[Web4lib] dana boyd Dissertation On Social Networks / Teens Now Available

[McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]]

Colleagues/

 

dana boyd, one of the leaders in the study of online social networks has
announced the availability of her dissertation  "Taken Out of Context:
American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics"

 

Abstract

 

As social network sites like MySpace and Facebook emerged, American
teenagers began adopting them as spaces to mark identity and socialize
with peers. Teens leveraged these sites for a wide array of everyday
social practices-gossiping, flirting, joking around, sharing
information, and simply hanging out. While social network sites were
predominantly used by teens as a peer-based social outlet, the
unchartered nature of these sites generated fear among adults. This
dissertation documents my 2.5-year ethnographic study of American teens'
engagement with social network sites and the ways in which their
participation supported and complicated three
practices-self-presentation, peer sociality, and negotiating adult
society.

 

My analysis centers on how social network sites can be understood as
networked publics which are simultaneously (1) the space constructed
through networked technologies and (2) the imagined community that
emerges as a result of the intersection of people, technology, and
practice. Networked publics support many of the same practices as
unmediated publics, but their structural differences often inflect
practices in unique ways. Four properties-persistence, searchability,
replicability, and scalability-and three dynamics-invisible audiences,
collapsed contexts, and the blurring of public and private-are examined
and woven throughout the discussion.

 

While teenagers primarily leverage social network sites to engage in
common practices, the properties of these sites configured their
practices and teens were forced to contend with the resultant dynamics.
Often, in doing so, they reworked the technology for their purposes. As
teenagers learned to navigate social network sites, they developed
potent strategies for managing the complexities of and social
awkwardness incurred by these sites. Their strategies reveal how new
forms of social media are incorporated into everyday life, complicating
some practices and reinforcing others. New technologies reshape public
life, but teens' engagement also reconfigures the technology itself.

 

I Have Profiled The Dissertation's Abstract as Well As Its Table of
Contents {With Links To The Full PDF File} & {A The dana boyd Link}  At 

 

[ http://tinyurl.com/7uzth3  ]

 

Enjoy!

 

/Gerry 

 

Gerry McKiernan

Associate Professor

Science and Technology Librarian

Iowa State University Library

Ames IA 50011

 

gerrymck at iastate.edu 

 

There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor
Hugo 

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