Social Movement Blog

Having set up initial party conditions, SML researchers intervened by wrapping socially connected individuals with yarn. 05/2006

Caroline Woolard suggests this reference:
“So many words get lost. They leave the mouth and lose their courage,
wandering aimlessly until they are swept into the gutter like dead
leaves. On rainy days you can hear their chorus rushing past:
IwasabeautifulgirlPleasedon’tgoItoobelievemybodyismadeofglassI’veneverlov
edanyoneIthinkofmyselfasfunnyForgiveme….

There was a time when it wasn’t uncommon to use a piece of string to
guide words that otherwise might falter on the way to their
destinations. Shy people carried a bundle of string in their pockets,
but people considered loudmouths had no less need for it, since those
used to being overheard by everyone were often at a loss for how to
make themselves heard by someone. The physical distance between two
people using a string was often small; sometimes the smaller the
distance, the greater the need for string.” Nicole Krauss, The History of
Love: A Novel (2005)

I am currently pursuing an ethnomethodological study of Myspace, the fastest growing online social network. Myspace has been growing exponentially for the past 3 years, and has just exceeded 55 million users.

Method:
I have created a virtual identity as a researcher and embedded myself within the Myspace community. My virtual identity can be viewed here: www.myspace.com/ethnography

My preliminary questions include:

1. What is the relationship between music and identity on Myspace?
2. Why is Myspace the fastest growing social network?
3. Why is Myspace ‘fun’?

I am interested in the personal public messaging that occurs within ‘comments.’ This is a communicatory medium analogous to talking loudly at a party, so as to be over-heard. The quanity and quality of a user’s comments is an important source of social capital to be acrued on myspace.

More soon…

Authors: McPhail, Clark
Abstract: Milling clusters, surges within gatherings, street actions, demonstration marches, and state processions are forms of social behavior with which we mark points along a continuum of collective locomotion. A theoretical framework, field observations, measurement criteria and procedures are presented to systematically describe variations in the complexity of collective locomotion. An explanation for these variations is drawn from the ideas of G. H. Mead and from the cybernetic model of W. T. Powers. Field observations and quasi-experimental evidence are presented in support of that explanation. Implications are discussed for the recharacterization and explanation of and for future research on, other elementary forms of collective behavior.

http://aaarg.e-rat.org/index.php/Library:McPhail:Collective

reposted from Sean