My Place in CCR
This entry was written in response to the Research Blogging Assignment for Stanford's Fall 2008 Cultural Interfaces class. For more about this assignment, click here. You can leave a comment on this post by clicking on the "comment" link below.
When I joined the CCR PWR2 this Fall, I was incredibly excited--I would finally get the opportunity to write, research, and speak about Soompi, the online forum that changed my life.
This is not to say that my other two research topic choices, Korean Hip Hop and Japanese Rock Culture were just for show; I simply would have found a way to include Soompi as a significant part of those research arguments as well ;)
I have possibly learned more about cross-cultural exchange and my own role in it from Soompi than from any "real world" source. But it feels almost strange to refer to the "real world" and "online world" as separate, because my personal life has blended the two so seamlessly. I am not ashamed to say that I have spent countless hours and made over 1,000 posts on Soompi, or that my relationships with people in IRC chatrooms across the globe are as trusting and satisfying as "real" relationships. In this way, I feel like I have something special to contribute to the discussion of the Cultural Interfaces theme--I have lived the online life that as a CCR class, we are "studying" and even poking fun at from our outside perspective...a strange feeling, indeed!
At first, I was severely challenged with the problem of making Soompi, a forum that my class knows nothing about, into something globally significant. I began serious brainstorming after my first conference with Christine, in the back of a van headed to my hometown, Los Angeles. I had discovered a few great sources already, such as Amy Jo Kim's Community Building on the Web, a how-to guide for creating your own successful online forum, and statistical publications like the Pew American Life Project: Asian Americans: The Young and Connected. When I arrived at home and began to discuss my topic with the people around me, they became instrumental in putting Soompi into a larger context--even if they knew nothing about it. My Dad, with a strong background in Computer Science and Networking, revealed his own excitement about high-speed Internet's future implications for understanding and problem-solving on an international scale. My mother, with her background in psychology and education, helped me to understand how Soompi functions as a nurturing community that molds the cultural development of its users. A weekend trip home turned out to be exactly the push I needed to map out a plan and get started.
When I arrived back at Stanford, I was more motivated than ever to make this research MEAN something, on both a personal and societal level. I spent almost entire days at Green Library, because the books I needed don't circulate! T_T Often, these books were comprised of a series of articles about Cyberculture that went in circles referencing and summarizing one another (and always ultimately ending at renowned scholar Howard Rheingold, who published in the early 1990's). What I found in these books was not an answer, but a new question--Why should online groups be given the title of "community" or "subculture" in today's world? I had just been using these terms to describe Soompi without giving it much thought; it was *obvious* to me that Soompi functions as community, subculture, and tribe because I have been such an involved and observant member. But apparently, this debate has been holding back discussions of how online groups might transform our traditional definitions of these terms; it will be a new challenge for me to weave this debate into my research argument.
I hope that any of my classmates or instructors that read this blog post now has a better and more complete understanding of my reasons for choosing this topic, and how personally important it is for me to add my own research to the global discussion of digital media and culture. Wish me luck! ^____^
-Stephanie
Comments
Hi Stephanie,
My name is Sabrina and I'm a student in the University of Sydney's illustrious Page To Screen unit of study. I find it extremely interesting to read what you've written (typed?) in regards to your connection with Soompi. Your entry prompted a couple of questions from me, namely:
1. If you had to categorise the online world, would you comfortably file it under the "real world"? To you, is an online world a mere medium for fantasy and escapism or is it the very crux of reality since it gives us a means to be as open and honest and "us" as possible (with little to no social repercussions)?
2. With the onset of the online age, do you feel that the notion of identity has warped to accommodate more emphasis on personality and expression and now places less importance on "fixed" identity markers such as appearance? And does blogging on a forum as basic as Soompi, where you are represented by digitalised words on a screen, make you feel adequately represented?
3. You ask why online groups are given the title of "community" or "subculture". Do you feel that the answer to this question may lie in the fact that any interactive gathering of people, be it in person or over the internet, are a type of community and subculture, no matter how abstract?
Hope I haven't bombarded you with too many questions at once; I'm just interested in hearing your thoughts (especially as a person who has never actively blogged or posted on forums before) and welcome any contributions from other students on this thing. All the best with your research project my dear!
Posted by: Sabrina Houssami | October 22, 2008 04:38 PM
Hey Stephanie,
I find your topic fascinating - I'm really interested in online community! And fortunately there's actually a huge and ever increasing amount of literature on the topic. Some theorists you might find useful are Nicholas Negroponte (an early advocate of the utopian potential of the internet for community) and Mark Granovetter (who described the strength of weak ties - that is, how the abundance of 'acquaintances' online are actually useful.. in contrast to criticisms that the internet actually weakened friendships and destroyed community). Oh and Amy Jo Kim might be helpful too - she describes the membership life cycle for online communities.
Anyway, I'm currently researching notions of the internet as a sacramental space, that is, how the internet can be constructed as a space in which religious communities can worship.. like how are religious rituals transformed in the virtual world, etc. Anyway, it would be great to hear your thoughts on that!
Posted by: don cameron | October 22, 2008 05:58 PM
Hey Steph!
After reading your blog I feel certain that you are going to have much success with this topic, not only because you (likely) want to get a good grade in PWR but because Soompi and online culture is such a huge part of your life as well. Your strong personal connection is going to be such a key factor in your research, you'll be able to connect with other members of Soompi with a greater understanding than if you were someone like myself entering that online community for the first time.
I definitely was skeptical in the beginning as to what you were going to argue about for your research paper, but i think the idea of online groups being given the title of "community" or not is going to be a really good argument. Perhaps you could contrast the Korean definition of community against the American definition to see if Soompi would be given the title in either country, or maybe both!
All in all, i know you are going to rock this topic because and i'm excited to learn more about Soompi in your presentations to come!
Posted by: Allison McCann | October 22, 2008 08:35 PM
Hello Sabrina and Don!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful responses ^^ I will now try my best to answer both of your questions, although I wish we could chat in real time about this..My MSN account is stephanie.parker@ca.rr.com and my AIM sn is SiLkp3tL27.
Sabrina, dear, I'll start with you! I used to see the Internet as a fantasy world, until I began to realize how it was affecting my behavior and development in the "real world." I am now convinced that it is not the "social repercussions" of face-to-face contact that make our interactions real and human, so in that sense the Internet IS a valid venue for community-building. To that end, I witness the cultural shift towards personal expression (blogs, music..) over physical traits like race every day on the Internet and I love it. On Soompi, my identity is as a Korean Music lover who happens to be American with liberal views. I can pick and choose when to reveal my mixed racial background if I think it is relevant to discussion (it often is not)..and that's what's great about online communities. There's something special about people who find each other and actively build that community, even if it's online and across the globe.
Don, this is for you! Thank you so much for those new sources(Amy Jo Kim's book was one of the first I found and I love it!)--I am searching them up as we speak! Anyways, in terms of your topic, I definitely believe that the internet can serve as an effective sacramental space for religious groups on a global scale. There is a section on Soompi titled "Calling All Christians!" where members gather to find new friends and discuss religious issues..it's one of the most popular and interesting threads. I think that if anything, adding religious groups to the virtual sphere bring a more egalitarian and liberal (less hierarchical and traditional) face to religion for young people, who will then have more of a say in how their religious community functions. This is a very exciting topic that I have never really thought about!
-Stephanie
Posted by: Stephanie P | October 22, 2008 10:05 PM
Hey Stephanie, I find your topic very intriguing. I hope that in your next presentation you include more about how you discovered Soompi, and what stakes you have in your research (honestly I'm just curious). I think that the research you have started is great, but have you considered asking the other members of the Soompi culture to contribute what they think? Maybe interviewing users of Soompi or users of different cyber cultures would give you some primary research that you wouldn't find in books... I love your passion for your topic. It shows in this blog, it showed in your presentation and it will continue to show in your paper. I think that it is really amazing to see someone so honestly enthusiastic for their research. Good Luck!
Posted by: Austen Wianecki | October 23, 2008 12:53 AM
I thought your blog was definitely insightful and it's cool how those other two ppl commented. I liked your presentation in class too, I thought it was welll-prepared. It's interesting how you were the only one who even knew about soompi in our class though. How did you come across it? Also, do you find the cultural barrier hard to overcome OR do you realize new ones arising betweeen you and some American concepts as you spend more time immersed the culture of the Far East. Those may be interesting to even put in your research paper.
Posted by: Osagie Igbeare | October 23, 2008 07:47 AM
Hey Austen!
Your suggestion about primary research is great and that kind of thing will actually be one of my most significant sources--I regret forgetting to add that in the end of my presentation, but Soompi primary research is going to take up a lot of my paper. Many Soompi friends, and even the Soompi Founder are excited to give me interviews! You're sitting next to me in class so I can definitely talk to you about how I found Soompi, and more about what it means to me. Thanks for your support!
Posted by: Stephanie P | October 23, 2008 09:35 AM
Hey Stephanie,
As a big fan of your previous research writing (on Korean pop culture), I was thrilled and impressed to read about Soompi - something totally new to me. I'm fascinated to hear about your "relationships with people in IRC chatrooms across the globe" and how you view them as "trusting and satisfying as real relationships"
Is there a visual interface to Soompi? Or is it all textual, asynchronous? I mean, is it like facebook or is there an element similar to our CCR video conferences?
Alyssa
Posted by: Alyssa O'Brien | October 23, 2008 01:23 PM
It's great research topics looks very interesting i will be happy to follow it up .
Posted by: Martin | July 8, 2009 01:03 PM