Bonding, Bridging, and Linking


The image on the left features a focused light bulb on a table with a living room in the background. The image on the right depicts a bedroom with a large window.

"Creating an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone," according to an article in MIT Technology Review from 2023. It's funny to me that the AI image generator created images of a light bulb and an empty bedroom when given the prompt "How much energy is used to create this image?" One would think that a charging phone marked as 100% would have come more easily to the generative AI. This image was created because of a prompt at the end of the Copyrights Online lecture.


This week in class, we explored the concept of the public sphere. In this context, the public sphere refers to the "collective social sphere in which important conversations affecting the group freely take place." We learned about writing for the public good by utilizing "clicktivism," an online form of activism that plays a significant role in online civic engagement. Several movements were impacted by "clicktivism," the Me Too movement, and Black Lives Matter. Other forms of "clicktivism" are petitions by Change.org and fundraisers like GoFundMe.


We also learned about Social Networks and the "types of people who will thrive in the emerging environment in which networked individualism plays a strong role." These types of people include those with larger and more diverse networks, as well as those who can function effectively in various and complex contexts. Those who have high levels of trust are more likely to have high levels of trust, as trust and reciprocity are key factors in social networks. Reciprocity is also a factor in Social Capital.

Social Capital employs two different types of reciprocity, quid pro quo and diffuse. Quid pro quo reciprocity means that a favor is expected in return for something. Diffuse reciprocity emphasizes the importance of individuals contributing to the collective good, even if they are not compensated for their contribution.


There are three main types of Social Capital: bonding, bridging, and linking. Bonding social capital describes the strong ties between friends and family. Bridging social capital encompasses weaker and more distant ties, helping to break cliques out of isolated worldviews. Diverse networks disseminate higher-quality knowledge than insular clusters. Linking social capital involves ties between people with different circumstances.


We also learned about Rheingold's Personal Learning Networks (PLN), a network of people used to support one's ongoing learning and development. Rheingold has a multistep process to cultivate a PLN. Explore, search, follow, tune, feed, engage, inquire, and respond. Exploring areas of interest with an open mind in different forms of online media. Drop people you don't interact with by tuning. Share value you either created or curated to feed the PLN. Engage by interacting with the people you follow. Ask interesting questions of the people you follow and those who follow you. Contribute to diffuse reciprocity by responding to inquiries made of you. Interacting with others who share your interests and cultivating those relationships is key in maintaining a healthy PLN.


Works cited:

Rheingold, H. (2012). Net smart. MIT Press, The.

Steffen, V.T. (2025, July 19). Digital Rhetoric [Lecture]. Canvas@odu.edu

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