DetroitYES! Research Project

[AlexStana]

Hello all,

Over the past year and a half, Dr. Rosati, Dr. Atkinson, and graduate students affiliated with Bowling Green State University’s School of Media & Communication have been conducting interviews of members of the DetroitYES! community in order to explore the role of interactive media in the shaping and changing cityscapes. In the past, we have conducted these interviews face-to-face in places around Detroit. We would now like to invite members of the DetroitYES! community to take part in interviews online [[via instant messaging). If you have not already participated in an interview, and would be interested in conducting a [[roughly) one hour interview, please contact us at astana@bgsu.edu or marmoroschblank@yahoo.com Your participation will be voluntary as you may refuse to answer any questions asked during the course of the interview. In addition, your name or pseudonym will not be included in the final report, thus retaining your confidentiality. If you have any questions about the research or interviews, you may contact Dr. Rosati [[crosati@bgsu.edu) or Dr. Atkinson [[jatkins@bgsu.edu).

Thank you very much!

[Kathleen]

Hey Fellow DYes Friends!

Given all the attention that online communities and social networking these days, this research project looking at how our interactions online interacts with our communities.

I encourage you to participate in the project and take the time to be interviewed.This is your chance to be heard [[in a totally anonymous way, of course)!!!

[Michigan]

I would be very wary of trusting personal information to anyone you meet on the internet.

[Kathleen]

I certainly agree with that sentiment in general, Michigan.

But I, and a number of others on the Forum, can vouch for Clayton and Josh and their research team at BGSU. We've met them in person. And I've corresponded with them. They came to the DYes Picnic last year. They're good guys, trying to do research.

And the method that they are proposing to use...Instant Messaging...allows the respondent to be as anonymous as they want to be, beyond whatever demographic info is gathered. We use IM at work and I have control over my profile and what personal info is shared with those who IM with me.

Again, I encourage Forumers to participate in this research project. They've invested a couple years already. It would be nice to see them bring it to fruition and share the results with us.

[Lowell]

I second Katherine's post. I have met and Interviewed with both researchers as have others. They are genuine scholars and good people who have expended a great amount of time and expense on this sincere study.

There is new sociology of our relationships made possible by the Internet. Let's help them out in generous Detroit spirit.

[AlexStana]

Kathleen, Lowell,

Thank you for your support and the kind words.

[Blueidone]

I did the interview...some very simple questions about participation with the forum. I think everyone should participate to get all points of view out there.

[RickBeall]

I did a face to face interview with the researchers 2 months ago. These guys are real. I enjoyed the experience a lot.

[Michigan]

Do they ask for a lot of personal info?

[Blueidone]

No personal info at all, Michigan. Just ask about your interactions online and offline, what your interests are as for as the City of Detroit goes, what you think about social forums...stuff like that. Never asked age, where I live, gender or anything.

[RickBeall]

They asked me if I had ever had a sexually transmitted disease, and that was about it.

[RickBeall]

Just kidding.

[fryar]

Just came across the final product here.

The following essay explores the role of intertextuality and interactivity in the construction of an “alternative cityscape” for the city of Detroit within a web community called DetroitYES! Using qualitative content analysis, we examined different portrayals of the city in [[1) the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit virtual tour found on the DetroitYES! website, and [[2) discussion threads posted by members of the DetroitYES! web community. The analysis revealed that the intertextual components of the virtual tour alluded to Detroit as a ruins similar to Athens and Rome, while members of the web community added their own images and information about the city through the interactive forums. The intertextual allusion imbued the city with a nostalgic history that transformed the abandoned industrial architecture into the lost city of a forgotten empire worthy of exploration, discussion, and debate. Such a nostalgic vision was constantly in flux as members of the web community challenged aspects of the virtual tour through discussion threads. The analysis demonstrates that the simultaneous use of intertextuality and interactivity within key aspects of a web community can create the potential for “diffused intertextual production,” which can build a brand of civic collaboration that re-imagines physical environments. In the case of Detroit and DetroitYES!, such diffused intertextual production allows for the generation of nostalgia and the shaping of architecture, which in turn influences a “participatory civic identity” for members of the online community, and their performances within Detroit.

In other words, for only $34, you can read all about RickBeall's STD's.

[Gannon]

OR you could just buy him a couple beers at Skipper's Hamtown joint and GET them all...

[douglasm]

I took part in the earlier interview, and alothough I don't know how this second round is going to work, there was no difficulty in this ex-pat answering questions from 2200 miles away. I think it's a worthwile project they're doing and BGSU, with it's history of research into pop [[and other forms of) culture is the right place to do it. This is a place where [[at one time or another) the Journal Of Popular Culture and the Science Fiction Research Association were headquartered. I have no quams about their crediability.