LESSONS FROM UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL CAPITAL

COR NEL IA R EYES ACOS TA

LONDON S CHOOL OF ECONOMICS

BS A ‘M IXED METHODS ’ CONFER ENCE

MAY 12 2014

IN A NUTSHELL: MY PROJECT

THE FIELD OF CREATIVE PRODUCTION

IN A NUTSHELL: MY PROJECT

‘what is the impact of resources based on digitally-mediated social ties for the artistic practice of visual artists?’

SOCIAL CAPITAL AS CONCEPTUAL FRAME

SOCIAL CAPITAL maintained via social interactions facilitated in online social spaces?

SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THEORY

The sum of resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition.

SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THEORY

The sum of resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition.

SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THEORY

The sum of resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition.

SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THEORY

The sum of resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition.

METHOD’S APPROACH – FIRST TRY: NAME GENERATOR

“Who are the people that you think are important for you to be able to do your work as an artist successfully?”

WHICH FORM OF SOCIALITY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

“to be honest with you, I interact with those people but because they are not close in any way, shape or form, I don't even remember their names. So I have 719 strangers on Facebook... sorry, on Twitter who are supporting my art, send me some comments but I'm completely detached from them […] I really cannot tell you their names. And it's quite... it may sound quite weird but they are important only in a way that they are not even faces”

Stella (photographer based in London)

PARADOX TO SOLVE

ARTISTS attach importance to other people, but they are not able to refer to them either by name, nor profession or any other traditional form of reference.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD:HAND DRAWN NETWORK MAP

Trace relationships from a process perspective allowing social interactions fostered in different social spaces stand next to each other.

ELICITING DATA ON RELATIONS

Relations are the centre-piece of describing sociality in digital social space

Give meaning to the characteristics of specific relations by using different colors

Allowing the participant to express more intuitive interpretations

ARE WE TALKING ABOUT A DIFFERENT FORM OF SOCIALITY?

“I think about interactions, but I don’t really think of names. Even people I’ve met. […] But then I don’t think of… I think of the experience that happened with [them], […]I think more of the experiences or the learning that’s come out of it rather than them as separate people.”

Phaedra (photographer based in London)

HOW CAN WE THINK ABOUT SOCIALITY IN DIGITAL SPACE?

EGO

HOW CAN WE THINK ABOUT SOCIALITY IN DIGITAL SPACE?

EGO

EXAMPLE“I guess that’s all […] interactions with people, or say the Royal Academy invited me to blog on something. I don’t really have a big blog, I don’t know how they found my blog but they did and they asked me to one of their blogging things, and then obviously that’s a positive reaction because I was invited to talk about it. For me to practice and write about that’s good.”

Phaedra (photographer based in London)

WHAT I HAVE LEARNT SO FAR

① Strategies artists employ using online social networking platforms to establish relations with others

e.g. hashtags, geo-tagging, engaging visual content

② Artists’ narratives with ‘faceless others’ and the relevance of these relations

③ The range of resources that artists perceive as important has been extended to include online ties

e.g. social monitoring, perceived feeling of being part of something bigger

④ Emotional connectedness is less relevant for feeling connected to others

⑤ A network is a subjective snapshot of a person’s social embeddedness – the network doesn’t define them, they define the network!

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT- How do we harmonise these findings with

traditional forms of network analysis – is this possible?

- How do we think about a person’s social network –Which ones should we consider worthy of analysis, which ones not?

- What are more suitable ways to make sense of a social network visually ?

A BIG THANKS TO YOU! AND IF YOU WANT TO GET IN TOUCH …

@reyes_cornelia