Barry Wellman
Encyclopedia
Barry Wellman, FRSC (born 1942) directs NetLab as the S.D. Clark
Professor of Sociology
at the University of Toronto
. His areas of research are community
sociology
, the Internet
, human-computer interaction and social structure
, as manifested in social networks in communities and organizations. His overarching interest is in the paradigm shift from group-centered relations to networked individualism. He has written or co-authored more than 300 articles, chapters, reports and books.
Among the concepts Wellman has published are: "the network city" (with Paul Craven), "the community question", "computer networks as social networks", "connected lives" and the "immanent Internet" (both with Bernie Hogan), "media-multiplexity" (with Caroline Haythornthwaite), "networked individualism" and "networked society", "personal community" and "personal network" and three with Anabel Quan-Haase: "hyperconnectivity", "local virtuality" and "virtual locality".
Wellman has received career achievement awards from the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association, the International Network for Social Network Analysis
, the International Communication Association
, and two sections of the American Sociological Association
: Community and Urban Sociology; Communication and Information Technologies. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
in 2007.
and Fordham Road
area of the Bronx, New York City
. He attended P.S. 33 and Creston J.H.S. 79, and was a teenage member of the Fordham Flames
. He gained his high school degree from the Bronx High School of Science
in 1959. He received his A.B. (Bachelor's) degree magna cum laude from Lafayette College
in 1963, majoring in social history and winning prizes in both history and religious studies. At Lafayette, he was a member of the McKelvy Honors House and captained the undefeated 1962 College Bowl
team, whose final victory was over Berkeley.
His graduate work was at Harvard University
, where he trained with Chad Gordon, Charles Tilly
and Harrison White, and also studied with Roger Brown
, George Homans, Alex Inkeles, Florence Kluckhohn, Talcott Parsons
and Phillip J. Stone. He received a M.A. in Social Relations
in 1965 and a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1969. His focus was on community, computer applications, social network
s and self-concept
ion, and his dissertation showed that the social identities
of African-American and White American
Pittsburgh junior high school students were related to the extent of segregation
of their schools.
He has been married since 1965 to Beverly Wellman, a researcher in complementary and alternative medicine.
at the University of Toronto
since 1967. Until 1990, he focused on community
sociology and social network
analysis. During his first three years in Toronto
, he also held a joint appointment with the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry
where he working with D.B. Coates, M.D., co-directing the "Yorklea Study" in the Toronto borough of East York. This first East York study, with data collected in 1968, attempted to do a field study of a large population, linking interpersonal relations with psychiatric symptoms. This early study of "social support
" documented the prevalence of non-local friendship
and kinship
ties, demonstrating that community is no longer confined to neighborhood and studying non-local communities as social network
s. Wellman's "The Community Question" paper, reporting on this study, has been selected as one of the seven most important articles in English-Canadian sociology.
A second East York
study, conducted in 1978-1979 at the University of Toronto
's Centre for Urban and Community Studies, used in-depth interviews with 33 East Yorkers (originally surveyed in the first study) to learn more information about their social networks. It provided evidence about which kinds of ties and networks supply which types of social support
. It showed, for example, that sisters provide siblings with much emotional support, while parents provide financial aid. The support comes more from the characteristics of the ties than from the networks in which they are embedded. This research also demonstrated that wives maintain social networks for their husbands as well as for themselves.
Although Wellman's work has shifted primarily to studies of the Internet (see section below), he has continued collaborative analyses of the first and second East York studies, showing that reciprocity (like social support) is much more of a tie phenomenon than a social network phenomenon and that the frequency and supportiveness of interpersonal contact before the Internet was non-linearly associated with residential (and workplace) distance
.
Wellman has edited Networks in the Global Village (1999), a book of original articles about personal networks around the world. In 2007, he edited a special issue, "The Network is Personal" of the journal, Social Networks (vol. 29, no. 3, July), containing analyses from Canada
, France
, Germany
and Iran
.
More recent and more focused theoretical work has discussed the "glocalization" of contemporary communities (simultaneously "global" and "local") and the rise of "networked individualism" – the transformation from group-based networks to individualized networks. American Sociological Association
career achievement award winner Harrison White
notes: "Barry Wellman stands out as having devoted an entire career to exploring and documenting natural social worlds in network terms."
practice of analyzing a single large network.
A 2007 paper, co-authored by Wellman (with Bernie Hogan and Juan-Antonio Carrasco), has discussed alternatives in gathering personal network data. A paper with Kenneth Frank showed how to tackle the problem of simultaneously analyzing personal network data on the two distinct levels of ties and networks. "Neighboring in Netville" has been cited as the only published study of personal networks from a known roster of potential network members. The most widely cited papers are the simplest: co-authored guides to analyzing personal network data while using the statistical software packages SAS
and SPSS
.
Other work by Wellman with Howard D. White
and associates has examined how to link social network analysis with the scientometric
study of citation networks. This research has shown that scholarly friends do not necessarily cite each other, but that scholars cited in the same article are apt to seek each other out and become friends.
In 1990, he became involved in studying how ordinary people use the Internet and other communication technologies to communicate and exchange information at work, at home and in the community. Thus his work has expanded his interest in non-local communities and social networks to encompass the Internet, mobile phones and other information and communication technologies.
") was in collaboration with Ronald Baecker, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Marilyn Mantei, Gale Moore, and Janet Salaff. This effort in the early 1990s was done before the widespread popularity of the Internet, to use networked PCs for videoconferencing
and computer supported collaborative work (CSCW).
Caroline Haythornthwaite (for her dissertation and other works) and Wellman analyzed why computer scientists connect with each other – online and offline. They discovered that friendships as well as collaborative work were prime movers of connectivity at work.
Wellman and Anabel Quan-Haase also studied whether such computer-supported work teams were supporting networked organizations, in which bureaucratic structure and physical proximity did not matter. Their research in one high-tech American organization – heavily dependent on instant messaging
and e-mail
– showed that the supposed ICT-driven transformation of work to networked organizations
was only partially fulfilled in practice. The organizational constraints of departmental organization (including power) and physical proximity continued to play important roles. There were strong norms in the organization for when different communication media were used, with face-to-face contact intertwined with online contact.
Wellman did empirical work in this area: he was part of a team (led by James Witte) that surveyed visitors to the National Geographic Society
's website in 1998 and used these data to counter the dystopia
n argument that Internet involvement was associated with social isolation
.
The large U.S. national random-sample survey analyzed in the Pew Internet report, "The Strength of Internet Ties" (with Jeffrey Boase, John B. Horrigan and Lee Rainie) also showed a positive association between communication online and communication by telephone and face-to-face. The study showed that email is well-suited for maintaining regular contact with large networks, and especially with relationships that are only somewhat strong. The study also found that Internet users get more help than non-users from friends and relatives.
Research into the "glocalization" concept also fed into this intellectual stream. Keith Hampton
and Wellman studied the Toronto
suburb of "Netville", a pseudonym. It showed the interplay between online and offline activity, and how the Internet – aided by a list-serve – is not just a means of long-distance communication but enhances neighboring and civic involvement.
Wellman's current work continues to focus on the interplay between information and communication technologies, especially the Internet
, social relations and social structure
. He is collaborating with Helen Hua Wang and Jeffrey Cole of the World Internet Project
's Center for the Digital Future to investigate the first national U.S. survey of social relationships and Internet use. Their work shows that the number of friends are growing, and that heavy Internet users have more friends than others. Wellman also collaborated with Ben Veenhof (Statistics Canada
), Carsten Quell (Department of Canadian Heritage
) and Bernie Hogan to relate time spent at home on the Internet to social relations and civic involvement. A different focus is his collaboration on Wenhong Chen's study of transnational immigrant entrepreneurs who link China
and North America.
Wellman's major current focus is as the head of the Connected Lives project studying the interplay between communication, community and domestic relationships in Toronto and in Chapleau
in rural northern Ontario. Early findings of the interplay between online and offline life are summarized in "Connected Lives: The Project". More focused research (with Jennifer Kayahara) has shown how the onetime two-step flow of communication
has become more recursively multi-step as the result of the Internet's facilitation of information seeking and communication. Recent research (with Tracy Kennedy) has argued that many households, like communities, have changed from local groups to become spatially-dispersed networks connected by frequent ICT and mobile phone communication. Other NetLab researchers, besides those noted in the text and the notes, include Julie Amoroso, Dean Behrens, Vincent Chua, Jessica Collins, Dimitrina Dimitrova, Zack Hayat, Julia Madej, Maria Majerski, Mo Guang Ying, Diana Mok and Bárbara Barbosa Neves.
is 3.
Select Publications:
Samuel Delbert Clark
Samuel Delbert "Del" Clark, was a Canadian sociologist. He was married to Rosemary Landry Clark for 63 years . His living children are Samuel Clark and W...
Professor of Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. His areas of research are community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, human-computer interaction and social structure
Social structure
Social structure is a term used in the social sciences to refer to patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of the individuals. The usage of the term "social structure" has changed over time and may reflect the various levels of analysis...
, as manifested in social networks in communities and organizations. His overarching interest is in the paradigm shift from group-centered relations to networked individualism. He has written or co-authored more than 300 articles, chapters, reports and books.
Among the concepts Wellman has published are: "the network city" (with Paul Craven), "the community question", "computer networks as social networks", "connected lives" and the "immanent Internet" (both with Bernie Hogan), "media-multiplexity" (with Caroline Haythornthwaite), "networked individualism" and "networked society", "personal community" and "personal network" and three with Anabel Quan-Haase: "hyperconnectivity", "local virtuality" and "virtual locality".
Wellman has received career achievement awards from the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association, the International Network for Social Network Analysis
International Network for Social Network Analysis
The International Network for Social Network Analysis is the professional association of social network analysis. The rapid increase in awareness of social networks, social network software, and social networking has led to lively discussions and influence beyond sheer numbers.-Membership, history...
, the International Communication Association
International Communication Association
The International Communication Association is a non-profit academic association founded in 1950 as the National Society for the Study of Communication , whose members are interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human communication." The Association maintains an...
, and two sections of the American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
: Community and Urban Sociology; Communication and Information Technologies. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
in 2007.
Early life
Barry Wellman was born and raised in the Grand ConcourseGrand Concourse (Bronx)
The Grand Concourse is a major thoroughfare in the borough of the Bronx in New York City...
and Fordham Road
Fordham Road
Fordham Road is a major street in The Bronx borough of New York City. It runs east-west from the Harlem River to Bronx Park.This street runs through the neighborhood of University Heights, divides Fordham from Fordham-Bedford and finally runs along the northern border of Belmont...
area of the Bronx, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He attended P.S. 33 and Creston J.H.S. 79, and was a teenage member of the Fordham Flames
Bronx gangs (1950s-1960s)
In the 1950s and 60s the youth gangs in the Bronx, New York, emerged with a particular notoriety.-History:Gangs of the Bronx included*the Fordham Baldies*the Ducky Boys Gang aka the Ducky Gang*the Fordham Flames...
. He gained his high school degree from the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
in 1959. He received his A.B. (Bachelor's) degree magna cum laude from Lafayette College
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...
in 1963, majoring in social history and winning prizes in both history and religious studies. At Lafayette, he was a member of the McKelvy Honors House and captained the undefeated 1962 College Bowl
College Bowl
College Bowl was a format of college-level quizbowl run and operated by College Bowl Company, Incorporated. It had a format similar to the current NAQT format. College Bowl first aired on US radio stations in 1953, and aired on US television from 1959 to 1970...
team, whose final victory was over Berkeley.
His graduate work was at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he trained with Chad Gordon, Charles Tilly
Charles Tilly
Charles Tilly was an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian who wrote on the relationship between politics and society. He was the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University....
and Harrison White, and also studied with Roger Brown
Roger Brown (psychologist)
Roger William Brown , an American social psychologist, was born in Detroit.-Early Life and Education:...
, George Homans, Alex Inkeles, Florence Kluckhohn, Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973....
and Phillip J. Stone. He received a M.A. in Social Relations
Harvard Department of Social Relations
The Department of Social Relations for Interdisciplinary Social Science Studies, more commonly known as the "Department of Social Relations" was an interdisciplinary collaboration among three of the social science departments at Harvard University beginning in 1946...
in 1965 and a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1969. His focus was on community, computer applications, social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
s and self-concept
Self-concept
Self-concept is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics , gender roles and sexuality, racial identity, and many others. Each of these characteristics is a research domain Self-concept (also...
ion, and his dissertation showed that the social identities
Social identity
A social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. As originally formulated by Henri Tajfel and John Turner in the 1970s and 80s, social identity theory introduced the concept of a social identity as a way in which to...
of African-American and White American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
Pittsburgh junior high school students were related to the extent of segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
of their schools.
He has been married since 1965 to Beverly Wellman, a researcher in complementary and alternative medicine.
Community sociology
Wellman has been a faculty member of the Department of SociologySociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
since 1967. Until 1990, he focused on community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
sociology and social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
analysis. During his first three years in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, he also held a joint appointment with the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is a psychiatric hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Much of their work focuses on forensic psychology, sex addiction, drug addiction, and research designed to shape public policy....
where he working with D.B. Coates, M.D., co-directing the "Yorklea Study" in the Toronto borough of East York. This first East York study, with data collected in 1968, attempted to do a field study of a large population, linking interpersonal relations with psychiatric symptoms. This early study of "social support
Social support
Social support can be defined and measured in many ways. It can loosely be defined as feeling that one is cared for by and has assistance available from other people and that one is part of a supportive social network...
" documented the prevalence of non-local friendship
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
and kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
ties, demonstrating that community is no longer confined to neighborhood and studying non-local communities as social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
s. Wellman's "The Community Question" paper, reporting on this study, has been selected as one of the seven most important articles in English-Canadian sociology.
A second East York
East York
East York can refer to:*East York, Pennsylvania, United States*East York, Ontario, Canada...
study, conducted in 1978-1979 at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
's Centre for Urban and Community Studies, used in-depth interviews with 33 East Yorkers (originally surveyed in the first study) to learn more information about their social networks. It provided evidence about which kinds of ties and networks supply which types of social support
Social support
Social support can be defined and measured in many ways. It can loosely be defined as feeling that one is cared for by and has assistance available from other people and that one is part of a supportive social network...
. It showed, for example, that sisters provide siblings with much emotional support, while parents provide financial aid. The support comes more from the characteristics of the ties than from the networks in which they are embedded. This research also demonstrated that wives maintain social networks for their husbands as well as for themselves.
Although Wellman's work has shifted primarily to studies of the Internet (see section below), he has continued collaborative analyses of the first and second East York studies, showing that reciprocity (like social support) is much more of a tie phenomenon than a social network phenomenon and that the frequency and supportiveness of interpersonal contact before the Internet was non-linearly associated with residential (and workplace) distance
Distance
Distance is a numerical description of how far apart objects are. In physics or everyday discussion, distance may refer to a physical length, or an estimation based on other criteria . In mathematics, a distance function or metric is a generalization of the concept of physical distance...
.
Wellman has edited Networks in the Global Village (1999), a book of original articles about personal networks around the world. In 2007, he edited a special issue, "The Network is Personal" of the journal, Social Networks (vol. 29, no. 3, July), containing analyses from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.
Social network theory
Concomitant with his empirical work, Wellman has contributed to the theory of social network analysis. The most comprehensive statement is in his introductory article to Social Structures, co-edited with the late S.D. Berkowitz. This work reviews the history of social network thought, and suggests a number of basic principles of social network analysis.More recent and more focused theoretical work has discussed the "glocalization" of contemporary communities (simultaneously "global" and "local") and the rise of "networked individualism" – the transformation from group-based networks to individualized networks. American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
career achievement award winner Harrison White
Harrison White
Harrison Colyar White is the emeritus Giddings Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. White is an influential scholar in the domain of social networks. He is credited with the development of a number of mathematical models of social structure including vacancy chains and blockmodels...
notes: "Barry Wellman stands out as having devoted an entire career to exploring and documenting natural social worlds in network terms."
Social network methods
Wellman's methodological contributions have been for the analysis of ego-centered or "personal" networks – defined from the standpoint of an individual (usually a person). As batches of personal networks are often studied, this calls for somewhat different techniques than the more common social networkSocial network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
practice of analyzing a single large network.
A 2007 paper, co-authored by Wellman (with Bernie Hogan and Juan-Antonio Carrasco), has discussed alternatives in gathering personal network data. A paper with Kenneth Frank showed how to tackle the problem of simultaneously analyzing personal network data on the two distinct levels of ties and networks. "Neighboring in Netville" has been cited as the only published study of personal networks from a known roster of potential network members. The most widely cited papers are the simplest: co-authored guides to analyzing personal network data while using the statistical software packages SAS
SAS System
SAS is an integrated system of software products provided by SAS Institute Inc. that enables programmers to perform:* retrieval, management, and mining* report writing and graphics* statistical analysis...
and SPSS
SPSS
SPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment , data mining , text analytics, statistical analysis, and collaboration and deployment ....
.
Other work by Wellman with Howard D. White
Howard D. White
Howard D. White is a scientist in library and information science with a focus on informetrics and scientometrics....
and associates has examined how to link social network analysis with the scientometric
Scientometrics
Scientometrics is the science of measuring and analysing science. In practice, scientometrics is often done using bibliometrics which is a measurement of the impact of publications. Modern scientometrics is mostly based on the work of Derek J. de Solla Price and Eugene Garfield...
study of citation networks. This research has shown that scholarly friends do not necessarily cite each other, but that scholars cited in the same article are apt to seek each other out and become friends.
Internet, technology and society
Wellman has often worked in collaboration with computer scientists, communication scientists and information scientists.In 1990, he became involved in studying how ordinary people use the Internet and other communication technologies to communicate and exchange information at work, at home and in the community. Thus his work has expanded his interest in non-local communities and social networks to encompass the Internet, mobile phones and other information and communication technologies.
Work networks and ICTs
Wellman's initial project ("Cavecat" which morphed into "TelepresenceTelepresence
Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location....
") was in collaboration with Ronald Baecker, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Marilyn Mantei, Gale Moore, and Janet Salaff. This effort in the early 1990s was done before the widespread popularity of the Internet, to use networked PCs for videoconferencing
Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
and computer supported collaborative work (CSCW).
Caroline Haythornthwaite (for her dissertation and other works) and Wellman analyzed why computer scientists connect with each other – online and offline. They discovered that friendships as well as collaborative work were prime movers of connectivity at work.
Wellman and Anabel Quan-Haase also studied whether such computer-supported work teams were supporting networked organizations, in which bureaucratic structure and physical proximity did not matter. Their research in one high-tech American organization – heavily dependent on instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
and e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
– showed that the supposed ICT-driven transformation of work to networked organizations
Network-centric organization
A network-centric organization is a network governance pattern emerging in many progressive 21st century enterprises. This implies new ways of working, with consequences for the enterprise’s infrastructure, processes, people and culture.- Overview :...
was only partially fulfilled in practice. The organizational constraints of departmental organization (including power) and physical proximity continued to play important roles. There were strong norms in the organization for when different communication media were used, with face-to-face contact intertwined with online contact.
Community networks and ICTs
As a community sociologist, Wellman began arguing that too much analysis of life online was happening in isolation from other aspects of everyday life. He published several papers (alone and with associates) arguing the need to contextualize Internet research, and proposing that online relations – like off-line – would be best studied as ramified social networks rather than as bounded groups. This argument culminated in a 2002 book, The Internet in Everyday Life (co-edited with Caroline Haythornthwaite), providing exemplification from studies in a number of social milieus.Wellman did empirical work in this area: he was part of a team (led by James Witte) that surveyed visitors to the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
's website in 1998 and used these data to counter the dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n argument that Internet involvement was associated with social isolation
Social isolation
Social isolation refers to a lack of contact with society for members of social species. There may be many causes and individuals in numerous generally social species are isolated at times, it need not be a pathological condition. In human society, in those cases where it is viewed as a pathology,...
.
The large U.S. national random-sample survey analyzed in the Pew Internet report, "The Strength of Internet Ties" (with Jeffrey Boase, John B. Horrigan and Lee Rainie) also showed a positive association between communication online and communication by telephone and face-to-face. The study showed that email is well-suited for maintaining regular contact with large networks, and especially with relationships that are only somewhat strong. The study also found that Internet users get more help than non-users from friends and relatives.
Research into the "glocalization" concept also fed into this intellectual stream. Keith Hampton
Keith Hampton
Keith HamptonKeith N. Hampton is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania...
and Wellman studied the Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
suburb of "Netville", a pseudonym. It showed the interplay between online and offline activity, and how the Internet – aided by a list-serve – is not just a means of long-distance communication but enhances neighboring and civic involvement.
Wellman's current work continues to focus on the interplay between information and communication technologies, especially the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, social relations and social structure
Social structure
Social structure is a term used in the social sciences to refer to patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of the individuals. The usage of the term "social structure" has changed over time and may reflect the various levels of analysis...
. He is collaborating with Helen Hua Wang and Jeffrey Cole of the World Internet Project
World Internet Project
The World Internet Project is a collaborative intellectual endeavor among a number of academic institutions. It originated at the UCLA Center for Communication Policy and was founded with the NTU School of Communication Studies in Singapore and the Osservatorio Internet Italia at Bocconi...
's Center for the Digital Future to investigate the first national U.S. survey of social relationships and Internet use. Their work shows that the number of friends are growing, and that heavy Internet users have more friends than others. Wellman also collaborated with Ben Veenhof (Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
), Carsten Quell (Department of Canadian Heritage
Department of Canadian Heritage
The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage |department]] of the Government of Canada with responsibility for policies and programs regarding the arts, culture, media, communications networks, official languages , status of women, sports , and multiculturalism...
) and Bernie Hogan to relate time spent at home on the Internet to social relations and civic involvement. A different focus is his collaboration on Wenhong Chen's study of transnational immigrant entrepreneurs who link China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and North America.
Wellman's major current focus is as the head of the Connected Lives project studying the interplay between communication, community and domestic relationships in Toronto and in Chapleau
Chapleau, Ontario
Chapleau is a township in Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada. It is home to one of the world's largest wildlife preserves. Chapleau has a population of 2,354 according to the Canada 2006 Census....
in rural northern Ontario. Early findings of the interplay between online and offline life are summarized in "Connected Lives: The Project". More focused research (with Jennifer Kayahara) has shown how the onetime two-step flow of communication
Two-step flow of communication
- Basic Overview :Also known as the Multistep Flow Model is a theory based on a 1940's study on social influence that states that media effects are indirectly established through the personal influence of opinion leaders...
has become more recursively multi-step as the result of the Internet's facilitation of information seeking and communication. Recent research (with Tracy Kennedy) has argued that many households, like communities, have changed from local groups to become spatially-dispersed networks connected by frequent ICT and mobile phone communication. Other NetLab researchers, besides those noted in the text and the notes, include Julie Amoroso, Dean Behrens, Vincent Chua, Jessica Collins, Dimitrina Dimitrova, Zack Hayat, Julia Madej, Maria Majerski, Mo Guang Ying, Diana Mok and Bárbara Barbosa Neves.
Teaching and mentoring
Wellman mentors graduate and undergraduate students in courses about community, social network analysis, and technology and society. He has co-authored with 51 students, including five undergraduates and one high school student. In 1998, he received the annual "Mentoring Award" from the International Network for Personal Relationships.Offices
- Founded the International Network for Social Network AnalysisInternational Network for Social Network AnalysisThe International Network for Social Network Analysis is the professional association of social network analysis. The rapid increase in awareness of social networks, social network software, and social networking has led to lively discussions and influence beyond sheer numbers.-Membership, history...
in 1976-1977 and led it until 1988. Concomitantly, founded, edited and published INSNA's informal journal, Connections.
- Founded and led the University of TorontoUniversity of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
's "Structural Analysis Programme" in the Department of SociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, 1979–1982, which focused on studying social structureSocial structureSocial structure is a term used in the social sciences to refer to patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of the individuals. The usage of the term "social structure" has changed over time and may reflect the various levels of analysis...
and relationships from a social networkSocial networkA social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
perspective. The Department of Sociology subsequently established the "Barry Wellman Award" for excellence in undergraduate research.
- Associate Director of the Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of TorontoUniversity of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
(1980–1984), where his research was based, 1970-2007.
- Council member and then President of two sections of the American Sociological AssociationAmerican Sociological AssociationThe American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
: - Community and Urban Sociology (1998-2000): led the team that founded the journal, City and Community;
- Communications and Information Technologies (2005-2006): membership increased from 95 to 303.
- Elected to the Council (2000) and then became President of the Sociological Research AssociationSociological Research AssociationThe Sociological Research Association is an honor society of sociological scholars founded in 1936.With more than 400 members, the association's importance comes from the members being leading sociologists who use the SRA's meetings to network and exchange views on the direction of the field...
honor society (2004–2005).
- North American editor of Information, Communication and Society (2003-).
Publications
Wellman is the editor of three books, and the author of more than 200 articles. His Erdős numberErdos number
The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...
is 3.
Select Publications:
- Boase, J., Chen, W., Wellman, B., & Prijatelj, M. (2002). Is There a Place in Cyberspace: The Uses and Users of Public Internet Terminals. Toronto, Knowledge Media Design Institute.
- Garton, L. E. & Wellman, B. (1993). Social impacts of electronic mail in organizations: a review of the research literature. KMDI Historical Papers, KMDI-HP-93-13.