Sociology 167 Social Media & Virtual Communities

1. Case studies: Wikipedia, 4chan, and the Like economy Week 4, February 12th Sociology 167Social Media & Virtual Communities

2. 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) s167@stuartgeiger.com Linus Huang, instructor of record (administration) lbhuang@berkeley.edu

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

4. 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)

5. Logistics Module 1: 5% participation assignment 25% in class exam on only module 1 (Feb 19th) Module 2: 5% participation assignment 25% in class exam on only module 2 (Mar 19th)

6. Logistics Module 3: 5% participation assignment 35% final exam (May 16, 3-6pm) Final exam: 25% will cover only module 3 10% will cover modules 1-3 NO FINAL PAPER!

7. Today’s class • Exam next week • Last week: Lessig and Bogost • Wikipedia: culture and code • 4chan, /b/, and Anonymous • The Like economy

8. 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!

9. EXAMPLE multiple choice Q Which 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”? • Movies and TV streamed by Netflix make up 30% of all US Internet traffic. • More teens are quitting Facebook, largely because their parents have also joined the site. • In e-mail, it is common to include a greeting and a signature, which is a tradition from paper letters. • Wikipedia imagines itself as both a wiki and an encyclopedia, a new way of achieving an old goal

10. 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).

11. EXAMPLE essay question 1 Part 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.

12. EXAMPLE essay question 1 The 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.

13. EXAMPLE essay question 2 In 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)

14. EXAMPLE essay question 2 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.

15. EXAMPLE essay question 2 Then, 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.

16. EXAMPLE essay question 2 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.

17. Takeaways from Lessig • Four modes of governing: • Laws • Norms • Market/economics • Architecture/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

18. 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 content • But he is also bringing literary/cultural critique to the media form itself, not just its sociological implications

19. Why Wikipedia and 4chan? • Imagining community • Social norms and rules • Affordances and architecture • Sub-communities

20. Wikipedia: culture and code As a wiki-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia is part of two broader societal projects:

21. Wikipedia: culture and code As a wiki-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia is part of two broader societal projects:

22. Wikipedia: culture and code As a wiki-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia is part of two broader societal projects:

23. 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)

24. How important is the “wiki”?

25. How important is the “wiki”?

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

27. 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.

28. Wikipedia’s norms • Reagle describes many community norms: • Assume good faith • Neutral point of view • Verifiability • No original research

29. Wikipedia’s norms • Reagle describes many community norms: • Assume good faith • Neutral point of view • Verifiability • No original research • Case: what is Jimmy Wales’s birthday?

30. Robots and cyborgs • Reagle’s arguments about norms are responding to the McLuhanists who focus on the wiki medium

31. 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 research • This is closer to Lessig than McLuhan

32. Robots and cyborgs • The story of Wikipedia bots actually has a lot to do with 4chan (squidward raid)

33. Robots and cyborgs • The story of Wikipedia bots actually has a lot to do with 4chan (squidward raid) • Wikipedians built software that would automatically remove inappropriate content from articles

34. Robots and cyborgs • The story of Wikipedia bots actually has a lot to do with 4chan (squidward raid) • 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 cyborgs • Over 75% of new editors are ‘welcomed’ by a robot or cyborg

35. 4chan, /b/, and anonymous • 4chan.org: a website hosted by moot

36. 4chan, /b/, and anonymous • 4chan.org: a website hosted by moot

37. 4chan, /b/, and anonymous • /b/ -- 4chan’s “random” board, which gets about 30% of its traffic

38. 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

39. 4chan, /b/, and anonymous • /b/ -- 4chan’s “random” board, which gets about 30% of its traffic • /v/ -- video games • /fit/ -- fitness • /pol/ -- politics • /ck/ -- cooking

40. 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)

41. Why Wikipedia and 4chan? • Imagining community • Social norms and rules • Affordances and architecture • Sub-communities

42. 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

43. 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)

44. 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?

45. Why Wikipedia and 4chan? • Sub-communities • Not all norms are equally strong • We 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)

46. 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)

47. 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.

48. 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?

49. The Like economy

50. 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)