1. From visibility to observability: Internet and the accelerated process of self-observation in social systems Fabio GigliettoUniversity of Urbino “Carlo Bo” XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology, Gothenburg, Sweden

2. Background:Theory of Social Systems Social systems are (recursive, operationally closed, self-observing) networks of communication; Communication requires an high degree of coordination among participants (operationally closed psychic systems); Continuation of communication is therefore improbable; Language, media of dissemination and generalized symbolic media contribute to increase the probability of the continuation of this process; Semantics as the repository of themes and connection used by a social system.

3. Background:Four properties of User Generated Content persistence/searchability/scalability/ replicability/(boyd 2007)

5. previousexperiences:Workingwith online usergeneratedcontent for SociologicalResearch * Published in Giglietto, F., & Caramaschi, G. (2009). Social System Theory Between Individuals and Society. In J. M. Aguado, B. Scott, & E. Buchinger, Technology and Social Complexity. Murcia: University of Murcia Press.

6. from WOW20 to SIGSNA:Workingwith online usergeneratedcontentforSociologicalResearch Full papers from all the researchprojectspresentedhere are available on SIGSNA website: http://larica.uniurb.it/sigsna

7. The social web isnotgoingaway The web is undergoing a fundamental change This part of the presentationisbaseduponThe Real Life Social Network v2 (http://bit.ly/dgROG5) by Paul Adams

18. Debbiecommented on Brianʼs photo.

20. OFFLINE ONLINE

21. From visibility to observabilityIndividual, platformowners and social scientists Location basedSNSs Public Internet (Twitter, Facebook Pages)

22. Three levels of analysis Individual Ego centered social network; Network of conversations (social systems/systems of interactions?); Platform systemic perspective. But the web is changing… again (1/2)Challenges & opportunities for Sociological Research based on online user generated content

24. For everything else you will need to ask the permission to the author:

25. Creating ad-hoc websites to host focus groups or surveys and interviews;

26. Make use of location data.