INFO203 - Social and Organizational Issues of Information

Week 8: Networks in Action

This week, we dive into the some examples of the ways in which social network analysis can be put to work. Hurlbert et al consider the question of how networks allocate resources. They examine the case of a hurricane to understand how the activation of ties in networks is influenced by the structure of an individual’s core network. In contrast, Adamic et al study a social network application set up at Stanford, to examine aggregate phenomena in the network, including the strength of weak ties and clustering, and also how users view themselves and one another, based on the profiles they set up.

April 1st, 2009 Ashwin

Week 7: The Wonderful World of Networks

This week: The wonderful world of Networks.  They are everywhere and alwayshave been. As if you needed any more reason to study them, networks can shape information flows, technological adoption, and employment prospects. Further, this is an especially amazing time to be looking at social networks as the last few years have featured the rise of sites devoted to individuals codifying their own networks.  A greater wealth of data is available than ever before and we didn’t even have to pay anyone to do it.

In the first half of the week we have two chapters explaining the fundamentals of network theory and analysis, as well as the best known application of social network analysis, Granovetter’s “The Strength of Weak Ties”.  In class we discussed various ways of measuring networks and a node’s place in them.  These measures included centrality, density, and others.

The second half of the week will focus on the role of homophily.  Homophily is a measure of similarity, something important in looking at the construction and interrelatedness in networks and the flow of information said networks.  As you read through this material, we suggest that you keep in mind one of the salient points from  “the strength of weak ties”: individuals who are less similar to you are likely to have different network connections.  Indeed, they are also likely to have information that you do not…yet.

March 4th, 2009 Devin

Week 6: Reading and Evaluating Research

It often seems that there are as many research methodologies as there are disciplines.  When you are in an interdisciplinary field such as ours, this can be very frustrating.  This week we aim to cut through all the assumptions about what quantitative and qualitative methods are “used for” or “not used for” and instead ask a simple question: what kind of research problems can be addressed with different research methodologies? On Tuesday we will devote half of our time to talking about research problems and justifications, and the other half to interpreting and using qualitative research.  We have an especially good reading as an example this week (Beamtimes and Lifetimes is an excellent ethnography of particle physicists), so we hope you will come armed with questions and comments.  On Thursday we shift to research problems that make use of quantitative methodologies.  We have a short introductory reading about inferential statistical methods (for context), and then a recent article that uses survey methods and statistics to examine the relationship between Internet use and earnings in the U.S.

February 23rd, 2009 Coye

Week 5: User Generated Content

In week 5 our readings deal with how information can act as a public good.  We look at two research articles that detail why information sharing is often complicated by different incentives, motivations, costs and benefits.  The Thursday lecture is devoted to applying our understanding of this material to two popular-press books: The Wisdom of Crowds and The Long Tail.

February 23rd, 2009 Coye

Week 4: Everyone Has Their Say!

We had a great discussion about the social implications of the Internet this week, covering a range of subjects, from the OLPC to politics in the age of Obama.

Will the OLPC help bring about the changes that its backers hope it will? It well may; but our discussions suggested that it is difficult to anticipate the exact uses to which the device might be put. In addition, we surfaced the dangers of treating the OLPC as a unitary object, eliding away the complexities of the system that it is embedded within, speaking of it  as a stand-in for many other issues that must be dealt with concomitantly (government policy, network infrastructures, teacher education, etc.).

The last election proved that the internet certainly can affect the political system. The extent of the changes, however, cannot fully be pinned down. The discussion raised questions of whether more people are contributing because of the internet, or if the same people are just contributing more. Whether the internet creates a greater plurality of viewpoints and better read populace, or if people are just sticking their heads in echo chambers.

This was  a great discussion, and we’re already thinking about how we can facilitate more such!

February 17th, 2009 Ashwin

Week 3: Technological Determinism, Social Constructivism and Everything In Between

This week, we extend the discussion from Fischer on the different schools of thought around the issues of the connections between technology and society. Does technology “cause” social change? Is society the sole determinant of the course that technology takes? The readings explore the range of possibilities between both these positions. Heilbroner writes persuasively of a sequence to the invention of technologies, and is closest to the technological determinist position. We will be discussing two of the more popular social constructivist approaches: the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Mackenzie attempts to reconcile these schools of thought, with a  consideration of what sociology and economics might learn from one another, and a nuanced view of “natural” technological trajectories. In these discussions, it can be easy to lose sight of the basic concepts that we’re dealing with; the optional reading from Leo Marx explores the origin and meanings of “technology”, helping to focus our analysis.

February 2nd, 2009 Ashwin

Week 2: The Telephone as Introduction to a Great Many Concepts

This week’s reading and discussion is based on Claude Fischer’s America Calling.  Fischer’s rather extensive study of the process by which the telephone became a fixture in American life can serve as a case study for the application of a number of bodies of theory found under the heading of Social Issues in information.  Chiefly, and following a discussion on this topic in his first chapter, the spread of the telephone in American society is a wonderful illustration of social constructivism as applied to technological adoption.  Fischer shows in detail that rather than dropping into society and wreaking changes, the role and eventual form of the telephone was a negotiation between many parties.  Marketers and executives, engineers, lawmakers, and consumers all had a role in shaping the technology, and this produced exogenous consequences which further shaped the process.  Fischer explores these, looking at the effects of the telephone on localism and sociability.  Make sure to think back on Fisher’s case study as we explore in greater depth the competing theories on technological adoption, impact, and diffusion in the weeks to come.

January 28th, 2009 Devin

Welcome to i203!

I would like to welcome you all to Info 203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information.  We will be posting information about the course and the readings to this site, so please check back each week for updated news.  We will also give you a preview of the readings in advance– including key issues to look for, points that we will be discussing in class and links to other material outside of class that may be of interest to you.

January 19th, 2009 Coye