News Archive

Old news is stored here for reference.

Welcome to the New Facebook Project

05.20.2008 @ 1:49 AM by Jeff Ginger

The Facebook Project... has changed.

Originally started as a sociology research project by Jeff Ginger, a graduate student at the University of Illinois, the endeavor has expanded to include several researchers, students, librarians, and enthusiasts who all have an important interest in common: Facebook.

This website is the digital representation of our intellect. Our efforts are specialized and yet reflect a measure of cognitive diversity; our aim is to help visitors better document, understand, and employ Facebook.com and its many impacts and implications. We hope to provide through this website an effective resource for researchers, educators, and librarians.

Open Access Is the Bees Knees

04.24.2008 @ 12:13 PM by Jeff Ginger

I was just notified this morning that the Social Capital and the Chief paper is the number three download in the entire University of Illinois Open Access archive, IDEALS. I can safely say I have no idea how this happened. I mean I know Facebook is a popular subject and the Chief is a big deal... but holy crap! In light of this I realized that people are probably visiting this website a heck of a lot more. Two things:

1) This summer I will make sure to do an update sweep of that paper to bring the background section up to speed and see if I can't add proper citations to the sections that came from Elena's social work notes.

2) The Facebook Project website is on hold until I can finish my Masters paper. Once it's complete I will change it over to a completely collaborative enterprise to establish a wonderful resource for researchers, librarians, graduates, and educators. This includes releasing ALL of my data online (with documentation and methods). Not sure how I'll put up the ethnographic fieldnotes yet... but if you're interested in getting involved or are someone who would like to add their work, ask me about it.

Abstracts and the IRB

02.17.2008 @ 5:41 PM by Jeff Ginger

Hey guys, I know it's been a while. This semester was a rush, too many classes and events happening at once. It's calmed down a bit now and I'm in the process of finalizing the Masters paper and transferring (officially) to GSLIS. The reason I haven't put up the Masters is because it doesn't make sense yet - I have three readers who are going to have me edit it soon. For now I've put the abstract online so you can see a bit more of what it's about.

I'm in the process of battling the IRB to begin my first qualitative study. They're pretty obnoxious. Not only have they increased the number of required tests to be a researcher they're now doing things like making me script out everything I say to my participants and find completely isolated and quiet rooms to interview them in. If I were doing an ethnography in say, a cafe, I wouldn't even be capable of conducting interviews, I really don't understand. And while they might script everything they say to every person they ever talk to the rest of the world doesn't. This isn't talking about sexual practices or administering science experiments - I'm just talking to students about how they use Facebook on a daily basis. It's almost as low risk as you could get.

The most unfortunate part of it is that there's no way to give feedback. I can't question their rules or statements, and the more I fight them the longer it takes. I don't even have the opportunity to try to understand their irrationality. There should be a process and negotiation to determine what is ethical, not some unknown bunch of fearful academics cooped up in a building somewhere who get to make rules without explaining them. The process is not democratic or transparent.

Anyway, complaints aside I should be able to start interviews sometime sooner or later. I plan to look into the role of Facebook in everyday life for students. More on this subject later..

Winter Break-Out

12.28.2007 @ 1:15 AM by Jeff Ginger

All three papers have been completed. See the summaries below:

  1. Cyborging of the Mind in a Permanently Beta Digital Ecology: Expression, Sharing and Construction of Identity
    Facebook has set a precedent in presentation when compared face to face identity as well as digital identity in the previous (pre-SNS) internet paradigm. This paper employs a blend of STS theory, Cyborging of the Mind and Permanently Beta, and explains its use as a model to analyse Facebook. Furthermore it explores a two-year data set comprised pf various aspects of UIUC Facebook usage and includes specifics on the use of personal identity management as a privacy regulation strategy.
  2. Social Capital and The Chief
    This research report reveals rather shocking student use of Facebook regarding perspectives on Chief Illiniwek, the recently removed mascot/symbol of the University of Illinois. Inspired by a class tasked with investigating the race-related campus climate at UIUC the paper draws on the preliminary findings from a half semester project. The work includes sociological analysis informed by (digital) social capital and social work leadership theory, and uses content analysis and statistics to make suggestions for further analysis and potential areas in need of social change. Jeff presented for this paper at the Ethnography of the University Initiative Conference, feel free to see the PowerPoint presentation for a quick overview.
  3. The Missing Box: The Racial Politics behind Interface and Identity
    By not making a race/ethnicity box an available profile category on Facebook and by recognizing that it is a visually dominated SNS, Facebook serves to inadvertently or covertly perpetuate two racist norms: the colorblind mentality and racialized (visual) classification of others. This paper quickly traverses through theory of identity and its digital form and as well as the complications of interface in order to help readers arrive at the conclusion that a racial/ethnic category should be added to the basic Facebook identity options. Guidelines for a successful implementation are provided. If you're looking for a short powerful read jump on this one.

Thanksgiving Check In

11.23.2007 @ 12:27 AM by Admin JAG85

Last update before the big final-draft push during finals week.

I wanted to make the website a little more concise and accessible to people who have no idea what I'm doing. To clarify: over the course of this semester I'm going to finish my Masters and break apart the research proposal floating around on the website into a few papers. Right now I've got two, maybe (hopefully) three papers in mind:

  1. Cyborging of the Mind in a Permanently Beta Digital Ecology: Expression, Sharing and Construction of Identity - Facebook has set a precedent when compared to face to face identity as well as digital identity in the previous (pre-SNS) internet paradigm. I seek to explain my understandings of cyborging of the mind and permanently beta in this paper, making it a fore-runner to my future work.
  2. Social Capital and The Chief - Student use of Facebook as it relates to perspectives on Chief Illiniwek, the recently removed mascot/symbol of the University of Illinois. This paper looks at the campus climate at UIUC and employs sociological analysis informed by digital social capital and social work leadership theory, and uses content analysis and statistics to make suggestions for further analysis and potential areas in need of social change. I just presented for this paper at the Ethnography of the University Initiative Conference, take a look.
  3. The Missing Box: The Racial Politics behind Interface and Identity - My first attempt at Library and Information Science genre paper, I'm probably much more tied to Sociology then I ought to be. Regardless this paper is a concise and salient composition of HCI (Human-Computer-Interface) and Digital Divide issues evident in the interface of Facebook More precisely told there is no Race category on Facebook and this design decision presents a number of problems. I go further to propose a solution in the form of a modification to the current interface. If you're looking for a short powerful read jump on this one.

In the meantime I finished the Props to Facebook article I've been putting off forever, read this if you're a critic or if you'd like a good introduction to my work.

Research Proposal

05.14.2007 @ 11:00 AM by Admin JAG85

I've completed the first revision of my formal research proposal! The sixty page paper includes an introduction to the importance of Facebook, my theoretical framework and conceptual model, as well as preliminary ares of research. I plan to continuously reinforce and update this work until it eventually becomes my masters paper.

Read more!

IRB Approved!

05.02.2007 @ 5:07 PM by Admin JAG85

I got the green light from the Institutional Review Board to release phase one of the project: surveys. I haven't chosen my release date yet but the Division of Management Information is ready and waiting with an 1100 person sample form the UIUC undergraduate population.