Social Breaching Experiment Paper（1500 words）

Topic：“analyze the role of social norms in an online community”: related to“Social Norm” & “Social Breaching”

Maybe：

You can use the following experiment to verify what happens when you follow the default rules of the online community, and what happens when you do not follow the default rules of the online community (such as some strange behavior, crazy comments on strangers' photos? Etc.)

Background：

In 1967 sociologist Harold Garfinkel asked his students to conduct a spring break experiment: spend fifteen minutes to an hour imagining they were a boarder in their home, rather than a family member, and then act if that assumption was true. Garfinkel's intention was for the students to violate some of the social norms we take for granted ("social breaching") and consequently make such "background expectancies" more apparent. In this case, when the students were polite and respectful, as if they were staying in a stranger's home, some parents thought the students were mocking them or ill!

Assignment guide：

• Conduct one (or more) of the experiments listed below.
• You can explain it as a class assignment only when the experiment is over.
• Write up the results in a paper that describes:
  • Experiment: Which experiment you tried (e.g. “GChat stranger”).👇👇👇
  • ----------------
  • Ø1. Message a Stranger. Use a chat service (e.g., Google, MSN, and AIM) to begin conversations with people that you don't know (or don't know very well). Vary the kinds of things you say to see if you can get them to start a chat conversation with you. Describe what kind of chat message will successfully get a stranger to chat. Remember to be polite and respectful at all times. Note: You may have to try to this a lot before you get someone to respond to you; do not keep trying the same people if they do not respond.
  • Ø2. The Oversharer. Pick either an acquaintance you don't know that well or a parent. In a 24 hour period dramatically increase the amount of information you send this person using a text-based mobile communication technology that you know they can receive (like IM on your phone, text/SMS, or e-mail on your phone/PDA). For example, you could communicate with them every time you do anything (“hi I am getting on the bus”, “arrived in class,” “class is boring,” “having lunch,” “talking with friend.”)Ø3.Way Off Topic. On Google+ or Facebook leave a large number of comments that are all completely and obviously off-topic and not relevant to the thread over a period of three days. For this to work, there can be no relation between the reply and the topic at all; just start talking about something else. If you like, address some of them to the wrong person as well.Ø4.FACEBOOK PICTURE CREEPER. On Facebook, go through an acquaintance’s photo albums and comment on at least 15-20 photos older than six months over a period of 3 days. Write only positive comments (e.g. “cute photo!”). Check back and see if anyone else has commented on the photos after you have. Describe the responses and how you feel about doing this.-------------------👆👆👆
  • Method: What you did. Describe the specific steps. For example, “I contacted 17 different people. I messaged 10 of them ‘What's up' and 7 ‘How are you?' I found their names by looking through group emails and seeing who was online.”
  • Results: What happened? What types of reactions did you get? How did you feel? Use Garfinkel's students' descriptions as models (for example, pp. 45-49).
  • Discussion: Given what we have learned in class about social norms, what did this reveal about communication norms, or the specific norms of the technology you used? Refer back to the class concepts and readings. Make an argument.

Do not spend too many words on experiment and method; focus on concepts and analysis(result & discussion).

Source：（Have to read and use!!!!!!）can’t use other sources，only can choose sources to use below！

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaching_experiment（introduce and explaine explain the concepts and principles of “Social Breaching/ social norm”）（useful！！！！！！！！！！！！！！have many conception！！！）
• Alice Marwick, "On Teaching Social Media to Undergraduates ."
• Christian Sandvig, "The Oversharer (and Other Social Media Experiments)" with contributions from Siddhartha Raja, Matthew Yapchaian, Dawn Nafus, and Ken Anderson.
• Goffman 1963,
• Reagle, 2010, “Be nice”: Wikipedia norms for supportive communication
• Joseph Reagle, 2010, “Good faith collaboration,” Good Faith Collaboration, ch=3

Writing requirement:

• Writing demonstrates impressive understanding of readings, discussions, themes and ideas. Written work is fluid, clear, analytical, well-organized and grammatically polished. Reasoning and logic are well-grounded and examples precise.
• These assignments must be double-spaced, 12 point font, 1-inch margins. (One page contains approximately 250 words.) Pages must be numbered and stapled together. Citations must be in the APA style. No APA cover page is required.

************************suggested outline********************

Recommended structure：（Make the article more coherent/connect each paragraphs）conjunctions

P1.Background(150~200words): why do you do this experiment? What’s your experiment? What’s the conception of social norm and social breaching? what’s the role of social norms in an online community? (general introduce) ----try to have a theme

P2. What’s your experiment?(200~250words)(chose one or two experiments)—specifically describe them with detail

• Experiment: Which experiment you tried (e.g. “GChat stranger”).
• Method: What you did. Describe the specific steps. For example, “I contacted 17 different people. I messaged 10 of them ‘What's up' and 7 ‘How are you?' I found their names by looking through group emails and seeing who was online.？

P3&P4: Analysis and discussion(700~900words)---Important！！！！FOCUS MORE!

• Results: What happened? What types of reactions did you get? How did you feel? Use Garfinkel's students' descriptions as models
• Discussion: Given what we have learned in class about social norms, what did this reveal about communication norms, or the specific norms of the technology you used? Refer back to the class concepts and readings. Make an argument.---------(maybe)You can use the following experiment to verify what happens when you follow the default rules of the online community, and what happens when you do not follow the default rules of the online community (such as some strange behavior, crazy comments on strangers' photos? Etc.) -----read the first resource first! It will be helpful!(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaching_experiment)

P5:Conclusion：(150~200 words)

What is your experimental feeling？What did you conclude from the experiment？What have you learned about "social norm"or “social breaching”？summarythe role of social norms in an online community？（the effects or functions?）