(Apologies for a somewhat late post!)
Everyone has really great ideas (I thought about looking at ARGs as well!) , and this is making me somewhat insecure about mine. But here goes.
I have two ideas the first of which lies in examining the social interactions within online environments; and what helps or hinders them. Something that I have been trying to look at more closely is trust and how this is developed or what situations allow for the development of trust and which don’t.
So far, my feeling (and sense from some initial research) is that trust develops and is maintained very differently within different environments – ranging from medical support forums to multiplayer games. I would like to compare and contrast between the different ways in which members of online groups develop trust – either between each other or how it is supported from within the system itself. I have not yet picked specific locations, but maybe I’ll start with one of the discussion groups on EDUCAUSE. There are many discussion groups and I’m going to lurk on some of them before settling on one. I also know someone who is an active member, so I might be able to recruit them as an ‘insider’. I’d like to look at as varied and as different online groups/environments as possible to get a wide view of the subject. ANY and ALL suggestions very very welcome!
My second idea revolves around online multi-tasking. Personally, I’m online a LOT and constantly switch between windows (especially now that I don’t have my googledrug), from email to twitter to this blog to a chat window to my other class blog to another chat window to facebook, you get the picture. I’m not entirely sure how I would research this aspect of online behavior, but I thought I’d put it out there in case someone has any ideas! Maybe I could chat online with people I know and ask them questions like what they’re doing at that moment, how many windows they have open, how much work did they get done, etc.
Hope this makes sense, inputs and feedback more than welcome.
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15 Comments
The first issue or the way you introduced it seems a bit too broad to me. I think you would need to narrow it down much further or at least better explain how does trust manifest itself in the environment that you chose.
The second issue is interesting, there are many experiments and studies being done in this field. I would say, before you propose your own research, try to study some of the existing research that’s out there. The last time I’ve heard an expert speak about this subject, he actually claimed that we DONT multitask, our minds cannot do it, we just constantly flip through tasks, and unlike computers we do not process them in parallel.
you’re right, it is broad. I guess I’m trying to maybe find a definition of ‘trust’ as it relates to different online situations/environments – does that make sense? I find that in order to see how trust develops or is maintained, one should first start with a definition of trust. this definition varies depending on who or where you are, so maybe that’s what I can look at?
for the multi-tasking idea, I definitely need to look at what’s out there some more. here’s a recent study that I came across (I once took a class with Nass and one of the researchers was a colleague of mine!).
I like your first idea quite a bit. The way that “trust” is built definitely varies from environment to environment. For instance, the Rudius Media message board has a feature where members can spread reputation in a positive or negative manner. They are also able to leave a comment with their [anti]validation; this cannot be done negatively. Sometimes the validation comment is insightful and legitimate, other times it occurs simply because a member has some online or real world celebrity status. In the token, members with more validation points hold more weight when they spread reputation [either positive or negative]. It’s an interesting system.
Now, I barely frequent message boards at all, so I’m not sure how common of a system this is. The Rudius Media board covers an array of topics from rants or gambling to short stories; it also provides a forum for networking. The members generally don’t get together to accomplish anything on the real world. I would be highly interested in learning about the way trust is built on the website of an actual organization – or something more ‘important’ than the message board I’ve mentioned [Educause seems like a good starting point]. I think an in-depth study on one organization could work. It would also be interesting to see a comparison between different online environments.
They are also able to leave a comment with their [anti]validation; this cannot be done ANONYMOUSLY**.
Minor correction.
The multi-tasking idea is great. I hate it when people chat/cheat on me (chat with other people while they are chatting with me), but I do it to others all the time
Could be interesting to look at programs like WriteRoom that are specifically designed as distraction-free, for those who are prone to escape into multi-tasking themselves into oblivion.
yeah your interest in trust online seems to boil down to reputation management systems, something that Melissa will be looking at. Maybe you two can team up to look at different aspects of effective reputation management systems and get this networked research thing going.
Maybe Gravatar could be one place to start…
@JM: thanks, you’ve given me quite a bit to think about!
@ms. viola swamp: I do too! haha! I will definitely look at WriteRoom – I’ve never heard of it before now.
@Gabe: I was thinking more of looking at how the interaction between members helps or hinders the development of trust, not so much the system itself. there are many ways in which websites (particularly e-commerce sites) build in reputation management like ebay does. I’m not so much interested n that – I want to know how it affects real online interaction between 2 (or more) people in online environments. make sense?
oh and I commented on Sara’s post and it made me think further about the whole multi-tasking thing. this is what I wrote there, any thoughts?
“wow. writing that out has made me think of looking at this phenomenon from the angle of starting points and where they lead us and at what point do we stop – is it the kind of information that makes us stop or is it time or is it something else altogether? thanks for making me think about this and let me know if it helps!”
I like your idea about the multi-tasking, because I think that that is a fairly new development with the internet. In my core seminar, Prof. Sherzinger has this article from the NY times (can’t tell you the title…) about how apparently people who multi-task by choice are the worst at multi-tasking! Surprising, but apparently according to some study it’s the people who don’t like to and are forced to for some reason or the other that are the best at it. And yes, the ideas of all the different “chat” windows that can be open at once (Many without having to actually download any application, like Facebook and Gchat) would be worth looking into, i feel like sometimes they REALLY distract me!
thanks H-Man; the article you’re referring to seems to be about the same study I posted above =)
not sure if I should post this here or start a new post, but I just hit upon another possible travelogue idea: social networking games. I HATE THESE THINGS. and all the updates from other people playing them really really annoy me. I’ve tried my hand at a couple on fb way in the beginning (I think it was vampire wars?) and even participated in a couple on twitter (spymaster was one of them). but the novelty wore out pretty quickly and I didn’t feel like it added to my life in any way. seeing as how much I hate them, it only makes sense (right?) to look at what makes me hate them and what makes other people love them so much. how long do they last? what causes them to fizzle out?
I also have a friend who works at Zynga (one of the perpetrators of this scourge) and I can maybe get access to some ‘inside’ info about all of this.
what do you guys think?
If you can take out Farmville on Facebook, I’d be most grateful. My mother is a little too involved with her virtual farm. Seriously though, if you could narrow the scope a bit, I hope you’ll choose the trust topic. As we read in the Rosen piece, trust online is built in a different manner than the institutionally driven methods of bricks and mortar journalists, for example. What does that trust look like in a given environment or two? How is it earned? How is it betrayed? You have many great ideas, Sava.
@gorditamedia: thank you so much! you are so kind. I’m always nervous about putting my ideas out there, so it’s nice to hear that someone is interested =)
I hide all updates from Farmville and Vampire Wars and Mafia Wars. drives me NUTS!
I love reading your posts, by the way! even if you are an MS person
@sava: thanks!! I hope you will allow me to buy you a cup of sometime to talk about Nass. Did you ever take a class with Prof. Bailenson? I go fan girl for him! I have the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab tabbed on my browser.
Oh, and that was a cup of your favorite beverage. I tried to be cute by using insert marks. That’ll teach me.
haha! I was wondering what a ‘cup of sometime’ was, but it sounds good nonetheless =)