Media briefing on cyberspace and everyday life

Washington, D.C. -- The American Sociological Association is holding a media briefing on "Cyberspace and Everyday Life" at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) in Washington DC on August 12 at 2:30 p.m. in the Marriott Wardman Hotel (Room 8228 on the lobby level).

The rapid change in technology has produced questions of major importance: Has technology changed the way people interact? Does the cyberworld better connect people? Or, does it produce isolation and a false sense of connectedness? This briefing will present new work on the consequences of living in a highly-wired, broadband society. Sociologists have long studied social interaction and social networks. Today, they are turning their skills to understanding the impact of cyberspace on social relationships, communication, and the quality of life.

Three sociologists with expertise on cyberspace and the digital world will briefly present their work and field questions from the media:

• Barry Wellman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, heads Netlab at the Centre for Urban and Community Studies in the Department of Sociology, University of Toronto. Wellman is the author of numerous publications on the virtual community, the virtual workplace, social support, community, kinship, friendship, and social network theory and methods. The author of Networks in the Global Village, he is currently completing a book entitled Personal Communities.

• Marc Smith is Research Sociologist at Microsoft Research. With a "window" on national and international data, Smith is producing important new knowledge on social cyberspace and what it means to live in a digital world. His research focuses on the ways group dynamics change when they take place in social cyberspaces. Co-editor and co-author of Communities in Cyberspace, he also specializes in studying the social organization of online communities.

• Keith Hampton is Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hampton is doing pathbreaking research on how wired life is affecting social relationships in suburban communities. His work on the Netville Wired Neighborhood Study has added significantly to understanding whether the internet raises or lowers community and alienation.

Media Office Phone, August 11-16: Phone 745-2151; Fax 202-745-2152.

NEWS Date: August 11, 2000
Contact: Public Information
202-383-9005, ext. 320
pubinfo@asanet.org