Steven Mcdermott

Publications

• White’s Three Disciplines and Relative Valuation Order: Countering the Social Ignorance of Automated Data Collection and Analysis

  Steven McDermott

  Computer Society. 01/2010;

  This paper asks which of White’s (2009) three disciplines and relative valuation orders does the Singapore blogosphere adhere to. Analysing not just the hyperlink connections but the textual discourse; and in doing so attempts to highlight certain limitations of using automated data mining and analy... [more] This paper asks which of White’s (2009) three disciplines and relative valuation orders does the Singapore blogosphere adhere to. Analysing not just the hyperlink connections but the textual discourse; and in doing so attempts to highlight certain limitations of using automated data mining and analysis software. Using the Singapore blogosphere, described by Lin, Sundaram, Chi, Tatemura, and Tseng, (2006) and Hurst (2006), as an isolated and distinct network with no theme or focus, I have targeted blogs using social network analysis uncovering the key players, with higher levels of ‘betweenness centrality’ (de Nooy & Mrvar et al., 2005) and the themes and discipline of the Singapore blogosphere. This case study will help highlight the analytic framework, benefits and limitations of using social network analysis and an ethnographical approach to networks. This paper also highlights the use of various software technology; blogs, IssueCrawler, HTTrack, NetDraw, and Leximancer while using an ethnographic approach to counter the social ignorance of automated electronic software.

• Arbitrarily Combining the Social Network Approach with the Ethnographic Approach

  S. McDermott

  Communication Networks on the Web Conference, Amsterdam; 12/2008

  Simply combining the ethnographic approach to the structural approach of network analysis is said to be fraught with, at the same time, dangers and potentiality (Knox et al., 2006). Using hyper link analysis and textual data gathered during a situation on the Singapore blogosphere as a case study I ... [more] Simply combining the ethnographic approach to the structural approach of network analysis is said to be fraught with, at the same time, dangers and potentiality (Knox et al., 2006). Using hyper link analysis and textual data gathered during a situation on the Singapore blogosphere as a case study I ask, can a combination of the two create a ‘better’ picture or will it result in the metaphor being mistaken for the ‘real’ social structure? Lin et al. (2006) using the structural social network analysis approach have defined the Singapore blogosphere as a “community with no obvious central topic”, and stated that it was a rather closed network, or rather closed off from the wider global network of bloggers. The ethnographic approach tends to take a very different position arguing that “It is rarely that we find a community that is absolutely isolated, having no outside contact. At the present moment of history, the network of social relations spreads over the whole world, without any absolute solution of continuity anywhere (Radcliffe-Brown, 1940:224).” This paper addresses the inadequacies of using hyper link analysis or the ethnographic approach alone when uncovering online networks. Arbitrarily combining the two approaches will highlight the theoretical problems, benefits and limitations. Using a situation in 2006 I extracted a corpus of 29 blog posts. Using the social network approach I ask which blogs are the keyplayers? Using the ethnographic approach I ask what discourses and styles of discourse appear in the Singapore blogosphere?

• A Hyperlink Analysis of the UK Porn Industry’

  S. McDermott

  Globalisation, Media and Adult/Sexual Content: Challenges to Regulation and Research Conference, Athens; 09/2008

  The Internet is optimistically regarded as a force for democracy and at the same time another mechanism by which the poor and weak become further disempowered (Calhoun, 1998). Computer mediated communication enhances the current power structures while reinforcing the exploitation of those who are mo... [more] The Internet is optimistically regarded as a force for democracy and at the same time another mechanism by which the poor and weak become further disempowered (Calhoun, 1998). Computer mediated communication enhances the current power structures while reinforcing the exploitation of those who are most vulnerable. By recognising the dominance of online pornography, Internet Service Providers and the communications industry are willing to accept the profits generated in working with the porn industry while ignoring the price being paid by the most visible, and yet voiceless agents. In doing so the Internet is awash with easily accessible pornographic imagery with mobile phones are viewed as an even bigger market. With the demand for such material being the driving force for broadband usage and with the expansion of the use of mobile phones for downloading videos, I will ask ‘which United Kingdom companies are the keyplayers?’ Are there structural holes within the networks, ensuring ‘deniability’ for the larger industrial players? I target online websites of the ‘adult entertainment’ industry in the UK using hyperlink analysis in order to extract the social network. This then enables me to conduct social network analysis uncovering the keyplayers of the UK porn industry with higher levels of ‘closeness centrality’ and ‘betweenness centrality’ (Nooy et al., 2005). Closeness centrality and betweenness centrality are regarded as measures of power within a given network. This study is searching for tentative links between the providers and the industrial players that have enabled the distribution of pornographic material via the Internet and mobile phones.

• The Singapore Blogosphere: What form of Habermasian Public Sphere?

  S. McDermott

  Politics: Web 2.0: An International Conference, London, UK; 04/2008