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, from just her profile. She seemed to rate high on extraversion based on the large amount of friends she has (over 300) and abundance of pictures showing her going out and having fun. Agreeableness was also high based on the amount and positive nature of her wall posts, many saying “I love you” or “I miss you”. She listed many interests, was in many groups and still has her mini-feed up showing everything she does on Facebook. This shows a high amount of openness. I did not, however, find many indicators to suggest contentiousness or neuroticism.

7 Re: What's up sis?

For this assignment I decided to use the Brunswikian Lens Model to assess my sister’s personality from an online space. I used to keep up with sister with phone calls every couple of weeks, but since she is Sweden this fall doing an internship, we have been forced to catch up over e-mail. For several weeks we have been exchanging e-mails back and forth, and it is from these messages that I can apply the Brunswikian Lens Model to analyze her personality. Specifically, the model outlines four mechanisms which will be discussed that will link my sister to the environments that she inhabits: self-directed identity claims, other-directed identity claims, interior behavioral residue, and exterior behavioral residue.

According to Walther, self-directed identity claims are “symbolic statements made by occupants for their own benefit, intended to reinforce their self-views.” In our conversation through e-mail, self-directed identity claims are few and far between, since she is mainly writing things to inform me about her life, rather than remind herself things for herself. However, it can be argued that some of the things she told me, specifically how happy she is in Sweden, can serve to influence my perception and reinforce her own. Say, for instance, she has a bad day and starts to regret her decision to move to a foreign country for four months; she can read the e-mail to remind herself how much she actually is enjoying herself. Other-directed identity claims are “symbols that have shared meanings to make statements to others about how they would like to be regarded.” I found an other-directed identity claim in every e-mail my sister sent me – her signature. Recently my sister has changed her signature from Mrs. Tory Goode to Dr. Tory Goode. Although I’m pretty sure she hasn’t earned that title completely yet, she’s taken the liberty to use it before she graduates this year, mainly for the respect that such a title denotes. Interior behavioral residue is “physical traces of activities conducted in the immediate environment.” Interior behavioral residue was also quite common since we would simply hit reply to each e-mail when conversing; thus, below each new message was every e-mail we had sent to each other before in the thread. These old e-mails showed the progress of our conversation. Exterior behavioral residue is a “residue of behaviors performed by the individual entirely outside of those immediate surroundings.” The exterior behavioral residue within our e-mails was common, considering our conversations were based upon her internship and my school life. Also, she sent me a few pictures highlighting her trip to the ABBA Museum (which I am still jealous about).

Based on these findings with the Brunswikian Lens Model, in addition to the Five Factor Model, I am able to make a few assessments about my sister’s personality. I would rate my sister high in terms of extroversion, agreeableness, and openness. This is probably mostly because she is my sister and is extremely forthcoming and trusting with me. I would then rate her average in terms of conscientiousness and neuroticism. Being in Sweden has been a culture shock for her to say the least, so I would have to say that any anxiety or conformity she is undergoing is a very normal reaction.

Comment 1 and Comment 2

7.1 Where did you Transfer from?

One community which I am most proud to be a part of at Cornell is the Transfer Community. I transferred to Cornell in 2005 and spent my first year living in the Transfer Center, otherwise known as “the TC.”

The main SNA attributes are actors, relations, ties and network. Actors are generally people but are not required to be individuals. Since the transfers are a community, the actors are all individuals that transferred to Cornell. This includes not only the people that transferred my year, but anyone that has ever transferred to Cornell. Relations connect actors. In this case, transfers are connected by exchange of information, social support, or advice, rather than money, goods, or services. Haythornthwaite also writes “A pair of actors is said to have a tie when they maintain such a relation.” There are both strong and weak ties in the transfer community. An example of a strong tie is the 2nd floor of the TC. The 2nd floor is the social circle I am apart of and due to our frequent interaction and disclosure; we are still a tight knit group of friends. An example of a weak tie is between myself a 2005 transfer and an acquaintance of mine, a 2003 transfer. Although we know one another from being transfers, we are in different social circles. This weak tie has proved beneficial to me because I have contacted this person about their job. As explained, the benefit of weak ties is they “have access to different information.” A network is patterns of ties and interconnections. In the transfer network there are not just one-on-one connections but interconnections. For example, one of the transfers is in a comedy show. Not just one person but approximately 20 transfers go to every show to support him.

The transfer community also exhibits the properties of common ground and reciprocity. According too Etizioni and Etzioni, “community ties are maintained with people we feel are similar to us.” In the transfer center, our common ground is that we all transferred into Cornell from other universities. We understand the process of transferring and the feelings, thought, emotions of leaving behind another school. Some of us also share the experience of living in the Transfer Center. Reciprocity is the idea when I give to you, you give back. A example would be with my transfer acquaintance (the weak tie) I asked for job advice. He gave his advice to me and I gave back by sending a thank you note.

The transfer community is not only a face-to-face community but also online. Etizioni and Etizioni emphasizes that community that are both Ftf and CMC “bond better.” The transfer community Ftf was greatest when we all lived in the TC together. Today, the actors I have strong ties with such as my current roommates that are transfers, I still see Ftf everyday. However CMC has also allowed this community to continue with transfers not is close proximity. For example, a few of my transfer friends graduated. We are still able to remain close due to emails, facebook, iming, etc. In addition, on Facebook there are several Facebook groups that allow all transfers to identify with one another and stay in touch. An example of the strength of this online community was last year when the Transfer Canter was being demolished, all Transfers in any Transfer facebook group received a message and were asked to help in the support against getting rid of the TC. This community is most definitely as example of Gemeinschaft based on our strong interpersonal ties despite distance , shared focus, common purpose and common language and identity as transfers.

Below is the Facebook description of “Save the Transfer Center" and a picture of the TC. It is great to be a part of such a strong network!










Information
Group Info
Name:
Save the Transfer Center
Type:
Common Interest - Beliefs & Causes
Description:
This group is for those who live in the transfer center, lived in the transfer center, or just wish they had lived in the transfer center. As we all know, the TC is being torn down after this year, and transfer students will no longer have a place to call their own.It is important that we start making some noise about this, because I know how important the transfer center is. With this group I think we can start sharing more ideas and keep people involved in the process of trying to save TC.

7-2: Facebook Sleuth

I decided to use a facebook profile as a space for evaluating someone's personality based on the Brunswikian Lens Model. The Brunswikian Lens Model is an impression formation model used to assess others based on cues and how they’re used. I chose a profile at random browsing through the Cornell network and began my assessment. Focusing on the different elements of a facebook profile I was able to make assessments about the selected individual, whom I will now on refer to as Bob, according to the four mechanisms mentioned in the Lens Model that tie an individual to his/her environment.

The first two links between an individual and his/her environment are centered on identity claims. Identity claims are things that allow a person to relate their character and personality to others. I began by examining the self-directed identity claims seen in Bob’s facebook profile. Under the personal info section of his profile, Bob has a message written in some language that looks similar to Russian. Given that the average person who will be viewing this profile at Cornell does not speak Russian, it is more of a self-directed identity claim than one for others. Also, I noticed that he is a member of several groups that names don’t make much sense to me at all, another self-directed claim that only Bob and a few select others will comprehend. The identity claims directed towards others fall under the basic info at the top about Bob’s birthday, hometown, religion, gender, as well as the contact info and majority of the personal info sections. These serve the purpose of letting others gain some insight into Bob’s identity, hence other-directed identity claims.

The next two links are centered on behavioral residue. Behavioral residue is inadvertent clues we leave about our past. I began by examining interior residue on Bob’s facebook profile, which are past experiences that happened within the medium itself. This is a fairly easy task thanks to facebook’s mini-feed, which displays recent activities the user has undertaken on facebook within their profile. I then looked to the exterior behavioral residue found on Bob’s profile. I found this in his pictures of things he’s done in the past. Also, I could find bits of exterior residue lodged within wall posts and notes.

I then used Hancock and Dunham’s Five Factor Model to rate Bob. This model is a set of five fundamental personality traits that are used to assess a person’s personality. To begin, I’d rate Bob high on openness and extraversion based on the large amount of facebook friends that he has, and also the large amount of people seen in pictures with him in his profile pictures. I would also attribute rate him high on agreeableness based on his pictures, and the positive wall comments he receives commonly. Bob gets a lower rating on conscientiousness due to the fact that his main profile picture includes him shirtless, with a glass of beer in hand. However, for the same reasons as those listed above, I would give Bob a fairly low rating in neuroticism, primarily because everything points to him being a happy, sociable, and positive guy. I’d say it’s fairly safe to say most of the cues I used for this rating were fairly valid, and although there may be some forms of selective-self presentation going on, Bob utilizes these cues effectively via facebook to allow a decent personality assessment.

7.1: The Greek Community

As a freshman, it’s hard not to be exposed to the Greek life that’s a major part of Cornell. As I walk on campus each day, I always see students proudly wearing the letters of their respective fraternities and sororities.

Haythornwaite uses Social Network Analysis to examine what is exchanged, communicated, and shared by pairs of individuals in the community. In addition, she talks about social networking, common ground, and reciprocity, which produce social capital.

I am a member of a sorority, which is a community that started offline and expanded to the online community. My sorority has developed a chapter Facebook group and is also part of the national Facebook group. In CMC, we interact through Facebook, our sorority forum, listserve, and through instant messaging. These forms of communication do not even include richer media such as FtF and on the phone. Through these different communication media, we can share our thoughts and experiences. Etzioni and Etzioni (1999) state that “Communities that combine both FtF 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.” In addition, CMC allows sisters from other chapters to interact and develop relationships that they cannot form FtF. Also through CMC, sisters on Cornell campus can interact with their alumni that are elsewhere. CMC helps to further develop and solidify the community.

According to Gemeinschaft, actors share a common purpose and focus and have strong interpersonal ties. Since we are all part of the same sorority and we are all sisters, we can develop strong ties among ourselves. My sorority has sisterhood events that allow for sisters who don’t know each other well to have a better chance to bond and form stronger ties. The sisterhood events support the social networking that Haythornwaite talks about. The events, such as potlucks where we all cook and have dinner together, allow for relationships to develop and bonding to occur. Some sisters may develop stronger ties when they are from the same chapter because it allows for FtF and CMC interaction. Sisters that are distant tend to form weaker ties due to the lack of FtF interaction. Although, we may have stronger ties with some sisters and weaker ties with others, we still have a common ground. We are all sisters of the same sorority and we share the same purpose and ideals. We are committed as sisters and have shared values and a shared identity. The sisterhood I share allows me to ask for help when I need it. I would have no hesitation to ask for help from another sister and they should not hesitate to ask me for help. This supports the idea of reciprocity where individuals reinforce one another.

http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/10/cornell-community-one-community-i.html
http://comm245red.blogspot.com/2007/10/assignment-71-camp-community.html

7.1 Lecture Class / Social Network

Some lecture classes at Cornell are pretty big, but I would not have expected any of them to act as a fully functioning dually online and offline social network. CS/INFO 130 (intro to design and programming for the web), which I am a grading TA for, plays this role. The online component of the social network are a course website with active forums, a newsgroup, and a wiki; while the offline components are lectures, sections, and weekly TA meetings.

Using the SNA to examine INFO130, it is clear that there are different classes of actors who are bound to each other through both strong and weak ties. The majority of the relationships are weak: students in the large, lecture class tend to initially not to be close with each other, nor the TAs, or and certainly not the professor. Some TAs have established relationships with each other based on prior work experience, but most are only in the same social network based on a shared skill in web-design—thus they exhibit weak ties and occasional contact with other TAs and students.

The common ground in this social network is seemingly limited. Everyone in the class is related to the Cornell community, and in some way, has an interest in web design (whether it is academic or recreational). Nevertheless, these slight similarities in the context of a goal-oriented setting (both the students and teaching staff want to see excellent websites being constructed) cause reciprocity to increase and relationships to form. Social network characteristics become enhanced through FtF interaction such as physical office hours and collaborative sections, but the real remarkable aspect of the INFO130 social community is the CMC intensity. At the beginning of the semester, students would post issues with their HTML code on the forums and TAs would respond—however, as bonds have been forming and familiarity increases, students have been answering each other’s questions (without any incentives)—and acting in a very social manner. Additionally, with respect to the teaching staff, our grading procedures and assignment creation has been increasingly collaborative—INFO130 is one of the only classes with office hours via AIM. Our weekly FtF meetings have become shorter and subsequently replaced by higher activity in the e-mail newsgroup.

As the semester becomes busier for all the actors involved in the INFO130 social network, the importance of the online components of the class seems to be drastically increasing. Having the class materials, student advice, and teaching assistance all archived and accessible through a database-backed website creates a situation where both relationships between actors are strengthening and goals are being achieved more efficiently.

Comment 1

Comment 2