[Asis-l] dana boyd Dissertation On Social Networks / Teens Now Available

[gerrymck]

Colleagues/

dana boyd, one of the leaders in the study of online social networks, has
announced the availability of her dissertation  "Taken Out of Context:
American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics"

Abstract

As social network sites like MySpace and Facebook emerged, American
teenagers began adopting them as spaces to mark identity and socialize with
peers. Teens leveraged these sites for a wide array of everyday social
practices—gossiping, flirting, joking around, sharing information, and
simply hanging out. While social network sites were predominantly used by
teens as a peer-based social outlet, the unchartered nature of these sites
generated fear among adults. This dissertation documents my 2.5-year
ethnographic study of American teens' engagement with social network sites
and the ways in which their participation supported and complicated three
practices—self-presentation, peer sociality, and negotiating adult society.

My analysis centers on how social network sites can be understood as
networked publics which are simultaneously (1) the space constructed through
networked technologies and (2) the imagined community that emerges as a
result of the intersection of people, technology, and practice. Networked
publics support many of the same practices as unmediated publics, but their
structural differences often inflect practices in unique ways. Four
properties—persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability—and
three dynamics—invisible audiences, collapsed contexts, and the blurring of
public and private—are examined and woven throughout the discussion.

While teenagers primarily leverage social network sites to engage in common
practices, the properties of these sites configured their practices and
teens were forced to contend with the resultant dynamics. Often, in doing
so, they reworked the technology for their purposes. As teenagers learned to
navigate social network sites, they developed potent strategies for managing
the complexities of and social awkwardness incurred by these sites. Their
strategies reveal how new forms of social media are incorporated into
everyday life, complicating some practices and reinforcing others. New
technologies reshape public life, but teens' engagement also reconfigures
the technology itself.

I Have Profiled The Dissertation's Abstract As Well As Its Table of Contents
{With Links To The Full PDF File} & {The dana boyd Link}  At

[ http://tinyurl.com/7uzth3  ]

Enjoy!

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu

There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor
Hugo
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Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows
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