The Social Media Collective is showing up in force at Internet Research 16 in Phoenix, Arizona starting next week. Along with many friends of the SMC, there will be some of our permanent researchers (Nancy Baym, Tarleton Gillespie), postdocs current and past (Kevin Driscoll, Lana Swartz, Mike Ananny), past & present interns (Stacy Blasiola, Brittany …
new essay from SMC visitor Tom Streeter, on the persistent fascination with Steve Jobs
SMC is excited to welcome Tom Streeter, who will be soon making occasional visits to our New England lab, beginning later this month. To mark his arrival, we wanted to highlight the essay he has just published in the International Journal of Communication: “Steve Jobs, Romantic Individualism, and the Desire for Good Capitalism.” (Borrowing from the summary …
The Social Media Collective is Hiring Postdocs
The Social Media Collective at Microsoft Research New England (MSRNE) is looking for two social media postdoctoral researchers (start date: 5 July, 2016). This position is an ideal opportunity for a scholar whose work draws on anthropology, communication, media studies, sociology, and/or science and technology studies to bring empirical and critical perspectives to complex socio-technical issues. Application …
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News Feed created by you? Final presentation by intern Stacy Blasiola
During her summer with us at Microsoft Research, PhD candidate Stacy Blasiola did a qualitative analysis of how Facebook users make sense of News Feed and algorithmic systems. Take a look at the presentation she did on her findings. (Video 1) (Video 2) (Video 3) (Video 4)
Big Data, Context Cultures
The latest issue of Media, Culture, and Society features an open-access discussion section responding to SMC all-stars danah boyd and Kate Crawford's "Critical Questions for Big Data." Though the article is only a few years old, it's been very influential and a lot has happened since it came out, so editors Aswin Punathambekar and Anastasia Kavada commissioned …
Presentation; Between Platforms and Community: Moderators on Reddit
Presentation by intern Nathan Matias on the project he worked on during the summer at the SMC. He has continued to work on his research, so in case you have not read it here is a more updated post on his work: Followup: 10 Factors Predicting Participation in the Reddit Blackout. Building Statistical Models of …
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Co-creation and Algorithmic Self-Determination: A study of player feedback on game analytics in EVE Online
We are happy to share SMC's intern Aleena Chia's presentation of her summer project titled "Co-creation and Algorithmic Self-Determination: A study of player feedback on game analytics in EVE Online". Aleena's project summary and the videos of her presentation below: Digital games are always already information systems designed to respond to players’ inputs with …
Followup: 10 Factors Predicting Participation in the Reddit Blackout. Building Statistical Models of Online Behavior through Qualitative Research
Three weeks ago, I shared dataviz and statistical models predicting participation in the Reddit Blackout in July 2015. Since then, many moderators have offered feedback and new ideas for the data analysis, alongside their own stories. Earlier today, I shared this update with redditors. UPDATE, Sept 16, 9pm ET: Redditors brilliantly spotted an important gap in …
Wired picks SMC blog
Wired recently selected its 21 "must-follow" feeds in the world of business, and the Social Media Collective blog was among them! See the entire list here. We're thrilled, as so much of our goal is to span both scholarly and industry conversations around social media and its critical cultural implications. Stay tuned for more from this blog in the coming months.
Moderator Solidarity on Reddit: Predicting Participation in the Blackout of July 2015
For the last 40 years or more, online platforms have relied on people to facilitate and support our online communities. In the early 70s, they were the librarians and shopkeepers of Community Memory. In the 80s, they were the WELL's "conference hosts." In the 90s, they were AOL's "community leaders." In 2015, they are Wikipedia's "administrators," Facebook's "admins," Slashdot's "moderators," …
Social Media Collective 