Theoretical Concepts Evidence Taxonomy
Generated: October 23, 2025 at 04:55 AM
Theoretical Concepts Evidence Taxonomy
Created: 2025-01-04 Purpose: Evidence mapping for Chapter 1, Section 1.3 “Theoretical Framework: Understanding Vernacular Infrastructure” Source Data: Section 1.3 Evidence Validation Report + Full Text Extraction
Overview
This taxonomy organizes evidence by theoretical framework to support Chapter 1, Section 1.3. All evidence IDs have been validated against actual database content with full text extraction.
Critical Correction Required: The “won’t be able to” linguistic marker is 1.60x more frequent at CUNY vs Columbia (NOT 13.63x as currently claimed in line 263).
FRAMEWORK 1: Digital Ethnography (Section 1.3.1)
1A. Polymedia - Multi-Platform Navigation
Theoretical Grounding: Barendregt (2021) - users navigate between platforms
Evidence:
comment_i2cshfi (Baruch, Score: 60, 2022-03-27)
- Full text: “Something that really grinds my gears are group projects. I just hate it when members do not communicate at all during these group projects. No one’s life is so busy that they can’t respond to any inquiry for it. Everyone’s constantly on their phones but yet they can’t respond to a message for the group project which is an important aspect of their grade. These type of people know who they are and they really need to reevaluate themselves.”
- Framework: Polymedia tension - constant connectivity vs selective engagement
comment_hl9l8la (Baruch, Score: 34, 2021-09-18)
- Full text: “The problem with WhatsApp groups and college groups is that someone will respond to the stupid question enabling them. Then the person will never stop asking stupid questions all the time. Best to create a google chat or something and leave them on read.”
- Framework: Platform-specific behavior norms and moderation tactics
comment_itwfhhb (Baruch, Score: 43, 2022-10-26) - 3,756 characters
- Excerpt: “Most of these solutions offered here will not prevent you from losing your apartment or home…Step 1: Go to HRA and apply for the full range of benifits. https://a069-access.nyc.gov/accesshra/”
- Framework: Cross-platform resource navigation - Reddit → NYC.gov → HRA systems
- Significance: Multi-layered institutional navigation requiring platform fluency
1B. E3 Internet (Embedded, Embodied, Everyday)
Theoretical Grounding: Hine (2015) - internet interwoven with daily life
Evidence Gap: Need examples of “students checking r/Baruch while waiting in financial aid lines” (line 212) Recommendation: Query for posts timestamped during business hours mentioning physical campus locations
FRAMEWORK 2: Ethnomethodology (Section 1.3.2)
2A. Indexicality - Context-Dependent Meaning
Theoretical Grounding: Garfinkel (1967) - meaning requires local knowledge
comment_ewlyuik (Baruch, Score: 11, 2019-08-11) - 929 characters ✅
- Full text: “Hey man here’s the strategy I used to get into the one section of MKT 3605 with the easiest professor (Marketing majors know which one I’m referring to…)
- Take the closed class and put it in your shopping cart on CUNYfirst.
- Download coursicle
- Using coursicle, set a tracker for your desired closed class. It will notify you when the status of the class changes (closed, waitlisted, or open)
- Wait for waitlists to be dropped usually happens 2-4 days before semester begins (Now if someone drops the class it automatically go from closed to open rather than closed to waitlist)
- Have your phone on you at all times so if you do get the notification from coursicle about the status change from closed to open, you can quickly swap sections on CUNYfirst by having the class you currently have and the one you want cause it will be in your shopping cart (can be done on mobile, but it is easier to navigate on desktop)”
- Framework: “Shopping cart trick” only comprehensible within CUNY registration culture
- Indexical terms: “shopping cart,” “coursicle,” “swap sections,” “waitlists to be dropped”
- Status: GOLD STANDARD example for replicable tactics
2B. Upvoting as Community Coherence
Theoretical Grounding: Garfinkel’s “accountability” - upvoting creates social order
comment_m2993e6 (CUNY, Score: 224, 2024-12-11)
- Full text: “Anyone in NYC who looks down on CUNY should go fuck themselves, unless you got a full ride to some place else. Idk why city kids act this way, where does the insecurity stem from? I tell everyone I go to Hunter proudly because Hunter facilitates an environment of hardwork and studiousness and it is not a silver spoon institution for the rich. Have some respect in yourself despite what anyone says about your college. Hunter and CUNY schools literally is the epitome of all hardwork getting you thru college.”
- Framework: Highest-scored comment validates community identity and pride
- Significance: 224 upvotes = collective validation of institutional defense
comment_m3vaq7w (CUNY, Score: 127, 2024-12-19)
- Full text: “I’m a professor. It takes me about one hour to grade 7 exams. Usually 20-30 minutes for a multiple choice test with some short answer questions. It really depends on the type of exam.”
- Framework: Insider perspective validated through upvotes
- Significance: Karma validates expertise from position of authority
comment_lse3izf (CUNY, Score: 76, 2024-09-18)
- Full text: “please be careful sharing your information with random people on the internet, especially when it comes to selling/buying something. make sure to look at their accounts and make sure they’re active and have previous posts (someone messaged me on Reddit and they had 15 posts and 0 karma).”
- Framework: Meta-discussion using karma as trust signal
- Significance: Community explicitly using upvote system for credibility assessment
2C. Iterative Problem-Solving
Theoretical Grounding: Garfinkel’s practical reasoning - collective knowledge construction
Thread t3_1eaougu (CUNY, 68 comments, 2025-01-08)
- Title: “Freshman schedule input pls”
- Original Post: Student posts schedule for feedback
- Iteration 1 (comment by HoneyComprehensive10): “your schedule is like hell on earth. how tf u start your day at 8:30 and end at 7:45. girl there’s no way you’re locked in a building studying or in class constantly for 11 hours and 15 minutes.”
- Iteration 2 (comment by OutsideWishbone7770): “what is going on here”
- Collective Pattern Recognition: Multiple commenters identify unsustainable scheduling
- Framework: Community collectively educates freshman through iterative critique
- Character: 68 comments showing distributed expertise
Thread t3_1m2blqw (Baruch, 30 comments, 2024-03-23)
- Title: “Should I ask to be moved up a class?”
- Problem: Student placed in Math 1030 despite AP Calculus score
- Iteration 1: Generic advice about freshman schedules
- Iteration 2: Recognition of specific prerequisite issue
- Solution (comment by EnvironmentalLemon34): “Contact Professor Evan Fink asap. He is the head of the Math Department”
- Framework: Knowledge refinement through exchange - abstract → specific → actionable
- Character: 30 comments showing systematic constraint education
FRAMEWORK 3: Critical Infrastructure Theory (Section 1.3.3)
3A. Organized Abandonment
Theoretical Grounding: Gilmore (2007) - institutions maintain facades while withdrawing
comment_fhdvsyc (QueensCollege, Score: 21, 2020-02-12) - 7,649 characters ✅
- Author: RepresentativeField6
- Date: February 2020 (pre-pandemic warning)
- Key Excerpts:
- “First of all the CS program at QC is over maximum capacity at this point. It’s doubled it’s enrollment from just a few years ago…the department does not have enough staff to facilitate all the students.”
- “Adjuncts make $20k~25k at QC (St. Johns pays double), this is the union rate…the adjunct teaching your 300 level class and the one teaching CS12 are making the same amount.”
- “Cheating is rampant, some if it is justified in that the professor is undecipherable, other times it’s because teachers don’t have the resources to track cheaters (reassigns same assignment from prev. semester in class sizes of 200+ students)”
- “My resume has gone straight to the trash as soon as they see Bachelors from QC, cause the other QC grad bombed the interview so bad”
- Framework: Comprehensive documentation of institutional abandonment before crisis made it visible
- Status: This is the February 2020 warning referenced in line 234
3B. Repair as Innovation
Theoretical Grounding: Jackson (2014) - students build systems from institutional ruins
comment_lefsdw7 (CUNY, Score: 6, 2024-08-07) - 3,153 characters
- Full text: Extensive waitlist navigation guide including email template: “Here is an email i sent to my prof that got me into a class that was completely locked that I was desperately trying to get in to…[template follows]…keep in mind the best time to spam emails like this is A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE START OF A SEMESTER. I always start 3-5 days before & check regularly. no one behind you on the wait list will have access ahead of you unless you stop checking.”
- Framework: Repair work - building functional enrollment system through persistent navigation
- Significance: Students maintaining infrastructure through continuous monitoring
comment_fhdvsyc - ePermit as “secret weapon”
- Quote: “The ultimate secret weapon to why CUNY is a great school is the ePermit. 99% of students don’t utilize this, but if you do you can avoid shitty professors and instead take some of the best professor’s CUNY has to offer.”
- Framework: Cross-campus resource arbitrage as infrastructure repair
- Specific tactic: “323 is shit at QC and you should ePermit to Brooklyn College or CUNY graduate center”
3C. Boyd’s Networked Publics Affordances
Theoretical Grounding: boyd (2010) - platform affordances as infrastructure
PERSISTENCE - Solutions Remain Searchable
comment_m26nqzc (CUNY, Score: 66, 2024-12-10)
- Full text: “i know right it’s so heartbreaking when u see a professor put so much work into their job to help their students despite being underpaid overworked with no assurances beyond adjunct teaching and the love for their job it makes me appreciate my good professors even more”
- Framework: Recognition of long-term patterns across semesters
- Significance: Past struggles inform current support
comment_koxv1co (Baruch, Score: 51, 2024-03-09)
- Full text: “A few years ago a kid showed up to my psychology class dressed up as Spiderman and gave out candy. It was actually pretty dope.”
- Framework: Campus lore circulating years later
- Significance: Community memory preserved through platform persistence
REPLICABILITY - Tactical Knowledge Spreads
comment_ewlyuik - CANONICAL EXAMPLE (see 2A above)
- Framework: Step-by-step strategy explicitly designed for replication
- Key phrase: “Hey man here’s the strategy I used” - invitation to copy
- Significance: 5-step process enables exact reproduction
comment_lefsdw7 - Email Template
- Framework: Provides copy-paste email template for professor outreach
- Significance: Replicable communication strategy with proven success
SCALABILITY - Individual → Collective Pattern
comment_lo92u7q (CUNY, Score: 95, 2024-07-11)
- Full text: “Everyone and their mother wants to major in computer science. It’s oversaturated now.”
- Framework: Individual career choice becomes visible systemic pattern
- Significance: Platform makes collective trends observable
comment_mpjhj41 (CUNY, Score: 81, 2024-03-13)
- Full text: “covid has killed ppl’s social skills. everyone gives you a 1000 yard stare when you make eye contact w them and everyone is so quiet n awkward”
- Framework: Individual isolation experience scaled to collective social breakdown
- Significance: 81 upvotes validate shared experience
SEARCHABILITY - Finding Crisis Solutions
comment_mn6abxk (CUNY, Score: 135, 2024-03-01)
- Full text: “I met my now wife a Hunter as a commuter student in a class I was taking. She literally came up to me after class and said we should study for a midterm together. 20 years later and I still ask her why she asked me, she said ‘I saw you studying and thought you looked interesting.’”
- Framework: Searchable archive of hope - organic relationships possible
- Significance: 135 upvotes show community values this counter-narrative to isolation
FRAMEWORK 4: Educational Theory and Resistance (Section 1.3.5)
4A. De Certeau’s Tactics vs Strategies
Strategies (Institutional):
- Registration windows
- Prerequisite chains
- Financial aid deadlines
- Capacity limits
Tactics (User Workarounds):
Shopping Cart Exploits
comment_ewlyuik (Baruch) - See full text in 2A above
- Tactic: Multi-platform coordination (CUNYfirst + Coursicle)
- Timing: “2-4 days before semester begins” when waitlists drop
- Tool: Mobile + desktop navigation
ePermit Arbitrage
comment_fhdvsyc (QueensCollege) - See full text in 3A above
- Tactic: Cross-campus course selection to access better professors
- Quote: “99% of students don’t utilize this” - underground knowledge
- Specific: “ePermit to Brooklyn College or CUNY graduate center for a good algorithms class”
Midnight Registration
comment_lwoakv3 (CUNY, Score: 54, 2024-11-11)
- Full text: “My brother in christ, have you considered an ePermit? 😐”
- Framework: Sarcastic invocation of “secret weapon” tactic
- Note: Brief but high-scored - community recognizes insider knowledge
4B. Linguistic Marker: “Won’t Be Able To”
CRITICAL CORRECTION REQUIRED
Current Claim (Line 263): “13.63x more frequent at CUNY”
Actual Statistics:
- CUNY: 7.18 per 10,000 comments (160 instances / 222,852 comments)
- Columbia: 4.49 per 10,000 comments (39 instances / 86,876 comments)
- NYU: 5.66 per 10,000 comments (82 instances / 144,759 comments)
Corrected Ratios:
- CUNY vs Columbia: 1.60x (NOT 13.63x)
- CUNY vs NYU: 1.27x
Sample Uses Showing Barrier Framing:
comment_m6l0g41 (CUNY, Score: 20)
- Full text: “unless you get off the waitlist you won’t be able to take the class this semester, and since Spring classes just started, you won’t be able to do anything until Fall.”
- Framework: Enrollment barrier framing with temporal constraints
comment_loqr80z (Baruch, Score: 55)
- Full text: “He won’t be able to do much for you as you expect because he doesn’t understand himself nor what he wants in life.”
- Framework: Relationship advice acknowledging structural limitations
Interpretation: Modest increase (1.6x) suggests tactical awareness language without dramatic difference. Still supports claim but requires correction of magnitude.
4C. The Undercommons - Study Despite Institutions
Theoretical Grounding: Harney & Moten (2013) - fugitive planning space
submission_1i8gtgt (CUNY, Score: 213, 2025-01-23) ✅
- Full text: “how it feels to find your textbook pdf for free only for the professor to assign homework through Cengage”
- Framework: Collective redistribution outside market mechanisms
- Significance: 213 upvotes celebrate piracy as resistance to textbook costs
- Note: Score verified (claimed 213, actual 213)
comment_fhdvsyc - Self-Study Imperative
- Quote: “If you do get stuck with a bad professor you essentially need to self-study the course. Almost all your classes will have a free alternative on MIT edX, Coursera, or Udemy.”
- Framework: Learning happens despite/around institutions through fugitive educational networks
FRAMEWORK 5: Platform Studies (Section 1.3.4)
5A. Governance Innovation
Theoretical Grounding: Fiesler et al. (2018) - subreddit-specific norms
Evidence Gap: Need examples of moderation practices, community rules, enforcement Recommendation: Query for meta-discussions about subreddit rules, moderator actions
5B. Pseudonymity Enabling Disclosure
Theoretical Grounding: Proferes et al. (2021) - anonymity enables vulnerability
comment_itwfhhb (Baruch, Score: 43) - Homelessness prevention guide
- Framework: Detailed disclosure of housing insecurity with step-by-step HRA navigation
- Significance: 3,756 characters of vulnerable information sharing enabled by pseudonymity
- Quote: “I currently attend Baruch full time, i am 33, I pay 1850 rent and I do not work.”
comment_m2993e6 (CUNY, Score: 224) - Class defense
- Framework: Emotional institutional defense (“go fuck themselves”) possible through pseudonymity
- Significance: Highest-scored comment combines vulnerability with pride
Evidence Cross-Reference Table
| Evidence ID | Database | Score | Framework | Key Concept | Full Text Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| comment_ewlyuik ✅ | Baruch | 11 | 2A, 3C, 4A | Indexicality, Replicability, Tactics | Taxonomy 2A |
| comment_fhdvsyc ✅ | Queens | 21 | 3A, 3B, 4A, 4C | Organized Abandonment, Repair, ePermit | Taxonomy 3A |
| comment_itwfhhb | Baruch | 43 | 1A, 5B | Polymedia, Pseudonymity | Full Text Extraction |
| comment_lefsdw7 | CUNY | 6 | 3B | Repair - waitlist navigation | Taxonomy 3B |
| comment_m2993e6 | CUNY | 224 | 2B, 5B | Community coherence, Pseudonymity | Taxonomy 2B |
| submission_1i8gtgt ✅ | CUNY | 213 | 4C | Undercommons | Taxonomy 4C |
| comment_i2cshfi | Baruch | 60 | 1A | Polymedia tension | Taxonomy 1A |
| comment_lwoakv3 ✅ | CUNY | 54 | 4A | ePermit tactic | Taxonomy 4A |
| comment_lo92u7q | CUNY | 95 | 3C | Scalability | Taxonomy 3C |
| comment_mpjhj41 | CUNY | 81 | 3C | Scalability | Taxonomy 3C |
| comment_mn6abxk | CUNY | 135 | 3C | Searchability | Taxonomy 3C |
| Thread t3_1eaougu | CUNY | 68 comments | 2C | Iterative problem-solving | Taxonomy 2C |
Evidence Gaps & Recommendations
High Priority Gaps:
- Platform Governance (Section 1.3.4): Need moderation examples, subreddit rules meta-discussion
- Physical-Digital Integration (Section 1.3.1): Need posts from campus locations during business hours
- Indigenous Data Principles (Section 1.3.6): Application examples needed
Query Recommendations:
- Search for: “mod”, “moderator”, “rule”, “removed”, “locked thread”
- Search for posts timestamped 9am-5pm mentioning: library, building names, offices
- Review methodology section for CARE principles application
Critical Corrections for Chapter 1 Outline
Line 263 - IMMEDIATE CORRECTION REQUIRED:
Current: “The linguistic marker ‘won’t be able to’ (13.63x more frequent at CUNY)” Corrected: “The linguistic marker ‘won’t be able to’ (1.60x more frequent at CUNY vs Columbia, 1.27x vs NYU)”
Line 234 - Feature More Prominently:
comment_fhdvsyc is 7,649 characters of systemic analysis from February 2020. This should be quoted extensively, not just referenced.
Line 266 - Minor Correction:
Current: “submission_1i8gtgt with 213 upvotes” Status: ✅ Verified correct
New Evidence to Add:
- comment_ewlyuik: The canonical shopping cart trick (line 262 context)
- comment_itwfhhb: Multi-platform benefits navigation (line 215 polymedia)
- Thread t3_1eaougu: Iterative problem-solving example (line 223)
Usage Guidelines for Chapter Writing
- For Theoretical Concepts: Each framework section should cite 2-3 evidence IDs minimum
- For Indexicality Examples: Use comment_ewlyuik as primary; “shopping cart,” “coursicle,” “swap”
- For Organized Abandonment: Quote extensively from comment_fhdvsyc (7,649 chars available)
- For Boyd’s Affordances: Use 4 distinct examples (persistence, replicability, scalability, searchability)
- For Tactics: comment_ewlyuik (shopping cart) + comment_fhdvsyc (ePermit) = multi-level tactical repertoire
Document Maintained By: Evidence validation workflow Last Updated: 2025-01-04 Related Files: