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Technology Assessment in der Weltgesellschaft
22. - 24. November 2006, Berlin, Neue Mälzerei des Umweltforums
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Robert Bichler / Celina Raffl
New Virtual Social Communities - A Case Study
Abstract zum Vortrag
Donnerstag, 23. November 2006,
Sektion 3 „TA in der Globalen Welt“, 14:50 Uhr
The aim of the paper is to describe the shift from individualization to new forms of (online-)collectivization processes, which are gaining ground in late modern societies. We argue, that society has changed fundamentally over the last few decades triggered by the impact of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The role of ICTs is discussed controversially. On the one hand cultural critics argue that ICTs transform identities into virtual identities or even reality into a virtual or hyper reality. Furthermore Western contemporary societies are characterized by increasing individualization processes and decreases of social structures that once where formed by religions, families and/or nation-states.
On the other hand we want to stress, that ICTs have the potential to build the basis for new forms of self-organized (online-)collectivization processes, which can be seen in blogs, collaborative Wikis, public online discussion boards, mailing-lists, online-petitions, digital storytelling and the emergence of new virtual social communities. These communication and cooperation tools offer the opportunity for people to participate actively in societal developments and to design collaboratively a sustainable social system.
Theoretically we want to demonstrate that neither techno-deterministic, nor social constructivist approaches on their own provide exhausting explanations for societal change, but that society and technology (as a subsystem of society) are interconnected, interdependent and that they are in a permanent mutual shaping process.
In order to underline this theoretical approach we carry out a qualitative web (content) analysis of certain virtual social communities (e.g. myspace.com) according to structure / tools, content / topics they provide and the interaction/interactivity they enable, to examine the self-organizing character of these networking communities, to identify enabling and constraining factors that influence these groups for demonstrating how individualization processes in late modern societies are successively sublated and re-integrated by new forms of co-operation and collaboration.
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