Participation In Online Communities Research Articles

Factors Influencing Teachers’ Level of Participation in Online Communities

The use of an online learning community is one possible approach to teachers’ professional development that can enhance the opportunity for collaboration. Discussions in online learning communities not only allow community members to share resources, ideas and expertise, but also contribute to the fulfilment of teachers’ needs in terms of continuous learning and professional development. This paper reports the findings of a study that aimed to explore the factors that influence the way teachers behave in online communities. The research participants were 16 teachers from five secondary schools in Malaysia who were teaching English, science and mathematics. These teachers were involved in online learning communities via blogs in which they exchanged stories and experiences related to their teaching and learning activities. Data were generated through one-to-one interviews. Based on thematic analysis, the overall findings indicate that teachers’ levels of participation in their online learning communities were largely influenced by cultural issues. Other factors that impacted upon their engagement were time, enforcement by school administrators and their need for an online community.

Understanding lurkers in online communities: A literature review

In internet culture, lurkers are a special group of website users who regularly login to online communities but seldom post. This study aims to provide an overall understanding of lurkers by explaining the definition of lurkers, discussing the reasons for lurking and providing suggestions on de-lurking. To understand the reason for lurking, this study first explains why people participate in online communities by building an integrated model of motivational factors of online behaviors. This model classifies motivational factors into four categories: the nature of the online community, individual characteristics, the degree of commitment and quality requirement. Based on this model, four types of lurking reasons are identified: environmental influence, personal preference, individual-group relationship and security consideration. Finally, several strategies for motivating participation in online communities are provided, including external stimuli, improved user-friendliness, encouragement of participation and guidance for newcomers.

Gamification for Online Communities: A Case Study for Delivering Government Services

Gamification, the idea of inserting game dynamics into portals or social networks, has recently evolved as an approach to encourage active participation in online communities. For an online community to start and proceed on to a sustainable operation, it is important that members are encouraged to contribute positively and frequently. We decided to introduce gamification in an online community that we designed and developed with the Australian Government's Department of Human Services to support welfare recipients transitioning from one payment to another. We first defined a formal model of gamification and a gamification design process. In instantiating our model to the online community, we realised that our context applied a number of constraints on the gamification elements that could be introduced. In this paper, we outline the design and implementation of a gamification model for online communities and its instantiation into our context, with its specific requirements. While we cannot comment on the success of gamification to drive user engagement in our context (for lack of the possibility of a controlled experiment), we found our implementation of badges-based gamification a helpful way to provide a useful abstraction on the life of the community, providing feedback enabling us to monitor and analyze the community. We thus show how feedback provided by such gamification data has a potential to be useful to community providers to better understand the community needs and addressing them appropriately to maintain a level of engagement in the community.

Using narratives as tools for channeling participation in online communities

As online communities (OCs), each with unique characteristics and dynamics, proliferate on the Internet, the question of what makes some more successful than others, in terms of engagement and participation, certainly merits research attention. Scholars have argued that these communities use narratives to keep members engaged and to channel participation in their various activities, so this research aimed to evaluate if narratives play a significant role in this matter. Members of an OC were invited to participate in an online survey (n=2028) and three hypotheses about sense of community, participation in culture formation and participation in community successes were tested. Results show that narratives play a significant role in participatory behavior. Specifically, it was found that narratives play two roles: first, as an amplifier of membership and shared values in the effects each of these have in participation; and second, as a mediator between both needs fulfillment and influence and shared emotional connection, and participation.

Agent-Based Modeling to Inform Online Community Design: Impact of Topical Breadth, Message Volume, and Discussion Moderation on Member Commitment and Contribution

The design of complex social systems, such as online communities, requires the consideration of many parameters, a practice at odds with social science research that focuses on the effects of a small set of variables. In this article, we show how synthesizing insights from multiple, narrowly focused social science theories in an agent-based model helps us understand factors that lead to the success of online communities. The agent-based model combines insights from theories related to collective effort, information overload, social identity, and interpersonal attraction to predict motivations for online community participation. We conducted virtual experiments to develop hypotheses around three design decisions about how to orchestrate an online community—topical breadth, message volume, and discussion moderation—and the trade-offs involved in making these decisions. The simulation experiments suggest that broad topics and high message volume can lead to higher member commitment. Personalized moderation outperforms other types of moderation in increasing members' commitment and contribution, especially in topically broad communities and those with high message volume. In comparison, community-level moderation increases commitment but not contribution, and only in topically narrow communities. These simulation results suggest a critical trade-off between informational and relational benefits. This research illustrates that there are many interactions among the design decisions that are important to consider; the particulars of the community's goals often determine the effectiveness of some decisions. It also demonstrates the value of agent-based modeling in synthesizing simple social science theories to describe and prescribe behaviors in a complex system, generating novel insights that inform the design of online communities.

Online brand community within the integrated marketing communication system: When chocolate becomes seductive like a person

This study proposes brand communities as an effective tool within the integrated marketing communication (IMC) system. The paper utilizes the Brand Concept Map quali-quantitative technique in order to represent and compare mental association texture within one group of non-members of a brand community versus one group of people engaged in the same community. Brand stimulus is Nutella (chocolate cream) which boasts a crowded and lively online brand community: Nutellaville. Results show that brand community is effective in terms of contribution, commonality, and complementarity within the IMC system. In particular, Nutella brand image within the online community participants is composed of some mental associations overlapping other communication tools (commonality), and by new mental associations (complementarity) referred to the brand image dimension named ‘brand as person’ (seductive, popular, reassuring); second, this anthropomorphism effect solves the issue of sense of guilt excited by chocolate (contribution).

The associations between pathological narcissism, alexithymia and disordered eating attitudes among participants of pro‐anorexic online communities

This study investigated the relationships between pathological narcissism, alexithymia, and disordered eating attitudes among participants of pro-anorexic online communities. Specifically, we explored the possible moderating role of alexithymia in the relationships between narcissistic vulnerability and disordered eating attitudes. Participants included 97 Israeli female young adults who are active participants in pro-anorexic online communities. These participants completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires: The Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI); The Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26); and The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Narcissistic grandiosity, vulnerability, and alexithymia were positively related to disordered eating attitudes. Alexithymia moderated the relationships between narcissistic vulnerability and the total score of disordered eating attitudes. Furthermore, alexithymia moderated the relationships between both narcissistic vulnerability and grandiosity and the oral control subscale of EAT-26. These findings highlight the interaction between the pathological narcissism and the fundamental trait of alexithymia that might put individuals at risk for disordered eating.

Research Note—Continued Participation in Online Innovation Communities: Does Community Response Matter Equally for Everyone?

In this study, we focus on the factors that influence online innovation community members' continued participation in the context of open source software development (OSSD) communities. Prior research on continued participation in online communities has primarily focused on social interactions among members and benefits obtained from these interactions. However, members of these communities often play different roles, which have been examined extensively, albeit in a separate stream of research. This study attempts to bridge these two streams of research by investigating the joint influence of community response and members' roles on continued participation. We categorize OSSD community members into users and modifiers and empirically examine the differential effects of community response across these roles. By analyzing a longitudinal data set of activities in the discussion forums of more than 300 OSSD projects, we not only confirm the positive influence of community response on members' continued participation but also find that community response is more influential in driving the continuance behavior of users than that of modifiers. In addition, this research highlights the importance of modifiers, a key subgroup of OSSD participants that has been largely overlooked by prior research.

Young people as victims of crime on the internet: A population-based study in Finland

This study investigates cybercrime, which has become a significant phenomenon within the last two decades. Being a victim of fraud, defamation or harassment online concerns, younger age groups who are active Internet users. A population-based cross-sectional survey collected from 15 to 74 year olds in Finland (n = 46,139) is used as data. The first analysis section assesses whether the younger age group (15–24 year olds) is more likely to be exposed to cybercrime than older age groups. The second analysis section delves into what kinds of risk factors are associated with the exposure to Internet crime among young people aged 15–24. Descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis are used as methods. The results show that young people are more likely to be victims of cybercrime even when other factors were adjusted for. Besides age, other factors including gender, education, economic status, and violent victimization are associated with cybercrime victimization. The analysis conducted on 15–24 year olds shows that participation in online communities and violent victimization were associated with cybercrime victimization. Good offline social networks were a protective factor against cybercrime victimization among females. Young cybercrime victims were more likely to be worried about future victimization. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding both psychosocial risk factors offline and patterns of risky online behavior. The risk of cybercrime victimization is related to the problems that young people may face in the offline everyday life.

Doctoral Students’ Competences of Using Online Resources for Research Purposes in Network Society

Usage of online resources has become a necessity in the daily lives of students, academics, researchers, teachers and all others who have grasped the potential of the virtual environment. The present study aims to appraise doctoral students’ competences, knowledge and skills of using contemporary information technologies and online resources for research purposes. Findings from a survey of 93 doctoral students and degree candidates suggest that procurement of quantitative information for research purposes from online resources tends to be viewed as a theoretical possibility rather than an established practice. Doctoral students appear to lack essential knowledge, skills, awareness and competence to make use of online facilities for dissemination of their research results or for active participation in professional online communities.

Exodus to the real world? Assessing the impact of offline meetups on community participation and social capital

Despite the increasing popularity of offline “meetups” among online community participants, little is known about their effect on the health and function of these communities. Using longitudinal network data of both public and private communications among participants of an online community for science fiction fans, this study represents one of the first systematic assessments of the impact of meetups on community participation and members’ bridging and bonding social capital. Results showed that meetups would enhance attendees’ bonding social capital, but that increase would come at the expense of bridging social capital, reducing the opportunity for new members to join and find acceptance in the community. The effect of meetup on community participation was mixed.

Perceived Quality of Conversations in Online Communities: Conceptual Framework, Scale Development, and Empirical Validation

Conversations among online community members as a form of everyday, unconstrained, flexible, and spontaneous communication are important for developing a sense of community, sustainability of online communities, construction of identity, public sphere, and for creating and maintaining offline taken-for-granted basic structures of everyday life. While the lack of qualities of online conversations in online communities is often discussed and researched, we argue that its positive sides should also be conceptualized and become the subject of quantitative empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept and scale of perceived quality of online conversations and inspect the psychometric properties of the proposed scale in terms of content and convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity and reliability. The paper presents a five-factor structure of the quality of conversation scale, which is tested for its quality on a sample of 1,276 online community participants. Confirmatory factor analysis supports the proposed multidimensional structure, while correlational and regression analyses demonstrate good levels of convergent, discriminant and criterion validity. The paper suggests several refinements of the measurement instrument, and concludes with the usefulness of the introduced scale for the research and understanding of the online community phenomenon.

Probing the Audience of Seniors' Online Communities

Participation in online communities that are dedicated to older adults is a significant trend in elders' use of the Internet. The present study aimed to explore the audience of these communities and to discover possible subsegments within that audience and the differences among them. The study was based on an online survey of 218 members of 16 English language-based seniors' online communities. Analysis demonstrated that the audience of the communities is not homogeneous, as 3 segments of community members were identified: information swappers, aging-oriented, and socializers. These groups differed in their interests, background characteristics, and participation patterns. In addition, results indicated significant differences between the groups in perceived benefits. The socializers were those who reported the highest level of gratification. The aging-oriented reported more "companionship" than the information swappers, and the latter reported more "joyfulness" than the aging-oriented. The results suggested that members of seniors' online communities actively select community contents that best meet their psychosocial needs and use the communities interchangeably with other media and activities. Such purposeful use of the communities becomes an integral part of the strategies they utilize in order to cope with later life circumstances.

The Wikipedia Gender Gap Revisited: Characterizing Survey Response Bias with Propensity Score Estimation

Opt-in surveys are the most widespread method used to study participation in online communities, but produce biased results in the absence of adjustments for non-response. A 2008 survey conducted by the Wikimedia Foundation and United Nations University at Maastricht is the source of a frequently cited statistic that less than 13% of Wikipedia contributors are female. However, the same study suggested that only 39.9% of Wikipedia readers in the US were female – a finding contradicted by a representative survey of American adults by the Pew Research Center conducted less than two months later. Combining these two datasets through an application and extension of a propensity score estimation technique used to model survey non-response bias, we construct revised estimates, contingent on explicit assumptions, for several of the Wikimedia Foundation and United Nations University at Maastricht claims about Wikipedia editors. We estimate that the proportion of female US adult editors was 27.5% higher than the original study reported (22.7%, versus 17.8%), and that the total proportion of female editors was 26.8% higher (16.1%, versus 12.7%).

Effect of external events on newcomer participation in open source online communities

Newcomer participation is a strong determinant of the success of online communities, particularly of open source software (OSS) development communities. Most research on newcomer participation in online communities so far has been limited to understanding the socialization experiences of participants once they join a community. No study we are aware of has looked at the role of factors external to a community itself in determining participation levels. We argue that it is important to understand external factors to delineate accurate reasons for decline or growth of participation in a community. In this study, we investigate the effect of company announcements made by OSS steward firms, events which are external to a community, on participation in newcomer communities associated with the OSS. We studied activity in two communities, a Java newcomer forum and a MySQL newcomer forum, around two announcements that affected each community. We found evidence that company announcements had a substantial effect and participation either increased or decreased. Through analysis of secondary sources we conjecture that announcements indirect shape participation by influencing newcomer motivation. Announcements perceived as hostile to open source values have a significant negative effect on participation, whereas announcements perceived as friendly either significantly increase participation or have no significant effect.

Communicative genres as organising structures in online communities – of team players and storytellers

AbstractIn this paper, we examine the question of how participants in online communities enact organising structures. We conduct an empirical study based on interpretative and quantitative data and analysis, and argue that communicative genres fulfil the role of intangible organising structures in online communities. These structures are important in the absence of more formal or tangible structures. Furthermore, we take into account participants' position in the social network and find that distinct participant clusters use communicative genres quite differently. In particular, we distinguish four participant clusters using distinct genre repertoires: team players, who make short, advising messages; storytellers, who post less but longer and very social messages; utility posters, who share knowledge but neglect social interaction; and all‐round talents, who engage in various actions and have average messages, without blinking out in any activity. With this research, we provide an analytical tool that allows practitioners to assess community activities, and inform and evaluate strategies for change toward improved outcomes.

Online Identities: National and Cultural Expression Online, an Australian Perspective

Over the last decade the genesis and use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) has steadily gained traction with the almost instant popularity of sites such as Youtube, Facebook, Cyworld and Twitter to name a few. In Australia, as in the rest of the developed and developing world, Social Media (SM) use has become an integral part of the communication, entertainment and media practices of large sections of the population, with participation in online communities often employing the same social capital and patterns of communication that occur in offline encounters. Online interaction in SNS necessitates the creation of an individual’s online identity, and with it notions of representation and group-affiliation come to the fore. The policy of multiculturalism in Australia encourages the interaction of minority (ethnic) Cultural identities with the dominant (national) Australian identity. This study examines the role online interaction plays in an individual’s engagement with these two notions of identity by focusing on the SM use of students at a University in Australia. Results reveal a highly nuanced expression of self-hood where National and Cultural identities are enacted as minor components of a holistic Personal online identity.

Ambivalent cosmopolitan desires: newly arrived Koreans in Australia and community websites

This article examines the ways in which the online community media practices of newly arrived Koreans (mainly international students and working holiday visa holders) demonstrate ambivalent cosmopolitan desires. Focusing on user comments on the Melbourne Sky community website, this article explores how these ambivalent transcultural desires combine a yearning for home with the striving for cosmopolitanism. Driven by a globalization-fuelled obsession with learning English, many Koreans have crossed cultural borders into Australia in pursuit of a cosmopolitan lifestyle, mingling with new cultures and people. However, when arriving in Australia they soon face an uncanny (un/familiar) reality, which enhances their desire to reconnect with their familiar mother culture. Their online community participation practices demonstrate these clashing cosmopolitan desires. These opposing desires stimulate the negotiation between a familiar ‘I’ and strange local ‘Others’, eventually reinforcing the construction of these ambivalent transcultural identities.

Entrepreneurship 2.0: Online Community Participation and Processes of Entrepreneurship

How does online community participation affect processes of entrepreneurship? Based on an extensive case study of an online community of cake decorators, we shed light on how online community participation influences core processes of entrepreneurship, typically portrayed as consisting of opportunity recognition, preparation (including resource building, organizing and legitimizing) and exploitation. Departing from a community perspective on entrepreneurship, we show that a number of facets of community participation, inside and outside of entrepreneurs’ span of control, and associated with technical and social affordances of the community, influence core processes of entrepreneurship. Our findings contribute to literature on online communities and entrepreneurship by drawing attention to technical and social affordances of online communities and the potentials and pitfalls for entrepreneurs associated with these affordances.

Improving adherence to web-based cessation programs: a randomized controlled trial study protocol

BackgroundReducing smoking prevalence is a public health priority that can save more lives and money than almost any other known preventive intervention. Internet interventions have the potential for enormous public health impact given their broad reach and effectiveness. However, most users engage only minimally with even the best designed websites, diminishing their impact due to an insufficient ‘dose’. Two approaches to improve adherence to Internet cessation programs are integrating smokers into an online social network and providing free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Active participation in online communities is associated with higher rates of cessation. Integrating smokers into an online social network can increase support and may also increase utilization of cessation tools and NRT. Removing barriers to NRT may increase uptake and adherence, and may also increase use of online cessation tools as smokers look for information and support while quitting. The combination of both strategies may exert the most powerful effects on adherence compared to either strategy alone.Methods/DesignThis study compares the efficacy of a smoking cessation website (WEB) alone and in conjunction with free NRT and a social network (SN) protocol designed to integrate participants into the online community. Using a 2 (SN, no SN) x 2 (NRT, no NRT) randomized, controlled factorial design with repeated measures at baseline, 3 months, and 9 months, this study will recruit N = 4,000 new members of an internet cessation program and randomize them to: 1) WEB, 2) WEB + SN, 3) WEB + NRT, or 4) WEB + SN + NRT. Hypotheses are that all interventions will outperform WEB and that WEB + SN + NRT will outperform WEB + NRT and WEB + SN on 30-day point prevalence abstinence at 9 months. Exploratory analyses will examine theory-driven hypotheses about the mediators and moderators of outcome.DiscussionAddressing adherence in internet cessation programs is critical and timely to leverage their potential public health impact. This study is innovative in its use of a social network approach to improve behavioral and pharmacological treatment utilization to improve cessation. This approach is significant for reducing tobacco’s devastating disease burden and for optimizing behavior change in other arenas where adherence is just as critical.Trial registrationISRCTN:ISRCTN45127327