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Ph.D. in Media Ecology
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Department of Culture and Communication
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New York University
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September 2001
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Dissertation Committee:
Joy Gould Boyum, New York University (Chair)
Neil Postman, New York University
Lance Strate, Fordham University
M.A. in Linguistics
Cornell University, 1979
Fulbright Scholar
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1978-1979
B.A. in French and Spanish
Kirkland College, 1975
Junior Year in France
Hamilton College, 1973-1974
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Dissertation:
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Misbehavior in Cyber Places:
The Regulation of Online Conduct
in Virtual Communities on the Internet
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Abstract:
This study of computer-mediated interpersonal communication examines misbehavior
and the regulation of online conduct in virtual communities on the Internet.
Informed by Erving Goffman's Behavior in Public Places (1963) and
Joshua Meyrowitz's No Sense of Place (1985), the theoretical framework
used derives from a branch of communication scholarship known as media
ecology. The context of this investigation is explained by reviewing
basic intellectual traditions in media ecology and surveying research in
the field concerning: space and place; situations, rules, and rule-breaking;
and mediated interpersonal communication. Overviews are also provided
of mainstream research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) in online
environments and on virtual communities.
The research method used was philosophical inquiry. The corpus of
data analyzed involved three bodies of related source literature addressing:
trouble brewing in cyberspace; cybercrime and law-breaking on the Internet;
and misbehavior and rule-breaking in virtual communities. Asynchronous
post and synchronous chat environments were considered: the Internet
overall; electronic mailing lists (listservs); Usenet newsgroups; Internet
Relay Chat (IRC); MUDs and MOOs; the Palace; independent bulletin board
systems (BBSs); networks like America Online and CompuServe; and the World
Wide Web.
The analysis revealed three sets of activities involved in the regulation
of online conduct in virtual communities: rule-breaking, rule-making,
and rule-enforcement. Several situational variables influencing these
activities in different types of online environments were identified:
roles and their relationships (rule-breakers, rule-makers, and rule-enforcers);
degrees of temporal co-presence (asynchronous/delayed communication versus
synchronous/immediate); and levels of access (open environments versus
closed/restricted).
Three main conclusions were drawn: first, behavioral boundaries replace
physical boundaries in CMC as cyber places provide novel environments for
social interaction; second, interest is growing in local approaches to
regulating online conduct; and third, misbehavior online has parallels
in the offline world, particularly where people transact with strangers.
This study suggests that gathering for social interaction in cyber places
and participating actively in the regulation of online conduct may help
promote a new sense of social place and civic concern affecting people's
everyday behavior and communication, both online and off.
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(c) 2001 Janet Sternberg
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Education
