Mary Gray, Mike Ananny and I are writing a paper on queer youth and "Glee" for the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting (yes, I have the greatest job in the world). This is a multi-methodological study by design, because traditional television viewing practices have become so complex. Besides traditional audience ethnography like interviews and participant …
Continue reading Using Off-the-shelf Software for basic Twitter Analysis
This talk is by Germaine Halegoua, one of our fantastic interns this summer and a brand-new Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. She outlines her findings from her summer research project, about the location-based mobile service Foursquare. The presentation includes preliminary findings and analysis from an ethnographic study of Foursquare users in the Boston …
We're a diverse bunch here at the SMC, but what we have in common is that we are nerds who read a lot. I went on office patrol to find out what my compatriots have selected as their August summer reading. danah boyd Parenting out of Control: Anxious Parents in Uncertain Times, by Margaret Nelson …
SMC alum Alex Leavitt posted this fantastic documentary on his Tumblr. It's a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the infamous Eli Porter rap battle, which got like 4 million YouTube hits and has been referenced by Kanye West and T-Pain, among others. People's Champion: Behind the Battle from Trent Babbington on Vimeo. As Alex wisely says: "I …
We've had a controversial week here at SMC, with both danah and Bernie jumping into the fray over Real Names (TM) and social network sites. I'm not engaging with that mess, but I am interested in the response to it. Over, and over, and over again, when anyone-- academic, pundit, journalist, blogger, regular person without …
Continue reading “If you don’t like it, don’t use it. It’s that simple.” ORLY?
We have a mailing list set up for current and former members of the SMC, where some very productive conversations take place. Recently, danah asked for recommendations for academic work about how social norms are created and maintained (preferably involving technology, but not necessarily). "Norms" are the behaviors and standards considered acceptable by a particular …
The title of this post is presumptuous, because I haven't written it yet. I have a book contract for my dissertation. Yay! Cheers! What every graduate student dreams of while slaving away over their hot word processor, eyes glazed over as they attempt to wrangle the methods section into submission for the umpteenth time. And …
Our very own Nicole Ellison will be speaking at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University tomorrow. 12:30 pm Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor RSVP required for those attending in person to Amar Ashar (ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu) The benefits of Facebook “Friends”: The social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices This talk …
Continue reading Nicole Ellison at Berkman tomorrow (6/7/11)
Every month, the members of the Social Media Collective read a current non-fiction book that's relevant to our research interests and discuss it (just like grad school!). This month, our selection was The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood, by James Gleick. As you can see, it's quite a tome: 527 pages of intellectual …
This is a group blog for the members, past present and future, of the social media collective at Microsoft Research New England, run by danah boyd. We are a group of academics from diverse disciplinary and methodological backgrounds who study a broad array of social technologies and practices. We're going to use this blog to …
Social Media Collective 