ENGL 130 9/24

Today's Objectives:

• Finish discussing findings of primary source analysis
• Practice analyzing sources & taking notes

Sharing what you learned

Present what your group found!

Gathering information on your primary source

Answer the following questions about your chosen platform:

• How easy is it to navigate?
• Describe the images, logos, fonts, and colors you see.
• Describe how easily accessible and user-friendly the following things are:
• Commenting/posting sections
• Privacy settings
• Reporting options
• What kinds of settings/preferences are available?
• If the website has text (e.g. an “about” or “help” section) in which the platform addresses you (the user) or describes itself, describe what kind if language is used there.
• If there are ads on the website, where do they show up? (turn off AdBlock for this one)
• As a whole, what does this platform seem to want to project about itself? Do you think it’s accomplishing this?

Source 1

• Published by UCL Press in 2016
• Xinyuan Wang (Recieved a PhD in anthropology from UCL) spent 15 months living among a community of migrants in a small factory town in southeast China to track their use of social media. It was here she witnessed a second migration taking place: a movement from offline to online. As Wang argues, this is not simply a convenient analogy but represents the convergence of two phenomena as profound and consequential as each other, where the online world now provides a home for the migrant workers who feel otherwise 'homeless'.

Source 2

• Published in 2017 by UCL
• One of the first ethnographic studies to explore use of social media in the everyday lives of people in Tamil Nadu, Social Media in South India provides an understanding of this subject in a region experiencing rapid transformation. Venkatraman explores the impact of social media at home, work and school, and analyses the influence of class, caste, age and gender on how, and which, social media platforms are used in different contexts.
• Shriram Venkatraman also has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from University College London

Source 3

• Published by UCL in 2016
• Razvan Nicolescu (another Anthropologist from UCL) spent 15 months living among the town’s residents, exploring what it means to be an individual on social media. Why do people from this region conform on platforms that are designed for personal expression? Nicolescu argues that social media use in this region of the world is related to how people want to portray themselves.

Comparing Sources

Each of these books has a chapter/section on social media and romance/relationships.

In a group of 6-8, you will summarize what you think are the main points made in these sections

Where to take notes

The task:

1. Read and annotate the section to yourself. It's ok to skim/speed read, but make sure you're marking what you think are important or interesting ideas/examples

2. Discuss the reading with your group

3. In a google doc (one document for your whole group), take notes on what you decided were some important/provocative ideas

For tomorrow:

Read TSIS Ch. 8 "Connecting the Parts";

Review HWW sample literature reviews (794-809);

Bring at least 3 sources that you think could make up a "category" or paragraph of your lit review