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SPRING 2011 VOLUME 27:1 PROTEUS A JOURNAL OF IDEAS Building and Strengthening Communities and Social Networks PROTEUS A J OURN A L OF I DE A S Building and Strengthening Communities and Social Networks VOLUME 27:1 SPRING 2011 An ancient Greek sea divinity, herdsman of seals, Proteus could be elusive by changing his form at will appearing as a lion, a serpent, a boar, water, or a tall tree. However when those who caught him succeeded in holding him fast, Proteus assumed his proper shape of an old man and told the truth. PROTEUS A J O U R N A L O F I D E A S VOLUME 27 SPRING 2011 NUMBER 1 BUILDING AND STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL NETWORKS Upcoming Issues of Proteus Watch for our Call for Papers on H-Net and in the Chronicle of Higher Education among other places in the Summer of 2011. Contents Upcoming Theme: The Human Body 1 Editor’s Notes: Building Communities 37 From Pathways to Portals: Getting to the Laurie J.C. Cella Root of a Public Housing Community Nicola Mann We welcome ideas for future themes! 5 Editor’s Notes: Exploring Social Networks Richard A. Knight 51 Social Networking & Virtual Community Submissions, requests for further information, or orders for copies should Xin-An Lu be addressed to the Managing Editor of Proteus at [email protected]. 7 News Talks: Critical Service-Learning for Social Change 57 Google in China: Finding Creative Spoma Jovanovic, Dan DeGooyer, Jr., Solutions to Cultural Differences and David Reno Christopher E. Eby 23 Something Old, Something New, Something 63 Online Activism for a Heterogeneous Time: Borrowed, Something Blue: Lessons The Pink Chaddi Campaign and the Social Learned During a Service-Learning Media in India Experience in the Gulf Coast Saayan Chattopadhyay Sean R. Cornell and Veronica Woodlief 69 Organizational Social Network Flows: Artist’s Statement 29 Trading Time for Time Dollars: The Jay Liebowitz • Proteus is indexed in Potential of Time Banking as a Community the MLA International Bibliography, Building Tool PAIS International (http://www.pais.org/), Chad M. Kimmel America: History and Life, MEMBER ISI Web of Knowledge, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, and Historical Abstracts. • It is a member of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ). Council of Editors • Past issues are available on microfilm from ProQuest, Information and Learning. of Learned Journals • Proteus is published annually and is funded by Shippensburg University. © 2011 by Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania 17257-2299. ISSN 0889-6348. ii iii 1 EDITORIAL BOARD EDITORIAL STAFF Editor’s Notes: H. James Birx Laurie J.C. Cella, editor Canisius College Richard A. Knight, editor Building Communities Harry M. Buck Matthew J.C. Cella, managing editor Wilson College Marie Hathaway, editorial assistant Dan T. Carter Jessica Kline, publications assistant University of South Carolina L AURIE J.C. C E ll A Valerie Ceddia S HIPPEN S BURG U NIVER S ITY Fayetteville, Pennsylvania O. R. Dathorne ADVISORY EDITORS University of Kentucky We become human only in the company of other beings. And this involves both opening David Godshalk our hearts and giving voice to our deepest convictions…. Community involvement, Don H. Doyle Mary Stewart University of South Carolina in other words, is the mirror that best reflects our individual choices, our strengths and weaknesses, our accomplishments and failures. It allows our lives to count for something. Henry Louis Gates Jr. Harvard University (Paul Rogat Loeb) REVIEW COMMITTEE Glenda Gilmore Yale University William (Turi) Braun Shelley Gross-Gray Steve Burg Shippensburg University Claire Jantz Growing up, I had the luxury of living on a cul-de-sac, overscheduled weekend. In the house I now live in with Scot Guenter Karen Johnson in a neighborhood where all the kids played together at my own family, I wave as I bring in my garbage, or as I run San Jose State University Misty Knight the elementary school playground up the street. Archie down the driveway in the rain to get my mail, but so far, and David lived to our right, and their dad taught us how in this newly established neighborhood, I haven’t estab- Donald L. Henry Eveline Lang to extract honey from a bee hive. Heather and Ryan lived lished the traditions I remember from my childhood. Shepherd University Blandine Mitaut down the street, and sometimes, when we were feeling less While the issue of neighborhood friendliness may Stephen Kantrowitz Deborah Montuori than generous, Heather and I told Archie that the play- seem like a trifling issue to some, waving to a neighbor— University of Wisconsin–Madison Gretchen Pierce ground was for “girls only.” Amy and her younger sister or listening to your neighbor’s daughter describe her first Rachel lived behind us, in a house we accessed through kiss—can be translated into a measurable form of capital, José Ricardo Mary Karasch a path tightly covered by trees. When Halloween rolled termed “social capital.” In his book Bowling Alone: The Oakland University Cheryl Zaccagnini around, we would gather in front of my house, and our Collapse and Revival of the American Community, Robert Judy Ruud parents would take pictures before herding us down the Putnam defines social capital as “the connections among street and around our “circle.” This circle defined the Shippensburg University individuals—social networks and the norms of reciprocity boundaries of my childhood, created a safety net of famil- and trustworthiness that arise from them. In that sense Linda Smosky iar faces, and solidified the rituals of the neighborhood. social capital is closely related to what some have called Wingate, North Carolina Of course, our circle wasn’t perfect; our neighbors had ‘civic virtue’” (2000, 19). Moreover, Putnam argues that Marjorie J. Spruill their share of troubles. My parents knew who drank too modern society no longer values social capital, and that University of South Carolina much, who was out of work, and whose marriage was in our schools, jobs, and neighborhoods have suffered. In his trouble. And our friends knew when we were having trouble words, “trustworthiness lubricates social life” (21), and so Rebecca Steinberger too. I remember helping with a neighbor’s yardwork, and when we don’t know our neighbors, community leaders, Misericordia University hearing my sisters fighting across the street. Embarrassed, teachers, or police officers, then we have lost more than I handed her the rake, and walked home. Hearing Mrs. a friendly wave “hello”—we have lost the strongest bond Englert’s “tsk, tsk” as I walked home, I vowed never to help in our social fabric, a bond that, once unraveled, isolates her again. But that summer, when my mom had to take us from each other and leaves us without the resources on extra shifts as a nurse at the hospital, I began spending to solve the problems facing our communities. Putnam more and more time on the Englert porch, asking ques- argues that “bridging” social capital accrues when people tions about boys and listening to Mrs. Englert describe reach out to meet someone new and create connections the skin-tight leather pants she had when she was dating. where none existed before. This type of connection can When we had to move away, I was sad to leave Heather, often lead to new job opportunities, new friendships, and Amy, and Archie, but I didn’t know what I was going to ultimately, more resources at the disposal of the commu- do without Mrs. Englert. nity as a whole. Indeed, a feeling of generalized reciproc- Now, as an adult, I rarely know or see my neighbors ity—the idea that good deeds are rewarded, and that your very much. It seems as if everyone’s busy schedule keeps neighbors would watch your house when you are out of them occupied during the work week, and the (often) town—can be the missing link in solving larger problems facing the global economy. iv 2 PROTEUS: A Journal of Ideas Laurie J.C. Cella: Editor’s Notes 3 For example, a recent issue of Customer Relationship disgust with the younger generations. Jared Cohen argues REFERENCES Management featured a review of John Jantsch’s new book, that the connections made via technology form a kind Cohen, Jared. “Digital Age Has Ushered in an Opportunity for The Referral Engine, in which Jantsch argues that a smart of “dorm room diplomacy,” and in effect create the most Unprecedented Global Collaboration,” The Huffington Post, December 17, 2008. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/. business should start using its own customers to build a cutting-edge form of social capital (2008). The question is: Gutierrez, Nicolas, Ray Hilborn, and Omar Defeo. “Leadership, strong advertising campaign, a sort of “bridging” activity can students—and all of us—translate that technological Social Capital, and Incentives Promote Successful Fisheries.” for smart shoppers (Martinez 2010). At first glance, this connection into change that will have a sustained impact Nature 470, no. 7334 (2011): 386-389. seems like a pretty sneaky way to make your customers on our day-to-day lives. Loeb, Paul Rogat. Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a do your work for you, but it is motivated by the premise This issue of Proteus focuses on the importance of Cynical Time. New York: St. Martin’s, 1999. that consumers need to work together in order to achieve social capital and how we build these networks of reci- Martinez, Juan. “Required Reading: Marketers, Start Your a common goal. Moreover, it is clear that Jantsch has hit procity within neighborhoods, between classroom and Engines,” Customer Relationship Management, September on something big; this technique has caught fire with 2010.

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