Structures and Interaction: A micro-sociological analysis of 'trolling attacks'

This project investigates the relationship between patterns of digital sociality and the micro-sociological structure of the setting of online interaction. It does so by conducting an in-depth case study of a single computer mediated communications website, focusing upon the orchestration and evaluation of campaigns of harassment, which are frequently cited as originating within this particular online setting. To investigate this phenomenon, the project will employ methods of virtual ethnography and qualitative content analysis to produce an in-depth study of the relationship between online interaction and socio-technological and micro-sociological structures. This will enable analysis of the relationship between the site's specific structure and the purpose, meaning and conduct of campaigns of online harassment, which has direct consequences for which experiences, discourses, and persons are able to exist peacefully online.