Hi Kate, I'm not sure whether my research may be relevant or not because it seems my focus was the opposite of yours. What I focused on was the subcultural use of internet space, or said another way, what happens when youth subcultures go online. I did a case study of one internet bulletin board for several years dedicated to the straightedge youth subculture. Straightedge (like many subcultural networks) could be seen as a type of self-help group insomuch as the subculture is predicated on the rejection of alcohol/drug use and promiscuous sex. The subculture emerged nearly 30 years ago as a schism of punk and has morphed in different directions over the years. The growth of straightedge websites has produced a lot of stress within the subculture. What I have focused on is how selves and identities are produced in an online context, with a particular emphasis on the cleavage between offline and online definitions of authentic subcultural identity and participation. You can use the following links: http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/si.2005.28.1.67 http://jce.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/2/173 I hope its useful. Best, patrick. -- Patrick Williams, Ph.D. http://www.jpatrickwilliams.net On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 12:50 PM, Jenkins, Kate <KJenkins@gc.cuny.edu> wrote: > Hi- > In a project only tangentially related to the internet, I seem to have come > across a gap in the literature, namely the changing use of the Internet > regarding chat rooms. All of what I have is marketing research, and most of > that is raw numbers (e.g. two million average chat room users per day on > AOL in 2002, thirty-thousand average chat room users per day on AOL in 2009, > numbers probably off as I'm pulling from memory not text) that lack social > context or relevant demographic information. > While I have come across literature that almost secondarily refers to the > decline of "anonymous" or "pseudonymous" interactions on the Internet > (mostly in reference to the rise of social networking that > emulates/replicates/reinforces/etc offline social networks), I haven't > really found anything that directly addresses chat rooms or related internet > phenomena (usenets, bulletin boards, etc). > For a bit of context, this project relates to social support/self-help type > websites, chat rooms, message boards, etc. Basically I've found that for my > population, the loss of the chat room(s) has lead to a politicization of the > kinds of interactions people can have in relation to their condition, as a > neutral space has been taken away, replaced by mostly sponsored message > boards, listservs, and hosted chats. However, I would like some context > regarding changing internet use. > Any leads are appreciate. > Thanks in advance! > > Kate Jenkins, M.Phil. > Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology > CUNY Graduate Center > > _______________________________________________ > CITASA mailing list > CITASA@list.citasa.org > http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org > > -- Patrick Williams, Ph.D. http://www.jpatrickwilliams.net