HOMELESS BOUND: A SEARCH FOR DIGITAL LITERACY WITHIN THE REALM OF SOCIAL MEDIA by Melissa Goertzen Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Library and Information Studies at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia July 2012 © Copyright by Melissa Goertzen, 2012 DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance a thesis entitled “HOMELESS BOUND: A SEARCH FOR DIGITAL LITERACY WITHIN THE REALM OF SOCIAL MEDIA” by Melissa Goertzen in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Library and Information Studies. Dated: 18 July 2012 Supervisor: _________________________________ Readers: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ ii DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY DATE: July 18, 2012 AUTHOR: Melissa Goertzen TITLE: HOMELESS BOUND: A SEARCH FOR DIGITAL LITERACY WITHIN THE REALM OF SOCIAL MEDIA DEPARTMENT OR SCHOOL: School of Information Management DEGREE: MLIS CONVOCATION: October YEAR: 2012 Permission is herewith granted to Dalhousie University to circulate and to have copied for non-commercial purposes, at its discretion, the above title upon the request of individuals or institutions. I understand that my thesis will be electronically available to the public. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author’s written permission. The author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material appearing in the thesis (other than the brief excerpts requiring only proper acknowledgement in scholarly writing), and that all such use is clearly acknowledged. _______________________________ Signature of Author iii Table of Contents List of Tables ...................................................................................................................vii List of Figures.................................................................................................................viii Abstract.............................................................................................................................ix List of Abbreviations Used ................................................................................................ x Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................xi Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Objectives and Questions .................................................................. 3 1.3 Introduction to the Literature ............................................................................ 4 1.4 Introduction to the Method................................................................................ 5 1.5 Background Information Regarding Homeless Nation..................................... 6 1.6 Structure of the Thesis....................................................................................... 8 1.7 Definition of Terms........................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2. Literature Review........................................................................................... 11 2.1 A Definition of Homelessness......................................................................... 11 2.2 A Definition of Digital Literacy...................................................................... 13 2.3 Information Seeking Behaviours and the Homeless ....................................... 16 2.4 A Discussion of the Digital Divide ................................................................. 21 2.5 Public Libraries and Homeless Communities .................................................24 2.6 Social Media and the Homeless ...................................................................... 27 2.7 Online Communities and the Homeless .......................................................... 31 2.8 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 3. Method ........................................................................................................... 36 3.1 The Selection of an Online Environment........................................................ 36 3.2 Research Design.............................................................................................. 37 iv 3.2.1 A Definition of Content Analysis........................................................ 38 3.2.2 A Definition of Social Network Analysis ........................................... 39 3.3 Selection of the Data Sample .......................................................................... 40 3.4 Data Collection and Preliminary Analysis ...................................................... 42 3.4.1 Step One: Preparing the Data .............................................................. 42 3.4.2 Step Two: Identify Units of Analysis.................................................. 43 3.4.3 Step Three: The Creation of User and Content Categories ................. 44 3.4.4 Step Four: Testing User and Content Categories ................................ 46 3.4.5 Step Five: Coding the Data Sample.....................................................46 3.4.6 Step Six: Analyzing the Data Sample ................................................. 47 3.4.7 Step Seven: Analyzing the Network Diagrams ................................... 47 3.5 Ethical Considerations..................................................................................... 48 3.6 Study Limitations ............................................................................................48 Chapter 4. Findings.......................................................................................................... 50 4.1 Homeless Nation and Digital Literacy ............................................................ 50 4.1.1 User Categories and Frequency of Posts/Comments...........................50 4.1.2 Content Categories and Site Usage Trends ......................................... 53 4.1.3 Homeless Nation Participation Rates and Lurkers.............................. 63 4.1.4 Blog vs. Video Posts............................................................................ 64 4.2 Homeless Nation and Information Seeking Behaviours ................................. 66 4.2.1 Direct and Indirect Questions.............................................................. 67 4.2.2 User Categories and the Dissemination of Information ...................... 69 4.2.3 Examination of Informative Content Categories................................. 72 4.2.4 Informative Content Categories and Lurkers ...................................... 75 4.3 Homeless Nation and the Online Community................................................. 78 4.3.1 Description of the Homeless Nation Community................................ 78 4.3.2 Central Network Users based on Total Centrality............................... 80 4.3.3 Influential Content Creators based on Out-Degree Centrality ............ 82 4.3.4 Influential Commenters based on In-Degree Centrality...................... 84 Chapter 5. Discussion ...................................................................................................... 87 v 5.1 General Trends ................................................................................................ 87 5.1.1 Narrative Content vs. Administrative Content .................................... 87 5.1.2 Peer Promotion Influences Online Behaviours ................................... 88 5.1.3 The Discussion of Poverty and Homelessness .................................... 88 5.1.4 Extrospective vs. Introspective Discussion ......................................... 89 5.1.5 Inclusive vs. Exclusive Structure......................................................... 89 5.2 Information Seeking, Online Relationships, and Digital Literacy .................. 90 5.2.1 Information Seeking Behaviours......................................................... 91 5.2.2 Online Communities............................................................................ 92 5.2.3 Digital Literacy.................................................................................... 93 5.3 The Goals of Homeless Nation ....................................................................... 94 5.4 A Discussion of the Digital Divide ................................................................. 95 5.5 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 6. Conclusion...................................................................................................... 98 6.1 Implications of Findings................................................................................ 100 6.2 Future Areas of Study.................................................................................... 101 References...................................................................................................................... 104 Appendix A. Example of Data Collection Spreadsheet................................................