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Dadfar 1 Bita Dadfar CCTP 505 November 6, 2009 Exploring Virtual Camaraderie via An Interdisciplinary Lens Introduction We live in an age with a peculiar, alternate universe: cyberspace. While some embrace the virtual platform, others fear it. One of the great intrigues behind this annexed dimension is its innovative interface—its new meeting ground for people to connect and interact in. Over the years, many organizations and communities have begun implementing new communication technologies to explore the potential utility of computerized communication. Correspondingly, there has been a heightened desire for people to understand and assess the impact of communication technologies on organizations. At a time when people are increasingly relying on computer-based interactions, there is an exigency to determine its propriety and efficacy in particular contexts. By partaking in Go Cross Campus, an on-line gaming activity organized by the instructors of the CCT 505 class at Georgetown University, I was able to first-handedly experience some of the challenges involved with adjusting to new virtual relationships that form due to incorporating new media. Upon delving into the virtual gaming world of Go Cross Campus, I developed a curiosity regarding cyberspace camaraderie’s that form among players. Based on my ponderings, I have drafted up a research proposal for approaching this virtual network puzzle. Statement of the Problem Dadfar 2 Through my experience in Go Cross Campus, I was inspired to focus on the issue of trust among online team members. Online gaming tournaments and many online communities are removing the need for physical acquaintances among members as initiation and interaction occurs on a virtual platform, raising issues of trust among virtual strangers. Research Questions I would like to study the overarching problem of trust in virtual communities by posing the following investigative research questions: • How can trust evolve between people who have never met in real life? • How is team solidarity consolidated, let alone even formed, within an online gaming community? • How does increased use of various media channels affect the virtual relationship among players? Disciplinary Angles: The Utility of Incorporating Varying Disciplinary Lens I would like to investigate the following prompts from two different disciplinary angles: Communication Science, which prefers a quantitative research method; and NeoSociology/Cultural studies, which favors a more qualitative research method. I will later address the added prefix in Sociology, which helps distinguish between the initial disciplinary angle of Communication Science and the latter Sociology angle utilized in my study. Both disciplinary angles are vital in order to avoid what George Cheney calls the “paradigmatic blindness” (Cheney 35) associated with using only one disciplinary Dadfar 3 flashlight to illuminate a societal puzzle. As Cheney elaborates, a “research has a lot to gain by directly addressing the complementary strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to social investigation” (Cheney 38)—this is the virtue of interdisciplinarity. By recognizing the differences in the ontological and epistemological perspectives underlying particular disciplines, we can learn to appreciate the varied methods of research advanced in each field. In essence, by analyzing this study through two different lenses, one will be able to discern other focal points, which may not have come to focus under a single lens. For example, the scientific approach can provide empirical/quantitative proof to the speculated correlation between increased media use and heightened sense of trust among the active media users, which addresses the latter half of my research questions. The sociological perspective, on the other hand, can illuminate crucial extraneous factors that hinder the development of trust among virtual strangers (such as participants’ cultural background) that can only be detected via qualitative-based sociological research. In this manner, by approaching the research questions from two different disciplines, we can gain a better understanding of how trust is developed or hindered within a virtual community. Such inquisitions are worthy of research as they directly address the exigency to analyze the burgeoning cyberspace camaraderie’s forming among virtual networks today. The Disciplinary Angle of Science It should be noted that the scientific approach addressed here pertains to communication science, the mode of study which was championed by the classic form of Dadfar 4 sociology. Joe Moran elucidates on the origins of sociology in his book Interdisciplinarity. Moran expounds, “Sociology was heavily reliant on American theories and methodologies which were ‘militantly empiricist and quantitative’ because of their origins in the positivist tradition” (Moran 61). Katherine I. Miller similarly affirms, “Many scholars trace this adoption of positivist principles through the work of classic sociologists” (Miller 51). Positivism is the belief that knowledge stems from empirical-proven data and “formulated through the use of formal logic and embodied in scientific laws” (Miller 50). Traditional sociology, thus, revolved primarily around scientific methods of research, favoring quantitative data. In this way, I chose to utilize the communication science angle in my study to provide the empirical vigor to my speculations regarding increased media use and heightened sense of trust among virtual teammates. Applicable Theories and Methods to the Communication Science Approach: The social network approach is a suited method to analyze the development of trust within the Go Cross Campus teams. In “Studying Online Social Networks,” Laura Garton, Caroline Haythornthwaite, and Barry Wellman divulge the usefulness of social network approach for studying computer-mediated communication in virtual communication. As explained by the authors, “this research approach has rapidly developed in the past twenty years, principally in sociology and communication science” (Garton, Haythornthwaite, Wellman 2). Upon establishing the suitability of the social network approach, we can now turn our attention to the proposed method for my study. The “whole network study” elaborated by Garton, Haythornthwaite, and Wellman is a functional method for collecting data on the participant’s degree of trust among other Dadfar 5 team players. As explicated by the authors in this article, “In a whole network study, people are often given a roster of all the people in a specific group, and asked to identify a connection of some specific content. Every person in the group is surveyed about every other person which gives an overall snapshot of the structure of relations, revealing disconnections as well as connections. This approach is particularly useful to identify the relative positioning of members in a network as well as the partitioning of subgroups” (Garton, Haythornthwaite, Wellman 12). In this fashion, I will similarly print out the Blue team roster and distribute it among my fellow teammates who will then identify specific connections. Additionally, I will ask each member to gauge the degree of trust they have in each player by assigning a score next to each name—0 to 10. Zero signifying “absolute no trust” to 10 representing whole-hearted trust in the teammate. Preliminary Answers Based on Observation As the “whole network study” suggests, I predict a subgroup within our team will become more apparent. I believe the intra-group partition will be revealed based on a discrepancy between the degrees of trust among blue team members in the CCT 505 class versus the degree of trust projected onto the other blue team members who have been recruited from outside the CCT 505 class. The discrepancy can be numerically represented by computing the average of trust points given to fellow class members vs. outside recruits. In order for this quantitative survey to work, the participants must specify whether they are from the CCT 505 class or not. The premise for my hypothesis stems from my personal experience as part of the “insiders of the blue team.” I noticed that through the Go Cross Campus experience, our recitation section grew much closer and amicable with one another. We began talking Dadfar 6 about our shared angst and excitements regarding the game and began developing a sense of team spirit, which extended beyond the classroom. Our section began wearing blue to class together, going out to lunch together, and even adding each other on facebook— ultimately confirming our friendships. I believe that the routine face-to-face interaction that corresponded our virtual connectedness is what developed our sense of trust in one another. Another applicable theory to this observation is the Media Richness Theory. As addressed in Robert H. Lengel’s article, “Face-to-face is the richest medium because it has the capacity for direct experience, multiple information cues, immediate feedback, and personal focus” (Lengel 226). Conceivably, it was the lack of accessibility to the richest medium (FtF) for the recruited members that diminished their capacity to be trusted. Alternately, the distanced trust between the insider blues and recruited blues could be based on the lack of computer-mediated communication (CMC) between the two subgroups in blue. As proposed by the hyperpersonal theory in “Computer-Mediated Communication: Impersonal, Interpersonal, and Hyperpersonal Interaction” by Joseph B. Walther, CMC can be hyperpersonal—exceeding FtF interpersonal communication (Walther 5). To investigate this theory further in terms of my research, it would be necessary to study particular exceptions where the degree of trust projected onto a recruited blue member was high. Interesting cases to analyze would be Nancy Alamy and Julie Espinosa’s ranked roster sheets, as these two were the blue team commanders who engaged most extensively in computer-mediated communication with the outsider blue members via facebook, email, and team chats. Such an analysis will answer my Dadfar 7 research question regarding how increased use of various CMC media channels can affect the virtual kinship among players. An Alternative Disciplinary Angle: Neo-Sociology/Cultural Studies As one can see, pursuing the quantitative research strategy to crack the virtual camaraderie issue has prompted alternative ideas of factors which can affect team solidarity and trust formations in virtual dimensions. An underlying question which stirred by interest had to do with the role of an individuals’ cultural background. The social network approach has focused on a rather structural analysis over individualism as it “look[ed] beyond the specific attributes of individuals” (Garton, Haythornthwaite, Wellman 4). I now turn my focus onto the more culturally sensitive lens of neo-sociology, which allows me to address the more individualistic factors that affect trust issues. As elucidated by Joe Moran in Interdisciplinarity, “Cultural studies is simply ‘another generation of sociology’, one that recognizes that the complexity of postindustrial culture and society requires more than statistical, quantitative methods to make sense of it” (Moran 64). This delineation should clarify why I chose to add the prefix to neo-sociology— to clarify the difference between the classical view versus the new, cultural-studies oriented form of sociology. Applicable Theories and Methods to the Neo-Sociology Approach: Methods which complement this disciplinary angle include “fieldwork-based research, interviews, and ethnography: the direct observation of a social group over an extended period” (Moran 61). Such re-orientation to qualitative research allows for a Dadfar 8 more detailed collection of personal experiences of participants, which may reveal the greater, subtler variables that affect trust formations, such as underlying cultural values of participants. Conducting interviews with each member of the blue team can provide a better picture of what factors encouraged or disinclined members to pursue CMC with particular members, unbeknownst of their “insider” or “outsider” blue status. Furthermore, through the advocated method of participant observation, the sociology/cultural studies angle will allow me to incorporate my ethnographic accounts as a participatory member of the online gaming community, which spanned from October 6th to November 3rd of 2009. Preliminary Answers Based on Observation Based on my experience as a participant in Go Cross Campus, I realized that my cultural background played a key role in determining my incompliance to trust, let alone befriend, the virtual strangers on my team. By analyzing the personal journal entries from my Go Cross Campus involvement, I detected a recurring reference I make to “gēmu otakus” and my conviction to not turn into one. “Gēmu otaku” is a Japanese slang term used to characterize those in Japan who are obsessed with games. The term is usually directed towards those people in society who are unhealthily obsessed with online games and socially awkward as a result. As an individual who was raised in Japan, I can see how I have internalized the social taboo associated with online gamers who are shunned by the strict, social-etiquette-enforcing public. In this way, I believe my cultural norms and values have discouraged me from pursuing an in-depth, trust evolving, virtual Dadfar 9 relationship with those who may fall under the “gēmu otaku” category back in my home culture. Through the cultural studies perspective, we see how the answer to “How can trust evolve between people who have never met in real life” can hinge on an individuals cultural background. As Baron writes in “Going mobile: Cell phones in context,” “Not surprisingly, the answers to some of these questions vary with cultural—and economic— circumstances” (Baron 130). The cultural perspective manifests how our socialized norms can determine how we utilize media forms, which ultimately affect how we engage with others on a gaming platform. Baron further elaborates, “The practices through which we encounter these forms are only partially determined by the objects themselves, with the rest of their functioning often shaped by the culture norms of the society in which they are embedded” (Baron 131). Only through ethnographic studies and in-depth qualitative research could we have acknowledged the culture-specific virtual platform usage. In order to fully assess the impact of cultural factors, I would have to conduct a cross-cultural analysis where I interview participants of particular cultural backgrounds to see if their values toward issues of virtual camaraderie match or not. Furthermore, I will seek out fellow students who are from Japan, such as Naoko Nakamae, to see if she had similar reservations towards virtual camaraderie based on the social tabooism regarding gēmu otakus. It will be vital to verify that the Japanese students being selected for this study are actually from Japan, as there are those who may be ethnically Japanese but culturally raised in another country, in which case will possess varying cultural norms that can affect the virtual trust formations in other ways. Dadfar 10 In conclusion, by incorporating the neo sociological/cultural studies angle into this study, we can venture out beyond the empirical data to identify other crucial factors that can affect the participant’s will to pursue cyberspace camaraderie. Conclusion In this research proposal, I have laid out the two disciplinary angles in which I wish to utilize to better tackle the greater societal issue involving virtual acquaintances. The communication science discipline has emphasized the importance of progress and scientific scrutiny in the study of social processes (Miller 51), while the neosociological/cultural studies perspective has emphasized the utility of qualitative research focusing on individualistic factors that can interfere with virtual kinships. It should be noted that the two disciplines work together to reveal the subtle factors which could not have been pinpointed by the methodologies proposed by a single lens. As Moran describes, interdisciplinary approaches “can challenge traditional, outmoded systems of thought […] produce new, innovative theories and methodologies which open up the existing disciplines to new perspectives” (Moran 182). By preparing the two different disciplinary lenses, I hope to continue uncovering the extraneous factors which make or break virtual trust networks within the alternative, peculiar realm of cyberspace. Thoughts on my Unconference Experience I must admit that I found the unconference to be rather ineffective. During the first session, I attended the Hyperpersonal session which was overcrowded, causing a few participants to be left out of the circle. It was difficult to commence on a discussion as many people had different angles they wanted to start from. Although some interesting experiences were shared, the connections were not made back to the topic of hyperpersonal. The second session I attended the leadership session which was more effective due to the smaller size of the group. I believe the greatest hinderance to productivity was the overwhelming volume of voices coming from every direction of the room, making it almost impossible to hear even the people in my group. Dadfar 11 Works Cited Baron, N. “Going mobile: Cell phones in context.” Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Cheney, George. “Interpreting Interpretive Research: Toward Perspectivism without Relativism.” Perspectives on Organizational Communication: Finding Common Ground. Ed. Steven R. Corman and Marshall Scott Poole. New York: The Guilford Press, 2000. 17-45. Garton, Laura, Caroline Haythornthwaite, and Barry Wellman. “Studying Online Social Networks.” Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 3.1 (1997): 1-30. Lengel, Robert H., and Richard L. Daft. “The Selection of Communication Media as an Executive Skill.” The Academy of Management Executive 2.3(1988): 225-232. Miller, Katherine I. “Common Ground from the Post-Positivist Perspective: From ‘Straw Person’ Argument to Collaborative Coexistence” Perspectives on Organizational Communication: Finding Common Ground. Ed. Steven R. Corman and Marshall Scott Poole. New York: The Guilford Press, 2000. 46-67. Moran, Joe. Interdisciplinarity. New York: Routledge, 2002. Walther, Joseph B. “Computer Mediated Communication: Impersonal, Interpersonal, and Hyperpersonal Interaction.” Communication Research 23.3 (1996): 3-43.