Bio:

Keith N. Hampton is an assistant professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Toronto in sociology, and a B.A. in sociology from the University of Calgary. Before joining the faculty at the Annenberg School, he held the position of Assistant Professor and Class of '43 Career Development Chair in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Projects descriptions:

The Social Life of Wireless Urban Spaces - A growing number of cities have announced plans or are in the early stages of deploying municipal broadband wireless networks; Muni Wi-Fi. These projects promise untethered Internet access in private, public, and semi-public spaces. While there is a significant body of research addressing whether fixed Internet use increases, decreases, or supplements the ways people engage in residential and workplace settings, few studies have addressed how the use of wireless broadband in public spaces influences social life. It is unclear if wireless Internet use in public spaces will facilitate greater engagement with co-present others, or encourage social disengagement. This study investigates how mobile technologies, focusing on Wi-Fi use but not excluding mobile phones, portable music players, etc., impact the use of public space in select North American cities. Updating William H. Whyte's classic study of The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, this project is based on the analysis of video and field notes from ethnographic studies of nine Wi-Fi enabled public spaces in Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto (public parks, plazas, and street corners ). The goal is to identify how mobile devices augment local interactions and people's social networks more broadly. This work is integrated into previous research that has focused on socially responsible design of public space, the growth of privatism, public safety, pro- and anti-social behavior, surveillance, and privacy.

i-neighbors.org - This project puts the findings of the e-Neighbors and Netville studies into practice. I-neighbors.org is a free, public resource where people find their geographic neighborhoods online and form corresponding digital communities. The results of the E-neighbors study suggest that for some communities a service like I-neighbors.org encourages neighborhood participation, helps people form local social ties, connects people to their local communities and creates neighborhoods that are safer, better informed, more trusting, and better equipped to deal with local issues. The I-Neighbors project investigates in detail the specific contexts where Internet use affords local interactions and facilitates community involvement. I-neighbors.org also looks at "e-democracy," the potential for new information and communication technologies (ICTs) to expand political participation. This project is an attempt at "public sociology," putting the results of empirical research into practice to inform the public and policy makers of the potential for new technologies to positively affect people and their communities. I-neighbors supports nearly 5,000 neighborhoods in the United States and Canada. Users of I-neighbors.org have established I-neighborhoods in all 50 states of the United State, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In Canada there are neighborhoods based in all ten provinces and two territories. The size of I-neighbors communities range from a couple hundred users spread over a few hundred homes in a single geographic community, to one or two users in newly established I-neighborhoods.

e-Neighbors - Addresses concerns about the impact of Internet and computer use on community and family life. Through an empirical analysis of four case studies in the Boston area followed over three years this research project i) examines the current relationship between Internet use and the size and composition of people's social networks, and ii) explores the potential for new information and communication technologies to expand social networks, social capital and community involvement at the neighborhood level. This project is motivated by recent concerns that Americans have became more cynical; are spending less time with friends, relatives and neighbors; and have become less involved in clubs and organizations. Past research has concluded with mixed results as to whether the Internet will further dissociate people from those around them, or if it holds the potential to reconnect the disaffiliated. The adult residents of four Boston area neighborhoods have been asked to complete detailed surveys on the composition, structure and supportive content of their personal and neighborhood social networks. Following the first year of surveys three of the four study neighborhoods were given access to a series of Internet services designed to facilitate communication at the neighborhood level. A second and third year of surveys will be used to compare the three experimental neighborhoods with the control group, examining the impact of the provided Internet services on residents’ social networks and their involvement in neighborhood and community activities. Supported by the National Science Foundation Sociology and Information Technology Research (ITR) Programs (Award # SES-0219538), NEC Corporation Fund for Research in Computers and Communications, and the American Sociological Association Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline.