JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 1INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 1
Objectives & Context
Method Results
Final
Observations
Unused
Section Space 1
Unused
Section Space 2
Eliciting Communities from personal network visualisations:
Ties, groups and communities
Romina Cachia & Isidro Maya-Jariego
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 2INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 2
[Objectives & Context]
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 3INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 3
� To explore whether a link exists between personal
networks expressed through different media and
communities
� To increase understanding of the meaning of personal
communities in the context of mobile people
� To test an exploratory method for eliciting communities
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 4INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 4
Boundaries: Locational vs Relational Communities
Experience: Sense of Community
Personal Networks in New Media:Virtual Communities
Mobiles Phones & SNS
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 5INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 5
Q1: Which type of communities emerge, where are they
located and how do respondents communicate with their
communities?
Q2: What is the level of community experienced?
Q3: What are the major characteristics of the personal
networks derived?
Can personal networks be used
as a proxy to elicit communities?
Research Questions
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 6INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 6
N= 15 foreigners living in Seville
Age: between 24-37 years (Mean age 31.5 years)
Eight Nationalities: Belgian, Brasilian, British, Chilean, German,
Italian, Maltese, Polish & Turkish
Lived in Seville between less than 1 year to over 10 years
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 7INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 7
[Method]
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 8INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 8
Exploratory study based on combination of methods:
Personal network analysis
Structured Interviews in the form of questionnaire
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 9INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 9
Can you list the 20 most important people for you? People you
feel you can depend on if you need support (emotional,
financial, social, professional or other)?
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 10INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 10
Face-to
-face
Mobile
Social
Networ
king
Sites
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 11INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 11
Spontaneous Method vs Personal Networks Method
Most Important People Face-to-face
SNS Mobile
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 12INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 12
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 13INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 13
Flamenco Community Seville
Flamenco Colleagues
Turkish Friends in Seville
Work mates
Flamenco Teachers
Ex-colleagues
Caving Friends
Family Turkish in Seville
Caving Club
Extended Family
Engineering Community Turkey
Flamenco Teachers Community
Alfalfa Community
Distinction between
groups &
communities present
at all times.
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 14INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 14
[Results]
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 15INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 15
RQ: Can personal networks be used as a
proxy to elicit communities?
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 16INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 16
Total Communities: 175
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 17INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 17
Personal networks method has the potential to aid respondents tospeak about their groups and communities
For many respondents groups and communities are interrelated –Respondents are not thinking too much of the different ecological position of their groups and communities
Respondents perceive their ties more in terms of groups and networks � more thinking in terms of multiple personal networks
Role in community is perceived as being latent (as opposed to active involvement associated with traditional communities)
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 18INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 18
RQ1: Which type of communities emerge, where are they
located and how do respondents communicate with their
communities?
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 19INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 19
• Relational communities vs
locational communities for
mobile individuals
• Important role of media
communications
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 20INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 20
Means of Communication M SD
Face-to-Face 8.87 4.01
Email 8.33 3.13
Mobile 7.87 3.52
Social Networking Sites 6.27 2.49
Highest Score:
Mobile – I prefer face-to-face communication (highest score
2.6 (SD 1.44))
SNS – I find SNS to be a great way to communicate, as I can
reach a lot of people in a short amount of time (highest score
4.27 (SD 1.28))
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 21INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 21
RQ2: What is the level of community experienced?
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 22INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 22
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 23INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 23
Groups: mediated structures enabling connection between individuals
and the wider community
Communities � over-arching sense of community
Groups -> specific and functional sense of community: providing
practical ways for individuals to participate in larger communities
Keeping distinction between groups and communities present at all
times, made respondents think harder on what they considered
groups and communities
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 24INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 24
Rq3: What are the major characteristics
of personal networks?
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 25INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 25
16.87 17.27 16.80
- Difficulty in listing 20 people: despite contacts on mobile
phone 140 (range 50-300) and SNS 178 (range 50-500)
- The term support
- Average of 4 ties / person in all networks and average of 9 ties
in three networks (different levels of ties: intimate – weaker)
- Support is coming more from friends 21.5 (SD 6.31) more than
family 6.8 (SD 2.78)
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 26INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 26
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 27INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 27
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 28INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 28
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 29INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 29
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 30INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 30
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 31INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 31
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 32INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 32
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 33INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 33
[Final Observations]
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 34INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 34
o Personal networks (PN) have the potential to develop a
community-generator method – PN method generated
x3 more communities than the spontaneous method
o Role of groups cannot be ignored. Groups and
communities are interrelated.
o Communities provide a latent over arching sense of
community.
o Groups provide a more specific and functional sense
of belonging
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 35INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 35
o Relational vs locational communities (2/3 of communities
mentioned are located outside Seville – role of
communication)
o Communities are not in decline but they are expressed
differently (175 communities – mean 11.7)
o Exploratory study -> results cannot be generalised
(limitations: small sample; time consuming; less applicable for
large samples)
JRC Place on dd Month YYYY – Event Name 36INSNA: Sunbelt XXX: Riva del Garda June 29 – July 4 2010 36
Many thanks for your attention
Questions?
email: [email protected]@us.es