Virtual fashion : tracking and analyzing cultural dispersion on the World Wide Web
Name
47934474-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
8.86 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
dcd9848d824fada05b9bb689ed2f0192
Author(s)
Chiou, Ta-gang, 1976-
Advisor(s)
Judith S. Donath.
Alternative Title
Virtual fashion : tracking and analyzing cultural dispersion on the WWW
Cultural dispersion on the World Wide Web
Date Issued
2000
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In the real world, people clothe themselves in garments whose cut and design encodes information about their social identity. This encoding changes temporally as the design spreads throughout a population: this is the basis of "fashion." A similar sense of fashion has emerged on the World Wide Web (WWW), as people embellish their homesites with links, pictures, and other objects that exhibit similar patterns of dispersion. I have developed tools and algorithms for tracking and analyzing this "virtual fashion." The initial approach is to examine a set of selected homesites each week and track the spread of links. By developing a system for collecting and analyzing the data, this research provides both macro and micro readings of the phenomenon of virtual fashion. The system shows what is popular, ways that things are related, and what is emerging online. I also use data collected by the system to think about existing social theories of fashion and see how they may help develop models of virtual fashion. This research helps people further understand how the WWW functions as a social environment.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-85).
Subjects
Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences.
MIT Department
Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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