Case studies: Wikipedia, 4chan, and the Like economy Week 4, February 12 th.

SOCIOLOGY 167SOCIAL MEDIA & VIRTUAL

COMMUNITIES

Case studies: Wikipedia, 4chan, and the Like economy

Week 4, February 12th

Logistics If you are enrolled, you should have access to

bcourses: http://bcourses.berkeley.edu If you have trouble with bcourses, you can get

course info at: http://s167.stuartgeiger.com

Stuart Geiger, lecturer for Module 1 (content)

[email protected]

Linus Huang, instructor of record (administration)

[email protected]

http://bcourses.berkeley.edu/

http://s167.stuartgeiger.com/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Logistics

This class is split into three equal modules, each taught independently by a different instructor.

Logistics

Stuart Geiger: Theories and Institutional Context

Jan 29th, Feb 5th, Feb 12th, Feb 19th (exam)

Jen Schradie: Digital Democracy and Politics

Feb 26th, Mar 5th, Mar 12th, Mar 19th (exam)

Eve Shapiro: Identity and Everyday Life

Apr 2nd, Apr 9th, Apr 16th, May 16th (exam)

Logistics

Module 1:

5% participation assignment

25% in class exam on only module 1 (Feb 19th)

Module 2:


25% in class exam on only module 2 (Mar 19th)

Logistics

Module 3:


35% final exam (May 16, 3-6pm)

Final exam:

25% will cover only module 3

10% will cover modules 1-3

NO FINAL PAPER!

Today’s class

Exam next week Last week: Lessig and Bogost Wikipedia: culture and code 4chan, /b/, and Anonymous The Like economy

Midterm next week

A mix of: Multiple choice Short answer Essays (no more than 1 page)

The exam will primarily test theories and core concepts from the authors.

You do not need to memorize dates!

EXAMPLE multiple choice QWhich statement does NOT discuss McLuhan’s concept of the layered nature of media, in which he argues “the ‘content’ of any medium is always another medium”?

A. Movies and TV streamed by Netflix make up 30% of all US Internet traffic.

B. More teens are quitting Facebook, largely because their parents have also joined the site.

C. In e-mail, it is common to include a greeting and a signature, which is a tradition from paper letters.

D. Wikipedia imagines itself as both a wiki and an encyclopedia, a new way of achieving an old goal

EXAMPLE essay question 1

Part 1: Lawrence Lessig argues that individual behavior is regulated and governed in four different kinds of fundamental strategies. List these four strategies (1 point, .25 points each).

EXAMPLE essay question 1Part 2: Some friends of yours have created a wiki-based website like Wikipedia, but dedicated to UC-Berkeley. As it is a wiki, anybody can write an article about anything they want, and anybody can edit any existing article in any way they desire. It was very successful, and got the attention of the university administration. However, there have recently been complaints that some people have been adding obscene language to this website.

EXAMPLE essay question 1The university chancellor, who does not believe curse words belong on the site, has asked you to advise him on this matter. Give a specific example of how this behavior could be regulated using each of Lessig’s four strategies (2 sentences each, 1 point each).

You only need to show you know the differences between these four strategies -- they do not have to be feasible solutions, and you do not have to explain or justify why each ought to implemented.

EXAMPLE essay question 2In 1964, Marshall McLuhan wrote that:

“After three thousand years of explosion, by means of fragmentary and mechanical technologies, the Western world is imploding. During the mechanical ages we had extended our bodies in space. Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.” (McLuhan 1964: 3)


In 2 sentences, discuss one example of a media from before the Internet that supports McLuhan’s argument about how media impact society by abolishing time or space.

Next, in 2 sentences, discuss one example of an Internet-based media that also supports this aspect of McLuhan’s argument about abolishing time or space.

EXAMPLE essay question 2Then, in 2 sentences, compare these two examples, identifying one major difference between the pre-Internet and Internet-based media you discussed.

Finally, in 2-3 sentences, use these examples to take a firm stance on whether you agree or disagree with McLuhan’s argument that electronic media abolish time and space.


Your examples can be from the readings, from the lecture, or entirely your own. You should not have to do outside research to answer this question or cite sources. There is no correct side to take, as you will instead be graded on your understanding of the argument. In both parts, write clearly, concisely, and concretely.

Takeaways from Lessig

Four modes of governing:LawsNormsMarket/economicsArchitecture/code

“Code is law”: The software code behind Internet platforms

is just as powerful as government laws, but this operates in a different manner

Lessig in relation to McLuhan

Takeaways from Bogost

Procedural rhetoric: video games make arguments not only

through representations (image, text, sound) but through their rules and procedures

Bogost and McLuhan:Bogost is making a McLuhan-ist argument in

one sense, that there is more than contentBut he is also bringing literary/cultural

critique to the media form itself, not just its sociological implications

Why Wikipedia and 4chan? Imagining community Social norms and rules Affordances and

architecture Sub-communities

Wikipedia: culture and codeAs a wiki-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia is part of two broader societal projects:

Wikipedia: “in good faith”“On a wiki, contributors can communicate asynchronously and contribute incrementally. Tasks can be modularized. Changes are easily reverted. Accessible documentation, discussion pages, templates, and automated tools further coordination. However, technology, while important, is insufficient. Plenty of projects fail despite the wiki pixie dust. … good faith social norms (combined with wiki features) constructively facilitate Wikipedia collaboration.” (Reagle, ch 8)

How important is the “wiki”?

Affordances vs. McLuhan

Affordances are material properties of a medium that support (or fail to support) specific kinds of practices and activities.

Affordances vs. McLuhan

Affordances are material properties of a medium that support (or fail to support) specific kinds of practices and activities.

A McLuhan-ist argument would be more forceful about the impact of the media (wiki) itself, rather than focusing on norms.

Wikipedia’s norms

Reagle describes many community norms:Assume good faithNeutral point of viewVerifiabilityNo original research

Wikipedia’s norms

Reagle describes many community norms:Assume good faithNeutral point of viewVerifiabilityNo original research

Case: what is Jimmy Wales’s birthday?

Robots and cyborgs

Reagle’s arguments about norms are responding to the McLuhanists who focus on the wiki medium

Robots and cyborgs

Reagle’s arguments about norms are responding to the McLuhanists who focus on the wiki medium

My work is bringing a focus on the role of media back to Wikipedia researchThis is closer to Lessig than McLuhan

Robots and cyborgs

The story of Wikipedia bots actually has a lot to do with 4chan (squidward raid)

Robots and cyborgs


Wikipedians built software that would automatically remove inappropriate content from articles

Robots and cyborgs


Wikipedians built software that would automatically remove inappropriate content from articles

Today, these agents dominate:about 40% of all edits rejected are rejected by

robots or cyborgsOver 75% of new editors are ‘welcomed’ by a robot

or cyborg

4chan, /b/, and anonymous 4chan.org: a website hosted by moot

4chan, /b/, and anonymous /b/ -- 4chan’s “random” board, which

gets about 30% of its traffic



/v/ -- video games /fit/ -- fitness /pol/ -- politics /ck/ -- food and cooking



/v/ -- video games /fit/ -- fitness /pol/ -- politics /ck/ -- cooking

4chan, /b/, and anonymous Anonymous – the loosely-affiliated

protest movement that began on 4chan, but has since moved to many other spaces (online and offline)

Why Wikipedia and 4chan? Imagining community Social norms and rules Affordances and

architecture Sub-communities

Why Wikipedia and 4chan? Imagining community

Both Wikipedia and 4chan have a community

These communities have their own history and legacy

The community does not just exist online

Why Wikipedia and 4chan? Social norms and rules

Is technology enough to explain social order?

There are strong norms in both communities

These norms exist in members’ imaginations (especially in 4chan)

Why Wikipedia and 4chan? Affordances and architecture

4chan and Wikipedia are built to be quite different platforms

This seems to change how people interact on the site

But how much does architecture really matter, vs. norms?

Why Wikipedia and 4chan? Sub-communities

Not all norms are equally strongWe self-select into smaller groups with people like us

This is because of social reasons, but can be supported by a media technology (or not)

The effects of anonymity

“anonymity has a profound behavioral impact. Most obviously, because there are no repercussions for posting racist, sexist, homophobic or exploitative text and/or images, and because trolling is characterized by transgressive one-upmanship, /b/ is overrun by highly offensive and sometimes explicitly illegal content” (Phillips, 7)

Where is the community?“trolls and mainstream media outlets, specifically Fox News, are locked in a cybernetic feedback loop predicted upon spectacle; each camp amplifies and builds upon the other’s reactions” (Phillips, 1)

The community “lives” not only on 4chan.org, but on the forums and mass media outlets it seeks to invade and troll.

Where is the community?“trolls and mainstream media outlets, specifically Fox News, are locked in a cybernetic feedback loop predicted upon spectacle; each camp amplifies and builds upon the other’s reactions” (Phillips, 1)

How does this relate to Anderson’s theory of imagined communities and the history of print?

The Like economy

The Like economy

“by erasing the visible artifacts of Facebook’s quantification algorithms, the Demetricator can draw our attention to the ways those metrics motivate our behavior on the site” (Boesel 2012)

The Like economy

“Facebook Demetricator doesn’t attempt to camouflage differences in quantity; it just takes numerical counts out of the foreground … [the goal of Demetricator] is to call into question whether that pleasure is really from *the number* of likes, or from *who* likes.” (Boesel 2012)

The Like economy

This is an issue of affordances:

What kinds of practices does a like count make easier? What does it make harder?

The Like economy

This is an issue of affordances:

What kinds of practices does a like count make easier? What does it make harder?

What kinds of practices does a Demetricated like count make easier? What does it make harder?

Case studies: Wikipedia, 4chan, and the Like economy Week 4, February 12 th.

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Transcript of Case studies: Wikipedia, 4chan, and the Like economy Week 4, February 12 th.