Screen Shots

It took me all night, but I figured it out! I downloaded Photoscape and started playing around with the various functions for manipulating images. The 'blur' function which will be useful for maintaining anonymity in fieldwork is giving me a little grief. When I tried blurring the image I was obliged to blur the whole shot and not just a selected region which is less than ideal for visual aids! I'll probably mess around with the software a bit more, or try finding something else (for free!!!).

Looking at me looking at you

It's difficult to step back and de-mystify processes that I have largely internalized for the past three years. That's about how long I've been active on this SNS...
I have a developed profile, a list of friends, and login/logoff habits that I need to somehow see beyond. I have an implicit feel for this game, or I operate within a healthy habitus, and I need to somehow transcend this...

So far, I've just been reading as much as possible on social network sites (The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication has a whole issue exploring SNS research with a lot of helpful ideas, and can be accessed through a link on cyberethnography.blogspot.com).
This literature review is helping me understand my own uses of rave.ca, and ask more interesting questions.

The next step is to start writing... This week I'm going to start making fieldnotes, even though I have not decided on a research question. I'm hoping that by writing down my observations I will make visible my central interests and develop my question from there...

Figure out my fascinations by looking at me looking at you.

Nightlife Community

I'm looking into a social network site aimed primarily at Montreal's electronic music community, with a particular emphasis on "underground" electronic music culture.

I'm trying to focus my research question, but from my perspective, everything on this site could be studied...

Starting from Christine Hine's idea of the field site as a field of relations, I'm inclined to ask "what are the meanings of relationships for users?" Methodologically, how could I grasp meanings? (and avoid interviews) ...Perhaps by understanding normative practices; how are these created, maintained, and negotiated?

I'm also interested in questions surrounding status, prestige, and the exchange of cultural capital... How are relations power filled in cyberspace?

.....where to start......?