Geography and Community: New Forms of Interaction Among People and Places

Abstract

Today location-based data, such as GPS coordinates, are increasingly being incorporated into Internet sites such as Flickr, Jaiku, and Placeopedia. In turn, new practices are emerging that evoke innovative ways of relating among people and between individuals and places. This article investigates this geographic turn in networked interaction—particularly, emergent sensemaking regarding the role of location in distributed communities. The author uses an inductive, grounded theory methodology based on ethnographic interview and artifact data to compare the microblogging practices of two communities: those using Twitter and those using Jaiku. Findings suggest that the organizing practices of the two groups are quite different, despite the similarities in the tools they use to interact. Although each platform allows for the development of peripheral awareness and ambient intimacy within user groups, the design affordances of Twitter as a straightforward broadcasting tool result in social patterns that are quite distinct from those of Jaiku, whose design enables threaded conversation. As a result, the communal bonds among Jaiku users appear to be built on thematic, conversational interaction that relies little on shared geographical references. Twitter users, with less robust means of threaded response, tend to broadcast individual reports from various geographical outposts. Communal bonds are thus formed on the basis of recognizing the highly indexical references, which in turn reinforce a common geographical locus for the community. The article concludes with a discussion of how design, though not determinate of interaction directly, is influential in shaping social patterns that emphasize different types of communal bonds.

Social Action in the Social Movement: Egyptian Twitter Usage during Protests

“…V. DISCUSSION The findings of this study expand existing literature on social media usage in protest movements by providing an analysis of the actual tweets versus news about the tweets and by examining a large protest movement in Egypt that was largely broadcasted and discussed through online social media. Erickson (2010) and Ems (2009) both discussed the importance of sharing information through micro broadcasting and geographic distribution, and these findings corroborate those results while pointing out some salient differences. With over half of all of the tweets using the #Jan25 tag containing logistical information, it is clear that Twitter was used as an organizational tool to share information and coordinate efforts.…”

“…It also correlates with the assertions made by Khamis and Vaughn (2011), as they argued that Twitter became a way to disseminate information as the event occurred, both within and outside of the country. The data in this study exemplifies the unification of experience, opinion, and observation, thus positioning Twitter users during the Egypt protest as citizen micro broadcasters (Erickson, 2010).…”

“…In all three cases, Ems (2009) found that Twitter was used to "organize protests, get information to media outlets about the protests, or to avoid police in the streets during protests." Erickson (2010) called this type of information "citizen microbroadcasting," which involved sending relevant, location-specific information to followers. Typically, the user would report on events as they were occurring and combine that with personal, opinion related commentary (Erickson, 2010).…”

Social interaction via new social media: (How) can interactions on Twitter affect effectual thinking and behavior?

“…Conceptualizing the role of social interactions is increasingly pressing as the use of social media escalates, and the variety of types of social interactions proliferates (e.g. Erickson, 2010). Thus, given that (1) social interactions are posited to play a central role in effectuation processes; (2) existing conceptualizations of the impact of social interactions is relatively limited; and (3) social media appear to be giving rise to new types of social interactions, it is critical that we develop theory regarding how social interactions of the type that occur via social media such as Twitter may impact effectual processes.…”

The Map is Not Which Territory?: Speculating on the Geo-Spatial Diffusion of Ideas in the Arab Spring of 2011

“…Original propositions about physical proximity that populated early versions of diffusion theory seem almost quaint in today's new media environment, and yet, geography still plays a central role in such human activities (Crandall et al, 2010;Erickson, 2010; Jones et al, 2008;Tillema, Dijst & Schwanen, 2010;Yin et al, 2011). Furthermore, some of the original propositions of DI theory, such as the moderating role of homophily (i.e., similarity), may take on new importance in a realm in which media exposure and relationship formation can be highly selective in the context of a large field of availables (e.g., Watts, Dodds & Newman, 2002).…”