Fieldworking (Part 1)

I´ve been out in the ”field” for about one month now, interviewing, observing, reading and researching. The first one and a half week was dedicated to a mapping of various communities and social media platforms online. I wanted to find my ”field”, that is – a platform which corresponded to TFF:s vision about The ProPeace Platform. This vision states (among other aspects) that:” the platform should enable constructive thinking, ways of seeing, ideas, information and concrete proposals of our time. The central core to the idea is to ”give peace a visibility”, something that would be reflected in the content of the platform, in forms of eg: videos, photographs, arts etc. [...-...] Another central aspect of the vision is that it bridges academia and cultural production, [...-...] that various groups and intitatives in society should meet on this platform, and together form a global movement for peace” (for further information, see projectdescription).

With this vision in the back of my mind, it was obvious that not just any social media based community or webpage would be a worthy candidate for netnography. I made a set of criterias to narrow down my search, and these criterias were as follows: it had to be a page with a diversity of users (global, interculturally, interdisciplinary, different ages and so forth), it had to have the mechanism of a community (networking, inviting etc.), it had to be based on a cause or theme (e.g: social change, peace, sustainability), it should be a resource (with texts, photos, videos and so on), users should be encouraged to contribute, users should also be encouraged to collaborate and ”solve” problems together and finally – users should be mobilised, triggered to do something, to act. The question was; did such a platform exist and how would I find it if it did exist?

To start with, I found out that there are a lot of different concepts in Web 2.0 which correlated to the ideas above. In my research I came across a dozen concepts (some interwined with each other):

commons-based peer production (CBPP or social production), Collaborative Innovation Network (CoIN), Social Collaboration, Open Access, Crowdsourcing, Wiki, social networking site.

All in all, I probably found 25 different pages which could be described by using one or more of the mentioned concepts. Out of them I selected 11 to look closer at (and sign up to):

1. Taking it Global: www.tigweb.org/ (social networking site about global questions)
2. WiserEarth: www.wiserearth.org/ (social networking site and open source)
3. Fledgewing: www.fledgewing.com (collaborative social networking site)
4. www.NewAssignment.net (commons-based peer production)
5. www.metrohamilton.ning.com (Collaborative Innovation Network)
6. www.fedoraproject.org (Collaborative Innovation Network)
7. www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org (Social Collaboration)
8. www.theopensourcescienceproject.com (Open Source)
9. www.opensource.com
10. www.en.citizendium.org (wiki)
11. www.mypitch.com (crowdsourcing)

After yet another closer examination and comparison to my criterias I narrowed down the list to nr 2, 7, 9, 10 and 11. After reading more in Kozinenets book, I came to a critical point in selecting one, maximum 2 platforms to perform my netnography: (I´m willing to admit that I planned to follow all 11 but that I came to my senses and realised that I only had 10 weeks, and 8 more to go). Kozinets (p. 89) added the following criterias in choosing the appropriate candidate:

”You should look for online communities that are:

1. relevant, they relate to your research focus and questions
2. active, thay have recent and regular communications
3. interactive, they have a flow of comunications between participants
4. substanstial, they have a critical mass of communications and an energetic feel
5. hetereogeneous, they have a number of different participants
6. data-rich, offering more detailed or descriptively rich data

According to these (plus my own criterias) only one platform stood out, namely WiserEarth.

Later on (in part 2), I will describe what WiserEarth is and also tell you more about my fieldwork, how I organized it, some results and something about the future....

Project description for "Peace in web 2.0"

Background

In 2010 TFF (The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research¹) celebrates its 25 years anniversary. The TFF brand is also globally acknowledged, but even though TFF has a strong profile online (including network among various academics and decision makers), they are experiencing difficulties in reaching out to various groups in society, especially the youth. Plans for the future of the foundation is discussed internally and one result or vision of these discussions is a concept called the Pro-Peace Platform.

The vision of the ProPeace Platform states that it is ”a new type of platform” where the message and philosophy of ”pro-peace is promoted”. It also states that the platform should promote constructive thinking, ways of seeing, ideas, information and concrete proposals that highlights the pro-peace of our time. The central core to the idea is to ”give peace a visibility”, something that would be reflected in the content of the platform, in forms of eg: videos, photographs, arts etc. accompanied with reviews, debates and discussions. There would be academic studies with proposals, all kinds of peace courses, links to online learning and so forth. Another central aspect of the vision though, is that the platform bridges academia and cultural production, that it highlights culture in general and culture of peace activities in particular. The focus would be on “what was done, what can be don and how and who are the like-minded to link up with to move the world.” Various groups and initiatives in society should meet on this platform, and together form a global movement for peace.

The ProPeace Platform is a place that makes peace and peace-culture visible - for the concerned citizens, students, academics, artists and media people. It is a place “filled with “aha”-, “wonderful”-, I did not know that”- experiences” and a a place where the user get a sense of “Yes, there is hope – people have done it”. This should energize and appeal to people, especially the youth, around the globe and ignite the will to contribution. The basis for this could be a form of wiki or another form of social community, where people are devoting, with time and knowledge.

My Project – “Peace in Web 2.0”

I will perform a research-project for full-time for 10 weeks (from 18^th October – 17^th December) during the autumn. The project will be a pre-study for the ProPeace Platform, its content and its structure and the task would be to analyze social media with a focus on youth and people movements (like the peace movement and the anti racism movement). A mapping of other successful platforms could be performed as well as anthropological methods to interview users. In this way TFF could gain valuable information about the mechanisms of social media and patterns of the youth and also how the culture of peace could be amalgamted with the culture of Web 2.0.² My main research questions are:

How do you create this kind of architecture? (Are there any examples out there that corresponds to the ProPeace Idea?)

How do you create an atmosphere of change-making and the will to contribute?

How do the users use social media with a focus on people movements and how do these social media use the users?

The result of this research could take the form of an action-plan or a strategy for how TFF should design the process of creating the platform and how the user should be involved. It should give insights to “peacetrends” on the Internet and a picture of the potential future user of the platform. A future goal could also be to present some form of visual “prototype” for the platform, eg. in a presentation for TFF.

Method

In order to attract certain groups of people, TFF need to map theses groups wishes, needs, behaviours, movements etc. A mapping which could be done online through netethnography ( or virtual ethnography) by using and analysing social networks on eg. twitter and facebook.³ Netnography also includes participant observation (an anthropological term for being there- on site) in social communities online. Besides netethnography; qualitative interviews and/or focusgroup interviews with associates, students, researchers and people of diverse background will be used in order to answer my research questions. The knowledge gained from this could be the foundation for the ProPeace Platform.

Theories

The theories I intend to use includes the theories about "The Experience Economy” and "place-making" (Magic, Culture and the New Economy by Orvar Löfgren and Robert Willim) + (Kulturell ekonomi : skapandet av värden, platser och identiteter i upplevelsesamhället by Lars Aronsson (Red)) and various articles concerning the underlying philosophies about Web 2.0 and Innovation.

Notes:

1 TFF (founded in 1986) is an independent think tank and an all-volunteer global network with associates all over the world. Their goals are based on ”peace by peaceful means” and include; ”conflict-mitigation, peace research and education to improve conflict understanding at all levels and promote alternative security and global development based on nonviolent politics, economics, sustainability and ethics of care.” TFF works in areas such as; Burundi, the former Yugslavia, Iraq, Iran and other places in the Middle East as well as in Sweden. (http://www.transnational.org)

2 Web 2.0 is a concept and a development of the Internet which builds upon a digital and open culture, which is developed through the collaboration between users. It is constructed by social networks like twitter and facebook. Users share, interact and collaborate and is therefore as important as the platform itself. This can be compared with Web 1.0 were the vast majority of the users simply consumed the content.

3 Potential subquestions: How do young people become engaged in social movements today? How do they organize themselves? In what way do the want their information? Movieclips, pictures, live-chat etc. How do they process information? (Do the share it with others? Do the want to download it?) Do they want to contribute? How do we reach certain groups in a time when individuals are bombarded with messages and information? In what ways can web 2.0 promote new forms of thinking around peace?

Time Plan for "Peace in Web 2.0"

This is my time plan for the project: ”Peace in Web 2.0”, which may be changed or updated in the future (in that case I will notify you). If there are any questions or if you have any feedback, don´t hesitate to e-mail me on edbertsson@gmail.com, or comment directly in this blog!

Pre-phase (June – September):

1st meeting with TFF

Specialization courses (15 hp) in Informatics at Umeå University ("Öppenhet på internet" and "Web 2.0: Begrepp, teknik och Innovation")

2nd meeting with TFF

Meeting with the TFF board

3rd meeting with TFF

Phase 1: Fieldwork preparation (18^th -27^th October)

- Planning Research: Read Robert V. Kozinets Netnography, revise timeplan and identify questions and need.

- Gathering Information and Literature: Find relevant articles and literature for the researchprocess

- Mapping relevant sources and resources: Compile a list with webpages and portals online that could be a resource for finding informants or a field itself and material for netnography.

- Identifying internal and external stakeholders and needs: Who will benefint from this research? Who are the users?

- Producing Blogg+Facebookpage: Produce some kind of ”research blog” where clients, stakeholders and others can follow the research, also- produce a facebookpage for recruiting informants and informing about the project.

- Start recruiting informants: When one or more webpages/portals have been selected, the recruiting process should be initiated as soon as possible.

Deliver revised Project Plan, time budget and status-report on 22th October

Phase 2: Fieldwork (28^th October-12^th November)

- Commence the netnography: This part includes the entree and participant observation in various social media, a number of qualitative interviews (preferably at least 5) online and in real life (irl) and, depending on time - an internet survey about usage and experiences of a social media platform.

- (Absence, 1^st November) Lecturing in Örnsköldsvik for Youth Against Racism

- Continue the recruiting process

- Going trough written sources

- (Absence, 11-12^th November) Participation at "Innovation In Mind 2010", http://www.innovationinmind.se/

Phase 3: Processing data (15-19 November)

- Selection of literature and sources: Which articles, webpages, books etc. should be included in the final presentation?

- (Absence 16^th November) Participation at ”Jag bor i Malmö”-(A youth conference)

- Transcribing interviews

- Compiling surveys

Phase 4: Analysis ( 22 November – 8 December)

- Analyzing processed data

- Idea generating process

- Deliver status-report on 26th of November

Phase 5: Production and Visual Presentation (9-17 December)

- Producing action-plan (with suggestions) and a Visual presentation for the future ProPeace Platform

Final presentation: 17th December

Post-phase (2011):

- Follow-up meeting with TFF in January