Transcript The Question of the Digital Divide... …and Some Answers

Community Informatics Summer School
July 4, 2012 / Day 3
Social networks and social capital:
Wellman … Coleman+ … Williams
Topics
1. A note on the importance of mapping
2. Social networks
3. Social capital
4. Applying these two theories in a
community informatics study
Urban sociology:
does community
persist in the
industrial city?
Wellman and
Leighton:
is community =
neighborhood?
Jane Addams, Chicago 1890s
Barry Wellman
Educated by early urban sociologists
US, emigrated to Toronto
Leader in social network analysis
Barry Leighton
Barry’s first phd student
Australian, migrated to Canada
Researcher-consultant
1970s: sociologists start thinking of
a community as a network
W & L summarize others’ research
Community LOST: fewer social ties, people’s needs
are met by large bureaucracies, people are isolated
no community
Community SAVED: urban village is strong and
close-knit, local people form strong ties and help
each other
community = neighborhood
Community LIBERATED: urbanites are
cosmopolitans, their social networks span the
metropolis
community ≠ neighborhood
Each theory has policy implications
(theory makes a difference – D7)
Community lost: Either leave people neglected,
or use bureaucracies (government, corporations),
because they do not rely on any social ties
Community saved: Support the local help
networks, get or give services in the neighborhood
Community liberated: Provide support via
multiple networks, near and far. Rely on
telecommunications and travel for resource giving
and getting
James Coleman
University of Chicago
Sociologist
Focused on equality in education
Nan Lin 林南
Duke University
Born Chongqing
educated in Taiwan/US
1979 partnered with Nankai
Different findings, each meaningful
Coleman (d. 1995): Closed networks are
powerful, produce social capital (resources) for
their members
Diamond merchants require high trust
Secret organizations work in tiny cells
Lin: Open networks are powerful, produce
social capital for their members
Often people outside your close networks
bring you new resources
and Net can maximize our social capital!
Social capital = resources available
through one’s social networks1
from GRANOVETTER
strong ties = bonding social capital,
weak ties = bridging social capital2
1 LIN, Nan. Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and
Action. London: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
2 PUTNAM, Robert. Bowling Alone. 2001.
Manchester study by Williams
published in CJLIS
Using social network and
social capital theory to ask:
How can community’s own life
bridge the digital divide?
Interviewed
people from
31 groups…
…including
tenant groups
…cultural groups
…and social support groups
7
9
4
Relationship between purpose and IT use:
Downloaders: email, creating documents—
some IT use
Uploaders: maintaining group websites—
more IT use
Cyberorganizers: helping others become
downloaders and uploaders—most IT use
Social capital/social networks:
asking about the groups IT helpers
21-22. Where do they work, what are their
duties?
24. Do they live within a mile of you?
25. How often do you see them?
26. Have you invited them to your home, or
have they invited you to theirs?
27. Would you say they are family, friend,
workmate, or acquaintance?
Social capital/social network diagrams
Social capital matters,
strong ties dominate
• More social capital (more helpers) = more IT
use
• 73% of helpers are friends, family
• 60% are volunteering, not paid
• 54% are seen frequently ( >1x fortnight)
• 52% have visited in the home
• 42% live within a mile
Questions, discussion