Your assignment is to keep a diary of the interactions you have with people using “new media” (i.e. mobile phones and the Internet). You must record every interaction that you have with another person using new media over a full 7 day period. Record your interactions in the diary provided in the assignment handout. Record your interactions shortly after they happen, do not wait and complete the diary retrospectively at the end of the day or week.
For each interaction, record the date and time, the first name and last initial of the person, the type of support exchanged (indicate gave and/or received), the medium of communication used, your location at the time of the interaction, your best guess at how far away the person is (miles), your relationship to the person, the person’s sex and age, how long you have known the person, and your tie strength. See the attached legend for a coding scheme that you can use to record “type of support,” “medium,” location,” “relationship,” and “tie strength”.
After you have recorded your interactions for the full 7 days, analyze your diary and write a blog post answering the questions in the handout. Your blog post should be 1250-1750 words, not including your answer to question 1. For question 2 and 3, be sure to discuss your answer with reference to the course readings. For example, are your observations consistent or inconsistent with the readings? Do they provide new evidence for or against existing hypotheses? Based on your observations can you formulate new hypotheses, theories, or conclusions that build or contrast with the literature you have read?