180 Notes
Day 16
3/2/99
Social networks influence various aspects of life (e.g., health)
Social networks are not only for info transfer but also to serve personal & social needs
Social networks influence info acceptance and spread
Communities depend on communication
Multiple structures exist for comm: social networks, invisible colleges; these structures are identifiable/observable
questions
Are people more likely to accept new tech if they have accepted tech in past?
How to insure universal access to comm?
How can we measure impact of networks?
Do we (individuals) really fit into observable patterns?
Would an informal comm survey be more informative than an org chart?
Do invisible colleges exist outside professional domains? (e.g., hobbies?)
Do invisible colleges hamper innovation? (consider Kuhn's paradigm shift)
Why is behavioral change (e.g., smoking, gun-toting, voting, etc.) more difficult than technical change?
What are the cultural influences on the Rogers adoption model? E.g., willingness to accept?
What are techniques for spreading info among isolated people? (consider distance ed in islands)
The 1-min questions are a nice summary of the past few weeks work on communication networks and information flow. These themes continue as we consider mass mediaà formal efforts to direct information flow and influence large numbers of individuals
Introduction to Mass Media
Assign TV structure www.ils.unc.edu/~march/courses/180_s99/TV_structure_assn.html
4.The one-minute paper
What was the big point you learned in class today?
What is the main, unanswered question you leave class with today?