Joe McConda on Technology, Education, and Culture

As a math person, I am much more comfortable with quantitative analysis rather than qualitative analysis, however, in preparing to write an ethnography of a social networking site/community, I realize that this is a qualitative endeavor. I could make it more quantitative by attempting to place numerical statistics on various actions and applications, but I don’t believe that would be as valuable as the more subjective observations of the site, the participants, and the actions that take place there.

In thinking about social networking, I think of the community there as representative of any community made up of a variety of people that represent the culture. There is much talk these days about Multiculturalism. More than ever before people that represent different cultures are woven into the fabric of our country. In the past many people who came to the United States wanted nothing more than to “assimilate” into the culture. The term”melting pot” was coined to refer to the way in which many different ethnic backgrounds were assimilated into society, taking on the language, mannerisms, values, etc. of the mainstream. My grandfather immigrated from Italy after World War I. He married and had children, never teaching them his language or trying to preserve in them the heritage he brought with him from Italy. My father remembers his father speaking Italian only on occasion. He became American, adopting the language, the social mores, and values to become like those with whom he lived in a small town.

Almost one hundred years later it seems that those who come to this country do want to preserve their own heritage and are not quick to throw it into a melting pot where it will not be recognizable to them or anyone else. “Acculturation” is a term that more adequately describes the choice of those who come from another country or ethnic background today. They are more likely to hold on to their own beliefs and language even though they adopt many things from the new culture.

What does all this have to do with Facebook or other social networking sites? These communities are representative a culture made up of people from many different age groups, ethnic backgrounds, education, purposes- the list goes on and on. The thing that is unique about this culture is that it is relatively new and those that become part of the culture do so in varying degrees. It may be for some people that a social networking community may be a sub-culture in which they become immersed for a time. In order to do an ethnographic study of a social networking site, I chose to explore the culture of Facebook. Before settling on this site, I joined Twitter and also explored MySpace, but came back to Facebook. I began by creating a profile for myself and then set out to explore the site in order to learn how to interact as well as find out what others do as part of this community. The results of my exploration and observations are discussed in the following ethnography.

Facebook is a social networking service that has many applications. After joining the site and connecting with a couple of friends, one can explore the many groups and applications available. Connecting with friends involves searching for those who have Facebook accounts by searching one’s list of e-mail contacts. Invitations to become a friend may result in acceptance or not. People have the option of blocking someone from contacting them. If this happens, the person will be notified not to contact the other person. Making connections is one of the main reasons observed for using Facebook. It appears that people are connected around common bonds just as they are in face to face communities. Common interests, proximity, shared history, and relationships bring people together. This observation revealed that people enjoy talking to those they’ve not seen in a long time the same way they do when someone comes in from out of town (physically). While it is the purpose of people at times to search to make friends with people they don’t already know, it is apparent from this observation that the majority of connections are among those who do see each other on a regular basis. In addition, people often make an effort to find and talk to people they know, but haven’t had contact with in a long time.

Facebook was originally intended for use on a college campus. The original intent according to one source was to place pictures on a site where students at Harvard could log on and rate/ compare the photos. This precurser to Facebook was called “Facemash” and the student responsible was actually “called on the carpet” at Harvard for breaching the rules. He continued to pursue the social networking and used it for school related activities. The site expanded from its 2004 origins to include other college campuses and then in 2006, the founder Mark Zuckenberg opened the site to anyone with an e-mail address. Since that time, the site has grown at an amazing rate and includes people of all ages over 13 from all backgrounds.

The purpose for using Facebook varies greatly depending on the age and maturity level of the individuals using the site. Middle school and high school students are abundant in the community and seem to use the site most often to converse with friends, post pictures, and otherwise “hang out”. Observations of behaviors among these groups reveal that most of the friends are acquaintances that were not made via the site to begin with. There are groups joined by students of a particular school and members of the group post items related to that school, its teachers, administration, etc. These types of activities create an identity for the members and resemble conversations one might hear between students as they are commenting face to face about teachers they like or don’t like, etc. The pictures posted on some teenagers’ pages often document activities that are illegal such as underage drinking, however, as in the society at large, people know of these things and often don’t report it. So, while in “The Terms of Use”, it is stated that users may not do certain things, if it is not reported, it will probably go unnoticed.

Students are not the only users of Facebook and there are many reasons why people become part of such a community. Technology has opened up all sorts of avenues for people to pursue hobbies, businesses, and relationships that they may otherwise not have been able to do. This site allows for promoting a product, an idea or cause, or just about anything. People can use it to seek out others who may want or need what they have. One way to do this is the Marketplace feature of the site. People can place items for sale, trade, or even to give away here. It’s a convenient way to put things in front of those who may want what one has and it is free. Since the site is arranged so that users are grouped in networks related to geographical areas or schools, the marketplace feature only lists things in the user’s network, so logistically one could get to the seller’s place. Whether or not items for sale are monitored is questionable. Much like other things that go on that are listed as forbidden in the Terms of Use, it most likely depends on the offense being reported.

Another feature is that of listing events and placing them on calendars. When friends see the event posted, they can decide whether of not to attend. The site lists friends’ birthdays as events. There are electronic gifts that can be sent. These tiny icons are displayed and often offered to be sent free. After the free one, the cost is one dollar for the gifts that show up on the friend’s page along with a message composed by the sender.

Observations of Facebook reveal a very useful service that is used by many, many people. There are groups that have members in the tens of thousands. It appears that as this particular social networking site has grown from its origin on the Harvard campus, it has evolved and continues to evolve. While college students were first to this site, they have been joined by younger and older. People join groups or even start their own groups, but there is something for everyone. There are opportunities for positive interaction such as “poking” someone which is somewhat like a tap on the shoulder to initiate a conversation or one can make someone their enemy and use some other not so positive gestures.

In society, people gravitate toward the people and things in which they are interested. On Facebook, people gravitate toward people and things in which they are interested. Yes, social networking is relatively new, but it is not a passing trend. The culture is one in which people will acculturate, choosing the aspects of the culture that make sense to them and meet the needs they have. As more and more social networks develop, there will be those that provide more of a niche for some than others. There will always be those who enjoy the “multiculturalism” provided by experiencing as many as possible. The potential for interaction, learning, and creating a connected world is evident in these social communities.

I googled ethnography and social networking sites and found this blog about a study of Danish students and SNS use. The writer discusses the way the term “friends” is used on Facebook and other sites to describe the relationship between those who interact on the sites. The idea that there are some people who are tired of the superficial “friendships” is evident in the following quote from a Boston Globe article quoted in the blog.

“Now that Internet users have forged online relationships with the people they like, they can turn their attention to shaming the folks they hate.

With Enemybook, a new program that runs on the social networking site Facebook, you can connect to people you loathe, display their photos and evil deeds, and give them the virtual finger.

Enemybook is one of several new online applications developed by computer-savvy twentysomethings who say they are tired of bogus online friendships. In a dig at the notion of virtual networking, they hope to encourage people to undermine, or at least mock, the online social communities sites such as Facebook were designed to create.”

After reading this, I went back to Facebook and searched for “enemybook”.  I found that as well as “flippedoff”   Interesting……  It concerns me for students, though, because the potential to say things that one wouldn’t say in person is there.

I was just on Facebook again and went to “Marketplace”  where I found another disturbing thing (in addition to the kidney).    There was an ad from someone offering to do math homework for a fee.   I am really surprised that something like that would be advertised in such a forum………..

I was glad to see that I had an e-mail from someone who had seen my profile on Facebook.  She sent me a message to say that she had seen it and just wanted to say “Hi”.   She, actually, is the wife of a guy I used to work with.  At any rate, I was surprised that someone I knew had seen my profile and responded……I really am not good with the Facebook site.

I was searching on Facebook a couple of days ago, trying to find different applications and things that people use the site for.  I found where people can post things for sale there.  It was quite interesting to see that the people who were sellling things were listed as being close to where I live.  I realize that this is because it is based on the network of which I’m a part.   The thing that caught my eye was a guy who had a picture of his back.  He was selling a kidney……..!    I remember a few years back when someone got in trouble for trying to sell a kidney on EBay.   How is this different?

I’ve been on Facebook now for over two months.  I check it everyday and have searched for friends and have browsed through groups.  In looking at the various groups that one can join, I can see different purposes for each.  Some people participate in groups to espouse a particular cause, whether it be political, moral, personal, etc.  Some groups are just for fun and for connecting people who already have a common link, such as the same hometown or school.  Personally, I haven’t found a group that I want to join, yet.  I have the option of starting a new group based on a particular interest I may have, but to be honest, I think if I were inclined to connect with people for a common purpose or to espouse a particular cause, I would rather create a blog and post things of interest that way.  Facebook has more applications and I’ve used a few of them, but only to try them out.

I joined Twitter, but then felt that I should join another social networking site, so I also joined Facebook. I have not done a whole lot with it, but I have invited others to join and have added to my profile. I have browsed various groups and have found other people that I haven’t heard about in a long while. There will be no way that I can interact with my students on Facebook, but I have noticed that other teachers have.

Well, I joined Twitter today. I was thinking about which SNS to join and Lee sent an invitation to Twitter, so I signed on. Several of you will be getting an invitation from me if what I think I did is actually what I did?…. I really am just getting my feet wet as I don’t know much about it at all. I was thinking I would do Facebook or MySpace and I still may do that, but I now have the Twitter account, so I’ll see what happens.

I’m old enough to remember the “party line” telephone. We had that type of service for a while when I was a kid. Trouble with that was, you didn’t get to choose who you “partied” with. Later, we had a phone line that we didn’t have to share with our neighbors and I even had a few friends that had their own phone line separate from their parents’ in their homes. Obviously, times and technology have changed. Kids of all ages have cell phones on which they communicate via voice or text and they also communicate from their “My Space” or “Facebook” page. I agree with Danah Boyd in Apophenia in that the social network sites are mainly used by kids for communicating with a network of friends already in their social circle. The occasional request for information about a homework assignment is no different than my requests made via telephone. The technology is different, but the premise is the same. The use is primarily social, not educational. I’m not saying that I think these sites are bad. Can they be detrimental to what goes on in education? I think the answer to that is “yes”. Like anything, we have to take the good with the bad. I also agreed with Boyd on the issue of other technologies being beneficial in the classroom. Blogging is one of those. Producing writing for classmates as well as the teacher to read is motivation for the student to do his or her best. As teachers, we have to focus on our goals for student learning and engage them with various techniques to keep them on the task at hand. Technology gives us more tools from which to choose to accomplish these goals. Hopefully, the new tools we have match up to the tools of distraction for the students. I don’t think “My Space” with its current use, has anymore use in the classroom than my old telephone.