Jeffrey Boase holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. He spent a year at the Harvard Kennedy School on a predoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Digital Government. After completing his Ph.D., he spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Social Psychology at The University of Tokyo.
Professor Boases’s research focuses on the relationship between communication technology and personal networks. He is particularly interested in how emerging technologies such as smartphones and social media platforms may enable or hinder the transfer of information and support within personal networks. His research takes an international approach to this topic by examining and comparing personal networks and technology use in several countries, primarily Japan, the US, and Canada. In recent years he has incorporated digital trace data (so-called “Big Data”) into project designs, merging it with more traditional survey and interview data. He is currently the Associate Editor of the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, and is working on a book to be released in 2022 by Oxford University Press titled “Social Complexity and the Digital Gemeinschaft.”
Master of Information (MI)
Mediated Communication, Social Networks, Digital Trace Data, New Media and Society, Mobile Communication, Research Methods.
Jamieson, J., & Boase, J. “Listening To Social Rhythms: Exploring Interactional, Time Stamped Data Using Sonification.” In The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods, L. Sloan and A. Quan-Haase, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2016.
Boase, J., Kobayashi, T., A. Schrock, T. Suzuki, & T. Suzuki. “Reconnecting Here and There: The Reactivation of Dormant Ties in the US And Japan.” American Behavioral Scientist 59.8 (2015): 931-945.
— and Ling, R. “Measuring Mobile Phone Use: Self-Report Versus Log Data.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 18.4 (2013): 508-519.
—. “Implications Of Software-Based Mobile Media For Social Research.” Mobile Media & Communication 1.1 (2013): 57-62.
— and Ikeda, K. “Core Discussion Networks in Japan And America.” Human Communication Research 38.1 (2012): 95-119.
—. “Consequence of Rural Networks for High-Speed Internet Adoption and Email Use.” American Behavioral Scientist 53.9 (2010): 1257-1267.
— and Kobayashi, T. “Kei-Tying Teens: Using Mobile Phone Email to Bond, Bridge, and Break with Social Ties – A Study of Japanese Adolescents.” International Journal of Human – Computer Studies 66.12 (2008): 930-943.
—. “Personal Networks and The Personal Communication System: Using Multiple Communication Media to Connect With Personal Networks.” Information, Communication and Society 11.4 (2008): 490-508.
— and Wellman, B. “Personal Relationships: On and Off the Internet.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006: 709-723.
— Horrigan, J. B., Wellman, B., & Rainie, L. The Strength of Internet Ties. Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet & American Life Project, (2006): 1-52.
KMD 1002 Applications in Knowledge Media
CCT 481 Augmented Places and Social Media Spaces
CCT 490 Topics in Communication, Culture and Information Technology
CCT202 Communication Research Methods
