A3Cilke_York

A3Cilke_York

To Do

• please work as a group (minimum: 2 members; max: 6 members) and submit one answer as a group (clearly identifying the members of your group)
• identify one focused topic within the chapter which is of greatest interest to your group!
• each group member: should identify one additional source relevant to the topic chosen!
• each group: provide a two page max summary statement in our course environment (mention the additional resources identified)
• prepare a short presentation to the class for the class meeting on Sept 17! the groups can choose how to present their results (oral only; use slides; one member, several members, or all members); time allocation (will be dependent of the numbers of groups: but somewhere between 4 and 10 minutes)

A3Cilke_York

To Do

• please work as a group (minimum: 2 members; max: 6 members) and submit one answer as a group (clearly identifying the members of your group)
• identify one focused topic within the chapter which is of greatest interest to your group!
• each group member: should identify one additional source relevant to the topic chosen!
• each group: provide a two page max summary statement in our course environment (mention the additional resources identified)
• prepare a short presentation to the class for the class meeting on Sept 17! the groups can choose how to present their results (oral only; use slides; one member, several members, or all members); time allocation (will be dependent of the numbers of groups: but somewhere between 4 and 10 minutes)

Form for your response

1. Herbert Simon

Dain Cilke, Ian York

2. Most interesting idea/concept you learned from the article?

We decided to focus on the notion of social capital and the potential ability to digital rebuild social capital lost through the decline in participation traditional community organizations and events. The idea of social capital has played a role in many discussions regarding social life from de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1835) to mainstream books such as Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone (2000). Broadly defined, social capital can be seen as the value formed through social contact between individuals that results in benefits such as familiarity/friendship, tolerance, solidarity, trust, and habits of cooperation (Bowling Alone pg 362). These bonds influences individuals' views and behaviors and creates a network of mutual obligation that strengthen ties between individuals and provides common benefits to all participants.

Much of Putnum's discussion focuses on the decline in civic participation, and thus social capital, the has occurred over the last 50 years in the United States. The decline in community participation can be seen in both the reduction of membership in formal organizations such as Elks' Club, Parent-Teachers Associations, Churches, etc. as well as the reduction in informal interactions such as having friends over, family dinners, voting, etc. The reduction in social capital correlates well with reductions in community benefits such as decreased school performance, community volunteering, and overall health as well as increased murder rates and tax evasion. Those states with the lowest measures of social capital also measure lowest in these quality of life measurements. While these geographical trends are clear, recent discussion has focused on the internet and whether digital participation can form adequate interactions to create digital social capital.

Digital social capital can be measured through the benefits (if any) social networking sites such as Facebook have on social interaction and the perception of social capital. In a study done by Nicole B. Ellison et. all, entitled The Benefits of Facebook "Friends": Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites, the relationship between the use of Facebook and the formation and maintenance of social capital was analyzed. The study asked 800 college students about their use of Facebook and measured their social capital. What the study found was that students who exhibited low self esteem and low satisfaction had an increase to bridging social capital if they used Facebook more intensely. This study can only be generalized to college students and possibly high school students and not to any older generations because of the nature of Facebook. Facebook was created as a social networking tool explicitly for college students. Generalizing this study to older generations ignores the possibility that the percentage of the older generation on Facebook is relatively small compared to the representative populous. However, it is not unreasonable to assume that if Facebook or another social networking site was redesigned it could produce similar results for the average user of a broader age range.

However, this hypothesis is incomplete when considering other factors. For example, users who fall into or above the digital divide. A user who possesses a minimal knowledge base about computers might not understand how to utilize Facebook and thus not report an increase in social capital as a result of use. On the other hand, users who possess a knowledge base greater than the average user might view Facebook as a website rather than a social tool. In this instance, the user has a "burden of knowledge" which limits their perceived access to social capital. As such, other factors other than age have to be considered when determining the social capital potential than a user may gain through their participation.

3. articulate what you did not understand in the article but it sounded interesting and you would like to know more about it

York Resources:
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Simon & Schuster. 2000 http://www.bowlingalone.com/ (Accessed on 2008-09-15)
Social Capital and Digital Citizenship: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ptc2008/Oscar.howell/Social_Capital_and_Digital_Citizenship (Accessed on 2008-09-15)

Clike Resources:
Social Capital: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital (Accessed on 2008-09-15)
The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html (Accessed on 2008-09-15)
Social Capital Research: http://www.gnudung.com (Accessed on 2008-09-15)