Workshops
Public Practices, Social Software:
Examining social practices in networked publics
Organizers: danah boyd, Nicole Ellison and Scott Golder
A brief description of this workshop is provided below. The organizers have provided more details on a separate workshop web site at the following URL:
http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~dmb/ct-sns/
Brief Description:
This full-day workshop proposes to bring together researchers interested in studying social software. We use this term loosely to include social network sites (e.g., Cyworld, MySpace, orkut, and Facebook), contemporary online dating services (e.g., Friendster, Spring Street Personals, Match.com), blogging services (e.g., LiveJournal, Xanga, Blogger), tagging tools (e.g. del.icio.us, Digg) and media sharing sites (e.g., YouTube, Flickr). Although the functionality of these sites differs greatly, there are some common features: a user-generated profile, visible linkages between users, public communication forums (such as message boards or comments), and persistent traces of user behavior.
This workshop will have two parts. The first half will focus on presentations and the second half will involve small group breakouts. Those who apply to this workshop and are accepted will be given a presentation slot. In order to make this workshop more accessible to attendees of the conference, the presentation section will be open to observers. In the afternoon, only those who have been pre-selected will be allowed to participate. Those interested in being a part of the second half must apply to the workshop.
Workshop Goals and Application Process:
The goals of this workshop are to enable cross-fertilization among researchers studying related technologies. Participants will be exposed to new ideas, methodological approaches, and theories. We will try to complicate the ways in which people are engaging with different features.
To submit an application:
Please send the following to all three organizers (dmb [at] sims.berkeley.edu , nellison [at] msu.edu , scott.golder [at] hp.com).
- A brief biography of approximately 150 words
- A 400-500 word research statement addressing your research project, methods, findings, and future research questions and goals
- 3 research questions about social software which you find especially provocative and engaging. These should be questions that you'd like to discuss with other researchers and practitioners.
- The deadline for submissions has been extended to May 7, 2007. We will let you know if you have been chosen to participate by May 21, 2007.
- The workshop takes place June 28, 2007.
Please visit the workshop web page for more information:
http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~dmb/ct-sns/
Workshop organizers:
danah boyd is a doctoral student in the School of Information at University of California-Berkeley and a fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Communications. She studies identity, context, social networks, youth culture, social software, performance, Friendster, and MySpace.
Nicole Ellison is an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at MSU. Broadly speaking, she studies the social implications of new information and communication technologies. Most recently she has examined self-presentation in online dating, the relationship between Facebook use and social capital among college students, and the effects of blogging in the classroom.
Scott Golder is a researcher in the Information Dynamics Lab at HP Labs. He studies online communities, social networks and collaborative systems and enjoys analyzing such environments as well as designing novel interfaces for them. His previous and ongoing work includes studies of del.icio.us, Facebook, Usenet, email networks and online gambling. Before joining HP Labs, Scott was a graduate student at the MIT Media Laboratory.