What do Facebook, women, and sustainable development have in common? The theoretical frameworks for why people create social networks are evolving as social media grow in
complexity and popularity. 3dWomen seeks to determine the mechanisms of how social networks operate across geographic and cultural scales using types and strengths of network
connections generated by a polarizing event such as global climate change. In addition, we want to see if types of network linkages and strengths are particular to women engaged in a common social action (such as sustainable development) or among women from different cultural backgrounds and across great geographic distances. Such a far reaching study can only be conducted within the context of an event that has the scope and scale to address cultural and geographic variations.
3dWomen will study three decades of women’s networks associated with the World Congress on Sustainable Development (CSD), which meets once every ten years. 3dWomen represents a unique opportunity for three dimensional research on network characteristics across time (three decades), space (global networks), and culture. This in-depth
and multidimensional research is made possible only because a women’s caucus will reconvene in 2012 with a great sense of urgency to address the global climate crisis. This will be a unique retreat in that it will bring women together who attended the CSD events in 1992, 2002 and 2012.
Grant
NSF: OCI-1240008