[CITASA] Fwd: Chat Room Research?

[Patrick Williams, Ph.D.]

Hi Kate,

I'm not sure whether my research may be relevant or not because it seems my
focus was the opposite of yours. What I focused on was the subcultural use
of internet space, or said another way, what happens when youth subcultures
go online.  I did a case study of one internet bulletin board for several
years dedicated to the straightedge youth subculture. Straightedge (like
many subcultural networks) could be seen as a type of self-help group
insomuch as the subculture is predicated on the rejection of alcohol/drug
use and promiscuous sex.  The subculture emerged nearly 30 years ago as a
schism of punk and has morphed in different directions over the years. The
growth of straightedge websites has produced a lot of stress within the
subculture.  What I have focused on is how selves and identities are
produced in an online context, with a particular emphasis on the cleavage
between offline and online definitions of authentic subcultural identity and
participation.  You can use the following links:

http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/si.2005.28.1.67

http://jce.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/2/173


I hope its useful.

Best,

patrick.


-- 
Patrick Williams, Ph.D.
http://www.jpatrickwilliams.net


On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 12:50 PM, Jenkins, Kate <KJenkins at gc.cuny.edu> wrote:

>  Hi-
> In a project only tangentially related to the internet, I seem to have come
> across a gap in the literature, namely the changing use of the Internet
> regarding chat rooms.  All of what I have is marketing research, and most of
> that is raw numbers (e.g. two million average chat room users per day on
> AOL in 2002, thirty-thousand average chat room users per day on AOL in 2009,
> numbers probably off as I'm pulling from memory not text) that lack social
> context or relevant demographic information.
> While I have come across literature that almost secondarily refers to the
> decline of "anonymous" or "pseudonymous" interactions on the Internet
> (mostly in reference to the rise of social networking that
> emulates/replicates/reinforces/etc offline social networks), I haven't
> really found anything that directly addresses chat rooms or related internet
> phenomena (usenets, bulletin boards, etc).
> For a bit of context, this project relates to social support/self-help type
> websites, chat rooms, message boards, etc.  Basically I've found that for my
> population, the loss of the chat room(s) has lead to a politicization of the
> kinds of interactions people can have in relation to their condition, as a
> neutral space has been taken away, replaced by mostly sponsored message
> boards, listservs, and hosted chats.  However, I would like some context
> regarding changing internet use.
> Any leads are appreciate.
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Kate Jenkins, M.Phil.
> Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology
> CUNY Graduate Center
>
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>






-- 
Patrick Williams, Ph.D.
http://www.jpatrickwilliams.net
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