The Facebook Project, Revision 1

Consider this page out of date and potentially inaccurate!

About

The Facebook Project is a research project headed up by Jeff Ginger for his Senior Seminar in Science, Technology and Society. The project is also a research project for the Sociology club at the University of Illinois. The project was started in late March of 2006 and will continue and develop for some time.

Purpose of the Project

Simply put The Facebook Project is investigating the impacts of Facebook on the college student population. The first stage of research has to do with privacy and trust as well as how Facebook has aided in redefining the ways in which people meet each other in person and on the Internet. An excerpt from the abstract of my paper can be read below:

The coming of the information age has inspired the birth of new inceptions in the world of Social Networking.  New mediums have caused a paradigm shift in the way we communicate and view each other as more and more individuals become part of global networks.  The dawn of a mature yet dynamic and wildly successful Social Network known as the Facebook has quickly become a fundamental defining point to how college students all over the country interact on the internet.  So much influence has this service had that social norms of privacy regarding the internet and sharing of personal information have been redefined.  In addition service users have adjusted the way they meet and interact with others in daily life as a result of this all encompassing social web.  Ultimately these same users are learning to depend on Facebook for both their social knowledge as well as extended representations of both their own and others personalities.  This technological extension of the mind and dependence is comparable to a sort of “Cyborging of the mind” and may be just the beginnings of a new regard for identity on the internet.  Furthermore the technological-social network Facebook itself is comparable to a cybernetic organism; the network is largely about communication and very potentially oriented to be employed for control. 

Methodology

The Facebook Project isn't quite the standard research project.

Contemporary Dynamic Literature Review - Due to the fact that the Internet is always changing and that Facebook is a recent implementation of digital social networking, there are no specific academic journals or book sources that deal with the web site. As a result most of my current 'literature review' has been based on web site articles and Wikipedia.

Restricted Literature Review - Still in process, I am consulting sources and materials dealing with privacy and the web, social relations and interactions via the Internet, and other sources dealing with cyborg dependence on technology. Likely this will be an on-going process that I will carry out into the summer and into next year. Social networking and transformations of the digital age are of course another well researched topic and I intend to consult materials on these as well.

Short Answer Surveys - The first phase of research consists of a series of short answer (multiple choice) surveys designed to collect information on user habits and demographics as well as a few subjects. Please investigate the Survey page for more information about these.

Open Ended Interviews - The second phase of research will be a number of open ended surveys or interviews about participant (and non-participant!) opinions on Facebook and the features thereof. These will begin at a future date to be announced.

Data Collection - Currently the survey process is simple and regulated. Surveys are hosted on a survey service provider web site and results are analyzed from there for a number of interesting statistics. No personal information collected will be identifiable to any specific individual. Furthermore questions will not be changed or removed (save for spelling or grammar mistakes should they be found) after a survey is released thereby insuring integrity of data. At this current point in time data is being collected via two methods of sampling. First, a random sampling of Email addresses from the University of Illinois undergraduate population has been obtained for use. Second, event invitations and Emails have been sent out to everyone connected to the project coordinators inviting them to participate in the survey. The surveys linked to from this web site are included in the invite participant pool. These two sets of data are kept separate but take the same survey questions. Consideration has been given to wording and order of questions as well as ease of use.

Project Coordinators

At this point in time only Jeff Ginger is formally involved in directing the project. Others are invited to get involved, however, if they are interested.

About Science, Technology, and Society

Sociology 495 is currently being taught by Andy Pickering, a well known professor in the Sociology Department. His fields of research include Science, Technology and Society (STS) as well as Theory and a number of other informal pursuits. He will be visiting Stanford during the Academic year of 2006-2007 so find him before then if you have questions. The class consists of mostly graduate students with a few undergraduates and focuses primarily on Andy's subjects of research. Students are invited to present on a variety of article topics over the semester and also participate in lively discussions about contemporary technological oddities such as the 100$ Laptop MIT project or Nursing Robots. Over the course of the semester they also construct a paper on a topic of their choice. This project is part of Jeff Ginger's paper.