I'm trying to focus my topic from internet and cell phones and how they affect communication/relationships to looking at specifically texting. But I'm having some trouble finding enough information in terms of sources, I've been looking and getting information from a lot of popular articles but not as many textbooks. Any ideas where I could look in the library for information about this?
Recently in Katherine Ness Category
Here's my annotated sources, I have found a lot of information but I need to sort through it and find a way to narrow my information some more, or find a more interesting spin on it.
Flicky, Patrice. The Internet Imaginaire. MIT Press, 2006. Davidson College. 24 Oct. 2008 <http://www.lib.davidson.edu/web2/tramp2.exe/log_in?SETTING_KEY=english&guest=guest>. This book relates to my research topic and would be useful because it discusses the development of the Internet and it's changing role in societies. It looks into how communications through computers have rapidly grown, and how it has affected relationships between people. It looks at the idea of a technological "utopia" that some societies dream of reaching, and how the Internet is rapidly promoting a "human-machine symbiosis." The book has sections on how and why the Internet became popular, and which societies it became popular in. It examines today's new communication age, which has become more of a "virtual" society, and looks at the consequences of that. This is relevant to my topic because I think the background information on how the Internet developed will be interesting for my research and looking into how this source has changed communication and relationships between people.
Green, Lelia. Communication, Technology, and Society. London: SAGE Publications, 2001. This book examines the various technologies of communication, so in some sections specifically cyberspace and the Internet. She argues that these forms of communication are never neutral, and that they are "closely linked to culture, society, and government policy." She looks at why technology is changing and how it is affecting society, and discusses how various technologies coexist and interact. She writes a section on mass media and the public sphere looks at how the Internet affects the public and has created an online community that affects personal relationships. This relates to my topic because it gives a lot of information about communication and technology in general, but also about the Internet and communication, which will be a good basis for me to look at when researching my topic.
Holoien, Martin O. "Human Communication and Computers." Computers and Their Societal Impact. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1977. 221-27. The section from this book that I think will help me with my research is called Human Communication and Computers, and it looks at how the Internet and computers have promoted communication in our society. They have become a vital part of our everyday life, and the majority of individuals are affected by computers in some way, shape, or form. Computers also have an effect on human speech and human memory. This book focuses less on the change of relationships due to Internet and more on how communication has come to depend on computers, so I think I'll be able to get some general information from this source but maybe not too much specific to my topic. I think it will be something interesting to look at for information surrounding my topic.
Laguerre, Michael S. The Digital City: the American Metropolis and Information Technology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Lengel, Laura, Alice Tomic, and Therlow Crispen. Computer Mediated Communication: Social Interaction and the Internet. London: Sage Incorporation, 2004. Davidson College. 24 Oct. 2008 <http://www.lib.davidson.edu/web2/tramp2.exe/log_in?SETTING_KEY=english&guest=guest>. This source is all about computer mediated communication and how it works and how it has grown in our society. It discusses the Internet and how it has affected communication in our world. It looks at the building and development of online communities, and how in some situations it has even promoted antisocial behavior. The source also attempts to define communication and how the Internet has shaped it. I think that this source will be useful for my research because it focuses on the computer mediated communication and how it has changed society, our world, and relationships between people. It, like some other sources, looks at how it has developed and its effects, and I think that will give me some good basic information for my topic.
Menand, Louis. "Thumbspeak." The New Yorker (Oct. 2008). 25 Oct. 2008 <http://www.newyorker.com>. This source is a very recent article from The New Yorker that discusses texting and how it has completely changed the world of communication. It discusses the various appeals of texting, like the speed and simplicity of it. But it also analyzes a draw of texting that many people don't consider, the fact that it is a form of communication that doesn't require face to face contact, or even hearing another person's voice. People are able to avoid a "real, unscripted conversation" through texting, and able to avoid the amount of self-presentation that personal encounters require. Texting is formulaic and doesn't require any of the bothersome interpretations of body language and facial expressions. No small talk or banter is required, it is easy to just get straight to the point. This article definitely relates to my research topic because it discusses the growing popularity of texting and that although people see the speed and simplicity of it has a plus, it is drastically changing personal relationships in our world.
Okin, J.R. The Information Revolution: the Not-For-Dummies Guide to the History, Technology, and Use of the World Wide Web. Winter Harbor, Maine: Ironbound Press, 2005.
Subrahmanyam, Kaveri, and Patricia Greenfield. "Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships." Future of Children 18.1 (2008): 119-146. Web of Knowledge. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://apps.isiknowledge.com>. This article examines adolescents and their association with technology, and how important it has become in their lives. It focuses on the increasing importance of texting, email, and instant messaging as primary forms of communication, as well as the heightened use of social networking sites. The authors of the article examine how adolescent's relationships with both strangers and friends has changed in the context of all this new online and cell phone communication. It points out some of the negative effects, like how many children use these forms of communication to reinforce relationships with friends over their families. I think this article will be useful to my research because it gives the adolescent aspect on communication through Internet and cell phones, and examines how drastically it has caused adolescents to change relationships.
I've decided to research the topic of communications, mainly Internet and cell phones, and how they've changed people's relationships to be much less personable. I need to do some research in the library to find books and articles on this topic to get better ideas of how to narrow my thesis and possibly find a more interesting standpoint on it. Where would be the best place to do this? And does anyone have an any ideas for how I could make this a more unique idea to research?
In Marx's article, "Does Improved Technology Mean Progress?, he discusses the shift in beliefs from the view that technology and technological improvements are a sound judge of American progress to the more recent skeptical standpoint that presents a more negative "view of technological innovation as an index of social progress" (65). Shifts have also occurred from an Enlightenment belief that science and technology worked towards the goals of liberation from political oppression, towards a technocratic stance that that "science-based technologies are in themselves a sufficient and reliable basis for progress" (76).
My research topics both have to do with forms of technology and their affects on society. One looks at the effects of violent TV and videogames on children's levels of aggression, and the other examines how drastically methods of communication have changed with the introduction of the Internet and cell phones, and how they've made relationships much less personable. Marx would definitely argue that all of these forms of technology-TV, Internet, video games, cell phones-may not necessarily be marked as positive changes in society. Yes, each of these innovations has its upsides to the advancement of society, but each can also have detrimental effects. Although I haven't picked which topic I would like to study, with either one I plan to examine those negative effects of either aggression or less personable relationships. Mark would see this as a quality argument, since his entire piece discusses why Americans have made the shift from Enlightenment to technocratic and how. At a certain point of technological advancement Americans began to examine the motives behind these innovations, and realized that they can't always be used as an index of progress in our world. Mark states, "only by questioning the assumption that innovation necessarily represents progress can we begin to judge its worth" (77). Although innovations that have enhanced media and communication are extremely impressive and can be valuable, their possible negative affects on society are what I plan to explore through my research paper.
