Week7
From INLS 490
Week 7
Contents |
[edit] Video
[edit] Week 7
- Notes
- Goffman C. 3 Optional
- Add Mayer and Puller (2007), Skim P III
- Related Readings
- Other news
- This Week's Del.icio.us links
[edit] Signaling and the Art of Impression
[edit] Goffman's Lens
- In the presence of others, we seek information/cues about these individuals
- We glean cues from aspects of appearance and correlate them to what we know
- Crucial facts lie beyond the appearance - we can only discover these indirectly
- Identity as performance
- The expression one gives
- The expression one gives off
- Can we explain the distinction between the two?
- "Calculated" identity
- It is in our interest to "control the conduct of others" through impressions
- Sometimes our presentation evokes presentations, sometimes it belies us
- Categories of impressions
- Impressions that are easy to create (statements, etc)
- Unstated signals (expressions, gestures)
- We compare the two as a validity check
- Other validity checks - engineered disruption - practical jokes, decontextualized stories
- We compare the two as a validity check
[edit] Signaling Theory
- Communications Theory: Sender and Receiver
- In communications, senders and receivers seek to achieve mutually agreeable understanding of the message.
- Signals are a very important part of this sense-making process
- Signals: characteristics
- Has a definite form
- Refers to something other than itself
- Can be recognized as a sign
- Assessment of Signals: two types
- Assessment Signals: Requires a sense of validity in the signal - lifting heavy objects, a stag's horns
- Conventional Signals: Sender doesn't necessarily possess the signal's traits - wearing a t-shirt, etc.
- Validity in signals
- Cost of production: Many assessment signals difficult to produce
- Punishment for deception: How communities respond to non-normative behaviors
[edit] Donath
Ref: Signaling Theory
- Signals in Usenet - How do we receive, verify and make meaning of signals in CMC?
- Voice and Language
- One can write "I am female", how sustainable (expressions given off)
- Is "playing" a gender an assessment signal?
- Is understanding norms in CMC an assessment signal? (i.e. Noobs vs. Vets)
- Language as identity signal - voice becomes known over time.
- Signature as Identity Signal
- Sigs act as credentials to signal legitimacy
- Sigs can have standard or in-group references, one must negotiate the space to understand them
- From header to sig, we're reading the message looking for cues to signal deception
- Voice and Language
- Deception
- Trolling, Impersonation
- Any consequences of deception in SNS?
[edit] Donath and boyd
Ref: Signaling Theory
- Q: Are friendship links in SNS an assessment signal?
- Public display of connection is a signal of the reliability of identity claims
- Dating vs. SNS
- Low cost to misrepresent in pseudononymous dating world
- High cost to misrepresent when the profile is directly tied to identity
- Power of a social group is reputation -> Not the conversation with the subject, but the conversation around the subject.
- Dating vs. SNS
- Many SNS have discussion groups - participants seen in context, SNS provides accountability - do you agree? Does having discussion in a SNS change the nature of the interaction? How?
- Feld's Foci
- We structure social experiences around a "foci" which we often think of as context -
- A social net structure around the office, or a social net structured around our block, for example.
- Social nets bring these foci together - sometimes with negative implications.
[edit] Lampe, Ellison and Steinfeld
3 Theoretical areas
- Signaling Theory
- Common-ground theory - We establish common terms of reference to enhance mutual understanding
- Transaction cost theory - Sharing of certain elements produce shared referents, lead to norm-formation.
RQ - Does sharing certain profile elements in FB lead to more friends (the "successful" outcome) Outcome: Image
[edit] Class Exercise
4 Groups, explore the following questions:
- How do you read a Social Network (Facebook, Myspace, etc) profile?
- How do you assess validity of a profile?
- How do you make meaning of "known-falsehoods" - i.e. like friends saying they are married to each other?
- What punishments do communities induce for deceiving in online community?
[edit] Presentations
- Hannah N.
- Lynn Dimac - Who's Afraid of Myspace
