THEORIZING WEB 2.0

Abstract

This article explores the conceptual problems surrounding popular definitions of Web 2.0 and proposes an alternative approach to understanding the cultural dimension of Web 2.0. Drawing parallels between the discursive and analytical challenges of Web 2.0 and online communities, this article suggests that a theoretical framework, based on Bourdieu's theory of field and habitus, can be applied to theorizing Web 2.0 sites. This framework re-conceives websites as structured spaces that interact with given dispositions, or modes of engagement, that make users' practice and participation meaningful. Applying this framework, an analysis of online communities and their evolution from 1998 to 2004 demonstrates a shift in community fields that suggests an increasing tendency towards personalist modes of engagement.

Keywords:

• Web 2.0
• online communities
• Pierre Bourdieu
• Internet history

Notes

Exceptions include the Pew Internet and American Life 2001 study of online communities (Horrigan 2001), which provided a useful level of specificity in its report on how online group participation varied according to the types of groups; Cerulo and Ruane's (1998) six taxonomies of social relations that occur both online and offline, varying in degrees of intimacy and superficiality, collaboration and information exchange, personal-focus and public-oriented; and Brint (2001) re-conceptualization of community with a typology based on variables such as context, motivation, frequency, location, and amount of face-to-face interaction.

The annual Webby Awards are regarded as one of the most prestigious awards for a website to receive. Akin to the Oscars awarded by Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Webby Award is granted by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. In its history, the Academy has included a wide array of members such as Sherry Turkle, Howard Rheingold, Vint Cerf, David Bowie, and writers and editors from The New York Times and Wired. Winning websites are evaluated according to six criteria: content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and overall experience. Part of the Webby Awards is the People's Voice Awards. Individual voters around the world determine these awards. Naturally, given the demographic divide that persists among heavy Internet users, it is likely that these voters are highly educated, male, politically left-leaning professionals with a high interest in the Internet and computers. Nevertheless, the People's Voice Award still embodies a populist dimension that is meaningfully distinct from the Webby Award. The sample also included groups designated ‘Best Community’ by Yahoo! Internet Life from 1999 to 2002. During this time period, Yahoo! Internet Life was one of the most influential consumer lifestyle magazines that covered the ‘culture, content and community’ of the Internet. Published by Ziff Davis Media, Yahoo! Internet Life was one of the fastest-growing monthly magazines in the history of publishing, having a circulation of 1.1 million subscriptions, which was more than twice that of Wired Magazine, reaching one in nine of all daily Internet users in 2001.

Key organizational features of these online communities were analysed using ethnographic content analysis (ECA) as developed by Altheide (1987). Here, ethnography is broadly considered a methodological orientation (rather than a particular technique) that involves a reflexive process of seeking to describe the meaning of an activity or culture. Sharing the qualitative, inductive approach of grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss 1967), ECA seeks to achieve conceptual specification through a dynamic process of coding and re-coding conceptual categories from empirical indicators in the data, with the expectation that these categories continue to emerge during the analysis and are continually refined. Initial open coding of online groups was performed to determine the salient differences and similarities to analyse among the communities. Primary community components and dimensions were identified and examined: basic profile information of the groups (e.g. community start date, history, numbers of members and purpose); available user activities, services and content; mode and process of gaining membership; discussion forums and moderation; and institutional forms of management and administration. Data collection involved gathering website pages and components from each online community including: About Us, Mission, Rules of Conduct, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Home page, Registration Process, Corporate Profile and Advertising pages. Website pages were collected and downloaded in stages from January to June 2003 and 10−30 March 2004. A secondary analysis of the community components was performed to ascertain the emerging themes and structures of membership and community culture.

Slashdot, the one site whose name does not clearly refer to a nostalgic ideal of community, most intentionally builds into its community design a system of collaborative contributions that requires active participation from its members.

Quoted from the ‘Company Info: Corporate Profile’ page. Retrieved from http://www.ivillage.com/ivillage/print/0,,269023,,00.html on 15 March 2004.

See Clive Thompson, ‘Brave New World of Digital Intimacy’, New York Times, 7 September 2008; ‘Nomads at Last’, Special Report: Mobility, The Economist print edition, 10 April 2008.