Proposal for Final Project

Before writing the proposal for the final project, I went back to see what I was thinking initially. I started taking interest in Orkut and its online communities with the following two objectives.
Firstly, to observe the process of formation of an informal learning community (informal because nobody designed it to be one as a part of any formal learning exercise). Secondly, to understand if and how the social networking sites like Orkut can be one of the tools for adults to engage in informal learning, knowledge building. Adults who are outside the framework of the formal education programmes available. I am nowhere close to thinking about the ‘learning’ part. At present I am focusing more on process of formation of the community, and how they interact with each other (group dynamics).

In my earlier post about questions I want to explore, I penned down a lot of things. Reading it again, I realized that I am thinking about too many things that are going to take too much effort and time. So I am taking Sarah’s advice ‘to use tools that are already out there’ and concentrating on getting my hands dirty.

So I thought of following Baym’s model where she looks at sources of influences on CMC, how they interact with each other and shape forms of expression, norms, and relationships in an emergent community.

I think Baym’s ethnographic study as a base model will be useful to follow as the goal of her study ‘systematic understanding of what happens in a community’ is very close to what I am trying to understand.

I plan to do this mini-study based primarily on data available on Orkut on community discussion boards as well as Member pages. I am also planning a short survey, if time permits, to better understand the participants and their motivations.