lit. review I

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The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr


"Our ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting, we now know, are not entirely determined by our genes. Nor are they entirely determined by our childhood experiences. We change them through the way we live—and, as Nietzsche sensed, through the tools we use."

Nicholas Carr, author and critic, has a unique perspective on the technological revolution. Carr explains how high computer usage neurologically rewires our brains, in effect changing the way we think. Understanding how the brains of digital natives are reconfigured helps me accommodate the habits and expectations of young social networkers in my designs.

Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.



Cyberpsychology: an Introduction to Human-computer Interaction, Kent Norman


"Users will expect computers to interpret both their intentions and their actions."

Cyberpsychology is a book that introduces an emerging field of psychology that deals with the study of the human mind and behavior in the context of human-technology interaction. Norman helped me understand the importance of mental models—the stored mental representations of objects and processes—which is pivotal when rethinking the design of a social networking space. The emphasis that my thesis has on a synergistic relationship came from Norman's work—where the human learns and remembers from the computer and the computer learns and remembers from the human (and environment). He also explains a lot of the theoretical approaches and research methods in human-computer interaction, with lots of interjections on the role of the designer.

Norman, Kent L. Cyberpsychology: an Introduction to Human-computer Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print



Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other, Sherry Turkle


"Now, technology makes it easy to express emotions while they are being formed. It supports an emotional style in which feelings are not fully experienced until they are communicated."

Sherry Turkle is a sociologist who focuses her research on people's relationship with technology. My thesis is grounded in her theories—on young adults' relationship with social networking sites. Analyzing the effects of current human-computer interaction, Turkle worries about the negative implications of being constantly tethered to a virtual network. She puts forth the idea that we are determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things and describes young adults' perceptions of privacy in online social spaces, like Facebook.


Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. Basic, 2011. Print.



Psychological Predictors of Young Adult's Use of Social Networking Sites, Kathryn Wilson, et al.


"Extroversion was found to be associated with addictive tendencies, suggesting that extroverts may become overly reliant on SNSs because the interactive experience meets their need for stimulation and social interaction. Low scores on conscientiousness significantly predicted addictive tendencies. It is plausible that unconscientious young adults demonstrate addictive tendencies toward the use of SNS because unconscientious people tend to lack self-control."

This study focused on young adults' use of social networking sites (and addictive tendencies) from personalty characteristics and levels of self esteem. The results from this study are the foundation for the personas that I will develop for my thesis. The researchers theorize that (1) social networking sites appeal to extroverts because they like to connect and reach out to others, as well as present information about themselves online, and (2) that unconscientious people have an addictive tendency towards social networking because it occupies their time while procrastinating. These findings are a breakthrough in the field because it is inconsistent with previous researchers who have typically concluded that extroverts prefer face-to-face interactions, and the internet mainly appeals to introverts with low self esteem.


Wilson, Kathryn, Stephanie Fornasier, and Katherine M. White. "Psychological Predictors of Young Adult's Use of Social Networking Sites." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 13.2 (2010). Journal.

metaphors on the mind

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What if people reading your profile page was like flies on a carcass?

audible buzzing, constant unpredictable movement, negative connotation, lingering, movement could signify on-screen mouse behavior.


What if your permanent online information behaved like a shadow?

always behind you, shape shifting, notice others more than yours, in and out of visibility.


What if your permanent online information hovered above you like a cloud?

different conditional states, sometimes audible, shape shifting, cyclical (evaporation), brings down elements of the past (rain), can be heard and not seen, varying distances from you.


What if your risky patterns of online behavior were revealed through throat clearing?

disruptive, visceral, anthropomorphic, can be exaggerated for humorous affect, alarming, hint, audible.


What if the susceptibility of your future self behaved like a talking conscience?

preoccupation, dialogue, surprising, dichotomy, private, expert data, decision making, custom.

understanding sns

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Last semester, I investigated the trajectory of the "social networking problem" and looked at the different platforms addressing those problems. Now, I want to research the affordances of Social Networking Sites (SNS). Since there are so many SNSs out there, what are they doing? What are the commonalities and distinctions? How do their affordances align with the properties of networked publics (persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability)? What kind of social networking statistics—specific to my demographic— could shape the way I approach my thesis' cognitive artifact?

So far, I narrowed it down to the most popular:
01. Facebook
02. MySpace
03. Twitter
04. LinkedIn
05. Ning
06. Tagged
07. Classmates.com
08. Hi5
09. MyYearbook
10. Meetup
11. Bebo
12. MyLife
13. Friendster
14. MyHeritage
15. Multiply
16. Orkut

According to BizMba's Rank of Alexa Global Traffic, Jan 2011



Notable spectrum
friendship-driven vs interests-driven communities
connecting people vs content creation



Then, I skimmed through the popular websites and listed the affordances of each site—designating each affordance a combination of properties:

(p)ersistence: "the continued, prolonged existence of something,"
(s)earchability: "ability to explore, examine,"
(r)eplicability: "ability to repeat, duplicate, reproduce," and
(sc)alablity: "ability to adapt to increased demands."



This helped me understand the nature of the property terms—persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability—in regards to the social networking sphere. The affordances were usually a combination of multiple properties: Although the affordances exhibited various properties, there was usually one property that applied most—reinforcing the categorization in my matrix of researchable points. With SNSs being a virtual environment, the affordances are automatically persistant and usually searchable and replicable: Scalability seemed to be the only property that did not explicitly apply to the majority of affordances, but even that is an easily argued judgement.


core characteristics of social networking sites:

01. user-based
02. interactive
03. community-driven
04. relationships
05. emotion over content

"The evolution of the Internet is now forming itself around the characteristics of social networks."

According to a 2007 research study conducted by researchers from Rice University, the University of Maryland, and Max Planck Institute for Software System




Now, I need to read, read, read...

Currently reading:
+ "Alone Together" Sherry Turkle
+ "Living and Learning with New Media" Mizuko Ito, et al.
+ "A Networked Self: Identity, Community and Culture on Social Networking Sites" Zizi Papacharissi
+ "Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods" Dr. John W. Creswell
+ "Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media" Carrie James
+ "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out" danah boyd
+ "Cyberpsychology" Kent Norman
+ "World Without Secrets" Richard Hunter

Projected reading list:
+ "Does It Really Matter That People Zip" Yoonjae Mam, et al.
+ "The Influence of Social Networking Web" Daniel Bohnert
+ "Does Imposing a Goal Always Improve Exercise Intentions in Avatar-Based Exergames?" Seung-A Annie Jin
+ "Understanding Diversity in Millennial Students" Ellen M. Broido
+ "More Information than You Ever Wanted, Does Facebook Bring Out the Green-Eyed Monster of Jealously?" Amy Muise
+ "The Virtual Geographies of social networks" Ziz Papacharissi
+ "Psychological Predictors of Young Adults' Use of Social Networking Sites" Kathryn Wilson
+ "Social Networks as Health Feedback Displays" Margaret E. Morris
+ "Structure and Evolution of Online Social Networks" Ravi Kumar, et al.

matrix of researchable points

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Moving forward with my thesis will include a series of small studies informing a larger outcome. Keeping the studies structured required the development of a matrix of researchable points. I had no idea what I would assign to the axis of the matrix until I started reading "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out" by danah boyd, et al. As a Social Media Researcher, boyd was able to give insight into the behaviors of young social networking participants and deconstruct the paradigm shift that is social media. In her chapter on friendships, boyd states,

"Learning how to manage the unique affordances of networked sociality can help teens navigate future collegiate and professional spheres where mediated interactions are assumed."

She then describes the properties of networked publics as persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability. I found this highly relevant to my small studies because it gave me a concrete way to think about my matrix. Pinning the unique affordances of networked sociality (x-axis) against possible management variables (y-axis) and directing it towards my thesis sub questions results in a structured path to thread ideas together. Therefore, the unique affordances that boyd discusses are the properties of networked publics—since those properties have to be managed with virtual friendships in a way that does not translate to physical friendships. The possible management variables are an aggregation of areas of interests from various reading sources.

After designing the matrix, I noticed that my sub questions aligned well with three of the properties: While all four properties overlap, scalability afforded the least amount of investigative depth since my thesis is already framed around a broader cohort of peers.

Click here for my (in progress) matrix of researchable points.

So far, I have grayed out an example of the property (specific to Facebook) and possible areas of inquiry directed towards a sub question. I feel good about them today, we'll see about tomorrow. Therefore, I will probably have three small studies:

01. persistence touchpoint: participant is entering their status
outcome: revealing patterns of online behavior
areas of inquiry: self control, aggregated information, agency, mobility, low-risk tinkering

02. searchability touchpoint: participant on their personal profile page
outcome: revealing permanence of online information
areas of inquiry: hints and reassurance, expert data, mobility, concreting the abstract, anthropomorphism

03. replicability touchpoint: participant's information in the newsfeed
outcome: revealing susceptibility of the future self
areas of inquiry: forecasting, customizing, play, dialogue, consequence, mobility, superficial empowerment