Literature summary for the course Internet, Social Media and Networks at Utrecht University 2022/2023. This contains the 5 weeks of literature including the book chapters and articles.
Literature Summary – Internet, Social Media & Networks – 2022/2023
Week 1
Auckland Chapter 1 – Introduction
1.1 The Web: Technology, History and Governance
Data is transferred between computers on the internet and split into small blocks: packets,
which are transferred. For the packets to be sent and received there are rules and protocols.
Transmission Control Protocol (TPC) and Internet Protocol (IP).
Another protocol about the delivery of email is: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
Protocol underlying the web is HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), allowing the
development of web pages written in in HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
Internet: network of computers connected by cables.
Web: network of documents connected by hypertext links.
Wen has 3 phases of development eras:
Web 1.0: webmasters create content that is then read or consumed by users. This is
Static Web, since there is barely any inactivity.
Web 2.0: blurs distinction between webmasters and users with blogging tools, social
network sites and microblogs. This enables non-technical people to produce and
consume content.
Web 3.0: semantic web. Technologies that make web more machine-readable,
leading to a ‘web of data’. (still in its infancy)
1.2 Examples of Online Computer Mediated Interaction
Threaded Conversations: Newsgroups, Discussion Groups and Chat Rooms
Newsgroups are repositories of emails set up for different topics, hosted by Usenet system.
Threaded conversations occur within newsgroups when people make posts to newsgroups
(starting a thread) and respond to others’ posts.
Discussion groups (or chat rooms): hosted on the web and similar functionality to
newsgroups.
Web 1.0 Websites: represent organizational web presence, rather than web presence of a
person, they do not allow readers to interact with website authors.
Wikis: a website where web pages can be edited by members of the public.
Social Network Sites: websites that allow people to create personal profiles and interact
with other people.
Microblog Sites: allows subscribers to broadcast short messages to other subscribers of the
service (e.g. Twitter).
,Virtual Worlds: simulated environments where individuals can assume digital
representations (avatars) and interact with others. Two types:
Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Often fantasy themed.
Non-gaming virtual world.
1.3 Cyberspace, Virtual Communities and Online Social Networks
Cyberspace: way of describing the internet as a virtual place in which people interact.
The Cyberspace Ethos
Clarke identified several aspects of cyberspace ethos:
Interpersonal communications: with organizations having the roles as providers of
resources rather than participants. Interpersonal communications are greatly
enhanced with Web 2.0.
Internationalism and universalism: content and connectivity is available to anyone:
there are no borders in cyberspace.
Egalitarianism: while participants might have particular roles (e.g. moderators),
there is no hierarchy of authority on the internet and people behave as though they
are and are equal.
Openness: the internet’s fundamental protocols and standards are open to anyone
Communitarianism and mutual service: many participants feel like they belong to a
community.
Freedoms: a core aspect of cyberspace ethos is the importance of personal freedom
in cyberspace.
Virtual Communities
Most common term (other than cyberspace) to describe this virtual place where people
interact is virtual community. We can call a group a community when they have a sense of
belonging and a collective identity.
How does a group develop common beliefs, norms and understanding? 3 factors:
1. High degree of perceived homogeneity among members
2. Physical proximity of individuals
3. Existence of social relations or ties
Online group: group of people who conduct personal computer-mediated interactions,
where interaction is focused on a topic that reflects the common interest of the group. It is a
group of people with shared interests who communicate via the internet but where
collective identity does not exist.
Virtual community: online group where there are additionally shared values, norms and
understandings.
What is the role of the 3 factors (homogeneity, proximity, social ties) in the formation of
virtual community? The role of homogeneity is diminished since people can interact online
without revealing much about themselves. Physical proximity has been reduced as well.
,Social network site: online environment such as Facebook.
Online social network: formal representation of a social network, where the data on ties
and nodes are the result of online interactions between individuals.
1.4 Disciplinary Approaches to Researching the Web
4 major approaches to conducting empirical research into the web:
- Network science as practiced by applied physicists and computer scientists
- Network science as practiced by social scientists
- Information science
- Media studies
Network Science (Applied Physics and Computer Science)
Applied physicists and computer scientists who study large-scale networks with the aim of:
1. Measuring properties of networks
2. Using statistical-mechanical models to generate simulated networks exhibiting the
properties that are observed in real networks
Information Science
Webometrics is an approach for analyzing the hyperlink data and website usage patterns,
drawing on bibliometrics and informetrics.
Webometrics often involves the use of statistical techniques in an attempt to ident what
characteristics of a website and of the people who run the website lead to the acquisition of
hyperlinks.
Media Studies
Media studies is concerned with media content and impact (particularly focused on mass
media)
Network Science (Social Science)
Second variant of networks science is those by social scientists.
How does social science approach differ from other disciplines?
1. Social scientists are more concerned about using models of behavior compared to
applied physicists and computer scientists
2. Social scientists are more focused on how the internet is used by actors to pursue
social, economic and political ends rather than internet as a force that is controlling
people’s behavior, compared to media studies.
3. Information science uses webometric techniques: ‘what are the qualities of an actors
receiving most hyperlinks?’, while social science studies use of exponential random
graph models: ‘why do actors make or receive an hyperlink?’
1.5 Construct Validity of Web Data
Construct validity of web data can be assessed in 3 ways:
1. Testing whether the online network displays structural signatures that are consistent
with those displayed by real-world actors (does Facebook friendship networks data
display homophily on basis of race, ethnicity?)
2. By testing whether variables constructed from the web data are correlated with
other accepted measures of the construct.
, 3. Construct validity may be demonstrated if it can be shown that an actor’s position in
an online network has influence on his or her performance or outcomes in a manner
that accords with what is found online
Auckland Chapter 2 – Online Research Methods
2.1 Dimensions and Modes of Online Research
There are 2 dimensions of social research: method and researcher presence.
There are 2 main social research methods:
Quantitative methods: use of standardized research instruments for collecting data
from a sample which has been drawn from a larger population. They work with
numbers. They focus on a deductive approach where hypotheses are tested using
statistical techniques
Qualitative methods: used to explore concepts. They work with text. They are
inductive, starts with observations and identifies patterns that can be generalized.
There are 4 main modes of social research:
Experiments: attempt to establish influence of a particular variable on behavior my
making a comparison between 2 similar groups: treatment group and control group.
There are 4 types of experiments:
o Laboratory experiments: conducted in environments set up for this purpose,
researcher has a lot of control over the conditions.
o Field experiments: conducted in natural environments. Participants are
generally not aware they are in a field experiment. Researcher still has
control over the variable but it is harder to control for cofounding factors.
o Natural experiments: conducted in the real world, involve researcher taking
advantage of naturally occurring change in conditions faced by participants
o Quasi-experiments: intervention is aimed at influencing the outcome that is
being studies but there is not a full random assignment of individuals or
households, and hence it is a field experiment.
Surveys, interviews, focus groups: involve the application of a research instrument:
o Survey questionnaire
o Interviews and focus groups set of questions, guidelines, script
Field Research: researcher observes people and events as they naturally occur.
There are 2 types:
o Participant observation: researcher openly identifies himself and interacts
with research subjects.
o Non-participants observation: subjects are aware they are being observed but
have no information on the study’s nature.
Unobtrusive research: researchers has no contact with the research subjects. There
are 2 types:
o Secondary data analysis: use of data collected earlier by someone else for
another purpose.
o Content analysis: study of recorder communications.
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