#7.1: A Community of People Who Walk Backwards

One community that I am involved in on campus is Campus Information and Visitor Relations (CIVR); in simpler terms, I am a Cornell tour guide. Just a few weeks ago, I was hired as a new tour guide, and I have observed many things about my work environment that have tied in with the social network analysis (SNA).

Under SNA, Haythornwaite emphasizes the importance of examining what is exchanged, communicated, and shared by individuals in a community. Members of CIVR, the actors in the network, interact with each other while working at the front desk of Day Hall and in the calling center, where we field phone calls. Tour guides discuss work issues during staff meetings in an effort to improve the CIVR program. Tour guides often use CIVR-related words such as “R-Sched” and “Colts” while talking to each other, which many members outside of the community do not understand. This common language helps foster a sense of community because it gives a sense of exclusivity. Also, tour guides often talk about things that are not work-related in order to get to know each other better and form a closer community.

Haythornwaite defines a community as having “strong bonds (ties), co-orientation to a common viewpoint and engagement in a common purpose.” The CIVR community embodies all of those features. Tour guides forge strong ties by working together regularly and socializing with each other while working. Since tour guides see each other often, they form strong friendships, and many tour guides have similar groups of friends. Tour guides also have the common ground of wanting to present Cornell in a positive manner. All tour guides try to inspire interest in the university by encouraging prospective students to appreciate Cornell’s unique aspects. This common goal fosters a sense of purpose for the CIVR community and brings its members closer together.

Reciprocity is also present in CIVR. Sometimes, a tour guide cannot show up for a shift because of an academic commitment, such as a prelim. CIVR has an online scheduling system where the tour guide can leave the shift open for someone else to take. Anybody who wants to fill in for the shift can claim it through the online system. Thus, people constantly do favors for others by taking on shifts that others cannot do. The system works very well because tour guides are usually willing to take on extra shifts for each other. The reciprocity establishes a sense of trust, a value that Haythornwaite views as important for a community.

An online/offline synergy also exists for the CIVR community. Tour guides regularly work in a FtF environment while conducting tours, helping people at the front desk, and attending staff meetings. However, tour guides also maintain communication through CMC. One CMC-based mode of communication is the scheduling program mentioned earlier. Another is the CIVR list serve. Communicating through the list serve allows people like our director to easily relay work-related information and reminders. If our director were restricted to only FtF communication, she would not be able to communicate with all of the tour guides efficiently. Indeed, Haythornwaite describes CMC communication as being “a low-level connector among community members, particularly among those who might not otherwise come in contact.” Haythornwaite also states that “online communications extend rather than replace face-to-face communications.” Instead of having CMC replace FtF communication completely, CMC has acted as a complement to FtF communication by allowing tour guides to spread messages to the whole community more easily.


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