Website

If you have not already taken time to look at the eCitizenship website please feel free to take a peak and send me ideas ( http://www.uwlax.edu/ecitizenship/ ).  I have a list of ideas from individuals on campus that I hope to incorporate in the next few weeks.  Please use the wiki (on the online tools page)  to fill in ideas about how you use these tools in class and encourage others to do so as well. 

Presentation

CATL is sponsoring a forum called: The Many Faces of FaceBook: Social Networking on Campus and in the Community.  It will be held from 1-2 p.m. on Friday April 9, in room 161 Wing Technology Center.  The description is as follows:

The UWL eCitizenship Initiative and CATL would like to invite you to a workshop on the many faces of FaceBook. The workshop will focus on FaceBook as a social networking tool with an emphasis on how to use it to promote democracy in the community and in the classroom. The workshop will be presented by two UWL students, Julie Kildahl and Steve Londre, and Dr. Jo Arney, Professor of Political Science and Public Administration Professor. 

**If you have other ideas for presentations please let me know.

Student Research

Julie Kildahl is undertaking a research study this semester that looks at the correlation between online networking and community engagement.  She will be surveying the FaceBook fans of two students running for county board from District 5.  The central question she is investigating is whether there is a correlation between joining a civically themed FaceBook group and participating in civic organizations in the community (i.e. non-internet based face-to-face organizations).

Funding and Campus Wide Study

We have talked about undertaking an interdisciplinary research study for this project.  As you are aware, eCitizenship is really about using social networking as a tool to achieve broader goals of civic engagement (as opposed to the study of social networking as its own end).  

One of the reasons that it has been difficult to move forward has been the lack of a common definition or model of social networking groups that exist.  I applied for and was awarded a College of Liberal Studies (CLS) small grant.  Part of this grant will allow me to pay a student (over the summer) to do research on and categorize types of online groups.  We will probably focus on FaceBook groups but may expand to others.  My goal is to come up with a categorization system (and rubric) for delineating groups. 

Over the summer, I will also undertake an extensive literature review related to how civic engagement has been measured by researchers from various disciplines.  My hope is to combine these two sets of information (categorization of social networking groups and ways to measure civic engagement) to design a research project for our campus.  I would like to have this underway by the next eCitizenship meeting in Detroit this coming November.

Thank you to CLS!  If you have ideas related to this endeavor, please send them my way.

Moving Forward

Therefore, the next step is to have a rough design of a campus wide research project by the time we return for the fall semester.  I will send it out for you to read and comment on and will call a meeting early in the fall.  I will also be looking for external funding to support such a project.

Thanks for your interest.  If you have thoughts, ideas, or comments please send me an e-mail.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Jo A. Arney, Ph.D.

University of Wisconsin La Crosse

Political Science/Public Administration

425C Wimberly Hall

1725 State St.

La Crosse, WI 54601

Office Phone: (608) 785-6641

Home Phone: (608) 519-0945

E-mail

Website

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