Project Summary E-neighbors: Social Networks and Neighborhood Social Capital in the Internet Age. Keith Hampton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Robert Putnam (2000) suggests that over the last third of the 20th century there has been a significant decline in America's social capital. People are spending less time with friends, relatives and neighbors; they are more cynical; and they are less likely to be involved in clubs and organizations. While this decline occurs too early to be associated with the rise of home computing or the Internet, past research has concluded with mixed results as to whether the Internet will further dissociate people from those around them, or if it holds the potential to reconnect the disaffiliated (Kraut et al. 1998; Nie and Erbring 2000; Hampton 2001). The proposed research attempts to overcome the limitations of existing research by embracing the social network perspective (Wellman and Gulia 1999). We recognize the possibility that social ties vary in strength (Granovetter 1973), are physically dispersed (Fischer 1975; Wellman 1979), and extend across multiple foci of activity (Feld 1982). Communities consist of far-flung kinship, workplace, interest group and neighborhood ties that together form a social network that provides aid, support, and social control (Wellman 1999). Social ties are not maintained in only one place or through one form of communication, but in multiple social settings in-person, over the phone, through the mail, and potentially over the Internet. We suggest that Internet research has largely overlooked existing sociological debate related to the impact of technological and societal change on “community.” Debate about the nature of community did not originate with the introduction of new computer technologies, but arose out of earlier concerns about the transition from agrarian to urban industrial societies (e.g., Durkheim [1893] 1964; Tönnies [1887] 1957). Failing to incorporate this debate into research on Internet use has lead researchers to look in the wrong places for any effect that new information and communication technologies might have on community. Through the use of case studies and a quasi-experimental model the objectives of this research project are to I) examine the relationship between Internet use and the size and composition of people’s social networks, and ii) explore the potential for new information and communication technologies to expand social networks, social capital and community involvement at the local level. This project proposes a longitudinal survey of the residents of four Boston area neighborhoods. Each resident 18 years of age and older will be surveyed to examine the role of Internet use on the composition, structure and supportive content of personal and neighborhood social networks. Residents will be compared by neighborhood type and extent of Internet use (including non-Internet and non-computer users). Following the first wave of surveying three of the four neighborhoods will be given access to a series of free Internet services designed to facilitate the sharing of information and resources at the local level. A second and third wave of surveying will examine the impact of these services on residents’ social networks and their involvement in neighborhood and community activities. We hypothesize that Internet users have larger, more diverse social networks, and that they are more active communicators on and off line. The introduction of Internet services designed to facilitate the flow of information and resources locally will increase the size and diversity of local social networks, but will not replace the role of preexisting kinship and friendship ties. The impact of the Internet on the way people communicate and their network of social relations is constantly changing. In order to establish a baseline for future research, it is crucial to conduct a detailed formal study of how new information and communication technologies impact social networks as soon as possible. Similarly, it is vital to address concerns with respect to the decline of social capital in America, and any role that new information and communication technologies might have in continuing or reversing this decline. E-neighbors: Social Networks and Neighborhood Social Capital in the Internet Age. Keith Hampton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology I. Introduction Robert Putnam (2000) suggests that over the last third of the 20th century there has been a significant decline in America's social capital. Putnam provides evidence to suggest that recent generations are far less involved in both formal and informal public life than Americans were less than a half century ago. People are spending less time with friends, relatives and neighbors, they are more cynical and less trusting, and they are less likely to be involved in clubs and organizations. While this decline in social capital occurs too early to be associated with the rise of home computing or the Internet, Putnam (2000) and others (Stoll 1995; Kraut, Lundmark, Patterson, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay and Scherlis 1998; Nie and Erbring 2000; Nie 2001) have expressed fears that the growth of the Internet and computer-mediated communication may exasperate this trend and further undermining our connections with each another and with our communities. A combination of Internet use and home computing increasingly moves activities, once almost exclusively ascribed to the public realm, into the private home. It is increasingly possible to socialize, shop, work, learn and participate in leisure activities, all from within the refuge of the private residence. Computer-mediated communication allows for greater connectivity to resources and information, but simultaneously it may disconnect people from members of their social networks and reduce public participation. What will be the fate of community and social relations as a result of the growth of computer-mediated communication (CMC)? Critics argue that new technologies, such as the Internet, contribute to an incomplete lifestyle that reduces in-person contact and disconnects us from our families, friends and communities (Stoll 1995; Kraut et al. 1998; Nie and Erbring 2000; Nie 2001). On the opposite side of the debate, enthusiasts hail the Internet's potential for making connections without regard to race, creed, gender or geography. As Phil Patton proclaimed: “Computer-mediated communication . will do by way of electronic pathways what cement roads were unable to do, namely connect us rather than atomize us, put us at the controls of a ‘vehicle’ and yet not detach us from the rest of the world” (1986: 20). In an “information society” where work, leisure, and social ties may all be maintained from a “smart home,” people could reject the need for social relationships based on physical location. They might find community online, or not at all, rather than on street corners or while visiting friends and relatives. In such a scenario, new communication technologies may advance the home as a center for services that encourage a shift toward greater home-centeredness and privatization. At the same time the location of the technology inside the home may facilitate access to local relationships, suggesting that domestic and neighborhood relations may flourish, possibly at the expense of more distant ties. The asynchronous nature of email also provides new flexibility in the maintenance of social ties, facilitating contact with those who were previously out of reach do to temporal or financial restraints (Hampton and Wellman 2001). This project addresses the question of what effect home computing and Internet use has on community relations. Will people become privatized in their homes and cut off from their social networks as a result of new communication and information technologies? We argue that computer-mediated communication (CMC) encourages the growth of social capital, in the form of community involvement and in the expansion of the size and diversity of social networks. Moreover, we believe that the Internet can be used in new and innovative ways, particularly at the local level, to help reverse the trend of declining social capital. 1 Objectives The purpose of this project is to 1) examine the relationship between Internet use and the size and composition of people’s social networks, and 2) to explore the potential for new information and communication technologies to expand social networks, social capital and community involvement at the local level. II. Literature Review Perspectives on Community The proposed research attempts to overcome the limitations of existing research by embracing the social network perspective (Wellman and Gulia 1999). We recognize the possibility that social ties vary in strength (Granovetter 1973), are physically dispersed (Fischer 1975; Wellman 1979), and extend across multiple foci of activity (Feld 1982). Communities consist of far-flung kinship, workplace, interest group and neighborhood ties that together form a social network that provides aid, support, social control and links to multiple milieus (Wellman 1999). Social ties are not maintained in only one place or through one form of communication, but in multiple social settings, in-person, over the phone, through the mail, and potentially over the Internet. We suggest that Internet research has largely overlooked existing sociological debate related to the impact of technological and societal change on “community.” Debate about the nature of community did not originate with