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Personal Networks: Ties, Space, and the Internet

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining

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Synonyms

Digital media; Internet; Personal communities.

Glossary

ICT:

Information and communication technology

Definition

Personal communities refer to the ties belonging to a person (“ego”) – ties of kinship, friendship, ties with neighbors, coworkers, acquaintanceships, etc. There have been concerns that modern inventions such as the Internet and other digital media have produced a decline in the amount of offline, face-to-face interactions people have with one another. These concerns are largely unfounded however with studies corroborating the fact that online and offline relationships are seamlessly integrated with each other.

Introduction

To discuss personal networks without considering the role of the Internet and other digital media is to ignore an essential component of contemporary social structure. Some believe communication technologies have isolated individuals from personal face-to-face communication (Sigman 2009; Turkle 2011); others say they have enhanced it (Wellman 2001...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Vincent Chua

Authors
  1. Vincent Chua
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vincent Chua .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Reda Alhajj

  2. University of Calgary Computer Science, Calgary, Canada

    Jon Rokne

Section Editor information

  1. telecom-paristech, Paris, France

    Talel Abdessalem

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), Gatineau, QC, Canada

    Rokia Missaoui

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Chua, V. (2016). Personal Networks: Ties, Space, and the Internet. In: Alhajj, R., Rokne, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7163-9_84-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7163-9_84-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7163-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7163-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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