computer networks as social networks

Wellman emphasizes that computer networks are inherently social in that they connect people and knowledge. He notes that HCI has evolved from an individual unit (person-computer relationship) to a group level (groupware, small group interaction), and finally to a social level that deals with people and knowledge linked by computer networks.

In his presentation about community networks online and offline, he seems to assume that community online and offline competes with each other. He notes the effect of the Internet on social interaction in terms of whether the Internet increases or decreases social capital. Here my position is neutral. I think that computer-mediated communication is not a substitute for face-to-face communication and does not compete with it. Rather, the Internet is another medium that supplements people’s communication just like a telephone. Nobody says that a phone decreases people’s engagement in real social interaction (extreme analogy, admittedly). As the Internet becomes neutralized and permeates one’s everyday life, it should be considered an aid for communities, not a destroyer.

He also notes the importance and difficulty of knowledge seeking in a networked society. It seems that he focuses on a network community as an information repository in which knowledge is distributed throughout people connected each other. Similar to his argument, I believe that the transition from a group-based to a networked society is expected and that it causes several problems in organizing and retrieving distributed knowledge. However, once it is addressed, it seems to be a huge information repository that benefits not only from strong ties but from weak ties.