a methodological approach for researching digital communities
TRANSCRIPT
Alexia Maddoxfind me on twitter @alexiamadd
A methodological approach for researching digital communities
Overview
❖ The case study community ❖ Metaphors of social form❖ Community as the container ❖ The environmental imprint of
a digital community❖ The 4/3 dance between
theory and data❖ Reflections & directions
The case study community
❖ People with interests in reptiles and amphibians.
❖ Marginalised community.❖ Occupants of the digital frontier.❖ Globally distributed, technically
mediated.❖ A combination of organisational
engagement and the power of social networks.
❖ High levels of exchange, low levels of trust.
❖ Mixed methods study: participant observation, in-person interviewing, online survey.
What kinds of theoretical frames would work for this study?
Metaphors of Social form❖ Society as an Organism (sum of
parts)❖ Class hierarchy (social
stratification through the pyramid schema)
❖ Community (a subset of society in a nation-state)
❖ Digitally native ideas (viral, networked & self-organising)❖ fields (networks & clusters)❖ rhizomes (memetic, & self-
replicating) ❖ swarms (self-organising &
dynamic)❖ ecologies (niche habitats)
Considerations• Adaptive nature of social
structures;• Loci of social control and
regulation;• Characteristics of social
cohesion: including notions of social stability and continuity;
• Capacity for social change through individual and collective action;
• Pathways for social mobility; and a
• Multi-sited and dynamic notion of place.
Community as the study container
❖ Theoretical and methodological safety net❖ Distinct boundaries, location and social
composition❖ Neighbourhood studies (by postcode)❖ Migrant groups studies (by ethnicity)❖ Gang studies (organic formations)❖ Online community studies (by platform)
The digital niche of community
❖ Characterising digital community through its coordinates in place and virtual space allows for a multi-sited notion of community.
❖ A digital community is characterised by open social structures that are dynamic and mobile.
❖ An environmental approach:❖ Sidesteps the structure-agency chestnut ❖ Moves away from seeing community as a subset of society.❖ Transcends digital dualism (separating online and offline behaviours).❖ Allows for the study of the emergent and episodic nature of
community engagement.
What kinds of research methods would work for this study?
The environmental approach
❖ Early Chicago School studies looked at migrant groups and the organic formations of gangs.
❖ Techniques used - ethnography and surveying populations to produce topographical maps.
❖ They demonstrated a diverse and pragmatic approach to research methods.
–Sampson 2002
1. A relentless focus on context (especially place) 2. a focus on properties of communities and cities as
social systems3. a relational concern with variability in forms of
social organization as opposed to population attributes (or composition)
4. continual attention to neighborhood change and spatial dynamics (time and space)
5. an eclectic style of data collection that relies on multiple methods but that always connects to some form of observation
6. a concern for public affairs and the improvement of community life and
7. an integrating theme of theoretically interpretive empirical research.
On the Chicago School approach:
The 4/3 dance❖ Communities are
characterised by:
1. Place
2. Composition
3. Boundaries
4. Social cohesion
❖ The emergent niche of a community is observable by:
1. Built environment
2. Social layer
3. Mediating culture
What does this look like when you merge the concept with the
available methodological toolkit?
Figure 1: Methods for researching the emergent form of digital community
Maddox (2015) “Research Methods and Global Online Communities: A case study”, Ashgate, UK
The built environment: from physical space to code
❖ Technology use and engagement
❖ Social media platforms
❖ Place (co-ordinates in time and space)
❖ Physical architecture & infrastructure
❖ Methods (quant & qual)❖ Surveying❖ Observation❖ Data visualisation
Social layer❖ Social capital
❖ Group membership
❖ Participation in voluntary organisations
❖ Trust & reciprocity
❖ Methods (quantitative)❖ Surveying (existing
measures)❖ Social network
analysis❖ Observation❖ Interviewing
Mediating culture❖ Shared or
overlapping values❖ Social norms and
expectations.❖ Narrative field❖ Collective identity❖ Collective action
❖ Ethnographic Methods❖ Observation❖ Interviewing
Concluding reflections❖ The study of communities remains relevant even in
the context of access to mass swathes of digital data about people both within and beyond country borders.
❖ Researcher use of Big Data provides insights into trends and social movements at scale.
❖ This can be contextual to and provide background information about the emergent and environmental niche of a community under study.
❖ The embedding of the internet into everyday life has changed the ways that researchers can imagine, engage and analyse communities.