Nicole Ellison, an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media is part of a team using about $500,000 from a National Science Foundation grant to study how people use social networking sites such as Facebook.
“The story of students using Facebook in class and not paying attention … (is) one small part of it,” Ellison said. “(We’re) trying to think about the way in which using new tools to connect with peers is an important part of student social and academic experience.”
Researchers are examining how people gather information and collaborate with each other, said Cliff Lampe, an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media and one of the researchers.
“Another aspect of this (is) how students use this in the classroom as alternatives to other official tools … for classroom organizing,” Lampe said. “A lot of students are communicating with each other through Facebook.”
Ellison and Lampe also will study information gathering through social networking sites.
“The way in which individuals can post a query in their status update … (and) get information from a very wide range of people,” she said. “These sites kind of facilitate … seeking (and) sharing information with others.”
Ellison said the research also will focus on how people use sites for social support.
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