[CITASA] Microsoft Makes Key Hire in Researcher danah boyd (fwd)

BW
Barry Wellman
Tue, Sep 23, 2008 1:00 AM

This is from a newsreader, but from the hint danah gave me last week, I
assume it is true. (see below my sig).

PS: danah needs help in Wikipedia in getting them to accept her lower case
name usage. Go to the Danah Boyd article and see the Talk discussion.

Barry Wellman


S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC              NetLab Director
Department of Sociology                        University of Toronto
725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388                  Toronto Canada M5S 2J4
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman            fax:+1-416-978-3963

Updating history:    http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php


via Google Reader: Microsoft Makes Key Hire in
Researcher Danah Boyd via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on
9/22/08
Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd,
probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the
emerging web and its social consequences.

Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case letters.)
You may have seen her when she hit the international spotlight for
writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She wrote that her
research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two shoes, jocks,
athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook. ...MySpace is
still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant
teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths,
gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant
high school popularity paradigm."

That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also
argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not
within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth.

None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the subject
of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking is a nexus
point for one of the most significant cultural changes of our era and
as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants the attention
it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the next generation of
computer users, who better to pay attention to than the leading expert
on how the next generation is using social networks?

Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility, in
Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's
discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night.
What Boyd Writes About
In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks,
boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like
Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in
proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for representing
this dynamic to the community in new ways."

Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines
from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked
Publics in Teenage Social Life:
While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through
social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity
formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality...I argue
that social network sites are a type of networked public with four
properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life:
persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible audiences.
These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the
ways in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social
developments that have prompted youth to seek out networked publics,
and considering the changing role that publics have in young people's
lives. Boyd's Fascinating Gigs
Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at
the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard
University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's
also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence
Lessig and Esther Dyson.

Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long
internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger.

Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says
she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and doing
pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly on the
Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize long term
analysis and support more inspiring work by this trailblazing
researcher.

Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff

Sent to you by Marcos via Google Reader: Microsoft Makes Key Hire in
Researcher Danah Boyd via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on
9/22/08
Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd,
probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the
emerging web and its social consequences.

Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case letters.)
You may have seen her when she hit the international spotlight for
writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She wrote that her
research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two shoes, jocks,
athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook. ...MySpace is
still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant
teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths,
gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant
high school popularity paradigm."

That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also
argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not
within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth.

None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the subject
of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking is a nexus
point for one of the most significant cultural changes of our era and
as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants the attention
it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the next generation of
computer users, who better to pay attention to than the leading expert
on how the next generation is using social networks?

Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility, in
Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's
discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night.
What Boyd Writes About
In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks,
boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like
Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in
proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for representing
this dynamic to the community in new ways."

Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines
from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked
Publics in Teenage Social Life:
While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through
social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity
formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality...I argue
that social network sites are a type of networked public with four
properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life:
persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible audiences.
These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the
ways in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social
developments that have prompted youth to seek out networked publics,
and considering the changing role that publics have in young people's
lives. Boyd's Fascinating Gigs
Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at
the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard
University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's
also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence
Lessig and Esther Dyson.

Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long
internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger.

Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says
she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and doing
pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly on the
Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize long term
analysis and support more inspiring work by this trailblazing
researcher.

Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff
Discuss

Things you can do from here:

  • Subscribe to ReadWriteWeb using Google Reader
  • Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your
    favorite sites
This is from a newsreader, but from the hint danah gave me last week, I assume it is true. (see below my sig). PS: danah needs help in Wikipedia in getting them to accept her lower case name usage. Go to the Danah Boyd article and see the Talk discussion. Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology University of Toronto 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________ via Google Reader: Microsoft Makes Key Hire in Researcher Danah Boyd via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on 9/22/08 Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd, probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the emerging web and its social consequences. Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case letters.) You may have seen her when she hit the international spotlight for writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She wrote that her research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook. ...MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm." That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth. None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the subject of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking is a nexus point for one of the most significant cultural changes of our era and as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants the attention it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the next generation of computer users, who better to pay attention to than the leading expert on how the next generation is using social networks? Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility, in Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night. What Boyd Writes About In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks, boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for representing this dynamic to the community in new ways." Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life: While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality...I argue that social network sites are a type of networked public with four properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life: persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible audiences. These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the ways in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social developments that have prompted youth to seek out networked publics, and considering the changing role that publics have in young people's lives. Boyd's Fascinating Gigs Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence Lessig and Esther Dyson. Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger. Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and doing pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly on the Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize long term analysis and support more inspiring work by this trailblazing researcher. Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff Sent to you by Marcos via Google Reader: Microsoft Makes Key Hire in Researcher Danah Boyd via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on 9/22/08 Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd, probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the emerging web and its social consequences. Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case letters.) You may have seen her when she hit the international spotlight for writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She wrote that her research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook. ...MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm." That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth. None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the subject of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking is a nexus point for one of the most significant cultural changes of our era and as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants the attention it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the next generation of computer users, who better to pay attention to than the leading expert on how the next generation is using social networks? Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility, in Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night. What Boyd Writes About In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks, boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for representing this dynamic to the community in new ways." Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life: While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality...I argue that social network sites are a type of networked public with four properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life: persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible audiences. These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the ways in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social developments that have prompted youth to seek out networked publics, and considering the changing role that publics have in young people's lives. Boyd's Fascinating Gigs Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence Lessig and Esther Dyson. Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger. Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and doing pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly on the Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize long term analysis and support more inspiring work by this trailblazing researcher. Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff Discuss Things you can do from here: - Subscribe to ReadWriteWeb using Google Reader - Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
DB
danah boyd
Tue, Sep 23, 2008 2:39 AM

::blush:: Yes, it is true...

On Sep 22, 2008, at 6:00 PM, Barry Wellman wrote:

This is from a newsreader, but from the hint danah gave me last
week, I
assume it is true. (see below my sig).

PS: danah needs help in Wikipedia in getting them to accept her
lower case
name usage. Go to the Danah Boyd article and see the Talk discussion.

Barry Wellman


S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC              NetLab Director
Department of Sociology                        University of Toronto
725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388                  Toronto Canada M5S 2J4
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman            fax:+1-416-978-3963

Updating history:    http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php


via Google Reader: Microsoft Makes Key Hire in
Researcher Danah Boyd via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on
9/22/08
Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd,
probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the
emerging web and its social consequences.

Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case letters.)
You may have seen her when she hit the international spotlight for
writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She wrote that her
research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two shoes, jocks,
athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook. ...MySpace
is
still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant
teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths,
gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant
high school popularity paradigm."

That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also
argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not
within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth.

None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the
subject
of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking is a nexus
point for one of the most significant cultural changes of our era and
as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants the attention
it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the next generation
of
computer users, who better to pay attention to than the leading expert
on how the next generation is using social networks?

Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility,
in
Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's
discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night.
What Boyd Writes About
In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks,
boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like
Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in
proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for
representing
this dynamic to the community in new ways."

Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines
from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked
Publics in Teenage Social Life:
While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through
social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into
identity
formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality...I argue
that social network sites are a type of networked public with four
properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life:
persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible
audiences.
These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the
ways in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social
developments that have prompted youth to seek out networked publics,
and considering the changing role that publics have in young people's
lives. Boyd's Fascinating Gigs
Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at
the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard
University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's
also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence
Lessig and Esther Dyson.

Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long
internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger.

Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says
she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and doing
pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly on the
Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize long term
analysis and support more inspiring work by this trailblazing
researcher.

Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff

Sent to you by Marcos via Google Reader:

Microsoft Makes Key Hire in Researcher Danah Boyd
via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on 9/22/08

Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd,
probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the
emerging web and its social consequences.

Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case
letters.) You may have seen her when she hit the international
spotlight for writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She
wrote that her research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two
shoes, jocks, athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to
Facebook. ...MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens,
immigrant teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks,
emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play
into the dominant high school popularity paradigm."

That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also
argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not
within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth.

None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the
subject of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking
is a nexus point for one of the most significant cultural changes of
our era and as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants
the attention it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the
next generation of computer users, who better to pay attention to
than the leading expert on how the next generation is using social
networks?

Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility,
in Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's
discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night.

What Boyd Writes About
In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks,
boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like
Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in
proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for
representing this dynamic to the community in new ways."

Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines
from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked
Publics in Teenage Social Life:

While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through
social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into
identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer
sociality...I argue that social network sites are a type of
networked public with four properties that are not typically present
in face-to-face public life: persistence, searchability, exact
copyability, and invisible audiences. These properties fundamentally
alter social dynamics, complicating the ways in which people
interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social developments that
have prompted youth to seek out networked publics, and considering
the changing role that publics have in young people's lives. Boyd's
Fascinating Gigs
Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information
at the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard
University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's
also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence
Lessig and Esther Dyson.

Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long
internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger.

Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says
she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and
doing pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly
on the Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize
long term analysis and support more inspiring work by this
trailblazing researcher.

Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff

Discuss

Things you can do from here:
• Subscribe to ReadWriteWeb using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your
favorite sites


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"i was just a girl in a room full of women
licking stamps and laughing
i remember the feeling of community brewing
of democracy happening" (Ani DiFranco, Paradigm)

musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts

::blush:: Yes, it is true... On Sep 22, 2008, at 6:00 PM, Barry Wellman wrote: > This is from a newsreader, but from the hint danah gave me last > week, I > assume it is true. (see below my sig). > > PS: danah needs help in Wikipedia in getting them to accept her > lower case > name usage. Go to the Danah Boyd article and see the Talk discussion. > > Barry Wellman > _______________________________________________________________________ > > S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director > Department of Sociology University of Toronto > 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 > http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 > > Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php > > _______________________________________________________________________ > > via Google Reader: Microsoft Makes Key Hire in > Researcher Danah Boyd via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on > 9/22/08 > Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd, > probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the > emerging web and its social consequences. > > Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case letters.) > You may have seen her when she hit the international spotlight for > writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She wrote that her > research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two shoes, jocks, > athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook. ...MySpace > is > still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant > teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths, > gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant > high school popularity paradigm." > > That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also > argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not > within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth. > > None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the > subject > of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking is a nexus > point for one of the most significant cultural changes of our era and > as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants the attention > it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the next generation > of > computer users, who better to pay attention to than the leading expert > on how the next generation is using social networks? > > Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility, > in > Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's > discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night. > What Boyd Writes About > In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks, > boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like > Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in > proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for > representing > this dynamic to the community in new ways." > > Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines > from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked > Publics in Teenage Social Life: > While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through > social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into > identity > formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality...I argue > that social network sites are a type of networked public with four > properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life: > persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible > audiences. > These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the > ways in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social > developments that have prompted youth to seek out networked publics, > and considering the changing role that publics have in young people's > lives. Boyd's Fascinating Gigs > Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at > the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard > University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's > also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence > Lessig and Esther Dyson. > > Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long > internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger. > > Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says > she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and doing > pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly on the > Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize long term > analysis and support more inspiring work by this trailblazing > researcher. > > Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff > > > > > > > Sent to you by Marcos via Google Reader: > > > Microsoft Makes Key Hire in Researcher Danah Boyd > via ReadWriteWeb by Marshall Kirkpatrick on 9/22/08 > > Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd, > probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the > emerging web and its social consequences. > > Who is danah boyd? (She spells her own name with lower case > letters.) You may have seen her when she hit the international > spotlight for writing about the shift from MySpace to Facebook. She > wrote that her research leads her to conclude that "The goodie two > shoes, jocks, athletes, or other 'good' kids are now going to > Facebook. ...MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, > immigrant teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, > emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play > into the dominant high school popularity paradigm." > > That paper was very controversial and widely misunderstood. It also > argued what many people may were thinking quietly, though often not > within a context sympathetic with underprivileged youth. > > None the less, that was only one of boyd's many writings on the > subject of youth and social networking. Youth and social networking > is a nexus point for one of the most significant cultural changes of > our era and as the leading expert on the topic, boyd's work warrants > the attention it gets. If Microsoft is going to be relevant to the > next generation of computer users, who better to pay attention to > than the leading expert on how the next generation is using social > networks? > > Boyd's new position will be at Microsoft Research's newest facility, > in Boston, which was just opened this summer. You can read boyd's > discussion of her new position in a blog post she wrote last night. > > What Boyd Writes About > In addition to topics like socio-economic class and social networks, > boyd also writes, for example, about early social networks like > Friendster acting as "tools for scaling up social networks rooted in > proximate social relations and--equally significantly--for > representing this dynamic to the community in new ways." > > Her recent work in general might best be described with these lines > from Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked > Publics in Teenage Social Life: > > While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through > social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into > identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer > sociality...I argue that social network sites are a type of > networked public with four properties that are not typically present > in face-to-face public life: persistence, searchability, exact > copyability, and invisible audiences. These properties fundamentally > alter social dynamics, complicating the ways in which people > interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social developments that > have prompted youth to seek out networked publics, and considering > the changing role that publics have in young people's lives. Boyd's > Fascinating Gigs > Boyd is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Information > at the University of California-Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard > University Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She's > also on the Board of Advisors of LiveJournal, along with Lawrence > Lessig and Esther Dyson. > > Previously boyd worked as a researcher at Yahoo! and did a year long > internship at Google studying the ethnography of blogging at Blogger. > > Now she'll join Microsoft Research New England in January. She says > she'll be directing her own research, publishing frequently and > doing pure, interdisciplinary science instead of focusing directly > on the Microsoft bottom line. We hope that Microsoft can prioritize > long term analysis and support more inspiring work by this > trailblazing researcher. > > Cartoon of boyd by Marc Scheff > > Discuss > > > > > > > > Things you can do from here: > • Subscribe to ReadWriteWeb using Google Reader > • Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your > favorite sites > > > _______________________________________________ > CITASA mailing list > CITASA@list.citasa.org > http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - "i was just a girl in a room full of women licking stamps and laughing i remember the feeling of community brewing of democracy happening" (Ani DiFranco, Paradigm) musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts