[CITASA] Chat Room Research?
Hi-
In a project only tangentially related to the internet, I seem to have come across a gap in the literature, namely the changing use of the Internet regarding chat rooms. All of what I have is marketing research, and most of that is raw numbers (e.g. two million average chat room users per day on AOL in 2002, thirty-thousand average chat room users per day on AOL in 2009, numbers probably off as I'm pulling from memory not text) that lack social context or relevant demographic information.
While I have come across literature that almost secondarily refers to the decline of "anonymous" or "pseudonymous" interactions on the Internet (mostly in reference to the rise of social networking that emulates/replicates/reinforces/etc offline social networks), I haven't really found anything that directly addresses chat rooms or related internet phenomena (usenets, bulletin boards, etc).
For a bit of context, this project relates to social support/self-help type websites, chat rooms, message boards, etc. Basically I've found that for my population, the loss of the chat room(s) has lead to a politicization of the kinds of interactions people can have in relation to their condition, as a neutral space has been taken away, replaced by mostly sponsored message boards, listservs, and hosted chats. However, I would like some context regarding changing internet use.
Any leads are appreciate.
Thanks in advance!
Kate Jenkins, M.Phil.
Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology
CUNY Graduate Center
Dr. Jenkins;
This piece b y Robert Scoble may support your work. I am also including
the list of years best chatrooms.
http://scobleizer.com/2009/11/02/the-chat-roomforum-problem-an-apology-t
o-technosailor/
http://im.about.com/od/imreviews/ss/bestim2009_7.htm
the last one offers just a bit on diversity to be found in realtime.
http://www.slate.com/id/2163002/landing/1
Cheers, Dave
David Louden
Senior Project Developer
Mission Technologies & Training (Operations) Department
Intelligence Solutions Division
National Solutions Business Unit
L-3 Communications
301 575-3426
240 373-3828
"Teaming with the customer for success
and Owning the future."
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org
[mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org] On Behalf Of Jenkins, Kate
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 11:50 PM
To: citasa@list.citasa.org
Subject: [CITASA] Chat Room Research?
Hi-
In a project only tangentially related to the internet, I seem to have
come across a gap in the literature, namely the changing use of the
Internet regarding chat rooms. All of what I have is marketing
research, and most of that is raw numbers (e.g. two million average chat
room users per day on AOL in 2002, thirty-thousand average chat room
users per day on AOL in 2009, numbers probably off as I'm pulling from
memory not text) that lack social context or relevant demographic
information.
While I have come across literature that almost secondarily refers to
the decline of "anonymous" or "pseudonymous" interactions on the
Internet (mostly in reference to the rise of social networking that
emulates/replicates/reinforces/etc offline social networks), I haven't
really found anything that directly addresses chat rooms or related
internet phenomena (usenets, bulletin boards, etc).
For a bit of context, this project relates to social support/self-help
type websites, chat rooms, message boards, etc. Basically I've found
that for my population, the loss of the chat room(s) has lead to a
politicization of the kinds of interactions people can have in relation
to their condition, as a neutral space has been taken away, replaced by
mostly sponsored message boards, listservs, and hosted chats. However,
I would like some context regarding changing internet use.
Any leads are appreciate.
Thanks in advance!
Kate Jenkins, M.Phil.
Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology
CUNY Graduate Center
Hi Kate,
I don't know if this helps, but maybe there is something of interest in a new book described here by Marc Smith, who used to be head of the community technologies group at Microsoft Research and has probably done as much or more in-depth empirical analysis of chat rooms as anyone:
http://www.connectedaction.net/2009/12/13/book-online-deliberation-design-research-and-practice/
The chapter I co-authored with him is about network structure of threaded discussion, and some of his previous work looked at the dynamics of discussion networks for support groups--referenced in the bibliography. Perhaps it's worth a look.
Best,
john
==============================
John Kelly
Doctoral Program in Communications
Columbia University
On Dec 2, 2009, at 11:50 PM, Jenkins, Kate wrote:
Hi-
In a project only tangentially related to the internet, I seem to have come across a gap in the literature, namely the changing use of the Internet regarding chat rooms. All of what I have is marketing research, and most of that is raw numbers (e.g. two million average chat room users per day on AOL in 2002, thirty-thousand average chat room users per day on AOL in 2009, numbers probably off as I'm pulling from memory not text) that lack social context or relevant demographic information.
While I have come across literature that almost secondarily refers to the decline of "anonymous" or "pseudonymous" interactions on the Internet (mostly in reference to the rise of social networking that emulates/replicates/reinforces/etc offline social networks), I haven't really found anything that directly addresses chat rooms or related internet phenomena (usenets, bulletin boards, etc).
For a bit of context, this project relates to social support/self-help type websites, chat rooms, message boards, etc. Basically I've found that for my population, the loss of the chat room(s) has lead to a politicization of the kinds of interactions people can have in relation to their condition, as a neutral space has been taken away, replaced by mostly sponsored message boards, listservs, and hosted chats. However, I would like some context regarding changing internet use.
Any leads are appreciate.
Thanks in advance!
Kate Jenkins, M.Phil.
Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology
CUNY Graduate Center
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