Incorporating scholarship about social media into GLA and vice-versa

[david.c.benson]

I am an LDS scholar whose research focuses on the internet, especially transnational internet and information flow, and I was just introduced to the Gospel Living app. To my mind, the GLA is a profound innovation, that heralds a transformation in how the internet operates--especially what people refer to as "Internet 2.0". Beyond the importance of GLA to the internet, I believe there are a number of insights from scholarship that can help inform development of the app. Being a controlled environment there are a number of questions that information from the app can help answer, that would be of interest.

I would like to offer my services to the extent they can be helpful. I am a member in good standing, as the local leadership can attest. My Bishop also happens to be a colleague at the University, but Sven Wilson at the BYU Political Science Dept. knows me, and Scott Cooper and I have known each other for quite some time. I can provide other scholarly bona fides as required.

An example of how scholarship can inform an app's development: Twitter's trend is an important mechanism for helping tweets cross cliques, and part of the reason Google failed was it's circles was too restrictive for people who were trying to use the medium as a mass medium. However, the importance of the "trend" has recently be strategically manipulated by malign actors to disseminate information that would otherwise contained within a single clique. Rules in fora can therefore greatly affect an apps uses and usefulness.

An example of how the GLA could inform the wider world: What is the importance and role of language in online information movement? Language, culture and interests walk hand in hand. People who speak the same language eat similar foods, watch similar entertainment and usually live near one another There are groups which cross language boundaries, and in the sociological literature, the Church is almost invariably a named example. Language is important, but how quickly does information diffuse across language boundaries when the set of people who share the information have a shared interest and set of value? The question of language is especially important and salient in areas where there are numerous members of the church who speak a minority language (e.g. Spanish speakers in Chicago).

I'm happy to muse here, if that is helpful, but I think the best course of action is to have specific questions that need answering. If possible, I would love to work with the people on the project to figure out what information would help them succeed at creating a service that will be more helpful, useful, and secure.

[sbradshaw]

This is mainly a user-to-user forum. You may be able to get in contact with someone who oversees the Gospel Living app by sending in-app feedback from Gospel Living. Good luck!

[david.c.benson]

Thanks!