Here is a good chance to get an excellent introduction to social networks. Barry Wellman, Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto and NetLab Director, gives a half-day workshop, Networks for Newbies, every year at the Sunbelt Network conference. As Barry says, it “is totally non-technical, but emphasizes concepts, lore.” The slides for his Networks for Newbies session are available at his site under the Publications section under social network methods.
He was teaching at the University of Toronto when I was there obtaining my doctorate in educational psychology. It did take a course in his department on participant observation but it was with one his colleagues.
It did find a number of other interesting articles that you can download for free which serve as introductions to the field. I am quoting below the description on the site.
"The Global Village: Internet and Community" (Barry Wellman). Idea&s – “The Arts & Science Review, University of Toronto, 1(1): 26-30. Magazine article for the general reader about NetLab's research into the internet in everyday life, especially their local and long-distance communities.”
Connecting Community: On and Offline – Barry Wellman – “The Internet is no longer a separate world for the in-group millions of people routinely come online. Rather than isolating users in a virtual world, the Internet extends community in the real world, and connects people through individualized and flexible social networks rather than fixed and grounded groups. The article gives examples from NetLab's research.”
Even better than reading my slides, why not attend the Networks 4 Newbies workshop, Wednesday, April 26, one of the opening events of the Sunbelt Social Network conference, Vancouver, April 26-30, 2006. Go to www.insna.org for details.
Posted by: Barry Wellman | February 03, 2006 at 08:55 AM