The Sense of the Common in Social Networks in Chile

Author(s):

Silvia Redon Pantoja(presenting / submitting)Félix Angulo Rasco(presenting)Natalia Vallejos Silva

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

06. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures

Format:

Paper

Session Information

06 SES 01, Growing Up in a Digital World: Practices and policies

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-22

13:15-14:45

Room:

K6.15

Chair:

Petra Grell

Contribution

The paper presents the first findings of the research entitled THE SENSE OF THE COMMON: FROM SOCIAL NETWORKS TO VIRTUAL NETWORKS IN CHILE, whose general purpose is to understand the sense of commonness, citizenship and democracy that adolescents and Young people possess as users of virtual social networks. The theoretical substance of this research is supported by two thematic lines: the concept of the common, the political and citizenship, on the one hand and the OLSN on the other.

In the last ten years, so-called Online Social Networks (OLSN) have flourished almost exponentially. According to the ComScore report (2011: 2) in June 2011, 114.5 million people in Latin America visited a social website, which represents 96% of the entire population with on-line access in the region. The report also indicates that the use of social networks has increased by 16% in recent years. Of all of them Facebook is one of the most used, reaching over 1 billion active users, maintaining its leadership in 127 countries. Facebook is used by 90.9% of online users in Chile. Although users have varying ages, adolescents and young people are the majority (Livingstone, Brake 2010, Boyd 2006, 2007, Bernal and Angulo 2013). The investigations consulted emphasize a particularly outstanding element in the involvement of youth: its importance for the construction of their identity and for their socialization. According to Boyd (2006) adolescents are characterized by an active engaged in the 'creation' and production of their identity, with the difference that now the OLSN become a dynamic and fundamental space for it. Maguth (2012) also points out that digital technologies and OLSN are ideal platforms for getting involved in social life (Plowman & McPake 2013, Plowman 2013). Teens communicate (Instant Messenging), write comments, share pictures, music, ideas, phrases and stay in company, hanging out with their peers (Buckingham 2008). Digital technologies allow them to recreate the public and the private in their lives (Boyd 2006), in one place online: private messages and open exchange.

We have to clarify that although these environments support and contribute to their active socialization, we would be talking about their involvement in the mass media, but not necessarily their civic involvement (Buckingham 2008; Bennett 2008a, 2008b; Levine 2008). Benett (2008b) points out that we have two opposing perspectives here: young users involved and open to a broad spectrum of online civic actions or, on the contrary, disengaged youth from everyday civic life. Concerned about their 'personality', although active in relation to other forms of public expression alternatives, such as occasional protests or adhesions in the OLSN, but away from the centers of political life in society and the traditional frameworks of understanding the civic. Perhaps what is happening has to do with a shift from 'dutiful citizen' to the 'actualizing citizen'. This idea tries to capture the transformations that the OLSN produce in the civic conceptions, in the sense of the common and in the processes of political socialization of the new generations.

The political and the sense of the common are understood from a democratic experience opposed to the classical notion of representative democracy that reduces democracy to pure procedure, bureaucracy and homogenization. We assume the democratic exercise as a practice of dialogue between different subjects, accepting that each subject, along with being a bearer of rights and duties, is responsible for the destiny of their community (Mouffe 2007; Esposito, 2006, 2007; Castoriadis 2005, 2007; Rancière, 2006; Balibar 2012).

Method

The project try to capture the transformations that the OLSN produce in the civic conceptions, in the sense of the common and in the processes of political socialization of the new generations. Is there a sense of the common in virtual social platforms? What sense of community are they? Is diversity, conflict and difference integrated as a democratic mechanism? Do they hold any sense of the common in social life that is generated and of civic relation? To answer the questions we have designed the following methodology. The project is planned for four years (2016/2019). The design is mixed (mixed methods) (Creswell, 2009), but with more emphasis on qualitative methodologies. In this sense, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, self-reports and content analysis of some Social Networking OLSN will be carried out, concluding the project with a final questionnaire (Carr-Hill, 1984; Mann & Stewart 2000, Hewson 2003, Denzin & Lincoln 2005, Markham 2008, 2011) . During the first year of the project, 62 interviews were conducted with adolescents and young people aged 12 to 16 years old. The selection criteria - in addition to age - have been as follows: - students of both sexes - students from all socio-economic quintiles in Chile - With profile in some OLSN - active users of the OLSN For the interviews, a protocol was elaborated that specified a set of questions on which to carry out the semi-structured interview. The most important sets of issues selected from available scientific literature and reports were: Uses and place of use of the internet; Management of platforms social relationships outside and on platforms (being or not being friends, selection criteria, etc.); privacy or publicity in the use of the networks; perception and involvement in situations, problems or political groups in the networks; meaning of the political (protest, mobilizations, etc.); Involvement in social problems. All the interviews were analyzed using the Nvivo 11. The interviews are distributed by gender as follows: 35 Male and 27 Female. Taking into account the socioeconomic quintiles, the interviews are distributed as follows: Q1: 10; Q2: 9; Q3: 15; Q4: 8; Q5: 20 (1 represents the lowest economic status; 5 the highest).

Expected Outcomes

Most of the subjects interviewed (more than 55%) are young people whose Facebook profiles were created at 8-9 years old (having to lie at their age to be part of this platform). The fear of sharing or revealing data that are considered private is common in all subjects interviewed. Therefore, teens develop their own filters, protecting the private / shared world they create in the network. A key element we have found is that subjects include - almost exclusively - in their Facebook profiles to others who consider subjects "equal to them". Those who consider 'different' are not admitted. However, they value expressing their opinion freely. From the experience of adolescents, Facebook figures as an OLSN that allows them to rescue an interrupted or lost linking story in their biographical past, and from there, expand the social fabric from which their identity is built. The platforms are showcases in which they are shown and exposed, where to show and see what others show. For adolescents interviewed, the conflict constitutes a "rupture". Politics generates conflict and conflict is rejected and excluded from the dynamics of virtual social networks. The network is also a way to play and evasion. Another outstanding result is that one of the most important uses is information. Through it, adolescents express what they qualify as benefits associated with OLSN: mass and instantaneous information ("one knows all before"), as well as quantity and variety of content that circulates across platforms. Here are the first level Nodes we have found: NODES Self Network as a showcase Conflict as a break Fear and Control Network as a game and evasion Bonds Management Filters and the private world Platforms Technologies / Artifacts Uses

References

Blabber, E. (2012) Ciudadanía. Buenos Aires. Bennett, W. Lance (2008b) Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age, in Bennett, W. Lance (2008ª) (edi.) Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press: 1–24 Bernal Bravo, César y Angulo Rasco, J.F. (2013) Interactions of Young Andalusian People Inside Social Networks. Comunicar. Vol. XX, no 40: 25-30. Boyd, Danah (2006) Identity production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth heart MySpace. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sta Louios, MO. February 19. Buckingham, David. “Introducing Identity.", in Buckingham, D. (2008) Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Castoriadis, Cornelius (2007) Democracia y relativismo. Debate con el MAUSS. Madrid. Trotta. Castodiaris, Cornelius (2005) Escritos Políticos. Madrid. Catarata. Cogan, J.J. and Derricott, R. (eds) (2000) Citizenship for the 21st Century: An International Perspective on Education, Kogan Page, London. ComScore (2011) The rise of social networking in Latin America. ComScore. Esposito, Roberto (2007) Communitas. Origen y destino de la comunidad. Amorrortu. iLIfebet (2013) II Estudio de las Redes Sociales en América Central. www.ilifebet.com (consultado el 5 de Abril de 2013). Ito, Mizuko; Horst, Heather; Bittanti,  Matteo; boyd,  danah; Herr-Stephenson, Becky; Lange, Patricia G.; Pascoe, C.J. & Laura Robinson (2008) Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Chicago Illinois. Kerr, D., Ireland, E., Lopes, J. and Craig, R. with Cleaver, E. (2004). Making Citizenship Real. Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study Second Annual Report. First Longitudinal Survey (DfES Research Brief 531). London: DfES. Livinstonge, Sonia & Brake, David R. (2010) On the rapid rise of social networking sites: new findings and policy implications. Children & Society, 24 (1): 75-83. McDonough, K. and Feinberg, W. (2006) Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities, Oxford University Press, New York. Mouffe, Ch. (2007) En torno a lo político. Buenos Aires: FCE Redon, Silvia; Angulo, J.F. et ali. (2013) The sense of the common of the democratic experience in the curriculum in schools of social exclusion. American Association for the advancement of curriculum Studies. 12º Annual Meeting. San Francisco. Rancière, J. (2006) Odio a la democracia. Buenos Aires. Amorrortu

Author Information

Silvia Redon Pantoja (presenting / submitting)

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

Félix Angulo Rasco (presenting)

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

Natalia Vallejos Silva

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

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