Positively Deviant: the role of moderately anti-normative behaviours in online forums
Martin-Niemi, F. (2011). Positively Deviant: the role of moderately anti-normative behaviours in online forums. Selected Papers of Internet Research (SPIR). Presented at the AoIR IR12.0 Performance and Participation, Seattle, WA. Retrieved from http://spir.aoir.org/papers/martin-niemi.pdf
Online discussion forums are social networks in which members share knowledge. They are dependent on normative... more Online discussion forums are social networks in which members share knowledge. They are dependent on normative behaviours to function and yet there is evidence of deviance within them. Extreme departures from social norms can damage network ties, however little has been written on moderate deviancy. This paper explores the positive consequences of moderately deviant behaviour on the health and wellbeing of an online discussion forum. The study used a thematic analysis of materials gathered during a three-month virtual ethnography of a technical forum for database developers. Themes identified were examined for the effect of ‘positive deviance’ on the trust, network ties and technical problem solving. From this analysis a typology of deviant behaviours was developed, focussed on moderately deviant behaviours identified as the ‘lawful stupid’ and ‘in-crowd enforcers’. The study suggests positive deviance influences network social norms by clarifying social rules. This positive outcome had a mitigating effect on the negative impact of deviance on interpersonal trust.
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Download (.pages) The beauty of blood? Self-injury and ambivalence in an Internet community
Journal of Youth Studies, 2011 (w. A. Gradin Franzén)
The present article analyzes how young self-injuring women and men construct themselves as 'cutters.' The study draws... more The present article analyzes how young self-injuring women and men construct themselves as 'cutters.' The study draws on observations of a Swedish Internet community connected to self-injurious behavior and departs from a poststructuralist framework in order to analyze how members position themselves and others in relation to cultural discourses on self-injury. Two main discourses are identified in the Web community: the 'normalizing' and the 'pathologizing' discourses, which give contrasting versions of self-injury, self-cutters, and their scarred bodies. Within the normalizing discourse, self-injurious behavior is regarded as a legitimate practice for dealing with mental health problems, 'cutters' are resilient, and their blood and scars are beautiful. In contrast, within the pathologizing discourse self-injurious behavior is understood as morally reprehensible, self-cutters are pathological, and their bodies are repulsive. In the Web community, members invoke both discourses, which leads to ambivalent subject positions. This study shows that the seemingly contradictory subject positions of the two discourses in fact are interdependent on each other as members draw on both the normalizing and the pathologizing discourses in order to become 'authentic cutters.