Keith N. Hampton is an Assistant
Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
He received his PhD and MA from the University
of Toronto in sociology, and a BA in sociology from the University of
Calgary. His research interests focus on the relationship between information
and communication technologies, social networks, and the urban environment.
Recent projects include:
Social Interaction in Public Spaces: A Longitudinal Study -
This study utilizes an archive of Super 8 time-lapse films of public spaces from New York and around the world that were made in the 1970s through
the present day by William H. Whyte and the Project for Public Spaces. The content of these tapes is being compared qualitatively to digital video
of the same and comparable public spaces captured 2007-2010. The goal is to measure change in everyday public interactions over time and as result
of mobile phones and other societal changes.
Pew Internet Personal Networks and Community Survey -
A telephone survey of 2,500 adults. This project examines the role of the Internet and cell phones in the way that people interact with members
of their core social networks. This study explores the role of new technology in social isolation, the size and diversity of core networks, participation
in neighborhoods, voluntary groups, public spaces, and the diversity of people's social networks.
The Social Life of Wireless Urban Spaces -
It is unclear if wireless Internet use in public spaces will facilitate greater engagement with co-present others, or encourage social disengagement. This study investigates how mobile
technologies, focusing on Wi-Fi use but not excluding mobile phones, video games, portable music devices, etc., impact the use of public space.
Updating William H. Whyte's classic study of The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, this project is based on observations of
nine wireless Internet enabled public parks, plazas and markets in Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto. The goal is to identify how mobile devices
augment local interactions and people's social networks more broadly.
i-Neighbors.org -
A free, public resource at www.i-neighbors.org where people can find their geographic neighborhoods online
and form corresponding digital communities. The i-Neighbors project
investigates in detail the specific contexts where Internet use affords local
interactions and facilitates community involvement. i-Neighbors supports over 8,000 neighborhoods in the US and Canada and delivers over half a million messages to neighbors each month.
e-Neighbors - Addresses concerns about the impact of Internet
and computer use on community and family life. Through an empirical analysis
of four case studies in the Boston area that were followed over three years
this research project i) examines
the relationship between Internet use and the size and composition
of people's social networks, and ii) explores the potential for new information
and communication technologies to expand social networks, social capital
and community involvement at the neighborhood level.
Netville - The Netville project is a window into the not so distant
future, providing a glimpse of how social relationships will change as
a result of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Located in suburban
Toronto the "wired suburb" of Netville was a three-year investigation
of how living in a newly developed residential community, equipped with
a series of advanced computer and communication technologies as part of
its design, affects work, community and family relations.
Please wait while my tweets load 
This is the first paper to report findings from the i-Neighbors.org project. This article argues that the literature on digital inequality — in its focus on individual characteristics, behaviors, and outcomes — has overlooked change within the context of where social and civic inequalities are reproduced. This omission is the result of a failure to explore the role of ecological context within the study of the digital divide and the role of communication within the study of collective efficacy. Social cohesion, and an expectation for informal social control at the neighborhood level, is a function of both ecological context and media context. Those embedded within settings where prior media, including the telephone and face-to-face contact, could not overcome contextual barriers to collective action, namely within areas of concentrated disadvantage; may now, as a result of local Internet use, experience reduced social and civic inequality. This article is based on the results of a 3-year naturalistic experiment that examined the use of the Internet for communication at the neighborhood level. It proposes a new measure of collective efficacy – in place of network measures or perceived cohesion – based on the direct observation of communication practices. The analysis includes a model of the ecological characteristics associated with neighborhoods that adopted the Internet as a means of local information exchange, and it provides a comparison of the content of electronic messages exchanged within areas of advantage and those of extreme poverty, unemployment, and racial segregation. Findings suggest that as much as the Internet supports social and civic engagement in areas where it is already likely to be high, it also affords engagement within contexts of extreme disadvantage.
If your library subscribes to ABS, you can download the OnlineFirst article. If not, contact me and I will be more than happy to send you the final version (or you can read an early draft online).
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