Culture + Internet

Introduction

The "digital curation" concept is still evolving.

In "Digital Curation and Trusted Repositories: Steps toward Success," Christopher A. Lee and Helen R. Tibbo define digital curation as follows:

Digital curation involves selection and appraisal by creators and archivists; evolving provision of intellectual access; redundant storage; data transformations; and, for some materials, a commitment to long-term preservation. Digital curation is stewardship that provides for the reproducibility and re-use of authentic digital data and other digital assets. Development of trustworthy and durable digital repositories; principles of sound metadata creation and capture; use of open standards for file formats and data encoding; and the promotion of information management literacy are all essential to the longevity of digital resources and the success of curation efforts.

Forget Klout. The real measure of social media prowess turns out to be the size of your brain.

A team of British anthropologists and psychologists have published a paper in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B that would seem to suggest a direct linear relationship between the size of a person’s social network and the size of an area of the brain known as the orbital prefrontal cortex.

Boosting the Dunbar Number

This is ground at least one of the team members has tread before. In 1992, anthropologist Robin Dunbar demonstrated that the size of the neo-cortex relative to the rest of a primate’s brain was bigger as the subject’s social group size increased. This was the same paper in which Dunbar came up with the Dunbar Number: the number of meaningful relationships a person can reasonably be expected to maintain. The average Dunbar Number is 150 people, though it ranges between 100 and 230 relationships.

Establishing a new correlation between social networks and prefrontal cortex size lends credibility to Dunbar’s assertions that our brains aren’t big to be smart, but to help us manage relationships that will ultimately help us survive.

Abstract

A longitudinal analysis of panel data from users of a popular online social network site, Facebook, investigated the relationship between intensity of Facebook use, measures of psychological well-being, and bridging social capital. Two surveys conducted a year apart at a large U.S. university, complemented with in-depth interviews with 18 Facebook users, provide the study data. Intensity of Facebook use in year one strongly predicted bridging social capital outcomes in year two, even after controlling for measures of self-esteem and satisfaction with life. These latter psychological variables were also strongly associated with social capital outcomes. Self-esteem served to moderate the relationship between Facebook usage intensity and bridging social capital: those with lower self-esteem gained more from their use of Facebook in terms of bridging social capital than higher self-esteem participants. We suggest that Facebook affordances help reduce barriers that lower self-esteem students might experience in forming the kinds of large, heterogeneous networks that are sources of bridging social capital.

Keywords

Facebook;Online social networks;Social capital;Social network sites;Emerging adults;Self-esteem;Life satisfaction;Internet use;Longitudinal research

We're witnessing another sea change in Web publishing. From Pinterest at the beginning of this year to the launch this week of a new product from two Twitter founders, Medium, 2012 has been a year where the norms of publishing are being challenged. It wasn't that long ago that Tumblr and Wordpress were the cutting edge of publishing. But there's a new edge and it's populated by the likes of Medium (a kind of categorized Tumblr), Branch (the sister site of Medium, for discussions), App.net (a microblogging platform) and Svbtle (an elite network of indie bloggers). In this post we identify five key drivers for this new wave of publishing services.

"Joe Morris, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver are among the most gifted instrumentalists & improvisers in the world today --natural and consistent innovators all, always sharing, always igniting new ideas, always seeking something beyond description. They have performed & recorded together in different configurations on numerous occasions over the last 15 years. Altitude documents their first communion together as a trio & they gripped it by creating timeless music rife with invention fully in the moment."-AUM Fidelity

 

Hear 4 full tracks from the album for free.

Abstract

Empirical studies have documented a decline in indicators of social participation in the last five decades. The responsibility of social disengagement has often been attributed to pervasive busyness and the increasing pressure on time. In this paper we argue that computer-mediated interaction, and particularly online networking, can help mitigate this downward trend. We develop a logical framework for assessing the role of the Internet in the evolution of social participation. We analyze an economy where agents can develop their social interactions through two main modes of participation, one encompassing both online networking and face to face interactions, and the other solely based on physical encounters. We study the interdependence between the increase in the pressure on time and the variation in the relative performance of the two strategies of participation.

Highlights

► We study the role of the Internet in the evolution of social capital. ► We point out interdependence between pressure of time and web-mediated participation. ► We find that online networking can halt the decline in the stock of social capital.

JEL classification

O33;Z13

Keywords

Internet;Computer-mediated communication;Online networking;Facebook;Social networks;Social capital

What Types of People Use Facebook? A Cyberpsychology Approach

Previous studies have looked at the similarities between offline personality portrayal and online personality, proving strong connections between real personality and Facebook-related behavior. Extroverts report the most friends and highest engagement levels. People categorized as conscientious types - disciplined, organized and achievement-oriented - report the least Facebook use.

Facebook engagement results in a trail of virtual residue, including photos, videos, links, status updates and other traces of a virtual presence. A 2009 study by Ross et al. found that personality types that ranked high on neuroticism claimed the Facebook Wall as their favorite component. People who were low on neuroticism, however, said photos were their favorite. A 2009 study by E.S. Orr, et. al. found that while shy individuals had fewer friends on Facebook relative to nonshy people, the shy individuals spent more time on Facebook and liked the social network more overall.

A 2010 study entitled "Narcissism and social networking web sites" found a positive association between narcissism and Facebook use, especially in relation to profiles and photos, both features that allow users to promote themselves. The study found that people with a high level of narcissism and people with low levels of self-esteem spent more than an hour per day on Facebook.

Yesterday we outlined five reasons why Web publishing is undergoing a sea change, via new services like Medium, Branch, Svtle and App.net. In today's post, we turn our attention to the readers. We're all readers, in some capacity. This new crop of venues for publishing your material is less democratic than services like Tumblr..."