I'd like for all of you to help out. When I say 'project' I'm not referring to any one project in particular, aside from the unification of all of our intellects in one spot. No what the Facebook 'project' is to become now is a website that links up all of our own various research, explorations, and other dabbling with the SNS. Ideally this would mean a section of the site for each of us as well as a number of other resources that some or all of us can work on collaboratively.
I wanted to get all of us solidly established there before I open it up to as many blog communities I can. I jumped on designing danah boyd a new web page (it'll go up soonish) and might feel okay about asking her to mention the project on her blog, and I think Fred Stutzman would too but I want to make sure it's worth visiting first. Once that happens I imagine we'll have a much larger group inputting - I wanted to give all of you the chance to get in on the start.
You've all mentioned interest in some form or another, and I know you may have different ideas for involvement and what the scope of the 'project' ought to be. My intention is not to overwhelm your already busy lives or force any kind of restrictive commitment or contract. Instead, take a look below at what all I've got in mind and decide what you'd like to do to jump in!
First, most importantly, what would you guys like for yourselves here?
- We all need to meet each other more so. Obviously all of you know me and a few of you know each other but I'd like for everyone to introduce themselves to the group. Mention who you are and what you're interested in on Facebook (and otherwise).
- I was planning on having a short introduction for each of us on the research home page.
- And then you'd each get a section of your own to do with what you like. This could be putting up papers you've written, linking to your own personal websites, explaining studies you're looking to recruit for, etc... Really I'm cool with whatever you'd like, just try to keep your substantive material (aka non-bio and link stuff) on the site related to SNS.
I know we're all busy. To start:
- Right now I just want to make sure you all have the opportunity to have a role in the design of the site. Every page in the about section and several of the others (such as the resource pool, undergraduate papers, etc...) have been uploaded into Google Docs. Send me your gmail ID and I'll send you access to them. Any updates you make will be added to the site. This way you can make sure explanations and introductions all fit like you think they should.
- I want to update that flash graphic on the home page. Right now it has outlandish statements and some out of date/context statistics. Better to replace it with a little short on each of you. This could be the same as the two sentence blurp for the research home page, and maybe include a thumbnail? Or I could just update it to be a new reflection of the significance of Facebook. You guys decide.
- Do we like what I did with the home page graphic? I know the words are hard to read but I was trying to keep them artsy... Also does that 'investigate' paragraph work?
Once we get past this stuff I'd like to move on to more interesting items:
- You'll notice the site navigation has changed. It's now oriented towards being more useful for visitors. I've added some of my datasets and plan to add more. The reference pool is forefront, and I've created spots for more resources.
- It would be cool to gather up some worthwhile guides on the site. It sounds like Emily and Laurie already have a jump on this. I think Jenny and Eric might have something good to say about it too. I'll be willing to help with any of them as I can.
- The site now has a working MediaWiki (like Wikipedia!) wiki. I have to make the design match the rest of the site template but it is functional as-is right now. I had two ideas for its use:
- A section on defining Facebook (not just literally what it is, but what it means to people)
- A section documenting each feature of Facebook - history and use - both intended and not
- I have a preliminary QuickFacts. Go ahead and add to them if you like (Laurie, I suspect you've got a few!). A bit pressing: anyone know what the current largest group on Facebook is? Or the top three?
- And once I get them up - I'll have 26 (~40 min each) interview transcriptions that cover a wide variety of questions that I'd like to open up to all of you. The more minds I have analyzing them (or really stealing in their entirety for their own work) the better! I'll put up a blog post about some of the more interesting questions in the mix later.
- Eric has a really cool project on social capital going right now. I think he's recruiting mostly from the UIUC area but I suspect all of us could help him out. I'd like to push advertisement for it through the site and offer him our intellect for feedback and ideas! And same goes for other people's work. Jenny Ryan, for instance, just finished her Masters Thesis and would likely appreciate readers!.
And of course any other things you think we could work on together. I know this is a lot already, we can prioritize by just getting the site functional and then adding in as we get the opportunity.
Let me know what you think.
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