International Sunbelt Social Network Conference in Vancouver

La semana pasada, del 24 al 30 de abril de 2006, tuvo lugar The International Sunbelt Social Network Conference (*) in Vancouver. El grupo de trabajo BROG [Blog Research on Genre Project http://www.blogninja.com/] de la Universidad de Indiana en el que colaboro, prsentó una ponencia con el título: "Linguistic Diversity and Language Networks on LiveJournal". Aquí van algunos detalles.

Authors:
Susan Herring herring@indiana.edu SLIS, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN USA
Benjamin Clark, Inna Kouper, John Paolillo SLIS, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN USA
Irene Ramos-Vielba Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN USA
Lois Ann Scheidt, Sharon Stoerger, Elijah Wright
Abstract:
In the past few years, social network analysis has been used to analyze patterns of linking among weblogs (e.g., Herring, et al., 2005), including within large, self-contained blog hosting communities such as LiveJournal (Paolillo & Wright, 2005). A shared language is a sine qua non for meaningful interconnection. Yet although the growth of blogging has resulted in an increase in the number of languages in which people blog, no study has yet considered language in relation to weblog networks. In this paper, we analyze the linguistic diversity of LiveJournal by randomly sampling journals and coding them for language use. For three of the most commonly-found non-English languages—Russian, Portuguese, and Japanese—we crawl the 'friends' links of 30 source journals, coding the languages used in these, and visualizing the resultant networks. Preliminary analysis suggests that, with the exception of Russian, non-English LiveJournals comprise a small minority, and that the three languages analyzed display differing degrees of network density and homogeneity, with Russian being the most homogeneous, followed by Portuguese and then Japanese. We interpret these findings by identifying a set of technical, individual, and societal factors that may predict language choice and cross-journal linking on LiveJournal.
Session:
On-Line Communities B
Keywords:
blogs , linquistics , internet , on-line communities , online communication behavior , visualization , language choice , network mapping

(*) The International Sunbelt Social Network Conference is a major forum for social scientists, mathematicians, computer scientists, ethnologists, and others to present current work in the area of social networks. It provides an opportunity for individuals interested in theory, methods, or applications of social networks to share ideas and common concerns.