Supporting Kalyāṇamittatā Online: New Architectures for Sustainable Social Networking Paul Trafford Oxford, UK [email protected] 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 1 About these slides (version 1.0s for Slideshare) These slides are based on those that I used for a presentation entitled: Supporting Kalyāṇamittatā Online: New Architectures for Sustainable Social Networking given at the 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science ( http://www.wcbsthailand.com/ ) held 1-2 December 2010 at the College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University, Thailand. The slides are generally the same, except here I've inserted details of citations. Note also that some words use diacritics and were authored with the Times Ext Roman font. The content is provided under the Creative Commons License 2.0 Attribution 2.0 Generic. - Paul Trafford, Oxford. 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 2 Preface: School Friends "Paul"Paul doesn'tdoesn't havehave manymany friendsfriends butbut hehe hashas goodgood friends.”friends.” Teacher,Teacher, Parents'Parents' Evening,Evening, HagleyHagley FirstFirst SchoolSchool c.1977c.1977 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 3 Photo copyright © Hagley Community Association Overview of Presentation 1. Introduction 2. Approaches in Social Sciences: Well-being 3. Buddhist Architectures for Sustainable Relationships Online 4. Conclusions 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 4 Part 1: Introduction 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 5 Background to this paper Personal research context: ● Web2.0 research in UK Higher Education ● EDUCAUSE Blog post: On 'Friends' and other associations http://paultrafford.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/on- friends-and-other-associations.html (originally: http://www.educause.edu/blog/pault/OnFriendsandotherassociations/167285 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 6 Basic terminology: Internet, Web and Social Networking ● Internet: federated [computer] network of networks, evolved from ARPANET (1969) ● World Wide Web: Internet service based on hypertext (1989) ● Social Networking: Internet services, especially Web-based, for people to connect and share ● Social Networking Sites (SNS): Social networking focused around a particular web site or service. Examples: Planetall.com (c. 1996); Facebook (2004) 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 7 1-2 December 20101-2 Facebook numbers:growth in usage No. of users (millions) 200 300 400 500 600 100 0 01/04 05/05 3rd World Conference3rd onBuddhism andScience Number Number of Facebook Users (source: Facebook.com) (source: 10/06 Date 02/08 07/09 11/10 8 Example of Facebook usage (page) 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 9 More Facebook numbers: MHS page 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 10 Problem of SNS: Poor Sustainability ● Evanescent nature and majority of online communities don't even get off the ground. ● Major sites have become obsolete: PlanetAll (1996-2000), Six Degrees (1997-2001) or else receding from view (Friends Reunited); even Google has not been so successful (Orkut, Buzz) ● What's become of friendship? Many people are dissatisfied with Facebook [e.g. National Unfriend Day, 17 November 2010] 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 11 Part 2: Approaches in Social Sciences: Well-being 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 12 The changing meanings of 'social' Alejandro Portes (in literature review of social capital) [1998] observes: ● foundational work of 19th century sociologists, particularly Émile Durkheim ● sense has broadened from small-scale individual and family kinships to large-scale societies (cities, nations etc) Portes, A. 1998. Social Capital:Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology 24, 1-24 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 13 Social Capital: Definition? There is no standard definition, but following is characteristic: the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition (Bourdieu 1980). Bourdieu P. 1980. Le capital social: notes provisoires. Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales. L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales. 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 14 Well-being Typically regarded as a subjective view of happiness. Social dimension: short and long-term well-being: Generally speaking, self-ratings of ‘happiness’ turn out to reflect relatively short-term, situation- dependent expressions of mood, whereas self- ratings of ‘life satisfaction’ appear to measure longer-term, more stable evaluations (Helliwell and Putnam 2004) Helliwell, J.F., Putnam R.D. 2004. The social context of well-being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London: Biological Sciences 359, 1435-1446 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 15 Well-being and Social Capital Social capital identified as a key factor for social well- being, but refinements needed: ● bonding social capital: "refers to the links between like-minded people, or the reinforcement of homogeneity. It builds strong ties, but can also result in higher walls excluding those who do not qualify" ● bridging social capital: “refers to the building of connections between heterogeneous groups; these are likely to be more fragile, but more likely also to foster social inclusion" (Schuller et al. 2000:10) Baron, S. , Field, J., Schuller, T. (eds.). 2000. Social Capital. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 16 Social Capital and Online Activity ● General Social Survey (nationally representative data on Americans and their online discussion networks of close confidants) ● GSS distinguishes between kinship and non-kinship networks ● Comparative analysis [1985 c.f. 2004] (McPherson et al. 2006): reduction in strong ties indicate increased loneliness ● Some dispute about results (e.g. Fischer 2009), but authors maintain methodology is sound. Fischer, C. S., 2009. The 2004 GSS Finding of Shrunken Social Networks: An Artifact? American Sociological Review 74:4. 657-669. McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin L., Brashears M. E., 2006. Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades American Sociological Review 71:3. American Sociological Association, 353-375. 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 17 Facebook and Well-being (1) Survey: College Students: Ellison et al (2007) ● useful measures of well-being, significant correlations between life satisfaction and intensity of Facebook usage ● limited context: undergraduate students and predictors based on evolving Facebook functionality (2) Survey 2: Burke et al (2010) ● same approach, broader sample ● a positive relationship between directed communications (i.e. where a user initiates some activity) and social capital ● Increased loneliness found with the most intense users Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. 2007. The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12:4, article 1. Burke, M., Marlow, C., Lento M. 2010. Social Network Activity and Social Well-Being. CHI 2010: Social Media Users, April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 18 More clues: Ethnographic Observations A more vivid picture of motivations. Trinidadian culture (Daniel Miller 2010): “important in galvanising the response to the recent catastrophe of fellow Caribbeans in Haiti” but: exacerbating “a national characteristic leading to the disorder of bacchanal” Highlights issue of social ethics... ● but online ethics information-oriented. Miller, D. 2010. `Fas’ book (Facebook) in Trinidad. Material World blog post, 7 February 2010. New York University. http://blogs.nyu.edu/projects/materialworld/2010/02/fas_book_facebook_in_trinidad.html 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 19 The Decline of Netiquette Have we forgotten responsible behaviour online? In general, rules of common courtesy for interaction with people should be in force for any situation and on the Internet it's doubly important where, for example, body language and tone of voice must be inferred. (Hambridge, IETF, 1995) 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 20 Part 3: Buddhist Architectures for Sustainable Relationships Online 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 21 Buddhism in the Social Sphere Many works exist that offer applications of Buddhism to the contemporary social context: ● Payutto, Bhikkhu P.A. 2007. Visions of the Dhamma, Wat Nyanavesakavan, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand ● Soni R.L. (revised Khantipalo). 1978. Life's Highest Blessings: The Maha Mangala Sutta, translation and Commentary. WH 254. Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy ● Mendis, P. 1994. Buddhist Economics and Community Development Strategies Community Development Journal 29:4, OUP. 195-202 ● Dhammakaya Foundation 2005. A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps Towards Enlightened Living, Dhammakaya Foundation, Bangkok Can apply to the online context similarly... 1-2 December 2010 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science 22 Kalyāṇamittatā as true friendship "Herein,