The Implications of Fixed and Mobile Internet Platforms for Personal Networks: From Theory to Measurement

About

Drawing on survey research that I have codeveloped in Japan, Canada, and America, I begin the talk by discussing the implications of mobile and fixed internet platforms for the maintenance of friend, neighbor, workmate, and kin networks. Although this research clearly shows that the Internet is strongly embedded in these types of networks, the self-report nature of the survey data limits our ability to understand the potentially complex communication strategies that individuals employ when using the Internet to juggle their many social ties.

I dedicate the remainder of the talk to discussing how the type of rich communication data necessary to understand these strategies can be collected using an Android phone application that I have codeveloped with Dr Tetsuro Kobayashi of Japan’s National Institute for Informatics. I further discuss how this behavioral data can be combined with self-report survey measures to better understand how individuals use the internet to leverage information, support, and resources from their personal networks.