As many of you have probably heard, the imminent construction of Milstein Hall has displaced a number of architecture students from their humble abode of Rand hall to a location 2 miles off campus in downtown Our online group called “AAP [never] @ Esty Street” fits closely with Haythornwaite’s definition of Gemeinschaft (community) and has the characteristics of an egocentric network. Our strong interpersonal ties are founded in our “shared historical identity” (Etzioni & Etzioni): common ground of experiences in Rand Hall, mutual friends, professors we all know, and the disturbing news of the displacement. This identity is so strong that the social sphere of architects is often referred to as a cult. The “actors” directly involved in the displacement are those currently enrolled; we are like a family, held together by strong ties. The alumni in the community are weak ties. They are known by very few “actors” in the community, but they have unique historical advice to offer about negotiating with the Architecture department (this displacement situation is not unlike others in AAP’s past). A series of wall posts, messages, and notes from our Facebook group allowed us to voice our opinions to one another and form a comprehensive set of demands that we could all agree upon. The formation of this document was built through the Etzioni & Etzioni’s concept of reciprocity, where our common concerns were reinforced by one another. In fact, the formation of this web of relationships enabled each of us to bond with all the other people in the community, to the point where the group even augmented our concerns.
Our social network built on common ground and reciprocity resulted in increased social capital. By the time school started we had already organized and responded to the administration as a student body, rather than a few scattered complaints, which would have occurred without the formation of the CMC-based virtual community. CMC made it easier for us to assemble once we were back at school. For example, an offline meeting was announced online to all the members of the group only a day before the meeting time. Date, time, and location information is perfectly suited for lean media, and there was quite a showing at the offline meeting. It is important to note that though CMC helped unite the community, without real-world interaction following the creation of the community, the group would have fallen apart. Etzioni & Etzioni states that “support in multiple modes is likely to have the best community outcomes. In the real-world meetings, we could tell who was really devoted, and who was just part of the online group to show virtual support. Since we were all sitting at the same table eveyrone’s comments were given the same amount of attention, whereas online, not all of the wall posts were read or responded to. All in all, the online group prevented downtime by connecting the actors constantly, thus synergizing our operation to hold together a community threatened by physical dislocation.
See http://cornell.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4234599151 to view “AAP [never] @ Esty Street”
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http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/10/72-through-brunswikian-looking-glass.html
http://comm245brown.blogspot.com/2007/10/71-pumpkin-palooza.html
3 comments:
Alon, first of all, I'm sorry to hear about all this! But you illustrate a very important use of social capital, banding together. What's also interesting is how you formed new friends within the Facebook group, as you read and responded to others comments on the group. This tendency to band together as a group reminds me of intergroup dynamics, where your ingroup was strengthened by the looming outgroup of the administrators. CMC in this case expanded the social capital and better enabled intergroup dynamics to take place.
This isn't the first example on Facebook. For example when Facebook added the newsfeed, the same thing happened. The ingroup was the users and the outgroup was ironically Facebook. Furthermore, people were complaining about the technology that allowed them to see all their friends were complaining, which accelerated their collaboration. Something to wrap your mind around.
Alon, you did a great job with this post. I remember hearing about the displacement of Architecture students earlier this year (I think I read about it in the Daily Sun). However, not knowing any architects myself, it didn't strike me as such a horrible thing until I read your post. I can certainly understand how you joined together through Facebook, as well as in the outside world. Nice job!
I really liked all the presentation of your information in your post. I think that he whole situation is pretty crazy and unfortunate for you but it is really good that through the help of facebook there is more awareness being made about the situation. I am acutally kind of surprised that you said that without the real world interaction the group would of fallen apart. Groups formed on facebooks usually have such strong CMC connections through posting of updates within the group that are displayed on the Home page of facebook, the wall posts and personal messages to group members, which usually allows the cause to live on for long. This is a very interesting situation. Regardless, I am happy that the protesters were able to band together.
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