1.

Introduction
The theme of the Project was “The impact of new ICTs on everyday life”. From here,

we as a group chose to concentrate on Social Sharing of Information. Our group

consisted of three people namely, Daniel Beere, William Kennedy and Kushal Gupta.

We each decided to focus on an area of this topic where we researched on-line

material relating to the topic such as papers, projects and other articles as well as

writing summaries and commentaries on the material we found most interesting.

Following this, we each conducted an interview on a selected participant and

discussed the data gathered. We then came together and combined our research and

findings to conclude the project.

2. Webliography

2.1

Hartley, John (2008) YouTube, digital literacy and the growth of knowledge. In: Media,

Communication and Humanity Conference 2008 at LSE, 21-23 September 2008,

London.

<http://eprints.qut.edu.au/18013/1/c18013.pdf>

This paper discusses the position of YouTube in society and online communities today.

Considering the increase in broadband speed and bandwidth, videos have been revolutionised

for individuals to interact on a global scale. Probably the most popular video website on the

internet is YouTube, with their slogan ‘Broadcast yourself’ highlighting the difference

between traditional television and modern television. YouTube has a number of videos being

both published and watched by users. YouTube comprises of user-created content and a

number of videos containing individuals self expression.

The Researchers in this paper were interested in understanding how young people cooperate

as not just consumers of content but also producers of media content. During 2003-2005, a

research project was designed called the Youth Internet Radio Network or YIRN to allow

young people to comment on and post photos, videos and music regardless of their

geographical location. A website called Sticky.net was designed for young individuals to

“stick their stuff” but by the time issues such as software, code, technical, IP and security was

finalised, people had already progressed ahead. The Researchers suggest that they had

developed an idea of YouTube but were unable to get it working efficiently on time. As the

internet evolved, YouTube with its clever slogan “Broadcast Yourself” and simple usability

grew allowing users to transmit content from the local home to the global home. When YIRN

(Youth Internet Radio Network) was set up, it was believed that users must be thought to

produce content and that you could not leave them unguided as YouTube does, but as it turns

out, many of the users tend to learn from each other. Today’s teenagers who will be retiring

from work around the year 2060 appear to be nearly a different specie compared to those a

generation before them. “Teens evidently don’t see computers as technology. It’s as if they

have developed an innate ability for text-messaging, iPodding, gaming, and multitasking on

multiple platforms” (Hartley, J. 2008).

People can talk about their life on Facebook, broadcast themselves on YouTube, donate

knowledge on Wikipedia, produce art on Flickr and gather records on Del.icio.us. With

numerous amounts of media available on the internet, there are many opportunities for people

to gather “do-it-yourself” and “do-it-with-others” content generated by and for users and this

self-made content is available to nearly anyone with a computer and internet connection.

Today, almost everyone has the ability and resources to be a potential publisher. Individuals

do not need others to rely on to help them through the space of information as they learn from

each other to pilot themselves about the space. A lot of people can read print but very few

publish. However, with the use of the internet it is possible for everyone to contribute to
knowledge, as they can move from mischief, communication and self-expression to higher

levels such as science and journalism online.

The author then goes on to talk about language which is produced by individuals and connects

all of whom speak it in a community. The author describes how the brain, cells, food webs

and ecosystems are each made up of networks. He continues to say that societies are also

made up of networks of people connected by relationships and that the language we use is

even a network made up of different words.

Commentary

I chose to read this paper as I believe YouTube is an area of social sharing of information

which ties in well with the topic for the project. The paper speaks of YouTube, digital literacy

and the growth of knowledge which is implied in the title. I believe the section relating to

language and how it is a special kind of network was appealing as I felt this related to Manuel

Castells ‘Network Society’ of how things were linked together. It was interesting to read of

the amount of possibilities individuals have to express themselves online and not just view

content but publish content also. It seems that users have the ability to enlarge the amount of

knowledge on the internet much more than what journalists and other professional publishers

and producers can do in print. The internet and OLCs (online communities) such as YouTube

allow us to do and learn things ourselves with the option of doing it with others also.

YouTube allows almost an infinite number of people to produce content as well as a vast

amount of videos available to be watched. Due to the development of technology and digital

media, there is a large range of access to the internet for both consumers and producers which

can lead to the increase of available knowledge and information online. The internet is

becoming a large area full of almost infinite knowledge to be shared by social communities.

2.2

Sharratt, M., Usoro, A. (2003). Understanding Knowledge-Sharing in Online

Communities of Practice, Electronic Journal on Knowledge Management, 1 (2), pp.187-

196.

<http://www.ejkm.com/volume-1/volume1-issue-2/issue2-art18-sharratt.pdf>

This paper examines knowledge sharing in online communities (OLCs) and factors that affect

knowledge sharing. The article talks about knowledge management (KM) and the position

online communities have in society. The amount of knowledge sharing in online communities

depends on different factors such as Technical infrastructure, Trust, Sense of community and

Career advancement. A number of hypotheses were derived from these factors which help

understand the issues that affect knowledge sharing in online communities.

Information systems stores, processes and communicates information and concentrates on the

main procedures that help the business function while Knowledge Management looks to

influence the establishment’s know-how to add value to it and improve the way it works

ahead of day-to-day practices. Knowledge management allows creativity which leads to the

businesses evolving and growing. There is also a position for communities of practice (CoPs)

in the KM area. CoPs have been described as groups of people brought together by a shared

interest for a particular activity. CoPs have been known as useful locations for knowledge

sharing. Members of these communities of practice identify and interact with each other.

“Knowledge is an intangible resource that exists within the mind of the individual” (Sharratt,

M. and Usoro, A. 2003). Knowledge management and information management are often

confused with each other. Both can relate to each other as both are based on data.

“Information by definition is informative and, therefore, tells us something” (Sharratt, M. and

Usoro, A. 2003). It is something we can obtain meaning from. Knowledge is associated with

understanding and as a result, knowledge can be created by information that is understood.

Sharing is where something is given by a source and received by another. In order for sharing

to happen, there needs to be a trade between a source and a receiver. Knowledge sharing

involves the giving and receiving of information. Some believe that conversation is the only

useful way of knowledge sharing which allows a deeper exchange of knowledge. This can be

either face-to-face or online. It is said that by conversing we learn to learn together. The
benefit of conversation online is that knowledge can be accessed from the whole of the

community. In online communities, an individual’s problem can be solved by a range of

knowledge from a number of members in a community. Information technology (IT) can help

people to collaborate and work together to allow the transfer of knowledge between people.

When one views a community to be honest, reliable and trustworthy, one tends to participate

more in knowledge sharing. It is also believed that incentives (financial, recognition,

reputation, career advancement etc.) motivate a person to share knowledge as it allows the

person to feel it is worthwhile to engage in the exchange of information. However, many fear

that sharing incorrect information or failure to contribute relevant information is a barrier to

knowledge sharing as it negatively affects a person’s motivation to be involved in knowledge

sharing.

Commentary

I found this paper to be interesting as it discussed the factors that influence knowledge sharing

in online communities as well as describing the terms involved in knowledge sharing. After

reading this paper I was quite pleased to have read it as it gave me a broader understanding of

the term knowledge sharing. I believe it was also a very relevant paper for the topic of the

project which and will allow me to understand other similar reports clearer. I was impressed

by the author’s hypotheses which they conducted as they are clear, concise and accurate in

my opinion. The terms KM (knowledge management), IS (information system), CoPs

(communities of practice) and SoC (sense of community) are well described and are very

understandable. For me the most striking piece of the paper was during the authors section on

trust being a factor on knowledge sharing. Here trust is divided into sections such as integrity,

benevolence and competence. Integrity-based trust is based on the idea that other parties are

honest and reliable. Benevolence-based trust is based on the idea that other parties have the

best interest of the receiver. And Competence-based trust is based on the idea that other

parties are knowledgeable and contain a level of skill and ability. I felt this was interesting as

the concept trust was broken down into three components namely integrity, benevolence and
competence. It affects each individual as well as CoPs (communities of practice). Trust has an

important role in knowledge sharing as it can affect ones motivation to participate in

knowledge sharing if they feel another to be dishonest or unreliable.

2.3

X. Cheng, C. Dale, and J. Liu. (2007) Understanding the Characteristics of Internet

Short Video Sharing: Youtube as a Case Study. Technical Report arXiv:0707.3670v1

[cs.NI], arXiv e-prints. New York: Cornell University

<http://www.webdialogues.net/cs/cdc-new_media-

library/download/dlib/1056/YouTubeCharacteristics.pdf?x-r=pcfile_d>

In “ Understanding the Characteristics of Internet Short Video Sharing: Youtube as a Case

Study”, Cheng et al discuss the usage and statistics of Youtube video's and find that Youtube

users differ from other video sharing sites in a number of Key areas such as access patterns,

commenting and social networking. The argument is made that before Youtube and similar

systems existed, each online video were “standalone units of content” which were mostly

unconnected with no overarching system for review or comment.

The authors also found that comparable sites such as MSN Video contained fewer, longer

videos when compared to Youtube. They found that the vast majority of Youtube videos are

less than 300 seconds in length as opposed to the average of most sites which run from

30mins to 1.5hours. In my opinion this shows a trend towards people wanting to watch a short

movie and interact with others about it actively rather than simply sitting and watching a long

piece of content. It is worth noting that in the years since this study was done, numerous sites

much more similar to Youtube have sprung up.

In terms of methodology, the authors focused on the access patterns and social networks

present on Youtube by using a Youtube “crawler” which accessed the Youtube API and

'scraped' pages at random. They recorded trends of growth in particular genres, as well as

length of videos, user access habits and total views. They also recorded the date on which
each video was uploaded so that they could better examine the trends which emerged. They

recorded the size of videos uploaded and found that the average video uploaded was only

8.4MBytes indicating the prevalence of smaller “clip” style videos.

In part V of the report, the authors tackle the area which is of most interest to this study: The

Youtube Social Network. The authors make the claims that “Videos are no longer

independent from each other, and neither are the users.” This means that users are no longer

statically viewing videos as consumers but are becoming active participants in the video

sharing process, commenting, reviewing, recommending videos to each other and forming

new relationships through Youtube.

At the time of the study, the authors were astonished to find that “in over 1 million users’

data, [they] found that 58% of the user’s have no friends.” However “[They] believe that this

is partially because Youtube is still quite young, with more connections to be established

between its users.” The authors believe that Youtube is an ideal testing ground for the “Small

World Network Phenomenon” also known as 'six degrees of separation'. They researched

social connections between Youtube users and found that Youtube has “definite small world

characteristics”.

Finally, the authors feel that there is room for further study in the area of improving

Youtube’s backbone such as storage and bandwidth. Importantly, one of the suggestions they

make is that social networks on Youtube could create a peer-to-peer network in order to

stream content to each other, alleviating Youtube’s bandwidth problems.

Commentary

I read this paper because I believed it would be interesting to look directly at the statistical

data behind the Youtube social network. I was surprised by a number of facts presented in the

paper, such as that the average Youtube video is actually less than five minutes long. This

definitely shows a trend towards shorter consumable chunks of video rather than traditional

long 30-120 minute videos and movies. I think that the reason for this is that the shorter
chunks are more conducive to commenting and participating in the social feedback of

Youtube. One of the problems I had with this paper was its age, it talks about Youtube as it

was back then: In a practical vacuum. At the time of this papers publication, Youtube was a

very unique site in terms of the way it presented video and encouraged social interactions,

however nowadays many sites such as Vimeo (www.vimeo.com), Metacafe

(www.metacafe.com) and Veoh (www.veoh.com) have very similar architectures and face

many of the same problems and constraints as Youtube.

2.4

Krotoski, A (2006), Playing the Youtube Game, Guardian Games Blog, weblog post, 4

Dec, accessed 8 Nov 2009,

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2006/dec/04/playingtheyou>

In this article Krotoski, A discusses and brings forward the arguments of Amy Jo Kim and

Max Kalehoff that social sites such as Youtube should implement the "essential elements of

every game" to social networking. She argues that game elements such as 'points', 'feedback',

'collecting', 'exchanges' and 'customisation' encourage user participation, competition and

interaction with the site. She argues that in the case of Youtube, collecting occurs when users

upload and favourite videos, points are demonstrated by a videos view count, feedback is

evident in comments and ratings, exchanges exist in recommendations and customisation is

present in your channel settings.

She finishes up by claiming that games are one of the main ways in which younger people are

introduced to online social interactions and therefore introducing game elements into social

media is an obvious step in gaining the addictive qualities of successful games. She hopes that

other current and future sites will continue to introduce similar game features.

Commentary

While this is quite a short blog post on the Guardian Games Blog, I think it’s very interesting

and indeed I think the approach they take in identify Social Networking sites (and in
particular Youtube) as ‘Games’ is novel and innovative. Certainly the commonalities are

instantly observable once pointed out, but taking this a step further I think it would be

interesting to discover what other aspects of gaming culture might be successfully

implemented into online social networks.

2.5

Youtube Blog, (2009), 'How We think about Social', Broadcasting Ourselves ;) The

Official Youtube Blog, weblog post, 11 Nov, accessed 11 Nov 2009,

<http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-we-think-about-social.html>

In this blog post, posted on the 11th of November, The authors of 'The Official Youtube Blog'

ask the question of how they can improve the social aspects of Youtube as a whole. They

claim that “Social features like commenting, rating, video responses and even just emailing or

IMing a video's link have always been a part of the Youtube experience.”, however they wish

to allow users to more easily 'follow' each other. They describe a system which sounds quite

similar to the Facebook 'Feeds' which allow you to follow what your friends have been doing.

In the case of Youtube this would involve seeing what your friends comment on, favouriting

and rating. They describe the cycle of social information as a circle of Find → Follow →

Feed → Repeat. The cycle of social information they is also very similar to that of Twitter

and indeed it seems that Youtube wish to implement some Twitter-like functionality within

the site. They provide the following facts about the social sharing of information to do with

Youtube.

• “Over one million people are AutoSharing videos to Twitter, Facebook and Google

Reader

• Each AutoShared Tweet you send out from Youtube turns into an average of seven

new sessions on YouTube.com

• Over a million people have found and subscribed to at least one friend on Youtube

based on our Friend Suggest feature

 • More than one million new subscriptions are created every day ”

In the comment section of the blog, users were asked on where they would like to see the

social aspect of Youtube to go. Users responded that they would like a Twitter-like text only

feature to communicate directly with their subscribers, and better integration with Google

accounts.

Commentary

I accessed this blog late in the revision process of this project, however I felt that this blog

entry was important to include as it shows Youtube’s own attitude to social interaction on the

site. It’s interesting that they feel that the Youtube social network doesn’t necessarily end

with the site but rather extends through various forms of internet media such as e-mail and

IM. Therefore they are not as concerned with including these technologies within Youtube

but rather see Youtube as a part of the online social ecosystem.

2.6

Ralph Gross, Alessandro Acquisti H. John Heinz III (2005) Information Revelation and

Privacy in Online Social Networks

<http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1110000/1102214/p71-gross.pdf >

In the recent years the level of social networking has increased a lot. Millions of people are

creating profiles and sharing personal information on websites such as YouTube, facebook ,

etc. Due to a rapid increase in the number of individuals registering to social networking sites

has lead to an increase of new social networking sites like twitter. Sites such as face book,

YouTube, photo bucket etc. give individuals an opportunity to share personal photos, videos,

music etc. with others.

A website like YouTube is a public video sharing website. On this site individuals can

experience varying degrees of engagement with videos, going from casual viewing to even

sharing videos with others to maintain a social relationship. As social network sites (SNS)

achieve more users, a number of websites have adopted SNS features. YouTube was launched

as a video sharing website, but it also offers users a personal profile page- this is called a

“channel page” and it allows other people to read your profile information and add you as a

friend (Lange, P. G. (2007). Publicly private and privately public: Social networking on

YouTube.)

There are a few different types of sharing information on social networking sites, these are:

common interests, business, photos, dating, pets and face-to-face facilitation. All these social

networking sites have a few common features such as: an individual sets up a profile to

represent themselves- to others with the intention of contacting or being contacted by others,

to meet new friends or even dates, find jobs and much more.

Information such as an individual’s interests, political views, religion etc. can be shared with

others on social networking sites. There are different levels of information, there’s general

open source information which is basically things like hobbies, interests, favourite music...

there’s semi-public information such as drinking, sexual preferences..... and also there’s

another type of information, this one is highly variable, it can include a lot of personal

information like address, phone number etc.

Commentary

After reading this article it was quite clear to me that social sharing of information is quite

common among individuals these days. As technology is improving and growing more

individuals are sharing their personal information on sites such as facebook, photobucket,

YouTube etc. From the article I learned that there are different types of personal information

that can be shared like business, photos, common interests etc. There’s a basic level of

information that can be shared like hobbies, favourite music and so on... then a step higher is
semi-public information which includes personal information such as drinking, sexual

preferences etc. and there’s a highly variable type of information sharing, an individual can

share very personal information like their phone number, home address etc.

Ryan Revalski, Rebecca Shirley, Christina Yuhas, Scott Thom, Noah Bickford

(2007) Social Networking Websites

http://students.kennesaw.edu/~jthom2/FinalPaper.doc

Technology is very popular nowadays and so the new generation is growing up

completely fluent in technology. Nearly all teen and young adult has found or will

soon find his/her way to websites like YouTube, facebook, MySpace, flikr, to

establish social identities. Through these sites individuals can keep up to date on new

videos, movies, music and even make new friends. It’s a new method of meeting new

people, sharing your personal information with others around the world and reading

about other individual’s personal information. It’s a quick and easy way of meeting

new people and best of all you can even meet people from the other side of the world

just through a social networking site online. You can learn about different religions,

cultures, traditions etc. It gives you a chance to see other individual’s photos, videos

e.g. photobucket, YouTube... and so you can get an insight into the lives of people in

different countries.

Even though you can easily share and find personal information about people it is

believed that most adult’s social lives still revolve around traditional phone calls and

face-to-face interaction. It seems as if social sharing of information more popular

amongst the new generation in comparison to the older generation.

YouTube leads online video sharing. People can set up an account on YouTube and

upload personal videos etc. easily. Individuals can favourite other peoples videos, add

other individuals as friends etc. People can share personal information about

themselves like their hobbies, interests, education with other members on YouTube.

Vlogs are quite popular on YouTube now too, these are videos of people talking to the

camera sharing personal information about themselves.

Conclusion

This article gave me an insight into the world of social networking and how it is more

popular amongst the new generation in comparison to the older. Personal information

can be shared online through YouTube, facebook or even blogs. Some sites such as

bebo provide a space for the user to write blogs, blogs about anything that’s on the

users mind and can post it on their page so all their friends can read them and if their

page is on public then anyone even browsing the user’s page can read the blog(s).

YouTube provides individuals an opportunity to share their own personal experiences

with others by uploading their videos on it so that they can be viewed by other users.

3. Interviews
Note: Full text of the interviews can be viewed in the appendices at the end of the

report.

3.1

Interview 1.

For the interview, I decided to ask a male of 28 years of age to participate in the

interview which he agreed. I was familiar with his educational background and knew

that he would be an adequate candidate. I offered the interviewee a time and place to
meet for the interview which was accepted. It was scheduled for a Friday evening in

my Home. Prior to the interview commencing, I described why this interview was

taking place and its confidentiality. I assured him that he would remain anonymous

and that the interview was for research use only. I allowed him to refuse to partake in

the interview at any time with no reason required. I also offered him a copy of the

finished report if he wished. I explained that I would have a laptop with me to record

the interview to listen to the data from the interview only if he was comfortable with

it. The interview had a simple structure with me asking questions and the Interviewee

answering. I waited until he stopped talking before asking the next question and

elaborated on questions to discover more information and data.

During the interview, the Interviewee spoke of his use and experience of ICTs, how

ICTs have affected him, Social Sharing of Information, factors relating to Social

Sharing of Information, his situation among Social Sharing of Information and other

topics which derived from the questions asked in the interview. The interviewee does

have plentiful experience of ICTs as he has a degree in Information technology and

telecommunications. He finds ICTs to be very prominent in his life both socially and

professionally and “would spend quite a lot of time on the internet with my (His) job

and for personal use”. An interesting thought from the interviewee was also that he

felt ICTs are “becoming very prominent in Education in Ireland today”. When asked

whether ICTs have affected his life positively or negatively, he replied both. He

believes that being ICTs have many positives and being skilled in ICT allows even

more opportunities to further positives but for him personally, he also believes that

being qualified in something that he “wouldn’t be so passionate” and that has kept

him “sedated a lot” has “stifled” him a bit. The interviewee was aware of Social
Sharing of Information and referred to websites such Bebo, Facebook, Twitter and

YouTube which allow people “to set up social profiles” on the internet. He also stated

that Social Sharing of Information is a “new phenomenon that has been sweeping the

internet” in recent years. In relation to Information Online, He said that he has a

facebook account and regularly purchases files and books from sites such as

amazon.com as well as often searching “forums for information”. For sharing simple

and concise pieces of information the interviewee recommended that “creating a blog

maybe a good idea” but if larger files and more resources were needed then “maybe

creating your own website and using a hosting company may be your best option”. He

also informed me that he does have a “Flickr account and a YouTube account” but

admitted that he rarely comments on content on these websites or similar websites.

The interviewee explained that he spends a lot of time on websites such as Facebook,

Bebo and YouTube, “approximately 2 hours per day”, but once again answered

“Rarely” when it came to contributing content to these (or similar) websites. He then

announced that he does “find YouTube particular entertaining and informative at

times”, but with the concluding question of the interview relating to problems

associated with Social Sharing of Information, the Interviewee answered that there is

a concern that “people can get addicted and it can become a popularity contest. This

can damage some individual psychologically at times”. Also he felt that “people are

losing a bit of how to live by being so reliant on the internet”.

Reflection

Following this Interview, I felt I got a good understanding of the Interviewees use and

impact of ICTs and understanding and involvement in Social Sharing of Information.

It is obvious that this person frequently uses the Internet and ICTs with his personal
and professional background. I thought it was interesting when he said that he does

not so love his field of profession which seems to have disrupted his active life. He

seems to be very active online with profiles and accounts on Facebook and YouTube

to name a few as well as understanding Social Sharing of Information as he explores

the internet for Information. The Interviewee also recommended ways of sharing

Information online such as blogs and personal websites. I found it very fascinating

that the Interviewee spends approximately 2 hours a day on websites like Facebook,

YouTube, Flickr, Digg and Del.ici.ous but “Rarely” comments on content or

contributes content to these websites. A very informative piece of Information in my

opinion came at the end of the interview when the Interviewee expressed how he felt

about problems associated with Social Sharing of Information saying that individuals

can become addicted and that it can develop into a popularity contest at times. I felt

this was accurate as from my reading of “YouTube, Digital Literacy and the Growth

of Knowledge” by John Hartley, the author refers to YouTube celebrities such as

‘Geriatric 1927’, ‘Tasha & Dishka’ of ‘Hey Clip’ and LonelyGirl15. This celebrity

status may have its positives and negatives but can also become a major part in a

person’s life. Although of all the possibilities and opportunities that available on the

internet, a very intriguing feeling from the Interviewee was that “people are losing a

bit of how to live by being so reliant on the internet”. Whether this is just the personal

belief of the Interviewee or not, it probably is important not to become too wrapped

up on the internet, but this issue is still very much left open for debate.

3.2

Interview 2

I chose to interview a 19 year old male co-op student. The interview took place in his

student accomodation and was transcribed by me on to my laptop. I made sure that the
interviewee was well aware of why he was being interviewed and that he was free to

refuse to answer any question or walk away at any time. I also offered to share a copy

of the final report with him if he so wishes. The interview was quite casual and took

place over a cup of tea. I asked the interviewee our pre-scripted questions as well as a

few follow-up questions in between to follow on from some points he brought up

which I thought were interesting.

As a co-op student working in the Information Technology industry the interviewee

was fully versed in numerous ICT's, in fact he claimed that his life was “full of ICTs!”

and listed out numerous technologies which he uses every day including a Work PC,

Laptop, Mobile Phone, Xbox and iPod. The interviewee had particular experience

with Youtube more than any other method of sharing media via the web, he was not a

frequent user of Flickr, Photobucket or similar technologies, however he does share

photos via Facebook. He claimed that he would like to use Flickr more and that this

would be a goal for him in the future.

When asked what he thought Social Sharing of Information meant to him, he

answered that he shared Information by commenting on videos, subscribing to

channels, interacting with uploaders and rating videos. He also mentioned

commenting on blogs and interacting with his friends on Facebook. When asked

about sharing information on Facebook he was more forthcoming and mentioned

commenting on photographs, videos and his friends status's. He also said that he

uploads photos to Facebook and updates his own status.

He explained that he uses Youtube for educational purposes, he looks up tutorials on

Photoshop, Illustrator and various other technologies to improve his own

understanding, however he also uses the site for entertainment purposes. He claimed

that he does not often contribute content to Youtube, however he would comment if

he had a question for the author or heavily disagreed with another comment. When

asked if he had ever formed a relationship online, he was quite dismissive and stated

that he thought that people who engaged in online relationships were “a bit weird”.

Reflections

The interviewee claimed that the average video he watched on Youtube was about 3-4

minutes long, this correlates with the what I read in “Understanding the

Characteristics of Internet Short Video Sharing: Youtube as a Case Study” (X. Cheng,

C. Dale, and J. Liu., 2007) which found that that users of Youtube are trending

towards watching shorter videos, leaving more time to interact with others on the site.

The interviewee also seemed to place high regard for acts such as commenting and

rating, this seems to correlate with the findings of “ Playing the Youtube Game”

(Krotoski, A., 2006) where the author made the connection between the addictive

qualities of collecting points in videogames with the act of accumulating views,

comments and ratings on sites like Youtube. I was interested in the interviewees

comment that people who form relationships online are “a bit weird”, I feel this

attitude suggests that he has still not fully integrated into the world of internet social

networking even though he claims to spend up to eleven hours a day online.

The interviewee claims to be an active user of Facebook, where he comments, shares

and uploads information. The cycle of use that the user describes on Youtube is

consistant with the blog post 'How We think about Social' (Youtube Blog, 2009)

which is described as Find → Follow → Feed → Repeat.

3.3

Interview 3

I interviewed a 19 year old male, Steven O’ Connell. From the interview it easy to see

that the participant is very much involved with ICT’s and that ICT’s play an important

role in his life. His course is a gaming related course and so he deals with ICT’s quite

a lot. He spends a lot of his time on the internet sharing personal information, photos,

videos etc. It also helps him gather information about projects and helps him share

information with others about project details. ICT’s help the participant both

educationally and socially.

According to the interview the participant shares personal information for learning

purposes “currently working on a project and he uses email to share information about

the project and to receive information about the project from his group mates” and

also for entertainment purposes “He shares jokes and funny pictures on sites such as

facebook, bebo”. He has a YouTube account, Facebook account, bebo account and he

enjoys visiting flikr from time to time just to browse through interesting photos. He

has made a few new friends on websites like YouTube, facebook etc. During the time

he’s online he spends quite a bit of time on websites such as YouTube and other

similar websites, he tries to comment and contribute to these websites as frequently as

he can.
He is quite content with the social sharing of information, however he feels that the

only problem with social sharing of information is that strangers may get a hold of an

individual’s personal information e.g. phone number, home address and perhaps may

harass the individual. As long as random strangers don’t see a lot of your personal

information the participant thinks it’s all okay.

5. Conclusions

Following the Project, we felt that we have a valid understanding of Social Sharing of

Information. It is clear that ICTs have an impact on almost everybody that has access

to them and that the internet has changed society and how we live. Learning of ways

and websites associated with Social Sharing of Information was necessary to

understand how people contribute content to these websites as well as what type of

content and how often. The Interview was very interesting as it allowed a 1-on-1

discussion with a user of ICTs which gave us an insight into their involvement and

activity with Social Sharing of Information. It allowed us to gather an individual’s

personal view on the internet and ICTs which will probably vary from person-to-

person. It is obvious that people are becoming more active on the internet where they

cannot just gather information but also publish information. This gives individuals

broader access to knowledge which can then be transferred into a number of

opportunities.

Overall social sharing of information online is a new way of meeting new people. It’s

a new method of bringing people from different parts of the world together. Websites

like YouTube offer the users an opportunity to share videos, share personal

information and an opportunity to meet new people online and establish a friendship.
We gained new knowledge about the sharing of personal information online. ICT’s

play an important role in the lives of many people around the world especially in the

lives of young adults and teenagers. The interviews we carried out were very

informative and it showed me that ICT’s are helpful for education as well as

socializing.
6. Appendices

Interviews - Full text

6.1 Interview 1

Tell me of your use and experience of ICTs?

I have a degree in Information technology and telecommunications from the

University of Limerick. ICT has been involved in all my working life. Recently I have

completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and ICT is becoming very prominent

in Education in Ireland today.

Have ICTs affected your life positively or negatively? Discuss.

Both. I mean it is great to be skilled in ICT, but I would be a very active person and

sometimes I feel that maybe being qualified in something that I wouldn’t be so

passionate about and that would keep me sedated a lot has stifled me a bit.

What do you understand about Social Sharing of Information?

Social Sharing of Information is a new phenomenon that has been sweeping the

internet in recent years. Websites such as Bebo, facebook and twitter allow people to

set up social profiles on the internet.

Have you ever shared or obtained Information online? Discuss. Give examples.

Yes. Well I would have a facebook account. I would often search forums for

information. And I would purchase files and books from places like amazon.com.

How would you go about sharing Information online and where? What

information would you share online?

It would depend on the type of information you wanted to share. For simple things

you could use your facebook account. Also creating a blog maybe a good idea. But if

more resources were needed maybe creating your own website and using a hosting

company may be your best option.

Do you have an account on a service such as YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Del.ici.ous

etc?

I have a Flickr account and a YouTube account.

How often do you comment on content on these (or similar) websites?

Rarely.

How much time do you spend on these (or similar) websites weekly?

A lot of time on facebook (approx 2 hours per day), rarely on the others.

How often do you contribute content to these (or similar) websites?

Rarely.

Have you ever formed a relationship (friendship etc) on these websites?

Yes I have.

Do you spend a lot of time on the internet?

Yes I would spend quite a lot of time on the internet with my job and for personal use.

During the time you spend on the internet do you visit sites such as Photobucket,

Flickr, YouTube?

Sometimes.
Do you upload and share photos on Photobucket?

No.

Do you enjoy websites such as YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket etc.?

Yes I find YouTube particular entertaining and informative at times.

Do you see any problems with social sharing of information?

Yes people can get addicted and it can become a popularity contest. This can damage

some individual psychologically at times. Also I feel people are losing a bit of how

to live by being so reliant on the internet.

6.2 Interview 2

Tell me of your use and experience of ICTs?

I use ICT's all the time throughout both my home and work life. My work pc, to my

own laptop, iPod, Mobile Phone, Xbox Live etc etc. My life is full of ICTs!

Have ICTs affected your life positively or negatively? Discuss.

I guess they have had a positive effect on my life. I look up a lot of tutorials online, I

think I've learned a lot from ICT's. They provide a quick access to knowledge and

entertainment in an otherwise mundane world.

What do you understand about Social Sharing of Information?

From my own experience it would be interaction with viewers or users by leaving

comments, interacting with uploaders, rating, subscribing to a channel. Replying to

comments on blogs and sites like Youtube. Obviously I also share information with

my friends over Facebook, and pass on interesting links when I find them.

Would you say you share much information via Facebook?

I comment on photos and videos, upload photos, comment on what my friends are

doing, update my status and arrange parties.

Have you ever shared or obtained Information online? Discuss. Give examples.

Today, I uploaded a video for a workshop in my job.

How would you go about sharing Information online and where? What

information would you share online?

If I were to share, probably I would share more photo's and videos. I'd like to use

Flickr more.

Do you have an account on a service such as YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Del.ici.ous

etc?

I have a youtube, but not on the others you mentioned.

How often do you comment on content on these (or similar) websites?

Often enough, if I see a comment that enoys or interests me. If I have a question about

a tutorial on it, or how they did something.

How much time do you spend on these (or similar) websites weekly?
I'd say three or four hours weekly. Actually, probably four or five hours, mostly on

Youtube.

How long would the average video you watch on Youtube be, would you think?

Quite short, most of the video's I watch are about 3-4 minutes long, give or take.

How often do you contribute content to these (or similar) websites?

Not often. I contribute stuff for college mostly. Once every couple of months

probably.

Have you ever formed a relationship (friendship etc) on these websites?

No. I think people who form those kinds of online relationships are a bit weird.

Do you spend a lot of time on the internet?

Yes, at least six hours, up to eleven hours a day! I'm on the net all day in work.

During the time you spend on the internet do you visit sites such as Photobucket,

Flickr, and YouTube?

Yes, Youtube definately. Flickr and Photobucket the odd time, mostly I share photo's

on Facebook.

6.3 Interview 3

Tell me of your use and experience of ICTs?

Uses laptop a lot and it helps him with his college work.

Have ICTs affected your life positively or negatively? Discuss

He answered positively as it gives him a way to communicate with his friends

“interact with my friends”.

What do you understand about Social Sharing of Information?

He uses facebook, he thinks that “it’s a method of sharing personal information with

friends”.

Have you ever shared or obtained Information online? Discuss. Give examples.

He answered yes. He’s currently working on a project and he uses email to share

information about the project and to receive information about the project from his

group mates.

How would you go about sharing Information online and where? What

information would you share online?

He shares jokes and funny pictures on sites such as facebook, bebo.

Do you have an account on a service such as Youtube, Flickr, Digg, Del.ici.ous

etc?

Yes, he does. He has a youtube account “I like youtube as it is easy to use”.

How often do you comment on content on these (or similar) websites?

He comments on the content quite frequently.

How much time do you spend on these (or similar) websites weekly?

According to him, he spends roughly about thirty six hours during a week.

How often do you contribute content to these (or similar) websites?

He contributes to the sites quite frequently.

Have you ever formed a relationship (friendship etc) on these websites?

“Yeah, I’ve made around two or three friends that I didn’t know before”.

Do you spend a lot of time on the internet?

Yes he spends a lot of time on the internet.

During the time you spend on the internet do you visit sites such as photobucket,

flickr, youtube?

He answered: “Yes, mostly sites similar to youtube”.

Do you upload and share photo's on photobucket?

He does not his reason was: “I do not believe in photobucket”.

Do you enjoy websites such as youtube, flikr, photobucket etc.?

He answered: “I enjoy sites like youtube, flikr quite a bit”.

Do you see any problems with social sharing of information?

He thinks as long as “strangers” don’t see a lot of your personal information e.g.

phone number, address etc. it’s okay.

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