(Paradigms and Phenomena 1) Ben Kei Daniel-Handbook of Research On Methods and Techniques For Studying Virtual Communities - Paradigms and Phenomena, Volume 1 - IGI Global Snippet (2010)

Handbook of Research on
Methods and Techniques

for Studying Virtual
Communities:
Paradigms and Phenomena
Ben Kei Daniel
University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Health Region, Canada
Volume I
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Handbook of research on methods and techniques for studying virtual

communities : paradigms and phenomena / Ben Kei Daniel, editor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60960-040-2 (hbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-60960-041-9 (ebook) 1.
Electronic villages (Computer networks)--Social aspects. 2. Online social
networks. 3. Internet--Social aspects. I. Daniel, Ben Kei, 1971-
TK5105.83.H36 2011
303.48'34--dc22
2010042272
British Cataloguing in Publication Data

A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Editorial Advisory Board
Demosthenes Akoumianakis, Technological Education Institution of Crete, Greece
Anita Blanchard, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
John M.Carroll, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
Bernie Hogan, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK
Chris Kimble, Euromed Marseille cole de Management, France
Niki Lambropoulos, nikilambropoulos.com, UK
Rocci Luppicini, University of Ottawa, Canada
Piet Kommers, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Gordon McCalla, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Howard Rheingold, rheingold.com
Celine Robardet, INSA Lyon, France
Richard Schiwer, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Tiffany Tang, Konkuk University, Korea
Diego Zapata-Rivera, Educational Testing Service, USA
List of Contributors
Akoumianakis, Demosthenes / Technological Education Institution of Crete, Greece..................... 34

Annese, Susan / University of Bari, Italy.......................................................................................... 103
Barths, Jean-Paul / Universit de Technologie de Compigne, France.......................................... 192
Berrueta, Diego / Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros
Tecnolgicos, Spain......................................................................................................................... 10
Bizzocchi, Jim / Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada............................................................... 469
Boaduo, Nana Adu-Pipim / University of the Free State, South Africa........................................... 594
Bojars, Uldis / National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland........................................................ 429
Breslin, John G. / National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland.................................................. 429
Brzillon, Patrick / University Paris 6 (UPMC), France................................................................. 285
Brigham, Nancy / Rosenblum Brigham Associates, USA.................................................................. 699
Buffa, Michel / University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France............................................................ 122
Chai, Ching-Sing / Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.................................................. 611
Corby, Olivier / EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France...................................................... 122
Crain-Dorough, Mindy / Southeastern Louisiana University, USA................................................. 457
Daniel, Ben Kei / University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Health Region, Canada.......... 1, 318, 585
de Azevedo, Hilton Jos Silva / Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil . .................... 192
Decker, Stefan / National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland..................................................... 429
Dennen, Vanessa P. / Florida State University, USA......................................................................... 509
English, Rebecca / Queensland University of Technology, Australia................................................ 233
Erto, Guillaume / Orange Labs, France........................................................................................ 122
Fernndez, Sergio / Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros
Fernndez, Silvino / Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros
Fujita, Shinobu / Spiceworks Corporation, Japan............................................................................ 381
Gandon, Fabien / EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France................................................... 122
Gergle, Darren / Northwestern University, USA............................................................................... 333
Gibbs, William J. / Duquesne University, USA................................................................................. 568
Gruzd, Anatoliy / Dalhousie University, Canada............................................................................. 205
Gurzick, David / University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA.................................................. 542
Hancock, Robert / Southeastern Louisiana University, USA............................................................ 457
Hecht, Brent / Northwestern University, USA................................................................................... 333
Hogg, Tad / Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA............................................................................. 268
Howell, Jennifer / Australian Catholic University Limited, Australia...................................... 176, 233
Isakovi, Jan / Artesia, Slovenia........................................................................................................ 359
Kato, Hiroshi / The Open University of Japan, Japan...................................................................... 381
Kinsella, Sheila / National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland................................................... 429
Lambropoulos, Niki / London South Bank University, UK.............................................................. 672
Lansiquot, Reneta D. / New York City College of Technology of the City University
of New York, USA . ........................................................................................................................ 224
Leitzelman, Mylne / University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France................................................. 122
Limpens , Freddy / EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France................................................. 122
Lpez Aguirre, Jos Luis / Universidad Panamericana, Mxico..................................................... 753
Matsuo, Yutaka / University of Tokyo, Japan................................................................................... 631
McCracken, Janet / Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada........................................................ 469
McKendrick, Joseph E. / McKendrick and Associates, USA........................................................... 568
Mnguez, Ivn / Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros
Mochizuki, Toshio / Senshu University, Japan................................................................................. 381
Murillo, Enrique / Instituto Tecnolgico Autnomo de Mxico ITAM, Mexico............................. 157
Myers, Jennifer B. / Florida State University, USA.......................................................................... 509
Nagamori, Yusuke / Tsukuba University of Technology, Japan........................................................ 381
Nishimori, Toshihisa / The University of Tokyo, Japan.................................................................... 381
Oescher, Jeff / Southeastern Louisiana University, USA................................................................... 457
Parchoma, Gale / Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies (CSALT)
& Lancaster University, UK............................................................................................................ 61
Parton, Becky / Southeastern Louisiana University, USA................................................................. 457
Passant, Alexandre / National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland............................................. 429
Pata, Kai / Tallinn University, Estonia............................................................................................... 482
Polo, Luis / Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain.............. 10
Poon, Nancy / University of Saskatchewan, Canada......................................................................... 585
Quan-Haase, Anabel / The University of Western Ontario, Canada................................................ 542
Repetto, Manuela / Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy.......... 654
Robardet, Cline / Universit de Lyon, France.................................................................................. 88
Robertson, Brent / Sancor, Canada.................................................................................................. 348
Rosen, Devan / Ithaca College, USA................................................................................................. 530
Rubiera, Emilio / Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros
Sander, Peter / University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France............................................................ 122
Shi, Lian / Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain................ 10
Siitonen, Marko / University of Jyvskyl, Finland.......................................................................... 555
Singleton, Alex D. / University of Liverpool, UK.............................................................................. 370
Siu Cheung, Hui / Nanyang Technological University, Singapore................................................... 394
Skgeby, Jrgen / Linkping University, Sweden.............................................................................. 410
So, Hyo-Jeong / Nanyang Technological University, Singapore....................................................... 611
Sookhanaphibarn, Kingkarn / Ritsumeikan University, Japan....................................................... 713
Suggs, Christie L. / Florida State University, USA........................................................................... 509
Suli, Alja / Artesia, Slovenia........................................................................................................... 359
Szabo, Gabor / Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA........................................................................ 268
Tan, Aik-Ling / Nanyang Technological University, Singapore........................................................ 248
Tan, Seng-Chee / Nanyang Technological University, Singapore............................................. 248, 611
Tang, Tiffany Y. / Konkuk University, South Korea.......................................................................... 731
Thanh Tho, Quan / Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam......................................... 394
Thawonmas, Ruck / Ritsumeikan University, Japan........................................................................ 713
Traetta, Marta / University of Bari, Italy.......................................................................................... 103
Turner, Jeremy O. / Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada........................................................ 469
Ueno, Maomi / The University of Electro-Communications, Japan.................................................. 303
Van Tien, Le / Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam.................................................. 394
Winoto, Pinata / Konkuk University, South Korea............................................................................ 731
Yaegashi, Kazaru / Ritsumeikan University, Japan.......................................................................... 381
Yamamoto, Hikaru / Seikei University, Japan.................................................................................. 631
Young, Alyson / University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA.................................................... 542
Yukio Sato, Gilson / Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil . ...................................... 192
Table of Contents
Foreword........................................................................................................................................... xxxii
Preface.............................................................................................................................................. xxxiv
Acknowledgment............................................................................................................................. xxxvi
Volume I
Section 1
Introduction to Virtual Communities
Chapter 1
Introduction to this Volume...................................................................................................................... 1
Ben Kei Daniel, University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Health Region, Canada
Chapter 2
GEEK: Analyzing Online Communities for Expertise Information...................................................... 10
Lian Shi, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Diego Berrueta, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Sergio Fernndez, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Luis Polo, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Ivn Mnguez, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Emilio Rubiera, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Silvino Fernndez, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Chapter 3
Recurrent Interactions, Acts of Communication and Emergent Social Practice in
Virtual Community Settings.................................................................................................................. 34
Chapter 4
Toward Diversity in Researching Teaching and Technology Philosophies-in-Practice in
e-Learning Communities....................................................................................................................... 61
Gale Parchoma, Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies (CSALT) & Lancaster
University, UK
Section 2
Social Networks and Data Mining
Chapter 5
Data Mining Techniques for Communities Detection in Dynamic Social Networks........................... 88
Cline Robardet, Universit de Lyon, France
Chapter 6
A Methodological Approach for Blended Communities: Social Network Analysis and
Positioning Network Analysis............................................................................................................. 103
Susan Annese, University of Bari, Italy
Marta Traetta, University of Bari, Italy
Chapter 7
Semantic Social Network Analysis: A Concrete Case......................................................................... 122
Guillaume Erto, Orange Labs, France
Freddy Limpens, EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France
Fabien Gandon, EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France
Olivier Corby, EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France
Michel Buffa, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
Mylne Leitzelman, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
Peter Sander, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
Chapter 8
Using Social Network Analysis to Guide Theoretical Sampling in an Ethnographic
Study of a Virtual Community............................................................................................................. 157
Enrique Murillo, Instituto Tecnolgico Autnomo de Mxico ITAM, Mexico
Section 3
Tools and Techniques for Analysis and Building of Virtual Communities
Chapter 9
Graphically Mapping Electronic Discussions: Understanding Online Conversational Dynamic....... 176
Jennifer Howell, Australian Catholic University Limited, Australia
Chapter 10
A Tool to Study the Evolution of the Domain of a Distributed Community of Practice..................... 192
Gilson Yukio Sato, Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil
Hilton Jos Silva de Azevedo, Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil
Jean-Paul Barths, Universit de Technologie de Compigne, France
Chapter 11
Exploring Virtual Communities with the Internet Community Text Analyzer (ICTA)....................... 205
Anatoliy Gruzd, Dalhousie University, Canada
Chapter 12
Making the Virtual Real: Using Virtual Learning Communities for Research in
Technical Writing................................................................................................................................. 224
Reneta D. Lansiquot, New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York,
USA
Chapter 13
Virtual Communities as Tools to Support Teaching Practicum: Putting Bourdieu on Facebook........ 233
Rebecca English, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Chapter 14
Conversation Analysis as a Tool to Understand Online Social Encounters......................................... 248
Aik-Ling Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Seng-Chee Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Section 4
Data and User Modelling
Chapter 15
Modeling the Diversity of User Behavior in Online Communities..................................................... 268
Tad Hogg, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA
Gabor Szabo, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA
Chapter 16
Context and Explanation in e-Collaborative Work.............................................................................. 285
Patrick Brzillon, University Paris 6 (UPMC), France
Chapter 17
Intelligent LMS with an Agent that Learns from Log Data in a Virtual Community.......................... 303
Maomi Ueno, The University of Electro-Communications, Japan
Chapter 18
A Computational Model of Social Capital in Virtual Communities.................................................... 318
Section 5
Methods, Measurements and Matrices
Chapter 19
A Beginners Guide to Geographic Virtual Communities Research.................................................... 333
Brent Hecht, Northwestern University, USA
Darren Gergle, Northwestern University, USA
Chapter 20
A Theoretical Method of Measuring Virtual Community Health and the Health of
their Operating Environment in a Business Setting............................................................................. 348
Brent Robertson, Sancor, Canada
Chapter 21
Building Web Communities: An Example Methodology.................................................................... 359
Jan Isakovi, Artesia, Slovenia
Alja Suli, Artesia, Slovenia
Chapter 22
Virtual Geodemographics: Consumer Insight in Online and Offline Spaces...................................... 370
Alex D. Singleton, University of Liverpool, UK
Chapter 23
Development of Cellular Phone Software to Prompt Learners to Monitor and
Reorganize Division of Labor in Project-Based Learning................................................................... 381
Toshio Mochizuki, Senshu University, Japan
Kazaru Yaegashi, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Hiroshi Kato, The Open University of Japan, Japan
Toshihisa Nishimori, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Yusuke Nagamori, Tsukuba University of Technology, Japan
Shinobu Fujita, Spiceworks Corporation, Japan
Chapter 24
Mathematical Retrieval Techniques for Online Mathematics Learning.............................................. 394
Le Van Tien, Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam
Quan Thanh Tho, Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam
Hui Siu Cheung, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Chapter 25
Online Ethnographic Methods: Towards a Qualitative Understanding of Virtual
Community Practices........................................................................................................................... 410
Jrgen Skgeby, Linkping University, Sweden
Volume II
Chapter 26
Understanding Online Communities by Using Semantic Web Technologies...................................... 429
Alexandre Passant, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Sheila Kinsella, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Uldis Bojars, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
John G. Breslin, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Stefan Decker, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Chapter 27
Understanding and Using Virtual Ethnography in Virtual Environments........................................... 457
Robert Hancock, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Mindy Crain-Dorough, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Becky Parton, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Jeff Oescher, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Chapter 28
Participant-Observation as a Method for Analyzing Avatar Design in User-Generated
Virtual Worlds...................................................................................................................................... 469
Jeremy O. Turner, Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada
Janet McCracken, Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada
Jim Bizzocchi, Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada
Chapter 29
Participatory Design Experiment: Storytelling Swarm in Hybrid Narrative Ecosystem..................... 482
Kai Pata, Tallinn University, Estonia
Chapter 30
Researching Community in Distributed Environments: Approaches for Studying
Cross-Blog Interactions....................................................................................................................... 509
Vanessa P. Dennen, Florida State University, USA
Jennifer B. Myers, Florida State University, USA
Christie L. Suggs, Florida State University, USA
Chapter 31
Methods for the Measurement and Visualization of Social Networks in
Multi-User Virtual Worlds................................................................................................................... 530
Devan Rosen, Ithaca College, USA
Chapter 32
Online Multi-Contextual Analysis: (Re)connecting Social Network Site
Users with Their Profile....................................................................................................................... 542
Alyson Young, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
David Gurzick, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
Anabel Quan-Haase, The University of Western Ontario, Canada
Chapter 33
Participant Observation in Online Multiplayer Communities............................................................. 555
Marko Siitonen, University of Jyvskyl, Finland
Chapter 34
Proposed Techniques for Data Collection and Analysis in the Study of News-Oriented
Virtual Communities............................................................................................................................ 568
William J. Gibbs, Duquesne University, USA
Joseph E. McKendrick, McKendrick and Associates, USA
Chapter 35
Challenges of Analyzing Informal Virtual Communities.................................................................... 585
Nancy Poon, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Chapter 36
Research Methods for Studying Virtual Communities........................................................................ 594
Nana Adu-Pipim Boaduo, University of the Free State, South Africa
Chapter 37
Methodological Considerations for Quantitative Content Analysis of Online Interactions................ 611
Hyo-Jeong So, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Ching-Sing Chai, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Chapter 38
Measuring Brand Community Strength............................................................................................... 631
Hikaru Yamamoto, Seikei University, Japan
Yutaka Matsuo, University of Tokyo, Japan
Chapter 39
An Approach for Analysing Interactions within Virtual Learning Communities................................ 654
Manuela Repetto, Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy
Section 6
Online Phenomena and Case Studies
Chapter 40
The Sense of e-Learning Community Index (SeLCI) for Computer Supported
Collaborative e-Learning (CSCeL)...................................................................................................... 672
Niki Lambropoulos, London South Bank University, UK
Chapter 41
Tracer Studies: A Concrete Approach to a Virtual Challenge.............................................................. 699
Nancy Brigham, Rosenblum Brigham Associates, USA
Chapter 42
Digital Museums in 3D Virtual Environment...................................................................................... 713
Kingkarn Sookhanaphibarn, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Ruck Thawonmas, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Chapter 43
Weaving the Social Fabrics: Recognizing Social Signals to Support Awareness and
Group Interaction in Online Games..................................................................................................... 731
Tiffany Y. Tang, Konkuk University, South Korea
Pinata Winoto, Konkuk University, South Korea
Chapter 44
Studying Social Capital in the New Communitarian Horizon: A Multi-Method
Research Strategy................................................................................................................................. 753
Jos Luis Lpez Aguirre, Universidad Panamericana, Mxico
Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 766

Detailed Table of Contents
Foreword........................................................................................................................................... xxxii
Preface.............................................................................................................................................. xxxiv
Acknowledgment............................................................................................................................. xxxvi
Volume I
Section 1
Introduction to Virtual Communities
Chapter 1
Introduction to this Volume...................................................................................................................... 1
The growth of virtual communities and their continuous impact on social, economic and technological
structures of societies has attracted a great deal of interest among researchers, practitioners, system
designers and policy makers. All interested in analysing and understanding how these communities
form, develop, nurture social interaction, influence various technological design and implementation,
enhance information and knowledge sharing, support business and act as catalytic environments to sup-
port human learning. This Chapter provides a general overview of virtual communities and introduces
the reader to the various themes covered in this volume as well as the geographical distribution and
institutional affiliations of contributors to the volume.
Chapter 2
GEEK: Analyzing Online Communities for Expertise Information...................................................... 10
Lian Shi, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Diego Berrueta, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Sergio Fernndez, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Luis Polo, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Ivn Mnguez, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Emilio Rubiera, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Silvino Fernndez, Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Finding experts over the Web using semantics has recently received increased attention, especially its
application to enterprise management. This scenario introduces many novel challenges to the Web of
Data. Gathering Enterprise Expertise Knowledge (GEEK) is a research project which fosters the adop-
tion of Semantic Web technologies within the enterprise environment. GEEK has produced a prototype
that demonstrates how to extract and infer expertise by taking into account peoples participation in var-
ious online communities (forums and projects). The reuse and interlinking of existing, well-established
vocabularies in the areas of person description (FOAF), Internet communities (SIOC), project descrip-
tion (DOAP) and vocabulary sharing (SKOS) are explored in our framework, as well as a proposal for
applying customized rules and other enabling technologies to the expert finding task.
Chapter 3
Recurrent Interactions, Acts of Communication and Emergent Social Practice in
Virtual Community Settings.................................................................................................................. 34
The chapter builds on recent efforts aiming to develop a conceptual frame of reference for gaining in-
sight to and analyzing practice in virtual communities. Following a thorough analysis of related works
in new media, community-oriented thinking and practice-based approaches as well as reflections upon
recent case studies, the chapter discusses what is it that differentiates offline from online practice, how
these two are intertwined in virtual settings and what may be an appropriate methodological frame of
reference for analyzing them. In this vein, instead of reproducing arguments for community manage-
ment (i.e., discovering, forming and sustaining communities) and the underlying methodological chal-
lenges commonly encountered in Information Systems research, our effort is focused on understanding
emergent social practices through a practice lens framed in technology constituting structures and cul-
tural artifacts. Through a cross case design we formulate the argument that community results from the
history of co-engagement of actors in a joint field, while in virtual settings, it is recurrent interactions
that lead to an act of communication or the enactment of practice. Our main conclusions are (a) online
social practices are shaped through cycles of constructing negotiating reconstructing cultural
artifacts in virtual settings, and (b) practice-oriented toolkits designed to support cycles of construct-
ing negotiating reconstructing cultural artifacts offer new grounds for understanding innovative
engagement by virtual communities.
Chapter 4
Toward Diversity in Researching Teaching and Technology Philosophies-in-Practice in
e-Learning Communities....................................................................................................................... 61
Gale Parchoma, Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies (CSALT) & Lancaster
University, UK
e-Learning is pervasively perceived as a singular enterprise, subject to broad claims and overarching
critiques. From this viewpoint, the strengths and weakness of large-scale e-learning implementations
in supporting all forms of teaching and learning in higher education can be examined through best-
practices lenses. This chapter contests the e-learning singularity paradigm through examining a sample
of diverse e-learning communities, each of which may be associated with distinct teaching and technol-
ogy philosophies-of-practice, as well as divergent research and development histories. A gestalt view
of interacting and interlocking teaching and technology philosophies underpins a call for local actions
aimed at achieving the democratization of e-learning environment design and fostering both difference
and connectivity across e-learning communities of research and practice.
Section 2
Social Networks and Data Mining
Chapter 5
Data Mining Techniques for Communities Detection in Dynamic Social Networks........................... 88
Cline Robardet, Universit de Lyon, France
Social network analysis studies relationships between individuals and aims at identifying interesting
substructures such as communities. This type of network structure is intuitively defined as a subset of
nodes more densely linked, when compared with the rest of the network. Such dense subgraphs gather
individuals sharing similar property depending on the type of relation encoded in the graph. In this
chapter we tackle the problem of identifying communities in dynamic networks where relationships
among entities evolve over time. Meaningful patterns in such structured data must capture the strong
interactions between individuals but also their temporal relationships. We propose a pattern discovery
method to identify evolving patterns defined by constraints. In this paradigm, constraints are parameter-
ized by the user to drive the discovery process towards potentially interesting patterns, with the positive
side effect of achieving a more efficient computation. In the proposed approach, dense and isolated
subgraphs, defined by two user-parameterized constraints, are first computed in the dynamic network
restricted at a given time stamp. Second, the temporal evolution of such patterns is captured by associ-
ating a temporal event types to each subgraph. We consider five basic temporal events: the formation,
dissolution, growth, diminution and stability of subgraphs from one time stamp to the next one. We
propose an algorithm that finds such subgraphs in a time series of graphs processed incrementally. The
extraction is feasible thanks to efficient pruning patterns strategies. Experimental results on real-world
data confirm the practical feasibility of our approach. We evaluate the added-value of the method, both
in terms of the relevancy of the extracted evolving patterns and in terms of scalability, on two dynamic
sensor networks and on a dynamic mobility network.
Chapter 6
A Methodological Approach for Blended Communities: Social Network Analysis and
Positioning Network Analysis............................................................................................................. 103
Susan Annese, University of Bari, Italy
Marta Traetta, University of Bari, Italy
The current diffusion of blended communities, characterized by the integration of online and offline
interactions, has made necessary a methodological reflection about the suitable approaches to explore
psychosocial dynamics in virtual and real communities. In this chapter we propose a mixed approach
that blends qualitative and quantitative methods: by combining qualitative content analysis with So-
cial Network Analysis we investigate participation dynamics and by employing this methodological
combination in an original way we create an innovative method, called Positioning Network Analysis,
to examine identity dynamics. We will describe the characteristics of this methodological device, pro-
viding some examples in order to show the manifold use of these original tools.
Chapter 7
Semantic Social Network Analysis: A Concrete Case......................................................................... 122
Guillaume Erto, Orange Labs, France
Freddy Limpens, EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France
Fabien Gandon, EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France
Olivier Corby, EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France
Michel Buffa, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
Mylne Leitzelman, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
Peter Sander, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
The World Wide Web has been evolving into a read-write medium permitting a high degree of interac-
tion between participants, and social network analysis (SNA) seeks to understand this on-line social
interaction, for example by identifying communities and sub-communities of users, important users,
intermediaries between communities, etc. Semantic web techniques can explicitly model these interac-
tions, but classical SNA methods have only been applied to these semantic representations without fully
exploiting their rich expressiveness. The representation of social links can be further extended thanks
to the semantic relationships found in the vocabularies (tags, folksonomies) shared by the members of
these networks. These enriched representations of social networks, combined with a similar enrichment
of the semantics of the meta-data attached to the shared resources, will allow the elaboration of shared
knowledge graphs. In this chapter we present our approach to analyzing such semantic social networks
and capturing collective intelligence from collaborative interactions to challenge requirements of En-
terprise 2.0. Our tools and models have been tested on an anonymized dataset from Ipernity.com, one of
the biggest French social web sites centered on multimedia sharing. This dataset contains over 60,000
users, around half a million declared relationships of three types, and millions of interactions (mes-
sages, comments on resources, etc.). We show that the enriched semantic web framework is particularly
well-suited for representing online social networks, for identifying their key features and for predicting
their evolution. Organizing huge quantity of socially produced information is necessary for a future ac-
ceptance of social applications in corporate contexts.
Chapter 8
Using Social Network Analysis to Guide Theoretical Sampling in an Ethnographic
Study of a Virtual Community............................................................................................................. 157
Enrique Murillo, Instituto Tecnolgico Autnomo de Mxico ITAM, Mexico
Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides a range of models particularly well suited for mapping bonds
between participants in online communities and thus reveal prominent members or subgroups. This can
yield valuable insights for selecting a theoretical sample of participants or participant interactions in
qualitative studies of communities. This chapter describes a procedure for collecting data from Usenet
newsgroups, deriving the social network created by participant interaction, and importing this relational
data into SNA software, where various cohesion models can be applied. The technique is exemplified
by performing a longitudinal core periphery analysis of a specific newsgroup, which identified core
members and provided clear evidence of a stable online community. Discussions dominated by core
members are identified next, to guide theoretical sampling of text-based interactions in an ongoing
ethnography of the community.
Section 3
Tools and Techniques for Analysis and Building of Virtual Communities
Chapter 9
Graphically Mapping Electronic Discussions: Understanding Online Conversational Dynamic....... 176
Transcripts of electronic discussions have traditionally been examined via the use of conversational
analysis techniques. Coding such transcripts provides rich data regarding the content and nature of the
discussions that take place. However, understanding the content of the messages is not limited to the
actual message itself. An electronic message is sent either in response to or to start a discussion thread.
Examining the entry point of a new message can help to clarify the dynamics of the community discus-
sion. Electronic discussions do not appear to follow traditional conversational norms. New messages
may be immediate responses or they can be responses to messages posted over a longer period of time
in the past. However, by graphically mapping electronic discussions, a clearer understanding of the dy-
namics of electronic discussions can be achieved. This chapter will present the findings of a study that
was conducted on three online communities for teachers. The transcripts of electronic discussions were
collected and examined via conversational analysis. These messages were then analysed via graphical
mapping and the findings concluded that three distinct patterns exist in which electronic discussions
may follow. It was further discovered that each of these patterns were indicative of a distinct type of
electronic discussion. The findings from this study offer further insight into the nature of online discus-
sions and help to understand online conversational dynamics.
Chapter 10
A Tool to Study the Evolution of the Domain of a Distributed Community of Practice..................... 192
Gilson Yukio Sato, Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil
Hilton Jos Silva de Azevedo, Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil
Jean-Paul Barths, Universit de Technologie de Compigne, France
Virtual communities and distributed communities of practice leave traces of their activities that are a
valuable source of research material. At the same time, studying this kind of community requires new
methods, techniques and tools. In this chapter, we present the Community Agent: a tool to follow the
evolution of the domain of a distributed Community of Practice. Such a tool aims at obtaining and
presenting graphically some indicators to study the evolution of the domain of a Community of Prac-
tice and the participation of its members. We present the implementation of the Community Agent,
the results obtained in the preliminary tests and an example of how the agent could be used to study
distributed communities.
Chapter 11
Exploring Virtual Communities with the Internet Community Text Analyzer (ICTA)....................... 205
Anatoliy Gruzd, Dalhousie University, Canada
The chapter presents a new web-based system called ICTA (http://netlytic.org) for automated analysis
and visualization of online conversations in virtual communities. ICTA is designed to help researchers
and other interested parties derive wisdom from large datasets. The system does this by offering a set of
text mining techniques coupled with useful visualizations. The first part of the chapter describes ICTAs
infrastructure and user interface. The second part discusses two social network discovery procedures
used by ICTA with a particular focus on a novel content-based method called name networks. The main
advantage of this method is that it can be used to transform even unstructured Internet data into social
network data. With the social network data available it is much easier to analyze, and make judgments
about, social connections in a virtual community.
Chapter 12
Making the Virtual Real: Using Virtual Learning Communities for Research in
Technical Writing................................................................................................................................. 224
Reneta D. Lansiquot, New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York,
USA
The emerging critical global collaboration paradigm and the use of virtual learning communities can
form structured domains that require complementary methods for educational research. The purpose of
this chapter is to illustrate how the social nature of virtual worlds can be used to teach technical writing
and the academic research process. A yearlong, mixed methodology, research study is used to demon-
strate the effect of this blended learning pedagogical approach on writing apprehension in advanced
technical writing courses. Students wrote manuals collaboratively for an audience of their peers. Sec-
ond Life, the online 3D virtual world created entirely by its residents, was both their subject of study
and a mode of meaningful communication.
Chapter 13
Virtual Communities as Tools to Support Teaching Practicum: Putting Bourdieu on Facebook........ 233
Rebecca English, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
The impact of Web 2.0 and social networking tools such as virtual communities, on education has been
much commented on. The challenge for teachers is to embrace these new social networking tools and
apply them to new educational contexts. The increasingly digitally-abled student cohorts and the need
for educational applications of Web 2.0 are challenges that overwhelm many educators. This chapter
will make three important contributions. Firstly it will explore the characteristics and behaviours of
digitally-abled students enrolled in higher education. An innovation of this chapter will be the appli-
cation of Bourdieus notions of capital, particularly social, cultural and digital capital to understand
these characteristics. Secondly, it will present a possible use of a commonly used virtual community,
Facebook. Finally it will offer some advice for educators who are interested in using popular social
networking communities, similar to Facebook, in their teaching and learning.
Chapter 14
Conversation Analysis as a Tool to Understand Online Social Encounters......................................... 248
Aik-Ling Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
This chapter focuses on the application of Conversation Analysis (CA) as a tool to understand online
social encounters. Complementing current analytic methods like content analysis and social network
analysis, analytic tools like Discussion Analysis Tool (DAT) (Jeong, 2003) and Transcript Analysis
Tool (TAT) (Fahy, Crawford, & Ally, 2001) have been developed to study both the content of online dis-
cussions as well as the interactions that take place among the participants. While these new tools have
devoted certain attention to the development of social interactions, insights into how online participants
form alliances among themselves and mechanisms for repairing a conversation when it breaks down
remains lacking. Knowledge of online social order (or the lack of), both its genesis as well as mainte-
nance, is essential as it affects the processes and intended learning outcomes in an online community.
We argue that using CA, while not popularly applied for the analysis of online discussions, gives the
much needed focus on the minute details of online interactions that are important to understanding
social orderliness of conversations in a virtual community. In this chapter, we illustrate how CA can be
applied in analysis of online discussion by applying Freebodys (2003) six analytic passes and suggest
that CA may be used as an alternative analytic tool in a virtual environment where conversations are
generally asynchronous. These six analytic passes are: (1) turn taking, (2) building exchanges, (3) par-
ties, alliances and talk, (4) trouble and repair, (5) preferences and accountability, and (6) institutional
categories and the question of identity.
Section 4
Chapter 15
Modeling the Diversity of User Behavior in Online Communities..................................................... 268
Tad Hogg, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA
Gabor Szabo, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA
This chapter describes models of the diversity of behavior seen in online communities, in particular
how users contribute and attend to content, and how they form social links with their peers. We illus-
trate the models and parameter estimation procedure with a political discussion community. The mod-
els identify key characteristics of users and the web site design leading to the diverse behaviors, and
suggest future experiments to identify causal mechanisms producing these characteristics.
Chapter 16
Context and Explanation in e-Collaborative Work.............................................................................. 285
Patrick Brzillon, University Paris 6 (UPMC), France
In a face-to-face collaboration, participants use a large part of contextual information to translate, inter-
pret and understand others utterances by using contextual cues like mimics, voice modulation, move-
ment of a hand, etc. Such a shared context constitutes the collaboration space of the virtual community.
Explanation generation, one the one hand, allows to reinforce the shared context, and, in the other hand,
relies on the existing shared context. The situation is more critical in e-collaboration than in face-to-
face collaboration because new contextual cues are to be used. This chapter presents the interests of
making explicit context and explanation generation in e-collaboration and which types of new para-
digms exist then.
Chapter 17
Intelligent LMS with an Agent that Learns from Log Data in a Virtual Community.......................... 303
Maomi Ueno, The University of Electro-Communications, Japan
This study describes an agent that acquires domain knowledge related to the content from a learning
history log database in a learning community and automatically generates motivational messages for
the learner. The unique features of this system are as follows: The agent builds a learner model auto-
matically by applying the decision tree model. The agent predicts a learners final status (Failed; Aban-
don; Successful; or Excellent) using the learner model and his/her current learning history log data.
The constructed learner model becomes more exact as the amount of data accumulated in the database
increases. Furthermore, the agent compares a learners learning processes with Excellent status learn-
ers learning processes stored in the database, diagnoses the learners learning processes, and generates
adaptive instructional messages for the learner. A comparison between a class of students that used the
system and one that did not demonstrates the effectiveness of the system.
Chapter 18
A Computational Model of Social Capital in Virtual Communities.................................................... 318
This chapter presents a Bayesian Belief computational model of social capital (SC) developed within
the context of virtual communities. The development of the model was based on insights drawn from
more than five years of research into social capital in virtual communities. The Chapter discusses the
key variables constituting social capital in virtual communities and shows how the model was updated
using practical scenarios. The scenarios describe authentic cases drawn from several virtual communi-
ties. The key issues predicted by the model as well as challenges encountered in building, verifying and
updating the model are discussed.
Section 5
Methods, Measurements and Matrices
Chapter 19
A Beginners Guide to Geographic Virtual Communities Research.................................................... 333
Brent Hecht, Northwestern University, USA
Darren Gergle, Northwestern University, USA
This chapter is effectively an introductory lesson in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geo-
graphic Information Science (GIScience), customized for the virtual communities researcher.
Chapter 20
A Theoretical Method of Measuring Virtual Community Health and the Health of
their Operating Environment in a Business Setting............................................................................. 348
Brent Robertson, Sancor, Canada
This chapter discusses how virtual communities are associated with business and describes how the
communities support the overall business effort. The chapter then examines the ways that the execution
of certain business processes such as the lessons learned process can have a strong supporting
role in maintaining the health of virtual communities. Quantitatively measuring key aspects of these
business processes provides a strong indication of the health of virtual communities that are linked to
the process. The chapter introduces a measurement by objectives system, describes how it can be used
to assess the health of virtual communities and how this can be extrapolated to assess the supportive
nature of the overall business environment the communities are operating in.
Chapter 21
Building Web Communities: An Example Methodology.................................................................... 359
Jan Isakovi, Artesia, Slovenia
Alja Suli, Artesia, Slovenia
The aim of the chapter is to provide an example of community definition and community building meth-
odology using a step-by-step approach. The presented community specification and building methodol-
ogy allows refining a broad community purpose into specific measurable goals, selects the social media
tools that are best matched with the company needs and results in a platform specification that can be
relatively simply transformed into software specifications or platform requirements.
Chapter 22
Virtual Geodemographics: Consumer Insight in Online and Offline Spaces...................................... 370
Alex D. Singleton, University of Liverpool, UK
Computer mediated communication and the Internet has fundamentally changed how consumers and
producers connect and interact across both real space, and has also opened up new opportunities in vir-
tual spaces. This book chapter describes how technologies capable of locating and sorting networked
communities of geographically disparate individuals within virtual communities present a sea change
in the conception, representation and analysis of socioeconomic distributions through geodemographic
analysis. It is argued that through virtual communities, social networks between individuals may sub-
sume the role of neighborhood areas as the most appropriate unit of analysis, and as such, geodemo-
graphics needs to be repositioned in order to accommodate social similarities in virtual, as well as
geographical, space. The chapter ends by proposing a new model for geodemographics which spans
both real and virtual geographies.
Chapter 23
Development of Cellular Phone Software to Prompt Learners to Monitor and
Reorganize Division of Labor in Project-Based Learning................................................................... 381
Toshio Mochizuki, Senshu University, Japan
Kazaru Yaegashi, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Hiroshi Kato, The Open University of Japan, Japan
Toshihisa Nishimori, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Yusuke Nagamori, Tsukuba University of Technology, Japan
Shinobu Fujita, Spiceworks Corporation, Japan
The authors have developed a cellular phone application called ProBoPortable that displays information
regarding the progress and achievement of tasks and division of labor in project-based learning (PBL)
for higher education. ProBoPortable works as wallpaper on the screen of the learners cellular phone,
and it cooperates with Web-based groupware. When a learner activates his/her phone, ProBoPortable
immediately retrieves the current status of the appropriate project from the groupware database and
displays it on the screen. A classroom evaluation was performed in an undergraduate course; the evalua-
tion confirmed that ProBoPortable enhanced mutual awareness of the division of labor among learners,
who modified their own tasks by monitoring the overall status of the PBL. Using ProBoPortable in-
creasingly fostered the sense of a learning community among the subjects. Moreover, social facilitation
encouraged the learners to proceed with their own task due to the presence of others who are mutually
aware of each members status.
Chapter 24
Mathematical Retrieval Techniques for Online Mathematics Learning.............................................. 394
Le Van Tien, Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam
Quan Thanh Tho, Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam
Hui Siu Cheung, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
In recent years, the number of computer-aided educational softwares in mathematics field has been
increasing. Currently, there are some research prototypes and systems assisting finding mathematical
problems. However, when finding appropriate mathematical expressions, most of these systems only
support mechanisms to search expression in a strict exact manner, or search some similar problems
based on wildcard, not on the similarity of expression structures and semantic meanings. Such mecha-
nisms restrict users significantly from achieving meaningful and accurate search results of mathemati-
cal expressions. In this chapter, we introduce a mathematical retrieval system that helps mathematics
learners self-study effectively. The most important module in our system is the math-retrieving system
module, which received the analyzed problems submitted from users, retrieves solutions from similar
stored problems and ranks the retrieved problems to users. To fulfill these requirements, we have re-
searched and proposed some advanced mathematical retrieval and mathematical ranking techniques.
Experiments have shown that our proposed techniques highly suitable for mathematical retrieval as
they outperformed the techniques used in typical document retrieval system
Chapter 25
Online Ethnographic Methods: Towards a Qualitative Understanding of Virtual
Community Practices........................................................................................................................... 410
Jrgen Skgeby, Linkping University, Sweden
This chapter describes the use of online ethnographical methods as a potent way to reach qualitative
understanding of virtual communities. The term online ethnography envelopes document collection,
online observation and online interviews. The chapter will explain the steps of conducting online eth-
nography from defining setting and spelling out your research perspective, to collecting online data,
analyzing gathered data, feeding back insights to the studied community and presenting results with
ethical awareness. In this process the chapter will compare online ethnography to traditional ethnogra-
phy and provide illustrative empirical examples and experiences from three recent online ethnographi-
cal studies on social information and media sharing (Skgeby, 2007, 2008, 2009a). While multimedial
forms of data and data collection are becoming more common (i.e. video and sound recordings), the
focus of the chapter lies mainly with text-based data. The chapter concludes by discussing method-
ological benefits and drawbacks of an online ethnographical process.
Volume II
Chapter 26
Understanding Online Communities by Using Semantic Web Technologies...................................... 429
Alexandre Passant, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Sheila Kinsella, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Uldis Bojars, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
John G. Breslin, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Stefan Decker, National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
During the last few years, the Web that we used to know as a read-only medium shifted to a read-write
Web, often known as Web 2.0 or the Social Web, in which people interact, share and build content
collaboratively within online communities. In order to clearly understand how these online communi-
ties are formed, evolve, share and produce content, a first requirement is to gather related data. In this
chapter, we give an overview of how Semantic Web technologies can be used to provide a unified layer
of representation for Social Web data in an open and machine-readable manner thanks to common
models and shared semantics, facilitating data gathering and analysis. Through a comprehensive state
of the art review, we describe the various models that can be applied to online communities and give an
overview of some of the new possibilities offered by such a layer in terms of data querying and com-
munity analysis.
Chapter 27
Understanding and Using Virtual Ethnography in Virtual Environments........................................... 457
Robert Hancock, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Mindy Crain-Dorough, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Becky Parton, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Jeff Oescher, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
This chapter proposes to outline a process of virtual ethnography that combines emic and etic methods
of data gathering adapted to the virtual context to provide a true (Richardson, 2000) accounting of
the social constructs inherent in the virtual world. The first section of this chapter discusses the unique
characteristics of virtual ethnography when used to explore virtual environments such as Second Life
or MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. The second section presents some of the methodological is-
sues related to conducting such research. Finally, the third section offers for consideration some unique
challenges related to the application of such methods. Two concerns are discussed: 1) identifying an
understanding the phenomenological structures unique to a particular virtual environment and 2) the
implications of such knowledge with regard to the design of new virtual educational environments.
Chapter 28
Participant-Observation as a Method for Analyzing Avatar Design in User-Generated
Virtual Worlds...................................................................................................................................... 469
Jeremy O. Turner, Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada
Janet McCracken, Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada
Jim Bizzocchi, Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada
This chapter explores the epistemological, and ethical boundaries of the application of a participant-
observer methodology for analyzing avatar design in user-generated virtual worlds. We describe why
Second Life was selected as the preferred platform for studying the fundamental design properties of
avatars in a situated manner. We will situate the specific case study within the broader context of ethno-
graphic qualitative research methodologies, particularly focusing on what it means to live and role-
play - within the context that one is studying, or to facilitate prolonged engagement in order to have the
research results accepted as trustworthy or credible (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This chapter describes a
case study where researchers can extract methods and techniques for studying in-world workshops
and focus groups. Our speculations and research questions drawn from a close analysis of this case
study will illuminate the possible limitations of applying similar hybrid iterations of participation-
observation tactics and translations of disciplinary frameworks into the study of user-generated content
for future virtual world communities. Finally, we will review the broader epistemological and ethical
issues related to the role of the participant-observation researcher in the study of virtual worlds.
Chapter 29
Participatory Design Experiment: Storytelling Swarm in Hybrid Narrative Ecosystem..................... 482
Kai Pata, Tallinn University, Estonia
This chapter describes a participatory design experiment that is influenced by the swarming activity.
The chapter introduces a new approach to writing narratives in virtual learning communities of the
social Web 2.0 and contrasts it with traditional storytelling approaches. In the participatory design
experiment we developed a hybrid virtual storytelling playground that augments the real world a
hybrid ecosystem of narratives. It consists of social software tools freely available in the Web, such as
microblogs, social repositories of images, and blogs, the real locations in the city, and the storytellers
who leave their digital contents. The results of writing narratives as a swarm in a hybrid ecosystem
are presented. In our experiment, instead of bending old novel formats into the hybrid ecosystem, the
evidences of new evolving narrative formats of this hybrid space were explored.
Chapter 30
Researching Community in Distributed Environments: Approaches for Studying
Cross-Blog Interactions....................................................................................................................... 509
Vanessa P. Dennen, Florida State University, USA
Jennifer B. Myers, Florida State University, USA
Christie L. Suggs, Florida State University, USA
In this chapter we examine how a variety of research approaches can be applied to the study of cross-
blog interactions. Cross-blog interactions can be challenging to study because of they often require the
researcher to reconsider traditional notions of temporality, discourse space, and conversation. Further,
in many instances they are neither static nor well defined; defining the beginning and end of a discus-
sion as well as locating all components of the discussion can be difficult. For this reason, we advocate
a blend of six approaches (social network analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis, conversation
analysis, narrative analysis, and ethnography). For each, we discuss strengths and limitations and pro-
vide examples of how the approach may be used to help fully capture the complexity of these interac-
tions. Additionally we discuss web-based tools that are helpful when engaged in this type of research.
Chapter 31
Methods for the Measurement and Visualization of Social Networks in
Multi-User Virtual Worlds................................................................................................................... 530
Devan Rosen, Ithaca College, USA
Virtual communities that allow many users to interact in a virtual world, often called multi-user virtual
worlds (MUVWs), allow users to explore and navigate the virtual world as well as interact with other
users. The communicative interaction within these virtual worlds is often text-based using Internet
relay chat (IRC) and related systems. IRC has posed a difficulty for researchers looking to evaluate the
interaction by analyzing and interpreting the communication since data is stored in the form of chatlogs.
The current chapter explicates methodological procedures for the measurement and visualization of
chat-based communicative interaction in MUVWs as social networks. A case study on an educational
MUVW, the SciCentr programs sponsored by Cornell University, is used to elaborate methods and
related findings.
Chapter 32
Online Multi-Contextual Analysis: (Re)connecting Social Network Site
Users with Their Profile....................................................................................................................... 542
Alyson Young, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
David Gurzick, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
Anabel Quan-Haase, The University of Western Ontario, Canada
This chapter proposes online multi-contextual analysis (OMCA) as a new multi-method approach for
investigating and analyzing the behaviors, perceptions, and opinions of social network site (SNS) users.
This approach is designed to extend methods currently available for the investigation of the use and so-
cial consequences of these sites with techniques that converge upon and triangulate users perceptions
of their online behavior. Using quantitative measures of SNS usage, OMCA provides a much neglected
level of analysis. We discuss current methodological practice in SNS research and introduce OMCA
as an alternative approach. We then describe two studies that have employed OMCA to illustrate the
methods diversity and potential for providing new insights. Finally, we discuss the strengths and weak-
nesses of OMCA in comparison to single approaches and draw conclusions for theories of SNSs.
Chapter 33
Participant Observation in Online Multiplayer Communities............................................................. 555
Marko Siitonen, University of Jyvskyl, Finland
This chapter discusses participant observation as a method of data collection for studying social interac-
tion in online multiplayer games and the communities within them. Participant observation has its roots
in the social sciences, and especially in the field of anthropology. True to a natural inquiry approach,
studies utilizing participant observation try to understand the actual habitat or lifeworld of those par-
ticipating in the study. This chapter looks at various practical issues connected to conducting participant
observation in online multiplayer communities. Examples of data collection are presented, including
saving log files, capturing images and video, and writing field notes. Participant observation seems well
suited for studying online communities since it can respond well to the challenges of the ever-changing
technology and social situations, the need to take into account multiple channels of communication, and
the complex and sometimes hidden nature of computer-mediated social interaction.
Chapter 34
Proposed Techniques for Data Collection and Analysis in the Study of News-Oriented
Virtual Communities............................................................................................................................ 568
William J. Gibbs, Duquesne University, USA
Joseph E. McKendrick, McKendrick and Associates, USA
News providers today offer interactive sources that engage people, enable them to build community,
and to participate in the news. At the same time, the digital interfaces through which people access the
news are continuingly evolving, diverse, and oftentimes visually complex. How these factors shape
human information seeking in news-oriented virtual communities is a relatively new area of study and
therefore greater understanding of their influence on human behavior is of much practical value. In
this chapter, the authors explore trends and developments in news-oriented virtual communities. They
review several data collection and analysis techniques such as content analysis, usability testing and
eye-tracking and propose that these techniques and associated tools can aid the study of news commu-
nities. They examine the implications these techniques have for better understanding human behavior
in virtual communities as well as for improving the design of these environments.
Chapter 35
Challenges of Analyzing Informal Virtual Communities.................................................................... 585
Nancy Poon, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Drawing from previous research, this chapter presents major challenges associated with the analysis of
interaction patterns in informal virtual communities. Using social network as well as content analysis to
understand the structure and nature of interaction in such virtual communities, the goal was understand
the physical structure of the community as well as the nature of the themes discussed by community
members in an attempt to build a theoretical model of interactions.
Chapter 36
Research Methods for Studying Virtual Communities........................................................................ 594
Nana Adu-Pipim Boaduo, University of the Free State, South Africa
Very often virtual community student researchers find it difficult to decide on methodological para-
digms, the choice for methods and their application to use in a given research study. They may stay
thousands of kilometres from their study supervisors. Some of them might not have had the opportu-
nity to acquire basic research knowledge and skills while other must have trained in advance research
methods. This chapter caters for both these group of virtual community readers. In many instances the
possible means of contact may either be by phone or by the Internet. The problems of distance and
non-physical contact with their supervisors may deter virtual community researchers from engaging
in regular research activities. To complicate the problem of virtual community students are the provi-
sions of authors who write research books who rarely discuss: The philosophical underpinnings of both
qualitative and quantitative methods; How qualitative and quantitative methods can be applied in a re-
search study, Where they can be applied in the study; When to apply them in the study, and; What to do
to enable the virtual researcher make informed professional decision about the choice of methodology.
Coupled with these dilemmas are the virtual community researchers choices of framework for data
collection, treatment, analysis and interpretation to make the study report a professional masterpiece.
This chapter discusses basic research methodologies to place the virtual community researchers in a
comfortable position and clarifies the dilemma inherent in the virtual community research fraternity.
Later in the chapter advanced discussion of systematic methodological application where data collected
for a research study can be conveniently treated, analysed and interpreted to be able to write a profes-
sional masterpiece of a research report as a contribution to the knowledge data base.
Chapter 37
Methodological Considerations for Quantitative Content Analysis of Online Interactions................ 611
Hyo-Jeong So, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Ching-Sing Chai, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
This chapter focuses on quantitative content analysis of online interactions, in particular, asynchronous
online discussion. It clarifies the definitions of quantitative content analysis and provides a summary
of 23 existing coding schemes, broadly categorized by the theoretical constructs under investigation:
(1) (Meta) cognition, (2) knowledge construction, and (3) presence. To help interested researchers har-
vest the rich source of data in online communities, guidelines for using quantitative content analysis
of online interactions were provided. In addition, important methodological considerations and issues
were discussed, including the issues of validity, reliability, choice of unit of analysis, and latent versus
manifested content.
Chapter 38
Measuring Brand Community Strength............................................................................................... 631
Hikaru Yamamoto, Seikei University, Japan
Yutaka Matsuo, University of Tokyo, Japan
The emphasis of this chapter is brand community. A brand community is a virtual community where
consumers who share a set of social relations based upon usage or interest in a product gather into a
group and mutually interact. The consumers purchase decision-making is often influenced by word-of-
mouth communications with the other consumers; who to trust among them is often determined by their
similarity of product purchase behavior. This bidirectional effect between trust and product preference
explains the emergence and the strength of brand community. This chapter presents a theoretical model
of this phenomenon along with analyses of an actual virtual community. We designate the bidirectional
effect as community gravity because it represents the power to induce users to join the community. This
analysis provides insights for understanding consumer behavior in an online environment.
Chapter 39
An Approach for Analysing Interactions within Virtual Learning Communities................................ 654
Manuela Repetto, Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy
The aim of the contribution is to present a novel systematic model of interaction analysis which was
designed and successfully experimented with a wide sample of adult learners in order to enhance and
understand cognitive, socio-organizational and emotional-affective processes of virtual learning com-
munities (VLCs). Starting from strengths and weaknesses of the present models and methodologies
on interaction analysis, the mixed methodological approach adopted to develop this novel interaction
analysis model is illustrated. The model is organised in five categories and about thirty indicators and it
can be applied through the development of a coding scheme, a self-assessment questionnaire for learn-
ers, and an assessment grid for tutors. Triangulation of data obtained from these tools and integration
of them with ethnographic analysis make this approach for analysing interactions a reliable means to
allow assessment and self-regulation of learners, while exploring the nature of learning within virtual
learning environments (VLEs).
Section 6
Online Phenomena and Case Studies
Chapter 40
The Sense of e-Learning Community Index (SeLCI) for Computer Supported
Collaborative e-Learning (CSCeL)...................................................................................................... 672
Niki Lambropoulos, London South Bank University, UK
The aim of this research is to shed light in collaborative e-learning communities in order to observe,
analyse and support the e-learning participants. The research context is the Greek teachers e-learning
community, started in 2003 as part of a project for online teachers training and aimed at enabling teach-
ers to acquire new competencies. However, these aims were not met because of passive participation;
therefore this study aimed to enhance the Greek teachers social engagement to achieve the new skills
acquisition. Therefore, the initial sense of community identification was based on empathy; however,
because it was inadequate to fully describe the context,, a Sense of E-Learning Community Index
(SeLCI) was developed. The new SeLCI attributes were: community evolution; sense of belonging;
empathy; trust; intensity characterised by e-learners levels of participation and persistence on post-
ing; collaborative e-learning quality measured by the quality in Computer Supported Collaborative
eLearning (CSCeL) dialogical sequences, participants reflections on own learning; and social network
analysis based on: global cohesion anchored in density, reciprocity, cliques and structural equivalence,
global centrality derived from in- and out-degree centrality and closeness; and local nodes and central-
ity in real time. Forty Greek teachers participated in the study for 30 days using Moodle and enhanced
Moodle with to measure participation, local Social network Analysis and critical thinking levels in CS-
CeL. Quantitative, qualitative, Social Network Analysis and measurements produced by the tools were
used for data analysis. The findings indicated that each of the SeLCI is essential to enhance participa-
tion, collaboration, internalisation and externalisation of knowledge to ensure the e-learning quality and
new skills acquisition. Affective factors in CSCeL (sense of belonging, empathy and trust) were also
essential to increase reciprocity and promote active participation. Community management, e-learning
activities and lastly, the technology appear to affect CSCeL.
Chapter 41
Tracer Studies: A Concrete Approach to a Virtual Challenge.............................................................. 699
Nancy Brigham, Rosenblum Brigham Associates, USA
This chapter introduces Tracer Study methodology, a cost-effective, capacity building tool for evaluat-
ing the operations and effectiveness of Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs). We make the argu-
ment that a VCoP is a dynamic, continually evolving entity, whose characteristics distinguish it in
important ways from naturally occurring or purposively planned communities of practice operating in
the face-to-face world. As a result, VCoPs lend themselves to evaluation by means of Tracer Studies, a
methodology that originated in the field of knowledge utilization, and has been adapted to assess how
a VCoP operates and the extent to which it is successful in promoting knowledge use and dissemina-
tion. The chapter provides historical background on VCoPs, defines Tracer Studies and demonstrates
the types of information that may be derived from a Tracer Study evaluation. We also discuss the ap-
plication of Tracer Study methodology to the evaluation of VCoPs sponsored by a private education
organization.
Chapter 42
Digital Museums in 3D Virtual Environment...................................................................................... 713
Kingkarn Sookhanaphibarn, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Ruck Thawonmas, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
This chapter aims to present an overview of the field of digital museums and describes the current frame-
work of content management systems feasibly integrated in the museums in 3D virtual environment
for assisting visitors to deal with information overload and providing personalized recommendations,
content, and services to them. Digital museums in 3D virtual environment are an intriguing alternative
to let visitors experience them compared to thousands of existing digital museums that are similar to
digital archiving places published in the Internet. Exemplary characteristics of digital museums in Web
1.0, Web 2.0, and Second Life are also reviewed and discussed. Moreover, prior classification of visit-
ing styles essential to personalize the museum context and content is described in this chapter.
Chapter 43
Weaving the Social Fabrics: Recognizing Social Signals to Support Awareness and
Group Interaction in Online Games..................................................................................................... 731
Tiffany Y. Tang, Konkuk University, South Korea
Pinata Winoto, Konkuk University, South Korea
Users in rich social media environments such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) ac-
complish various kinds of tasks through maintaining a constant high degree of awareness and social
awareness. Generally, being aware of each others presence provides a clue for ones own action in a
situated environment. It guides ones own actions accordingly; and serves as virtual traces to coordi-
nate and collaborate with partners. The ability to appropriately incorporate social spaces in the design
of MMOGs socially-oriented game elements is critical. In other words, do MMOGs games and their
designs facilitate social interactions from players perspective? In order to shed light on this issue, we
conducted a series of usability studies through the typical ethnographic evaluation on the SIMs Online
(TSO) and two other MMOGs. Our findings are mixed and they revealed that while players admitted
tools and group-oriented tasks exist in the game, their usability are inadequately satisfactory; that is
they are not well utilized by the players, and in some cases, there are too many which makes them
difficult to decide which one(s) to notice. In addition, some of these tools are not readily accessible to
players to unfold some critical information before/during their interactions with others. Similar findings
were obtained from our study on a number of other MMOGs. This chapter describes our evaluation
which shed light on the impact of appropriate technology and its design elements in promoting and sup-
porting social awareness and seamless group interactions.
Chapter 44
Studying Social Capital in the New Communitarian Horizon: A Multi-Method
Research Strategy................................................................................................................................. 753
Jos Luis Lpez Aguirre, Universidad Panamericana, Mxico
Characterized by the virtualization vs. materialization of the social interaction spaces, current commu-
nitarian scenarios set a series of doubts about how new technologies are transforming the ability of hu-
mans to associate with others over space and time. This uncertain atmosphere takes our methodological
approaches for studying virtual communities to the study of the communitarian environment through
the analysis of essential attributes that determine the existence of a community: social capital. This
chapter presents a multi-method research strategy that allows the study of the social capital in these
hybrid communities, in which the only stable element to perform the analysis is the person, understood
as the central node where different social groups converge in physical and virtual interaction nets and
where ultimately communitarian feelings are cherished.
Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 766

xxxii
Foreword
If you go back to the earliest days of virtual communities, methods were simple: journalists and
researchers participated, and then wrote about it. Lindsy Van Gelder met Joan (who was really
Alex) on Compuserve in 1983, and wrote The Case of the Electronic Lover for Ms. Magazine in
1985 (Van Gelder, 1985). Howard Rheingold got advice from a friendly pediatrician in the middle of
the night, chatting with friends on the WELL in the early 1990s (Rheingold, 1993). When Judith Donath
was engaged to be married, she hung out on the brides group on USENET and then used concepts from
animal behavior to understand what she observed (Donath, 1998). Just explaining the medium to the
public and to scholars was half the battle. Applying established theory to understand your personal
experiences was cutting edge.
At the time of this writing in 2010, virtual communities/social computing are now part of mainstream
popular culture. The medium is pervasive in industrialized nations, and mobile computing is growing
explosively in developing nations. As virtual communities have accelerated in popularity, our need to
understand them has grown commensurately.
Our teenagers are gaming and texting, our elderly parents are renewing friendships online that are 50
years old, and our businesses are locating and vetting new suppliers on other continents. What does it
all mean? How do we begin to tease apart the evolving socio-technical system that is the Internet today?
With the rise of the importance of social computing comes a need for a wide range of methods to
study these phenomena carefully. In this volume, Ben Kei Daniel has pulled together a global, savvy
group of authors to survey a broad spectrum of methods and approaches. These methods borrow from a
variety of disciplines. Ethnographic methods have their roots in anthropology, and social network analysis
has its roots in quantitative sociology. Semantic network approaches have their roots in computer sci-
ence and artificial intelligence. Conversation analysis comes from linguistics. And that doesnt mention
work in this volume coming from researchers in management, geography, mathematics and education.
Most of the tools and projects described in this volume draw on not just one of these disciplines, but
use multiple approaches in a complimentary fashion. Together, these chapters provide a window on our
growing methodological sophistication in how to understand virtual communities.
Amy Bruckman
Atlanta, Georgia
June 2010
Amy Bruckman is an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She
and her students in the Electronic Learning Communities (ELC) research group do research on social computing, particularly
for educational applications. She is interested in the ways that we can design online communities to encourage individuals
xxxiii
to create and share content online, and learn through that process. Dr. Bruckman received her Ph.D. from the MIT Media
Lab's Epistemology and Learning group in 1997, her M.S.V.S. from the Media Lab's Interactive Cinema Group in 1991, and
a B.A. in physics from Harvard University in 1987. In 1999, she was named one of the 100 top young innovators in science
and technology in the world (TR100) by Technology Review magazine. In 2002, she was awarded the Jan Hawkins Award for
Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies.
REFERENCES
Donath, J. (1998). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. In P. Kollock & M. Smith (Eds.),
Communities in Cyberspace: Routledge.
Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Van Gelder, L. (1985). The Strange Case of the Electronic Lover. Ms.
xxxiv
Preface
INTRODUCTION
The 21st century has witnessed a phenomenal increase in the number of virtual communities. This growth
signifies our augmenting desire to connect, work, share, exchange, play and socialize with others irre-
spective of time, space, speed and distance. Today, more and more people are using social software such
as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Blogs, Wikis, LinkedIn, and many others, to help them carry out their
daily activities. As new technologies become an increasingly interwoven aspect of our everyday lives,
it has become apparent that traditional methods for studying social systems that characterizes some of
these technologies often lack the detailed understanding of aspects of human, social and cultural life
that is required. Since virtual communities and phenomena inherent in them are emergent, there is still
a lack of robust methods and approaches to study and understand virtual communities in breadth and
depth. Clearly, this is critical if we are to provide complete and useful information systems, build better
tools, and develop lean and efficient processes that can make interactions in these communities more
productive, trustworthy, safe, secure and fun.
Currently, the massive utilization of virtual communities generates huge volume of data, which if
systematically captured and appropriately analyzed, would be invaluable to increased understanding of
social, educational and technological phenomena happening in these communities.
Further, the availability of tracking and analytic tools as well as the development of robust just-in-
time data visualization software has helped enhance unprecedented opportunities to help researchers
answers questions they have entertained only theoretically for decades, largely due to the difficulty to
directly observe social relations inherent in these communities.
This handbook of Research on Methods and Techniques for Studying Virtual Communities: Phenomena
and Paradigms collectively appeal to a reorientation of research directions and methods and techniques
on studying virtual communities. The book satisfies the need for diverse and yet coherent methodological
consideration and tools for data collection, analysis and presentation on virtual communities.
Drawing from a wide variety of disciplines and sectors, methods covered in the book include; qualita-
tive, quantitative, mixed methods, social network analysis, content analysis, program evaluation, discourse
analysis, data mining, and data and user modelling. Metrics for measuring virtual communities are also
discussed. Moreover case studies on important emergent phenomena in virtual communities are presented.
PURPOSE OF THE BOOK
Virtual communities have become a subject of considerable interest in both research and practice. These
communities encompass a broad spectrum of activities, ranging from social networking, knowledge
xxxv
networking, health and health care, educational and economical. Attempts to evaluate the performance
of virtual communities would depend on various possible ways of defining and measuring success
and depending upon the perspective of the researcher, the sector they are associated with, as well as
the type of community being investigated. In the past, several researchers have used various methods
and metrics to investigate and measure different phenomena in virtual communities. Some researchers
employed rigorous research methods such as social network analysis; others used traditional qualitative
or quantitative methods and data mining techniques, while others have relied on ad hoc methods. This
is the first book that brings together a number of methods for examining virtual communities. The book
describes various research methods relevant for virtual communities and provides the readers with ways
in which to apply these methods. The methods and techniques presented in the book are mainly based
on empirical research. Since currently there is no comprehensive book on research methods for studying
virtual communities, this book is likely to have enormous impact on scholarly and practical profound
knowledge on doing research on virtual communities. In addition, the book makes strong theoretical
and practical contribution to the field.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This is a reference book, primarily intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and
researchers interested in studying and building tools to support virtual communities. The book will be
useful to programs taught in Computer Science, Educational Technology programs, Information Studies,
Business and many other disciplines in the Humanities and the Social Sciences.
BENEFITS AND SCHOLARLY VALUE
This book is a practical and immediately useful reference for researchers, technologists, instructors and
graduate as well as senior undergraduate students who want to better understand how to use scientific
research methods to study virtual communities. Contributors also write about the nature of relevant tools
for data collection and analysis. The major contributions of the book however, are the internationally and
diverse chapters and the breadth and depth of the issues covered as well as the detailed discussions and
presentations of various methods for studying virtual communities, illustrating with practical examples
drawn from current research.
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
The book has 44 chapters, which are spread across 5 sections. Section 1 of the book consists of chapters
focused on an overview of virtual communities, and philosophical foundations of learning, teaching
and engagement in virtual communities. Section 2 presents social and semantic network analysis of
various aspects of virtual communities as well as dynamic models of virtual communities. In Section
3, chapters deal with methods and methodology for studying virtual communities. Section 4 introduces
chapters describing various measures and approaches for studying virtual communities. And Section 5
presents case studies on various technical and social aspects of phenomenon of virtual communities. An
overview of each section of the book and chapters in it are described in the beginning of each section.
xxxvi
Acknowledgment
This excellent volume is a collaborative project. I am grateful to many people for making this project a
great success. I would like to thank all the contributors to this volume for their dedication and time. Thanks
are also due to the members of the Editorial Advisory Board for their guidance and advice. Further, I
am grateful to all the anonymous reviewers for taking their valuable time to review all the chapters, and
provide constructive feedback. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my mentors Dr. Beth
Horsburgh and Dr. Veronika Makarova who provided me with numerous opportunities to develop and
extend my research insights to practical domains, and within clinical settings. Thanks are also extended
to Dr. Richard Julien for his Departmental leadership and support.
Special thanks go to IGI Global Editorial and Publishing Team, whose contributions throughout
the whole publication process were invaluable. In particular, I am deeply indebted to Julia Mosemann
who continuously provided support via e-mail and kept the project on schedule, and Jan Travers for
co-coordinating the editorial process.
I am also grateful to my fiance Michelle Lavergne for her unconditional love, patience and support.
It was her encouragement to start this book project. And finally, thanks to everyone who contributed in
one way or another towards the completion of this project.
Sincerely,
Ben Kei Daniel

University of Saskathewan, Canada
Section 1
Introduction to Virtual
Communities
Virtual communities are increasing becoming part of how we work, play, and learn. But what are these communities?
What are they really good for and what are the key research issues prevalent in these communities? Section 1of the book
consists of 4 introductory chapters addressing theoretical and practical themes underlying virtual communities. Chapter 1
opens up with the description of the key themes covered in the book as well as the authors geographical and institutional
distributions. The goal of the chapter is to provide the reader with context and basis in which the books draws from.
Chapter 2 addresses the practical aspects as well as challenges associated with understanding the functional mechanisms
of virtual communities. In particular, the chapter presents a prototype that demonstrates how to extract and infer expertise
by taking into account people's participation in various virtual communities (forums and projects). The chapter also presents
a proposal for applying customized rules and other enabling technologies to the expert finding task.
Chapter 3 proceeds with a description of the development of a conceptual frame of reference for gaining insight to
the analysis of practice in virtual communities. The chapter includes a thorough analysis of related work in new media,
community-oriented thinking and practice-based approaches. The chapter also presents reflections on recent case studies
in the area.
Chapter 4 takes a philosophical turn on the notion of e-learning paradigm through examination of a sample of diverse
e-learning communities; considering each in association with distinct teaching and technology philosophies-of-practice, as
well as divergent research and development histories.
1
Chapter 1
Introduction to this Volume
Ben Kei Daniel
ABSRTACT
The growth of virtual communities and their continuous impact on social, economic and technological
structures of societies has attracted a great deal of interest among researchers, practitioners, system
designers and policy makers. All interested in analysing and understanding how these communities
form, develop, nurture social interaction, influence various technological design and implementation,
enhance information and knowledge sharing, support business and act as catalytic environments to sup-
port human learning. This Chapter provides a general overview of virtual communities and introduces
the reader to the various themes covered in this volume as well as the geographical distribution and
institutional affiliations of contributors to the volume.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF of defence against the possibility of nuclear war.

VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES Through this networkAdvanced Research
Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), came
Understanding the historical development of the development of a system which would act as
virtual communities requires a closer look at the a channel for democratic information and distri-
history of the Internet. The Internet came into bution. This system advanced during the 1970s,
inception in 1969, when the United States De- with hosts being connected to the ARPANET as
partment of Defence Advanced Projects Research well as the subsequent appearance of state-funded
Agency (DARPA) established a computer network computer networks, which later became known
designed to endorse the existence of information as the Internet.
beyond a susceptible, central location as a means The pioneer technologies that supported virtual
communities, started with the electronic mailing
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch001 systems or, simply, e-mail, and then followed by
Copyright 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
listservs and notice boards and then discussion was established in 1980, as a distributed Inter-
forums. In 2000, various forms of websites sup- net discussion system. Membership in Usernet
ported by a wide range of Web technologies (Illera, consisted mainly of voluntarily contributors and
2007) became the mainstream environments for moderators. There were also other early virtual
virtual communities. Though virtual communities communities; Minitel in France and Whole Earth
might seem like a new phenomenon, there is a Lectronic Link (WELL) in the United States of
historical trend to their development. America. The WELL, was established in 1985 and
About four decades ago Licklider (1968) pre- many researchers have investigated its cultural
dicted the emergence of technology enhanced so- manifestations and reported in several books (e.g.
cial systemshe referred to these systems online Reinghold, 1993). Many of the WELLs members
communities. Virtual communities, in his view, voluntarily contribute to community building
consisted of geographically separated individuals and maintenance (e.g., as conference hosts). The
who would naturally group themselves into small WELL, as described in its site provides a literate
clusters to work together or work individually on watering hole for some articulate and unpreten-
some issues of interests. Online/ virtual communi- tious thinkers. Other writers claimed that the
ties, he suggested would be communities not of Minitel preceded the World Wide Web and that
common location, but of common interest. This it existed since 1982 and was accessible to its
prediction became accurate as there are many members through the telephone lines. Further,
virtual communities that are based around com- it was stated that from its early days, members
mon interests and goals. of Minitel could make online purchases, make
In some of the literature explored, virtual train reservations, check stock prices, search the
communities developed prior to the instigation telephone directory, and chat in a similar way
of the Internet. They started to mature with the people do over the Internet today.
development of the Web technologies. The early In modern times, Slashdot is perhaps one of
examples of virtual communities included UseNet, the most popular virtual communities. Slashdot
with millions of users all around the world. Usenet hosts technology-related forums, with articles and
Figure 1. Historical development of virtual communities
2
readers comments. Slashdot subculture has be- and a shared value system, usually rooted in a
come well-known in Internet circles, where its common religion.
members accumulate a karma score and volun- Further, the Utopian Promises - Net Realities,
teer moderators are selected from those with high asserted that anyone with even a basic knowl-
scores. Other virtual communities include a dis- edge of Sociology understands that information
tributed communities of practice, intended to exchange in no way constitutes a community. The
foster knowledge sharing and data among profes- following summarises some of the fundamental
sionals working within the areas of governance features of virtual communities as opposed to
and international development (Daniel, Sarkar & geographical communities:
OBrien, 2003) and virtual learning communities
for graduates students of educational technology Membership: Membership can be drawn
in higher education (Schwier, 2007). globally, from any culture and national,
identity etc. There is a non-binding mem-
What is a Virtual Community? bership (retreat from communication is
rather easily possible).
The concept of a virtual community means dif- Anonymity: Some virtual communities
ferent things to different people. In the scientific allow anonymity while others encourage
literature, several definitions have been proposed, openness.
ranging from those treating virtual communities Domain Focused: virtual communities are
as technological environments and those that de- constructed along shared interests goals
scribe the social configurations of the individuals and are domain specific
participating in these environments. Preece (2000) Communication: There is continued in-
suggested that a virtual community comprises teraction, i.e. a certain temporal continuity
of members who share an interest, who interact of online communication.
repeatedly, generate shared resources, develop Social Protocols: There are formal or in-
governing policies, demonstrate reciprocity, and formal conventions of online behaviour,
share cultural norms. Further, according to Rhe- style, and language and modes of engage-
ingold (1993) virtual communities are social ment. These are either explicitly stipulated
aggregations that emerge from the Net when or they are implied.
enough people carry on those public discussions Space-Time: Communication is spatially
long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to disembodied and temporally synchronous
form webs of personal relationships in cyber- or asynchronous.
space (p.5). Rheingolds definition is one of Shared Meaning: Meaning is communi-
the most frequently quoted in many discussions cated and shared among members. New
about virtual communities. Regardless of how meaning is negotiated.
a virtual community is defined, the concept in- Voluntary: Interaction in virtual commu-
tensely discussed, sometimes recieving a frosty nities is voluntary and people are free to
reception mainly from some Sociologists, who lurk, contribute and withdraw as they deem
doubt the validity ofof the term. Weinreich (1997) fit.
for example argued that the idea of virtual com- Speed: Relationships can become intense
munities must be wrong because community is more quickly online.
a collection of kinship networks which share a Delusive Behaviour: People feel more
common geographic territory a common history, courageous online than offline because
they can more easily end a conversation,
3
they feel that there are potentially less con- Identity: In some virtual communities
sequences for action in a symbolic than in such as a distributed community of prac-
a physical space, and they have more time tice, with limited anonymity, there is a
for thinking before answering and arguing. community directory which contains a list-
Visual Cues: The lack of physical pres- ing of all the members of the community,
ence and visual context queues and the their expertise or what they can contribute
invisibility of the communication partners to the community. This directory provides
might lower inhibitions. the ability to identify resources and access
Deep Reflection: In a virtual community resources which will enhance the knowl-
people can take their time to contribute, edge sharing process.
they can retrieve what they contributed or
others contributed and synthesize things.
Virtualisation and Actualisation of TYPES OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
Relationships: In virtual communities,
members first connect in cyberspace to ini- The discussion about virtual communities in
tiate relationship (virtualisation) and later this chapter is based on distinction between two
move the relationship to continue in physi- types of virtual communities (virtual learning
cal space (actualisation). Similarly, they communities and distributed communities of
can move actual relationships from physi- practice). These two communities were focus of
cal space to online setting previous research (Daniel, Schwier & McCalla,
Structure: The virtual community, like 2003) and they solid maturity to highly focused
any other, has a distinct structure with kinds of virtual communities intended to provide
well-defined responsibility and roles. interesting technological, educational and social
implication to learning and knowledge sharing. A
Figure 2. Core components of virtual community
4
simple model of these communities is described Distributed Communities of Practice

in Figure 2.
A distributed community of practice is a type of
Virtual Learning Communities a virtual community, serving as a vehicle for data
and information exchange among a dispersed,
The term virtual learning community is an ag- multisectoral and highly distributed professionals,
gregate of three concepts, virtual, learning practitioners and scientists, who are interested in
and community. Defining these three concepts various issues within a certain field of practice.
independently has been a difficult challenge to Though the notion of a distributed community
researchers in technology, information systems, of practice (DCoP) draws from the theory of a
education and sociology. Drawing from the community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991),
previous discussion on what can be considered a DCoP differs from community of practice in
a virtual community; one would add a learning many significant ways. A distributed community
dimension to complete the meaning. The emphasis of practice describes a group of geographically
on learning signifies members focus on learning. dispersed professionals who share common prac-
This often has a clear starting and exit point. Of tices and interests in a particular area of concern,
course, like any new concept, some writers use and whose activities can be enriched and mediated
the term virtual learning community to describe by information and communication technology
other social activities conducted in virtual com- (Daniel, Schwier & McCalla, 2003). The concept
munities which might relate to a formalize set of of distributed communities of practice aims to
learning activities. Figure 3 provides examples move beyond connectivity to achieve new levels
of a virtual learning community. of community interactivity, bringing together
diverse groups and encouraging knowledge and
Figure 3. Two type of virtual communities
5
Figure 4. A proof-of-a concept of a distributed community of practice: governance example
information sharing among people, organizations, Shared Interests: Membership is orga-

and communities. nized around topics or domain issues that
An example of a distributed community of are important to them.
practice (see Figure 4) is a group of researchers Common Identity: Members devel-
in Canadian Universities and Colleges, various op shared understanding and common
government departments, non-governmental identity.
organizations and private consulting who are Shared Information and Knowledge:
although diverse in organisational backgrounds Members share information and knowl-
and distributed all over Canada, are all interested edge, or they are willing to develop a cul-
in different issues relating to the domain of gov- ture of sharing, voluntarily responding to
ernance and international development (Daniel, requests for help.
Sarkar & OBrien, 2008). Voluntary Participation: Members nor-
What holds members together in a distributed mally voluntarily participate in the activi-
community of practice is a common sense of ties of the community.
purpose and a need to know what each other knows Autonomy in Setting Goals: A distributed
and to share knowledge and exchange information. community of practice sets its own agenda
The ultimate goals of a distributed community of based on the needs of the members and
practice are informal or non-formal learning and these needs change over time as the com-
knowledge sharing. For a distributed community munity evolves and membership and envi-
of practice to evolve, it requires individuals whom ronment changes.
are often geographically distributed, organization- Awareness of Social Protocols and
ally and culturally diverse to be connected through Goals: Members in a distributed commu-
various forms of computer mediated communica- nity of practice are normally aware of the
tion tools. The key features of distributed com- acceptable social protocols and goals of
munities of practice are listed below: the community.
6
Awareness of Membership: Members in In addition, its life cycle of a distributed com-

a distributed community of practice are munity of practice is determined by the value it
normally aware of each other in the com- creates for its members and it is sustained by the
munity; that is, individuals have a reason- continuity of relevance of its goals to the members.
able knowledge of who is who and what
they do in the community.
Effective Means of Communications: STANDARDIZED METHODS FOR
Effective communication among others STUDYING VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
remains a key distinguishing factor among
communities. Robust communication may Despite the growing interest in the investigation
include face-to-face meetings and tech- of virtual communities, the overall quality and
nology-mediated communication such as depth of research varies considerably. One possible
email, videoconferencing, discussion fo- reason is that virtual communities and research
rums, WebPages, intelligent agents. issues surrounding them cut across disciplines and
there are limited interdisciplinary methodologies
Unlike a virtual learning community where for addressing these issues thoroughly. In addi-
membership is not necessarily professionally tion, because the area is relatively new, there has
defined, distributed community of practice draws been little opportunity to address many emerging
its members from professionals who are likely to research issues. In any area of new research, asking
sharing common interests in connecting to others, the right kinds of questions, formulating interesting
to informally learn from each other, through the use hypotheses and adapting research methods to an
of information and communication technologies. emerging field poses many challenges. Further,
Table 1. Virtual learning communities and distributed communities of practice
Virtual learning communities Distributed communities of practice

Membership is explicit and identities are generally known Membership may or may not be explicit
Presences of an instructor Facilitator, coordinator or a system administrator
Participation is often required Participation is mainly voluntary
Explicit set of social protocols for interaction Implicit and emergent set of social protocols for interactions
Formal learning goals Informal learning goals
Possibly diverse backgrounds of individual Common subject-matter
Low shared understanding of domain High shared understanding of domain
Loose sense of professionalism Strong sense of professional identity
Strict distribution of responsibilities No formal distribution of responsibilities
Easily disbanded once established Less easily disbanded once established
Low level of trust Reasonable level of trust
Life span determined by extent in which goals are achieved Life span determined by the instrumental/expressive value the commu-
nity provides to its members
Pre-planned activities and fixed goals A joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its
members
7
Figure 5. Distribution of Chapters by Country (N=45)
in an interdisciplinary research, it normally takes The diversity in representation as well as the

time for the scientific community to relate to issues presented in the book suggest the global
each other in a way that makes any kind of col- nature of debate on the value of virtual communi-
laborative progress possible. In addition, research ties. Further, the diversity in the chapters also
and methodological approaches adapted to these shows that research on virtual communities is not
kinds of studies are diverse, and they range from only multidisciplinary but multisectoral, where it
empirical to theoretical. encompasses academia, government and the
corporate sector. Figure 6 presents percentages
of chapters associated with each sector.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS VOLUME
Figure 6. Chapters Distribution by Sector (N=45)
This is one of the first comprehensive Handbook
of Research Methods on virtual communities; pre-
senting an array of methods, techniques, measures
and matrices and various ways of studying, and
modelling different phenomena in virtual com-
munities. The book brings together the various
experiences of experts in the field, throughout the
world contributing research on methods for study-
ing virtual communities in a single and coherent
book. There are over 40Chapters; contributed
by 92 well respected Researchers and Scientists
from 20 countries, with global representation from
North America, South America, Europe, Australia,
Africa and Asia.
8
Main Themes Illera, J. L. R. (2007). How virtual communities of

practice and learning communities can change our
The main themes presented in the book range from vision of education. Retrieved from http://sisifo.
technical analysis, socio-educational analysis, fpce.ul.pt/pdfs/sisifo03ENGconfer.pdf
computational modelling and emergent method-
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning:
ological presentation. The key focus however, is
legitimate peripheral participation. New York:
on the following:
Cambridge University Press.
Philosophical underpinnings of virtual Licklider, J. C. R. (1968). The Computer as a
communities Communication Device. Science and Technology.
Social and Semantic Network Analysis Reprinted in. In Memoriam: J.C.R. Licklider.
Computational Modelling Systems Research Center.
Methods and Methodologies
Preece, J. (2000). Online Communities: Designing
Measures and Matrices
Usability, Supporting Sociability. Chichester, UK:
Emergent phenomenon
John Wiley & Sons.
Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community:
Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Read-
REFERENCES ing, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Daniel, B. K., McCalla, G., & Schwier, R. (2003). Schwier, R. A. (2007). A typology of catalysts,
Social Capital in Virtual Learning Communities emphases and elements of virtual learning com-
and Distributed Communities of Practice. The munities. In Luppicini, R. (Ed.), Trends in distance
Canadian Journal of Learning Technology, 29(3), education: A focus on communities of learning
113139. (pp. 1740). Greenwich, CT: Information Age
Publishing.
Daniel, B. K., O Brien, D., & Sarkar, A. (2003). A
design approach for Canadian distributed commu- Weinreich, F. (1997). Establishing a point of view
nity of practice on Governance and International towards virtual communities. Computer-Mediated
Development: A Preliminary Report. In Verburg, Communication, 3(2). Retrieved May 29, 2010
R. M., & De Ridder, J. A. (Eds.), Knowledge shar- from http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1997/
ing under distributed circumstances (pp. 1924). feb/wein.html.
Enschede: Ipskamps.
Daniel, Sarkar & OBrien (2008). Theory and
practice of designing distributed communities
of practice: Experience from the governance
knowledge network in research communication. In
Cline Beaudet, C., Grant, P. & Starke-Meyerring,
D. (Eds.), the social and human sciences: From
dissemination to public engagement (pp. 190-209).
New Castle: Cambridge Scholars.
9
10
Chapter 2
GEEK:
Analyzing Online Communities
for Expertise Information
Lian Shi
Parque Cientfico Tecnolgico de Gijn Edificio Centros Tecnolgicos, Spain
Diego Berrueta
Sergio Fernndez
Luis Polo
Ivn Mnguez
Emilio Rubiera
Silvino Fernndez
ABSTRACT
Finding experts over the Web using semantics has recently received increased attention, especially its
application to enterprise management. This scenario introduces many novel challenges to the Web of
Data. Gathering Enterprise Expertise Knowledge (GEEK) is a research project which fosters the adop-
tion of Semantic Web technologies within the enterprise environment. GEEK has produced a prototype
that demonstrates how to extract and infer expertise by taking into account peoples participation in
various online communities (forums and projects). The reuse and interlinking of existing, well-established
vocabularies in the areas of person description (FOAF), Internet communities (SIOC), project descrip-
tion (DOAP) and vocabulary sharing (SKOS) are explored in our framework, as well as a proposal for
applying customized rules and other enabling technologies to the expert finding task.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch002
GEEK
GEEK: ANALYSING ONLINE in order to plan training activities; (iii) building

COMMUNITIES FOR EXPERTISE teams with the purpose of internal mobility and
INFORMATION agile response to emergency situations.
Semantic Web technologies have reached a
In the last decades, we are observing a growing maturity that allows managing large amounts of
need for different types of multidimensional ex- linked data, including information from virtual
pertise. Efficient expertise management is a critical communities. Consequently, there seems to be
factor of success for organizations. Traditional potential possibilities for addressing enterprise
approaches to this challenge are suffering many expertise management by providing precise
difficulties. Firstly, within multinational organiza- machine-readable semantic descriptions of the
tions, enterprises and companies, which are usually expertise and profiles of employees. The first step
built by continuous merging of smaller companies, is to identify potential information sources on
information systems are heterogeneous, disperse the Web, and to create the mechanisms to gather
and often redundant. Secondly, a huge number of significant amounts of data. The raw information
employees are scattered all over the world, with is usually available in different formats, therefore
their expertise-related information spread out. suitable extraction components are proposed to
Human resources departments have to manage adapt the data. An ontology is used to unify all the
and deal with hundreds of thousands of employees information that comes from different data sources.
and countless profiles and areas of expertise. Even The next step is to deal with partial descriptions
if integrated company solutions (such as ERPs, caused by the use of different identifiers for the
Human Resources Management Systems, etc.) can same resource. This phenomenon is particularly
efficiently manage administrative and personnel evident when a single individual participates in
information, data about employees profiles are multiple online communities under different iden-
decoupled from their daily activity, and have only tities (e.g., different email addresses). On the one
poor links with their actual expertise. Thirdly, hand, these repetitive data become a burden for the
there is a very large variety of competencies quality of the collected data. On the other hand,
with different topics, knowledge and techniques, users would be annoyed by redundant answers
which means another challenge is to locate given for a given query. Therefore we apply smushing
expertise quickly and precisely. The last issue is techniques aiming to identify the co-occurrence
that traditional IT integration and maintenance of of the same person in different communities. A
a new system becomes very complex. key part of the project is the expertise inference
Motivated by these significant problems, the process. We assume that peoples participation
GEEK project aims to find a better solution to in communities is an evidence of their expertise.
expertise management. More precisely, GEEK Then a set of customized rules are used and ex-
better enables us to extract and infer up-to-date ecuted on top of all collected data to derive the
expertise by taking into account peoples partici- expertise. Some mathematical functions aggregate
pation in virtual communities. In order to achieve partial expertise evidences into a coherent result.
this idea, we get help from the power of semantic A friendly interface allows users to enter queries
technologies, which also provide lots of innovation and browse the results and the collected data,
opportunities to implementing the GEEK proto- including experts profiles.
type. There is a range of benefits that can revert
into an advanced personnel management. We list
the most intuitive ones here: (i) identifying experts
that match a given profile; (ii) detecting skill gaps
11
GEEK
RELATED WORK vocabularies, rule extensions (e.g., for FOAF,

SIOC, DOAP and SKOS) and best practices for
Expert finders are systems that provide answers the annotation of personal homepages, web pages
to expertise questions, in particular, about indi- of institutions, conferences, publication indexes,
viduals with a certain competence. These systems and (ii) to provide adequate metadata to enable
have been explored in series of studies, including computer agents to find experts on particular top-
Streeter & Lochbaum (1988), Krulwich & Bruckey ics. The main goal of ExpertFinder is to enable a
(1996), and Ackerman & McDonald (1996) as well Web-scale infrastructure for the creation, publi-
as the studies in Ackerman et al. (2002). Most of cation and use of experts semantic descriptions
these current systems use modern information to support various scenarios including: group
retrieval techniques to discover expertise from management, disaster response, recruitment,
implicit or secondary electronic resources (Zhang team building, problem solving, and on-the-fly
et al., 2007). A persons expertise is presented as consultation.
terms, which are keyword matched using standard There are several products and projects related
IR techniques. The result is usually an unordered to the area of ExpertFinder. For instance, Find-
list of related people, or a list ordered according to XpRT (Li et al., 2006) builds on the RDF-based
term frequencies. The limitation of these systems FOAF project, and implements rules for users
is that it is difficult to measure the peoples relative looking for an expert to collaborate with. This
expertise levels in particular areas. implementation focuses on combining FOAF
Mika (2005) proposed Flink, a system which facts and RuleML (Boley, 2006) rules to allow
extracts social network information including users to derive FOAF data by deploying person-
Web documents, FOAF data, email messages and centric rules, either before FOAF publication or,
bibliographic references from multiple sources. on demand, from published (RuleML FOAF)
The collected information is then represented pages. Both a Description Logic (DL) reasoner and
in extended FOAF profiles and can be used to a rule engine are required to carry out inference
perform inference. A RDF crawler collects pro- tasks. The SemDis project proposes a Semantic
files from FOAF documents on the web. These Web application that detects Conflict of Interest
profiles are then matched with members of the (COI) relationships among potential reviewers
target community. Rules are defined to decide and authors of scientific papers (Aleman-Meza et
whether people know each other and to determine al., 2006). The expertise of a person on different
similar instances across multiple information topics or areas is described in a large populated
sources. GEEK has several points in common ontology about computer science publications
with Flink, although there are some differences based on the DBLP bibliography database.
too. The main objective of GEEK is to extract the The SEEMP project aims to design and
expertise of people who participate in multiple implement in a prototypal way an interoperability
communities by running inference rules on top architecture for public e-Employment services.
of RDF data captured from these communities, SEEMP employs Semantic Web Services technol-
whereas Flink focuses on the data extraction from ogy and introduces annotations in both the services
social networks and the analysis of the personal for interacting with public employment agencies
relationships (e.g., co-authorship) by using cen- and the job offering/CVs. More recently, the Active
trality measures (Markov centrality/PageRank, project addresses the need for greater productivity
closeness and betweeness). of knowledge workers. One of its research lines
ExpertFinder (http://expertfinder.info/) is an involves using matching learning techniques
international initiative that aims (i) to devise to describe the users context semantically and
12
GEEK
thereby tailor the information presented to the The main novelties of our approach are that
user to fit the current tasks. The main difference we: (i) use social networks within an organiza-
between GEEK on the one hand, and SEEMP and tion or enterprise to help finding the appropriate
Active on the other hand, is that we pay attention people and their notable knowledge as well; (ii)
on finding experts and identifying expertise leverage Semantic Web technologies for data rec-
rather than matching profiles. ollection and data integration from heterogeneous
Launched in the last months of 2008 Innoraise and legacy information sources, both internal and
is a product that combines social software with external; (iii) execute a set of customized rules on
semantics, information retrieval and data mining top of all data to draw out evidences about experts
technologies to provide a solution for expert find- and their outstanding expertise, through which an
ing in computer science. Their novelty primarily ordering rank is produced; (iv) empower end users
comes from the unique combination of techniques without any background of Semantic Web tech-
employed and some unprecedented algorithmic nologies to conveniently express queries. When
achievements. They have two different versions put together, these innovations enable employees
of their product: a community edition focused on in a global enterprise to find an appropriate expert
the needs of distributed organizations and Web with whom they can consult, and whose expertise
communities, and an enterprise edition that ad- can be used to solve particular situations.
ditionally provides connectors to some enterprise
applications.
As well as these, portals such as ExpertWit- TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
ness, Expertise Search and Teclantic have become
popular recently. Users can look for experts who The GEEK ExpertFinder is an integrated project
have relevant expertise through match-making. built on the aggregation of several independent
However, it is quite common that novice users components, powered by Semantic Web technolo-
have difficulties in characterizing their request gies. It hosts a compact dataset and encompasses
for specific expertise, and current systems are high-level enabling applications that exploit con-
not user-friendly enough to help them to find an solidated data for expertise management. The com-
expert and start collaboration, if desired. ponents provide storage, management, refinement
The expert search task is part of the Enterprise and querying facilities for the hosted information.
track of the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) In this section, we present the relevant methods
since it was firstly launched in 2005 (Craswell and technologies used in the realization of the
et al., 2005). The TREC community provides a GEEK prototype described above.
benchmark consisting of organizational document
collections, lists of candidate experts and sets of Vocabularies
search topics, each one with a list of actual experts.
This benchmark can be used to evaluate expert Driven by the primary application of expert find-
finding systems that are based on text retrieval ing, we reuse and extend existing, established
techniques, which is an approach radically differ- vocabularies from the Semantic Web. In particular,
ent from the one we use in GEEK. For instance, text FOAF, SIOC, DOAP and SKOS are the starting
retrieval techniques must be adapted for different points of our work as they cover a wide range
natural languages, while the approach followed in of necessary features to adequately describe the
GEEK is language-independent because it is not expert finder domain. This combination was firstly
sensitive to the content of the expertise evidences. proposed by Aleman-Meza et al. (2007).
13
GEEK
FOAF (Brickley & Miller, 2007) is a paradig- All these small vocabularies interact with
matic vocabulary widely used on the Semantic the others, as shown in Figure 1. Note that other
Web. It was developed to create machine readable vocabularies specifically designed to describe the
descriptions about people, groups, organizations, CV of an individual, such as DOAC and Resume,
and their relationships. It contains some purely de- have not been considered, because GEEK focuses
scriptive properties, such as foaf:mbox_sha1sum on the expertise that can be extracted from the
which can be used to relate people to their email activity traces in the communities. In addition
addresses without revealing the address to spam- to the use of these vocabularies, it is necessary
mers. Interestingly, FOAF also contains relational to develop a new ontology to describe the finer
properties relevant for the expert finder domain, details of the individuals participation in forums,
such as foaf:currentProject and foaf:pastProject, and the derived expertise evidences. The design
which provide information on some collaborative of this ontology is described in detail later in this
or individual undertaking that a person is (or has chapter.
been) involved in. In our work, FOAF is used to
describe the personal data of the individuals, i.e., Resource Smushing
the potential experts.
The SIOC ontology (Breslin et al., 2006) can The increasing amount of machine processable
capture the information contained explicitly and data in the Semantic Web facilitates processes
implicitly in online communities and discussion such as social network analysis and data mining.
forums. Several software applications, usually Innovative applications, like expert finding on
deployed as plug-ins, are already available to the (Semantic) Web, are enabled by the ability
export SIOC data from some popular blogging to execute these processes at a World Wide Web
platforms, web forums, mailing lists and content scale. Although the RDF data model is well
management systems. In our work, SIOC is used suited for seamlessly merging data (triples) from
for the description of online discussion forums, arbitrary sources, a data integration problem still
which are classified as sioc:Forums. Contributions remains. Unconnected descriptions of the same
to these communities are instances of sioc:Post. thing can be obtained from different sources. For
DOAP is a small vocabulary used to describe instance, a single individual can participate in
open source projects (Dumbill, 2004). Large open several web communities with different virtual
source communities have internally adopted and identities. When they are summed together, the
extended DOAP to organize their projects. The descriptions of his or her virtual identities (such as
pivotal concept is the class doap:Project, but proj- e-mail accounts) will be different RDF resources
ect instances are also related to their developers, weakly connected to each other. If these identi-
releases, repositories, associated mailing lists, etc. ties were to be taken as different persons, data
SKOS stands for Simple Knowledge Organiza- analysis would be crippled, as it would lead to
tion System, a framework designed to represent imprecise conclusions and a widespread flood-
and share controlled vocabularies, such as clas- ing of phantom virtual identities. We assign the
sifications, glossaries, and thesauri (Miles and term smushing to the process of normalizing an
Bechhofer, 2009). Basically, concept schemes RDF data set in order to unify a priori different
are largely made up of instances of skos:Concept RDF resources which actually represent the same
with associated labels and related by semantic thing. This use of the expression data smushing in
relationships such as skos:broader. The GEEK this context can be traced back to Dan Brickley:
prototype uses SKOS concept schemes to describe (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-
expertise topics in a relevant domain. interest/2000Dec/0191.html).
14
GEEK
Figure 1. Relations among the FOAF, SIOC, DOAP and SKOS vocabularies
The application which executes a data smush- solely and definitely determines whether two enti-
ing process is called a smusher. The process is ties are the same considering their property values.
comprised of two stages: first, redundant resources The second approach is not based on logics, but
are identified; then, the data set is updated to re- on heuristics, more precisely, on the comparison
flect the recently acquired knowledge. The latter of entity labels (peoples names). Both techniques
is usually achieved by adding new triples to the are applied to a data set that contains thousands
model to relate the pairs of redundant resources of instances of foaf:Person.
(often using owl:sameAs).
Although smushing can be applied to any Inverse Functional Properties
kind of resource, it is particularly important for
people descriptions. That is, we aim to identify OWL (Motik et al., 2009) introduces a kind of
the co-occurrence of the same person in different properties called Inverse Functional Properties
communities. In this sense our research relates (IFPs for short). An IFP is a property which be-
to matching frameworks, see http://esw.w3.org/ haves as an injective association; hence its values
topic/TaskForces/CommunityProjects/LinkingO- uniquely identify the subject instance:
penData/ EquivalenceMining.
In Shi et al. (2008), we evaluated two smushing p / p IFP (s1, s2 / p(s1 ) = p(s2 ) s1 = s2
techniques using data mined from open source
communities. The first approach exploits the
semantics of inverse functional properties, which
15
GEEK
Figure 2. IFP smushing rule implemented as

This inference rule is built-in in the OWL-DL
a SPARQL CONSTRUCT sentence. The usual
reasoners; therefore, this kind of smushing can be
namespace prefixes are assumed
easily achieved just by performing reasoning on
the model. However, sometimes it is advisable
to avoid the reasoner and to implement the IFP
semantics by means of an ad hoc rule.
Executing a simple, light-weight rule is

often more efficient than the reasoner,
which usually performs many other tasks.
Moreover, it can be used regardless of the
expressivity level of the dataset, while
reasoners have unpredictable behavior for
OWL-Full datasets.
A custom rule can generalize IFPs to any
kind of properties, including datatype as IFPs. Notably, some users point their homep-
properties. There are some scenarios age to their company/university homepage, and
in which such generalization is useful. weblog to a collective blog. Consequently, only the
For instance, while the object property mbox_sha1sum property is actually useful as IFP.
foaf:mbox is declared as an IFP, its value is
often unavailable due to privacy concerns. Label Similarity
On the other hand, values of the property
foaf:mbox_sha1sum are widely available The concept of similarity is extensively studied in
(or can be easily calculated from the for- Computer Science, Psychology, Artificial Intelli-
mer). Unfortunately, the latter is a datatype gence, and Linguistics literature. String similarity
property and cannot be declared as an IFP plays a major role in Information Retrieval. When
in the current version of OWL, thus the smushing peoples descriptions, typical labels used
need for a generalization. are personal names (foaf:name).
Smushing based on label similarity deals with
This rule can be written as a SPARQL CON- imprecise knowledge, i.e., even perfect label
STRUCT sentence, according to the idiom de- equality does not guarantee that two resources
scribed by Polleres (2007), see Figure 2. Note that are the same. Using a softer comparison function
this rule only takes into account the foaf:mbox_sha- will produce even more uncertain knowledge.
1sum property, but its generalization to any prop- A label-based smusher can be implemented as
erty declared as owl:InverseFunctionalProperty a rule. Unfortunately, SPARQL does not have rich
is straightforward. built-in string comparison functions. There is a
Some FOAF properties can be used as IFPs to proposed extension call iSPARQL (Kiefer, 2007)
smush resources that are people. The FOAF speci- that can be used for this purpose. Our experience
fication defines mbox, jabberID, mbox_sha1sum, reveals that iSPARQL implementation is far from
homepage, weblog, and openid as IFP, among oth- being efficient enough to deal with large datasets.
ers. However, a quick analysis of a set of FOAF This fact suggests that other approaches to imple-
files collected from the web shows that some of ment label-based smushing should be considered.
these properties are barely used, while others are
often (mis-)used in a way that makes them useless
16
GEEK
Smushing, Correctness Combination of Ontologies

and Consistence and Rules
The pairs of redundant resources identified using Assuming the hypothesis that the participation of
the techniques described above can be used to people in communities gives the evidence of their
enrich the data set. OWL provides a special prop- expertise, the inference process provides means
erty to merge identical resources, owl:sameAs. to reason about the expertise of a given person by
When two resources are related by owl:sameAs, executing a set of light-weight rules build on top
they effectively behave as a single resource for all of a domain specific ontology and data set. The
the OWL-aware applications. Note, however, that significance of rules and rule-based representation
plain SPARQL queries operate at the RDF level, languages for the dissemination of the emerging
and therefore they are unaware of the owl:sameAs Semantic Web has been often emphasized by the
semantics. community.The data model in GEEK is built on
In any case, the semantics of owl:sameAs may OWL semantics, which is expressive to describe
be too strong for some cases. On the one hand, the expertise domain but with the limitation of
some applications may still want to access the inference. Then, a suitable rule language as a
resources individually. On the other hand, several complement plays a very important role in GEEK.
factors can influence the reliability of the findings The integration of an ontology language and
made by the smusher. Notably, the data smushing a rule language becomes a hot topic nowadays.
based on label comparison is obviously imperfect, However, we realize the main issues that arise in
and can lead to incorrect results. For instance, the integration are (Rosati, 2006): (i) from the
different people can have the same name, or they semantic viewpoint, OWL language is based on
can fake their identities. Even the logically-sound open-world semantics, while rules are typically
smushing based on IFPs is prone to error, due interpreted under closed-world semantics, (ii) from
to the low-quality of the input data (fake e-mail the reasoning viewpoint, reasoning in the formal
addresses, identity theft). Although improbable, system obtained by integrating an ontology and a
it is also possible that different e-mail addresses rule component maybe not be a decidable problem
clash when they are hashed using SHA1 (Eastlake which is very hard to handle, (iii) from the logical
& Jones, 2001). viewpoint, OWL is based on Description Logic,
To tackle these issues, a custom property can specially, two species of OWL: OWL Lite and
be used instead, such as ex:similarNameTo. Ap- OWL DL are corresponding to two Description
plications interested in the strong semantics of Languages: SHIF(D) and SHOIN(D) respectively.
owl:sameAs can still use a rule to re-create the Whereas, the existing proposals for a rule layer
links. Another kind of OWL properties, Functional on top of the ontology layer of the Semantic Web
Properties (FP), is also useful for smushing. They refer to rule formalisms originating from Logic
can help to check the consistency of the smushers Programming, like Prolog.
conclusions. A resource cannot have multiple dif- These issues are revealed in a mature body of
ferent values for a FP. Therefore, if two resources literature and many proposals have been made.
that are to be smushed are found to have irrecon- Unfortunately, none of them stands as a standard
cilable values for a FP such as foaf:birthday, an for a rule language. SWRL (Horrocks et al.,
issue with the smushing rules (or the quality of 2004) (Semantic Web Rule Language) is a rule
the input data) must be flagged. language that combines OWL and RuleML with a
well-defined declarative semantics. However, it is
based on FOL, and consequently, on undecidable
17
GEEK
logic. The DLP (Grosof et al., 2003) approach It reuses many concepts from well-known web
defines an intersection of the Description Logic vocabularies such as SIOC, FOAF and DOAP.
underlying OWL and Horn clauses making pos- These vocabularies provide the main concepts to
sible to reuse existing reasoners while losing the represent and characterize the entities collected
expressive power. The idea of the hybrid approach from the Web. However they fail short to describe
of integrating ontologies and rules is to separate how a person is considered inside a community.
between them to take the advantage of interfac- From our point of view, the notion of participa-
ing existing rule engines (e.g., Jess) with existing tion is crucial for measuring peoples expertise.
ontology reasoners (e.g., FaCT (Horrocks, 1998), The participation of someone in a community
Racer (Haarslev, 2001), etc.). provides indirect evidences about his knowledge
In parallel, W3C has set up a working group, on certain topics. Communities and projects are
namely RIF, to produce a standardized rule inter- contextualized, owing to the fact that they are
change format (Boley et al., 2009). So far, RIF always devoted to some particular subjects and
has achieved some significant progress. matters. Although being a member of a community
For our project, we take an open-world as- or a project does not imply any concrete level of
sumption. Given the requirements of our experi- expertise, the analysis of the participation can
ment, SWRL lacks the expressiveness needed to provide clues to infer the skillfulness in a given
define the expertise inference rules, in terms field of a person: how many messages she posts,
of mathematical capabilities and the ability to how many years she was involved in a project,
introduce variables in the head of the rule. The how many communities with the same topic she
latter is crucial to create descriptions about new participates in, etc. Undoubtedly, there exists a
resources. Moreover, the simplicity of the rule high degree of uncertainty due to the fact that
set (in terms of rule chaining) does not justify the inference is based upon indirect references.
the cost to translate from RDF to Jess and back. The participation of a person in a com-
By taking these considerations into account, a munity can be modeled as the predicate
simpler and more compact way of defining rules participation(person, community). In GEEK,
is enough for this project. Therefore, we solely this predicate has been reified as a first-order
rely on SPARQL (Prudhommeaux & Seaborne, class in DL: geek:Participation-profile (Figure
2008) instead of getting a powerful rule engine 3). In this way, the participation itself can be
involved. Polleres suggested that SPARQL can be described in terms of role, level, karma, as it will
used as a rule language on top of RDF (Polleres, be explained in the next paragraphs. Instances
2007). CONSTRUCT statements have an obvious of geek:Participation-profile are related with a
similarity with view definitions in SQL, and thus single instance of foaf:Person (or sioc:User) and
may be seen as rules themselves. a doap:Project (or sioc:Forum).
For each community a person is involved in,
there exists one and only one participation profile,
AN ONTOLOGY FOR MODELLING even if he or she participates in the community
PARTICIPATION AND EXPERTISE using different accounts. A participation profile
is characterized by the following items:
The GEEK ontology has been designed with
the purpose of modeling peoples participation geek:Participation-role: People can play
in social communities and projects, and model- different roles within a forum or a project.
ing peoples expertise on certain topics. GEEK On the one hand, in case of projects, we
is a light-weight ontology built with OWL-DL. use the classification from the DOAP vo-
18
GEEK
Figure 3. Graphical representation of geek: Participation-profile
cabulary, although only three roles (helper, evidence for the level of participation of
maintainer, developer) are considered for people in projects. A more in depth analy-
the purpose of the GEEK ontology. On sis of the sources could provide hints on
the other, a role classification for forums the participation level of individuals in
was created distinguishing between the projects. For instance, the number of com-
role of requester and replier. Note that mits made to a revision control repository
SIOC contains a class called sioc:Role such as Subversion, may be an indicative
which is related to access privileges of us- of the participation level.
ers with respect to the forum; conversely, geek:Karma-level: The karma is the status
geek:Participation-role is not related to ac- of a person in a particular community as
cess control, but to the activity performed perceived by other members. The karma
by the user in the community. is the valuation of the usual behavior of
geek:Participation-level: The level of par- the participant, and it has been represent-
ticipation of a sioc:User in a specific forum. ed as a set of values: {geek:high-karma,
It is a descriptive feature of her participa- geek:medium-karma, geek:low-karma},
tion in a community and it is represented not to be confused with the values of
by a value of the class geek:Participation- geek:Participation-level.
level. This class measures the frequency of Another central concept in the GEEK on-
peoples participation as per the following tology is geek:Expertise-profile, whose in-
enumeration: {geek:high, geek:medium, stances represent the contextualized exper-
geek:low}. In our prototype, we do not tise of a person on a specific topic (Figure
consider the level of participation in proj- 4). This class arises from another reifica-
ects, due to the fact that no information tion that is necessary to capture an N-ary
has been extracted from the data sources relationship among individuals, expertise
(Debian and Ohloh) in order to be used as topics and levels of expertise. The local
19
GEEK
expertise value is the result of the analysis It is difficult to obtain an analytical numerical
of the participation profile of people in- value that measures the expertise degree on a
volved in a social community. This infor- topic taking into account only the participation
mation is obtained from the evidence that evidences. Therefore, in the GEEK ontology, we
arouses from the participation in a particu- consider the level of expertise as a discrete set of
lar forum, hence the inferred persons ex- ordered values: {geek:beginner, geek:intermediate
pertise is not global. For instance, if forum and geek:expert}. We are aware of the roughness
A is about topic Python language, and of this classification, but it is expressive enough
the system has deduced that somebody is to measure the local expertise in our application.
an expert on Python language from the Finally, the GEEK ontology also provides a
evidences derived from her participation formal mechanism to represent the global expertise
in forum A, it cannot be ensured that this of a person on a certain topic (geek:Expertise,
expertise applies outside the scope of this Figure 5). This expertise is build upon the set
forum. Moreover, new evidences can be of local expertise derived from the participation
found in other communities which contra- profiles. The global expertise is measured in a
dict the previous assert: the individual can continuous scale in the interval [0,1], where 1
be participating in other forums also about means a complete knowledge on a topic and 0 a
the Python language, from where the sys- complete lack of knowledge. The three levels of
tem can infer a low expertise. local expertise (beginner, intermediate, expert)
are distributed along this range. Calculating this
numerical expertise value is a matter that is covered
Figure 4. Graphical representation of geek: Expertise-profile
20
GEEK
in a later section. We highlight that other scales for Therefore, a SKOS concept scheme (a thesaurus)
measuring the global expertise are also possible. must be defined for each domain in which GEEK
For instance, the discrete scale used to measure is to be applied, if there is not any pre-existing
the local geek:Expertise-profile could be used one that can be re-used. Using SKOS, each ex-
here too. However, we found it was not expressive pertise topic is modeled as an instance of
enough for the global expertise for the require- skos:Concept, and the relationships with its
ments of the system, which call for a criterion to broader, narrower or related topics can be captured
order people in the same range of expertise. For as semantic relationships in SKOS. Note that,
instance, if Alice and Bob are geek:experts on given the increasing popularity of folksonomies
Python language, the system cannot produce a in the so called Web 2.0, they may be useful re-
total ordering of the results and therefore is unable sources to acquire domain knowledge; however,
to decide which one should be suggested in the extracting formal knowledge from a folksonomy
first place. Conversely, a numerical scale allows is still a challenging research topic. In the follow-
a much finer grain classification. ing, the availability of a formal concept scheme
So far, we have not addressed the issue of how will be assumed.
to represent the domain-dependent areas of ex-
pertise. The ontology that has been just described
is independent on the domain of expertise. There-
fore, a complementary concept scheme is required
to cover this aspect. SKOS is a perfect fit for the
definition of the domain topics in a RDF model.
Figure 5. Graphical representation of geek: Expertise
21
GEEK
GEEK, AN EXPERTFINDER can arise some scalability problems concerning

PROTOTYPE high load requirements in some scenarios. Taking
this into account, the decision about the RDF store
The GEEK prototype has been designed and comes quite important for the final performance
developed as a show case to demonstrate the ap- of prototype.
plication of the Semantic Web technologies to the Among the RDF store products available in
expert finding problem. A data flow (see Figure the market (Bizer & Schultz, 2009), we chose
6) is created among several components in the OpenLink Virtuoso (Erling & Mikhailov, 2008)
data warehouse architecture. for our prototype. Virtuoso is a fast store with
For confidentiality reasons, we cannot disclose an easy maintenance and access control mecha-
information about expertise and experts in a real nisms to prevent the uncontrolled disclosure of
enterprise scenario. In order to show an illustrative important data. We also profit from some other
application, the prototype described in this article Virtuoso features that extend the current standards:
focuses on the open source communities. SPARUL support (Seaborne & Manjunath, 2008),
aggregates in SPARQL, inference on demand
RDF Store (Erling & Mikhailov, 2009) and Named Graphs
(Carroll et al., 2005). They are used to manage
The RDF store is a very important component in the data, to efficiently implement rules and rea-
our architecture, since it is the central node that soning, and to keep track of the data provenance,
provides the RDF support for the others parts of respectively. We are aware that the use of these
the system. We are aware that this architecture non-official features to skip some limitations of
the actual specification of SPARQL could limit the
portability of our prototype in the future. However
Figure 6. Data flow through the components of we believe that the added value of these features
the system justifies this decision sufficiently.
Data Recollection
The data recollection components are in charge of

providing large quantities of relevant and up-to-
date data extracted from various web sources. As
a matter of fact that the raw data is heterogeneous
and distributed, these components can have dif-
ferent forms, such as adaptors, wrappers, scrap-
pers and crawlers. Resuming the work started in
Berrueta et al. (2008), a corpus of RDF data was
assembled from these five online communities:
GNOME Desktop Mailings Lists: all the

authors of messages in four mailing lists
(evolution-hackers, gnome-accessibility-
devel, gtk-devel and xml) within the date
range July 1998 to June 2008 were export-
22
GEEK
ed to RDF using SWAML (Fernndez et expected to have a significant number of people

al., 2009). in common. The data consolidation component,
Debian Mailing Lists: all the authors of described in the following section, will reveal the
messages in four mailing lists (debian- degree of overlap between them. However, before
devel, debian-gtk-gnome, debian-java and moving on to the next stage, the collected data is
debian-user) during years 2005 and 2006 dumped into the RDF store and some prepara-
were scrapped from the HTML versions of tory processes are executed:
the archives with a set of XSLT style sheets
to produce RDF triples. Some of these data sources or tools do not
Advogato: this community exports its directly produce instances of foaf:Person,
data as FOAF files. We used an RDF but just instances of sioc:User. An assump-
crawler starting at Miguel de Icazas pro- tion is made that there is a foaf:Person in-
file. Although Advogato claims to have stance for each sioc:User, with the same
+13,000 registered users, only +4,000 e-mail address and name as the user. These
were found by the crawler. instances are automatically created when
Ohloh: the RDFohloh project (Fernndez, missing. This assumption obviously leads
2008) exposes the information from this to redundant instances of foaf:Person
directory of open source projects and de- which will be later detected by the smusher.
velopers as Linked Data. Due to API usage A (domain-dependent) thesaurus in SKOS
restrictions, we could only get data about is added to the dataset.
the +12,000 oldest user accounts. By defining subclasses of sioc:Forum (a
Debian Packages: descriptions of Debian detailed explanation of this division was
packages maintainers were extracted from addressed above), instances of this class
APT database of Debian packages in the are manually classified.
main section of the unstable distribution, Instances of sioc:Forum and doap:Project
and converted to RDF triples. are also semi-automatically annotated with
terms of the thesaurus, reusing the clas-
The size of the corpus exceeds two million sifications used in the original sources of
triples, with more than 25,000 instances of information (for instance, DebTags in the
foaf:Person and sioc:User (Table 1). case of Debian packages).
These communities share the focus on open
source software development, hence they can be Moreover, although in the following we will
base our work on the aforementioned corpus, it
is obvious that the data extraction processes must
Table 1. Size (number of people) of the communi- be repeated periodically in order to ensure that the
ties before smushing data is up-to-date.
Source foaf:Person Data Consolidation

instances
DebianPkgs 1,845
The data consolidation component is critical for
Advogato 4,168
the success of the prototype. The data gathered
GnomeML 5,797
from heterogeneous sources will be used later to
Ohloh 12,613
draw conclusions on the expertise of individuals.
DebianML 12,705
However, such conclusions would be invalid un-
23
GEEK
less the quality of the data is assured. In particular, In the case of forums, a simple subclassifi-
fragmentation due to the use of multiple virtual cation of sioc:Forum is available in the GEEK
identities leads to partial unconnected descriptions. ontology. Three kinds of forum have been identi-
The consolidation stage tackles the challenge of fied: technical support or development, general
identifying these identities and merging the partial discussion, and announcement forums. Every
descriptions of the same person into a coherent forum is manually classified in one of these
and complete representation. The smushing tech- three categories before rules are executed. For
niques are applied to avoid a widespread flooding instance, the gnome-hackers mailing list is clas-
of virtual identifiers caused by the recollection of sified as a general discussion forum because its
data from independent information silos.In Shi et primary function is to serve as meeting place for
al. (2008), we analyzed the results of smushing the the GNOME community.
data in the corpus. As we expected, a significant
overlap among the five open source communities Expertise Inference Process
was found, see Table 2.
In the following sections, we give insights about
Tagging of Forums and Projects the definition of the expertise inference process.
In order to reach the GEEKs objective, we define
Forums and projects collected from the web a set of customized rules on top of the GEEK
sources must be described with the concepts ontology. This set is composed by three families
of the domain thesaurus in order to execute the of rules according to the kind of inference they
inference process. Ideally, the topics of the com- realize:
munities should be automatically extracted from
the sources. However, this is possible only for 1. Behavior rules. This subset infers the par-
certain sources. For instance, an alignment is ticipation profile (role, level and karma) of
possible between the DebTags attached to the each user analyzing the traces of her activity
Debian packages and the concepts of the thesau- in each social community.
rus. Nevertheless, for the general case, the com- 2. Local expertise rules. This subset obtains
munities must be manually tagged. For instance, the expertise profile from users participation
the mailing list desktop-devel at GNOME was evidences.
tagged with the concepts {Desktop applications, 3. Global expertise rule. This final rule cal-
Development}. culates the users global expertise on each
topic as a function of her local expertise.
Table 2. People accounting by the number of As it was mentioned before, the implementa-
communities they are present in, after smushing tion of the rules in GEEK follows Polleres pattern
to express forward-chaining rules using SPARQL
Num. of people CONSTRUCT sentences. However, the use of this
In 5 com- 1 query mechanism does not automatically insert
munities
the produced triples back into the original dataset.
In 4 com- 37
munities Typically, the new triples must be added to the
In 3 com- 273 store after executing the query. For performance
munities reasons, our implementation takes advantage of
In 2 com- 1,669 the SPARUL support in Virtuoso by simply rewrit-
munities
ing CONSTRUCT queries as INSERT sentences.
24
GEEK
The insertion of rules and data is performed in Some online communities have a built-in
just one step, mixing the inferred knowledge with explicit karma value assigned to their par-
the RDF data in the store.The expertise inference ticipants. In such cases, these already avail-
process launches the three set of rules in sequence. able karma values can be re-used by GEEK.
We overcome the limitation of the rule chaining However, in the general case where there
process in SPARQL by using an ad-hoc script is no available value, the geek:Karma-
to fire the rules in a pre-programmed sequence. level can be computed, but only after the
two previous and independent facets of the
Behavior Rules participation profile have been inferred.
The karma rules are dependent on three
After the data recollection and consolidation, the variables: the participation role and level,
inference of implicit information can start. There and the type of each forum. Therefore, the
are three kinds of behavior rules, matching the karma is inferred for just forums, not proj-
three aspects of the participation profile: ects. For instance, if a user participates in
an announcement forum and she has a high
We consider a person has a geek:requester level of participation and she plays a re-
role within a forum when she usually quester role, then we can say that this user
starts new discussions (threads). On the
other hand, a geek:replier mainly limits
her participation to contributions to open Figure 7. Rule used to infer the geek: Replier role
discussions. Figure 7 shows a query that of a user in a forum
tags as geek:repliers those users with more
replies than requests in a forum. Note that
the nested SELECT query in the figure uses
extended SPARQL features (aggregators).
The participation level of a user in a fo-
rum cannot be defined in absolute terms
due to the different activity of each forum.
Therefore, we assign the levels (high, me-
dium and low) relative to the participa-
tion of other users in the same forum. To
this extent, all the participants in each
forum are ordered by the number of mes-
sages they have sent. As central tendency
measurements do not provide equal-sized
subsets, for this division a percentile dis-
tribution (e.g., 20%, 60%, 20%) is applied
over this list to classify the users into lev-
els. This rule requires calculating complex
aggregates, which are not available in the
SPARQL extension provided by Virtuoso.
Consequently, we use a Python script to
apply this rule.
25
GEEK
Figure 8. One of the rules used to infer karma in Figure 9. One of the rules used to get local ex-
announcement forums pertise of a person in a particular topic from her
karma in a forum
has a high-karma (Figure 8). These rules

are of a heuristic nature and inspired by ex-
perience and common sense. In the case of
the previous example, it is presumed that
someone that often publishes announces is
a relevant member of the community. we envision it may be used as a hook point to add
more complex business logic in other scenarios,
like the ones that are described later in the chap-
Local Expertise Rules ter.
After the analysis of the users behavior in each Global Expertise Rule
community, some information that was hidden
behind the data now is shown explicitly. Therefore This final rule is in charge of calculating an ana-
it can be used as evidence for driving inferences lytic value for representing the persons expertise
about the expertise of people. These rules are on a certain topic. This value is calculated by

different for forums and projects. consolidating peoples local expertise v derived
For forums the local expertise directly depends from the application of the previous set of rules.
on the karma previously inferred. For instance This is a crucial step for any ExpertFinder system
Figure 9 presents a rule that infers high local ex- which aims to provide reliable answers.The
pertise profiles for people with high karma. In the global expertise is measured in a continuous scale
case of projects different variables may be used in the range [0,1]. An arbitrary position in this
to infer the local expertise profiles. For example scale is assigned to the three levels of local ex-
for how long the person has been involved in a pertise (geek:Expertise-level) by means of the
project. This kind of data can be obtained, for mapping function:
instance, from Ohlohs API.
Right now this step (i.e., inferring local exper- (geek:beginner) = 0.3
tise) does not introduce a lot of new knowledge,
(geek:intermediate) = 0.7
but it is useful to abstract the sources. In the future,
26
GEEK
(geek:expert) = 1.0 their weights. Alternatively, it is possible to split

the vector v in two segments, v f and v p , and
However, not all data sources are equally separately compute the weighted mean of forums
trustworthy. The original collected data and sub- and projects. The coefficients cf and cp balance
sequent inferences have to be deemed carefully between forums and projects:
taking into account their provenance. For instance,
the participants of the mailing list Debian devel-
opment are very well-known and skillful people E=
1 w v
i i
f
+ cp
w v
j
p
j
c f
in the topics related with the development of
c f + cp w i w j
Debian. Hence we fully trust on the inferences
obtained from the analysis of the participation in
this community. Conversely, the mailing list The computed results provide an analytical
Debian users is a common forum where novel value, E , that measures the global expertise of a
Debian users usually ask newbie questions. From person on a topic. These values can be used to
our point of view, the local expertise measure- create a ranking of people by their expertise on a
ments derived from these two forums cannot be topic.
considered equivalently. Being a local expert on Computing these values is outside of the ex-
Debian development is a much higher social pressivity of SPARQL rules. In the prototype, a
ranking than being a local expert on Debian us- Python script calculates the values for E for each
ers due to the higher technical level of the former. (person, topic) pair.
In order to assign a relative value to each com-

munity, we introduce a weight vector w that API and User Interface
defines their salience.
At this stage, for each person and topic, the A high-level API has been designed and developed
system calculates a global expertise from the set in order to hide the complexity of the data access
of local expertise of the communities relevant to for applications. Most of the operations in this API
this topic in which she participates. So given a are realized by a set of SPARQL SELECT queries
person, a particular topic, a set of n forums and a against the inferred model in the RDF store (after
set of m projects where she participates, we define the execution of the rules). Consequently, the
the global expertise as the weighted mean of the inference is performed off-line and the response
local expertise vector: time is low.
The user interface is concisely designed with
w v a very distinct layout in order to allow users
E= i i
(typically, enterprise managers and people look-
w i
ing for peers to solve a particular problem) to find
answers to their queries with a point-and-click
Projects are usually more reliable sources than interface (Figure 10). There are four interrelated
forums for mining expertise information because categories (people, topics, forums and projects)
they have a higher signal-to-noise ratio. How- explicitly listed in a side column. These links lead
ever, forums are usually richer in terms of numbers to extensive listings of all the entities. For each
of participants and topics. Therefore, it may be entity, a detailed view is available. Interestingly,
useful to balance the relevance of all forums over this view consolidates information that comes
the projects. This effect can be achieved by tuning from independent sources (e.g.: photographs and
the weight vector, that is, by applying a bias to links to personal homepages). The user interface
27
GEEK
Figure 10. Screenshot of the prototype showing details of a outstanding member of the communities
also shows ranked listings of entities matching scenario. The architecture presented in this article
a query, for instance, a ranked list of experts on is also generic and should remain valid for other
a given topic. The user interface was built as a domains apart from the open source communities.
JavaEE application and provides a rich interac- We identify the following changes as a requirement
tion with users. in order to deploy the GEEK solution to a new
This user interface is just a demonstrator that scenario, for instance, within a large company:
serves to assess the final quality of our prototype.
Nevertheless, we are also working on other on- Data Recollection Components: ide-
tology-based techniques to visualize large amounts ally, harvesting the RDF data from dis-
of data (Katifori et al., 2007), even though we tributed sources should be just a matter of
still do not have relevant results regarding this crawling the sources. Unfortunately, most
issue. sources do not publish yet RDF triples.
Consequently, the data recollection pro-
cess includes a specific task to produce the
APPLICABILITY TO THE RDF triples. This task needs to be custom-
ENTERPRISE SCENARIO ized for each source, although in this chap-
ter we have demonstrated different data
The technologies applied to build the GEEK recollection methods that can be adapted
prototype are part of the standard semantic web for new sources.
stack, and thus they are domain-independent and Data Model: currently, the scope of the
portable. An attempt has been made to achieve a data model is restricted to expertise evi-
balance between not being too generic and not dences related to the participation of indi-
too specialized. viduals in communities (including forums
The basic ideas underneath the prototype can and projects). We envision other mecha-
be applied to finding experts in any domain and nisms to obtain expertise evidences, for
28
GEEK
instance, from the authorship of scientific expertise inferred) has not been made public so
documents, presentations and technical re- far, taking into from the many privacy issues that
ports. These new mechanisms should have must be taken into account before.
a reflection on the data model. The proposed prototype describes raw data
Expertise Inference Rules: the current from different open communities using standard
rule set can be slightly changed to increase vocabularies such as FOAF, SIOC, DOAP and
rule expressiveness or enriched with new SKOS. In this way, data from independent sources
rules that use new facts to infer expertise can be integrated in a single model. Data quality is
evidences. a critical issue which is addressed by two smush-
Domain-Specific Thesaurus: actual- ing strategies. The aim is to figure out and reduce
ly, this is the only piece that needs to be identical instances under different identities. In Shi
completely changed in line with the do- et al. (2008) we evaluated the smushing strategies
main requirements. The prototype demon- and we showed promising results that make us
strates that even a simple thesaurus with confident about the quality of the data used for
just basic semantic relationships performs the expertise inference process. An experiment
adequately. was carried out to measure the accuracy of the
Access control: within an enterprise sce- results of the smushing process. Feedback was
nario, privacy issues arise. Therefore, pro- requested from the people who were identified as
visions must be made in order to control members of the at least four of the communities at
the access to the system, as well to the data hand. The amount of responses was insufficient to
stores that may contain confidential infor- extract significant conclusions, but the individual
mation about the employees and the com- responses were generally positive and supportive.
pany know-how. In the future, a feature may be added to the system
user interface to allow users to flag whether they
For instance, in the particular scenario of a suspect the results of the smushing process are not
multi-national steel-producing company, we need correct. Such warning flags would be later studied
to identify internal sources which can be poten- and traced to discover the origin of the problem.
tially useful, and put in place adequate adaptors We put effort in efficiently integrating infer-
to acquire large datasets from these sources. The ence techniques based on a set of custom rules,
data model and expertise inference rules would which are executed on top of all data to reveal
be enriched for the use case, and a new thesaurus expertise evidences of people for each topic in
defined for the specific business of the company. a given domain. Finally, some mathematical
functions are used to aggregate expertise from
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK different evidences in order to create a consistent
and reliable profile.
In this chapter we propose an ExpertFinder proto- A preliminary quality evaluation was based on
type composed of four components, each of which the open source communities data, and showed
has been described in more detail. The prototype promising and consistent results with respect to the
demonstrates it is possible to exploit the web of data efficiency and usefulness of the expert finding. A
for world-wide experts and expertise identification more in depth study based on actual enterprise data
leveraging the semantic web technological stack, will be performed once the system is deployed in
including RDF, reasoning, SPARQL, thesauri and the steel-producing company scenario.
rules over ontologies. We have to say that all this In order to develop the prototype described in
information (the ontology, the dataset and the this chapter, we cherry-picked from the current
29
GEEK
state of the art of the Semantic Web technologies: We found that our application require-
vocabularies, query languages, data extraction and ments seldom rely on subsumption or other
rules over RDF datasets. Therefore, the authors do typical DL reasoning.
not claim to be credited for a huge step forward in The expertise inference rules require an
this research context. Instead, we made punctual expressivity beyond DL and can be seen
improvements that made possible to innovate as production rules that make use of math-
and to build a practical solution to a business ematical functions. These rules produce
challenge by implementing many of the Semantic new knowledge that is inserted back di-
Web technologies. rectly into the data repository.
We are aware of the limitations of the current Using SPARQL to build a light-weight pro-
rule set and formulae for expertise mining. Regard- duction rules system is feasible extending
less of the quantity and quality of the collected the semantics of RDF/OWL vocabularies.
information, the expert finding inferences only However SPARQL still lacks aggregation
actually use a subset of this information. On the and arithmetic operators, so they must be
one hand, some information such as the e-mail replaced with external logic implemented
address, is irrelevant for the expertise calcula- by a scripting language (Python in our
tion (i.e., it does not provide any clue about the case). The same applies to rule chaining.
knowledge and experience of its owner), but is We hope that a more expressive descen-
really useful for identity smushing. On the other dant of SPARQL and the upcoming results
hand, there is some information that is subjec- from the RIF Working Group will help to
tive by nature, such as the karma level, and thus overcome these limitations.
it is difficult to be interpreted in a consistent and
convincing manner. Even the local expertise level There are several challenges along the lines
is measured in an arbitrary and rough-grain scale. we presented. Firstly, it would be desirable to add
From a reasoning perspective, GEEK does not more functionality to the system. Particularly,
make use of any kind of traditional DL reasoners provenance and explanations about the conclu-
due to several reasons: sions can empower the user to make precise
judgments based on these conclusions. In the aim
Low level data integration from indepen- of improving that precision, it would be also re-
dent sources comes for free from the RDF quired to explore new ontology-based techniques
semantics (graph merging). capable of visualizing such a huge volume of
The proposed smushing techniques require data. A finer classification of the profiles requires
an expressivity beyond OWL-DL. In par- more expressive rules, probably associated with
ticular, IFP must be enforced for datatype new kinds of reasoning. In this sense, it is worth
properties, and non-trivial string compari- exploring the combination of suitable logics and
sons are required. We note that this situa- inference results to achieve a better reflection of
tion is about to change with the upcoming the actual expertise of the individuals. We have
OWL 2 (Motik et al., 2009) and its key axi- highlighted the connection between the quality
oms (HasKey). of the data and the soundness of the conclusions.
The ability to turn on and off specific OWL We believe that the precision and recall of the
reasoning features is crucial in data inte- smushing functions can be further improved
gration scenarios, particularly regarding by using more properties, and by gathering as
the semantics of owl:sameAs reasoning. much data as possible. However, we identify the
centralized RDF store as the main weakness in
30
GEEK
our architecture because it threatens scalability. Ackerman, M., Pipek, V., & Wulf, V. (2002).
A more decentralized architecture based on data Sharing Expertise: Beyond Knowledge Manage-
distribution would address this problem, but it is ment. MIT Press.
much more challenging.
Aleman-Meza, B., Bojars, U., Boley, H., Breslin,
Regarding the expertise mining, we think
J. G., Mochol, M., Nixon, L. J. B., et al. (2007,
more can be done in at least two fronts. Firstly,
June). Combining RDF vocabularies for Expert
larger amounts of structured data can be gathered
Finding. In Proceedings of the 4th European Se-
and processed. For instance, detailed traces of
mantic Web Conference (ESWC2007), Innsbruck,
the participation in projects can be found in the
Austria, June 2007.
source control management system. Document
authorship provides hints on expertise too. Valu- Berrueta, D., Fernndez, S., & Shi, L. (2008,
able information is also implicit in the wide social April). Bootstrapping the Semantic Web of
networks that are traversal to several communities. Social Online Communities, In Proceedings of
Finally, content of posts, documents, homepages the Workshop on Social Web Search and Min-
and other unstructured sources of information ing (SWSM2008), co-located with WWW2008,
may provide new evidences about the level of Beijing, China.
expertise. The latter kind of mining would require
Bizer, C., & Schultz, A. (2009to appear). The Ber-
NLP techniques such as Information Extraction.
lin SPARQL Benchmark. International Journal on
Semantic Web and Information Systems - Special
Issue on Scalability and Performance of Semantic
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Web Systems.
We would like to thank ArcerlorMittal for pro- Boley, H. (2006, June). The RuleML family of Web
viding a practical and real-world use case. We Rule Languages. In Proceedings of the 4th Work-
acknowledge support and efforts from Arcelor- shop on Principles and Practice of Semantic Web
Mittal and CTIC workmates in developing and Reasoning, Budva, Montenegro (LNCS 4187).
implementing GEEK. We specially wish to thank
Boley, H., Hallmark, G., Kifer, M., Paschke, A.,
our colleague Miguel Garcia for his contributions
Polleres, A., & Reynolds, D. (2009). RIF Core
to this work. Moreover, thanks to the open sources
Dialect. W3C Working Draft, July 2009. Re-
communities to provides us the sources where all
trieved July 24, 2009 from http://www.w3.org/
data has been extracted from; special thanks go
TR/rif-core/
to those members of the open communities who
provided us with feedback about the accuracy of Breslin, J., Decker, S., Harth, A., & Bojars, U.
our smushing process. (2006, July). SIOC: an approach to connect web-
based communities. International Journal of Web
Based Communities, 2(2), 133142.
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34
Chapter 3
Recurrent Interactions, Acts
of Communication and
Emergent Social Practice in
Virtual Community Settings
Demosthenes Akoumianakis
Technological Education Institution of Crete, Greece
ABSRACT
The chapter builds on recent efforts aiming to develop a conceptual frame of reference for gaining insight
to and analyzing practice in virtual communities. Following a thorough analysis of related works in
new media, community-oriented thinking and practice-based approaches as well as reflections upon
recent case studies, the chapter discusses what is it that differentiates offline from online practice, how
these two are intertwined in virtual settings and what may be an appropriate methodological frame of
reference for analyzing them. In this vein, instead of reproducing arguments for community management
(i.e., discovering, forming and sustaining communities) and the underlying methodological challenges
commonly encountered in Information Systems research, our effort is focused on understanding emer-
gent social practices through a practice lens framed in technology constituting structures and cultural
artifacts. Through a cross case design we formulate the argument that community results from the history
of co-engagement of actors in a joint field, while in virtual settings, it is recurrent interactions that lead
to an act of communication or the enactment of practice. Our main conclusions are (a) online social
practices are shaped through cycles of constructing negotiating reconstructing cultural artifacts
in virtual settings, and (b) practice-oriented toolkits designed to support cycles of constructing nego-
tiating reconstructing cultural artifacts offer new grounds for understanding innovative engagement
by virtual communities.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch003
Recurrent Interactions, Acts of Communication and Emergent Social Practice
INTRODUCTION (i.e., spiritual / mental or physical), (b) they are

revealed through recurrent engagement in some
Virtuality refers to a state where the subject is sort of common practice of the members subscrib-
separated from the body (Sterne, 2006). Through- ing to the set principles and (c) the practice of the
out the history of mankind, virtualities of various subscribing members is framed as much in social
sorts have served a means for human beings to interaction as in processes, tools and artifacts.
cope with complex, difficult to grasp and explain Virtual communities, the subject matter of this
phenomena. Interestingly, such virtualities are chapter, constitute a virtuality which is formed
constructed by a variety of instruments such as over networked digital media. Since the first
religious standpoint, political belief, but also introduction of the term in the work of Rhein-
more tangible things such as drugs or coding gold (1993), virtual communities have gained
schemes (i.e., Morse code). Nevertheless, each popularity in the research agendas of management
type is characteristically different and distinct. scholars, social scientists and computer science
Consider for example virtualities resulting from researchers. Management scholars examine how
adopting a religion. They are primarily spiritual business-sponsored virtual communities provide
spaces, always revealed through recurrent engage- a new means for marketing (Stockdale, 2007)
ment in a code of practice shaped by a system of and sustaining innovation (Fuller et al., 2006).
values. Similarly, drugs result in mental spaces Anthropologists explore the ways in which Com-
brought about by recurrent set of mind through puter Mediated Communication (CMC) is giving
the material properties of the drug. On the other rise to new forms of virtual communities and the
hand, coding schemes such as Morse code, result socio-cultural implications of new communication
in virtualities that lead to communication acts technologies (e.g., Hine, 2000; Fabian, 2002; Wil-
arising from the history of co-engagement of the son and Peterson, 2002; Eisenlohr, 2004). Recently
partners in alternative linguistic domains. In all there has been rising interest on the archaeology
cases, there is a strong link between virtuality and of virtual communities (Jones, 2003), especially
materiality frequently established through cause those formed using virtual reality as medium to
and effect relationships. establish places where the imaginary meets the
Irrespective of how they are constructed, real (Bartle, 2003). Jones (1997; 2003) coined
virtualities seem to share common ground in the the term cyber-archaeology implying an approach
sense that they facilitate recurrent engagement to online communities as virtual settlements.
in the designated practice. It is such recurrent Subsequent refinements of the concept attempt to
experience that leads to an act of communication expand the domain of study of cyber-archaeology
meaningful to those subscribing to the virtuality. claiming that the role of cyber-archaeology is not
Furthermore, it is this repetitive engagement in a only to study the actual technologies employed
virtual space that may influence the enactment of by virtual communities, but also the virtual ob-
socio-material practice in physical space, leading jects they create within cyber-space (Harrison,
to an intertwining between virtual and physical 2009, p. 76).
activities. Although elements of the associated In this chapter, we pick up these intersecting
practices may be enacted and administered locally threads of concern to analyze virtual communities
by individuals, there is always a boundary core, as emergent structures resulting from the mem-
which is common enough and plastic enough bers recurrent co-engagement in a designated
to facilitate local variations. Consequently, in all practice (i.e., communication, gaming, profes-
cases, the resultant virtualities satisfy three key sional development, science, etc). Our intention
properties: (a) they assume some sort of medium is to partly challenge the methodological ground
35
available for analyzing virtual communities and BACKGROUND

which is implicitly or explicitly focused on com-
munity management (i.e., how communities are There are two strands of theoretical thinking that
discovered, established, sustained and maintained) are broadly relevant to our current work. The
dismissing or undermining the practice they are first relates to the concept of a community as
about to serve. Indeed, the scholarly literature of- advanced by social scientists over the years and
fers very little critical insights on what constitutes as considered in recent social studies of technol-
practice in these communities, how networked ogy. The second is concerned with practice as
media facilitate existing or new practices and how epistemology of knowledge in action. Our effort
online practice intertwines with offline practice. in the chapter is to attempt to understand virtual
Consequently, our key concern is to sketch the communities through the practice their members
boundary that distinguishes community manage- become engaged. To this end, we present a non-
ment from practice management in virtual settings exhaustive review of the argumentation presented
and attempt to qualify practice on the basis of in scholarly works in an effort to highlight contro-
certain criteria. In doing so, our objective is not versies and research challenges, thus underlying
to theorize about the concepts of community and the rationale of the present work.
practice respectively, or the mechanics through
which they are shaped and revealed. Instead, we Community Conceptions
seek to unfold the methodological challenges
confronting practice-based researchers interested Social psychology research has revealed that
in understanding how new media influence (i.e., humans have an innate need to belong and be af-
reconstruct or extend) practice and the way in filiated with others, which is a primary motivation
which it is revealed. in joining both online and offline communities
The chapter is structured as follows. The (Ridings & Gefen, 2004, p. 4). Moreover, since
next section reviews prominent conceptions on the late part of the 19th century, community as a
virtual communities and establishes bridges with social phenomenon has been, and continuous to be
practice-based studies. Then we elaborate on the the subject of considerable debate for sociologists.
ingredients of an approach for understanding com- In this debate two main traditions of theoretical
munities through their practice, which builds on thinking have emerged. The first considers com-
the concepts of cultural artifacts and technology munity from a process oriented perspective ac-
constituting structures. This forms the critical lens counting for social solidarity, material processes
for a practice-based analysis of two case studies of of production and consumption, law making and
virtual communities engaging in music notation symbolic processes of collective experience and
lessons and vacation package assembly. Analysis cultural meaning. The second tradition considers
of the two cases reveal interesting features of each community in terms of territorial boundaries,
community type and lead to several remarks about place-based social interactions, collective value
practice, how it is framed and revealed in virtual and shared symbol systems that create a normative
settings. The chapter concludes with summary structure typified by organic traditions, collective
and recommendations for future research on rituals, fellowship and consensus building (Fern-
methodologies for studying virtual communities. back, 2007). The latter perspective seems to have
been more influential in designing technology for
managing online communities. Specifically, there
are several published works reporting on place-
based online communities such as LamdaMOO
36
(Mnookin, 1996), MicroMuse (Duval Smith, proposed models have unique characteristics and
1999), Phish.net (Watson, 1997), FurryMuck and distinct implications.
JennyMUSH (Reid, 1999), to name just a few. Thus, there is an increasing tendency to expand
Despite, its popularity the place-based per- the research agenda in various dimensions. For
spective is abandoned (or does not seem to be instance, rather than talking exclusively about on-
followed) when analyzing phenomena within these line communities seeking to understand behavior
online places. Rather, it seems that the primary and phenomena within an online space, perhaps
focus is on methods for analyzing processes for we should also begin to investigate distributed
developing structures that resemble civil soci- communities emphasizing the mechanisms (i.e.,
ety such as neighborhoods, public forums and the internet and the practice toolkits) allowing
marketplaces (Mnookin, 1996; Poster, 1997), or widely-dispersed individuals to interact with one
a kind of anthropological study of evolving social another. And while discussion of online communi-
structures within these places (Cherney, 1999). ties has often focused on the nature of the subject
Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that within the community (Donath, 1999; Ito, 1997;
place-based online communities are seldom Turkle, 1995), discussion of distributed communi-
conceived as such by their members (Gochenour, ties may enable us to see how individuals function
2006). Instead, members seem to appropriate in a polyvalent way outside of specific spaces.
them as infrastructures for communication with Arguments such as the above reveal that shifting
a geographically distributed network of friends away from well-defined places one goes to on
and/or family. A shift from the typical place- the net, to tools one uses to maintain a network,
based conception of online communities towards suggests that we should also perhaps begin to
a network type organization is also evidenced by consider other analytical tools for understand-
the rise of social networking applications. These ing whether or not these networks can also be
applications use an overt network structure, in considered as communities, and what the nature
which each individual functions as node, to allow of the node is within them.
users to stay in touch with known friends, find
connections to new ones, and to organize events. The Practice Lens
Unlike online places, these applications make
no claim for pretending to function as civil so- The practice lens is the term coined to a line of
cieties; rather, they provide linking mechanisms research focusing on technology use and the
for individuals to form networks, which can then emergent structures revealed through such use
be leveraged for social, cultural, and economic (Orlikowski, 2000; 2002). It falls within a wider
purposes. movement, towards an analysis of practice as
The above trends are widely acknowledged epistemology useful for the study of working
in recent scholarly works where the term com- practices and the kind of practical and hidden
munity is interpreted in the context of computer- knowledge that supports them (Gherardi, 2009).
supported social networks (Wellman, et al., 1996) Although such a movement, as it unfolds through
as means to foster new virtualities such as distrib- the writings of social scientists (Giddens, 1984;
uted communities (Gochenour, 2006), networks of Suchman, 1987; Brown & Duguid, 2001; Such-
practice (Brown and Duguid (2000), knowledge man, 2007), organization and management schol-
communities (Lindkvist, 2005) and value-creating ars (Gherardi, 2001; Schatzki, 2001; Orlikowski,
networks (Buchel & Raub, 2002). Although, these 2002; Nicolini et al., 2003), is rather polysemic
efforts are in pursue of seemingly similar targets, and non-homogeneous, it has nevertheless, ac-
their underlying baseline as well as the resulting / cumulated a critical body of knowledge which
37
forms the common bond for many practice-based of the past from a viewpoint of today (Fahlander
studies (Schatzki 1996; 2001). Amongst these & Oestigaard, 2004: 44). Such cultural remains
studies, the practice lens brings to the forefront are seen as bi-products of culture, but not culture
the analytic distinction between technology as itself. Analysis of artifacts in situ and in relation
artifact (i.e., a technologys arti-factual character) to the other artifacts evokes particular under-
and technology use in practice (Orlikowski, 2002). standings of the culture that they exist within. In
According to the practice lens, technologies can be virtual settings, such material remains are bits of
seen as prerequisites for particular outcomes but program code and data, which can only be made
the existence of prerequisites does not determine sense of using dedicated software. Thus, cultural
the outcome. Thus, through technology used in artifacts of a virtual community are inextricably
practice, new structures may arise which were linked with the software toolkits through which
not initially foreseen during the development of such artifacts are instantiated in practice, become
the technology. negotiated, constructed and reconstructed by com-
This perspective brought to the context of munity members.
online communities suggests a clear separation
between pre-requisites and outcomes. Specifically,
it leads to the argument that virtual communities UNDERSTANDING VIRTUAL
should be conceived of and analyzed as emergent COMMUNITIES THROUGH
structures, whose software prerequisite is con- A PRACTICE LENS
nectivity as it facilitates recurrent interaction of
people with whatever properties of the technol- In order to assess what conditions enable virtual
ogy at hand. Phrased differently, as emergent communities to be established and flourish, we
structures communities cannot be treated as em- propose to adopt a perspective rooted in the
bodied in technology. Instead, what is embodied practice leans, focusing on two units of analy-
in a technology is a particular set of symbols and sis, namely constituting structures and cultural
material properties allowing for social connectiv- artifacts. Structure is what is embodied in a com-
ity. Then, virtual communities emerge when such munity in the form of social connectivity enabling
social connectivity is instantiated in practice. It the co-engagement of members in designated
is worth noticing that today social connectivity domains. On the other hand, cultural artifacts
can hardly be conceived in terms of functional reveal the existence of the community and unfold
qualities or requirements. Instead, it appears to be its purpose and practice. At first glance, such a
a non-functional quality attribute to be satisficed conceptualization of community is neutral to the
rather than fulfilled. practice a community is about. In other words,
A second useful feature of a practice lens, in our definition would be equally valid for online
the context of our present work, is that it links communities of interest (i.e., music, games,
with cyber-archaeology (Harrison, 2009; Jones, entertainment, etc), virtual communities of pro-
2003) in so far as it fosters commitment to ana- fessional practice (i.e., software engineering,
lyzing virtual communities through their cultural commerce, government, etc), knowledge com-
artifacts. These artifacts can provide an integrative munities and value-added networks (i.e., intra- or
framework for community life, whether virtual or inter-organization new product development).
real (Jones, 1997; Jones & Rafaeli, 2000). Archae- After all, they are all about recurrent interactions
ologists consider as cultural artifacts any kind of of the members resulting from a shared history of
material remains of culture, aiming not so much co-existence. Nevertheless, intrinsic properties of
to reconstruct what once was, but to make sense each type of community are revealed only when
38
the relevant practice comes into play, necessitating strategy, but rather a complex of cultural practices
an analysis of the principles and the tools govern- that occupy multiple locations, both virtual and
ing co-engagement in a designated domain and physical. Focusing only on what happens online
how such co-engagement evolves into a system or offline (as separate contexts) cannot fully detail
of learnt interactive behaviors. the practice involved. Consequently, the detach-
For instance, prior to widespread computer- ment of online activities from offline praxis,
mediated communication, people generally found which is commonly observed in the relevant
their social circles in close geographic proximity literature (Gochenour, 2006), should be relaxed
to where they lived (i.e., door-to-door social so as to alleviate methodological challenges,
networks). As travel became more common, which arguably constrain the researcher and the
people began widening the geographic spread of interpretive capacity of the instruments used to
their social networks giving rise to what Well- assess findings. Phrased differently, examining
man terms place-to-place networks (Wellman, cultural artifacts in a location-bound manner (i.e.,
2001). Today, advanced communication technolo- a single site) raises the possibility that the research
gies create momentum for yet another transition will inevitably concern sub-cultural practices of
towards space-to-space networks. It is worth a much broader, less definite context or culture.
noticing that each shift in the paradigm of com- On the other hand, attempting to streamline online
munity management was realized by improving and offline practice is challenging both in terms
the associated practices. Thus, with travel, com- of method used and unit of analysis.
munications technologies and services, door-to-
door interpersonal interaction was supplemented Cultural Artifacts
by the ability to write letters, and later, telephone
one another to keep strong social ties over larger Cultural studies of technology have tradition-
distances. As computer networks matured and ally been more concerned with broader accounts
became common place, digital literacy practices of social context focusing either on how such
were necessitated. Mobile phones, network attach- contexts shape technology or how technologies
able devices and social software have yet again are implicated in such contexts (Wise, 1997;
extended the practice vocabulary so as to enable Sterne, 2006). Nevertheless, they all point to the
space-to-space interactions and networking in artifactual nature of technology, which in turn
which the individuals location is of no concern. leads to frequently overlapping technological
The latest wave of innovation, namely tangible trajectories. The term is used to denote transitions
interfaces, pervasive computing and ambient characterized both by the technical qualities of
environments implicates yet another transition technology as well as the assumed paradigm of
towards network-to-network interactions, as use. Examples of such transitions are evidenced
these technologies foster a stronger intertwining throughout the history of technology. Thus, for
between online (or virtual) and physical (or mate- instance the read-write web signified a period
rial) spaces. It is evident therefore that with each anchored by device-dependent markup languages
shift in the paradigm old practices are not simply such as HTML and web sites were the user was
transferred to the new social context. Rather, they conceived as audience or passive consumer of
become enriched, augmented by and inextricably information-based products. Key quality feature
linked to the new social-technical environment. during this period has been portability. Since 2004,
In light of the above, it stands to argue that the emergence of Web 2.0 signifies transitions
virtual communities are phenomena of cyber- in technology (from device-dependent to device
space, which are not solely a new communications independent markup, from web sites to blogging,
39
from authoring to collaborative editing and from ment of a set of activities in light of the emergent
consuming information to social interaction and digital context. It is such intertwining that creates
networking). In terms of paradigm of use, this the grounds for a cyber-archaeology of practice
new digital culture progressively establishes new with a dual focus on the one hand allowing to
primary beneficiaries. Specifically, we are now understand past digital cultures (i.e., the read-
experiencing the active audience who creates write web) through the analysis of the mate-
content and this new content serves as added value. rial remains of their prevalent technologies (i.e.,
Research studies have claimed that throughout this device-dependent markup) and on the other hand
evolutionary process new practices do not follow to re-construct cultural artifacts of practice (i.e.,
inexorably from the material features of estab- HTML web pages) in new contexts (i.e., social
lished technologies; instead, they are improvised semantic web with tagging options).
on the basis of old practices that work differently
in new contexts (Harrison & Barthel, 2009: 156). Constituting Structures: Affordances
Figure 1 below illustrates the case related to and Quality Attributes
the current digital culture of Web2.0 and how it
evolved (in terms of cultural artifacts and prac- To gain further insight into the how cultural
tices) from the earlier read-write web. Thus, artifacts reveal practice across technological re-
early authoring device-dependent mark-up prac- gimes, it is important to assess what is it exactly
tices prevailing in the read-write web evolved the technological quality which is embodied as
into posting in blogs, collaborative editing using constituting structure in each generation of tech-
wikis and tagging practices in social software. nology and how it affects the material aspects of
Respectively, online communities transformed technology. In this vein a useful concept is the
from place-based virtual gatherings to space- notion of affordances. Gibson (1979) developed
oriented, knowledge communities and virtual the idea of affordances to explain how people and
social networks. Obviously, these transitions other animals orient to the objects in their world
exhibit a degree of intertwining between social in terms of the possibilities the objects afford
media, practices and the prevailing conceptions for action. An affordance perspective recognizes
of communities, allowing the incremental refine- how the materiality of an object favors, shapes,
Figure 1. Digital cultures, technological trajectories and cultural artifacts
40
or invites, and at the same time constrains, a set it is not likely to be the constituting structure
of specific uses (Zammuto, et al., 2007). Thus, it facilitating what Orlikowski coins as variety of
can be argued that the capacity to understand technologies-in-practice when referring to emer-
and reconstruct practice through cultural arti- gent social practices of a technology. Instead, it
facts is enabled or constrained by the presence is the non-functional inscriptions in technology,
or absence of novel affordances that determine which allow or constrain these emergent social
information-processing properties of the arti- practices.
facts such social connectivity, abstraction, social It is possible to seek justification for this ar-
translucence, specification-based languages and gument by briefly reviewing the qualities, which
interoperability, The way in which these affor- constituted the driving forces for technological
dances are inscribed in technology shapes not change in recent years. Figure 2 summarizes
only the material aspects of the technology but major advances in media and technologies over
also what is enacted through technology use. Con- the past 15 years with an intention to unfold they
sequently, they constitute some form of structure, primary non-functional quality driving evolution.
which however, can no longer be related only to As shown, the running paradigm shift from Web2.0
functional components inscribed in technology to towards the vision of the Semantic Web is shaped
detail structures in data, processes and protocols by qualities such as abstraction, interoperability,
used to implement designated capabilities. Instead, social connectivity and ultimately plasticity. It is
affordances are conceived of as non-functional actually not so important for our current purpose
qualities or intangible constraints defining bound- to assess how these qualities are to be embodied
ary conditions of the process through which the in a particular technological artifact. What is im-
technology is built and whose presence or absence portant is the extent to which they are inscribed
determines the technologys use in practice. in the technology so as to allow emergence of
Consider for example the Google search en- new practices and technologies-in-use as well as
gine. Its constituting structures include handling the extent to which they are traceable or revealed
of directories, databases and indexes, page ranking through the cultural artifacts.
algorithms, etc. Nevertheless, these functional Consequently, by focusing on such non-
aspects alone do not convey Google engines functional inscriptions, we may gain insight to
material capacity unless conceived in the context the technology constituting structures leading to
of non-functional qualities such as connectivity to projections about the emergent social practices
make use of multiple servers and architectural ab- that may prevail in actual use. In the context of
straction, which in turn reflect choices made about our present work, the above motivate an approach
its design, construction, and operation. Another to analyzing virtual communities as emergent
example is Lotus Notes. Orlikowski (2000, p. 414) structures which become viable through the
underlines that although Lotus Notes constitut- members recurrent co-engagement in a desig-
ing structures include public key cryptography, nated practice. Practice, in turn, is revealed through
distributed database management, communica- cultural artifacts and activities on objects whose
tion via email, etc., again it is non-functional affordances (i.e., inscribed non-functional quali-
qualities such as client-server architecture, graphic ties) designate their use. In this view, possibilities
user interface, flexibility / tailorability, security, of action are not given, but depend on the presence
etc., that determine the enactment of a variety or absence of affordances as well as the intent of
of technologies-in-practice. It can be concluded the actors enacting them.
therefore, that although functionality embodied
in technological artifacts is clearly important,
41
Figure 2. Critical technology trajectories and constituting quality structures
RESEARCH AIMS, are the technology constituting structures that

METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS enable communities to be established in virtual
AND APPROACH settings. On the other hand, we are equally keen
to understand how practice becomes implicated
In our recent work, we have attempted to explore in sociotechnical community contexts, thereby
the link between virtual community and practice, becoming expanded and enriched. To bring light
bringing to the surface the challenging issue of to the above, we will elaborate on our recent work,
the containment structure between community making use of a two-case research design. Our
and practice. Gherardi (2009, p. 121) makes ex- motivating rationale is not to unlock and reveal
plicit this challenge stating is it community local practices i.e., how colleagues sharing the
that constitutes the container of knowledge same material work environment perform their
since communities pre-exist their activities or is activities. Instead, our specific interests are to
it the activities themselves that generate a com- (a) trace recurrent events taking place in virtual
munity . as they form the glue which holds space triggering enactment of local practice and
together a configuration of people, artifacts and (b) identify how the results of such work is fed
social relations. In our current effort, instead of back to the shared online setting.
emphasizing arguments for and against place-
versus space-based or network communities, Cases Description
or whether practice is routine work versus an
epistemology of work, tacit or tangible, codifiable, Two case studies are presented the collaborative
transmittable and reproducible, we have taken engagement in music notation exercises and the
the risk of attempting to understand one concept assembly of information-based products such as
through the other. Specifically, our aim is two-fold. vacation packages for tourists drawing upon
On the one hand, we seek to understand how radically different practice domains and work
practice shapes virtual communities, thus what contexts. Both were conducted in the context
42
of collaborative research and development ef- boring on the grounds of shared interest. For the
forts targeted to gaining deeper insights to the music lesson, neighboring is established by choice
operation of virtual communities of practice. of musical instrument (i.e., piano master class).
Moreover, each case was developed in separate In vacation package assembly neighboring is
and independent collaborative research projects based on partners service offerings (i.e., accom-
running in parallel (2006 2009) and exploit- modation, travel, food and beverage, etc). Neigh-
ing common methodological ground. The music boring communities are formed by registration,
notation exercises case was selected to provide using dedicated electronic registration systems,
insights to the online reconstruction of widely and irrespective of practice domain, neighbors
accepted practices based on established music enjoy a variety of common services including
notation constructs. On the other hand, the vacation asynchronous communications (SMS, GroupSMS
package assembly case was chosen as it provides and threaded discussions), information sharing
a means for cross-organizational collaboration and interoperability between the community and
(comprising materially different work practices) the respective practice environments. The second
for new product development. In terms of technical type of community amounts to neighbors engag-
developments, both cases make use of dedicated ing in the shared practice through the practice
practice toolkits to facilitate the members col- toolkits. This type of community of practice is
laborative co-engagement online. These are soft- formed subject to different conditions. For music
ware components designed specifically to enable lessons the condition is an invitation by the mod-
members of the respective communities to engage erator. For the vacation package assembly the
in the designated practices. Consequently, their condition is the members commitment of re-
design presents various challenges but these are sources to a collective cause (i.e., a vacation
explored and elaborated elsewhere (Akoumiana- package). In both cases, engagement in practice
kis, 2009a). What was intriguing and motivating entails asynchronous interactions between the
to conduct a cross-case analysis is the difference members as well as synchronous collaboration
in the community settings, the shared practices with the object of collaboration being domain-
in each case and the local settings of the agents specific and replicated across sites. Such functions
involved across the two cases. Briefly these are are supported by the practice toolkits; download-
summarized in Table 1. able software platforms available upon successful
On the other hand, both cases share common registration.
ground in terms of the community types, policies
and services supported. Specifically, each case
study reveals two different types of community.
The first type reflects a kind of members neigh-
Table 1. Cross-case conditions and criteria
Community setting Shared practice Local settings

Music notation lessons Moderated squads comprising Interpreting music scores Identical and differentiated only
one tutor and a music learning (boundary artifact) and per- by the performers choice of musi-
community of peers forming accordingly cal instrument
Cross-organization product Virtual alliance of business Negotiating details of aggregate Differentiated by organizational
development partners offering competing or product lines (vacation pack- boundaries and locally instituted
complementary services ages) by assembling services work practices
43
Music Notation Lessons sic performance. Synchronization of participants

and latency issues are technical challenges in their
Music in general, is widely recognized as a me- own right, which have been explored elsewhere
dium for community making as it fosters sense (Alexandraki & Valsamakis, 2009; Alexandraki
of belonging and identity formation (Mavra & & Akoumianakis, 2010).
McNeil, 2007). This is also evidenced in music There are two prerequisite for taking part in
learning situations (Ferm, 2008). Our experimen- a music notation lessons. The first is the users
tal scenario involves a multi-site engagement in acceptance of the moderators invitation, which is
a piano lesson with one moderator and several followed up by registration to a room containing
participants. To conduct a music notation lesson, the shared material of the lesson. Such rooms
moderators (or music theory tutors) prepare shared are implemented as dedicated portlets (see Figure
music materials (i.e., music notation, recordings, 3) using the Liferay content management system,
videos), schedule and organize the music lesson which serves as the community support medium.
and invite participants. On the other hand, partici- Registration is a two-stage process where partici-
pants access shared contents in their own pace, pants first become members of the community
while during the lesson they negotiate the act of (by building their music profile) and then register
interpreting shared music materials against their to rooms.
personal technical virtuosity. This is manifested The second prerequisite entails downloading
as individual music performance of a designated the dedicated practice-specific software suite,
music score. Additionally, the virtual group may which allows members to engage synchronously
engage in collaborative rehearsals of a music piece in the micro-negotiations of a specific music les-
with participants co-engaging in collaborative mu- son. An example of this client toolkit is depicted
Figure 3. Music room management by moderators
44
Figure 4. The distributed music notation lesson toolkit
in Figure 4. As shown, the toolkit implements a Vacation Package Assembly

dedicated room for each participant with online
material related to the music notation lesson. This case was conceived and designed to assess
Specifically, each room contains the shared and the conduct of distributed collective assembly of
replicated representation of music (i.e., the score), vacation packages in a virtual community context.
relevant material from the corresponding Liferay This time the community takes the form of a cross-
room (bottom right hand side dialog), music organization virtual alliance whose members join
performance controls for transmitting / receiving their efforts to satisfy the requirements of vacation
signals, controlling a remote peers music perfor- packages as formulated by prospective user com-
mance and synchronizing with peers during a munities. Before presenting the details of the site
rehearsal (bottom panel of buttons). Other facili- studied, it is perhaps appropriate to briefly discuss
ties such as the web camera and online chat allow what exactly is referred to as vacation package
users to maintain visual contact with remote sites assembly. The package tour has been the ultimate,
and to exchange informal messages. Since the mass-marketed tourism product since the 1950s
music score offers a special type of language for (Osti, Turner & King, 2009). However, the in-
music, its interactive version provides for editing, creased capacity of travelers to gather and process
annotating and modifying parts of the music score information about destinations, transportation and
by the holder of the floor. Example manipulations accommodation and the increasing popularity of
and practices are presented in Figure 5. The func- tourist blogs (Schmallegger & Carson, 2008) have
tionality of the synchronous session manager and challenged traditional package tours, which for
the floor control is to manage access to the shared several years now experience decrease in sales.
object and broadcast changes to all registered Professionals investing on such products are in-
participants. creasingly responding to the challenge by adopting
45
Figure 5. Examples of music score manipulation practices by the floor holder
alternative vacation package marketing models needs provide a source of input to the alliance as
(Walsh & Gwinner, 2009). One such prominent customers may engage in a variety of posteriori
trend, which is turning the tourist industry from reflections upon the actual experience.
a leading candidate for B2B electronic commerce Figure 6 and Figure 7 provide illustrative views
to an information industry, is devising flexible of vacation packages in the customers and the cor-
package family engines, which allow travelers responding alliances social worlds, respectively.
to compile online alternative package instances In the customers social world vacation package
to suit their own requirements (Ritzer & Liska, options are ultimately selected by customers to
1997; Akoumianakis, 2010). suit own requirements and cultural preferences.
The site studied in this case study is an opera- This can be done by assessing various parameters
tional pilot of a virtual space on regional tourism, such as price, relative physical location of a service
which facilitates cross-organization alliances to provider, etc to derive the most preferable portfolio
engage in collaborative assembly of in-vacation of services. On the other hand, while working on
packages. These are information-based products a vacation package the virtual alliance exploits
which act either as supplements to vacation ser- different visual tools to engage in asynchronous
vices acquired through conventional means or as and synchronous micro-negotiations related to all
catalysts for selecting a destination site. An alliance aspects of a vacation package, including how it is
is formed as a moderated virtual community of presented, details of services, candidate providers,
practice with members offering dedicated services global policies (i.e., discounts), etc. The vacation
to fulfill the demands of a vacation package. For package assembly line undertakes to process these
the virtual alliance, the vacation package remains micro-negotiations and to transform them into a
an aggregate product offering until the moment vacation offering meaningful to users.
that prospective customers make choices of spe- Another key quality of the assembly line is to
cific services, thus selecting specific business support the designated plasticity of vacation
partners. Vacation packages once tailored to user packages. This entails automatic transformations
46
Figure 6. Vacation packages assembled and published
of work-in-progress arrangements (see Figure 7) medium for transcending internal and external
to objects meaningful to the end users (see Figure boundaries. Internal (to the virtual alliance)
6). In other words, the assembly line serves as a boundaries are between electronic neighborhoods
Figure 7. Vacation package in negotiation
47
of service types such as accommodation, trans- Table 3 provides insights to the questions raised
portation, food & beverage, etc. External bound- in each interview for each of the two principal
aries indicate the customer communities that may constituents. In deriving such questions we first
be formed around a particular vacation package. elaborated the most prominent research issues for
community and practice management respec-
Data Collection Methods tively and then reduced the transcripts by group-
ing them into more general categories based on
Each case was analyzed independently using their similarities. Thus, for community manage-
several virtual ethnographic studies of operating ment we wanted to assess the extent to which
music squads and virtual tourism alliances fol- communities, once formed to address a specific
lowed up by interviews and workshops. During practice agenda (i.e., music notation lesson or a
virtual ethnographies, the researcher was involved vacation package), sustain their momentum and
as an active participant / observer of these vir- persist across different practice agendas. Phrased
tual groups, undertaking the moderating role in differently, we sought to consider sense of com-
each case. Following each ethnographic study, munity subject to the degree to which members
participants were interviewed and took part in continue their co-engagement across different
a workshop. The interviewing strategy, which music lessons and vacation packages. Such recur-
is summarized in Table 2, was devised to reveal rent behavior, if observed across virtual ethno-
participant conceptions on both community and graphic studies, would indicate not only strength
practice management. in social ties, but also it could explain sense of
Table 2. Interviewing strategy for data collection
Music lessons Vacation package assembly

Soliciting participants Virtual ethnographic study of piano lesson Virtual ethnographic study of Pelloponissos Round
Trip vacation package
Participant affiliations Music tutors, music performers, conductors Tour operators, travel agencies and service providers
Number of interviews 5 11
Type of interview Semi-structured / individual interviews Semi-structured / individual & group
Duration of interview 15 30 minutes 15 40 minutes
Interviewing period 1 day (prior to workshop) 1 day (prior to workshop)
Table 3. Interview topics
Community management Practice engagement

Prior knowledge of participants involved Means for understanding the shared practice
Community types & community formation mechanisms Making sense of what is expected
Appropriated versus enacted structures & implications Social awareness of what peers are doing
Motive for recurrent participation (in other communities) Online practice reification and materiality
Community (online) practice vs. members offline activities Alignment between online and offline practice
48
community through elements of the practice in Cultural Artifacts as

which the members become engaged. For practice Linguistic Vocabularies for
management our interest was to devise a suitable Recurrent Engagement
unit for framing elements of practice in virtual
settings. To this end, we hypothesized that practice One key finding resulting from the responses to
is revealed either through social interaction be- the questions Means for understanding the shared
tween the members or the knowledge encoded in practice and Making sense of what is expected in
processes, tools and artifacts. These conditions Table 3 was that users in both cases conceived the
are translated to the questions in Table 3. community as a common information space which
is made sense of through designated cultural arti-
facts predominating the members collaborative
ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF practices. Participation and engagement in practice
ELECTRONIC SQUADS & LESSONS is only possible through (and synonymous to)
LEARNT recurrent interactions with these cultural artifacts.
Phrased differently, cultural artifacts form the lin-
In this section we summarize key findings from guistic vocabularies of practice and it is through
our ethnographic studies of electronic squads and the members co-engagement in such linguistic
the follow-up workshops with the participants. vocabularies that knowledge emerges either as
Our intention is not to present details of our evalu- knowing in practice or as communication acts.
ations as these have been discussed elsewhere In the music lesson scenario, participants
(Akoumianakis et al., 2008; Akoumianakis, 2010). identified two cultural artifacts rising during ne-
Instead, our aim is to reflect upon our experiences gotiations, namely the representation of music and
following a practice lens, focusing on what is re- the outcome of the distributed collective practice
vealed by analyzing the cultural artifacts and the of the group. The music score, as means for rep-
technology constituting structures of the respective resenting music, qualifies as cultural artifact for
virtual communities. In this endeavor, we seek to several reasons. Firstly, it is a human-made object,
unfold useful insights to whether it is community which gives information about the culture of its
that constitutes the container of practice or is it creator. Secondly, it forms a type of language for
the practice that generates a community. music (Copland, 2002; Patel, 2007), with widely
shared meaning, allowing not only description,
Cultural Artifacts but also re-creation of a musical piece. Thirdly,
such meaning resides within the score and takes
Both case studies confirmed that communities the form of melody, harmony, the interrelation-
emerge and sustain their function through the ship of melody and harmony, the overall form or
members recurrent interactions with cultural structure of the piece and in vocal music, some
artifacts, which reflect the practice community sort of relationship of the lyrics to these other
members become engaged in. Nevertheless, the elements (Brackett, 1999, p.126). Another type
type and role of these cultural artifacts was some- of cultural artifact is the outcome of the groups
what different in each case. distributed music performance or the recorded
rehearsal. An mp3 rehearsal is a crystallized set
of social and material relations. It embodies both
technical and material elements of practice in a
single artifact that works for and is worked on
by a host of people, ideologies, technologies and
49
other social and material elements. Sterne (2006) important for information-based vacation pack-
in his analysis of the mp3 music format develops, ages, such as those considered in our study, to ex-
rather convincingly, this line of argumentation, hibit the flexibility and plasticity required to allow
revealing how mp3 embodies social, physical, psy- customers to request personalized arrangements
chological and ideological phenomena of which and individualized options. Being able to support
otherwise we might not have been fully aware. such micro-negotiations between customers and
In a similar vein, vacation packages stand out the virtual alliance as well as between members
very promptly as cultural artifacts. In their recent of the alliance has been the primary motif for both
analysis of travelers information search, Osti repeated customer requests for different vacation
and colleagues (2009) identify several cultural packages and recurrent participation of members
characteristics as determinants of the information in virtual alliances across different vacation pack-
search process. These include type of vacation age agendas.
undertaken, origin and cultural background of the It stands therefore to argue that communities as
tourist, involvement with travelling, perceived emergent structures are best revealed by analyz-
risks of taking the holiday or undertaking a particu- ing the practice in which they become engaged.
lar activity, knowledge about the destination, time Such analysis should focus on two prominent
available for selecting and planning the holiday aspects. Firstly, it should aim to reveal practice
or a determined activity, cost of the holiday or by account of the cultural artifacts articulated by
activity, difference between the possible holidays members in the course of their co-engagement
or activity to choose from, and involvement with online as well as the collective outcomes of this
the destination or a certain activity, as for example co-engagement. Secondly, analysis should seek
a particular sport or cultural activity (p. 65). Our to unfold how cultural artifacts become shared
analysis of the requests posed by customers for language or linguistic vocabularies leading to
clarifying vacation package alternatives as well as acts of communication. Such an analytical strand
the interviews with participants confirm previous necessitates a detailed insight into the practice
research and reveal some of the factors, which toolkit in order to extract the boundary artifacts
qualify vacation packages as cultural artifacts. through which shared meaning is constructed,
Firstly, choice of vacation destination appears negotiated and reconstructed. It is these boundary
to be strongly influenced by the way prospective artifacts, which need to be designed so as to form
tourists perceive their hosts and their culture. It the practice vocabulary of the virtual community.
seems that sometimes, previous established ideas Our case studies addressed two possible types
and stereotypes, prevalent views on economic sta- of boundary artifacts, namely artifacts with an
bility, safety and accessibility act as blinkers that established history and widely accepted meaning
determine tourists choice of destination (Costa in offline practices (e.g., music notation scores)
& Ferrone, 1995). and artifacts whose metaphoric manifestation in
Secondly, choice of vacations frequently virtual space affords collaborative sense making.
reveals cultural identity in so far as it entails Both types have been designed so as to exhibit
conscious decisions on specific type of packages plasticity in order to enable their transformations
(such as urban, green tourism, cruising vacation, across different social worlds.
short-break vacation, etc), which may be further
qualified by individualized travel plans.
Thirdly, culture was also revealed as govern-
ing the type of service requested and consumed
irrespective of destination decisions. It is therefore
50
Cultural Artifacts for Making Sense oriented information relates to the transforma-
of Boundary-Spanning Domains tion of the templates into a concrete information
resource in the users social context, which can be
Responding to the question on Social awareness of further negotiated to suit individual preferences.
what peers are doing (see Table 3), participants no- The social aspects of the collective achievement
ticed the affordances designed into the designated are made explicit not only during the development
cultural artifacts (i.e., the shared music score and of the vacation package (see Figure 7), but also
the vacation package activity panel) and how these once the package is crystallized and published
affordances foster and facilitate shared meaning through its dedicated forum in the portal.
and collective sense of the common information Another useful finding standing out very
space. In both cases, participants indicated that promptly from our interviewing data relates to
they could immediately identify themselves with how members of virtual communities cope with
these artifacts, while at the same time, obtaining strangers. Previous work (Raybourn et al., 2003)
and maintaining the impression that they are not suggests that cultural artifacts may be used to facili-
alone. It was also noted that such meaning does tate collaborative engagement with strangers. We
not result from the communications facilities avail- found this to be true across the two cases. Specifi-
able, but it resides solely with the cultural artifacts, cally, in the music notation lesson no participant
which serve the purpose of structuring unknown expressed negative feelings on collaborating with
contexts and/or actions and assigning them with strangers to rehearse a musical piece. Moreover,
meaning. Of course this should not undermine in vacation package assembly co-engagement in
the role of organizational conditions, which are vacation packages did not appear to be hindered
known to influence sense making (Weick, 2001). by the fact that partners are different organizations
Nevertheless, this is where the boundary role of with non-uniform values and material practice
cultural artifacts is mostly beneficial, as it allows environments. Nevertheless, in both cases this
them, through their cultural binding, not only to was implicitly related to the boundary-spanning
foster making of sense of the shared information nature of the task in hand. In other words, most
space, but also to translate what happens online participants responded that dont mind col-
to local offline practice across different organi- laborating with strangers as long as their practice
zational conditions. does not interfere with mine. This leads to the
Our case study data confirmed this conclusion, conclusion that in boundary-spanning settings
as it revealed that in both cases meaning resides in virtual groups are not so much concerned with the
the cultural artifacts, either as codified knowledge identification of specific attitudes or the individual
or socially constructed and collective achievement. members work practices, as they are concerned
In the music notation lesson meaning as codified with the process of organizing (and making sense
knowledge resides with the music score, which of) the distributed work itself. This abstractness
uses a standard vocabulary for this purpose. The should be reflected in the design of the boundary
socially constructed collective achievement is the artifacts used to codify the shared practice.
rehearsed music performance of all participants. In our reference case studies, the music score
On the other hand, vacation package templates use (in the music notation lesson) as well as the elastic
a non-standardized vocabulary to reflect work- buttons and tailorable activity panels (in vacation
in-progress and process-oriented information. package assembly) were designed precisely to fa-
Work-in-progress takes the form of knowledge cilitate such abstractness. Specifically, the library
about what services are required, how they are used to develop the music score was augmented
interrelated and who is contributing. Process- with interaction techniques depicting the universal
51
code of music score practicing. Similarly, elastic customers. In so doing, tailorable activity panels
buttons were designed so as to inherit the command were found useful not only for summarizing vaca-
metaphor of conventional GUI buttons, but also tion packages but also for clarifying boundaries
to afford additional semantics through features (i.e., neighborhoods involved) and reinforcing the
such as color codification and size manipulation. identity of members of the supporting communi-
Notably, in both cases, such functionalities are ties of practice. Moreover, decoding the tailoring
embedded in the user interface toolkits used to requests received by a vacation package reveals
develop the respective applications. Thus, they patterns in the end user communities which may
were encapsulated through abstractions intended provide useful insight to end user preferences,
to facilitate a degree of plasticity of the material purchasing behavior and consumption patterns.
practice of the technology. In turn, it is this plastic- Consequently, vacation packages as reifications
ity which allows the respective artifacts and their of the virtual assembly practice are significant for
surrounding practices to maintain a boundary role learning because they communicate to participants
(being easily recognizable across communities, what is important, what appears to be popular
while raising different implications for members amongst user communities, what seems to work
of each community). well and what turns out to be problematic.
A final comment relates to how online practice
Cultural Artifacts as obtains material properties. This is quite distinct
Reifications of Practice from the intertwining of online and offline practice
(which is briefly discussed below) as it relates to
Addressing the question of How online practice the materiality of the outcome of the distributed
is reified and obtains material properties the re- collective practice and the cultural remains of the
spondents underlined the catalytic role of cultural respective virtual communities. In both cases,
artifacts in (a) anchoring practice and making the participants concluded that the remains of
intermediate and final results of this practice the electronic squads comprise on the one hand
visible to all actors involved and (b) unfolding packaged information-based artifacts codified
rationale and the arguments behind the distributed in popular formats (mp3s for music rehearsals
collective practice, thus unfolding what was at or XML code for vacation packages), and on the
stake, what worked, and what turned out to be other hand, the dynamics of collaboration giving
insufficient or inadequate. rise to these artifacts. Notably, the former type of
In the music notation lesson, the prominent virtual tells in the language of Jones and Rafaeli
anchor of practice turns out to be the rehearsed (2000) can be easily reconstructed using tools of
music performance which when combined with the current technological paradigm (i.e., mp3 play-
earlier rehearsed versions and the shared music ers and browsers), while the latter type remains
score binds together elements of a cultural past bytes of code until such time that it is reconstructed
(i.e., the composer of the musical piece) with ele- using only the practice toolkit through which it
ments of a cultural present (i.e., dynamics of the was initially constructed.
music learning community). In the case of vacation
package assembly, elastic buttons and tailorable Technology Constituting Structures
activity panels served to anchor the virtual practice
of vacation package assembly and to make its We now turn to the second issue of interest to the
intermediate and final results tangible by enabling present work, namely the constituting structures
implicit mapping of abstract reality to concrete inscribed in technology and the extent to which
localities of individual partners and prospective these structures enable reproduction of existing
52
and well established practices or emergence of developed to allow interoperability between the
new practices. It turns out that this was a more Swing user interface (see Figure 4) and the C++
difficult and challenging topic, as many partici- libraries of the mixing server to enable control
pants could not associate technological artifacts of the parameters of local and remote signals.
with associated quality attributes. Needless to say On the other hand, vacation package assembly
that many quality attributes were considered as utilized augmentation and expansion of the Java
jargon vocabulary requiring substantial explana- Swing toolkit to create custom controls (such as
tion and elaboration of their details. the elastic buttons representing services) and
components (such as the tailorable activity panels
Technology Inscribed Structures representing aggregate product offerings). The
synchronous collaboration-oriented structures
Both cases analyzed in the present study revealed (i.e., session management, floor control, repli-
community formation at two distinct and separate cation and object synchronization) inscribed to
levels. One level is that of building and maintain- facilitate social connectivity and awareness, were
ing electronic neighborhoods (i.e., community very similar across the two cases, and were built
as neighboring), while another level is that of using an abstraction mechanism designed for this
facilitating practice-oriented co-engagement purpose. Collectively, these structures provided
(i.e., community as practicing). Participants also the means for building interactive embodiments
noticed that each type of community is fostered of the linguistic domains of music notation les-
through different technological artifacts. Com- sons and vacation package assembly, respectively.
munity as neighboring is facilitated through the
Liferay portal and content management system. Appropriation and Enactment of
Community as practicing is enabled by the des- Structures Inscribed In Technology
ignated practice-oriented toolkits. In terms of
technology constituting structures, community as Orlikowskis work (2000) identifies appropriation
neighboring exploits reuse of open source Liferay and enactment as two mechanisms distinct but
functionality to develop very similar structures integral to the practice lens. She draws the distinc-
across the two cases. These were inscribed in the tion by recalling that existing structurational
augmented Liferay versions as electronic regis- models of technology examine what people do
tration components, new content development with technologies in use, positing such use as an
policies, access rights to informational assets appropriation of the structures inscribed in the
(including the practice toolkits) and asynchronous technologies p.407. Enactment is then introduced
communication services. to emphasize a focus on emergent rather than
Community as practicing is facilitated by embodied structures. Our content-based analysis
interoperable software components constitut- of the respondents remarks on questions such
ing the dedicated practice toolkits. The specific as Appropriated versus enacted structures and
structures inscribed in these toolkits, although implications and Motive for recurrent participa-
different in function across the two cases, fol- tion (in other communities) provides evidence
lowed established software engineering quality to support a slightly different interpretation of
attributes (Akoumianakis, 2009b). For the mu- enactment. Specifically, we observed that all
sic notation lesson toolkit, an open source third community supporting functions embodied in the
party library, namely JMusic, was augmented to Liferay portal through design, were conceived
facilitate interactive exploration of the shared by users as appropriating structures inscribed in
music score. Additionally, a custom API was technology to serve solely community as neigh-
53
boring practices such as formation, information eligible participants, never get selected due to
sharing and communicating. Respectively, the various reasons.
electronic neighborhood registration system, the Our two case studies were also informative of
custom information / content templates and the some peripheral implications of enacting struc-
dedicated communication portlets were under- tures inscribed in technology. For instance, one
stood as components enabling these practices. case reported sharing of their rehearsed music les-
Although the choice of embodied structures being son through a different social networking medium
appropriated at times may differ across users (i.e., and using this medium to establish and sustain a
some preferred email, others SMS and only mod- virtual community. Notably, it was also reported
erators employed GroupSMS for asynchronous that this had a positive implication, in the form
communication) there was consensus both on the of high interest expressed on the DIAMOUSES
scope of these structures and the exact steps for technology and tools. The vacation package case
using them. Moreover, there was no confusion on also confirmed similar emergent structures being
members, resulting either from multiple identities, formed and sustained outside the virtual space of
which was not inscribed, or the designated roles e. This time, the driving force giving rise
in the communities formed. to these structures is choice of specific vacation
Enactment was largely conceived as a mecha- services in a package, which reveals hidden
nism associated with the practice toolkits. Specifi- communities in the customer base and formation
cally, two types of enactment were noted. The first of cliques between business partners. It turns
relates to becoming co-partners in the designated out that both these emergent structures implicate
practice of music notation lessons or vacation revisions in subsequent versions of a package.
package assembly. The second is a form of enact-
ment grounded on what emerges as a result of the Intertwining Of Online and
members co-engagement in practice. Enactment Offline (Material) Practices
as co-engagement was revealed by the fact that
the practice toolkits are the only means enabling A final useful conclusion provided by our com-
emergent structures of the type communities parative study relates to how (i.e., through which
as practicing. Enactment as collective praxis is artifacts) online practice is implicated in offline ac-
revealed by the packaged outcome of cultivated tivities and vice versa. The findings re-established
virtual communities of practice. The emergent the critical role of cultural artifacts as boundary
property of enactment of inscribed structures is objects and confirmed that offline practice is
evident in the cultural artifacts produced by the strongly intertwined but not fully determined
respective communities and which cannot be by what happens online. This conclusion shares
foreseen in advance. For instance, the rehearsal common ground with recent works on online and
of a music lesson and its codification as an mp3 offline practice by organization and management
file format is emergent rather than pre-determined scientists (Vaast 2007).
outcome of the micro-negotiations of the virtual In the music lesson case study online practice
team. Similarly, a vacation package emerges as and offline (local) performances are intertwined
a collective offering, but there is no guarantee through the shared music score and computer-
that certain contributors will actually be chosen mediated social interaction such as verbal queues
by prospective customers. In fact it may turn out expressed either orally or textually (i.e., go back
that, accommodation providers of certain type and forth, focus on specific phrases etc). Never-
or in a certain location, although registered and theless, the shared music score is not sensible to
contextual information characterizing local of-
54
fline performance at remote sites. Consequently, Quality attributes offer a means for gaining
enactment of designated actions locally may lead insight to emergent features not explicitly designed
to variable performance and this variation may be into the technology. Regarding the communitys
important. For instance, we observed that correct manifestation the focus has been on cultural ar-
musical performance is still possible using sub- tifacts for two primary reasons. First, they reveal
optimal local (material) practices (i.e., erroneous elements of the practice the community is about.
or ineffective placement of fingers on the musical Second, they provide traces of the community
instrument). One possible improvement in this life, thus allowing us to understand a past reality
direction, revealed through evaluation, is that score as well as to reconstruct this reality. In light of the
following would provide a desirable contextual above, this chapter sketched an approach, which
enhancement for making sense of local practices. seeks to understand community through the
In a similar vein, assembling vacation pack- practice the community is about. This approach
ages online influences but does not determine is rooted in a cross-case analysis of two recent
material practices of the members. This was evi- efforts. By separating practice from community
denced through observing behavior of members management, we developed a practice lens to
of the virtual alliance and behavior of prospective understand how technologically mediated cultural
customers. Interestingly, there were deviations artifacts shape and become implicated in practice,
between what partners promised online and how as well as how they virtual traces can be used
such promises were decoded and translated to situ- to tell stories about the respective communities.
ated (local) practice. For instance, we identified From the results available through virtual eth-
cases where the promised service quality could nographic studies of operating electronic squads
not actually be delivered without this deviation (Akoumianakis, 2010), we have reached several
being manifested to the respective electronic squad conclusions, briefly elaborated below. Our first
well in advance. conclusion is that in virtual settings practice is
revealed through two faces or constituents,
namely practice unfolded through social inter-
DISCUSSION, SUMMARY AND action and practice encapsulated in processes,
CONCLUDING REMARKS tools and artifacts. Most of the recent studies on
virtual communities do not recognize this duality
This chapter set out to address two key questions, that characterizes practice, as they concentrate
namely what technology constituting structures on the face of practice as revealed through social
enable communities to be established in virtual interaction and analysis of content transcripts.
settings and how practice becomes implicated Framing practice in processes, tools and arti-
in sociotechnical community contexts, thereby facts offers valuable insight to the collaboration
becoming expanded and enriched. We have that takes place online and the means enabling this
reached the conclusion that virtual community is collaboration. Our case studies reveal that such
constituted by structures inscribed in technology, collaboration creates cultural glues and shared
while the communitys existence is manifested context, which is important for virtual groups.
through cultural artifacts which reveal both com- Additionally, it unfolds recurrent praxis, which
munity traces and elements of the practice in which to a large extent is what sustains community and
members become engaged. In terms of structure facilitates its evolution. A byproduct of this orienta-
inscribed in technology, we have claimed that tion to bring to the surface structures inscribed in
functional perspectives do not suffice as they go technology and study process, tools and artifacts
as far as describing what is to be designed. is the focus on practice toolkits.
55
Our second conclusion relates to the catalytic Akoumianakis, D. (2010). Electronic Community
role of the practice toolkit. Through our case Factories: The model and its application in the
studies, it was revealed that a critical condition tourism sector. Electronic Commerce Research,
for success is not the community support system 10(1), 4381. doi:10.1007/s10660-010-9045-1
but the practice toolkit. Furthermore, we identi-
Akoumianakis, D., Vellis, G., Milolidakis, I.,
fied two contrasting conditions. Specifically, for
Kotsalis, D., & Alexandraki, C. (2008). Dis-
practice domains with well-established vocabular-
tributed collective practices in collaborative
ies and notational systems, such as music scores,
music performance. In Proceedings of 3rd ACM
the toolkit should be designed so as to allow the
International Conference on Digital Interactive
reproduction of these practices online. This is a
Media in Entertainment and Arts (pp. 368-375),
direct derivative of the music lesson case study
New York: ACM Press.
where the toolkit, in effect, reproduces online the
basic vocabulary of the linguistic domain of music Alexandraki, C., & Akoumianakis, D. (2010).
theory (i.e., notational symbols such as notes, Exploring New Perspectives in Network Mu-
score, melodies and the valid patterns of use). sic Performance: The DIAMOUSES Frame-
This reproduction however, does not change work. Computer Music Journal, 34(3), 6683.
the referent linguistic domain and its symbols doi:10.1162/comj.2010.34.2.66
in terms of expressive power, cognitive capabil-
Alexandraki, C., & Valsamakis, N. (2009). En-
ity and basic means for communicating. Such a
abling Virtual Music Performance Communities.
change would require the creation of new objects
In Akoumianakis, D. (Ed.), Virtual Community
(in the vocabulary of the linguistic domain) and
Practices and Social Interactive Media Tech-
associated activities or patterns of use. In contrast,
nology Lifecycle and Workflow (pp. 376397).
when the practice domain lacks universal codes
Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-
of established practice, then the practice toolkit
60566-340-1.ch019
should establish the shared language for engaging
in a micro-practice defined and experienced only Bartle, R. A. (2003). Designing Virtual Worlds.
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Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (2000). The Social Life
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59
KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Cultural Artifacts: Computer-mediated arti-

facts which reveal the existence of a community
Constituting Structures: Structures embod- and unfold its purpose and practices.
ied or designed into technology to facilitate desig- Practice Lens: A research perspective focus-
nated functional and non-functional requirements. ing on technology use and the emergent structures
revealed through such use.
60
61
Chapter 4
Toward Diversity in Researching
Teaching and Technology
Philosophies-in-Practice in
e-Learning Communities
Gale Parchoma
Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies (CSALT) & Lancaster University, UK
ABSTRACT
e-Learning is pervasively perceived as a singular enterprise, subject to broad claims and overarching
critiques. From this viewpoint, the strengths and weakness of large-scale e-learning implementations
in supporting all forms of teaching and learning in higher education can be examined through best-
practices lenses. This chapter contests the e-learning singularity paradigm through examining a sample
of diverse e-learning communities, each of which may be associated with distinct teaching and technol-
ogy philosophies-of-practice, as well as divergent research and development histories. A gestalt view
of interacting and interlocking teaching and technology philosophies underpins a call for local actions
aimed at achieving the democratization of e-learning environment design and fostering both difference
and connectivity across e-learning communities of research and practice.
INTRODUCTION by generalist approaches, which tend to condense

all forms of technology-mediated teaching and
Much attention has been and continues to be fo- learning practices in higher education (HE) into
cused on examinations and theories of e-learning an ill-defined field of e-learning research; and
adoption in higher education (Anderson, 2008; advocacy approaches, which promote or redress
Archer, Garrison, & Anderson, 1999; Bates, specific frameworks and models for adoption. Both
2000, 2005; Garrison & Kanuka, 2004; Greener approaches tend to be spiced with either pro- or
& Perriton, 2005; Laurillard, 2008; Nickols, 2008; anti-commentaries on technopositivist ideology,
Njenga, 2008; Parchoma, 2008; Stahl & Hesse, a compulsory enthusiasm (Njenga, 2008, p.2), for
2009). To date, this discourse has been marked the potential for technology to transform teaching
and learning in HE. Similarly, both approaches
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch004 tend to ignore or reject the interrelationships be-
Toward Diversity in Researching Teaching and Technology Philosophies-in-Practice
tween disciplinary ways of knowing, underpinning Just as assuredly there is the danger that the wrong
philosophies of teaching and technology, and the headed adoption of various technologies apart
resultant degrees of alignment or disconnect with from a sound grounding in educational research
institutionally mandated e-learning systems. and practice will result, and indeed in some in-
In this chapter, I explore an alternative route stances has already resulted, in costly additions to
through contested e-learning territories, a route an already expensive enterprise without any value
initially opened for exploration through Ka- added. That is, technology applications must be
nukas (2008) work on understanding e-learning consonant with what is known about the nature of
technologies-in-practice through philosophies-in- [teaching and] learning and must be assessed to
practice. References are made to higher educa- ensure that they are indeed enhancing learners
tion [HE], adult education [AE], technology and experiences (p. 24).
educational technology literatures in order to
bring a relevant range of perspectives on teach- The increasingly ubiquitous presence of
ing and technology relevant to bear on the issues e-learning initiatives, strategies, and program
at-hand. My efforts focus on achieving the fol- offerings across institutions of higher education
lowing objectives: (HE) underpins debates around whether educa-
tional research and practice are keeping pace.
1. Undertaking a critical examination Assurances that e-learning can enhance student
of Kanukas (2008) framework and learning via flexible access (Bates, 2005) to ef-
recommendations. fective (Naylor, 2005), economical (UNESCO,
2. Extending the range of both teaching and 2002), up-to-date (Barone, 2003), problem-based
technology philosophies-in-practice under (Jonassen, 2004), relevant (Alclay, 2003), com-
consideration. munity-oriented (Schwier, 2001, 2007; Schwier
3. Theorizing a gestalt perspective on interrela- & Daniel, 2006), low-risk (Garrison & Kanuka,
tionships between teaching and technology 2004), quality teaching and learning innova-
praxes. tions (Garrison, Kanuka, & Hawes, 2002), that
4. Examining four recognizable e-learning promote graduate-employability (EKOS, 2005),
research and practice communities for as- and internationalization (DiPaolo, 2003; Jones &
sociations with teaching and technology Steeples, 2002), have all been linked to rationales
philosophies-in-practice. for swift, broad-scale adoption. Despite the trend
5. Making a case for continued diversity in e- toward fast-paced, broad-ranging, and innovative
learning research and practice communities e-learning adoption, over the past decade in the
as an avenue to reconciliation of these virtual UK the HE sector continued to make small gains
communities with their social, place-based in localized projects, but not to achieve mastery
environments. of the technology in service of its learning and
6. Positing the interplay between teaching and teaching ambitions (Laurillard, 2008, p. 522).
technology philosophies-in-practice as a site Internationally, progress on e-learning acceptance
for researching diverse views. and diffusion has encountered similar challenges
(Bates, 2000, 2005; Nickols, 2008; Parchoma,
Background 2008).
Over-sold e-learning claims and promises,
More than a decade ago, Gandolfo (1998) posited combined with under-achieved ambitions, have led
the effective use of technology has the potential to resistance on a range of fronts. Critical educators
to improve and enhance learning; however: have asked us to consider if a technopositivist
62
ideology, is being created, propagated and assumes the existence of community (Greener
channeled repeatedly by the people who stand to & Perriton, 2005), without due consideration or
gain either economically, socially, politically or provision for diverse, emerging, and evolving
otherwise in due disregard of the trade-offs associ- e-learning community needs.
ated with the technology to the target audience Given the breadth of the range of hopes,
(Njenga, 2008, p.2). Peters (2006) argues that promises, practices, concerns, and skepticisms
technology has become the new star ship in the that can be associated with e-learning as a singu-
[educational] policy fleet for governments around lar entity, HE educators need the opportunity to
the world, resulting in conceptually inchoate step back and reflect (Laurillard, 2008; Njenga,
and ill-defined technology moving to the core, 2008) on the nature of a range of e-learning forms,
both as a disciplinary subject and a programmatic practices, and purposes. Where Njenga (2008)
approach, in higher education (p. 95). suggests shifting our attention from actual educa-
Njenga (2008) cautions us that unbridled tional technology as it advances to technologys
enthusiasm for the use of technology for end- educational functions and the effects it has on
less possibilities will result in a misconception the functions of teaching and learning, Kanuka
that providing information automatically leads (2008) posits a reversed process: reflecting on
to meaningful knowledge creation (pp. 969- the schism between opinions via considering
970), thus confusing information provision with the philosophical nature of the disagreement
an approach to teaching. Through lenses such as (p. 92). She recommends beginning from a
these, broad-scale e-learning initiatives have been consideration of the interrelationship between
critiqued as disruptive applications of technology, philosophies of teaching and the choices we
which are eroding (Bok, 2003), impoverishing make about e-learning technologies (Kanuka,
(Greener & Perriton, 2005), and may even be 2008, p. 93). Combined, Njengas and Kanukas
capable of eclipsing institutionally-based HE (Ar- focal points provide a useful gestalt perspective
cher, Garrison, & Anderson, 1999). Institutionally for a postmodern deconstruction of the e-learning
sanctioned e-learning models and strategies have singularity paradigm, along with opportunities to
been held to account for falling dismally short of extend inquiries into the interplay between activi-
respecting long held disciplinary teaching tradi- ties within virtual learning communities and the
tions (Nichols, 2008). technologies that support them.
HE policy and strategy documents increasingly
privilege the goal of embedding standardized tech- Unpacking the e-Learning
nologies into homogeneous pedagogical practices Singularity Paradigm
in order to ensure equality and consistency in the
student experience of e-learning (See for example, The e-learning singularity paradigm evades
EKOS, 2005; Lancaster University, 2006; Nichols, philosophically informed, discipline-aware,
2008). At a minimum, privileging the goal of con- research-based innovation and practice. This sin-
sistency in student e-learning experiences evades gularity paradigm, with its focus on effectiveness,
discourse on difference among philosophies of consistency, efficiency, fiscal sustainability, and
teaching and learning. Excluding philosophically arguably change for its own sake, has been asso-
informed pedagogical debates on theories and ciated with a series of e-learning adoptions gone
models, modes of delivery, instructional roles, wrong in HE, including: failed attempts at com-
instructional designs, and learning processes and mercialization (Bok, 2003; Greener & Perriton,
outcomes (Harasim, 2006, p. 59) homogenizes 2005; Laurillard, 2008), increased enrolment and
e-learning into a singularity paradigm, which reputation competitions among traditional univer-
63
sities (Hanna, 2000); corporate competition with to collaborative knowledge construction (Jones,
traditional universities (DiPaolo, 2003; Greener Ferreday, & Hodgson, 2006) in networked learn-
& Perriton, 2005); inequitable access, associated ing communities (McConnell, 2006), to combined
with the digital divide and institutional elitism individualistic and collaborative contributions to
(Archer, Garrison, & Anderson, 1999), Western virtual learning communities (Schwier, & Daniel,
capitalistic-academic colonialism (Zurawski, 2006). Faced with this array of options and as-
1996); the erosion of academic rigor (Olcott sociated terms, many tertiary educators are left
& Schmidt, 2000); and the standardization of wondering what e-learning is and whether it
curricula and impoverishment of the concept of might indicate a systemic move away from the
community in HE experiences (Greener & Per- classroom, toward distance education (Njenga,
riton, 2005). Taken further, privileging the goal 2008, p. 3).
of consistency in student e-learning experiences While the scope and aims of e-learning ac-
infers all forms of ICT-mediated teaching, learn- tivities and virtual communities are both diverse
ing, and community should, over time, converge and continuously evolving, managerial policy
into a limited set of identifiable, manageable best discourses on effectiveness, consistency, and ef-
practices. ficiency seek to restrain diversity in the interest
Within a singularity paradigm, wide-ranging of institutional continuity and sustainability (See
e-learning applications, which assume the concept for example, EKOS, 2005; Lancaster University,
of community, have been invoked as both promise 2006). Effectiveness, consistency, and efficiency
and platform for supporting logistical, pragmatic, discourses tend to base broad knowledge claims
and pedagogical challenges and aspirations typi- in references to context-dependent research.
cally encountered in teaching and learning in HE. Diversities across research designs, theoretical
As a single entity, e-learning can signify anything frameworks, findings, and implications from
from: online access to registration, grades, or inquiries into virtual learning environments,
course outlines (Littlejohn & Pegler, 2007); to technology enhanced learning, social network-
an the transmission of a lecture from a server to ing, computer-supported collaborative learning,
a mobile phone (Wagner, 2005); to standardized and networked e-learning communities tend to be
learning object repositories, designed to distrib- reduced into convergent, simplified sets of best
ute outcomes-oriented tutorials across modules practices, prescribed for use across geographical,
or even academic disciplines (Daniel & Mohan, cultural, demographic, and pedagogic settings.
2004); interactive games (Oblinger, 2006), simula- Questions on whether ongoing practice-based
tions (Whitehouse, 2005), or virtual reality-based research is necessary for the development of
laboratory exercises (Abutarbush, et al., 2006); the theoretically informed, philosophically grounded,
use of electronic discussion boards to extend, re- evolving practices within continuously changing
duce, or replace face-to-face dialogue (Parchoma, technological and institutional landscapes are fre-
2008); virtual spaces for social introductions into quently deflected on the basis of fiscal restraints.
new academic settings (Selwyn, 2007); or provi- Scarce resources for experimentation and innova-
sion of access to electronic databases of research tion are increasingly migrating into the remit of
resources (Tenopir, 2003). information service units, whose foci of concern
e-Learning community spaces vary in purpose are oriented toward institutionally mandated
and form from the creation of secure, shared technological solutions. As a result, the singularity
electronic spaces for displaying and evaluating paradigm is entrenched via policy.
portfolio artifacts (Wong, 2000), to team-building
and problem-solving activities (Jonassen, 2004),
64
INSIDE THE GESTALT nologies and philosophies of teaching (p. 101).

OF E-LEARNING Through this lens, Kanuka (2008) posits a reproach
to the singularity paradigm of e-learning. Kanuka
Kanuka (2008) argues that simply selecting e- (2008) examines intersecting areas between three
learning technologies, based on the latest institu- determinism roles for technology in teaching and
tional strategy or trend, can lead to incongruence learning in HE and six schools of philosophical
and inconsistency in action between and among thought on adult education. In her mapping exer-
instructors, administrators, and students, and the cise, she surfaces a series of interrelated teaching
ensuing disagreements that revolve around the and technology diversities.
means rather than the ends of education (p. 111).
She appeals to educators in institutions of HE to Three Varieties of Determinism
know your teaching and technology philosophies
in practice as avenues to avoiding mindless Kanuka (2008) examines three modernist, de-
activism (p. 111) and to developing informed terminist positions on technology philosophy-
responses to institutionally sanctioned e-learning in-practice. The first modernist position, uses
technologies and systems. determinism, is defined as an orientation to per-
Technological systems, through their range of ceiving technologies as a set of neutral tools or
functionalities, affordances and limitations have devices that extend our capacities, over which
profound influences on teaching and learning we have control and autonomy (Kanuka, 2008,
process that reach far beyond the way information p. 96). Kanuka warns readers that an exclusive
is organized or the range of activities they sup- uses determinism perspective carries the poten-
port. As teachers and learners in each discipline tial to overlook or disregard the broader social
area find new ways of using the technology to structures and/or technological artifacts effects
understand or illuminate knowledge, these on learning outcomes, leading to explanations
new forms of representation offer new forms of that overemphasize the power and autonomy of
engagement with, and ownership of knowledge actors (p. 97). As a result of an overly focused,
and the individuals developing understanding uses determinism perspective, misguided or nave
(Laurillard, 2008, p. 526). From an alternative assumptions (p. 97) about the absence of social
stance, disciplinary and interdisciplinary ways influences in technological systems can lead to ill-
of knowing, teaching, and learning could inform informed choices and unintended consequences.
designs for truly innovative technological systems. The second position, social determinism,
Far from having reached a point where sets of emphasizes ways that educational uses of tech-
generalist best practices are ready to be institution- nologies are affected by the social structures and
ally recommended or mandated, HE e-learning the social construction of technological artefacts
researchers and practitioners and learners are (Kanuka, 2008, p. 97). Critique of social determin-
just beginning to explore possibilities inside the ism provides a gestalt image of the constraints
social-technical gestalt of e-learning. Points of of uses determinism, in that social determinism
departure for this exploration necessarily include can lead to flawed understandings of educational
both disciplinary and interdisciplinary technology technology through its lack of acknowledgment
and teaching philosophies-in-practice. of user agency or material limits (p. 98). Through
Drawing primarily on Elias and Merriams an exclusive social determinism lens, insufficient
(1980) work on philosophies of adult education, attention is paid to the dynamics of mutual shap-
Kanuka (2008) identifies alignments and frictions ing among social, technological, and actor-agency
between ways of understanding educational tech- elements of e-learning environments.
65
The third position, technological determinism, themselves more strongly with one school than
is defined as a Marxist approach to understanding with others.
technologies as causal agents, determining our The liberal/perennial school in HE has two
uses and having a pivotal role in either sustaining primary aims: (1) the search for truth, and (2)
advantaged populations and supporting political- to develop good and moral people, achieved
economic interests such as commodification, via academic transmission of liberal educational
commercialization, and corporatization of educa- content and subsequent student acquisition of
tion or transforming learning through expanding rational, intellectual, and evolving wisdom; moral
access and increasing the quality of learning values; a spiritual or religious dimension; and an
experiences (Kanuka, 2008, pp. 98-99). aesthetic sense (Kanuka, 2008, pp. 101-102).
Kanuka (2008) advocates avoidance of any Kanuka argues that e-learning is generally per-
one-dimensional position and posits ongoing ceived as interfering with the philosophical aims
attention to the effects of educational, social, and of the liberal/perennial school because flexible
historical forces that have shaped both educational and convenient access to standardized curricula
systems and educational technologies (p.101) typically associated with online courses and
before focusing her discussion on philosophies of economies of scale are viewed as subverting aca-
teaching. This abrupt conclusion and shift of focus demic rigour and robbing the student of a [rich]
are unsatisfying on a couple of levels. First, there intellectual experience (p. 103). She concludes
appears to be insufficient room for reconciliation that liberally oriented academics are most closely
of the short-comings of any of the three determin- aligned to a technological deterministic view that
ism positions via an aggregation approach. The critiques e-learning primarily as a technology
constraints of any of the positions cannot simply for disseminating an onslaught of incoherent
be overcome by simultaneous awareness of all and fragmented trivialities at the expense of
three positions. There are problematic questions engagement, reflectivity, and depth (p. 99).
inherent in adopting a simultaneous, tri-position The progressive school of educational philoso-
awareness that uncritically combines contradic- phy, with its focus on a practical and pragmatic
tory views. Critical awareness of contradictions orientation to personal growth, maintenance,
falls short of theorizing an alternative, tenable and promotion of a better society, allows for
perspective. a broader view of the usefulness of educational
technologies, especially learner-centred, person-
Mapping Six Schools of Modernist alized, and problem-solving applications of e-
Thought on Educational Philosophy learning technologies in well managed e-learning
to the Three Modernist Determinisms environments (Kanuka, 2008, pp. 103-104). The
facilitative role in progressively oriented teach-
In an effort to unpick HE e-learning adoption ing practice strengthens the alignment between
issues, Kanuka (2008) identifies points of coher- the Progressive School and uses determinism (p.
ence and friction across uses determinism, social 104) because the choice of a facilitative role is
determinism, and technological determinism and an example of agency.
six schools of philosophical thought on adult The behaviouralist school, with its focus on
higher education. Where it is unlikely that an effective, observable, and measurable academic
individual HE educator would feel comfortable achievements and desired changes personal be-
having their philosophy of teaching clearly tucked haviour, clearly aligns with a positivist view of
into a single category, Kanukas empirical study technological determinism (Kanuka, 2008. p. 105).
provides evidence that HE educators tend to align Behaviouralist methodologies, including com-
66
petencies-based learning, programmed learning: educators emphasize the need for clarifying [and
personalized systems of instruction, individually verifying] concepts, arguments, and policy state-
guided instruction, and individually prescribed ments (Kanuka, p. 110). Students are expected
instruction lend themselves well to mechanized to temporarily give up their freedom and subject
e-learning systems. Automated courses (quizzes themselves to being guided, criticized, and tested
and exams) with modularized units, tutorials and/ according to the standards of a discipline (p.
or simulations can create efficiencies and support 110). Analytical educators align themselves most
economies of scale (Kanuka, p. 102); therefore, closely with determinism and view e-learning
the majority of behaviouralists believe that the processes as desirable for the transmission of lec-
use of e-learning technologies, in all forms, results tures and the facilitation of effectively moderated
in effective and efficient learning (p. 106). teacher-directed dialogues (p.111).
The focus of the humanist school is to support Kanuka (2008) advocates avoidance of any
individual growth and self-actualization through one-dimensional position and posits ongoing
establishing learning environments marked by attention to the effects of educational, social,
freedom and autonomy, trust, active participa- and historical forces that have shaped both edu-
tion, and self-directed learning (Kanuka, 2008, p. cational systems and educational technologies
108). As the act of learning is a personal activity, (p. 101). She cautions educators who choose and
which involves intrinsic motivation, self-concept, use e-learning technologies [to] be knowledge-
perception, and self-evaluation (Kanuka, p. 107). able about [their] philosophies of teaching, as
As facilitators of flexible, convenient access to well as the multidimensionality of technological
collaborative learning environments, designed for determination, and be reflexive about the limits
personal growth, humanists most closely align of their activities in both areas (p. 95). These
themselves to uses determinism (p. 107). recommendations provide openings for new ways
The overarching aim of the radical-critical of thinking about researching adoption of educa-
school is to evoke change in the political, eco- tional technologies in HE and the roles of virtual
nomic and social order in society via the intersec- communities across philosophical perspectives
tion of education and political action (Kanuka, of e-learning. See Figure 1 for a continuum of
2008, p. 108). The purpose of HE is closely tied teaching and technology philosophies-in-practice.
with pedagogical approaches that include prob-
lem identification, collective dialogue, ideal Postmodernism
speech, and critical questioning in a risk-free
environment (Kanuka, p. 108). As education is Elias and Merriam (2005) posit the addition of
inherently value-laden and never neutral, power postmodernist perspectives to the established
relations between teaching and learning are central six philosophies of adult education (AE). They
and all forms of evaluation are problematic (p. contend that the introduction of postmodernism
109). Radical educators align themselves most challenges us to examine everything about our
closely with social determinism, and avoid the philosophy and practice (p. x). Postmodernist
use of surveillance-equipped, corporate learning orientations to teaching and learning signal dis-
management systems (p. 109). satisfaction with the present or modern (p. 217),
The focal point of an analytical school orien- and signify the importance of an awareness of
tation to educational philosophy is the fearless contingency (p. 221) into thinking about AE
transmission of neutral knowledge, discipline- and HE. Further, postmodernists reject whole-
based truths that are morally, socially, and politi- sale, global meta-narratives and Enlightenment
cally neutral (Kanuka, 2008, p. 110). Analytical dogmas, including:
67
Figure 1. A modernist continuum of teaching philosophies-in-practice and determinist philosophies of

technology
The belief that knowledge in the empirical sci- integration of individuals into formal education,
ences can be automatically applied to increase employment systems, and technologies of control
human progress and happiness; that the human (Elias & Merriam, pp. 231-232). In deep agreement
sciences can transform society into a totally ratio- with humanists and radicals, postmodernists reject
nal culture; the belief in rational universal values The Behaviouralist School for its regulation of
and human progress toward a utopian goal; that individuals by variables defined either as instruc-
knowledge will liberate people from oppression. tion or as rewards for correct behavior (Elias &
(Elias & Merriam, p. 222) Merriam, p. 233) and for its pedagogies, which
ignore diversities, including gender, ethnicity,
Postmodernism accommodates the modern and class (p. 234).
critical spirit, personal autonomy, [and] individual Postmodernists recognize frameworks for
rights (Elias & Merriam, 2005, p. 224), and is understanding constituted in the language of
more in accord with emerging paradigms, which humanistic educational philosophy, especially
see the world as rich, open, subtle, complex, its reference points of person-centeredness and
complementary and interrelated (Inbody, 1995, p. empowerment (Usher, Bryant, & Johnston, 1997,
536). Postmodernists critique all six of the earlier p. 75). However, they question the humanist
philosophies of AE and HE. contention that people can achieve autonomy and
As radical educators have already done, post- emancipation merely through talk because these
modernists reject the Liberal/Perennial Schools techniques can be used by educators and coun-
commitment to the grand narratives of the past selors as subtle forms of manipulation directed
and of modernity; then extend this criticism to toward desirable links between self-fulfillment
the work of the analytical school. They charge and political, economic, and social goals (Elias
analytical educational philosophers with sup- & Merriam, p. 235). Further, postmodernists cri-
porting and protecting modernist hegemonies of tique the Humanist School for failing to recognize
technical-instrumental reason and the stance the degree to which the self is determined by
of objectivity and value neutrality in the making the culture in which it was formed, as well as
of knowledge claims (Usher et al., 1997, p.7). the humanist focus on excessive individualism
Postmodernists also reject the progressive school (Elias & Merriam, pp. 236-237). They reject the
for its roots in empirical observation and rational Radical Schools dream of a future utopia in
processes of induction and deduction (Usher favor of localized political actions, based in the
et al., 1997, p.7), and linkages with uncritical here and now (Elias & Merriam, p. 237). While
68
postmodernists express appreciation for radical- Postmodernist approaches to AE and HE employ

critical theory for their support for participatory diverse evaluation, justification, and appraisal
pedagogy, they reject statements of how persons criteria, especially [favoring] those that stress the
should act in the world and the notion of a ra- aesthetic, spiritual, affective, and experimental
tional culture in which communicative discourse (p. 240).
is possible and necessary (Elias & Merriam, pp. Given the diversity, instability, and unpredict-
238-239). ability of evolving postmodernist approaches to
A problem with posing the potential for an AE and HE, these approaches cannot be appro-
emergent, postmodernist, philosophy of teaching priated into any stable notion of a philosophy of
and learning or technology is that most post- technology. However, it is possible to contend
modernist theorists would immediately reject that postmodernist approaches to learning can be
the concept of a coherent or stable collection considered in closer alliance to a subset of teach-
of postmodernist thoughts on either AE or HE. ing philosophies-in-practice in AE and HE than
Postmodernists do, however, share more common other modernist schools of thought. Postmodernist
perspectives than just rejections of the rational, the approaches to teaching and learning have much in
traditional, and the conventional; they collectively common with the humanistic schools values of
tend to privilege difference, spontaneity, emotion, freedom and autonomy, trust, and self-determined
creativity, and a de-centered sense of localized learning and the radical-critical schools foci on
action and minimalist responsibility, as well as collective dialogue and questioning in a risk-free
respect for diverse cultural contexts, and recogni- environment.
tion of diverse forms of knowledge, including
the ethical, the technical, the existential, and the Epistemic Fluency
aesthetic (Elias & Merriam, p. 240). A common
goal of postmodernist approaches to AE and HE Goodyears (2002) assertion of the multiplicity of
is to develop educational practices that respect- accounts of learning available in psychological and
fully legitimize adult learners lives, perspectives, educational theory, combined with his critique of
discourses, and voices (Hemphill, 2000, p.21). modernist philosophies of teaching and learning
Postmodernist approaches include revisionism in HE, aligns his work with postmodernism. First,
from cultural perspectives, including indig- he rejects all behaviouralist notions of controlled,
enous, minority, feminist, black, and physically experimental discovery of rules or algorithms for
handicapped perspectives, reinterpretations, optimizing learning on the basis of recognition
and deconstructions of educational events (Elias that there is always a legitimate gap between
& Merriam, 2005, p. 241). Phenomenalism is the tasks we set for learners [especially adult
valued for its unpredictability, changeability, learners] and the activities in which they actually
uncertainty, and ambiguity (Elias & Merriam, engage; therefore, interpretive work is required
p. 242). Within postmodernist perspectives, re- to draw out implications of teaching and learn-
sponsibility for adult education becomes diffused ing practices (Goodyear, 2002, p.50). He critiques
through society and does not differentiate itself the remaining modernist conceptions of teaching
from related human activity, such as research, and learning in HE, which he categorizes as: (1)
social work, political action, and recreation, but the academic strand, (2) general competence,
is immersed in all of these activities (p. 242). stance, and (3) critical being and reflexivity
Postmodernist thinking admits privatization position (Goodyear, 2002, pp. 53-54).
into AE and HE on the grounds of allowances Goodyears (2002) academic strand is marked
for participant choice and withdrawal (p. 242). by its emphasis on learner competence in aca-
69
demic discourse, with its heavy reliance on de- such that they see its essential openness and how
clarative conceptual knowledge, contemplative they may be actors in it; and (3) encouraging
forms of analysis and use of textual (including informed but critical action: understanding the
mathematical) representations, and its primary power limitations of the field as a resource for
goals of ensuring student achievement in the action (p. 55). The aims and approaches of the
areas of recalling conceptual knowledge and critical being and reflexivity stance correspond
deploying that knowledge in the construction with Elias and Merriams (1980, 2005) humanist
of arguments, and or in the solution of problems and radical/critical schools.
(p. 53). The privileging of declarative concep- In his synthesis, (and I would argue, evalua-
tual knowledge for the purposes of engaging in tion), of modernist conceptions of teaching and
academic discourse and argument construction learning in HE, Goodyear critiques the acade-
closely align Goodyears (2000) critique of the micist strand for its privileging of the goal of
academic conception of learning in HE with Elias acquisition of second order knowledge, the
and Merriams (1980, 2005) liberal/perennial and general competence strand for its privileging of
analytical philosophies of adult education. key skills and pre-dispositions, and the critical
The general competence strand in Goodyears being and reflexivity strand for its end of knowl-
(2002) description emphasizes learner competen- edge position (Goodyear, 2002, p. 55).
cies for employability: core and transferable skills Goodyear identifies debate on the nature of
in literacy, numeracy, communication, foreign knowledge as an underpinning theme across
language, leadership, teamworking, and IT (p. modernist positions. He articulates the bases for
54). The general competence strands focus on his stance on teaching and learning in HE: (1)
supporting learners in developing a willingness the idea that higher education is a site for the
to learn; ability to deal with change and question development and use of working knowledge;
assumptions; analytical, critical, and problem- and (2) the idea that the speed of change in
solving skills, as well as knowledge and ideas for modern knowledge-based economies, coupled
the purpose of achieving rewarding employment with a need to be open to diverse views, requires
(p. 54), aligns it well with Elias and Merriams students to develop a reflexivity in their use of
(1980, 2005) progressive school. knowledgesomething Alan Collins calls
Goodyear (2002) identifies the critical being epistemic fluency (p. 55). Examining the af-
and reflexivity conception of learning in HE via fordances of e-learning environments and their
its rejection of academicist and operational design elements for supporting virtual learning
competence conceptions, and its basis in Bar- communities, in which exploration of diverse
netts (1997) conviction that we can have no views, along with the development and use of
certain knowledge of the world and consequently working knowledge and reflexivity are central
knowledge and skills become redundant and aims, will require innovative research designs,
marginal (p. 55). Therefore, from a critical being and perhaps, new methodologies.
and reflexivity perspective, the goals of HE need
to be focused on supporting students in (1) their Moving Beyond Determinist
acquisition of discursive competence; insight Philosophies of Technology
into what it is like to handle with confidence the
concepts, theories, and ideas of a field of thought, In parallel to emerging challenges posed by
to handle complex ideas in communication with postmodernist critiques of modernist approaches
others; (2) developing self-reflexiveness by to teaching and learning, limitations of all three
framing a students initiation into a field of thought modernist technological positions challenge re-
70
searchers to reexamine determinist philosophies nected means-ends determinisms via considering

of technology. First, deterministic beliefs include: technology as a site of social struggle (p. 82)
1) that technical necessity dictates the path of where human attitudes and desires crystallize
development and 2) that path is discovered around technical objects and influence their de-
through the pursuit of efficiency (Feenburg, velopment (p.80). Introducing individual and
1999, p. 77). Deterministic positions project an social agency into consideration of technical
abstract technical logic of the finished project philosophies-in-practice brings us to an instru-
back into its origins as a cause of development mentalism perspective.
(Feenburg, p. 81), seemingly providing evidence
for an autonomous functional logic that can be Instrumentalism
explained without reference to society (p.77).
Therefore, technology can be social only [em- An instrumentalist position presumes a liberal
phasis added] through the purposes it serves and faith in technology as a route to progress. The
those purposes are in the mind of the beholder design process for instrumentalization involves
(p. 77). Thus, social institutions can only adapt four sequential sub-processes: 1) decontextual-
to the [ambivalent] imperatives of technology ization, 2) reductionism, 3) autonomization, and
(p.77). This logic led to the focus of traditional 4) positioning. To reconstitute natural objects,
Marxism on the necessity of state ownership of or as is the case in educational technologies,
technology, as the means of production, as the route to reconstitute teaching and learning activities
to social emancipation. Recognition of a neutral in technical systems, they first must be de-
instrumental rationality could guide manage- worldedartificially separated from the context
ment of society as a system (p.75)leaving no in which they are originally found in order to
room for either individual or local agency. Where be examined and understood in terms of their
Kanuka (2008) acknowledges the constraints of technical properties or schemas (Feenburg, p.
determinism, and counsels her readers to develop 203). These de-worlded activities can then be
a critical awareness of the limitations of deter- simplified: stripped of technically useless quali-
ministic positions, developing a critical aware- ties, and reduced to those aspects through which
ness falls short of theorizing alternative, viable, they can be enrolled in a technical network (p.
philosophical stances. 203) where simplified forms can be automated
to produce formalized, quantifiable, desirable af-
Feenburgs Varieties of Theory fordances. The design process is complete when
the automated object or activityfor example, a
Limiting the discussion of technological philos- learning management system or social networking
ophies-in-practice to technological determinism softwareis positioned in the right place at the
positions is unnecessary. Feenburgs (1999) right time for broad-scale adoption.
varieties-of-theory approach to framing philoso- At this point, secondary instrumentalization
phies of technology extends the field of available is required. Individual automated events in vir-
perspectives. Feenburgs (1999) grid analysis, as tual environments need to be systematically re-
illustrated in Table 1, posits fixed positions on embedded into a natural environment (p.205). In
technological autonomy and human agency that order to increase the odds for systemic acceptance
intersect with fixed technological perspectives on and adoption, technical artifacts are adorned
neutrality and value-ladenness. with ethical and aesthetic mediations (p. 206).
Feenburgs (1999)varieties of theory grid Ethical ornamentations tend to be condensed
provides alternatives to the limits of discon- considerations of efficiency: fiscal opportunity
71
72
Table 1. Summary of modernist mapping exercise
School General Aims Pedagogical foci +/- Phil.of Tech. Rationale for position on Examples of useful
Alignment e-learning Technologies
Liberal / Perennial Seek truth, develop good Transmission of liberal - Technological determinism e-Learning rejected on the N/A
& moral people content student acquisi- basis of being too flexible and
tion of rational, intellectual convenient, providing access to
& evolving wisdom; moral fragmented, standardized cur-
values; spiritual/ religious ricula & therefore subverting
dimension; aesthetic sense academic rigor
Progressive Pragmatic orientation to Learner-centered, personal- + Uses determinism e-Learning can support Customizable learning
personal growth, main- ized & problem-based learner-centered, personalized, environments, gaming, LMS
tenance & promotion of learning problem-based pedagogies & discussion boards, chat, so-
better society allows for a facilitative role for cial networking, simulation,
teachers / tutors virtual laboratories
Behaviour-alist Focus on effective, Personalized instruc- + Technological determinism e-Learning is useful for Controlled customized
efficient, observable & tion, individually guided/ modular, automated content learning environments,
measurable outcomes prescribed instruction, + quizzes, exams; supports virtual laboratories, simula-
programmed learning economies of scale tions, gaming
Humanist Support individual Learning environments + Uses determinism e-Learning can support intrin- LMS discussion boards,
growth and self-actual- marked by freedom, autono- sic motivations, development self-assessment tools, chat,
ization my, trust, active participa- of self-concept / identity, collaboration and social
tion, self-directed learning reflection, & self-assessment networking
Radical / Critical Evoke political, social & Problem identification, + Social determinism Carefully designed e-learning Avoid surveillance-equipped
economic change through collective dialogue, ideal environments can allow LMS, Use discussion
teaching and learning speech & critical question- power distribution to students; boards, chat, collaboration
ing all forms of assessment are and social networking
problematic
Analytical Transmit neutral knowl- Teacher-centered instruc- + Uses determinism LMS are valuable for dissemi- LMS, discussion boards,
edge & discipline-based tion, critique, and assess- nating lectures, moderating standardized assessment
truths; Emphasize clarify- ment aligned with disciplin- teacher/tutor-led dialogues
ing concepts, arguments ary standards
& policy statements
Table 2. The varieties of theory
Technology is: Autonomous Humanly Controlled

Determinism Instrumentalism
(e.g., traditional Marxism) (liberal faith in progress)
Value-laden Substantivism Critical Theory
(means form a way of life that includes ends) (means and ends linked in systems) (choice of alternative means-ends systems)
Routledge, 1999. [Copied with permission].
and responsibility or proof-of-concept. Aesthetic hidden from the hegemonic standpoint of science
style and packaging for distribution can be equated and technique (p.8). From the Frankfurt perspec-
with good design. Subsequently, the new technol- tive, peripheral knowledges provide opportunities
ogy needs to become associated with advancing to redress the inequalities and social injustices of
a vocation; in the case of educational technology, unchecked instrumentalization through bound-
advancing teaching (pp. 206-207). Finally, through ing it (p. 151). Through resisting adoption of
tactical initiatives, such as institutional strategies, learning technologies, adherents to the liberal/
communications, and support programs, con- perennial school of philosophy of education at-
sensus is gradually formed around social bonds, tempt to bound technological influences on their
which lend the new technology the normativity teaching praxis.
of progress (pp. 207; 103). Thus, it is around the However, it is only when technology is dif-
processes of instrumentalism that claims for the ferentiated from other social domains that we
efficacies of e-learning technologies, such as be- perceive our interactions with it as something
haviouralist comparative studies tend to be taken. external (p. 209), which needs to be contained.
As well, skeptical political, socio-economic, and From a more optimistic substantive view, instru-
pedagogical critiques of e-learning in general tend mentalization can be checked by developing our
to coalesce around instrumentalization process. understanding of the genesis and history of tech-
nologies, enabling us to imagine differing, more
Substantivism democratic and participatory, approaches to cur-
rent and future technological developments. The
Where instrumentalism focuses on the production power to influence social and pedagogical change
and dissemination of technologies, substantivism can be actualized inside the design and dissemi-
is occupied with the pervasiveness of technolo- nation processes of instrumentalization. In short,
gies in contemporary societies, such as mobile from an optimistic substantivism perspective,
phones and laptops, and the ways those technolo- researchers and teachers, end users, need to be
gies shape our lifeworlds. At its most gloomy, a fully involved in the design and implementation
substantive position, such as the one posited by of e-learning technologies (Carmichael, 2003,
Heidegger, suggests that technology forms a p. 109) in order to align means with worthwhile
culture of universal control (Feenburg, 1999, educational ends. Engaging in shaping technolo-
p. 3). More measured approaches, such as the gies for teaching and learning aligns well with
Frankfurt Schools concept of technology as the progressive school of educational philosophy.
an ideology, provide room for exploring sub-
jugated knowledges that arise in opposition to
dominating rationality (Feenburg, p. 8). These
subjugated knowledges reveal aspects of reality
73
Critical Theory and the and radical/critical philosophies of education to

Possibility of Alternatives engage with educational technologies.
From a critical stance future technology is
Like substantivism, critical theory acknowledges not a fate one must choose for or against, but
the value-ladenness of technology. However, a challenge to political and social creativity
critical theory admits a non-instrumentalist theory (Feenburg, 1999, p.225). Through its recogni-
of agency (Feenburg, 1999, p. 105). Rather than tion of context and culture, critical technological
perceiving technological democratization [as] philosophy-in-practice provides HE with an option
an administrative problem, (Feenburg, p. 105), for addressing contentions between disciplinary
critical theory recognizes the role of micro-politics ways of knowing and standardized e-learning
in technical change. Micro-politics take the form systems, including embedded theories of teach-
of localized knowledge and action influencing ing and learning. Rather than assuming that HE
technological change to ensure that new technolo- teachers and researchers, who are reluctant to adopt
gies fit well with local traditions in their natural institutionally sanctioned e-learning systemsare
settings. From a critical perspective, technical by definition resistant techno-skepticsa critical
objects, systems, and environments are: philosophy of technology allows room to consider
which philosophies of teaching and disciplinary
Not things in the usual sense, but nodes in a cultures are underserved by common technologi-
network that contains both people and devices cal options, thus opening new research questions
in interlocking roles. Social alliances in which on how to address these short-comings across
technology is constructed are bound together by teaching and learning cultures. In an effort to
the very artifacts they create. Thus social groups construct new bridges between technology and
do not precede and constitute technology, but teaching philosophies-in-practice, I contend that
emerge with it. (Feenburg, 1999, p. 114). it is plausible to extend Feenburgs (1999) grid
into a pair of intersecting continua, rather than a
From a critical perspective, understanding series of distinct positions (See Figure 2).
technology begins with understanding what makes Reframing opens the field of possible philo-
it useful. Usefulness is defined as adaptability to sophical positions to include a postmodernist
multiple purposes through the process of concreti- perspective on teaching-technology interactions
zation: the discovery of synergisms between the via accommodating movement across and blend-
functions technologies serve and their social ing of perspectives to align with contingencies of
and natural environments (Feenburg, pp. 217- context- and discipline-specific virtual learning
218). This view of technology affords technical communities. This fluidity creates a framework
pluriculture where the same technology used for analyzing influences of individual and local
in another culture becomes quite a different tech- agency in adapting technologies to diverse and
nology. As academic disciplines can be defined in networked contexts.
as cultural settings marked by shared practices,
meanings, and discourse, (Mtzel, 2009, p. 872), A Brief Overview of Social Network
a technology used in one discipline becomes a Analysis and Actor Network Theory
different technology when it is deployed in an
alternative discipline. Disciplinary adaptability, The nature of networks is a pervasive interest
cultural flexibility, and political awareness pro- in the study of teaching, learning, and technol-
vide space for adherents to humanist, analytical, ogy. From a relational sociological perspective,
investigating the nature of networks often begins
74
Figure 2. Intersecting continua of Feenburgs varieties of theory
with defining culture and structure. Mtzel (2009) Social Network Analysis (SNA)
defines culture as referring to practices, mean-
ings and discourses and structure as referring to SNA is marked by a transactional approach to ex-
results of connected entities (p.872). Examining amining networks, where relations between human
similarities and differences in the ways culture and non-human actors are viewed as dynamic
and structure are conceptualized provides Mt- in nature, as unfolding, ongoing processes rather
zels bases for a comparison of social network than as static ties; therefore, attempts to posit
analysis (SNA) and actor-network theory (ANT). discrete, pre-given units of analysis such as the
Both SNA and ANT consider the production individual or society are rejected (Mtzel, 2009,
of meaning as an activity of connecting, posit p. 874). Consideration of how meaning emerges
that actions are prior to actors, take human from relational contexts, as well as how relations
and non-human actors into account, and focus create meaning provides avenues for analyzing
on qualitative methods to explore relations and how identities, relations, and their social forma-
interpret practices (Mtzel, 2009, p. 872). tions emerge as identities connect and disconnect
Where SNA acknowledges the presence of across network domains or netdoms (Mtzel, p.
non-human actors, e.g., concepts, categories, 874-5). As actors strive to create social presences
and events as part of social networks, these non- in netdoms, they seek allies through engaging
human actors are considered unable to contribute in discourses. These discursive interactions or
to meaning making or knowledge construction. stories are open for interpretation and response
In contrast, ANT includes a proposition that hu- from diverse listeners. (p.875) Over time story
man and non-human actors are equally able to telling and story interpretations make network
act (Mtzel, p. 872). Methodologically, ANT relations explicit (p.875) This view that stories
researchers privilege open approaches to data col- reveal networks provides rich ground for expand-
lection and analysis, allowing actors studied to ing the use of narrative approaches to researching
make connections; conversely, SNA researchers virtual learning communities.
assign who and what counts for analysis (p.872). By switching from netdom to netdom, actors
can engage in reflective comparison and conse-
quently generate perception and meaning; there-
75
fore, switching becomes the central mechanism and professional networks to which members
providing for the emergence of meaning (Mtzel, of formal virtual learning communities belong,
2009, p.875). An implication of this centrality provides rich ground for developing new narra-
of switchingnavigating among netdomsis tives on the development of epistemic fluency,
a need for rethinking the current emphasis on academic and professional identities, as well as
within-community research on identity formation teaching and technology philosophies-in-practice.
and knowledge construction in virtual learning
communities. Research designs and data collec- Diversities across
tion techniques for examining switching patterns, e-Learning Communities of
e.g., between formal and informal learning com- Research and Practice
munities, would provide a broader context for
such studies. As e-learning is far too expansive a term, on which
to base anything but the broadest and most super-
Actor Network Theory (ANT) ficial discussion of issues and concerns around its
influences in AE and HE, it is useful to consider
In ANT, networks are defined as diverse chains diversities among e-learning sub-communities
of associations made up of multidimensional and of research and practice. technology enhanced
evolving entanglements of human, non-human learning (TEL), computer-supported collabora-
or collective actors, all of which are referred to tive learning (CSCL), blended learning (BL), and
as actants (Mtzel, 2009, p. 876). Researchers networked learning (NL) constitute four recogniz-
examine the linkages via which actants interact able, branded communities or discourses, which
with other actants through activities: are collectively a sufficient sample from which
to trace representative diversities across the field.
Analytical focus is first on the multifaceted in-
terconnections of a local, egocentric network of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)
an actor, before moving onto the next connected
bundle of entanglements. Eventually these shifts TEL stands apart from other e-learning sub-
and redefinitions between one micro-network of communities in that its origins in North America,
associations to the next over space and time and the United Kingdom, and the European Com-
add up to a larger narrative on transformations munity reside in government funded initiatives
of ideas and practices. (Mtzel, p. 876). across educational sectors, rather than from within
academic communities of research and practice.
ANT studies do not seek to add social net- TEL has been defined broadly by funding agen-
works to social theory, but to build social theory cies, and arguably, almost as problematically as
out of networks (Latour, 1996, p. 369). As a e-learning in general. In terms of the technolo-
result, ANT researchers reject a priori conceptions gies it can employ and in the modes of delivery
of groups or communities as these only become via which technologies can be applied, TEL has
observable ex-post. An implication of adopting been defined as:
ANT for the study of formal virtual learning
communities is a need to question the criteria of A variety of information and communications
enrollment as evidence of community member- technologies to provide flexible, high quality
ship. Questions concerning weak and strong ties learning opportunities for both on and off-campus
become more salient. Examining the clusters of students. Technologies include, for example, the
micro-network linkages to personal, disciplinary, Internet and Web-based applications, video and
76
audio conferencing, CD-ROMS, videotapes and America, Western Europe and most recently Asia
interactive television. Technology enhanced learn- (Stahl & Hesse, 2006, p. 5). Throughout this time
ing can be used to offer wholly virtual online period, the interdisciplinary community of CSCL
opportunities, can be multi-mode, employing a researchers and practitioners have been working
combination of technologies, or can be integrated developing theory, technology, research meth-
with traditional classroom instruction or indepen- ods and educational practices that are specific to
dent study courses. (EKOS, 2005, p. 2). CSCL, and not simply inherited from the diverse
academic fields from which CSCL emerged, such
In its openness to technological diversity and as artificial intelligence, educational and cognitive
interchangeability, as well as pedagogical neu- psychology, software development, instructional
trality, TEL can accommodate the full range of design (Stahl & Hesse, 2006, pp. 3-4). To date, the
educational philosophies. While this philosophical CSCL community continues to value a diversity
fluidity might allow room for TEL to be linked of theories, methods, goals, disciplines, and ap-
to postmodern perspectives as a result of its proaches (Stahl & Hesse, 2009, p. 233), while
unpredictability, changeability, uncertainty, and continuing to develop a shared understanding of
ambiguity (Elias & Merriam, 2005, p. 242), the the essential processes of collaborative learning
absence of attention paid to spontaneity, emotion, (Stahl & Hesse, 2009, p. 235).
creativity, and a de-centered sense of localized As the community of CSCL researchers and
action (Elias & Merriam, 2005, p. 240) and its practitioners include diverse theories, methods,
lack of consistent provision for community and goals, disciplines, and approaches within the
connectivity deeply erode this linkage. CSCL discipline, like TEL, CSCL initially seems
The array of TEL technologies, applications, capable of accommodating fluidity across teaching
and purposes include: wholly virtual online, philosophies. Again like TEL, CSCL may initially
and multi-mode, learning environments, as well appear open to postmodern perspectives on educa-
as activities that are integrated with traditional tion across sectors. However, the efforts of CSCL
classroom instruction or used to create inde- researchers to capture the essential processes of
pendent study courses (EKOS, 2005, p. 2). TEL collaborative learning (Stahl & Hesse, 2009, p.
initiatives, in their variety of forms and purposes, 235), run contrary to the postmodern perspec-
tend to align with the determinist perspective that tive that all forms of essentialism are flawed and
technical means [are] neutral in so far as they difference is not only desirable, but inefface-
merely fulfill natural needs (Feenburg, 1999, p. able (Feenburg, 1999, p.13). The growth and
9). The focus of TEL on economic and political innovation motivations underpinning the CSCL
ends creates challenges for teachers and research- communitys quest to understand and capture the
ers to engage in critical examinations of its roles essential processes of collaborative learning may
supporting diverse means across educational ends. loosely associated it with a progressive orientation
to teaching and learning. Its collaborative nature
Computer-Supported Collaborative provides a firmer tie to the collective dialogue,
Learning (CSCL) ideal speech, and critical questioning in a risk-
free environment (Kanuka, p. 108) aspects of
The term, computer-supported collaborative the radical-critical school.
learning (CSCL) was first publicly coined at Unlike TEL, CSCL focuses on the collabora-
an international workshop in Maratea, Italy, in tive, and therefore, the social nature of techno-
1989. Since 1995, a biannual series of interna- logically mediated learning. Through bringing
tional CSCL conferences has been held in North together researchers and practitioners from such
77
diverse areas as artificial intelligence, educational practice in HE. The approach BL includes, the
and cognitive psychology, software development, challenge of virtually limitless design possibilities
instructional design, the CSCL community and applicability to so many contexts (Garrison
includes the social alliances that underpin both & Kanuka, 2004, p. 96) and makes BL seemingly
technical and educational choices. As there are as susceptible to pedagogical and philosophical
social interests at stake in the design and devel- neutrality as TEL. At its best BL represents a
opment of collaborative educational technologies, fundamental re-conceptualization and reorganiza-
the interests and epistemologies of individuals tion of the teaching and learning dynamic, starting
involved in these social alliances are expressed with various specific contextual needs and con-
in the technologies they research, develop, and tingencies (e.g., discipline, developmental level,
deploy (Feenburg, 1999, p. 11). The process of and resources) (Garrison & Kanuka, p. 97). This
closure ultimately adapts educational technolo- more complex view of BL requires an in-depth
gies to socially recognized criteria for success examination of interrelationships between tech-
and utility; however, when the cycle of develop- nologies and teaching to support the construction
ment is closed, the social origins [may be] quickly of learning environments that afford interaction
forgotten and the artifact [may] appear purely and [a] sense of engagement in a community of
technical, even inevitable (Feenburg, p. 11). In its inquiry and learning (p. 97).
quest to continuously innovate and refine educa- The dual foci on dialogue and community
tional technologies, the CSCL community engages disassociate BL from the transmissive teaching
in the design processes of instrumentalism. CSCL missions of liberal and analytical schools, as well
researchers may adopt optimistic substantivism as the controlled, independent learning project of
through recognizing ends as being so implicated the behaviouralist school. BLs recognition and
in the technological means employed to realize provision for specific contextual needs associ-
them that it makes no sense to distinguish means ate its design process to the progressive school
from ends (Feenburg, p. 9). principles of learner-centered, personalized,
and problem-solving applications of e-learning
Blended Learning (BL) technologies (Kanuka, 2008, pp. 103-104).
Historical, theoretical links between communi-
Littlejohn and Pegler (2007) define blended learn- ties of inquiry (CoI), the development of critical
ing as encompassing a range of HE educational thinking, and BL notably align blended learning
technologies with sufficient breadth to include: to radical-critical school values; e.g., collective
(1) access to a wide array of electronic resources, dialogue, ideal speech, and critical questioning
from which individuals can assemble a personal in a risk-free environment (Kanuka, 2008, pp.
blend; (2) studying online with tutors as facili- 108). BL practices include sufficient latitude to
tators, downloading content to mobile devices, accommodate the unpredictability, changeability,
(3) uploading notes to a blog when a lecture is in uncertainty, and ambiguity (Elias & Merriam,
progress, and (4) seamless integration of physi- 2005, p. 242) and embrace postmodern values of
cal and virtual learning spaces that integrate and creativity and connectivity.
accommodate technology, but focus on student Blended learning bridges the paradox of a
learning (p. 10). In contrast, Garrison and Ka- simultaneous independent and collaborative
nukas (2004) simple definition for BL, as the learning experience in that learners do not need
integration of classroom face-to-face learning to share space or time in order to learn within
experiences with online learning experiences (p. communities. While these ties indicate a fairly
96), is arguably a definition that marks most BL strong tie between BL and postmodern approaches
78
to teaching and learning, the theoretical ground- communities (Hodgson & Watland, 2004, p. 126).
ing of BL in the CoI framework and its research The NL community relational view of process
traditions of quality and effectiveness measures of learning, where the production of meaning
(Garrison, & Arbaugh, 2007) for meeting specific is a collaborative activity involving connecting
learning requirements (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004, people and resources, aligns well with SNA and
p. 97) loosen that tie considerably. ANT. Articulated respect for diverse individu-
Recognition of the interdependence of the als, cultural contexts, and recognition of diverse
social affordances of technologies and design of forms of knowledge, combined with engagement
teaching and learning environments, firmly place in teaching and learning practices that respect-
BL on the human control side of the philosophy fully acknowledge learners lived experiences,
of technology continuum. In its pursuit of for- perspectives, and voices associate NL theorists
malized, quantifiable, desirable affordances BL and practitioners with broader postmodernist
incorporates instrumentalist qualities of optimistic approaches to HE.
substantivism. Concerns around provision for
contextual needs in order to achieve pedagogical
purposes link means to ends and loosely associate IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL
BL with technological critical theory. PRACTIONTIONERS,
RESEARCHERS, AND INSTITUTIONS
Networked Learning (NL) OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Networked learning (NL) is distinct from TEL Figure 3 theorizes a relative positioning of re-
and CSCL because the field focuses on the con- search, teaching and learning philosophies-in prac-
nections between learners, learners and tutors and tice for four representative e-learning communities
between learners and the resources they make use across intersecting technological philosophies-in
of in their learning (Jones, Ferreday, & Hodgson, practice continua. No doubt, further differences
2006, p.1). This focus on connections includes a would emerge across a broader sample.
relational view, in which learning takes place in Given the prevalence of the singularity para-
relation to others and also in relation to an array of digm in e-learning discourse, which currently
learning resources (Jones 2004, Jones & Esnault, marks policy and strategy directions, it is less than
2004). NL practice does not privilege any particu- remarkable that to date, most institutions of
lar types of relationships, either between people or higher education can be described as lurching
between people and resources (Jones, Ferreday, about (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004, p. 104) in their
& Hodgson, 2006, p.1). Therefore, the practice efforts to integrate technology in meaningful and
of NL is distinct from TEL approaches applied accepted ways into teaching practices. Pervasive,
to the use of computers and digital networks in contentious debates around defining and imple-
education, [and] communities of practice, as menting strategic directions and best practices
well as from computer supported collaborative precede the necessary and sufficient engagement
learning (Jones, Ferreday, & Hodgson, 2006, p.1). of a diversity of e-learning communities of re-
From the its original principles of develop- search and practice to create, explore, and ex-
ing and using reflexive, working knowledge, the periment within and across continuously evolving
theory and practice of NL has evolved into a praxis communities of inquiry. Researchers and practi-
firmly based in a social constructionalist view tioners require time and resources to collaborate
that assumes that learning emerges from relational in developing context-specific, disciplinary-
dialogue with and/or through others in learning sensitive and interdisciplinary-aware, epistemo-
79
Figure 3. A theorized sample of teaching and technology philosophies-in-practice positions for e-learning
research and practice communities
logically and philosophically grounded, method- of prescribed consistency in favour of diversity

ological approaches to investigating interrelated and research-based innovation and change. In each
educational and technological praxes, which focus of these arenas, authentic discourse must remain
on rich and diverse community-defined ends, sufficiently open to admit the plausibility that
rather than institutionally prescribed means. some educational and social ends can be better
Software developers need to enter discourse served in the absence of educational technologies.
and shared practice with HE teachers and research-
ers in order to discovery of synergisms between
the functions technologies serve in HE in order FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
to design new systems that interlock social and
natural environments and flexible educational Established technocracies rely on the consensus
ends (Feenburg, 1999, pp. 217-218). While, no that emerges spontaneously out of the technical
doubt, this recommendation seems a tall order in roles and tasks in modern organizations (Feen-
terms of time commitments for software develop- burg, 1999, p. 103). Any attempt at dismantling
ers, teachers, and researchers. However, in the the e-learning singularity paradigm and its ethos of
absence of collaborative development, teachers centralized, standardized controlany concerted
spend copious amounts of time accommodating effort to stop and reflect upon the reflexive na-
and circumventing system restraints, researchers tures of the technologies e-learning communities
are unable to access full sets of data needed to of research and practice inhabitposes threats
extend theory, and software developers tend to to established technocratic interests. Extending
focus on incremental improvements to existing en- the range of possible educational technologies
vironments, rather than exploring transformative through adopting diverse, polycultural, techni-
changes, based on research- and practice-identified cal philosophies-in-practice will, no doubt raise
needs. Leaders in institutions of higher education strong objections from some technological experts
need to adopt sufficiently broad strategic visions who fear the loss of hard-won freedom from lay
to abandon the unachievable and undesirable goal interference (Feenburg, p. 76). It is probable
80
that HE leaders will defend the continuance of and (5) presented rationales and examples for fur-
existing institutionally implemented e-learning ther investigation of the diversities of e-learning
systems and practices with rational, scalable, environments and virtual learning communities. In
maintainable, fiscal arguments. However, neither this process, I have delineated between modernist
technical principles nor administratively orches- and postmodernist perspectives on teaching and
trated effectiveness and efficiency consensuses are learning. It is my hope that continued explora-
sufficient to determine the design of the futures tion will lead to a future where the persistence
of polycultural e-learning communities in higher of e-learning communities in higher education is
education. This philosophical ground can only be not a fate one must choose for or against, but as a
contested through local, ongoing, action research site for political, social, technological, pedagogi-
programs, which open dialogues across schools cal, and philosophical creativity directed toward
of thought and which reject end of knowledge ongoing understanding of dynamic, networked
positions. I posit the theorized sample of relative teaching and learning experiences.
philosophies-in-practice positions of e-learning
research and practice communities in Figure 3
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351368. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8527.2007.00383.x L. (Eds.), Accessible elements: Teaching science
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Wellman, B., Koku, E., & Hunsinger, J. (2006). Gestalt of e-Learning: Recognition of re-
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The Netherlands: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1- cesses
4020-3803-7_57 Networked Learning: A relational approach
that focuses on the connections between learn-
ers, learners and teacher and between learners
and resources, which does not privilege any
KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
particular relationship, either between people or
Blended Learning: An approach that blends between people and resources, and is supported
classroom face-to-face learning experiences with by a community of researcher-practitioners, who
technologically mediated learning experiences in are aligned with evolving, postmodern approaches
both integrated and distributed models, supported to teaching praxis.
by a community of researchers and practitioners, Philosophies of Teaching: Schools of thought
who tend to promote the development critical on the underpinning purposes and goals of teach-
thinking skills through a community of inquiry ing and learning.
framework. Philosophies of Technology: Schools of
Computer-Supported Collaborative Learn- thought on the underpinning purposes and goals
ing: An approach to developing technology- of technologies.
mediated, collaborative learning experiences, Philosophies-in-Practice: The actualization
supported by an interdisciplinary community of of philosophical stances in practice.
researchers and practitioners whose goals include Technology Enhanced Learning: An ap-
developing theory, technology, research methods, proach to the provision of distance, blended, and
and educational practices to enhance collabora- classroom-based learning experiences through the
tive learning. use of a full range of information and communica-
e-Learning Singularity Paradigm: A rep- tions technologies undertaken by communities of
resentation of philosophically, technologically, educational researchers, designers, information
and pedagogically diverse, technology-mediated and communications technologists, and media
approaches to teaching and learning as a homog- specialists.
enous set of researchable practices, from which
best practices can be distilled and generalized
across social, cultural and geographical contexts.
86
Section 2
Social Networks and
Data Mining
Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides a range of models particularly well suited for mapping bonds between partici-
pants in virtual communities and thus reveal prominent members or subgroups. Section 2 of this volume presents 4 chapters
focused on various aspects of social network ranging from more traditional social network analysis to more emergent
dynamic explorations of phenomena using social networks. Chapter 5 proposes social network approach dealing with the
utilization of a pattern discovery method to identify evolving patterns defined by constraints. In this work, constraints are
parameterized by the user to drive the discovery process towards potentially interesting patterns, with the positive side effect
of achieving a more efficient computation.
Chapter 6 proposes a mixed approach that blends qualitative and quantitative methods in the utilization of social
networks to investigate participation dynamics to create an innovative method. The chapter describes the characteristics of
this methodology and it provides examples.
Chapter 7 presents an approach for analyzing semantic social networks intended to capture collective intelligence from
collaborative interactions in discussions on requirements for Enterprise 2.0. The chapter provides evidence of testing tools
and models using anonymized dataset from Ipernity.comone of the biggest French social web sites centered on multimedia
sharing.
Chapter 8 describes a procedure for collecting data from Usenet newsgroups, deriving a social network created by
participant interaction, and importing this relational data into social network software, where various cohesion models
can be applied.
88
Chapter 5
Data Mining Techniques for
Communities Detection in
Dynamic Social Networks
Cline Robardet
Universit de Lyon, France
ABSTRACT
Social network analysis studies relationships between individuals and aims at identifying interesting
substructures such as communities. This type of network structure is intuitively defined as a subset of
nodes more densely linked, when compared with the rest of the network. Such dense subgraphs gather
individuals sharing similar property depending on the type of relation encoded in the graph. In this
chapter we tackle the problem of identifying communities in dynamic networks where relationships
among entities evolve over time. Meaningful patterns in such structured data must capture the strong
interactions between individuals but also their temporal relationships. We propose a pattern discovery
method to identify evolving patterns defined by constraints. In this paradigm, constraints are parameter-
ized by the user to drive the discovery process towards potentially interesting patterns, with the positive
side effect of achieving a more efficient computation. In the proposed approach, dense and isolated
subgraphs, defined by two user-parameterized constraints, are first computed in the dynamic network
restricted at a given time stamp. Second, the temporal evolution of such patterns is captured by associ-
ating a temporal event types to each subgraph. We consider five basic temporal events: the formation,
dissolution, growth, diminution and stability of subgraphs from one time stamp to the next one. We
propose an algorithm that finds such subgraphs in a time series of graphs processed incrementally. The
extraction is feasible thanks to efficient pruning patterns strategies. Experimental results on real-world
data confirm the practical feasibility of our approach. We evaluate the added-value of the method, both
in terms of the relevancy of the extracted evolving patterns and in terms of scalability, on two dynamic
sensor networks and on a dynamic mobility network.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch005
Data Mining Techniques for Communities Detection in Dynamic Social Networks
INTRODUCTION to crossing between clusters), minus the expected

number of such edges if the graph was random
Social network analysis conceives social relation- conditioned on its degree distribution. Commu-
ships in terms of graphs of interactions whose nity structures often maximize the modularity
nodes represent individual actors within the net- measure. However, this measure has an intrinsic
works and links social interactions such as ideas, resolution scale, and can therefore fail to detect
friendship, collaboration, trade, etc. Virtual com- communities smaller than that scale and favor in
munities, and particularly online communities, general communities of similar size (Fortunato et
are peculiar social networks whose analysis is al., 2007). Moreover, it has been shown (Brandes
facilitated by the fact that the network is in some et al., 2008) that finding the community structure
sense monitored continuously. Social networks of maximum modularity for a given graph is NP-
have attracted a large amount of attention from complete and thus heuristics have been proposed
epidemiologists, sociologists, biologists and com- that approximate this optimization problem.
puter scientists that have shown the ubiquitous role Instead of directly looking for a global structure
played by social networks in determining the way of the graph, such as a partition of the vertices,
problems are solved or organizations are run. The it can be more efficient to proceed in two steps.
study of such networks has attracted much atten- One might first compute subgraphs that capture
tion in the recent years and has proceeded along locally strong associations between vertices and
two main tracks: the analysis of graph properties, then use these local patterns to construct a global
such as degree distribution, diameter or simple model of the graphs dynamics. Such a frame-
graph patterns such as cliques (Scherrer et al., work provides more interesting patterns when
2008, Leskovec et al., 2005), and the identifica- the analyst can specify his inclination by means
tion of communities, which are loosely defined as of constraints. Many pattern mining under local
collections of individuals who interact unusually constraints techniques (e.g., looking for frequent
frequently (Newmann, 2004, Palla et al., 2005). patterns, data dependencies) have been studied
Communities reveal properties shared by related extensively the last decade (Morik et al., 2005).
individuals. However, most of the interesting One crucial characteristic of local pattern mining
real-world social networks that have attracted the approaches is that the interestingness of a pat-
attention of researchers in the last few years are tern can be computed independently of the other
intrinsically time dependent and tend to change patterns. Such framework enables the analyst to
dynamically. As new nodes and edges appear specify a priori relevancy of pattern by means of
while some others disappear over time, it seems constraints. The constraints have been identified
decisive to analyze deeply the evolution of such as a key issue to achieve the tractability of many
dynamic graphs. Furthermore, there is a crucial data mining tasks: useful constraints can be deeply
need for incremental methods that enable to find pushed into the extraction process such that it is
groups of associated nodes and detect how these possible to get complete (every pattern which
structures change over time. satisfies the user-defined constraint is computed)
Communities are loosely defined as highly though efficient algorithms.
connected subgraphs that are also isolated from the Specific subgraphs defined by constraints have
rest of the graph. Such properties can be captured already been examined. Fully connected sub-
by measures such as modularity (Newman, 2004) graphs, also called cliques, are a local pattern type
used to find disjoint communities forming a parti- that has been considered as communities. Palla et
tion. The modularity of a given partition of nodes al. (2005) consider that communities rely on sev-
is the number of edges inside clusters (as opposed eral complete (fully connected) subgraphs of size
89
k that share k-1 of their nodes. Such structures can RELATED WORK
be explored systematically with a deterministic al-
gorithm. Although clique is a popular pattern type There is an increasing interest in mining dynamic
that captures dense subgraphs, it fails in properly graphs. Earlier work studied the properties of the
handling experimental data that are intrinsically time evolution of real graphs such as densification
noisy. Indeed, in such data, some links may be laws and shrinking diameters (Leskovec et al.,
missing even in dense substructures. To cope with 2005), and the evolution of known communities
this problem, a relaxed definition of cliques has over time (Backstrom et al., 2006). Other papers
been proposed. Pseudo cliques are natural exten- have focused on community extraction thanks to
sion of cliques which are subgraphs obtained by constrained optimization (Chi et al., 2007), low-
removing a small number of edges from cliques, rank matrix approximation approaches (Tong et
expressed as a proportion compared to the number al., 2008), information theoretic principles (Sun et
of links the subgraph would contained if it was a al., 2007) or combinatorial optimization problems
clique. Thus, pseudo cliques are subgraphs with (Tantipathananandh et al., 2007).
a density higher than a given threshold and recent Another body of work considers constrained-
research results have shown that the constraints based mining approaches to extract knowledge
defining pseudo cliques can be efficiently used from static graphs. Efficient algorithms that com-
in a mining algorithm (Uno, 2007). We extend pute maximal cliques have been proposed (Makino
this result to derive a new algorithm that extracts et al., 2004). Many papers propose to relax the
isolated pseudo-cliques and their evolution in time. clique property by allowing the absence of some
We consider five basic temporal event types that links. Strongly self-referring subgraphs are defined
are associated to the computed subgraphs: the in (Hamalainen et al., 2004) as a set of nodes S
formation, dissolution, growth, diminution and whose nodes are connected to at least a given
stability of such patterns. Such evolving patterns proportion of nodes of S. Zhu et al. (2007) give
make possible to describe the processes by which a comprehensive study on the pruning properties
communities come together, attract new members, of constraints on graphs. They study the pruning
and develop over time. We propose an algorithm properties for involved structural constraints
that mines such evolving patterns. The use of in graph mining which achieve pruning on the
complete solvers allows us to answer constraint pattern search space and data space. A general
user queries without uncertainty. Algorithmic mining framework is proposed that incorporates
technical details can be found in (Robardet, 2009). these pruning properties.
In this chapter, we provide much more details and Pseudo clique mining, defined as the search
examples on how the proposed method identifies for subgraphs having a density greater than a user-
communities. defined threshold, was first studied in (Pei et al.,
This chapter is organized as follows. The 2004), but the complete exploitation of the loose
next section is dedicated to related work on the anti-monotonicity property of the pseudo clique
subject. It is followed by the presentation of the constraint was only achieved in (Uno et al., 2007)
constraints that define the pattern types extracted where a polynomial delay algorithm that extracts
in static graph. Then, the evolving pattern types all pseudo cliques is proposed.
are introduced. An algorithm that mines them is Considering the extraction of patterns in dy-
presented. Some experimental results are thus namic graphs, Borgwardt et al. (2006) propose
reported. Finally, some conclusions and future to apply frequent subgraph mining algorithms to
work close this chapter. time series of graphs to extract subgraphs that are
frequent within the set of graphs. The extraction of
90
periodic or near periodic subgraphs is considered this strong property, we can consider subgraphs
in (Lahiri et al., 2008) where the problem is shown with density higher than a user-defined threshold.
to be polynomial. Finally, the so-called change Such subgraphs are usually called pseudo cliques
mining framework is proposed in (Bttcher et or quasi cliques. Given a user-defined threshold
al., 2008) as an abstract knowledge discovery [0,1] and a set of nodes S of size n, the subgraph
process based on models and patterns learned GS=(S,ES) induced by S is a pseudo clique if and
from a non-stationary population. Its objective only if it is connected and 2|ES|/(n(n-1))>.
is to detect and analyze when and how changes Constraint-based mining algorithms require
occur, including the quantification, interpretation taking advantage of the constraints to prune huge
and prediction of changes. parts of the search space which can not contain
valid patterns. Pruning based on monotonic or
anti-monotonic constraints has been proved ef-
IDENTIFYING DENSE AND ISOLATED ficient on hard problems since when a candidate
SUBGRAPHS IN A STATIC GRAPH does not satisfy the constraint then none of its
generalizations or specializations can satisfy it
Let us first present the static pattern type we are as well.
interested in. Let G=(V,E) be a simple undirected Let us first remark that pseudo clique con-
graph with a vertex set V and an edge set E. The straint is not anti-monotonic with respect to the
subgraph induced by a subset of vertices S is the enumeration of induced subgraphs based on the
graph GS=(S,ES) where Es={{u,v} E and u,v set inclusion of their vertices set: expanding a set
S2}. The degree, degs(u), of a vertex u on the of nodes S could make 2|ES|/(n(n-1)) increase or
subgraph induced by S is the number of vertices decrease. However, this constraint is loose anti-
of S adjacent to u, i.e., degS(u)=|{v S such that monotonic, that is to say, pseudo cliques can always
{u,v} E}|. be grown from a smaller pseudo cliques with one
Subgraphs of interest are usually those made vertex less (Zhu et al., 2007, Bonchi et al., 2007).
of vertices that have a high density of edges. If Zhu et al. have shown that if S is a valid pseudo
any pair of vertices in a subgraph is connected clique, thus the set obtained by removing from S
by an edge, the subgraph is called a clique. Such a vertex having the smallest degree on S is also a
subgraphs have a density of 1, where density is pseudo clique. Figure 1 illustrates this property:
the number of edges in the subgraph divided by S={1,2,3,4,5} is a pseudo-clique with =2/3. If
the maximal number of possible edges. To relax we remove node 2 that has the smallest degree
Figure 1. Illustration of the loose anti-monotonicity of pseudo-cliques
91
Figure 2. Pseudo cliques with =0.7 (left), and pseudo cliques (=0.7) that are isolated (a=1) and
maximal (right)
on S, the resulting subgraph {1,3,4,5} is a also a outside vertices, others are redundant. Figure 2
valid pseudo-clique. (left) illustrates this phenomenon. 9 pseudo cliques
To be efficient, the pseudo cliques enumeration have been extracted (=0.7) in the graph. These
process must tap the pruning power from the loose pseudo cliques are highly redundant.
anti-monotonicity of pseudo clique. It is clear that
adding to a current pseudo clique S the node v To select the most useful pseudo cliques, we
that satisfies consider two other constraints that coerce the
patterns to be isolated and maximal. To pick out
degS {v } (v ) = minu S {v}degS {v } (u ) (1) pseudo cliques S with few links to nodes outside
S, we constrain the average number of outside
links per vertex. This constraint is similar to the
isolated constraints defined for formal concepts
leads to a pseudo clique, unless none of the su- and their generalization in (Cerf et al., 2008).
persets of S is a pseudo clique. Thus, an efficient Given a user defined threshold , a subgraph
algorithm would enumerate recursively nodes S is isolated iff
by finding at each iteration the node v that satis-
fies (Equation 1) and stop the enumeration if the
obtained subgraph is not a valid pseudo clique.
deg (u ) deg (u )
V S
Note that if several nodes satisfy (Equation 1), (S (

the one of smallest index is taken. This leads to
a polynomial delay time algorithm, that is to say Figure 2 (right) shows that, with a=1, a single
the time needed to generate each single pseudo isolated and maximal pseudo clique is extracted
clique is bounded by a polynomial in the size of in the graph example. Such a pseudo clique has
the input graph. Uno 2007 proposes an algorithm an average number of outside links per vertex
that checks if a subgraph is dense in constant lower or equal to 1.
time and finds the next vertex to be enumerated Even though this constraint is also loose anti-
in O(maxvVdegS(v)). monotonic, its combination with the high density
Pseudo cliques are local patterns that capture constraint is not loose anti-monotonic constraint.
strong while not perfect associations in a graph. The two constraints cannot be ensured at the same
But, not all the pseudo cliques of a graph are of time by an algorithm that exploits both loose
importance: some of them have many links to anti-monotonic constraints. Hence, we propose
92
to ensure the new constraint in a post-processing the constraints. We consider five basic temporal
of the previously computed pseudo cliques. relationships between couples of subgraphs from
Extracting maximal patterns is even more dif- consecutive time stamps:
ficult, since this constraint is global and requires
enumerating supersets of a candidate to check Stability: S is said to stay the same at time t if it is
whether it is maximal. A practical approach a valid pseudo clique at time t and t-1: SCtSCt-1
consists in extracting locally maximal isolated Growth: a subgraph S enlarges at time t if
pseudo cliques. A subgraph S of size n is a local S is a valid pseudo clique at time t and a
maximal isolated pseudo clique if it satisfies the subpart of it forms a valid pseudo clique at
two constraints and no supersets of S of size n+1 time t-1:
satisfies these two properties. With this constraint, S C t R,R S such that R C t 1
the very large majority of non-maximal isolated Diminution: a subgraph S shrinks at time t
pseudo cliques are removed, whereas the time if S is a valid pseudo clique at time t and is
complexity of the extraction remains the same. a subpart of a larger valid pseudo clique of
time t-1:
S C R,S R such that R C t 1
t
MINING EVOLVING SUBGRAPHS Extinction: a subgraph S disappears at

time t if it is a valid pseudo clique at time
Local pattern mining algorithms provide a fre- t-1 and if it is not involved in any previ-
quently large and unstructured set of patterns ously defined pattern at time t:
that cannot be readily interpreted or exploited S C t 1 R such that R S,
by the users (De Raedt et al., 2007). We propose
R C t R such that S R,R C t
to complement the first phase where potentially
interesting subgraphs are mined in static graphs, Emergence: a subgraph S emerges at time
with a second phase, in which sets of pattern are t if it is a valid pseudo clique in Gt and if
post-processed to answer temporal queries on none of its subsets or supersets are valid
dynamic graphs. pseudo cliques in Gt-1:
( )
t
We consider a dynamic graph G = G 1 , ...,GT S C R such that R S,
which is a time-series of T graphs, where Gt=(Vt,Et) R C t 1 R such that S R,R C t 1
is the graph with edges Et observed at time t, Those temporal relationships correspond to
among the vertices of Vt. global constraints used to identify the dynamics
The typical questions we want to consider are: of strong associations in graphs. We now pres-
ent an incremental algorithm that processes each
Do the strong interactions observed at time static graph sequentially. Inspired by the Trie-
t grow, diminish or remain the same over based Apriori implementation (Bodon, 2005),
time? we propose to use a trie data structure (prefix
When do these subgraphs appear and tree) to store valid pseudo-cliques. Indeed, find-
disappear? ing evolving patterns requires the evaluation of
subset queries over valid pseudo-cliques. Such
The objective here is to identify the temporal queries are computationally consuming and re-
relationships that may occur between valid (i.e., quire special attention.
locally maximal isolated) pseudo cliques. We Suppose that pseudo-cliques of Ct-1 are stored in
denote by Ct the set of subgraphs of Gt that satisfy a trie T. Each node of T consists of the set S of all
93
the vertices of the pseudo-clique, a list of temporal 2. In the latter case, the node gets a new son
states, a list of pointers to other trie nodes and a list with vertex set S, time stamp t and temporal
of time stamps. When a new valid pseudo-clique label Emergent (see Figure 3-C where the
of Gt is computed, its vertex set S is inserted in pseudo-clique {2,6,10} is inserted and Figure
T recursively. Figure 3 illustrates this process. 3-D where {3,4,5,7,8,11,12} is inserted).
Figure 3-A corresponds to the trie that contains
the 4 pseudo cliques of time stamp t-1: {1,9,13}, Then we look whether S is involved in a
{2,6,7,10}, {3,4,7,11} and {5,8,12}. Figure 3-B growing evolving pattern. To do so, we have to
corresponds to the insertion of the valid pseudo- retrieve all the subsets of S from T by means of
clique {1,9,13} of time stamp t: starting from the the following doubly recursive procedure: We first
root node, we first go to the child corresponding go to the child corresponding to the first vertex
to the first vertex of S ({1}) and process the re- of S and process the remainder of S recursively
mainder of S ({9,13}) recursively for that child. for that child and second discard the first vertex
The recursion stops on a node whose vertex set of S and process it recursively for the node itself.
is either S, or a prefix of S: If there exists subsets of S that belongs to T with
time stamp label t-1, then the temporal state asso-
1. In the first case, the temporal label Stability ciated to S is changed into Growth (see Figure
is pushed back in the temporal label list of 3-E) and pointers to the corresponding subsets are
the node and its time stamp is set to t. stored in the list associated to the node. Those
nodes are also tagged to avoid their consideration
Figure 3. Evolving subgraphs construction in the following step.
Now, we need to check whether the pseudo-
cliques of time stamp t-1 have shrunk (Diminu-
tion) or completely disappeared (Extinction).
As tries are more effective to find subsets than
to find supersets, a second traversal of the trie is
performed when all pseudo cliques of Ct have been
processed. For all the nodes with time stamp t-1
that are not involved in Stability or Growth
pattern, the function that searches subsets is trig-
gered. If there exists a subset that belongs to Ct,
the state of the first node is set to Diminution
and pointers to the corresponding subsets are
stored in the node list, otherwise the state is set to
Extinction, the pattern is output and the node is
removed from the trie. For example, Figure 3-C
illustrates the insertion of the pseudo-clique {2 6
10} whose temporal label is Emergent. When
all the pseudo-cliques of time stamp t are inserted,
the second traversal of the trie is performed and
the label of this node is set to Diminution (see
Figure 3-F).
94
EXPERIMENTATION Note also that the sensors had no localization ca-

pability. Therefore we do not have information on
We evaluate the added-value of Evolving-Sub- the actual movements of individuals carrying the
graphs and the general characteristics of evolving sensors or on the proximity of two given sensors.
patterns subgraphs on three real-world dynamic We study the imote dataset over a typical day
networks: two dynamic sensor networks, imote and the mit data over a typical week. The number
and mit, and a dynamic mobility network velov, of edges and the average degree of those graphs are
the shared bicycle system of Lyon. The main reported in Figure 4. We have carefully checked
characteristics of these datasets are presented on that the results obtained on these durations were
Table 1. All experiments were done on a Pentium similar for other periods. Both imote and mit
3 with 2 Giga of memory running on Linux. graphs are sparse (the number of edges is low)
and the number of edges and the average degree
Dynamic Sensor Networks exhibit large variations during daytime.
To densify the graphs and cope with the flick-
The two studied mobility networks used are based ering edge problem that may append with ex-
on sensor measurements. The imote (Chaintreau perimental data, we aggregate the graphs over a
et al., 2005) data set has been collected during the period of 15 minutes for imote and 1 hour for mit:
Infocom 2005 conference. Bluetooth sensors have in both dynamic graphs, an edge exists if it ap-
been distributed to a set of participants who were pears at least once during the considered period.
asked to keep the sensors with them continuously. The resulting dynamic graphs have a maximum
These sensors were able to detect and record the degree of 25 for imote and 22 for mit.
presence of other Bluetooth devices inside their We extract evolving subgraphs with several
radio-range neighborhood. The available data density values, being equal to 4.5 (average
concern 41 sensors over a period of nearly 3 days number of out-subgraph links per vertex) and the
which represent 254151 seconds. The mit or Real- minimal size of the extracted locally maximal
ity Mining (Eagle et al., 2006) experimental data isolated pseudo cliques set to 4 for imote and to
set constitutes of records from Bluetooth contacts 3 for mit. The total runtimes and number of com-
for a group of cell-phones distributed to 100 mit puted patterns are presented on Figure 5. These
students during figures show that Evolving-Subgraphs is tractable
9 months. Each cellular phone conducts a in terms of execution time since it succeeds to
Bluetooth device discovery scan and records the extract the patterns in less than 20 minutes for
identities of all devices present in its neighborhood different values varying between 1 and 0.6. The
at a sampling period of 300 seconds. For both data computational time is proportional to the number
sets, the Bluetooth devices may discover any kind of output patterns what was expected according to
of Bluetooth objects in its neighborhood. We have the theoretical study of the time complexity of the
restricted our analysis to internal contacts only. pseudo clique mining algorithm. The time required
Table 1. Dataset characteristics
Dataset Nb Edges Nb timesteps Avg. Density

Imote 11785 282 0.025
Mit 107770 11763 0.001
Velov 279208 930 0.003
95
Figure 4. Statistics of graph properties, displayed as a function of time (imote on the left and mit on
the right)
to compute evolving patterns generally decreases observe that the number of each type of patterns
with as well as the number of extracted patterns. varies irregularly.
The numbers of evolving patterns of each type Figure 7 shows the number of each pattern
are shown on Figure 6. As the number of emergent type at each time step. We can observe that the
patterns scales differently from other pattern types, evolutions of these quantities are strongly cor-
their quantity is shown on the right ordinate axe, related with the graph dynamic as depicted on
whereas the number of growth, stability and Figure 4. The number of growth patterns is par-
diminution patterns are plotted using the left or- ticularly correlated with the number of edges of
dinate axe. Even though the number of patterns the graph whereas the number of emergent pat-
decreases with the density threshold, we can terns is more regular across the time.
Figure 5. Runtime and number of extracted patterns (logarithmic scales) for imote (left) and mit (right)
dynamic graphs for different density threshold
96
Figure 6. Number of patterns of each type for imote (left) and mit (right) dynamic graphs for different
density threshold
Figure 8 shows the output of our method: nodes second group is made up of individuals 0, 4, 29
represent valid pseudo-cliques and the numbers and 35. Individuals 1 and 33 are nearby. This
they contain are vertices identifiers, solid arrows group is stable since it remains unchanged during
show evolving patterns and dashed arrows are two consecutive time stamps. The third group
drawn between following subgraphs that intersect. contains individuals 2, 14, 19 and 25 and is also
We can identify three main groups of people. The stable.
first one is composed of individuals 9, 15, 31, 34
and 37. This group appears at time stamp 71, splits
around time stamp 73 into two groups that then
merge and integrate an additional vertex 5. The
Figure 7. Number of patterns of each type at each time step for mit dynamic graph (=0.65)
97
Figure 8. Display of the evolving patterns for imote with =0.8, =3 and the minimum subgraph size
equals 4 that occur in the morning
Shared Bicycle System VELOV the repartition of the patterns among the different
types of evolving patterns. The majority of the
We analyze Lyons shared bicycling system VE- extracted patterns are emergent. The number of
LOV on the basis of the data provided by JCDe- identical patterns can increase or decrease with :
caux, promotor and operator of the program. The when a stable pattern disappears, usually a growth
dataset contains all the bicycle trips that occurred or diminution pattern appears.
between the 25th of May 2005 and the 12th of Figure 10 displays the main patterns output
December 2007. Each record is anonymized and by Evolving-Subgraphs when applied on velov
is made of the information about the date and dataset for time stamp between Monday 6 PM
time of the beginning of the trip, and of its end and Tuesday 7 AM. The analysis of the output
and the IDs of the departure and arrival stations evolving patterns brings interesting pieces of
(their geographical location being known). Dur- information: for example, around Monday mid-
ing this period, there were more than 13 million night, the identified patterns gather stations that
hired bicycle trips. are nearby to each other. Subgraph 58, 78, 115 is
To analyze the velov dataset, we first ag- made of stations located on the largest campus of
gregate the number of rentals for every days of Lyon and shows that there are many tips between
the week and every hour over the two and a half these stations. Such pattern grows at 1 AM, with
years period of observation. We thus obtain 168 the addition of a neighboring station. Stations
time stamps. Then to leverage the most important 187, 71 and 90 are around the main Park of Lyon,
links, we remove the edges that had less than 50 also located in this area. Another important group
rentals over this period. of stations is the one made of stations 55, 84, 92
Figure 9 (left) shows the total number of ex- and 99 that are all located in the 7th district of the
tracted evolving patterns and Evolving-Subgraphs city where many student rooms are.
runtime for several values. being set to 5 and
the minimum subgraph size is equal to 3. Here
again, we can observe that the number of extracted
patterns increases with . Figure 9 (right) shows
98
Figure 9. Runtime and number of extracted patterns for velov dynamic networks for different density
threshold (left), number of patterns of each type (right)
CONCLUSION evolution. We formalized this task into a local-to-

global framework: Local patterns are first mined
This chapter bridges the gap between constraint- in a static graph; then they are combined with
based mining techniques and dynamic graphs the ones extracted in the previous graph to form
analysis. We have considered the evolving-pattern evolving patterns. These patterns are defined by
mining problem in dynamic graph. We introduced means of constraints that are used to efficiently
five new pattern types which rely on the extraction mine the evolving patterns. Our experiments on
of dense subgraphs and the identification of their real life datasets show that our approach produces
Figure 10. Example of interesting subgraphs for velov network
99
high quality patterns that are useful to understand Bodon, F. (2005). A trie-based Apriori imple-
the graph dynamics. mentation for mining frequent item sequences. In
This technique can be of great interest for OSDM 05: Proceedings of the 1st International
mining patterns of interactions in online commu- Workshop on Open Source Data Mining (pp. 56-
nities, i.e. identifying groups of people that have 65). New York: ACM.
strong social interactions and share some interest.
Bonchi, F., & Lucchese, C. (2007). Extending
Two main characteristics of our method make it
the state-of-the-art of constraint-based pattern
a valuable tool for analysis online communities.
discovery. Data & Knowledge Engineering, 60(2),
First, whereas most of existing methods propose to
377399. doi:10.1016/j.datak.2006.02.006
identify group of interacting persons from a static
point of view, here we propose to disclose how Borgelt, C. (2003). Efficient implementations of
such groups emerge, attract new persons, or split, Apriori and Eclat. In 1st Workshop of Frequent
and disappear over time. This enables to analyze Item Set Mining Implementations.
the temporal evolution of the online communities
Borgwardt, K. M., Kriegel, H.-P., & Wack-
structure and keep track of the changes in the
ersreuther, P. (2006). Pattern mining in frequent
interests of the communities members. Second,
dynamic subgraphs. In Proceedings of the 6th
the proposed method is incremental: For example,
IEEE International Conference on Data Mining
the graph of community member interactions can
(ICDM 2006), Hong Kong, China (pp. 818-822),
be updated everyday; Valid pseudo-cliques are
Washington, DC, USA. IEEE Computer Society.
thus extracted from it and then combined with
the evolving patterns computed on the previous Bttcher, M., Hppner, F., & Spiliopoulou, M.
graphs. The global picture of the online commu- (2008). On exploiting the power of time in data
nities is therefore maintained up to date without mining. SIGKDD Explor. Newsl., 10(2), 311.
considering all the previous time steps (which doi:10.1145/1540276.1540278
would quickly becomes intractable) but just the
Brandes, U., Delling, D., Gaertler, M., Grke, R.,
previous time step graph. This is an important
Hoefer, M., Nikoloski, Z., & Wagner, D. (2008).
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On modularity clustering. IEEE Transactions
very long time periods.
on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 20(2),
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103
Chapter 6
A Methodological Approach
for Blended Communities:
Social Network Analysis and
Positioning Network Analysis
Susan Annese
University of Bari, Italy
Marta Traetta
University of Bari, Italy
ABSTRACT
The current diffusion of blended communities, characterized by the integration of online and offline
interactions, has made necessary a methodological reflection about the suitable approaches to explore
psychosocial dynamics in virtual and real communities. In this chapter we propose a mixed approach
that blends qualitative and quantitative methods: by combining qualitative content analysis with Social
Network Analysis we investigate participation dynamics and by employing this methodological combina-
tion in an original way we create an innovative method, called Positioning Network Analysis, to examine
identity dynamics. We will describe the characteristics of this methodological device, providing some
examples in order to show the manifold use of these original tools.
INTRODUCTION Blended Learning (Bonk & Graham, 2006), but

are now spreading in other contexts, particularly
Over the last years there has been a growing in professional ones.
development of new models of communities, in- The mixture of face to face and mediated in-
novated by the use of technologies. Recently the teractions triggers psychosocial dynamics such as
integration of Computer Mediated Communica- the sense of belonging to the community and the
tion technologies in face to face communities has subsequent identity construction process (Ligorio,
produced blended models (Ligorio & Annese, in Annese, Spadaro, & Traetta, 2008), that have
press; Ligorio & Sansone, 2009) of communi- considerable implications on learning process.
ties. They originate in educational contexts with Our concern for psychosocial dimensions and
psychoeducational implications of blended com-
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch006
A Methodological Approach for Blended Communities
munities is framed in a socio-cultural perspective The concept of CoP helps to study learning by
that defines learning as a social event deriving highlighting communitys participation trajecto-
from the participation in community life and af- ries through the model of Legitimate Peripheral
fecting the construction of identity (Lave, 1991; Participation(Lave & Wenger, 1991). A crucial
Wenger, 1998). node in this model is the degree of appropriation of
Our interest for the psychological processes communitys culture affecting the kind of partici-
emerging in blended communities engages us in pation of community members in social practices.
a new research trend (Annese, Traetta & Spadaro, Newcomers can move in a double participation
2010; Ligorio, et al., 2008) looking for appropri- trajectory: from the periphery to the centre and
ate methodological procedures. The aim of this from the centre to the periphery. A newcomer
chapter is to propose a unique methodological can progressively increase his/her degree of ap-
approach to observe blended communities. It is propriation of communitys culture, passing from
a distinctive approach because it does not simply a peripheral participation to a central one; at the
mix qualitative and quantitative methodologies, same time he/she can also decrease his/her degree
but it employs a quantitative tool in a qualitative of appropriation of communitys culture, passing
way; it tries to qualitatively interpret a quantita- from a central participation to a peripheral one.
tive method. In this sense it could be interesting For example, a research study of ours, about the
for qualitative scholars who are looking for new socialization process of a newcomer in a profes-
methodological modes, able to represent their epis- sional community (Traetta & Annese, in press),
temological attitude towards knowledge building. shows discursive markers of his central partici-
pation such as repair mechanisms addressed to
otherss turns (Schegloff, Jefferson & Sacks, 1977)
BACKGROUND or the use of the pronoun we implying a strong
sense of belonging to the community. At the same
Blended Learning between time some signals such as conversational markers
Community and Identity subduing strong statements- prove his persisting
peripheral participation. Spadaro and Ligorio
The socio-cultural definition of learning as (2005) find that the objective of the interaction
participation and acculturation (Bruner, 1966, can influence the participation trajectories of
Wenger, 1998), stressing the importance of the newcomers. The different kinds of trajectory can
social context where negotiating meanings, recalls depict a participation that is not always progres-
a suitable conceptual framework consisting of sive and linear. In short, participation is a learning
the construct of Communities of Practice (CoP) process mutually accomplished by individuals
(Wenger, 1998) and the theory of Dialogical Self and community and supplying both of them with
(Hermans, 1996; 2001). identity resources.
The definition of learning as an intersubjective They shape each other through the sense of
process, given by the involvement of participants belonging sprung from common enterprises
in a meaningful interaction (Matusov, 2001), well (Wenger, 1998). Their active involvement in
fits with the perspective proposed by Wenger social interactions leads community members to
(1998): learning is a social process deriving from considers themselves as part of a unit, their strong
the participation in community practices, a process sense of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986)
triggering an increasing sense of belonging to the allows them to negotiate individual and collective
community. identities. By participating, community members
dialogically position and think themselves in
104
new ways, they interiorize new self positionings of ideas, a safe place to reflect and develop those
according to the specific situation and context ideas (Palloff & Pratt, 2007), a community space
(Davies & Harr, 1990); consequently the shift- triggering a strong sense of belonging to it.
ing of positionings makes the selfs organization As a result this conceptual framework enlight-
dynamic. Harr and Van Langhenove (1991) ens group dynamics in online or offline communi-
illustrate how the situations aims strategically ties, and more in blended communities. These ones
direct positionings choice. As a consequence this particularly benefit by this theoretical background
choice is not definitive and consistent (Smith, as the mixture of virtual and real contexts can ac-
1988). The shifting of positionings represents a tivate peculiar psychosocial dynamics in terms of
resource to negotiate participation conditions in participation and identity (Annese, et al., 2010).
social interactions (Antaki & Widdicombe, 1998). These conceptual premises led us to identify
New experiences increase the possibility of a methodological device able to investigate these
innovating the positionings repertory (Hermans, two features of blended communities.
1996; Hermans & Kempen, 1993) and educational
contexts are a very rich source of new experi- A Methodological Review for
ences, where the participation in social activities Blended Communities
activates learning process, a sense of belonging
to the community and the redefinition of identity The need to study a blended community points
positionings (Garrison, 2006). In other words, the us to a blended methodology (Cresswell, 2003)
exposure to different learning affordances and that employs a quantitative method together with
the acquisition of new skills produce a continu- a qualitative one (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998).
ous and plastic adjustment of identity trajectory The integration of these two methods produce
(Cucchiara, Spadaro & Ligorio, 2008). a quantified qualitative analysis as it adjusts
The Dialogical Self Theory (Hermans, 1996; qualitative findings into statistical measures. We
2001) provides a clear explanation of the dynamic used this blended methodology for studying both
nature of identity, by proposing the idea of a self participation strategies and identity dynamics. To
whose various aspects, settled in specific posi- study participation dynamics the whole corpus
tions, are engaged in continuous dialogues. The of data was qualitatively content analyzed, and
dialogues give specific configurations to the self, then Social Network Analysis was performed
depending on the particular situation and moment on content analysis outcomes. To study identity
the individual is living. dynamics the integration of content analysis and
In this dialogical construction of the self, even Social Network Analysis was adapted to the con-
community builds a new collective identity: it is ceptual framework of Dialogical Self by creating a
an intersubjective configuration in which each variant of the blended method, called Positioning
member is considered as a positioning of the col- Network Analysis.
lectivity (Ligorio & Spadaro, 2005). A brief review of relevant literature about the
According to this conceptual framework a com- two employed methods will enlighten the mixed
munity can regularly interact in virtual settings, methodology we propose.
too. The essential feature of a community is not
the sharing of a physical space, but the engage-
ment in meaningful social activities. In educational
communities the sharing of a collaborative setting
and the experience of active involvement in online
learning activities allows for mutual exploration
105
CONTENT ANALYSIS: FROM units, that generate three different kinds of analysis
A QUANTITATIVE TO A process (Rositi, 1970):
QUALITATIVE APPROACH
In the first kind of analysis, unit corre-
The first method we used for studying both par- sponds to simple elements of linguistic
ticipation and identity dynamics is represented by structure;
content analysis, a tool usually preferred by social In the second kind, units are identi-
scientists to examine communication processes fied through the content rather than
(Holsti, 1968). It consists in breaking down the linguistically;
messages in simple elements in order to code them In the third kind, the analysis unit over-
according to thematic categories and to register laps with the context unit, thus producing
their frequency (Ghiglione, 1980). a treatment of data even in their extra-lin-
Nevertheless the definition of content analysis guistic content.
is not univocal as it depends on the theoretical
evolution of the communication model. It devel- This last kind of analysis, similar to an inquiry,
ops from the analysis of the evident content of considers the thorough meaning of the text, in-
messages, in line with the informational model terpreted by making clear research criteria. The
of communication, to the analysis of the texts interpretative nature of analysis discriminates the
context, in line with the textual model of com- qualitative approach (Mayring, 2000) to content
munication. analysis from the traditional quantitative one. Both
The first definition, given by Bereleson (1952), of them are used to infer meaning from data content
focuses on a specific aspect of communication but the interpretative procedure is different. The
process: the message content. In fact he defines quantitative approach detects linguistic occur-
content analysis as a research technique for the rences of content with a descriptive-inferential
objective, systematic and quantitative description aim, whereas the qualitative one classifies the
of manifest communication content (Berelson, content according to the sense interpreted through
1952, p. 18). The following definitions extend the extra-linguistic context with a theory-building
their object according to the complexity of com- aim. The qualitative approach can be defined as a
munication acts. They address on the message thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) where quali-
content, but above all on other aspects of commu- tative data are encoded through specific thematic
nication process such as the message senders and codes generated from the theory and integrated
receivers. In line with this conceptual evolution during the process of analysis.
Krippendorff (1980) provides a comprehensive Current applications show an extensive use
definition of content analysis interpreted as a of the qualitative approach as the interpretative
research technique able in drawing valid and re- process allows the researcher to make evident
peatable inferences from the data to their context latent contents of messages. This rationale makes
(Krippendorff, 1980, p. 21). the qualitative content analysis an appropriate
Moreover the diffusion of information sys- method for investigating psychosocial dynamics
tems for managing considerable amount of data in a CoP. Specifically we used it for identifying
has complicated the attempt of clearly defining participation links among blended communities
content analysis, driving some authors to define members and positioning links in community
it as a set of research techniques often completely members identity.
different among them (Holsti, 1969). These varied
techniques are distinguishable in terms of analysis
106
SOCIAL NETWORK of it (Reffay & Chanier, 2002). It can identify

ANALYSIS: FROM REAL TO dysfunctional behaviours of community members
VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES and allow reorganization of group structure and
activities, in order to improve its effectiveness.
Social Network Analysis (SNA) is an interesting First studies only explored the number of ex-
quantitative tool to map the relational framework changes in communities networks, but the use of
of communities (Scott, 1997; Wasserman & Faust, SNA as a diagnostic tool to detect communities
1994). The analysis of social networks is based ineffectiveness requires the examination of mes-
on network, link and structure concepts and has sages content, too. Just following this purpose,
various application fields: relationships among SNA has been recently employed in combination
individuals and relationships among communities with content analysis in order to observe virtual
-families, organizations, countries. At the begin- groups engaged in collaborative learning settings
nings it was implemented in real social contexts (Martinez, Dimitriadis, Rubia, Gomez & de la
for studying both wide-ranging systems such as Fuente, 2003).
economic and political structures (Snyder & Kick, Our methodological proposal tries to employ
1979) and local systems such as the relationships qualitative content analysis to interpret SNA in a
among organizations of the same metropolitan distinctive way. In fact our attention to psycho-
area (Galaskiewicz & Wasserman, 1989) or the social dynamics leads us to employ this method-
relationships among individuals in the same ological combination not only for participation
company (Krackhardt, 1987). strategies analysis, as traditional studies make,
Later SNA was used for observing other but also for identity positionings examination,
phenomena such as occupational mobility, group through the creation of a specific procedure that
decision-making, introduction and diffusion of we called Positioning Network Analysis (Traetta
innovations, the framework of social power and & Spadaro, 2008).
social influence. A famous study was carried out
by Padgett & Ansell (1993) to explore the increas- A Blended Methodological Device
ing expansion and the social power of Medicis
family in 15th century through the identification In this chapter we would propose the above
of their relationships with other powerful Flo- mentioned blended methodology, implemented
rentine families. to study the participation and identity dynamics
At present the development of virtual com- in two blended communities. In fact research data
munities has made salient the use of SNA for are composed of the interactions of two students
investigating social relationships in online communities (group 1 and group 2) attending a
contexts. The first scholars who employed it in blended course on E-learning Psychology at the
virtual settings were Freeman & Freeman (1979) University of Bari (IT) in two different academic
who observed networks of interactions among years. The first group was made up of 11 partici-
researchers through their e-mail exchanges. Then pants, while the second group was composed of 15
Garton, Haythornthwait & Wellman (1997) im- students and split into two subgroups (A and B).
ported the tool in collaborative virtual contexts During the course students were asked to attend
and Cho, Stefanone & Gay (2002) analyzed e-mail offline classroom lessons and to participate in
exchanges among students of the same university online activities hosted by the platform Synergeia
course. Nowadays SNA is revealing a useful tool (http://bscl.gmd.de/), designed to support collab-
to study virtual learning communities and assess orative learning processes. The course activities
learning process during the course and at the end consisted of:
107
Weekly offline lessons, during which the 1. Describe individual participation strategies
professor assigned a topic and explained it and the ensuing relational structure of the
through key concepts, finally setting a rel- community;
evant research question for student discus- 2. Analyse identity construction in terms of
sions in the online forum; positionings;
A set of online activities, including group 3. Observe the differential inquiry of online
discussions in online forums. During the and offline contexts in participation strate-
online activities, students played system- gies and identity dynamics.
atic roles such as e-tutor, the weekly dis-
cussion summariser, and critical friend, In both offline and online environments, par-
the evaluator of the group work during ticipation strategies were analysed by a qualitative
the week. The systematic distribution of use of SNA, whereas the same qualitative use was
these roles helps students to gain study and innovated by making the concept of positioning
group work skills. operational and giving way to an original method-
ological tool Positioning Network Analysis to
At the end of the course students participated investigate identity trajectories.
in a face to face focus group discussion during
which they reflected upon the experience of the SNA for Participation Strategies
blended course they had taken and discussed their
learning process. In order to build the networks of social relations
We analyzed, for each group, an online dis- in the two different interactive environments, we
cussion -forum- and an offline discussion -focus observed the participation strategies in online and
group. Finally we analysed: offline contexts in two stages.
First of all we performed a qualitative content
a) Group 1: an online discussion of a web analysis to detect the communication links in
forum (forum 1), and an offline discussion participation, to identify speakers and recipients
of a focus group (focus 1). of each message. The preliminary step of this first
b) Group 2, divided into two subgroups (A and stage is to accurately choose the analysis unit: the
B): three online discussions (forum A and message is meant as a single communicative act.
forum B - where students of each subgroup This introductory step allows the easy application
interact within their subgroup, and forum of a purposely created grid where categories cor-
2 - where the students of both subgroups respond to participants.
interact together), and an offline discussion The identification of speakers is easier than
of a focus group (focus 2). that of recipients, particularly in a group context
where recipients can be more than one participant
Research findings about their relational and and, especially in online asynchronous discus-
identity networks were exhaustively illustrated sions, where messages are seldom directed to an
in another paper (Annese et al., 2010). Here we explicit addressee as they are posted in a public
would exclusively offer a deep reflection about setting. To solve this problem we tailored the
the methodological device produced to examine qualitative content analysis procedure through
the mediated and face to face interactions of the specific criteria of identification:
blended learning communities.
We pursued the following objectives: 1) The presence in the text of an explicit or
implicit reference to a specific recipient;
108
2) The identification of multiple recipients In both these cases there is a unique recipi-
through three indicators: ent, but in many cases messages have multiple
a. Explicit or implicit reference to mul- recipients for whom it is possible to find implicit
tiple recipients; or explicit references in the text, too.
b. Absence of reference to a specific The construction of identification criteria
recipient; allowed two different researchers to perform
c. Explicit reference to the whole independent analyses on the whole data corpus,
community. by achieving a very high inter-reliability rate
-89,7%- (Krippendorff, 1980).
Both criteria can show an explicit reference The results of the content analysis were ar-
to the message recipient. Here is an example of ranged in adjacency matrices, in which each cell
the first identification criterion: contains the number of communication links got
by intersecting two participants:
Hi Claudia! [] I would agree with you about The second stage of participation inquiry was
the research question of this week (Debora) to perform Social Network Analysis: we im-
ported matrices, one for each discussion analyzed,
But they can also show implicit references to in the software NetMiner 3. This software makes
the recipient, requiring a careful interpretation available various options to arrange analysis ac-
work of the message context. The following ex- cording to peculiar research objects. We chose to
ample concerns the first identification criterion: employ three kinds of analysis, particularly fitting
our concerns about participation strategies:
With regard to reasons that move a troll I suggest
you a link. What do you think about it? (Ilario) a) The neighbour analysis (Wasserman &
Faust, 1994), able to investigate the level
of density among nodes/participants in the
I didnt know the definition oftroll[] howeverI community;
think thatthe behaviour of a troll can sometimes b) The cohesion analysis (Wasserman & Faust,
support the discussion in a forum(Armando) 1994), to identify sub-structures in the
network, defined cliques, as individuals
In Armandos note we inferred that the re- can participate in the whole social structure
cipient was Ilario through two textual markers: through groups and subgroups;
the reference to the same content of Ilarios note c) The centrality analysis (Wasserman &
(the troll) and Armandos intention to provide Faust, 1994), to examine each node/actors
an answer (I think that) to Ilarios question. centrality and his social power; participants
Table 1. Extract of a participation adjacency matrix
Debora Dario Krizia Mario

Debora 7 7 5
Dario 5 3 2
Krizia 1
Mario 1
109
Figure 1. Graphical representation of cliques in group 1 offline focus
having more links to others are in a central the first community and 0,59 in the second one).
position. These results show stronger and more distributed
links in online settings, marking a more consistent
Each kind of analysis is based on specific and solid network in the online context of blended
indices. The neighbour analysis is based on the communities.
density index that makes a proportion between The second kind of analysis employed, the co-
the actual number of observed links and the high- hesion analysis, is based on the number of cliques
est number of possible links in the community present in the community networks (Wasserman &
(Wasserman & Faust, 1994). The range of values Faust, 1994). Cliques are sub-structures composed
for this index goes from 0 -no links at all among of at least three completely inter-connected nodes,
participants- to 1 -all participants are linked among but the software can report the composition of
them. The density index is calculated according each clique through participants names and its
to two criteria: the inclusiveness index and the graphical representation (see Figure 1).
nodal degree index. The first index represents the This kind of analysis support results obtained
percentage of community members involved in through neighbour analysis. For example periph-
the interactions; the second index provides infor- eral participants, such as Romina, can be inte-
mation about the number of members with whom grated again in the larger community through the
each participant is linked, therefore it identifies belonging to a clique -clique2- where they are
the presence of peripheral participants, such as able to interact with central participants -Silvana,
isolated or pendant nodes (members linked to Ilario, Clara, Angelo, who play a mediating role
a unique participant), or of central participants, being members of both cliques (see Figure 1).
actors linked to many other members. Finally, the centrality analysis is based on the
We employed the density index to compare concepts of centrality and prestige that describe
the cohesion degree of the same group in the two the position of each social actor in the relational
interactive contexts of blended communities. In the network (Wasserman & Faust, 1994). Central-
two observed learning communities we identified ity index shows the active participation in the
different relational structures for the two settings: community discourses through the calculation
the online discussions show higher density index of messages production; prestige index shows
values (1,00 in the first community and 0,80 in the the social validation of participants through the
second one) than the offline discussions (0,80 in calculation of messages receipt. By comparing
110
these two indices it is possible to get participa- As centrality analysis outlines participation
tion style for each participant. For example some trajectories for each actor, it is possible to compare
members play the role of counter-leaders having them in the two different contexts. The observed
an high centrality index in messages production blended communities show different trajectories,
only. They give voice to the dissent in the com- not always consisting in a linear participation.
munity, but they do not receive other participants Some members follow stable participation tra-
validation as the social confirmation of the com- jectories by activating the same strategies in
munity is addressed towards recognized leaders. both interactive contexts. For example, some
In fact, leaders are characterized by a balanced students maintain the same popularity in both
participation style combining a high centrality online and offline discussions; they are always
index in messages production with a high cen- crucial reference points for the whole community.
trality index in messages receipt. In this sense These include Angelo whose trajectory is stable
the community network is based on a positional in both forum (degree centrality index 1,00) and
logic that defines the individuals in terms of social focus discussions (degree centrality index 1,00),
power and popularity. identifying him as a central actor:
To define the relevance of each participant, Other students change their participation style
centrality analysis can explore his/her involve- according to the interactive environment, gener-
ment in communication exchanges through the ating specific trajectories. For example, students
degree centrality index. It is calculated through like Romina, who are peripheral (0.571) in face
each participant nodal degree with a score go- to face discussion (see Figure 3), play a central
ing from 0 to 1. This score marks his/her power role, likewise other members, in online discussion
through the comparison between the numbers of (1,00), being perfectly integrated in a balanced
actual links and the number of possible links with communitys participation network (see Figure 2).
other participants. The different individual trajectories and the
community structure mutually influence them-
Figure 2. Degree Centrality in participation of Figure 3. Degree Centrality index in participation

group 1 - online forum of group 1- offline focus
111
selves. In fact a cohesive and balanced commu- 3) Analysis of identitys levels.

nity structure produces the absence of central and
peripheral participants; on the contrary an unbal- In the first stage we needed to code data through
anced and irregular community structure generates the notion of positioning (Hermans, 1996; 2001);
the presence of more central or more peripheral so we constructed an appropriate categories grid
members. In addition, centrality analysis can including 15 theory and data driven positionings
observe each community through a centralisation clustered in 5 core categories (see Table 2).
index (Wasserman & Faust, 1994) to verify if the The different kinds of positioning represent our
relational network as a whole is based on central thematic codes (Boyatzis, 1998). Each category
nodes/participants, identified by the centrality is a positioning, meant as the way in which the
index. High percentages of centralization index speaker positions himself/herself towards com-
occur when there are few participants with a high munity and his/her degree of involvement in it.
score of centrality, whereas low percentages of To construct categories grid we first employed
centralization occur in absence of participants the two theoretical distinctions of internal/external
with a high score of centrality. positionings (Hermans, 1996) and individual/
In conclusion, the three performed kinds of collective positionings (Spadaro, 2008). Later,
analysis can fully represent the relational frame- through the observation of data corpus, we inserted
work of communities: neighbour and cohesion new categories given by the specific organization
analyses compose the participation network of of studied communities, such as the positionings
the whole community whereas centrality analy- connected with the playing of a formal role or
sis portrays the contribution of each individual the different levels of collectivity produced by
participation trajectory to the collective structure. the configuration of communities in subgroups.
The rich taxonomy of positionings tries to
PNA for Identity Trajectories represent the complexity of identity trajectories,
produced by the crossed references to personal
We proposed the mixed use of qualitative content and social identity. Individual positionings mark
analysis and SNA even for analyzing identity aspects of personal identity, collective ones inter-
dynamics in real and virtual contexts of the two sect aspects of social identity with community
observed blended communities. Our research aim identity; together they represent a methodological
was to compare participants identity trajectories tool for a psychosocial reading of the Dialogical
in online and offline environments. Self theory. For example group positionings rep-
For this purpose the mixed methodological resent the belonging to a we necessary to define
device was adapted to the theoretical framework the I. Similarly, interpersonal positionings mark
of Dialogical Self, by making the concept of a belonging to a we given by the social relation-
positioning operational. We represented it as a ship with another community member. Differ-
node of Social Network Analysis, thus generat- ently, boundary positionings mark the need of a
ing a variant of SNA, called Positioning Network we through a temporary distancing from the
Analysis (PNA) (Ligorio et al., 2008). In order community; the selection of a momentary periph-
to build identity networks for participants and eral position constructs the sense of belonging to
community we performed three complementary the community by contrast. Finally multimember-
stages of analysis: ship positionings, inside the same community,
indicate a we given by the interaction of numer-
1) Qualitative content analysis, ous belonging senses.
2) PNA,
112
Table 2. Grid of positioning categories
Core categories Categories Definition Example

Individual position- internal Emotions, ideas, interior aspects related to personal identity I think that
ings
external Reference to experiences, people, places relevant for per- I come from Valenza-
sonal identity of the speaker no
open Utterances in which doubtful positions of the self are I do not know if I am a
expressed good tutor
Collective position- internal Self descriptions as belonging to a we representing the We meet in our Skype
ings whole community
external Reference to experiences, people, places shared by the whole The Serenis lessons
community, therefore relevant for the collective identity
open Utterances in which speakers express doubtful positions of We had not understood
the collective identity
internal related to Self descriptions as belonging to a we restricted to a we belong to group A
subgroup formal subgroup of the larger community
internal related to Self descriptions as belonging to a we restricted to a we tutors
formal role subgroup of the larger community, composed of participants
playing the same formal role
open related to Utterances in which speakers express doubtful positions we tutors could do it
formal role about the collective identity related to the role playing
Interpersonal posi- direct Explicit reference to one or more participants through the As you said
tionings use of you
indirect Implicit reference to one or more participants through an As Dario said
indirect quotation
direct related to Explicit reference to one or more participants playing the As you tutors said
formal role same formal role
Intergroup position- direct Direct references to other subgroups you members belonging to
ings group A
indirect Indirect references to other subgroups As the group A said
Boundary position- Linguistic expressions marking the members temporary I think that; what do
ing estrangement from the community you think about it?
After the construction of categories grid it each cell contains the number of links got by
was possible to identify the links between elicit- intersecting two categories of positioning.
ing and elicited positionings through a qualitative Two independent analyses were performed on
content analysis. Initially each message, in online the whole data corpus by showing a high inter-
and offline discussions, was coded according to a reliability rate both in the coding phase -89,3%-
positioning category. After that, each messages and in the links identification phase -82%.
content was carefully read in order to identify, In the second stage we adapted SNA to the
through the examination of previous messages conceptual framework of Dialogical Self, creating
content, the source message and its relevant the methodological tool of PNA. For this purpose
positioning that elicited the positioning of the content analysis outcomes were imported in the
current message. software NetMiner3 and treated through two
The results of the qualitative content analysis diverse kinds of analysis. For them we chose
were arranged in adjacency matrices, in which two indices of those employed in participation
113
Figure 4. Identity repertoire in group 2- online forum
analysis, but their use according to PNA makes ings is less uniform, particularly because there are
them completely different in the identity dynamics: three cut off nodes (see Figure 5). It seems that
the same community, in real setting, do not allow
a) The neighbour analysis (that investigates the the intertwining of multiple relations and selves.
level of cohesion among community partici- The centrality analysis deepens the role of
pants), illustrates the complete repertoire of each positioning by identifying those ones more
positionings used by each participant and by crucial for the repertoires organization. In both
the whole community, in PNA; online and offline contexts the network of posi-
b) The degree centrality analysis (that explores tionings appears to be organized around the
each actors centrality and his social power in
participation) identifies positionings crucial
for the Self as they are tied to most of other Figure 5. Identity repertoire in group 2- offline
positionings, in PNA. forum
The neighbour analysis enables a comparison

of positionings repertoire in real and virtual en-
vironments of blended communities, by making
the role of the context salient in identity dynam-
ics. In fact identity repertoire is broader in virtual
context, but above all it is more compact as there
are not isolated positionings (nodes having no
links with other nodes) and all positionings are
connected each other (see Figure 4). In this sense
virtual settings can be considered laboratories
of identity experimentations (Turkle, 1996)
where all voices of identity can express, the self
can experience an effective multiplicity. On the
contrary, in real context, the network of position-
114
Figure 6. Degree centrality index in positionings of group2- online forum
twofold pivot of personal and social identity. In In the communities we observed, collectivity
fact individual internal positionings and collective is so essential as individuality for the construction
internal positionings are central for both networks: of the self. The sense of community is an integral
they have the same score and the same importance part of individual identity, as witnessed by the
inside each network; the two interactive environ- strong presence of social positioning in identity
ments show the same relevance for the same dynamics. In fact when describing their selfs
positionings even if with peculiar values. trajectory, community participants often refer to
collective experiences that mark a strong sense
of belonging: I became an e-learning expert
Figure 7. Degree centrality index in positioning through the course that we followed. In this
of group2- offline forum statement the participant acknowledges the sig-
nificance of the belonging experience to the
learning community because he/she could de-
velop e-learning skills and consequently reorga-
nize his/her own identity according to the new
position of e-learning expert. The individual
identity is twisted with the community identity
whose structure is particularly complex when the
community is made up of various subgroups,
several community levels and diverse senses of
belonging.
The dialogical interplay of individual and com-
munity identity is exactly described by the third
stage of analysis where the positioning trajectories
were analyzed according to three identity levels:
115
individual, interpersonal and community. The community members, being the sum of them.
individual level examines the dialogue between The overall identity stems from the junction of
positionings inside a single individual, as in the personal and social aspects of the self.
following example: Again the innovation of analysis for identitys
levels is consistent with the conceptual framework
Hi Claudia! I created a folder in order to facili- of Hermans Dialogical Self where dialogue repre-
tate our interactions (Debora) sent the exclusive kind of relationship both inside
the individual, whose different inner voices are
In this case the link between two positionings connected in dialogic relationships, and outside
is in the same note of a single speaker. The first individual, where voices of other social actors
positioning (I created), marking her status of interact through dialogic relationships.
student, an individual aspect of Deboras identity, This further innovation helps us to verify the
elicits the second one (our interactions), mark- interplay between individual and collective iden-
ing her belonging to tutors role, a social aspect of tity in its building process across the two different
Deboras identity shared by Claudia, too. interactive contexts of blended communities. Re-
Differently, the interpersonal level reveals sults show that interactive environment plays an
the dialogue between positionings of different important role in the construction of identity: in
social actors: the online environment links between positionings
of the same individual are more recurrent than in
Nobody knows if we accomplished what profes- offline environment, where links between posi-
sor required! (Clara) tionings of different people are more numerous.
Therefore in online setting the building process
turns around the individual level supported by
We tried to do it! (Federica) otherness contributions; in the offline one, the
building process is organized around the interper-
In this example the link between positionings sonal level sustained by the individualitys inter-
is interpersonal because it develops during the vention. In the virtual context other voices
exchange between Clara and Federica. In fact contribute to the weft of the self, individual
Claras open collective positioning (if we ac- identity is dialogically constructed for its social
complished), expressing an uncertainty about the nature; in real context an exchange of experi-
group performance, elicits Federicas collective ences at the interpersonal level composes the self,
positioning (we tried), reassuring her about individual identity is dialogically built through a
group engagement in the course. shared framework, for its cultural dimension. In
Finally the community level connects all the conclusion individual identity has a dialogical
individual and interpersonal positionings of the
Table 3. Frequence of positionings links in identity levels
Individual level Interpersonal level Community level

group 1 online 55,30% 44,70% 100%
offline 40% 60% 100%
group 2 online 58% 42% 100%
offline 34,40% 65,60% 100%
116
form of construction that inevitably involves bers who clearly multiply their communication
community identity. exchanges. To observe them our methodological
Finally, the study of identity dynamics in approach requires a greater amount of efforts and
blended communities, let us maintain that the resources. Obviously it is not impossible: even
integration of online and offline interactions im- qualitative content analysis should be supported
proves learning that, as a social process, promotes by information systems able to make consistent
changes not only in abilities appropriation but also and reliable the work of identifying and coding
and above all in identity resources acquisition thematic categories in a huge dataset. The aware-
(Ligorio et al., 2008). ness about weaknesses of our methodological
proposal represents the way to make it stronger,
as generally each limitation always opens the way
STUDY LIMITATIONS AND to a research potentiality.
FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
The blended methodological device proposed in CONCLUSION

this research work combines SNA and PNA to
take an accurate picture of a specific moment in The emerging of blended communities addresses
the observed event. This quality of our method- our attention on one side to the unexpected psy-
ological proposal represents even its weakness chological processes they trigger, on the other
as the accurate picture produced is static. Our side to the unique methodological procedures they
methodological reflection is looking for a way require. This new social space needs an accurate
to transform the weak point of the proposed elaboration not only about the psychosocial im-
device in its strong feature. We are considering plications of educational process, but also about
the possibility of completing our device through the appropriate methodology for observing it. By
a discursive contribution. an approach combining social and educational
In fact we think future research perspectives concerns, this study has tried to initiate a new
could integrate the blended methodology with a research line where an innovative use of Social
discursive approach. An investigation of the dis- Network Analysis, mixed with qualitative content
cursive device could improve the understanding analysis, has determined an original tool called
of relational mechanisms (Lamherics, 2003) by Positioning Network Analysis.
giving the dynamic nature of psychological pro- The blended device here proposed, with its
cesses. The discursive tool could supply this limit limitations and potentialities, could represent a
by depicting social activities in progress. We are useful attempt to extend the background of meth-
just working to identify the most appropriate dis- ods and techniques for studying different kinds of
cursive markers to support this research direction. community. It is exploitable for the investigation
Of course this is the principal weakness of of exclusively virtual or real communities; in the
our study, but we are aware that there are other methodological debate, it focuses on the possibility
limitations. For example another weak aspect is of integrating qualitative and quantitative tools;
represented by the number of community partici- and finally, it makes operational some conceptual
pants: it is not easy to investigate the participa- constructs by bridging theories and methods,
tion and identity networks of large communities research and practice.
through our methodological device. In particular it
is hard to perform an accurate qualitative content
analysis on a large number of community mem-
117
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122
Chapter 7
Semantic Social
Network Analysis:
A Concrete Case
Guillaume Erto
Orange Labs, France
Freddy Limpens
EDELWEISS, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France
Fabien Gandon
Olivier Corby
Michel Buffa
University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France
Mylne Leitzelman
Peter Sander
ABSTRACT
The World Wide Web has been evolving into a read-write medium permitting a high degree of interac-
tion between participants, and social network analysis (SNA) seeks to understand this on-line social
interaction, for example by identifying communities and sub-communities of users, important users,
intermediaries between communities, etc. Semantic web techniques can explicitly model these interac-
tions, but classical SNA methods have only been applied to these semantic representations without fully
exploiting their rich expressiveness. The representation of social links can be further extended thanks
to the semantic relationships found in the vocabularies (tags, folksonomies) shared by the members of
these networks. These enriched representations of social networks, combined with a similar enrichment
of the semantics of the meta-data attached to the shared resources, will allow the elaboration of
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch007
Semantic Social Network Analysis
shared knowledge graphs.In this chapter we present our approach to analyzing such semantic social
networks and capturing collective intelligence from collaborative interactions to challenge requirements
of Enterprise 2.0. Our tools and models have been tested on an anonymized dataset from Ipernity.com,
one of the biggest French social web sites centered on multimedia sharing. This dataset contains over
60,000 users, around half a million declared relationships of three types, and millions of interactions
(messages, comments on resources, etc.). We show that the enriched semantic web framework is par-
ticularly well-suited for representing online social networks, for identifying their key features and for
predicting their evolution. Organizing huge quantity of socially produced information is necessary for
a future acceptance of social applications in corporate contexts.
INTRODUCTION web has become a key factor of economic devel-

opment and innovation. The competitiveness of
The web is now a major medium of communication firms is related to the adequacy of their decisions,
in our society and, as the web is becoming more which depends heavily on the quality of available
and more social, a huge amount of content is now information and their ability to capitalize, enrich
collectively produced and widely shared online. and distribute this relevant information to people
Even early on, the social interactions on the web who will make the right decisions at the right mo-
highlighted a social network structure (Wellman ment. The Business Intelligence market is clearly
1996), a phenomena dramatically amplified by bound to be seriously shaken up by the social and
web 2.0 which follows inexorably Metcalfes viral 2.0 revolution. As shown in Figure 1, it is
Law1 (Hendler and Golbeck 2008). Individuals already possible to organize (through mashups,
and their activities are at the core of the web, open plugins and APIs) various free modules over
along with all the easily-available social software
and services, e.g., Delicious, Flickr, Linkedin,
Figure 1. Tools that transform business intel-
Facebook. After the explosion of the web of
ligence process
content at the end of 90s, we are witnessing the
outburst of the web of people. Taken together,
we use people to find content whereas we use
content to find people (Morville 2004), and we
need new means to investigate the relationship
between people and content.
New Challenges in Understanding

Online Social Interactions: The Case
of Business Intelligence Process
Today every organization is forced to anticipate

opportunities and threats by detecting weak
signals, to look for value-added information
and knowledge, and to integrate networks of ex-
perts into its domains of activity. In this context,
structured and unstructured information from the
123
the whole information cycle, i.e., identification of relevant information is lost in an overwhelming
sources / research / analysis and treatment / cre- flow of activity notifications. Losing information
ation / distribution, with an efficiency competing can lead to a loss of reactivity and competitiveness
proprietary solutions (such as Autonomys IDOL, in a professional context. Organizing this huge
Lotus Connection of IBM, and SAP BI software quantity of information is necessary for gaining
suite, etc.). acceptance in corporate contexts and to achieve
Classical Knowledge Management and Com- the full potential of Enterprise 2.0. Social activities
petitive Intelligence Process inside firms are and user generated content have to be properly
currently based on top-down business process organized and filtered before any notification is
driven approaches involving data flow analysis, pushed to users if we want to preserve the benefits
subject matter expert location and Communities of online collaboration. These social data are
of Practice management. Online social data and produced through different interactions between
network Software and Services (depicted in Fig- users who maintain many types of relationships.
ure 1) are reversing this whole process and em- We present here our approach to (1) capture
power the knowledge worker. We are witnessing and (2) exploit the knowledge that is contained
the consequences on enterprises worldwide and in social interactions that emerge from the use
the different generations - boomers, gen X and of web 2.0 applications. The first step (capture)
millennial will have to overcome their digital needs models and languages for representing the
divides in intra-organizational contexts (Martin diverse knowledge that emerges from online col-
2005). Individuals inside their organization, and laboration in a machine readable and exchangeable
organizations as a whole, need tools to exploit format. The second step (exploit) requires means
this new wealth of knowledge to create innovation (languages, tools) to query such evolving and
and to improve performance. diffuse social knowledge. We answer these issues
Consequently, more and more social solutions with semantic web frameworks, and will show
(Social Text2, Blue Kiwi3, etc.) are being deployed that they address both topics efficiently. Social
in corporate intranets to reproduce information network analysis (SNA) is a domain that provides
sharing success stories from the web into an relevant metrics and algorithm to understand the
organizational context. This new trend is also structure of the social network that can be built
called Enterprise 2.0, that Andrew McAfee from social interactions. We also show that the
first coined as the use of emergent social soft- use of semantic web technologies is well adapted
ware platforms within companies, or between for performing SNA on online social networks,
companies and their partners or customers adding flexibility and simplicity to many steps of
(McAfee 2006). These collaborative platforms the computation of common SNA indices.
allow conducting innovative strategic watch by In the first part of this chapter, we recall ex-
introducing social interactions into every step of isting works conducted by researchers from the
the watch cycle: search, monitoring, collecting, semantic web domain - the ontologies used to
handling, dissemination. Information produced at represent online activities that can be combined
different sources becomes accessible at a single to connect and represent online social networks.
entry point, is quickly shared and permanently Then, we present approaches to structure and
enriched with comments and new sources. How- organize the shared vocabularies (folksonomies)
ever, these platforms also augment the amount built by users when they tag shared content on
of information their users are exposed to. The web 2.0 web sites. We will show that the tagging
benefit of information sharing is often hindered activities contribute to reinforcing social bonds
when the social network becomes so large that thanks to greater involvement and freedom in
124
publishing, organizing and sharing content and dramatic growth in the different possibilities for
constitute a novel opportunity for analyzing social interaction, producing a huge amount of hetero-
networks. In the last section, we propose a stack geneous social data. Information and content on
of tools for achieving semantic social network the web are now collectively produced, socially
analysis. While existing tools discard the rich- discovered and quickly shared through mashable
ness of semantic social networks, we propose a applications. We are witnessing the deployment of
framework to handle not only their structure but a social media landscape where expressing tools
also the semantics of the ontological primitives allow users to express themselves, discuss and
used to capture their knowledge. We present the aggregate their social life, sharing tools allow
results obtained by analyzing a real social network users to publish and share content, networking
with over 60,000 users, connected through half a tools allow users to search, connect and interact
million declared relationships of three types and with each other and playing services integrate
millions of interactions: messages, comments, strong social features (Cavazza 2009). Social
visits, etc. platforms, like Facebook, Orkut, Hi5, etc., are at
Finally, we present some perspectives on the center of this landscape as they enable us to
the exploitation of folksonomy data thanks to host and aggregate these different social applica-
semantic tools and methods. We will show how tions. As an example you can publish and share
the combination of Web 2.0 and semantic web your Delicious bookmarks, your RSS streams or
approaches can help to dramatically enhance the your microblog posts in the Facebook news feed,
effectiveness of bottom-up approaches to sharing thanks to dedicated Facebook applications. This
and organizing resources, as well as to discover integration of various means of publishing and
hidden social bonds within the knowledge shared socializing enables us to quickly share, recom-
among online communities. mend and propagate information to our social
network, trigger reactions, interact with it, and
finally enrich it. Moreover web 2.0 has made social
REPRESENTING SOCIAL DATA WITH tagging popular, permitting an additional level of
SEMANTIC WEB FRAMEWORKS organization for tagged web resources (pictures,
videos, blog posts etc.). A set of tags built from
Historical Background: usage of such applications forms a folksonomy
Different Graph Models that can be seen as a shared vocabulary that is both
originated by, and familiar to, its primary users
The emerging interactions between people on the (Mika 2005). This collaborative classification of
internet and especially later on the World Wide web resources can be further analyzed in order
Web quickly revealed social network structures to decipher implicit links between users who use
(Wellman 1996) with properties that were close similar vocabularies or tag the same content,
to those observed in the physical world. Re- highlighting the existence of common interests.
searchers have extracted social networks from As more people use these social applications
synchronous and asynchronous discussions (e.g., they expose more and more of their lives and
emails, mailing-list archives, IRC), the hyperlink social networks. Sociologists now have access
structure of homepage citations, co-occurrence of to a valuable source of social data that captures
names in web pages, and from the digital traces characteristics of our societies with permanently
created by web 2.0 application usages (Erto evolving web usages and web technologies. The
et al 2008). Considering this last point, turning need for some appropriate representation to exploit
the read web into a read/write web has led to them has consequently emerged. Traditionally re-
125
searchers have used graph theory which proposes quirements and how they can be used to represent
different graph models to represent this data (Scott online social networks.
2000). People and resources are represented by
nodes and relationships are represented by edges. Enriching Social Data
Social networks with symmetric relationships as With Semantics
in Facebook, can be represented by non-oriented
graphs. Inversely, oriented graphs are well suited Semantic web frameworks answer the problem of
to model social networks with non-symmetric representing and exchanging data on such social
relations like the follows relationships of Twit- networks with a rich typed graph model (RDF4), a
ter. In weighted graphs, weights are associated query language (SPARQL4) and schema definition
to edges to specify the intensity of the relation- frameworks (RDFS4 and OWL4). RDF enables
ships, useful for representing the frequency of us to make assertions and to describe resources
interactions between people through messages with triples (domain, property, range) that can be
or comments. Social networks like Ipernity.com viewed as the subject, verb and object of an el-
(a French web 2.0 site for sharing pictures and ementary sentence, a natural way to describe the
videos) or Facebook propose adding labels (e.g. vast majority of the data processed by machines
family, friends, favourite) on edges to represent (Berners-Lee 2001). Each element of a triple is
the type of relationships that links actors. Finally, identified by a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier),
sharing sites (e.g., Flickr, YouTube, Delicious) which enable every application to make its own
allow interaction on shared content (e.g. photos, description to identify it. These triples provide
videos, bookmarks), connecting them through RDF with a directed labeled graph structure that
virtual artifacts. Such social networks are repre- is well suited to representing the social data of
sented with bipartite graphs, with two types of users that connect and interact through heteroge-
nodes and edges that link nodes of each type. A neous content on different web sites. First, they
hyperedge extends the notion of an edge by al- allow data to be spread across the internet and
lowing more than two nodes to be connected and intranet networks, involving actors, content and
is often used to represent complex relationships relationships, and are represented with a uniform
involving at least three resources (e.g. a user, a graph structure in RDF even if they are located on
document and a tag). different sites. The URIs that are used to identify
However, while human interactions in web resources and properties, link distributed identi-
2.0 sites produce a huge amount of social data, ties and activities. Same URIs identify the same
capturing more and more aspects of physical social resources so that two URIs describing the same
networks, this decentralized process suffers from resource can be unified with a single description
little interoperability and little linking between stating so. Then, both nodes and relationships
diffuse data. In fact, such rich and spread-out can be richly typed with classes and properties of
data cant be represented using only the models ontologies that are described in RDFS and OWL
of graph theory outlined above without some adding a semantic dimension to the social graph.
loss of information. These representations are An ontology is a set of representational primi-
poorly typed with labels on edges but with no tives with which to model a domain of knowledge
semantic links to structure them. Moreover, they or discourse. The representational primitives are
are not necessarily adapted for exchanging data typically classes (or sets), attributes (or proper-
and semantics across applications. Well now see ties), and relationships (or relations among class
how semantic web frameworks tackle these re- members). The definitions of the representational
primitives include information about their mean-
126
ing and constraints on their logically consistent interest, etc. The knows property is used to
application (Gruber 2009). As an example, the connect people and to build a social network. Other
inheritance relation is a frequently used relation properties are available for describing web usages:
between classes and properties to define taxono- online accounts, weblogs, memberships, etc. The
mies (e.g., web page is a sub class of document properties defined in the Relationship6 ontology
and parent of is a sub property of family), but any specialize the knows property of FOAF to type
relation between terms can be specified (e.g. par- relationships in a social network more precisely
ent of is narrower than family). Finally, SPARQL (familial, friendship or professional relationships).
is the standard query language for querying RDF For instance the relation livesWith specializes
data and for performing all desired transformations the relation knows. Figure 2 shows a typed
on these semantic social networks (San Martin graph that uses a rich model for representing the
et al 2009). We will now look at ontologies for relations between nodes.
describing social activities and actors on the web. The primitives of the SIOC7 ontology special-
Social data can be seen as a twofold structure: ize OnlineAccount and HasOnlineAccount
data describing the social network structure, and from FOAF in order to model the interactions and
data describing the content produced by network resources manipulated by users of social web
members. Several ontologies exist for representing applications (Breslin et al 2005); SIOC defines
online social networks (see the chapter Under- concepts such as posts in forums, blogs, etc.
standing Online Communities Using Semantic Researchers (Bojars et al, 2008) have shown that
Web Technologies). Currently, the most popular is SIOC and the other ontologies can be used and
FOAF5, used for describing people, their relation- extended for linking to and reusing scenarios and
ships and their activity. A large set of properties data from web 2.0 community sites. In addition,
defines a user profile: family name, nick, the SKOS8 ontology offers a way to organize
Figure 2. A typical social network represented with types relations and nodes
127
Figure 3. Alignments between SIOC, FOAF and SKOS9
concepts with lightweight semantic properties RDF-based descriptions of social data form a
(e.g., narrower, broader, related) and to link them rich typed graph, exchangeable across web ap-
to SIOC descriptions with the property isSub- plications, and offer a much more powerful and
jectOf (see Figure 3). significant way to represent online social networks
Social tagging consists in allowing users to than traditional models of SNA. However, other
associate freely chosen key-words, called tags, formalisms exist to easily attach lightweight se-
with the resources they exchange such as blog
posts, photos, or bookmarks (see Figure 4). The
result of the collection of such associations, called Figure 4. (at the top) Tripartite model of folkson-
taggings, is a folksonomy. Social tagging and omy (Halpin et al., 2007), and (at the bottom)
folksonomies can be improved by adding seman- illustration of the tagging of 3 web sites by 2
tics that structure and link tags together. Gruber users using 3 tags (Markines et al., 2009) where
(2005) was among the first to suggest designing Round = users, Rectangle = resources, Rounded
ontologies to capture and exploit the activities of rectangle = tags
social tagging (Newman et al. 2005) (Kim et al.
2007), These descriptions can deal with the author
of the tag, or the tag itself as a character string,
but also with additional properties such as the
service where this tag is shared, or even a vote
on the relevance of this tag. Other research work
has attempted to go further by linking tags with
explanations of their meaning (MOAT, Meaning
Of A Tag, Passant and Laublet, 2008), or more
generally, by bridging folksonomies and ontolo-
gies to leverage the semantics of tags (see an
overview of this very topic in Limpens et al. 2008).
128
mantics to web resources and are now widely <abbr class=region

used. title=California>CA</abbr>
Microformats expose social data in web pages <span class=postal-code>94301</
using XHTML markup. They are considered as a span>
pragmatic path to the semantic web (Khare et al <div class=country-name>USA</
2006) and solutions exist to bridge them with RDF div>
(Adida 2008). Microformats are a way of attach- </div>
ing extra meaning to the information published on <div class=tel><span
a web page. This is mostly done through adding class=type>Work</
special pre-defined names to the class attribute span>+33651743832</div>
of existing XHTML markup10. Microformats <div>Email:<span
are proposed to describe people, organizations class=email>ereteog@gmail.com</
and places (hCard), human relationships(XFN span></div>
- XTML Friends Network), events (hCalendar), </div>
opinions, rating and reviews (VoteLinks, hReview)
and tags (rel-tag). Adding Structure and Semantics to
The following examples show some conven- Social Tagging and Folksonomies
tions of the use of XHTML attributes to add Can Help In Building Social Graphs
lightweight semantics with microformats.
XFN adds rel attributes to <a href> xhtml tags Since tags are neither explicitly structured nor
with all appropriate values separated by spaces semantically related to each other, folksonomies
to define the type of relationship(s) between the have limited capacities in fully eliciting the knowl-
author of the page and a person represented by edge contained in documents tagged by users.
the URI defined in the href attribute. Tags in folksonomies remain at the stage of ad-
hoc categories which serve user-centred purposes
<a href=http://jeff.example.org (Veres 2006). While tags can be interpreted by
rel=friend met> humans, we still lack effective tools to integrate
In the same way the rel-tag microformat recom- them with richer semantic representations shared
mend using the value tag in the rel attribute of an by other members of their web communities, or
<a href> tag to state that the link points to a tag: by other web communities.
Researchers have attempted to bridge folkson-
<a href=http://technorati.com/tag/ omies and ontologies to leverage the semantics of
tech rel=tag>tech</a> tags (Limpens and al 2008). Once semantically
VCard specifies values of class attributes to typed and structured, the relationships between
type the content of xhtml tags describing people, tags and between tags and users also provide a new
organization or places: source of social networks. In fact social structures
can be analyzed to type data produced by social
<div class=vcard> actors and vice versa, data produced by social
<div class=adr> actors can be analyzed to type social networks.
<span class=type>Work</span>: Consequently, tags can be used to link people, with
<div class=street-address>169 the help of semantics (by identifying, for instance,
University Avenue</div> communities that share the same interests).
<span class=locality>Palo Providing pivot languages to capture and
Alto</span>, exchange social data takes special importance
129
in corporate application such as business intel- stating that the tag music is broader than the
ligence or technology watch: these schemas and tag guitar, or saxophone is narrower than
the underlying semantic web frameworks are music etc.
ground foundation for data integration spanning For example, if John tags a document with
both online sources and internal corporate appli- saxophone and if Freddy tags another document
cations. The network of experts, the information with guitar, and if guitar and saxophone are
resources they watch, the report they produce, both narrower than the tag music, we can say
etc. can be integrated and articulated inside this that Freddy and John share the same interest for
unified graph-based set of frameworks to support music, even if they share no common resources
transversal analysis such as identifying central tagged with music. It will be now possible to
experts, their interests and the sources they use state that Freddy and John are members of the
regardless of where the different pieces of knowl- community of people interested by music, and
edge come from. they form an interest-based social network.
In the next section we will focus on the differ- In this section, we will first analyze folkson-
ent approaches that can be used to add semantics omy usages and limitations, and position them
to folksonomies. among the other classical ways of categorizing.
Then we will present the state of the art about
semantic enrichment of folksonomies and the dif-
BRIDGING FOLKSONOMIES ferent ways of bridging them with ontologies to
AND ONTOLOGIES be able to discover semantic links between tags.
Finally we present our recent work that consists
Social tagging systems have recently become in integrating folksonomies into a collabora-
very popular as a means of classifying large sets tive construction of knowledge representations,
of resources shared amongst on-line communities aiming at providing additional functionalities to
over the social Web. The simplicity of tagging, folksonomy-based systems and at semantically
combined with the web 2.0 culture of exchange, enriching folksonomies.
allow users to share their annotations on the mass
of resources. Folksonomy Usages and Limitations
While the act of tagging is primarily for content
categorization purposes, it can also be used for Several qualitative studies have been conducted
building social networks. For instance, we can on folksonomies. (Golder & Huberman 2005)
link people who: have analyzed the use of folksonomies and have
proposed classifying the act of tagging itself into
Used the same tag, and/or different categories in the context of a typical
Tagged the same resource. application of social bookmarking, such as the
topic of the item tagged, or as adjectives char-
The simple examples of Figure 4 show how we acterizing the opinion of the author (funny),
can link people who share the same interest, be it or such as tags oriented towards a specific task
symbolized by an interest on the same resource, (toread). (Vanderwal 2004) distinguished broad
or on the same tag. However, this approach can folksonomies (when tags tend to be understandable
be greatly improved by adding semantics to the by numerous users) from narrow folksonomies
folksonomies: (1) by grouping similar or related (when tags are more user-centered). (Veres 2006)
tags; or (2) by inferring a hierarchy of tags. For tried to define the linguistic nature of tags and
instance, these semantic links can consist in showed that some tags correspond to taxonomic
130
categories, while other tags correspond to ad hoc discover links between the tags, and in the end,
categories serving users purposes. Thus, folk- between the users behind these tags (linking the
sonomies are a mirror of the diversity of points users by the tags is a very interesting way of build-
of view and usages of the users who share their ing social graphs for enriching the social network
tags. However, the exploitation of folksonomies models described in the section dedicated to the
raises several issues, as pointed out by (Mathes semantic network analysis). This bridging can be
2004) and (Passant 2009): done in several ways which we detail in the next
subsections.
(1) The ambiguity of tags: one tag may refer to
several concepts; Extracting Semantics
(2) The variability of the spelling: several tags from Folksonomies
may refer to the same concept;
(3) The lack of explicit representations of It is possible to take into account multiple dimen-
the knowledge contained in folksonomies sions of folksonomies as they consist in a triadic
(folksonomies are flat, just sets of isolated structure where tags are associated by people to
keywords); resources (who tags what with what). This is
(4) Difficulties in dealing with tags from dif- what (Mika 2005) does, for instance, in order to
ferent languages. extract broader and narrower relationships be-
tween tags and to build what he calls lightweight
To overcome these limitations, the classical ontologies. One of the advantages of this type
alternative to social tagging is the use of struc- of approach is to decipher the semantics of folk-
tured knowledge representations to classify or to sonomies and to be able to more accurately build
index resources. communities of interests, for instance by consider-
Formal ontologies consist in a specification of ing all the persons using the tag music and all
the conceptualization of a domain of knowledge the tags subsumed by music (such as guitar, or
with the help of formal concepts and properties saxophone in a previous example).
linking these concepts (Gruber 1993). Thesauruses The first step in this task is to measure the
and taxonomies consist in notions or concepts semantic relatedness between tags. Since usu-
which are rigorously defined and hierarchically ally no explicit semantic relationships are given
structured, but do not use formal semantics. Semi- when users tag, this relatedness has to be first
formal and shared knowledge representations, computed by analyzing the tripartite structure of
such as Topic Maps (Park & Hunting 2002) have folksonomies. In Table 1 we compare approaches
also been proposed as an intermediary representa- of this type.
tion to formal ontologies where concepts, called (Cattuto et al 2008) proposed semantically
topics, are defined in relation to others with grounding the measures of tag relatedness and
hierarchical relations. In comparison with these characterizing different types of similarity mea-
knowledge representations, folksonomies can be sures according to the type of semantic relation-
seen as semiotic representations of the knowledge ships to which they correspond. Thus, their
of a community, but they do not include any se- method can be used to find related tags which
mantic structure. share a subsumption relationship with a given tag
In order to overcome the limitations of folk- t, however without being sure whether these re-
sonomies that we mentioned above, it is possible lated tags may subsume or be subsumed by tag t.
to bridge ontologies and folksonomies. The idea (Mika 2005) applied social network analysis
is to semantically enrich folksonomies in order to on different projections of the tripartite structure
131
Table 1. Comparison table of approaches extracting semantic relations between tags by analyzing the
structure of folksonomies
Type of similarity Subsumption relations Clustering

Mika (2005) Network based yes no
Hotho et al. (2006) FolkRank no no
Schmitz (2006) conditional probability yes no
Begelman et al. (2006) co-occurrence no yes
Heymann & Garcia-Molina (2006) distributionnal (resource context) yes no
Specia & Motta (2007) distributional (tag context) no yes
Schwarzkopf et al. (2007) composite yes no
Cattuto et al. (2008) distributional (3 contexts) yes no
Markines et al. (2009) mutual information yes no
of folksonomies. Then he grouped similar com- different context of distributional aggregation,

munities of interest, i.e., groups of people sharing while (Markines et al. 2009) proposed a new type
common tags, in order to derive subsumption of measure based on mutual information calculus,
properties between the tags thanks to the inclusion and a framework for analyzing the different types
of these communities of interest. of similarity measures between resources and tags.
(Hotho et al 2006) adapted the PageRank
algorithm to the case of folksonomies in order Semantically Enriching
to find not only relationships between tags, but Folksonomies, Structure The Tags!
also between users and resources. (Schmitz 2006)
used conditional probability methods to induce Even if ontologies and folksonomies remain
a hierarchy from Flickr tags. (Begelman and al. different entities, several approaches have been
2006) looked closely at the distribution of the proposed to semantically enrich folksonomies
co-occurring tags for a given tag, and computed by adding a semantic layer, or by attempting to
the threshold above which co-occurring tags semantically structure them with the help of other
are strongly related to each other. Several other already available ontologies, or by using the tags
approaches use distributional measures with dif- to bootstrap an ontology.
ferent contexts of aggregation of the folksonomy By adding structure to the tags, we add structure
data. The idea is to project the tri-partite model to the set of users who used these tags. Remember
of folksonomy into bi-partite representations by that by linking tags, we link people. If we use tags to
aggregating the data according to a given context. bootstrap an ontology (for example by integrating
For instance the tag-tag context consists in looking the most popular tags into the ontology), or if we
at the association between a tag and its co-occuring link tags to a domain ontology, we help structure
tags. (Heymann & Garcia-Molina 2006) used the tags. More generally the usefulness of these
the tag-resource context, while (Specia & Motta approaches for semantic social network analysis
2007) used the tag-tag context, and (Schwarzkopf is to connect the tags to other semantic resources,
et al. 2007) used a composite measure mixing the such as users, shared content, or members of
tag-tag context and the tag-user context. Finally other social data repositories in order to build a
(Cattuto et al. 2008) proposed an analysis of the graph of people who share the same interests. In
132
addition, once the semantics of folksonomies are platforms. Later, (Passant & Laublet 2008) ex-
better known, we can use formalisms or the tools tended these interconnected schemas with
of the semantic web to support folksonomy-based MOAT13, an ontology linking tags with online
social platforms. resources to define precisely the meaning of tags
This type of approach consists in either (1) and to tie them with the Web of Linked Data14,
using ontologies to represent folksonomies and a vision of the Web where resources are linked
properties of tags (Gruber 2005), or (2) assisting with each other thanks to the concepts which can
users to semantically augment tags (Tanasescu & be attached to them.
Streibel 2007), or (3) using ontologies to automate Research using the previous idea focused on
the semantic enrichment of folksonomies (Specia user intervention in the process of semantically
& Motta 2007)), or (4) involving users in the se- enriching folksonomies. Huynh-Kim Bang et al.
mantic organization of tags. Then semantic web (2008) proposed the concept of structurable tags
formalisms can help leverage the interoperability where users can add specific tags corresponding
of the exchange of this additional knowledge. In to semantic relationships between tags (such as
Table 2 we compare these approaches. france < europe which means france is
The main idea consists in constructing an narrower than europe). (Tanasescu & Streibel
ontology of folksonomies to support more ad- 2007) suggested letting the users tag the links ex-
vanced uses of tagging (Gruber 2005). Thus, tags isting between tags. The two latter approaches do
can have properties and relationships, and can be not make direct use of semantic web formalisms,
grouped in tag clouds, etc. This idea has been as they focus more on the flexibility of the system
implemented by (Newman et al. 2005), and further than on the logical consistency of the knowledge
improved by (Kim et al. 2007) who integrated structure obtained. (Passant 2007) developed a
their SCOT11 ontology, another ontology that semantically augmented corporate blog where
models users interaction on social Web platforms users can attach their tags to the concepts of a
with SIOC12 (Breslin et al. 2005), another ontol- centrally maintained ontology, while (Good et al.
ogy that models users interaction on social Web 2007) suggest terms from professional vocabular-
Table 2. Comparison table of the approaches to enriching folksonomies which (1) exploit user interven-
tion, and/or (2) make use of external semantic resources, and/or (3) seek the automation of the process
(automatic), and/or (4) are based on semantic web formalisms
User intervention Ext. resources Automatic Sem. Web

Gruber (2005) - no no yes
Newman et al. (2005) - no no yes
Tanasescu & Streibel, (2007) yes no no no
Huynh-Kim Bang et al. (2008) yes no no no
Breslin et al. (2005), Kim et al., (2007) - no no yes
Passant & Laublet (2008)Good et al. (2007) yes yes no yes
Specia & Motta (2007), Angeletou et al. (2008) no yes yes yes
Tesconi et al. (2008), Ronzano et al. (2008) no yes yes yes
Van Damme et al. (2007) yes yes yes yes
Braun et al. yes no no yes
133
ies fetched online at tagging time. Thanks to the intervention to build, at a reasonable cost, genuine
two latter types of approaches, ambiguous tags folks-ontologies.
can be associated to clearly defined concepts by The collaborative aspects of the semantic en-
the users while tagging, solving one of the limita- richment of folksonomies have been addressed
tions of folksonomies. by other approaches focused on ontology ma-
Other research works proposed automating turing processes. The idea is to involve users in
(even partially) the semantic enrichment of the semantic organization of tags so that the tags
folksonomies. For example by applying several in the folksonomy will better suit the user needs
types of semantic processing, such as finding than purely automatic approaches. Web 2.0 tools
equivalent tags or grouping similar tags based are used to achieve this task, such as wikis (Buffa
on similarity measures. (Specia & Motta 2007) et al. 2008), blogs (Passant 2007), e-learning
have developed such a system; they query ontolo- platforms (Torniai et al. 2008)), personal knowl-
gies on the semantic web and try to match the tags edge organizers (Abbattista et al. 2007), or social
from these clusters with concepts from ontologies bookmarking sites (Braun et al. 2007). Following
in order to link the tags with semantic relationships. the distinctions brought by (Weller & Peters 2008)
The main limitation of such an approach is the between the individual and the collective level
limited coverage of currently available ontologies. at which folksonomies can be modified, we can
Similarly, (Tesconi et al. 2008) and (Ronzano et al. distinguish approaches where the users merely
2008) first built sets of terms-meaning by mining propose new concepts to an existing ontology
Wikipedia, and then linked each tag of a sample (Passant, 2007), with approaches where users can
of delicious.com users to a unique meaning. The directly edit the whole shared ontology (Braun et
main difference between these two latter types al., 2007). These approaches raise also the problem
of methods is that (Specia & Motta 2007) apply of the user-friendliness of the interfaces used to
the mapping of tags with semantic resources on edit tags and their semantic relations to other tags,
clusters of related tags, whereas (Tesconi et al. as this task requires time and skills.
2008) consider sets of tags belonging to the same Another great benefit of combining ontolo-
user. The semantic enrichment of tags proposed gies and folksonomies lies in the interoperability
by (Specia & Motta 2007) can be used by all the brought by the formalism of the semantic web.
contributors of a folksonomy, and may be useful The Linking Open Data project15 consists in ex-
to a whole community. The tag disambiguation tending the Web with semantically interconnected
of (Tesconi et al. 2008) can be applied to differ- data sources and which publish varied open data
ent purposes, such as the profiling of the tagging sets in RDF format following a set of ontologies
of a user, providing for richer information when describing the different types of resources. On-
consulting the bookmark database of this user. tologies from the Linking Open Data initiative
However, if we apply the algorithm proposed by include ontologies like SIOC3, used to describe
(Tesconi et al. 2008) to all the users of a com- online communities exchanges or SKOS4, used
munity, we can measure or detect the divergences to describe thesauruses (see chapter Understand-
existing among the users and, for instance, propose ing Online Communities Using Semantic Web
discussing their points of view in the case of the Technologies) for more details on this aspect of
collaborative construction of an ontology. (Van the use of semantic web formalisms to empower
Damme et al. 2007), along the same lines, suggest social data repositories)
integrating as many semantic online resources as
possible, and, at the same time, integrating user
134
Concrete Example: A Tagging our model supports confrontational views so that

System for Collaboratively any user can propose semantic relationships (on
Building a Thesaurus and For the basis of automatic suggestions); divergences
Identifying a Network of Experts may arise and can be an interesting opportunity
to discover different sub-communities of interests.
In this section we present our approach to the
semantic enrichment of folksonomies which we Semantic Enrichment
have applied to the evolution of a thesaurus within of Folksonomies
a French organization. It involves a social book-
marking application similar to delicious.com but Our approach consists in combining automatic
adds some simple features for helping to classify processing of the folksonomy and semantic func-
the tags. We will show that a very simple appli- tionalities integrated within a navigation interface
cation that requires little effort by users can help in order to assist the users in contributing to the
structure the folksonomy and build a thesaurus. A semantic enrichment of the folksonomy.
very interesting consequence is that it also helps One of the widely known limitations of
in building a network of experts. folksonomies is the handling of the spelling
variations between supposedly equivalent tags
Motivating Scenario such as neighbour and neighbor. A simple
solution to this problem consists in measuring the
Our scenario takes place within the French Agency editing distance between these tags, such as the
for the Environment (ADEME16). In this organi- Levenshtein distance (Levenshtein 1966), and to
zation, there is a distributed network of experts identify as equivalent tags the ones whose distance
who publish, share and exploit resources. The is below a given threshold value. Another type
goal of our collaboration with this organization of analysis consists in measuring the similarity
is to help them improve the indexing of these distance between all the tags thanks to an analysis
resources thanks to a combination of bottom up of the links between the tags, the users, and the
approaches (like folksonomies) and semantic tagged resources in a folksonomy. This type of
tools. In order to involve all the users in the handling corresponds to the solutions proposed
indexing process, we designed a method based by (Markines et al. 2009), among others. We have
on the semantic enrichment of folksonomies. implemented in our system the distributional
This method consists in associating the power measure based on the tag-tag context.
of automatic handling of folksonomies and the This automatic handling is then used by func-
expertise of users by integrating simple semantic tionalities such as the detection of spelling variants
functionality within the interface of the system. of tags and the possibility of related tags. These
The result of this approach is a set of tags linked functionalities are suggested by the interface
with semantic relationships (such as broader, nar- to induce users to validate, reject or correct the
rower, or related) that can be connected to some automatic processing.
nodes of the existing thesaurus thanks to ontology
matching techniques (Euzenat & Shvaiko 2007). Implementation
The tags which are not matched but which are
semantically connected with tags that have been The system in which we have implemented our
matched can then be proposed to the maintainer ideas is a bookmark navigator which includes
of the thesaurus as new concepts (new candidates extra functionalities such as the extension of tag
for the integration into the ontology). In addition, queries with spelling variants, and the suggestion
135
of related tags, plus the possibility of editing these Towards Novel Exploitation of
semantic relations (for a detailed presentation, see the Semantics of Social Data
Limpens et al., 2009). Our system is composed of:
(1) automatic agents applying semantic processing We have seen in this section how semantically
to folksonomies, and (2) a user interface to browse enriching folksonomies can improve semantic
the bookmark database, and at the same time, to social network analysis by providing additional
validate or correct the automatically suggested links between tags, and thus, between people
tags and semantic relationships. using these tags. We have presented the state of
In our model every assertion is attached to a the art on bridging folksonomies and ontologies.
user, recorded, and added to the database, even Since folksonomies consist of the collection of the
when it contradicts other assertions (for example taggings by users, that is, the association of freely
the assertion pollution is related to car, has chosen keywords to resources, they can connect
been approved by John, and rejected by Paul). users together through the use of the same tags
This feature has the advantage of collecting all or the tagging of the same resources.
users contributions and letting diverging points of Semantically enriching folksonomies can
view coexist, each user benefiting from their own further enhance the ability to connect people
structuring of the folksonomy plus the contribu- via tags by discovering links between different
tions of others when they are not confrontational. tags which are not necessarily used for the same
Since our model is described with semantic web resources (such as pollution and CO2 in the
formalisms (as an RDF schema), the discovery previous examples). We have also proposed a
of conflicting relationships is straightforward and novel method to assist with automatically han-
can make use of inference capabilities through dling the semantic organization of folksonomies.
SPARQL queries. Thus it is possible, for instance, This method consists in automatically proposing
for a given user to know who are the other users semantic relations between tags (such as spelling
who agreed with him on semantic relations he variant or related), and letting users validate
made on his tags. or correct them, or even proposing new semantic
The administrators of the system can further relations thanks to functionalities embedded in the
exploit these results in different ways. The different browsing interface (see Figure5). The results can
points of views arising within the community can then be exploited to highlight sub-communities of
be highlighted thanks to the mechanism described interest via the divergence or convergence between
above. For instance, the point of view of the cars the semantic relations validated or rejected by the
opponents, and the point of view of the cars users. For instance if a group of users agreed on
defenders can be highlighted if there is a conflict semantically connecting the tag car with the
or an agreement in the semantic relationship that tag pollution, we can infer that they share the
links car with pollution for example. The same view on the role of cars in pollution problems.
hypothesis we make here is that when someone Adding semantics to social data such as tag-
puts some effort into semantically structuring a ging data and folksonomies can greatly enhance
tag, this implies a stronger commitment than mere business intelligence processes by helping the
tagging and can be a good indicator of a strong discovery of weak signals and the deciphering of
interest or an expertise in the domain described links. Indeed, mere folksonomies and the classical
by this tag. tag cloud visualization have the tendency to hide
rarely used notions since highlighted terms are the
most popular ones. In our concrete example, if a
136
Figure 5. Screenshot of our early interface for

SEMANTIC SOCIAL
navigating a bookmarks database and validating
NETWORK ANALYSIS
or proposing semantic relations between tags
We saw in previous sections that we can represent
user interaction on social web sites using several
ontologies, both for representing the explicit part
of the social network (network of friends, etc.) but
also for building graphs of users based on other
implicit markers. In particular, we focused on the
semantic enrichment of the folksonomies that can
be used to identify communities of interest. Once
we have such graphs, we can analyse them via
social network analysis (SNA).
SNA tries to understand and exploit the key
features of social networks in order to manage
their life cycle and predict their evolution. Much
research has been conducted on SNA using graph
theory (Scott 2000) (Wasserman et al 1994).
Among important results is the identification
of sociometric features that characterize a net-
work. SNA metrics can be decomposed into two
single user proposes a semantic relation between categories; (1) some provide information on the
rarely used tags and more broadly used tags, this position of actors and how they communicate and
small piece of information can benefit the whole (2) others give information on the global structure
community and render visible emergent notions of the social network.
more quickly. Centrality highlights the most important ac-
Coming back to our initial scenario of business tors and the strategic positions of the network
intelligence, a clear stake of leveraging social ap- - three definitions have been proposed (Freeman
plications to capture and organize folksonomies is 1979). Degree centrality considers nodes with
the potential of turning every user into a watcher, high degrees (number of adjacent edges) as most
a contributor to business intelligence, a sensor central. It highlights the local popularity of the net-
and a categorizer, and all this, ideally, as a side work, actors that influence their neighbourhood.
effect of her day-to-day tasks such as bookmark- In directed graphs the in-degree and out-degree
ing a resource or searching for a bookmarked (number of in-going and out-going adjacent edges)
resource. Now that we can capture and organize are alternative definitions that take into account
information resources and the experts who find the direction of edges, representing respectively
them or who monitor them, we need to capture the support and the influence of the actor. The
and analyze the networks of these experts, be they n-degree is an alternative definition that widens
explicit or implicit. the neighbourhood considered to a distance of
n or less (the distance between two actors is the
minimum number of relationship that link them).
Closeness centrality is based on the average length
of the paths (number of edges) linking a node to
others and reveals the capacity of a node to be
137
reached and to join others actors. The direction of the group, and a member of a k-plex must be
of edges also modifies the interpretation of the connected to all the members of the group except
closeness centrality by differentiating the capacity a maximum number of k actors. However, these
to join or to be reached. Betweenness centrality extensions, still not adapted to social network
focuses on the capacity of an actor to be an in- structure and other criteria of cohesiveness, are
termediary between any two others. A network is proposed by community detection algorithms.
highly dependent on actors with high between- Community detection algorithms are decomposed
ness centrality and these actors have a strategic into two categories, either hierarchical or based
advantage due to their position as intermediaries on heuristics (Newman 2004) (Givan et al 2004)
and brokers (Burt 1992) (Holme 2002)(Burt (Danon et al 2005). Two strategies are used in hier-
2004). Its exact computation is time consuming, archical algorithms: divisive algorithms consider
several algorithms tackle this problem (Freeman the whole network and divide it iteratively into
et al 1991) (Newman 2001) (Latora et al 2007) sub communities (Girvan et al 2002) (Wilkinson
(Brandes 2001) with a minimum time complexity et al 2003) (Fortunato et al 2004) (Radicchi et al
of O(n.m) - n is the number of nodes and m the 2004), and the agglomerative algorithms group
number of edges. To deal with large networks, nodes into larger and larger communities (Donetti
approximating algorithms (Radicchi et al 2004) et al 2004) (Zhou et al 2004) (Newman 2004).
(Brandes et al 2007) (Bader et al) (Geisber et al Other algorithms are based on heuristics such as
2008) and parallel algorithms (Bader et al 2006) random walk, analogies to electrical networks
(Santos et al 2006) have been proposed. (Wu et al 2004) (Pons et al 2005).
Other metrics help understanding the global Social network graphs hold specific patterns
structure of the network. The density indicates that can be used to characterize them (Newman
the cohesion of the network, i.e., the number of 2003) and accelerate algorithms. The degree dis-
relationships expressed as a proportion of the tribution follows a power law, few actors have a
maximum possible number of relationships (n*(n- high degree and many have a low one. According
1), with n the number of actors). The diameter is to the small world effect (Milgram 1967), the
the length of longest geodesics of the network (a diameter in a social network with n actors is of
geodesic is a shortest sequence of linked actors the order of log(n). Social networks have an im-
between two actors). Community detection helps portant clustering tendency forming a community
understanding the distribution of actors and ac- structure due to a high transitivity in relationships
tivities in the network (Scott 2000), by detecting (if Jack knows Paul and Paul knows Peter there is
groups of densely connected actors. The com- a good chance that Jack knows Peter or will meet
munity structure influences the way information him) (Newman 2003). This clustering tendency
is shared and the way actors behave (Burt 1992) correlates with the assortativity that refers to the
(Burt 2001) (Burt 2004) (Coleman 1988). (Scott preference for actors of a social network to be
2000) gives three graph patterns that correspond linked to others who have similar characteristics.
to cohesive subgroups of actors playing an im- The size of the largest component is an indicator
portant role in community detection: components of the communication efficiency of the network,
(isolated connected sub graphs), cliques (complete the more actors it contains the better the commu-
sub graphs), and cycles (paths returning to their nication. In most of web 2.0 sites, the size of the
point of departure). Alternative definitions extend largest component is of the order of the size of
these initial concepts that are too restrictive for their social network as they are focused on user
social networks. The members of an n-clique have communication and centred on a viral diffusion
a maximum distance of n to any other member of their content.
138
These algorithms are only concerned with mantically linked resources in RDF-based graphs
graph structure they all lack semantics, and (Alkhateeb et al 2007) (Anyanwu 2007) (Kochut
have an especially poor exploitation of the types & Janik 2007) (Corby 2008) (Prez et al 2008).
of relations. There is a need for interoperable In the next section, this work is used as a basis to
tools and languages that could help taking into work on graph-based and ontology-based social
account semantics and typing. Ontologies based network representation and analysis.
on semantic web standards emerged these last
years to help deal with such problems. Millions Analyzing Online Social Networks
of FOAF profiles (Golbeck et al 2008) are now with Semantic Web Frameworks
published on the web, due to the adoption of
this ontology by web 2.0 platforms with large We have designed a framework to analyse online
audiences (www.livejournal.net, www.tribe.net). social networks based on semantic web frame-
SIOC exporters are also proposed and available in works. Figure 6 illustrates the abstraction stack
widely deployed social applications such as blogs we follow. We use the RDF graphs to represent
(e.g., SIOC plugin for Wordpress). The adoption of social networks, and we type those using existing
standardized ontologies for online social networks ontologies together with specific domain ontolo-
will lead to increasing interoperability between gies if needed. Some social data are already read-
them and to the need for uniform tools to analyze ily available in a semantic format (RDF, RDFa,
and manage them. Consequently, some researchers microformats, etc.). However, today, most of the
have applied classical SNA methods to the graph
of acquaintance and interest networks respec-
tively formed by the properties foaf:knows and Figure 6. Abstraction stack for social data analysis
foaf:interest to identify communities of interest
from the network of LiveJournal.com (Paolillo
et al 2006). (Golbeck et al 2003) studied trust
propagation in social networks using semantic
web frameworks. (Golbeck et al 2008) worked
on merging FOAF profiles and identities used on
different sites. In order to perform these analyses,
they chose to build their own, untyped graphs
(each corresponding to one relationship knows
or interest) from the richer RDF descriptions of
FOAF profiles. Too much knowledge is lost in this
transformation and this knowledge could be used
to parameterize social network indicators, improve
their relevance and accuracy, filter their sources
and customize their results. Others researchers
(San Martin et al 2009) have shown that SPARQL
is well suited for performing modifications on a
social network but that it cant deal with global
queries currently used in social network analysis
(e.g., diameter, density, centrality, that require
complex path computations). Consequently, re-
searchers have extended the standard SPARQL
query language in order to find paths between se-
139
Figure 7. Schema of SemSNA: the ontology of social network analysis
data are still only accessible through APIs, see notions, e.g., centrality. With this ontology, we
examples in (Rowe and Ciravegna 2008), or by can (1) abstract social network constructs from
crawling web pages and need to be converted. domain ontologies to apply our tools on existing
To enhance these social network representations schemas by having them extend our primitives;
with SNA indices, we have designed SemSNA and we can (2) enrich the social data with new
(Figure 7), an ontology that describes the SNA annotations (see Figure 8) such as the SNA indices
Figure 8. Social network enhanced with SemSNA indices (Degree, Betweeness)
140
that will be computed. These annotations enable Centrality and ClosenessCentrality. The property
us to manage more efficiently the life cycle of an hasCentralityDistance defines the distance of the
analysis, by pre-calculating relevant SNA indices neighbourhood taken into account for a centrality
and updating them incrementally when the net- measure.
work changes over time. We propose SPARQL Next a set of primitives are proposed for metrics
formal definitions of SNA operators improving the on the global structure of the social network. Primi-
semantics of the representations. The current test tives are defined to annotate groups of resources
uses the semantic search engine Corese (Corby et linked by particular properties. The class Group
al 2004) that supports powerful SPARQL exten- is a super class for all classes representing any
sions particularly well suited for SNA features definition of groups of resources. The class Com-
such as path computations (Corby et al 2008). ponent represents a set of connected resources.
The class StrongComponent defines a component
SemSNA: an Ontology of Social of a directed graph where the paths connecting its
Network Analysis resources dont contain any change of direction.
The Diameter subclass of Indice defines the length
SemSNA17 (Figure 7) is an ontology that describes of the longest of the shortest paths of a compo-
concepts of social network analysis with respect nent. The property maximumDistance enables us
to the semantics of the analyzed relationships. to restrict the membership to components with
First, we present the basic concepts that can be a maximum path length between members. A
extended to integrate any SNA features and then clique is a complete sub graph for a given prop-
we present different primitives that extend this erty according to our model. An n-clique extends
basis to annotate social networks with popular this definition with a maximum path length (n)
SNA metrics. between members of the clique; the class Clique
The main class SNAConcept is used as super integrates this definition, and the maximum path
class for all SNA concepts. The property isDe- length is set by the property maximumDistance.
finedForProperty indicates for which relationship Resources in a clique can be linked by shortest
(i.e. sub-network) an instance of SNA concept is paths going through non clique members. An
defined. An SNA concept is attached to a social NClan is a restriction of a clique that excludes
resource with the property hasSNAConcept. The this particular case. As KPlex relaxes the clique
class SNAIndice describes valued concepts such as definition to allow connecting to k members with a
centrality, and the associated value is set with the path longer than the clique distance, k is determined
property hasValue. As an example, with this basis by the property nbExcept. Finally the concept
a general declaration of a valued concept will be: Community supports different community defini-
tions: InterestCommunity, LearningCommunity,
<http://www.inria.fr/John> hasSNACon- GoalOrientedCommunity, PraticeCommunity and
cept _:a EpistemicCommunity (Conein 2004) (Henri et
_:a hasValue 12 al 2003). These community classes are linked to
_:a isDefinedForProperty foaf:knows more detailed ontologies, such as used by (Vidou
et al 2006) to represent communities of practice.
A set of primitives can be used to annotate With this ontology we can enrich the RDF
positions in the network based on centrality. The description of social data with SNA metrics that
class Centrality is used as a super class for all are semantically parametrized (Figure 8). These
centralities defined by the classes Degree, InDe- annotations are useful to manage more efficiently
gree, OutDegree, Betweenness, Betweenness- the life cycle of an analysis, by calculating the SNA
141
indices only once and updating them incrementally features that require path computations (Corby
when the network changes over time. Moreover, 2008). In (San martin et al 2009), researchers
using a schema to add the results of our queries have shown that SPARQL is expressive enough
(rules) to the network also allows us to decompose to make all sensible transformations of networks.
complex processing into two or more stages and However, this work also shows that SPARQL is
to factorize some computation among different not expressive enough to meet SNA requirements
operators, e.g., we can augment the network with for global metric querying, e.g., density, of social
in-degree calculation and betweenness calculation networks. Such global queries are mostly based
and then run a query on both criteria to identify on result aggregation and path computation which
some nodes (e.g., what are the nodes with indegree are missing from the standard SPARQL definition.
> y and betweenness > x ?). The Corese search engine provides such features
with result grouping, aggregating functions like
Querying and Transforming the sum() or avg() and path retrieving (Corby et al
Social Network with SPARQL 2008) (Erto et al 2009). Moreover, inheritance
relations are natively taken into account when que-
Based on our model, we propose SPARQL formal rying the RDF graph in SPARQL with CORESE.
definitions to compute semantically parametrized Thus parametrized operators formally defined in
SNA features and to annotate the graph nodes, SPARQL allow adjusting the granularity of the
caching the results. The current test uses the se- analysis of interactions/relations while classical
mantic search engine CORESE (Corby et al 2004) SNA ignores the semantics of richly typed graphs
based on graph representations and processing that like RDF. The Figure 9 illustrates the calculation
supports powerful SPARQL extensions particu- of a parametrized degree where only family rela-
larly well suited for the computation of the SNA
Figure 9. A Parametrized degree that considers a hierarchy of relations
142
tions are considered by exploiting the hierarchy Inside companies, these operators can analyze
of relationships). in real time or in batch the expert networks of the
Different SPARQL queries, exploiting Corese organization and its projects, providing a directory
features, are presented in (Erto et al 2009) to of the relevant persons to contact for every field of
perform social network analysis combining struc- interest it is involved in. Leveraging both graphs
tural and semantic characteristics of the network. (structured folksonomies and social networks)
This approach is easily extensible as other queries and the semantics of the schema, parametrized
can be defined at anytime, to compute new op- operators can produce reports and snapshots of
erators. As a simple example, the parametrized the current assets and trends of the activity of the
degree described in Figure 8 is computed with company, its markets and its competitors. But all
the following query in Corese: this formalized knowledge can also be used in
production rules to automatically produce new
select ?y count(?x) as ?degree where knowledge with potentially high added value as
{ we will see in the next section.
{ ?x rel:family <http://inria.fr/
guillaume>::?y }
UNION TRANSFORM, ENRICH AND
{ <http://inria.fr/guillaume>::?y WRAP SOCIAL DATA
rel:family ?x }
} group by ?y Semantic web frameworks offer different ways
to enrich RDF data with reasoning mechanisms.
In order to be exploited in web services to lever- We first investigate how to infer new knowledge
age the social experience, these queries must be from an ontology by defining rules and schema
applied in batch on a large number of stored RDF properties. Then well see how SPARQL enables
triples. Consequently the social data are enhanced us to generate RDF by performing queries with a
with the results of these parametrized SNA metrics CONSTRUCT clause and its extension in Corese
using the SemSNA ontology to provide services to leverage such features.
based on this analysis (e.g., filter social activity The OWL schema specifies property charac-
notifications), to use them in the computation of teristics, which provides a powerful mechanism
more complex indices or to support iterative or for enhanced reasoning about a property21. New
parallel approaches in the computation. properties can be defined automatically and in-
Corese is a freeware that can handle millions of consistencies among data can be easily inferred.
nodes but other engines with the same extensions For example, a property family can be defined as
could be used just as well. The W3C SPARQL symmetric and transitive, and inferring on social
Working Group18 is currently investing some of data containing Paul family Jack and Jack family
the extensions that are presented in (Erto et al Peter will produce the knowledge Jack family
2009), such as project expression, aggregation, Paul, Peter family Jack, Paul family Peter and
group by and property paths. ARQ19, PSPARQL20 Peter family Paul. The Figure 10 summarizes the
and SPARQLeR (Kochut and Janik 2007) also characteristics that can be defined on properties
implement property paths. However, some nec- with OWL.
essary extensions are unique to Corese, like the Other pre-processing can also enrich the se-
group by any statement that groups results that mantics, such as rules crawling the network to
share a value through any variable, computing add types or relations whenever they detect a
connected results. pattern, e.g., every actor frequently commenting
143
Figure 10: Owl in One picture 22
resources or posts by another actor is linked to include in particular Basic Logic Dialect (BLD)
him by a relation monitors. Corese can automate and Production Rule Dialect (PRD).
some transformations with inference rules (Cor- Another tool to leverage the social network
by et al 2002). As an example we can infer a representation is to process it with a SPARQL
property SemSNI:hasInteraction (SemSNI23 is an query using a construct block to generate RDF
ontology of Social Network Interaction, see (Er- and enrich the social data with it (San martin et
to et al 2009)) between two actors when one has al 2009) (Erto et al 2009). The following query
commented on the others resource using the fol- produces the same result as the preceding example
lowing rule with a Corese rule:
<cos:if> CONSTRUCT {?person1

{ ?doc sioc:has_creator ?person1. semsni:hasInteraction ?person2}
?doc sioc:has_reply ?comment. WHERE {
?comment sioc:has_creator ?person2 } ?doc sioc:has_creator ?person1.
</cos:if> ?doc sioc:has_reply ?comment.
<cos:then> {?person1 ?comment sioc:has_creator ?person2 }
semsni:hasInteraction ?person2 } </
cos:then> Such queries produce RDF triples in respect
with the construct block, which can be stored
The preceding syntax is specific to Corese but next. Corese enables us to re-inject the knowledge
the Rule Interchange Format24 (RIF) proposes produced directly into the knowledge base with an
XML dialects for exchanging rules on the seman- add clause. The following example highlights the
tic web and providing interoperability between enrichment of a social network, using SemSNA,
the different inference engines. These dialects with degrees computed in the select clause:
144
ADD { ?y semsna:hasSNAConcept:_b. Experiment on a Real

:_b rdf:type semsna:Degree. Online Social Network
:_b semsna:isDefinedForProperty
rel:family. We conducted an experiment on an anonymized
:_b semsna:hasValue ?degree} dataset of Ipernity.com25, one of the largest French
SELECT ?y count(?x) as ?degree where social networks centered on multimedia sharing.
{ This dataset contains 61,937 actors, 494,510
{ ?x rel:family ?y } UNION { ?y declared relationships of three types and mil-
rel:family ?x } lions of interactions (messages, comments on
}group by ?y resource, etc.). Ipernity.com, proposes to its users
several options for building their social network
Wrap XML and SQL Social and sharing multimedia content. Every user can
Data with RDF share pictures, videos, music files, create a blog,
a personal profile page, and comment on others
We used Corese to query social data stored in a shared resources. Every resource can be tagged
relational database or in XML (most of web 2.0 and shared. For building the social network, us-
social data are exposed in XML through restful ers can specify the type of relationship they have
APIs) and to turn it into RDF/XML. While some with others: friend, family, or simple contact (like
researchers, like (Waseem et al. 2008) proposed a favourite you follow). Relationships are not
a solution with the XSPARQL language for turn- symmetric, Fabien can declare a relationship with
ing XML data into RDF, without the need for Michel but Michel can declare a different type of
costly XSLT transformations, Corese proposes relationship with Fabien or not have him in his
a different approach: an extension that enables contact list at all; thus we have a directed labelled
us to nest an SQL query or an XQuery within graph. Users have a homepage containing their
SPARQL (Corby et al 2009). This is done by profile information and pointers to the resources
means of the sql() (respectively XPath) function they share. Users can post on their profile and their
that returns a sequence of results for each vari- contacts profiles depending on the access rights.
able in the SQL select clause (respectively result All these resources can be tagged including the
of the node-set). Corese proposes an extension to homepage. A publisher can configure the access to
the standard SPARQL select clause that enables a resource to make it public, private or accessible
binding these results to a list of variables. In the only for a subset of its contacts, depending on
following example, we show how we retrieve the the type of relationship (family, friend or simple
friend relationships from the relational database, contact), and can monitor who visited it. Groups
using this sql() function: can also be created for topics of discussion with
three kinds of visibility, public (all users can see it
construct { ?id1 foaf:knows ?id2 } and join), protected (visible to all users, invitation
select sql(<server>, <driver>, required to join) or private (invitation required to
<user>, <pwd>, SELECT user1_id, join and consult).
user2_id from relations) We analyzed the three types of relations sepa-
as (?id1, ?id2) rately (favourite, friend and family) and also used
where { } polymorphic queries to analyze them as a whole
using their super property: foaf:knows. We also
analyzed the interactions produced by exchanges
of private messages between users, as well as
145
those produced by someone commenting someone These actors dont include the animator, showing
elses documents. that the friend network has been well adopted by
We first applied quantitative metrics to get rel- users. The family network has 862 actors with a
evant information on the structure of the network betweenness centrality from 0 to 162,881 with 5
and activities: the number of links and actors, the values higher than 10,000. Only one actor is
components and the diameters. 61,937 actors are highly intermediary in both friend and family
involved in a total of 494,510 relationships. These networks. The centralization of this three networks
relationships are decomposed into 18,771 family present significant differences showing that the
relationships between 8,047 actors, 136,311 friend semantics of relations have an impact on the
relationships involving 17,441 actors and 339,428 structure of the social network. The betweenness
favourite relationships for 61,425 actors. These centralities of all the relations, computed using
first metrics show that the semantics of relations the polymorphism in SPARQL queries with the
are globally respected, as family relations are less knows property, highlight both the importance
used than friendship and favourite. 7,627 actors of the animator that has again the significantly
have interacted through 2,874,170 comments highest centrality and the appropriation of users
and 22,500 have communicated through 795,949 with 186 actors playing a role of intermediary.
messages. All these networks are composed of a The employees of Ipernity.com have validated
largest component containing most of the actors these interpretations of the metrics that we com-
(fig 5) and a few very small components (less puted, showing the effectiveness of a social net-
than 100 actors) that show the effectiveness of work analysis that exploits the semantic structure
the social network at doing its job (Newman of relationships.
2003), i.e., at connecting people. The interaction The Corese engine works in main memory and
sub networks have a very small diameter (3 for such an amount of data is memory consuming.
comments and 2 for messages) due to their high The 494,510 relations declared between 61,937
density. The family network has a high diameter actors use a space of 4.9 Go. The annotations of
(19), consistent with its low density. However the all messages use 14.7 Go and the representation of
friend and favourite networks have a low density documents with their comments use 27.2 Go. On
and a low diameter revealing the presence of highly the other hand working in main memory allows
intermediary actors. us to process the network very rapidly. The path
The betweenness and degree centralities con- computation is also time and space consuming
firm this last remark. The favourite network is and some queries had to be limited to a maximum
highly centralized, with five actors having a be- number of graph projections when too many
tweenness centrality higher than 0, with a dra- paths could be retrieved. However, in that case,
matically higher value for one actor: one who has approximations are sufficient to obtain relevant
a betweenness centrality of 1,999,858 while the metrics on a social network, i.e., for centralities
other 4 have a value comprised between 2.5 and (Brandes & Pich 2007). Moreover, we can limit
35. This highest value is attributed to the official the distance of the paths we are looking for by us-
animator of the social network who has a favou- ing other metrics. For example, we limit the depth
rite relationship26 with most actors of the network, of paths to be smaller or equal to the diameter of
giving him the highest degree: 59,301. In the the components when computing shortest paths.
friend network 1,126 actors have a betweenness
centrality going from 0 to 96,104 forming a long
tail, with only 12 with a value higher than 10,000.
146
Toward an Efficient Navigation Consequently methods need to be developed to

of the Social Capital handle and quantify the impact of new social data
on a semantic social graph.
The framework we presented enables analyzing Furthermore, community detection is one
the rich typed representations of semantic social of the main focuses of social network analysis.
networks and managing the diversity of interac- Existing algorithms are based on heuristics to
tions and relationships with parametrized SNA detect densely connected and cohesive groups
metrics. The exploitation of these semantic based of actors. But these algorithms are once again
SNA metrics permits structuring overwhelming only based on the structure of the social network
flows of corporate social activities. The amount and they discard the semantic primitives used
of metadata used to organize content will continue to type both relationships and actors. This lost
to increase as the success of social-tagging based knowledge could be used to determine semanti-
system shows. Current methods are still limited cally the cohesiveness of a community, to propose
at structuring this data and exploiting it for the algorithms based on sociological definitions and
analysis of social networks. As we have shown, to focus on relevant elements of the social graph
combining semantic tools and methods with a for more efficient computation.
collaborative approach is a promising track which
needs to be further explored. Several challenges
have to be tackled to provide efficient exploita- PERSPECTIVES: BUILDING
tion of the social capital (Lin 2008) (Krebs 2008) SHARED KNOWLEDGE GRAPHS
built through online collaboration, and to foster
social interactions. As discussed above, we need to enrich with seman-
First, computation is time consuming and tics the simple representations of social networks
even if Corese runs in main memory, experiments and the content their users share, in order to fully
reported in the chapter show that handling a net- exploit the wealth of data and interactions on the
work with millions of actors is out of our reach web. Doing so could consist in building shared
today. Different approaches can be investigated knowledge graphs which help users find relevant
to address that problem: (1) identifying computa- resources or persons. In the field of knowledge
tion techniques that are iterative, parallelizable, management, this was the idea behind Topic Maps
etc.; (2) identifying approximations that can be and the ontologies of the semantic web - they
used and under which conditions they provide were thought of as knowledge representations
good quality results; (3) identifying graph char- capable of grasping the multi-dimensionality of
acteristics (small worlds, diameters, etc.) that can the information we exchange (see Baget and al
help us cut the calculation space and time for the (2008) for an overview of the different knowledge
different operators. representations based on graphs). These shared
Social web applications permit publishing, knowledge graphs can be seen as a generalization
sharing and connecting so easily that a huge of these two types of knowledge representation,
amount of social data is permanently produced, with a focus on the shareable features and the abil-
with a potential impact on the structure of the ity for both machines and humans to exploit them
social network and the importance of its actors. at different levels of functionality. Folksonomies
Even if Corese enables loading data to the graph are a recent example of the shared knowledge
of a running engine, the computing cost and the structures which have emerged from web 2.0
volume of the data suggest only measuring relevant applications as an affordable way to massively
impacted metrics which change significantly. categorize resources.
147
In order to map the knowledge exchanged by can be achieved by developing tools to assist com-
Web communities, several challenges have to be munity members to connect their own knowledge
addressed. First, for interoperability purposes we categories to common references. For instance,
need to find a good balance in the standardization current terminology extractors can be exploited in
of the many ways of describing content on the Web. the context of folksonomies in order to detect com-
The Web of Linked Data27 initiative proposes mon taxonomy categories among the tags, and to
weaving a web of scattered sources of knowledge propose to the contributors of these folksonomies
thanks to a combination of good practices and to map their tags with these categories, or to cre-
conceptual schemes describing them. Examples ate new ones when needed (Passant & Laublet,
of such conceptual schemes can be seen in the 2008). The semantic structure of the folksonomies
formal ontologies presented in section represent- could also combine automatic inferences with the
ing social data with semantic web frameworks, expertise of the users by integrating the validation
which describe content exchanged by and within of these inferences within the natural use of the
on-line communities. These types of approaches systems. This aspect opens up new perspectives to
are a good start as they already assist users in create novel interfaces to knowledge repositories
identifying, for instance, all the content posted that exploit the best of semantic technologies and
by a user across multiple sites, but we are still the dynamism of the social web.
missing tools and methods to connect communi-
ties at a semantically richer level (Newell, 1982).
The next step lies in enriching the semantics CONCLUSION
by which we intend to map contents from multiple
platforms. A possible means to achieve this con- Through the example of Business Intelligence
sists in shared knowledge hubs. The DBpedia Process we highlighted that the systematic exploi-
project (Auer et al., 2007) is an example of such tation of information to foster economic perfor-
a hub, as it proposes expressing the knowledge mance and facilitate decision making is one of the
structure of Wikipedia pages in machine process- keys to success for all organizations worldwide.
able data. By doing so, they provide a sort of The progressive integration of successful web 2.0
common reference (the hierarchically organized applications into intranets to foster collaboration
Wikipedia Categories for instance) to which we and knowledge sharing offers new perspectives
can start connecting more elaborate knowledge for the competitiveness of innovative enterprises.
graphs. Every user of the intranet becomes an actor of a
Of course, these common references are not collective watch by organizing, sharing, produc-
sufficient to describe each communitys field of ing and enriching information as a side effect of
knowledge, but they provide common terminolo- using social applications. Semantic web frame-
gies, which need not be exclusive, and to which works provide models to connect and exchange
it is possible to hook more specific terms. The the social data and the knowledge embedded
Web of linked Data is made of multiple webs of in the social network, spread in a collaborative
tacit bits of knowledge that are still today rarely intranet. The semantic enrichment of social data
explicitly expressed in both machine and human such as folksonomies in intranets involves all
understandable representations. the collaborators in an efficient elaboration of a
Web 2.0 applications and folksonomies have shared and structured corporate vocabulary. The
led to novel user experiences and yielded rich semantic SNA stack provides a way to fully exploit
materials which are still missing appropriate rep- the RDF representations of online interactions
resentations to be efficiently browsed. This goal and to enhance the social data with contextual-
148
ized SNA features. These semantic intranets of Anyanwu, M., Maduko, A., & Sheth, A. (2007).
people, combined with semantic descriptions L2L: Towards Support for Subgraphs Extraction
of the knowledge they exchange, will allow for Queries in RDF Databases. In Proc. WWW2007.
the construction of shared knowledge graphs. SPARQ.
This will help to efficiently manipulate the over-
Auer, S., Bizer, C., Kobilarov, G., Lehmann, J.,
whelming flow of data of a semantic intranet of
Cyganiak, R., & Ives, Z. G. (2007). Dbpedia: A
people. An effective approach to building these
nucleus for a web of open data. In ISWC/ASWC
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(LNCS 4825, pp. 722735).
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permit efficiently capturing and managing the Bader, D. A., & Madduri, K. (2006). Parallel
social capital embedded in the network structure algorithms for evaluating centrality in real-world
of knowledge workers collaboration. networks, ICPP2006 (2006).
Baget, J., Corby, O., Dieng-Kuntz, R., Faron-
Zucker, C., Gandon, F., Giboin, A., Gutierrez,
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ADDITIONAL READING
Markines, B., Cattuto, C., Menczer, F., Benz,
Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J., Lassila, O. (2001). D., Hotho, A., & Stumme, G. (2009). Evaluating
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http://www.bluekiwi-software.com/
Classification and Communication Through 4
Semantic Web, W3C, http://www.
Shared Metadata. Rapport interne. Illinois w3.org/2001/sw/
Urbana-Champaign: GSLIS, Univ. 5
FOAF, Friend Of A Friend http://www.foaf-
project.org/
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RELATIONSHIP, http://vocab.org/relation-
of Emergent Collaboration. MIT Sloan Manage-
ship/
ment Review, Management of Technology and 7
SIOC, Semantically Interlinked Online
Innovation, April 1
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Mika, P. (2007). Social Networks and the Semantic 8
SKOS, Simple Knowledge Organization
Web. Semantic web and beyond, 7. System, http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/
9
SIOC, Semantically Interlinked Online Com-
Paolillo, J. C., & Wright, E. (2006). Social Net-
munities, http://sioc-project.org/node/158
work Analysis on the Semantic Web: Techniques 10
http://microformats.org
and Challenges for Visualizing FOAF. Visual- 11
Semantic Cloud Of Tags, http://scot-project.
izing the semantic Web Xml-based Internet And
org/
Information. 12
http://sioc-project.org/
San Martin, M., & Gutierrez, C. (2009). Represent- 13
Meaning Of A Tag
ing, Querying and Transforming Social Networks 14
http://esw.w3.org/topic/SweoIG/TaskForc-
with RDF / SPARQL. ESWC09. es/CommunityProjects/LinkingOpenData/
15
http://esw.w3.org/topic/SweoIG/TaskForc-
Scott, J. (2000). Social Network Analysis, A
es/CommunityProjects/LinkingOpenData/
Handbook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 16
ADEME (www.ademe.fr) has a distributed
Wellman, B. (1996). For a social network analysis network of experts who compile data related
of computer networks: a sociological perspective to renewable energies (in particular for
on collaborative work and virtual community. In home use). They also answer questions (by
Proceedings of the ACM SIGCPR/SIGMIS confer- email, phone) and exploit a knowledge base
ence on Computer personnel research (pp. 1-11). with simple keyword-based queries. Data is
Denver, Colorado, United States. indexed using a thesaurus whose evolution
is problematic.
Zhou, H., & Lipowsky, R. (2004). Network 17
http://ns.inria.fr/semsna/2009/06/21/voc
browniam motion: A new method to measure 18
http://www.w3.org/2009/sparql/wiki/
vertexvertex proximity and to identify communi-
Main_Page
ties and subcommunities. ICCS 2004 19
http://jena.sourceforge.net/ARQ/property_
paths.html
20
http://exmo.inrialpes.fr/software/psparql/
ENDNOTES 21
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-
guide-20040210/#SimpleProperties
1
Metcalfes law states that the useful power 22
Slide, Owl in one, by F. Gandon, http://
of a network multiplies rapidly as the num- twitpic.com/60pdy
ber of users of the network increases, The 23
SemSNA is an ontology that describes
community value of a network grows as the concepts of Social Network Analysis, while
square of the number of its users SemSNI is used for representing interactions
2
http://www.socialtext.com/ in a social network. For example, SemSNA
155
can be used to compute centrality of nodes 25

http://www.ipernity.com
in a social network, nodes linked together 26
This animator is an employee of the company
using relations inferred from interactions that animates the social network, he declares
form SemSNI (i.e network of people who as favourite every user who just created an
commented a same resource). account and sends him welcome messages.
24
RIFWorkingGrouphttp://www.w3.org/2005/ 27
www.linkeddata.org.
rules/wiki/RIF_Working_Group
156
157
Chapter 8
Using Social Network Analysis
to Guide Theoretical Sampling
in an Ethnographic Study
of a Virtual Community
Enrique Murillo
Instituto Tecnolgico Autnomo de Mxico ITAM, Mexico
ABSTRACT
Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides a range of models particularly well suited for mapping bonds
between participants in online communities and thus reveal prominent members or subgroups. This can
yield valuable insights for selecting a theoretical sample of participants or participant interactions in
qualitative studies of communities. This chapter describes a procedure for collecting data from Usenet
newsgroups, deriving the social network created by participant interaction, and importing this relational
data into SNA software, where various cohesion models can be applied. The technique is exemplified by
performing a longitudinal core periphery analysis of a specific newsgroup, which identified core members
and provided clear evidence of a stable online community. Discussions dominated by core members are
identified next, to guide theoretical sampling of text-based interactions in an ongoing ethnography of
the community.
INTRODUCTION diverse interests to find each other and discuss

their passion.
The Usenet discussion network is a popular area Usenets large base of participants, neatly
of the Net, attracting participants from every organized into distinct knowledge realms, has
corner of the world. It works as a public bulletin- resulted in the emergence of many topically-
board, organized into topical discussion groups focused virtual communities. Most are virtual
called newsgroups, whose number Turner, Smith, communities of interest (Blanchard & Markus,
Fisher and Welser (2005) put at 150,000. It thus 2004), focused on a particular passion or hobby,
provides a convenient way for people with very such as the Harry Potter books (alt.fan.harry-
potter) or stamp collecting (rec.collecting.stamps.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch008 discuss). Others are more specialized communi-
Using Social Network Analysis to Guide Theoretical Sampling
ties serving specific professional groups; most to focus ethnographic analysis on this purposive
dealing with computer topics, but many others sample.
addressing fields far removed from computers, This chapter describes the steps taken for
such as taxation issues (misc.taxes.moderated), theoretical sample selection in an ongoing eth-
medical transcription (sci.med.transcription) or nography of the newsgroup misc.taxes.moderated
farming (uk.business.agriculture). (henceforth MTM) which hosts a long established
This spontaneous forming of online communi- community of practice (CoP) of tax professionals.
ties explains why Usenet was an early platform The ethnography aims to provide a rich descrip-
for conducting unobtrusive naturalistic research tion of day-to-day interactions in the community.
of computer-mediated communications and the Theoretical sampling of relevant interactions was
social environments that emerge from them (Lee, guided by a specific SNA technique, the continu-
2000). Since newsgroup messages are posted ous core-periphery model (Borgatti & Everett,
online for all to see, they constitute a publicly 1999). The chapter describes the procedure used
accessible record of discussions, offering a wealth for data collection, social network analysis, identi-
of research data. A substantial portion of the extant fication of core members and theoretical sampling
literature about virtual communities is focused on of discussion threads dominated by core members.
Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists or listservs, The chapter is organized as follows. Section 1
a similar technology. As for the newer Web 2.0 provides background research on virtual commu-
platforms, research about virtual communities is nities and applications of SNA to Usenet. Section
fairly recent, with blogs taking the lead. Various 2 explains how participants form social networks
approaches have been proposed for identifying in Usenet and how these can be derived. Section
communities that form around linked blogs (e.g. 3 demonstrates the power of this technique by
Kumar, Novak, Raghavan, & Tomkins, 2005; Chin performing a longitudinal core-periphery analy-
& Chignell, 2007; Chau & Xu, 2007), and there sis of MTM spanning six years. The last section
have been some qualitative studies of specific discusses the rationale and implicit assumptions
communities (e.g. Kaiser, Mller-Seitz, Pereira of this approach and how it generalizes to other
Lopes, & Pina e Cunha, 2007; Silva, Goel, & Internet platforms.
Mousavidin, 2008). There are fewer studies of
wiki-based communities (e.g. Bryant, Forte, &
Bruckman, 2005), and fewer still of communities VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES AND
based on social networking sites like Facebook QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
or Tweeter (e.g.; Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe,
2007), although the number of publications will Studies of virtual or Internet-based communities
undoubtedly grow in the coming years. began in the early nineties. Early examples are
Since the aim of most studies of virtual com- Rheingolds (1993) book and Norths (1994) thesis
munities is to describe a culture, they tend to rely about Usenet culture. Scholarly research grew
on qualitative methods, which involve reading rapidly in the following years (e.g. Jones, 1995),
and analyzing samples of messages exchanged by painting a broad picture of the characteristics
community members. It is therefore important to of these communities, and the kinds of social
provide a theory grounded rationale for sample interaction the plain-text medium of newsgroup
selection in order to avoid the trap of anecdotal- or listserv messages can support.
ism (Silverman, 2000). Howard (2002) proposes Researchers were surprised to find that virtual
using Social Network Analysis (SNA) to identify communities can exhibit rich cultures (Baym,
significant members of the online community and 1995; Tepper, 1997), develop a sense of commu-
158
nity (Blanchard & Markus, 2004), give themselves as a result of the patterns of strong and weak ties
rules and institutions to govern the common good between individual units and the constraints which
(McLaughlin, Osborne, & Smith, 1995; Kollock follow from them (Wellman, 1988).
& Smith, 1996; Denzin, 1999), provide social and The fact that SNA only requires relational data
emotional support (Winzelberg, 1997; Preece, makes it well-suited to analyze a social space where
1999; Denzin, 1999; Pfeil & Zaphiris, 2007), sus- personal attributes are often not readily disclosed,
tain true personal online relationships (Parks & and only posted messages can be observed. Still,
Floyd, 1996; Roberts, 1998, McKenna, Green, & the literature reveals relatively few studies that
Gleason, 2002), enable members to construct iden- use SNA to empirically detect the social networks
tities (Baym, 2000; Blanchard & Markus, 2004; formed by distributed Usenet participants, espe-
Hara & Hew, 2007), and achieve a remarkable cially inside individual newsgroups. Previous
degree of altruistic cooperation (Kollock, 1999; applications of SNA to Usenet have mostly fo-
Wasko & Faraj, 2000). Furthermore, practitioner cused on mapping the links cross-posted messages
or professional-oriented virtual communities can establish between different newsgroups (Smith,
support sophisticated modes of technical and 1999; Donath, Karahalios, & Vigas, 1999; Sack,
professional collaboration in topics as varied as 2001; Choi & Danowski, 2002; Borgs, Chayes,
public relations (Thomsen, 1996), nursing (Mur- Mahdian, M., & Saberi, 2004; McGlohon &
ray, 1996; Hara & Hew, 2007), cellular biology Hurst, 2009). Studies that apply the SNA lens
(Hengen, 1997), computer programming (Wasko to individual newsgroups are fewer, nor have
& Faraj, 2000; Lee & Cole, 2003), taxes (Fuller, they focused on identifying a stable, persistent
1999; Murillo, 2008), law (Samborn, 1999; Wasko and active cluster of participants that can be thus
& Faraj, 2005), and handcrafts (Lovelace, 1998). considered a virtual community. Muncer, Loader,
As Wellman (1999, p. 15) aptly sums up: Usenet Burrows, Pleace and Nettleton (2000) used SNA
supports emotional, nuanced and complex in- to search for cliques in two newsgroups offering
teractions, belying early fears that it would be social support, one for people suffering from
useful only for simple, instrumental exchanges. depression, the other, from diabetes. The study
Several studies reported that in most online found a three-member clique in the depression
communities a clear differentiation of active group, with a frequency of shared postings greater
participants can be observed. Some are stable than or equal to six, but findings are limited by a
and prolific posters, others post only occasion- small sample size of 61 complete threads. Welser,
ally or even just once (McLaughlin et al, 1995; Gleave, Fisher and Smith (2007) used ego-centric
Tepper, 1997; Smith, 1999; Lee & Cole, 2003). social networks to identify two roles participants
These studies used the term core to refer to the play within newsgroups, answer persons, who
subset of stable and frequent posters, who often typically reply to discussion threads initiated by
dominate discussions, and heavily influence the others, and discussion persons who both initi-
identity, culture and day-to-day operation of the ate threads and participate in threads started by
community. others. Zaphiris and Sarwar (2006) examined a
A particularly appropriate method for study- sample of 200 messages each from alt.teens and
ing such differentiated patterns of interaction is soc.senior.issues. They detected 14 cliques in the
SNA (Wasserman & Faust, 1994; Garton, Hay- teenagers group, and 18 in the seniors group, but
thornthwaite, & Wellman, 1997; Scott, 2000). again, the small sample size raises concerns about
The method adopts as its unit of analysis, not the stability of these detected SNA structures. This
individual social entities, but the ties or relations study will attempt a much larger sample to reveal
between them, trying to explain social behavior stable online groupings and long term trends.
159
Sowe, Stamelos and Angelis (2006) provide using any of a number of available SNA models
an interesting application of SNA to listservs that (Wasserman & Faust, 1994; Scott, 2000). The
mirrors the logic of this study by targeting key next section provides a step-by-step technique
participants. They examined three high-volume to do this.
mailing lists devoted to the Debian operating
system, derived the affiliation network of posters- Deriving the Social Network
to-lists, and thereby identified 15 knowledge from a Newsgroup
brokers who linked and collaborated with
members of all lists, thus acting as community Since Usenet newsgroups can receive hundreds
facilitators or hubs. Through an e-mail survey, of messages every day, some organizing scheme
these brokers revealed they were long-time list is required to make sense of all the information
participants, that spent substantial time every week posted to the group. The basic organization unit of
reading and posting, and viewed themselves not a newsgroup is the thread or conversation. A thread
only as expert knowledge providers but also as is a set of messages which address the question or
knowledge seekers. discussion topic announced in the first message,
As illustrated by this study, an important prob- which is called the thread head. Participants use
lem SNA can solve is to identify key participants in a software program called newsreader to browse
online communities, and thus improve theoretical messages and post their own1. Those who wish
sampling in qualitative studies (Howard, 2002). to provide an answer or an opinion post to the
Many previous studies of Usenet communities thread, that is, they send a message making an
have relied on qualitative methods, such as inter- explicit reference to the thread head or to one of
views (Blanchard & Markus, 2004), participant the subsequent replies. At any given time, a busy
observation (Tepper, 1997), discourse analysis newsgroup contains dozens of ongoing (live)
(McLaughlin et al, 1995; Denzin, 1999), quali- threads or discussions, each with its own coher-
tative content analysis (Pfeil & Zaphiris, 2007), ent set of messages. To illustrate this, Figure 1
and ethnography (Baym, 2000). In all of these displays the structure of a short thread posted to
methods, sample selection can be improved by newsgroup soc.genealogy.britain (all names have
using SNA to derive the online social network been disguised).
participants weave through their interactions, and The figure is typical of the way newsreaders
to identify significant members of the network display discussion threads. Each line represents
Figure 1. Structure of a thread from soc.genealogy.britain
160
one message; the line ends with the date and time exemplars of relational data, and building blocks
the message was posted. The thread head is in of online social networks (Wellman & Gulia, 1999;
bold typeface and states as its subject the initial Garton et al, 1997).
question or issue, followed by the author of the Repeated person-to-person communication is
message, in this case, Peter Kent. This self-pro- the basic building block of virtual communities,
claimed newbie (i.e. novice) wishes to ask a and deriving the social network of the newsgroup
question to the collective wisdom of the British can render it visible. The valued ties between ac-
genealogies newsgroup. The remaining messages tors in the social network will steadily increase as
are all follow-ups to the thread head, i.e. replies time passes and the messages exchanged between
or comments from other participants. actors also increase. Hence a newsgroup sample
A key feature of this display is that it shows spanning an extended period, such as one year,
by different indentations whether each message will make repeated interpersonal communications
is a follow-up to the original question or to one increasingly visible.
of the replies to it. For example, both Mary and Visual inspection of threads is only practi-
Richard Platt posted replies to the original ques- cal for very small samples, but message head-
tion. However, Barney Fisher posted a comment ers provide an efficient way of handling larger
to Richard Platt which is shown by his message samples. Every Usenet message starts with a
being indented to Richard Platts. A few days standard set of data fields called headers. They
later, when the discussion was all but ended, John contain system information that, among other
Thompson posted his own comment to Barney things, allow newsreaders to display newsgroup
Fishers comment. messages as a distinct set of threads, that is, of
This manner of address comes about naturally coherent discussions identified by the thread
because most participants use newsreaders to read head. Thus, headers provide the means to clearly
the messages in the newsgroup. When they read establish the sender and recipient of each directed
one they want to reply to, they simply choose the message, in turn making possible the derivation
Reply to this post option of the newsreader, of the social network participants create through
type a reply and send it off to the newsgroup. The their interactions. This can be seen in Figure 2,
newsreader automatically includes the necessary which displays two real messages; the original
information, so that when the reply appears as a question by Peter Kent to soc.genealogy.britain,
post in the newsgroup, it will be shown indented and the (abridged) response to that question, by
to the specific message the reader responded to. Mary. Both messages begin with several head-
Thus, simple visual inspection of the thread re- ers, followed by a blank line and the body of the
veals to whom each participant posted. The only message. The figure displays only those headers
exception is Peter Kents original question, which relevant to this study; specifically:
is addressed to the entire newsgroup, not to any From: The From header contains the elec-
particular participant. tronic mailing address and, optionally, the full
Every follow-up is thus a directed message, name of the person who sent the message. An
and will be treated as a (directed) social tie be- disguised name, or e-mail address can be used,
tween the author and the recipient of the message. usually to avoid receiving unsolicited advertising
Participants in the newsgroup who either post or (spam).
receive a directed message will be called actors, Newsgroups: Specifies the newsgroup or
using SNA terminology. Because these are delib- newsgroups to which the message was posted.
erate communications between specific members Subject: This header is filled by the author
of the newsgroup, they are naturally-occurring of the message, describing what it is about. If the
161
Figure 2. Thread head and reply from a thread in

field in Marys message contains the Message-ID
soc.genealogy.britain
of Peter Kents message. Newsreaders rely on the
information in this header to coherently organize
discussion threads.
Data collection would be easy if the researcher
could simply download a large sample of mes-
sages, and directly manipulate the newsreaders
database, but this is usually a proprietary format
that only technically skilled users can decipher.
The alternative is to use the functionality of most
newsreaders to save a set of selected messages as
a formatted text document2. From this, it is rela-
tively easy to write a small routine that reads this
formatted document, and stores the values from
the various headers as separate fields in comma-
separated files, which can then be imported into
a database program such as Microsoft Access. A
BASIC routine is provided in the Appendix to
perform this task.
The first step once the data is captured in the
database is to anonimize poster names and e-mail
addresses in the From header, both to protect their
identity and to make for easier handling. A simple
scheme is to use two-letter combinations: AA, AB,
AC, etc. A useful trick is to make the new labels
roughly correspond to posters sorted by number
message is submitted in response to another mes- of posts, so AA is the most prolific poster, AB the
sage, the default subject (automatically set by the second most prolific, etc. More peripheral posters
newsreader) will be the Subject of the previous who contribute very few messages can be more
message, preceded by Re: . simply relabeled with a consecutive number3.
Message-ID: This contains a computer-gen- At this point, relational data can be generated.
erated combination of characters that constitute An Access query can be used to match the Refer-
a unique Usenet identifier for the message. For ence header with the unique Message-ID header,
example, the Message-ID of Peter Kents original and thus derive a full listing of directed messages
message is <9KuZmWAMwAS7EwCt@postbox. and the message they were directed to. A second
karoo.co.uk> query can then pick the author of each directed
References: This header is absent in some message and the author of the referenced message
messages, such as Peter Kents original question, to generate a complete listing of ties between post-
indicating to the newsreader the message is a thread ers. Finally, a third query can be used to count ties
head. When the header is present, it indicates the between each pair of participants. This last listing
message is a follow-up, and the header contains reveals the complete social network participants
the Message-ID of the message it was posted to. created through their online interactions during
This can be seen in Marys reply; the References the sampled period. Typically, it would have the
following format:
162
AA AB 9 Hara, 2009). An ethnography of this newsgroup is

AA AC 12 currently in progress, and has adopted discussion
AA AD 13 threads as the unit of analysis. The advantage of
AG AA 1 threads over individual messages lies in the former
AA AH 15 (...) representing a complete and coherent discussion.
Thus a full thread is easier to interpret and analyze
When exported from Access as a text file, this ethnographically because in the various messages
listing provides provide the necessary input for community members provide a context and of-
SNA programs such as UCINET (Borgatti, Everett, tentimes a critical review of each other.
& Freeman, 2002). Once the social network is Since there are thousands of discussion threads
captured in these programs, a complete battery of to choose from available newsgroup archives,
SNA models can be used to detect actor subgroups a core periphery analysis will be used to detect
and measure their cohesion. In particular, given threads where identified core members have the
the core-periphery pattern reported in previous greatest participation measured by number of
studies of virtual communities (Smith, 1999; messages. Henceforth, the theoretical sample will
Tepper, 1997; McLaughlin et al, 1995), the con- be selected from this considerably reduced subset
tinuous core-periphery model is a logical choice using two additional theoretical criteria. The first
(Borgatti & Everett, 1999). It was developed for is to give preference to medium-sized and long
social network data consisting of positive integers threads because, unlike short threads, they are
that represent strengths of relationships. This is more capable of containing elaborate episodes of
just the case of message counts between pairs of collective problem-solving. The second is to use
actors in a newsgroup. The algorithm calculates the title of the thread to target problem-solving
a set of coreness scores which maximize the cor- episodes.
relation of the observed social network with an Part of this ongoing study also involved exam-
ideal core-periphery pattern. ining core membership over time. To accomplish
To demonstrate the use of the model, the next this, three equally spaced one-year samples were
section describes how it was used to identify the downloaded from MTM and imported into Access:
core group of MTM, and to examine the evolution 2001-2002; 2004-2005 and 2007-2008. From each
of this core over a period of six years. sample, the one-year social network was derived,
imported into UCINET, and a core-periphery
An Application to Newsgroup model fitted. The results are displayed in Table
Misc.Taxes.Moderated 1; in each sample, participants with coreness of
0.10 or higher are classified as core members and
This newsgroup was recently classified as a are highlighted.
virtual community of practice displaying the For each sample, the core-periphery analysis
Wenger dimensions of Mutual engagement, identifies core members, coreness score, and
Shared repertoire and Joint enterprise (Murillo, number of messages posted. This last number
2008). Still, an in-depth examination of the day- reflects newsgroup involvement, but not neces-
to-day interactions and problem-solving between sarily coreness. Since coreness is a generalized
members would be a worthwhile addition to the measure of network centrality (Everett & Bor-
CoP literature, since rich and detailed descriptions gatti, 2005); for an actor to have high coreness
of these interactions have thus far only been at- he or she must be the recipient of a large number
tempted on conventional face-to-face CoPs (Orr, of directed posts. For example, in the 2001-2002
1990; Wenger, 1998; Gherardi & Nicolini, 2000; sample, Charlie posted 765 messages and Frank
163
Table 1. MTM participants with coreness scores greater than 0.10 (in bold)
2001-2002 2004-2005 2007-2008

Correlation: 0.758 Correlation: 0.741 Correlation: 0.750
Name Actors: 1790 Actors: 1661 Actors: 835
(disguised) Messages: 13502 Messages: 11564 Messages: 6593
Posts Core Posts Core Posts Core
Abe 359 0.18362 1140 0.60274 436 0.36675
Bruce 119 0.06706 477 0.34532 424 0.42927
Charlie 765 0.09434 835 0.29572 0 0.0
Don 660 0.27251 524 0.28755 227 0.25219
Ed 688 0.46765 517 0.26680 5 0.00001
Frank 674 0.45884 256 0.23845 0 0.0
Gerry 0 0.0 245 0.23066 287 0.31866
Harry 214 0.07342 392 0.18202 0 0.0
Ian 303 0.09158 482 0.14360 195 0.18926
Jack 265 0.07632 284 0.13551 242 0.25883
Karl 459 0.05048 498 0.10479 395 0.17364
Lou 706 0.51627 142 0.08721 0 0.0
Morris 276 0.05007 269 0.06402 309 0.18675
Nick 193 0.16514 120 0.06382 31 0.03529
Alice 628 0.22001 156 0.04941 0 0.0
Becky 76 0.03317 202 0.03794 163 0.12882
Owen 176 0.04517 210 0.02670 190 0.19075
Peter 371 0.12035 63 0.00535 146 0.12955
Quincy 0 0.0 12 0.00075 177 0.13428
Ron 0 0.0 0 0.0 411 0.32373
Sergey 0 0.0 0 0.0 263 0.24590
Theo 0 0.0 0 0.0 126 0.13877
Ulrich 0 0.0 0 0.0 86 0.10476
674, yet the former had coreness of 0.094 and the teraction with other core members. The long tails
latter, 0.46. along the x and y axes reveal core members also
To better illustrate the concept of a core- maintain reciprocated exchanges with the many
periphery pattern, it is useful to build a plot of peripheral participants in the newsgroup. The
total messages exchanged between members of graph also highlights that messages exchanged
the newsgroup sorted by descending order of core- by core members constitute a substantial portion
ness. Such a graph, shown in Figure 3, plots on the of total newsgroup activity.
vertical z-axis the number of directed messages The results in Table 1 track core membership
sent by the 70 newsgroup members with the high- over a six year period, revealing significant core
est coreness scores during the period 2001-2002. turnover. For instance, in 2001-2002, Alice had
The graph displays a dense core at the origin, a coreness score of 0.22, which dropped to 0.049
indicating core members have very frequent in- in 2004-2005 and by 2007 she was no longer ac-
164
Figure 3. Messages exchanged between high-coreness members of MTM
tive in the newsgroup. By contrast, Ron, Sergey, of messages having the same Subject header. A
Theo and Ulrich are all participants joined the query can generate a table of all threads and their
group only recently, and achieved high coreness length by counting messages having the same
scores. Only two participants sustained coreness Subject header. Another query can generate a
scores greater than 0.10 over the three samples, second table, also counting messages with the
Abe and Don, although there are other participants same Subject header, but restricting the query to
like Ian, Jack and Karl whove sustained substan- messages whose From header has a core member.
tial participation over the entire period. The two tables can be copy pasted to Excel and the
The table reveals that the size of the core has Subject headers matched, and a percentage of core
grown in recent years, but also that total newsgroup member participation calculated for each thread.
activity has steadily declined. This has resulted Table 2 shows partial results, for threads of 30 or
in a widening of core membership, and less pro- more messages, for the sample year 2007-2008,
nounced differences of posting activity between with threads sorted by length.
core members. Both are issues which might fruit- At this point, the procedure has identified
fully be explored in the ongoing ethnography. medium-sized and long threads, with strong par-
Having identified community core members, ticipation by core members. Thread topic can also
the next step is to identify the discussion threads be used to target plausible problem-solving dis-
they dominate. The rationale is that among all cussions. In Table 2, the three discussions that
available threads (1261 in the 2007-2008 sample), would merit initial ethnographic examination are
those where most messages are posted by core numbers 3, 5 and 11, which all have more than
members will better represent the professional 90% core member participation. The title of the
issues and problems said members find interesting. threads suggest they all deal with taxation in
Since core members are known at this point, special cases, namely, the treatment of raffle win-
identification of core-dominated threads can be nings, deductions for charitable donations, and
performed with a couple of queries using the deductions for (business related) entertainment
message database. Recall that a thread is a set and meals.
165
Table 2. MTM thread length and core member participation
CORE
THREAD MEMBER
THREAD NAME LENGTH MESSAGES PERCENT
Re: Why is catching a baseball taxable income? 116 86 74.1%
Re: Calif gay marriage 70 57 81.4%
Re: Raffle winnings 51 50 98.0%
Re: Is Landlord Double Dipping? 49 29 59.2%
Re: Charitable deductions 41 38 92.7%
Re: estate taxes 41 23 56.1%
Re: Self Employment Income of Gambling Winnings 35 18 51.4%
Re: Is this legal? (Avoiding gift tax.) 34 19 55.9%
Re: Big deduction for state tax: implications on estimated tax 34 6 17.6%
Re: H&R Block: How Does It Get Around Pub 1345 Rules? 33 14 42.4%
Re: Can entertainment and meals be deductible in full? 31 29 93.5%
Re: question about mileage deduction - special circumstances 30 25 83.3%
Ultimately, sample selection should be guided have pointed out that these participants heavily
by ethnographic sensibility, but the procedure influence the identity, culture and day-to-day
described here provides three important advan- operation of the newsgroup (McLaughlin et al,
tages. First, it arms the ethnographer with a clear 1995; Tepper, 1997; Smith, 1999; Lee & Cole,
sense of the key personalities in the community 2003). This is confirmed in the present study. Core
and the issues they care for. Second, it guides members numbered just 8, 11 and 16 participants
the researcher to a reduced subset of discussions, in each of the three samples, but they respectively
where preliminary ethnographic analysis can accounted for 32%, 49% and 62% of all directed
make informed choices about the final theoretical messages. Their large influence in the newsgroup
sample of the study. Third, the risk of researcher thus justifies making them the focus of the eth-
subjectivity and sample bias is substantially re- nographic analysis.
duced (Howard, 2002). A second argument has to do with the previous
finding that MTM qualifies as a Usenet-based CoP
(Murillo, 2008). Membership in a CoP is defined
DISCUSSION by mutual engagement, but members typically
display different levels of engagement, which
Implicit in the use of the core-periphery model results in most CoPs displaying a core-periphery
to target theoretically relevant participants is an structure (Wenger, 2000). Such a structure can be
assumption that higher coreness is equivalent to modelled using the Borgatti-Everett algorithm.
more representative or prominent community Since coreness scores are highly correlated to the
membership. Several arguments support this as- intensity of online social interaction (not just to
sumption. As previously mentioned, researchers absolute number of posts), they are a good proxy
of virtual communities have used the term core of the degree of CoP membership, understood as
(although not in a formally SNA sense) to refer the strength of mutual engagement. This again
to the subset of stable and frequent posters, and
166
recommends focusing the ethnography on par- develop an ad-hoc routine that can efficiently
ticipants with the highest coreness. download messages from such forums, make ac-
A third argument has to do with the definition curate attributions of message directionality, and
of core member. This study set an arbitrary record the information in a database-accessible
threshold of 0.10 for core membership, which re- format. Data collection in Usenet and listservs
sults in core sizes of 8-16 participants, with strong is particularly straightforward, given their use of
posting activity as shown in Table 1. Since each standard message headers. Web 2.0 platforms like
sample spanned a full year of newsgroup activity, blogs, wikis and social networking sites, present
it is clear that core members so defined have a researchers with more difficult data harvesting
stable online presence and they maintain intensive issues (for a useful introduction, see Glance et al,
interaction between them (as well as with more 2005), but they provide exciting new opportuni-
volatile peripheral members). This results in the ties for examining the emergence of community
formation of strong ties between core members. in Internet worlds.
People cannot interact intensively for long periods,
in topics that interest them, and remain strangers,
even on the Internet. Thus the core periphery ACKNOWLEDGMENT
analysis provides strong quantitative evidence
that MTM is indeed a virtual community, with The author gratefully acknowledges the support
a stable membership, bonds between members, of Asociacin Mexicana de Cultura, A.C.
and sustained levels of interaction.4 Therefore it
makes sense to focus the ethnography on the set
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ties and differences in the usage of teen and senior
29(1), 3557.
public online newsgroups. ACM Transactions on
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network Computer-Human Interaction, 13(3), 403422.
analysis: methods and applications. Cambridge: doi:10.1145/1183456.1183461
Wellman, B. (1988). Structural analysis: from
method and metaphor to theory and substance. ENDNOTES
In Wellman, B., & Berkowitz, S. (Eds.), Social
structures: a network approach (pp. 1961).
1
A popular dedicated newsreader is Fort
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Agent, in free and paid versions. Modern
e-mail clients, such as Microsoft Outlook
Wellman, B. (1999). Living networked in a wired Express or Mozilla Thunderbird can also
world. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 14(1), 1517. function as newsreaders.
Wellman, B., & Gulia, M. (1999). Virtual com-
2
This study used Agent, which can save
munities as communities: Net surfers dont ride selected messages as a text document. The
alone. In Smith, M. A., & Kollock, P. (Eds.), user can choose which headers to save and
Communities in Cyberspace (pp. 167194). New in what order. For this study: From, News-
York: Routledge. groups, Subject, Date, Lines, Message-ID,
References, Message-Body. Furthermore,
Welser, H. T., Gleave, E., Fisher, D., & Smith, each saved message was preceded by an
M. (2007) Visualizing the signatures of social easily recognizeable separator, specifically:
roles in online discussion groups. Journal of == ** == ** == ** == ** == **
Social Structure, 8(2). Retrieved Mar 7, 2010 3
The From field requires some additional
from: http://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/ manipulation before relational data can be
volume8/Welser/ generated. It is necessary to identify the dif-
ferent e-mails under which a single person
posted; many people, for instance, posted
from both home and work with different
171
e-mails in each case. It is essential not to the online cliques reported by Muncer et al
treat these two e-mails as two different (2000) and Zaphiris & Zarwar (2006).
persons. The task can be performed, albeit 5
Theoretically questionable are models based
laboriously, by visual inspection of the list on the network concept of distance, such as
of distinct posters, aided by the search and n-cliques and n-clans (Scott, 2000) or flow-
replace function of the database. In misc. betweenness centrality (Freeman, Borgatti
taxes.moderated it was only necessary to do & White, 1991). In a newsgroup, any actor
this for participants who posted five or more can directly reach any other actor by posting
messages in one year, and who accounted to him or her. Therefore, by the very nature
for less than 10% of all posters. of the Usenet medium, there is no relaying
4
By using one year samples, the stability of of messages and no intermediaries, which
detected online SNA structures can be as- form the basis of the network concept of
serted with much greater confidence than distance.
172
APPENDIX
FILTER.BAS Routine
DIM ONELINE AS STRING, AUTHOR AS STRING, NEWSGR AS STRING, SUBJECT AS STRING

DIM POSTDATE AS STRING, TIMEZONE AS STRING, LINES AS STRING
DIM MESSAGEID AS STRING, REFERENCES AS STRING, MESSAGEBODY AS STRING
OPEN TAXES.TXT FOR INPUT AS #1
OPEN AUTHOR.TXT FOR OUTPUT AS #2
OPEN MESSID.TXT FOR OUTPUT AS #3
OPEN REFS.TXT FOR OUTPUT AS #4
OPEN BODIES.TXT FOR OUTPUT AS #5
INDEX& = 0: CHANGE THIS INDEX TO IMPORT ADDITIONAL RECORDS
DO
INDEX& = INDEX& + 1
LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE: AUTHOR = MID$(ONELINE, 7)
LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE: NEWSGR = MID$(ONELINE, 13)
LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE
IF LEFT$(ONELINE, 8) <> Subject: THEN LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE
SUBJECT = MID$(ONELINE, 10)
IF LEFT$(ONELINE, 5) <> Date: THEN LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE
POSTDATE = MID$(ONELINE, 7, 20): TIMEZONE = RIGHT$(ONELINE, 5)
LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE: LINES = MID$(ONELINE, 8): LIN% = VAL(LINES)
LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE: MESSAGEID = MID$(ONELINE, 13)
LINE INPUT #1, ONELINE: REFERENCES = MID$(ONELINE, 13)
IF REFERENCES = THEN REFERENCES = NONE
ONLY KEEP THE LAST REFERENCE
DO
IF ONELINE = Message-Body: THEN EXIT DO
REFERENCES = MID$(ONELINE, 2)
LOOP
MESSAGEBODY =
ONLY COPY THE FIRST 10 LINES OF MESSAGE BODY
FOR I = 1 TO 12000
IF ONELINE = == ** == ** == ** == ** == ** THEN EXIT FOR
MESSAGES SAVED FROM AGENT ARE EACH SEPARATED BY THIS STRING
IF ONELINE = THEN ONELINE = __
IF LEFT$(ONELINE, 1) = > THEN ONELINE = >
IF I < 11 THEN MESSAGEBODY = MESSAGEBODY + ONELINE +
NEXT I
WRITE #2, INDEX&, AUTHOR, NEWSGR
173
WRITE #3, INDEX&, POSTDATE, TIMEZONE, LIN%, MESSAGEID

WRITE #4, INDEX&, REFERENCES, SUBJECT
WRITE #5, INDEX&, MESSAGEBODY
PRINT INDEX&
LOOP UNTIL (EOF(1))
CLOSE
174
Section 3
Tools and Techniques for
Analysis and Building of
Virtual Communities
As noted in the opening chapters in this volume, there is a growing interest in understanding the depth and breadth of
these communities. However, most of the data available are noisy and there are limited tools that can help researchers make
sense of these data. A demand for automated software tools and techniques that can provide a simple, quick, and inexpensive
way for researchers to collect information on the nature of virtual communities would be required. Section 3 presents 6
chapters focused on tools and techniques available to collect, process and present data on interactions in virtual communities.
Chapter 9 presents findings of a study conducted on three virtual communities for teachers based on electronic discourse.
The transcripts of discussions were collected and examined using a set of conversational analysis techniques.
Chapter 10 presents the Community Agent; a tool intended to trace the evolution of the domain of a distributed Com-
munity of Practice, by obtaining and presenting graphically indicators pointing the domain of a Community of Practice and
the participation of its members.
Chapter 11 presents a new web-based system called ICTA (http://textanalytics.net) for automated analysis and visualiza-
tion of online conversations in virtual communities.
Chapter 12 discusses emerging critical global collaboration paradigm and the use of virtual learning communities. The
goal is to illustrate how the social nature of virtual worlds can be used to teach technical writing and the academic research
process using Second Life, the online 3D virtual world created entirely by its residents.
Chapter 13 examines the impact of Web 2.0 and social networking tools on education. It explores the challenge for
teachers to embrace these new social networking tools and apply them to new educational contexts.
Chapter 14 focuses on the application of Conversation Analysis (CA) as a tool to understand online social encounters.
Complementing current analytic methods like content analysis and social network analysis, analytic tools like Discussion
Analysis Tool (DAT) (Jeong, 2003) and Transcript Analysis Tool (TAT) (Fahy, Crawford, & Ally, 2001) have been developed
to study both the content of online discussions as well as the interactions that take place among the participants.
176
Chapter 9
Graphically Mapping
Electronic Discussions:
Understanding Online
Conversational Dynamics
Jennifer Howell
Australian Catholic University Limited, Australia
ABSTRACT
Transcripts of electronic discussions have traditionally been examined via the use of conversational
analysis techniques. Coding such transcripts provides rich data regarding the content and nature of the
discussions that take place. However, understanding the content of the messages is not limited to the
actual message itself. An electronic message is sent either in response to or to start a discussion thread.
Examining the entry point of a new message can help to clarify the dynamics of the community discus-
sion. Electronic discussions do not appear to follow traditional conversational norms. New messages
may be immediate responses or they can be responses to messages posted over a longer period of time
in the past. However, by graphically mapping electronic discussions, a clearer understanding of the
dynamics of electronic discussions can be achieved. This chapter will present the findings of a study that
was conducted on three online communities for teachers. The transcripts of electronic discussions were
collected and examined via conversational analysis. These messages were then analysed via graphical
mapping and the findings concluded that three distinct patterns exist in which electronic discussions
may follow. It was further discovered that each of these patterns were indicative of a distinct type of
electronic discussion. The findings from this study offer further insight into the nature of online discus-
sions and help to understand online conversational dynamics.
INTRODUCTION of frameworks exist for this purpose (Connelly

& Clandinin, 1990; Grabowski, Pusch & Pusch,
The use of computer-mediated text messages in 1990; Hara, Bonk, Angeli, 2000; Henri, 1992;
research has been well documented and a number Levy, 2003). Text-based messages commonly used
in computer-mediated communication (CMC)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch009 have unique characteristics. Whilst they are writ-
Graphically Mapping Electronic Discussions
ten texts they do not share the same features as by graphically mapping electronic discussions, a
traditional written communication (Henri, 1992) clearer understanding of the dynamics of electronic
and contain some characteristics of spoken com- discussions can be achieved. These graphical maps
munication. Electronic discussions are divided of the electronic conversations can help research-
into threads, with responses to different threads ers understand the nature of the discussion and
not following logically after one another. This thus help to clarify why electronic discussions
does not inhibit the communicative experience, may be structured in a particular way and why
but is merely a distinguishing characteristic of the some discussions are longer and more complex.
medium. McCreary (1990) stated that the written This chapter will be presented in six sections.
word demands an exactness and coherence of The first is concerned with understanding and
thought, indicating that text-based communica- analyzing electronic messages via conversa-
tion results in more well planned and structured tional analysis. This will include an exploration
interactions. The message itself can be regarded of different frameworks of analysis. The second
as a complete communicative unit (Henri, 1992) will provide an overview of the participants in
which has its own meaning and structure. the study and the third section will examine the
However, understanding the content of the methodological approach and present the findings
messages is not limited to the actual message itself. from the coding of the data. The fourth section of
An electronic message is sent either in response this chapter will present the graphical mapping
to or to start a discussion thread. Examining the of the discussion threads and explore the three
entry point of a new message can help to clarify patterns that emerged; (1) flowchart; (2) regular
the dynamics of the electronic discussion and cluster and (3) bonded cluster. The fifth section
which upon a cursory examination, does not ap- of the chapter will discuss if graphical mapping
pear to follow traditional conversational norms. of discussion threads help in the understanding
New messages may be immediate responses or of differences between electronic discussions and
they may be responses to messages posted in the the nature of those differences. The final section
considerable past. This is a feature of electronic of the chapter will present how this study offers
text or hypertext, the individual blocks of text, further insight into the nature of online discus-
or lexias, and the electronic links that join them sion and helps to further understanding of online
(Landow, 1994). Hypertext is a nonlinear form of conversational dynamics.
text that has multiple entry points and perceiving
electronic discussions as thus is the starting point
for graphically mapping them. As transcripts are GRAPHICALLY MAPPING
essentially banks of online discussions, they are ONLINE CONVERSATIONS
a form of hypertext and need to be considered
as such. The rise in use of electronic communication
This nonlinear characteristic has influenced has resulted in many different approaches to
the way communication interactions are con- understanding those exchanges. With regard to
ducted online. Understanding the meaning of the graphically mapping those conversations, the
messages has been well researched and there are approaches can be categorized as being either
many conversational analysis frameworks avail- automated or physical. Automated graphical
able for use (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2001; maps are produced by software programs that run
Gunawardena, Lowe & Anderson, 1997; Hara, diagnostic algorithms across the electronic mes-
Bonk & Angeli, 2000; Harasim, 1990; Henri, 1992; sages and result in graphical images, such as box
Hiltz, 1990; Levin, Kim & Riel, 1990). However, plot graphs of characteristics such as frequency,
177
time or sender. Physical approaches are those that understanding of the discursive structure; they can
involve the physical plotting of messages or data offer a context for better understanding. Electronic
by a researcher. These are very broad, simplistic conversations are dynamic entities, some are
definitions that will be clarified below. These two simple short exchanges but others can be quite
different approaches result in quite different out- complex conversations that are conducted over
comes. Automated approaches have the potential an extended period of time. It is the complexity
to produce vast quantities of demographic and of these extended discussions that are aided by
diagnostic data. However, physical approaches visual mapping. They can help our understand-
tend to produce qualitative outcomes that can ing of participant dynamics. There have been
range from conversational patterns to semantic several physical approaches that are representa-
emphases. tive of the types of analyses they undertake; they
As previously stated, automated approaches have focused on participant diectics and footings
are reliant upon software programs for example; (Wortham, 1996), cognitive mapping (Cossette &
AutoBrief (Kerpedjiev & Roth, 2001), Loom Audet, 1992), generated images of conversations
(Donath, Karahalios & Viegas, 1999), Conversa- (Combs Turner, Smith, Fisher, Redmond & Welser,
tion Map (Sack, 2000), ConverSpace (Popolov, 2005) and mapped very large-scale conversations
Callaghan & Luker, 2000) and Netscan (Smith & (Sack, 2001). What is common to all of these ap-
Fiore, 2001). These automated systems for explor- proaches is that a researcher is required to analyse
ing communicative data are primarily concerned and plot the data into a visual interface.
with reasoning about the users tasks in order to Where then does the proposed graphical map-
select graphical techniques (Kerpedjiev & Roth, ping tool fit within the wider body of conversa-
2001). Visual representations of user traffic are tional mapping? As stated above, it is largely built
useful tools in understand the activities of online upon the early work of generating conversation
electronic communication (Viegas & Smith, trees of electronic conversation, but what is unique
2004). The types of graphics they result in can is that is requires, not a computer to automatically
range from simple graphs, conversation trees, to generate these trees, but a researcher to plot the
complex digital representations. It is this early conversation using MaxMaps . This new ap-
work on developing conversation trees that the new proach is an additional tool for understanding
model proposed in this chapter is based upon. Early the patterns electronic conversations may follow.
approaches that resulted in conversation trees Extending from initial work on conversation
stopped at that point, they developed a diagram- trees, it emerged that electronic conversations
matical tree of the electronic conversation being tend to follow three distinct patterns. This new
analysed, most often email exchanges or Usenet approach is a methodological tool that is not tied
groups, but it was not taken further. The model to a theoretical framework, thereby allowing the
being proposed here will show that conversation researcher the freedom to combine it with other
trees, when analysed over a number of electronic qualitative approaches. The example presented
conversations, exhibit patterns. in this chapter, is based upon data that has been
The physical approaches to graphical mapping, previously analysed via a conversational analysis
essentially involve a researcher to physically map framework. This theoretical freedom means that
and create the visual output. It is often conducted it is a tool that can be used alone, to examine the
in combination with another approach, such as patterns of electronic conversation or it can be used
conversational analysis, and provides a richer in conjunction with another approach in order to
understanding of the electronic conversation be- offer further information or understanding of the
ing analyzed. Patterns in conversation inform our subject being analysed.
178
UNDERSTANDING sage. The categories were: participative, social,

ELECTRONIC MESSAGES VIA interactive, cognitive and metacognitive. This
CONVERSATIONAL ANALYSIS framework for analysis was used and modified by
many researchers. Newman, Webb and Cochrane
Understanding and analyzing the meaning of elec- (1995) used Henris (1992) five categories, but
tronic discussion has been largely conducted by created more detailed sets of paired indicators, in
conversational analysis. Conversational analysis an attempt to show evidence of critical thinking.
has been defined as a systematic examination of Howell-Richardson and Mellar (1996) combined
documents (Babbie, 1990) and as a technique Henris (1992) categories with speech act theory
aimed at understanding the learning process to examine the facets of illocutionary acts.
(Henri, 1992). As Kuehn (1994) concluded con- An interesting extension of the work by Henri
versational analysis provides an objective and (1992) was the Interaction Analysis Model (Gu-
systematic examination of the manifest content of nawardena, Lowe, & Anderson, 1997) aimed at
communication. The use of conversational analy- contextualising cognitive phases with social in-
sis for research conducted on computer-mediated teraction. The framework aimed at identifying the
communication has been well documented (Hara strategies used in the co-creation of knowledge.
et al., 2000; Henri, 1992; Kuehn, 1994). Kuehn Messages were categorised into five phases of
(1994) cited that in computer-mediated communi- interaction, which reflected the movement from
cation conversational analysis can be used in two lower to higher cognitive phases. This framework
ways: to describe a communication phenomenon was the first to attempt to analyse not just the
or to test a hypothesis. Conversational analysis content of the messages and the learning that
research on computer-mediated communication was occurring, but also incorporated the social
has resulted in the development of a number of construction of the new knowledge being cre-
frameworks for this purpose. Levin, Kim, and ated. It could be proposed that this was the first
Riel (1990) examined interactions found in email conversational analysis method that attempted to
messages sent to a group list. The analysis of the incorporate the social aspect of online communi-
topic content of those discussion threads led to the ties into the analysis of their discussions.
development of Intermessage Reference Analysis, From this arose an attempt to understand the
which was comprised of graphically representing structure of the discourses occurring online (Hara,
messages in cluster diagrams and analysing the Bonk & Angeli, 2000). Messages were classified
message act for content. Hiltz (1990) examined into five categories: elementary classification,
the relationship between educational technology in-depth classification, inferencing, judgment
and educational effectiveness, by sorting data into and application of strategies. Interactions were
four categories: technological determinist, social mapped electronically to determine the existence
psychological, human relations and interaction- of patterns. A further approach by Levy (2003)
ist. Harasim (1990) attempted to establish the extended Henri (1992) by using a constructivist
existence of knowledge building and examined action-research cycle; planning, taking action,
messages for discernible stages of knowledge evaluating and theorising to classify messages in
building. an attempt to understand knowledge construction.
One of the most commented on form of The conversational analysis framework used
conversational analysis used in CMC was pro- in this study was The Practical Inquiry Model
posed by Henri (1992), who from a cognitive (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2001). This model
perspective, developed five categories, aimed at recognises and incorporates the shared world and
revealing the learning process behind the mes- the private world of an individual as important
179
Table 1. Teacher online communities activity (January 2006)
Community Name Acronym Location Membership (as at

January,2006) (N=1288)
BECTA-Top Teachers BECTA United Kingdom 568
Oz-TeacherNet OTN Australia 608
SSABSA English Teachers SSABSA South Australia 112
components in the construction of knowledge. of professional development for teachers. The

This models strength lies in its applicability to participants in this study were all members of
online communication due to this shared/private online communities for teachers. They presented
world perspective. Individuals participating in as a mixed cohort, from a variety of teaching
online discussions are motivated and influenced backgrounds, amount of teaching experience and
by experiences in their private world. The Practi- geographical locations. Three online communities
cal Inquiry Model perceives learning as the social were selected; one local Australian state-based
construction of knowledge and therefore places community, one national Australian community
the individual within that learning landscape. and one international community (see Table 1). It
An online community is clearly a social group was felt that this combination would provide rich
constructing meaning together, whether this is data and a wider perspective on issues.
for educational or other purposes is dependent In any investigation of an online community,
on the community itself. The model can be seen what is said is of critical importance. The simple
in Figure 1. act of counting messages is only a partial measure
of the success and reach of the community. More
Participants complex measures of community impact can only
be drawn from the analysis of the messages them-
This study forms part of a larger study that was selves. Hence it was decided that in conjunction
concerned with determining the potential mem- to analyzing the content of the messages, an at-
bership to an online community has a source tempt to graphically map the online discussions
would be made to determine if further understand-
ing could be achieved.
Figure 1. Practical Inquiry Model (Garrison et
It was decided that the community transcripts
al., 2001)
would be selected from the same time period
for each of the three communities (see Table 1)
and January 2006 was randomly chosen. It was
hoped that, as this represented the start of a new
school year in Australia, and the end of Term 1
in the United Kingdom, there would be rich data
to analyse.
The community transcripts were accessed
through public archives and required a member
username and password to access. As they were
professional online communities, conversation
tended to be around issues associated with teach-
180
ing, such as problems, lesson ideas, curriculum was; Evocative 101 messages (18.49%), Inquisi-
issues. As this component formed part of a larger tive 121 messages (22.16%), Tentative 270 mes-
study that included the a use of an electronic sages (49.45%), and Committed 54 messages
survey and focus group forum, permission was (9.89%). Clearly the majority of messages were
sought and obtained from all participants prior to coded as Tentative. From Table 2, it can be seen
accessing the community transcripts. that the messages posted fit all four phases and
indicators from the Practical Inquiry Model (Gar-
Method rison et al., 2001). These will be detailed further
below and some of the codes will be illustrated
Messages were coded and analysed using The with examples:
Practical Inquiry Framework (Garrison, et al.,
2001). The messages were classified according to Evocative (Triggering
the four phases of the model which are (1) trigger- Event) Messages
ing event, (2) exploration, (3) integration, and (4)
resolution. These four phases reflect the critical As noted, the total number of messages in this
thinking process and indicates a cognitive pres- phase was 101, which represent 18.5% of the
ence (Garrison et al., 2001). Each phase contained total (N=546). This ratio would be expected as
a broad descriptor; (a) evocative, (b) inquisitive, these types of messages acted as the trigger for the
(c) tentative and (d) committed. An overview of community discussion and their purpose was to
the coding of the three community transcripts for inspire or provoke further debate and discussion.
January 2006 is presented in Table 2. Evocative messages can be divided between E1
The total number of messages coded was 546 Recognising the problem and E2 Sense of puzzle-
(N=546) and the number of messages per phase
Table 2. Overview of transcript coding (January 2006)
Total No. of messages per No. of messages per code

descriptor (N=546)
(N=546)
Evocative codes (Triggering event) 101 37
E1 Recognising the problem 64
E2 Sense of puzzlement
Inquisitive codes (Exploration) 121 26
I1 Divergence within the online community 9
I2 Divergence within a single message 17
I3 Information exchange 32
I4 Suggestions for consideration 15
I5 Brainstorming 22
I6 Leaps to conclusions
Tentative codes (Integration) 270 74
T1 Convergence among group members 32
T2 Convergence within a single message 62
T3 Connecting ideas, synthesis 102
T4 Creating solutions
Committed codes (Resolution) 54 30
C1 Vicarious application to the real world 12
C2 Testing solutions 12
C3 Defending solutions
181
Table 3. Evocative messages: BECTA, OzTeachers and SSABSA Transcripts (January 2006)
# of messages per phase # and % of messages

Message phases and descriptors (codes)
(N=546) per descriptor
EVOCATIVE CODES (Triggering event) 101
E1 Recognising the problem 37 (36.63%)
E2 Sense of puzzlement 64 (63.37%)
ment codes. The breakdown between E1 and E2 mathematics is pointless because few people will
messages is shown in Table 3. ever need to put them to use in their chosen career.
Typically E1: Recognising the problem mes- How do we answer such questions? OzTeacherNet
sages contained requests supported by contex- Transcript Lines: 4504-4532
tual information to help members understand what
is required. For example: Inquisitive (Exploration) Messages
Ive just been having a look at Google Earth
looks fantastic! I was wondering if anyone has The exploration phase is illustrated by six in-
come up with any good classroom uses for it - it quisitive descriptors (I1-I6). These are used to
looks like it would be great for exploring Roman identify (a) divergence within the online com-
Roads for example. munity (Code I1), (b) divergence within a single
message (Code I2), (c) information exchange
BECTA Transcript Lines: 6162-6165 (Code I3), (d) suggestion for consideration (Code
I4), (e) brainstorming (Code I5), and (f) leaps to
E2: Sense of puzzlement messages tended to be conclusions (Code I6). The breakdown of inquisi-
about professional issues or topics not directly re- tive messages is presented in Table 4. Inquisitive
lated to a specific classroom problem, for example: messages were posted in response to evocative
As a secondary maths [sic] teacher, from time (triggering event) messages (E1 and E2) and
to time I encounter the question When am I ever were observed to be more prolific in response to
going to use this? Whats the point of learning E1 messages. Overall 121 inquisitive messages
algebra or trigonometry? The implication of the were coded representing 22.16% of all messages
question is that the study of these branches of analysed (N=546). The breakdown of the coded
Table 4. Inquisitive messages: BECTA, OzTeachers and SSABSA Transcripts (January 2006)
Message phases and descriptors (codes) # of messages per # and % of messages per descriptor
phase
(N=546)
INQUISITIVE CODES (Exploration phase) 121
I1 Divergence within the online community 26 (21.49%)
I2 Divergence within a single message 9 (7.44%)
I3 Information exchange 17 (14.05%)
I4 Suggestions for consideration 32 (26.45%)
I5 Brainstorming 15 12.4%)
I6 Leaps to conclusions 22 (18.18%)
182
inquisitive messages into the six descriptors can Im wondering if anyone else is as doubtful as
be seen in Table 4. I am about the value of these? (The boards - Im
The most frequently occurring message type 100% in favour of projectors).
was I4: Suggestions for consideration (n=32, I remain unconvinced that they offer anything
representing 26.45% of all inquisitive messages). that cannot be achieved by other means, other
These were often messages that offered a solution perhaps than for the youngest children where the
to an E1 or E2 message but also included ideas touchy-feely thing is important (and where is the
or suggestions that warranted further exploration. cut-off for this: Yr 2? 4?)
These were commonly in the form of questions,
for example: BECTA Transcript Lines: 2757-2762
I would start with parents views: from their
experience of surfing, do they think it is possible Tentative (Integration) Messages
to protect children from downloading unsuitable
sites? And then, is it unsafe for children to make Tentative messages were the largest number of
their own judgments about these sites? messages (n= 270, which represents 49.45% of
the total number of messages posted) coded. The
BECTA Transcript Lines: 490-490 breakdown for the four tentative codes is seen in
Table 5.
Inquisitive messages attempted to present a solu- The progression of a discussion, as per the
tion to a problem or question, but did not want model being used, could be roughly characterised
to appear to be authoritative or dominating. The as being the presentation of a problem (evocative),
authors couched their suggestions with rhetorical the clarification and exploration of that problem
questions that could be responded to by the com- (inquisitive), a possible solution being reached
munity. The second most frequently-occurring (tentative) and finally, the solution being imple-
inquisitive messages were I1: Divergence within mented (committed). Therefore, it could be ex-
the online community (n=26, representing 21.49% pected that a large number of messages within
of all inquisitive messages). This did not indicate the tentative phases would be concerned with
that arguments were rife among the communities creating solutions and connecting ideas. These
just that differing opinions or ideas were being types of messages offered specific solutions to a
presented to be considered. An example of this problem usually after the community had agreed
is the following message concerning the use of on a course of action to follow.
interactive whiteboards: The most frequently-occurring message
descriptor was T4 Creating solutions messages
Table 5. Tentative messages: BECTA, OzTeachers and SSABSA Transcripts (January 2006)
Message phases and descriptors (codes) # of messages per phase # and % of messages
TENTATIVE CODES (Integration phase) 270
T1 Convergence among group members 74 (27.41%)
T2 Convergence within a single message 32 (11.85%)
T3 Connecting ideas, synthesis 62 (22.96%)
T4 Creating solutions 102 (37.78%)
183
(n=102). This was the most recurrent message and often acted as a closure to the discussion, this
type in its phase (representing 37.78% of all tenta- finding was not surprising. As there had been 101
tive messages) as well as being the most frequent triggering messages, it might have been expected
of all messages posted (representing 18.16% of that there would be a similar number of committed
N=546). T4 messages appeared to be culmina- messages. That there were a total of 54 messages in
tion solutions reached after much discussion. this descriptor may indicate that some discussions
For example; were not resolved or solutions were not flagged
Getting students to do a comic sports com- to the community as having been chosen. Some
mentary can be fun, or [be] a sports commentator problems or questions may have been resolved
interviewing a literary character (say Macbeth, in conversations outside of the community list or
do you think you kicked an own goal when you some may have been so simple as to not warrant a
tried to get rid of Banquo? Ans: Yes I didnt formal closure. The breakdown for the committed
think theyd bring on his ghost as a substitute) messages is seen in Table 6.
Kids often like satires, e.g. visiting crikey.com, The most common type of committed message
or some such. Getting students to choose their was C1: Vicarious application to the real world
own scene to dramatise from a film or novel can (n=30, representing 55.56% of all committed
produce great results. messages). C1 messages attempted to show how
the solutions or ideas the group had agreed on
SSABSA Transcript Lines: 66-72 applied in real or authentic situations. For ex-
ample:
The process of reaching this agreed course of Building on [Name] Q Bear, something Ive
action required many messages which were seen done is to have two or three stuffed toys going
classified as T3: Connecting ideas and synthesis home. (More children get a turn this way) Keep
(n=62, representing 22.96% of all tentative mes- them in cloth bags (library bags) and as well as a
sages). Generally, one member of the community diary to fill out include fiction/nonfiction books,
attempted to tie together all of the other ideas or e.g. if you have a koala include two or three books
proposals. Often this member was the initiator of about koalas that parents can read to the children
the evocative message (E1 or E2) that had started or children can read to younger siblings.
the discussion. Something else that is lots of fun and can take
care of your whole literature/language programme
Committed (Resolution) Messages for a term is Walking Talking Text, developed in
the NT for use with aboriginal children.
This phase was attributed to the least number of Thanks to others who have made suggestions.
messages (n=54, representing 9.8% of all mes- I can hardly wait for school to start:)
sages). As it was the final phase of the discussion
Table 6. Committed messages: BECTA, OzTeachers and SSABSA Transcripts (January 2006)
Message phases and descriptors (codes) # of messages per phase # and % of messages
COMMITTED CODES (Resolution phase) 54
C1 Vicarious application to real world 30 (55.56%)
C2 Testing solutions 12 (22.22%)
C3 Defending solutions 12 (22.22%)
184
Table 7. Summary of the distribution of messages per descriptor (after Garrison et al., 2001)
1 2 3 Total
Evocative (Triggering event) 26 71 4 101
Inquisitive (Exploration) 39 72 10 121
Tentative (Integration) 98 153 19 270
Committed (Resolution) 13 37 4 54
Total messages coded 176 333 37 546
1. BECTA Top Teachers
2. Oz-TeacherNet
3. SS English Teachers
OzTeacherNet Transcript types. From the three community transcripts,

Lines: 5696-5711 nine discussion threads were followed. These
threads were selected according to the criteria
An overview of the spread of messages per de- that they displayed the first three descriptors
scriptor can be seen below in Table 7. The total of the conversational analysis framework, The
number of messages coded was 546 (N=546) and Practical Inquiry Model (Garrison et al., 2001)
the number of messages per phase was; Evocative that is, evocative, inquisitive and tentative codes.
101 messages (18.49%), Inquisitive 121 messages Of the nine identified thread patterns that were
(22.16%), Tentative 270 messages (49.45%), and analysed, three distinct patterns emerged when the
Committed 54 messages (9.89%). Clearly the graphical representations were developed. These
majority of messages were coded as Tentative. patterns provided a wealth of information regard-
ing the nature of online discussions. The patterns
can be seen below in Figure 2. They are Pattern
GRAPHICAL MAPPING OF
DISCUSSION THREADS
In the second stage of analysis, the discussion Figure 2. Flowchart design patterns
threads were graphically mapped using the qualita-
tive software program MAXMaps. This phase of
analysis was outside The Practical Inquiry Model
(Garrison, et al., 2001) and was an innovative at-
tempt to determine if mapping would contribute
to the analysis of the content. These graphical
representations helped to develop a clearer
understanding of the structure of the electronic
discussions. It was decided to limit each map to
one specific discussion thread. Each community
transcript was then surveyed to determine the main
threads of the discussion for the month.
It is of interest to note that the communities,
despite differences in size, location and purpose
all evidenced the same patterns of message
185
1: Flowchart design, Pattern 2: Regular cluster Stage 1: Evocative message (Triggering

design and Pattern 3: Bonded cluster design. event) the discussion is initiated by the
posting of an E1 or E2 message.
Stage 2: Tentative (Integration) attempts
RESULTS by the community to solve the problem
developed over a period of 1-2 weeks with
(1) Pattern 1: Flowchart Design numerous contributors.
Stage 3: Committed (Resolution) com-
These discussion threads were simple and logical mitted message from initiator indicating a
to follow and were conducted over an average solution has been found.
period of time of 1-2 weeks. They were the most
commonly occurring design; four of the nine An example of this can be drawn from a discus-
threads mapped were flowchart designs. They sion on the Oz-TeacherNet community concern-
were initiated by an evocative message (E1 or ing homework for primary school students. This
E2). Most commonly this type of message was a pattern has been mapped in Figure 3.
specific pedagogical problem with a clear context.
The response from members of the community (2) Pattern 2: Regular Cluster Design
was immediately to offer tentative messages
that are T4 Creating solutions. The initiator of Of the nine identified thread patterns that were
the evocative message concluded the thread analysed, three were classified as Regular cluster
discussion by contributing a committed message design patterns. These discussion threads were
indicating which suggestion they would adapt or simple and conducted over a short period of time
use. This thread pattern has 3 clear evolutionary on average less than 1 week. These discussions
stages, which are: were characterised by the following:
Figure 3. Example of flowchart design thread pattern
186
They were initiated by an evocative mes- (3) Bonded Cluster Design

sage (E1 or E2).
They were generally a problem that had Of the nine identified thread patterns that were
arisen which was often explained within a analysed, two were classified as Bonded cluster
context. design patterns. These were discussion threads
The community then responded by offer- that were the most complex and were conducted
ing tentative messages. In effect, they were over a longer period of time, that is, more than 2
brainstorming possible solutions (most weeks. These were characterised by the following.
typically I5 messages).
The cluster did not have any resolution They were initiated by an evocative mes-
and there was no feedback from the ini- sage (E1 or E2) but more typically an issue
tiator that they would adopt one of the open for discussion (E2) rather than a spe-
suggestions. cific problem that needs to be solved (E1).
Often it was a topic or problem that re-
This discussion had 2 evolutionary stages: quests personal opinions or thoughts to be
shared with the community.
Stage 1: Evocative message (Triggering The response to the evocative message
event) the discussion is initiated by the maybe divided into two stages, namely
posting of an E1 or E2 message. inquisitive (exploration) and tentative
Stage 2: Tentative (Integration) Brain- (integration).
storming solutions / suggestions offered The discussion progresses and switches
over a short period (approximately 1 week) between inquisitive and tentative stages
multiple times.
An example of this can be drawn from a dis- The discussion may be led in a new direc-
cussion from the SSABSA English Teachers tion by a secondary evocative message.
community concerning group oral presentations Throughout the stages of the discussion,
for Year 11 students. This pattern has been mapped some members may attempt to reach a
in Figure 4. consensus and offer committed messages
to the community.
Figure 4. Example of regular cluster design thread pattern
187
The discussion does not end with a defi- DISCUSSION

nite resolution and finishes in an inquisi-
tive stage. The purpose of this study was to graphically map
discussion threads in an attempt to ascertain if
This discussion pattern has multiple evolution- electronic discussions follow specific patterns and
ary stages. Stage 3, 4 or 5 can be partly present or if those patterns could help in the understanding of
repeated for an infinite number of times depending differences between electronic discussions and the
on the discussion: nature of those differences. The coding of the three
community transcripts provided rich data regard-
Stage 1: Evocative message (Triggering ing the content and nature of the discussions that
event) the discussion is initiated by the were taking place. However as stated previously,
posting of an E1 or E2 message. understanding the content of the messages is not
Stage 2: Inquisitive &/or Tentative: Initial limited to the actual message itself. An electronic
responses message is sent either in response to or to start a
Stage 3: Multiple manifestations of Inquisi- discussion thread and by examining the entry point
tive, Tentative and Committed messages of a new message can help clarify the dynamics
Stage 4: New Trigger: New evocative mes- of the community discussion.
sage associated to initial evocative message Nine discussion threads were selected from
Stage 5: Multiple manifestations of Inquisi- the three online communities that displayed
tive, Tentative and Committed messages. the first three descriptors of the conversational
Stage 6: Inquisitive: Conclusion, no resolu- analysis framework, The Practical Inquiry Model
tion reached (Garrison et al., 2001), evocative, inquisitive
and tentative codes. Of the nine thread patterns
An example of this can be drawn from a discus- analysed, three distinct patterns emerged. The
sion from the BECTA Top Teachers community flowchart patterns were straightforward and logi-
concerning the use of interactive whiteboards. cal discussion threads. They were conducted over
This pattern has been mapped in Figure 5. an average period of time of 1-2 weeks and were
discussions that arose in response to a message
with a specific problem. They were characterised
Figure 5. Example of bonded cluster design thread pattern
188
as having three stages; trigger event, integration sion threads followed a comprehensible path of
and resolution. These were the most commonly problem, solution and resolution as communi-
observed pattern, suggesting that the majority of ties offered possible solutions to be considered
online discussions follow a cyclical structure of and then one was clearly chosen to be applied
problem suggestion - conclusion. This may also (flowchart threads). The most common and most
indicate what the majority of members seek from revealing thread pattern was the bonded cluster.
their online communities, reasoned solutions to This discussion thread plainly demonstrated the
problems. dynamic nature of electronic discussions as mem-
The regular cluster patterns were the simplest bers responded to new triggers at different stages
discussion threads, conducted over the shortest during the discussion. It also clearly showed the
time-frame, usually less than one week. They ability for asynchronous discussion to go back
followed an uncomplicated problem solution and re-visit previous messages and this non-linear
pattern and once solutions had been offered, the capability would appear to be a unique feature of
discussion was concluded by the community. They electronic discussions.
were characterised as having two stages; trigger
event and integration. Whilst they were not the
most commonly observed pattern, they were also CONCLUSION
concerned with problem solving. This strengthens
the suggestion that the majority of members, in The findings from this study offer further insight
this case teachers, are seeking a forum for problem into the nature of online discussion and helps to
solving from their online communities. further understanding of online conversational
The bonded cluster patterns were the most dynamics. As mentioned previously transcripts
complex discussion threads, conducted over a of electronic discussions have traditionally been
longer period of time, usually more than two examined via automated or physical approaches.
weeks. The thread was initiated by an evocative Coding transcripts can provide researchers with
message, but the discussion may then be led in rich data regarding the content and nature of the
new directions or return back to original threads discussions that take place. However, the simple
and did not have a definite resolution. They were act of counting messages is only a partial measure
characterised as having six stages; trigger event of understanding the electronic discussion being
and then multiple manifestations of messages and examined. An electronic message is sent either
new triggers. These discussions were concerned in response to or to start a discussion thread and
with pedagogical issues rather than problems, examining the entry point of a new message can
which may explain the differences in time, re- help to clarify the dynamics of the community
sponses and patterning. Perhaps the difference in discussion. The unique characteristics of electronic
triggers, such as discussions concerning issues, text, or hypertext, such as non-linear capabilities
which were comprised largely of messages offer- results in communicative acts that have the po-
ing personal opinions or suggestions, could be an tential to be more dynamic than more traditional
explanation for the complexity of these patterns. forms of communication. Cursory examinations of
The three thread patterns that emerged provided discussion threads have shown that some are more
a clearer understanding of the nature of discus- detailed or result in a larger group participating
sion threads. It would appear that some discus- in them, whilst some are quite short or limited.
sion threads had a short period of sustainability Understanding how these threads differ helps to
(regular cluster threads) as communities dealt create a clearer picture of the nature and structure
with problems or issues quickly. Some discus- of electronic discussions.
189
The graphical mapping tool presented here is Combs Turner, T., Smith, M. A., Fisher, D., &
unique due to the freedom is has from an underly- Welser, H. T. (2005). Picturing Usenet: Mapping
ing theoretical framework. This enables it to be computer-mediated collective action. Journal
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The approach presented here was with a conver- article 7. Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/
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192
Chapter 10
A Tool to Study the Evolution
of the Domain of a Distributed
Community of Practice
Gilson Yukio Sato
Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil
Hilton Jos Silva de Azevedo

Federal University of Technology - Paran, Brazil
Jean-Paul Barths
Universit de Technologie de Compigne, France
ABSTRACT
Virtual communities and distributed communities of practice leave traces of their activities that are a
valuable source of research material. At the same time, studying this kind of community requires new
methods, techniques and tools. In this chapter, we present the Community Agent: a tool to follow the
evolution of the domain of a distributed Community of Practice. Such a tool aims at obtaining and pre-
senting graphically some indicators to study the evolution of the domain of a Community of Practice
and the participation of its members. We present the implementation of the Community Agent, the results
obtained in the preliminary tests and an example of how the agent could be used to study distributed
communities.
INTRODUCTION methods and techniques used to study collocated

groups are inadequate to study their distributed
Virtual Communities and Distributed Communi- counterparts.
ties of Practice (CoPs) are an exciting research Interacting through the Internet, communities
subject. As they cannot rely exclusively on face- leave traces of their activities that constitute a vast
to-face interactions, they usually interact through research material. This material offers innumer-
Internet based tools, ranging from email to vir- able research opportunities, but the amount of
tual environments. Under such circumstances, documents to analyze is challenging. Moreover,
part of these documents (e.g. email messages, chat
transcriptions) are unstructured and use informal
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch010
A Tool to Study the Evolution of the Domain of a Distributed Community of Practice
language. To face this challenge, a set of adequate learning, meaning and identity by Wenger (1998).
methods, techniques and tools is necessary. The third phase can be represented by the book
This chapter aims at presenting the Community Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to
Agent (CA), a tool that is potentially useful to managing knowledge by Wenger et al. (2002).
study virtual communities and Distributed CoPs. In the first phase, Lave and Wenger (1991)
The tool is based on the idea of a control panel concentrate on the concepts of Situated Learning
(or a dashboard) that shows indicators of how a and Legitimate Peripheral Participation, leaving
device is operating. The CA presents indicators the notion of CoPs in a second plan. In contrast,
of the evolution of the domain and the participa- Brown and Duguid (2000) consider CoPs as a
tion of the members of a distributed community. management tool to support learning and innova-
We open the chapter discussing some issues tion in companies. In the second phase, Wenger
about CoPs and indicators for distributed groups. (1998), leaning to the path indicated by Brown
Then, we describe a tool to study distributed CoPs: and Duguid (2000), puts the notion of CoPs in the
the CA, and its implementation. To complete such center of the stage, developing it and its relations
a description, we illustrate how the CA could be with other concepts such as identity, meaning and
used to analyze the community domain and its engagement. The third phase is more prescriptive,
members participation. To finish the chapter, Wenger et al. (2002) develop recommendations to
we present some conclusions and future research apply CoPs in Knowledge Management initiatives.
directions. In the third phase, a less deep and complex
approach is used, but some concepts can be use-
ful to analyze CoPs. In the third phase, CoP is
DISTRIBUTED COMMUNITIES defined a group of people who share a concern,
OF PRACTICE a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and
who deepen their knowledge and expertise in the
The notion of Communities of Practice (CoPs) corresponding area by interacting on an ongoing
was created by Lave and Wenger (1991) in their basis (Wenger et al., 2002).
seminal work Situated Learning: Legitimate A structural model of CoPs is also developed.
Peripheral Participation. Since then, it has been It combines three elements: (i) a domain of
used in domains such as Education and Knowledge knowledge; (ii) a community of people; and (iii)
Management (Examples inExamples inExamples a shared practice. The domain defines a set of is-
in: Barton & Tusting, 2005; Hildreth & Kimble, sues and legitimizes the community by affirming
2004; Hughes, Jewson, & Unwin, 2007; Wenger, its purpose and value to its members. The domain
McDermott, & Snyder, 2002). motivates members participation and contribution
Cox (2005) and Kimble (2006) agree that the and helps them to define what activities should
evolution of the notion passed through three phases be performed. The community creates the social
and that, in each of them, the notion underwent fabric of learning and fosters interactions and
important changes. Two key works of the first relationships based on mutual respect and trust.
phase are the already mentioned work by Lave This kind of relationship creates an environment
and Wenger (1991) and the paper by Brown and encouraging people to share ideas, to expose their
Duguid (2000), Organizational Learning and ignorance, to ask questions and to listen care-
Communities of Practice: Toward a Unified View fully. The practice is a set of frameworks, ideas,
of Working, Learning, and Innovation originally tools, information, styles, languages, stories and
published in 1991. The work that defined the sec- documents that community members share. It
ond phase is the book Communities of practice:
193
represents the knowledge that the community cre- discussion board, use of the repository) and best
ates, shares and maintains (Wenger et al., 2002). scoring members are given prizes. The system
Although suggested in the second phase, when uses simple indicators that help to observe the
the notion of locality is discussed, distributed CoPs activity in the community, but we think that they
are defined in the third phase. In a distributed CoP, are not enough to study this community. Moreover,
members are distributed geographically and thus, we consider that the approach is inadequate for
cannot count on face-to-face meetings to interact. fostering a CoP.
Instead they use technological means such as vid- Lock Lee and Neff (2004) describe a system
eoconferencing, email and virtual environments specifically developed to support CoPs at BHP
(Wenger et al., 2002). Billiton. The system has functionalities that allow
In this section, we presented some definitions on-line group discussions, document sharing, news
that we used in our work. As the theoretical frame- broadcasting, requests for help and a directory of
work that involves the notion of CoP has passed members. Moreover, the system collects data about
through three phases, we considered important its own use in order to support the communitys
to make explicit that we are using mostly the coordinating team. The data is presented as maps
concepts of the third phase. of the existing social networks. Analyzing the
evolution of the maps in the time, it was possible
Indicators for Distributed COPs to observe the evolution of the CoP inside the
companys social network. Although this system
The tool described in this chapter aims at obtain- was conceived to support the coordination of CoPs,
ing and presenting graphically some indicators to it also presents a way to study distributed CoPs.
study the evolution of the domain of a CoP and the De Laat and Broer (2004) analyzed a CoP of
participation of its members. Indicators have been police officers working in drug prevention. The
used to motivate group members and to support CoP was using an ICT system called Police Discus-
the group coordination, but we consider that the sion Net (PDN) to share information and discuss
same kind of indicators could help researchers to relevant questions. As the interactions among
study distributed CoPs. members were stored in the system, the research-
Ackerman and Starr (1995) used various social ers were able to study the interaction patterns
activity indicators to improve the utilization rate by analyzing the content of the discourse. Such
of a groupware. The idea was to demonstrate patterns were visualized in a multi-dimensional
the intensity of the groups activity to motivate scaling plot. The research helped to identify the
members to participate. They developed a system community core members and to verify the inex-
to analyze messages exchanged in a synchronous istence of sub-groups. De Laat and Broer (2004)
chat application and to extract some indicators used some indicators to study a CoP, as we intend
as: presence of a new message, level of activity to do using the tool presented in our work.
in subgroups, and social network diagram. The We consider that an adequate set of indicators
system was created to motivate members of a can successfully help to study and understand
group to use a groupware, but we consider that distributed CoPs. Most works presented in this
the kind of social indicators it captures can be section intend to support virtual groups, but they
useful to study groups as CoPs. suggest various indicators that can be part of a set
Gouvea et al. (2006) use indicators to motivate of indicators to study distributed CoPs.
members to participate in a CoP. This CoP uses a
virtual environment that attributes scores to each
action taken by a member (e.g. participation in the
194
A TOOL TO STUDY The Number of Messages and Number of

DISTRIBUTED COPs Participants graphs could be useful to verify the
fluctuation in the intensity of the community
The Community Agent (CA) was originally con- activity and to identify members who tend to
ceived to support the coordination of distributed monopolize discussions. Moreover, it could be
CoPs. The idea was to show to the community useful to observe which subjects boost the partici-
coordinators when they should act to keep the com- pation of the community members or to observe
munity in good health (Sato, 2008). But analyzing the effects of the introduction of a new member
the results provided by the tool, we concluded that or a new artifact. The Levels of Participation
they could be useful to study distributed CoPs. graph could suggest who are the core, the active,
and the peripheral members of the community. It
The Community Agent (CA) cannot be used as a reference, as it uses a limited
source of information, but it could help to study
The CA analyses messages that members post in a the members participation in the community. This
community discussion list in order to create graphs graph could also give clues about the trajectory of
representing the content of the messages and the community members. As a member changes
members participation. Two structural elements her level of participation, she establishes a trajec-
of CoPs can be analyzed: the community domain tory inside the community.
and the participation of community members. The set concerning the community domain is
The CA has a mailbox, as a regular community formed by four graphs:
member, to receive messages from the discussion
list. It processes the messages and creates seven 1. Number of Messages in each Category graph;
graphical representations. Two different sets of 2. Distance among Messages graph;
the graphs can be identified, a set concerning 3. Frequency of the Macro-concepts graph;
the community domain and other concerning 4. Distance among Macro-concepts graph.
members participation. The set concerning the
community members participation is formed by The CA classifies messages in pre-defined
three graphs: categories. The Number of Messages in each
Category graph is a bar graph in which bars in-
1. Number of Messages graph; dicate the number of messages in each category.
2. Number of Participants graph; The messages of the past seven days are consid-
3. Levels of Participation graph. ered. The Distance among Messages graph is
a multi-dimensional scaling plot. The distance
The Number of Messages and Number of among messages is defined by the similarity of
Participants graphs are bar graphs that show, re- the contents of the messages. The Frequency of
spectively, the number of messages submitted to the Macro-concepts graph is a bar graph in which
the discussion list in the last seven days and the each bar represents the number of occurrences
number of community members that participate of a given macro-concept in the last seven days.
in these discussions. The Levels of Participation We defined macro-concepts as a term that groups
graph is more complex. It shows the members, the occurrences of a set of related terms. The
who posted in the discussion list in the last 30 Distance among Macro-concepts graph is also a
days, classified in three levels of participation: multi-dimensional scaling plot, but the distances
low, medium and high. represent how macro-concepts occur in similar
contexts.
195
The Number of Messages in each Category In this sub-section, we described the CA and
graph could indicate fluctuations in the commu- the indicators it is able to present. We also sug-
nity domain. The number of messages in a given gest some ways to use these indicators. In the
category could indicate more or less concern about next section, we present the techniques used to
the subject of the category. Moreover, analyzing implement the CA.
the graphs in time, some aspects of the evolution
of the community domain could be observed. The Implementation
Distance among Messages graph could indicate
different interests of the community. It could also The Community Agent (CA) was implemented
help to identify sub-communities inside a CoP. using the multi-agent platform OMAS (Open
The Frequency of the Macro-concepts and Dis- Multi-Agent System) (Barths, 2003). We choose
tance among Macro-concepts graphs could be used the multi-agent technology due to its distributed
to follow changes and trends in the community character and its flexibility. The CA has three
domain. Moreover, they could help to analyze the major skills: to read email messages, to process
relationships among macro-concepts in a specific them and to present the information extracted from
community. For example, if the use of technology the messages. In this section, we describe how
is an important subject for the community, the the CA processes email messages (Sato, 2008).
macro-concept Technology might be frequent The implementation of the Number of Mes-
in the Frequency of the Macro-concepts graph. sages and the Number of Participants graphs is
In the Distance among Macro-concepts graph, if simple. Both graphs use information extracted
the macro-concept Technology is near the other from the email messages headers. The implementa-
macro-concepts, it probably indicates that the use tion of the Levels of Participation graph (Figure 1)
of technology is an issue for all community. But is more complex. The CA computes the number
if the macro-concept Technology is distant from of participations of each member and uses the
the other important concepts, it could indicate the Fisher Algorithm (Hartigan, 1975) to classify the
emergence of sub-community interested just in participation in three levels: low, medium and high
the technological aspect. participation. The Fisher Algorithm determines
Figure 1. Levels of participation graph
196
the optimal partition of a population (community similarity of the contents of the messages. If two
members), characterized for only one variable circles are placed near each other, the content of
(number of messages in the last 30 days), in a the messages that they represent are similar. To
pre-established number of classes (low, medium facilitate visualization, it is possible to change
and high participation). the colors of the circles. For this, the user should
To classify the email messages for the Number choose a message as a reference (anchor) and then
of Messages in each Category graph, we chose a use the scroll bar to choose a reference distance. As
technique elaborated by Enembreck to classify the user changes the reference distance, messages
documents (Enembreck, 2003). The idea of cen- whose distance to the anchor is smaller than the
troid and the discriminative power of each term reference distance, change their color.
are associated in this technique. Each category is To calculate the distance among messages, the
represented by a centroid that is calculated using CA represents each message as a normalized vec-
a set of example-messages. Each example-mes- tor with the frequency of terms. Using these vec-
sage is represented by a TF-IDF (Term Frequen- tors, it calculates a matrix (message X message)
cy Inverse Document Frequency) vector and with the Euclidean distances between every pair
the centroid is calculated from these vectors. When of messages. Applying on such a matrix the Multi
classifying a new message, the CA calculates a Dimensional Scaling (MDS) method (Cox and
vector for the new message and compares it with Cox, 1994; Young, 1985), the CA obtains the
the centroid of each category. In this comparison coordinates of each message (circle).
the discriminative power of each term is also In order to build the Frequency of the Macro-
considered. concepts graph (Figure 3), it is necessary to group
The Distance among Messages graph (Figure the occurrences of a set of terms under a unique
2) is a multi-dimensional scaling plot that repre- term that we called macro-concept. For example,
sents each message as a circle. The size of a circle the occurrences of Internet, WWW, and web
is proportional to the number of terms (relevant are grouped in the Internet macro-concept. Or,
to the community) in the message. The distance the terms evaluation, added-value, results are
among circles (messages) is proportional to the considered under the macro-concept evaluation.
Figure 2. Distance among messages graph
197
Figure 3. Frequency of the macro-concepts graph
To group synonyms and related terms under a rences of the macro-concept in the messages. The
macro-concept, we used an ontology. CA applies the Latent Semantic Analysis method
The Distance among Macro-concepts graph (Landauer, 1998) to the matrix formed with the
(Figure 4) is also a multi-dimensional scaling plot. macro-concepts vectors in order to make more
Circles in the graph represent macro-concepts and evident the macro-concepts used in similar con-
the size of the circles is proportional to the num- texts. With these vectors, the CA calculates a
ber of occurrences of the macro-concept in the matrix with the Euclidean distances between
messages. To establish the distance among every pair of macro-concepts. As for the Distance
macro-concepts, the CA calculates a vector for among Messages graph, the CA applies the MDS
each macro-concept. Each coordinate in these method to obtain the coordinates of each macro-
vectors corresponds to the number of occur- concept.
Figure 4. Distance among macro-concepts graph
198
In this sub-section, in order to better explain the period of analysis was too short, members
the graphs presented by the CA, we described the trajectories into and inside the group were not
techniques that were used to calculate and present observable.
such graphs. One of the aspects of the group we sought to
observe with the Distance among Messages graph
Using the Community Agent was the formation of sub-groups. The idea was to
analyze messages in the same area of the graph
To exemplify the use of the CA, we analyzed and verify if the authors of such messages would
the messages posted in the com-prac discus- form a sub-group. Analyzing the graph, we could
sion list. It is a list about CoPs that runs in the observe that similar messages were assembled in
Yahoo! Groups. com-prac cannot be qualified the same region of the graph. However, analyz-
as a distributed CoP, but the idea was to test the ing carefully the content of such messages, we
CA with the content of a real discussion list. We noticed that there were different assemblages of
collected data representing the period of 105 days messages for the same subject. We also observed
and obtained seven sets of 15 graphs (Sato, 2008). that the assemblages of messages discussing the
Associating the Number of Messages, the same subject could be more distant from each
Number of Participants and the Frequency of the other that an assemblage discussing a different
Macro-concepts graphs, we could observe that the subject. Analyzing the CA, we concluded that we
level of the activity in the list tended to fluctuate might improve the ontology in certain subjects.
according to the subjects discussed. Subjects like We consider that using the Distance among
the coordination of CoPs or technology for CoPs Macro-concepts graph it is possible to analyze the
would draw the interest of more members and community domain. Using the macro-concepts
originate a peak in the groups level of activity. Community of Practice, Community and Prac-
We could also observe that key members of the tice together as a reference assemblage, we could
group tended to participate in almost all discus- observe the subjects that the group considered the
sions. On the other side, members that are active, most relevant: the coordination of CoPs and the
but not key to the group, tended to participate in technology for CoPs. Analyzing the sequence of
discussion about a specific subject. fifteen Distance among Macro-concepts graphs,
When observing the Number of Messages we observed that the macro-concepts Coordi-
and the Frequency of the Macro-concepts graphs nation and Technology appear frequently and
together, it was also possible to notice that, in that they were usually located near the reference
the peaks of activity, different subjects had been assemblage.
discussed. So, discussions about coordination To illustrate the use of the Distance among
of CoPs and technologies for CoPs could occur Macro-concepts graph, we analyzed two graphs.
almost concurrently. It seems that the activity in In both we use the macro-concepts Community
the list induced more activity in the list. of Practice, Community and Practice as a
Analyzing the Levels of participation graph, reference assemblage. In the first graph (Figure
we reinforced the notion that key members of 5), we could observe that the macro-concept
the group tend to participate in almost all discus- Coordination is nearer the reference assemblage
sions. When classified by levels of participation, than the macro-concepts Technology and Par-
key members had high levels of participation. ticipation. The proximity between Coordination
Moreover, during the analyzed period they tended and the reference is due a discussion about the
to keep such a level. The participation of some substitution of coordinators in communities. The
members fluctuated and one of the causes of this macro-concept Participation is not so far from the
variation seems to be the discussed subjects. As reference because such discussion also refers to the
199
Figure 5. First graph
other members, their reactions and the community engagement, the leadership, etc), the second
development. Another discussion represented in concerns the Wikipedia entry about communities
this graph contains messages concerning back- of practice and the Wikipedia itself. The first
channeling. The Technology macro-concept subject explains the proximity of Coordination
is further from the reference because this subject and the second the proximity of Technology.
was much less discussed than the substitution of In this section, we presented how the Com-
the coordinator. munity Agent could be used to study a distrib-
In the second graph (Figure 6), the distances uted CoP. Using the CA it is possible to observe
between Technology and the reference and the fluctuation in the level of participation, the
between Coordination and the reference are members behavior, the most relevant subjects
similar because the subjects concerning two and the evolution of the domain. We consider that
macro-concepts were discussed with a similar this kind of indicator could help to study a dis-
intensity. The first subject concerns religion/ tributed CoP.
church as a CoP (from the perspective of the
Figure 6. Second graph
200
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS CONCLUSION
The CA is still a research prototype and it should Although developed to support the coordination
be tested and refined in order to be effectively of distributed CoPs, the Community Agent could
used as a tool to study CoPs. It is possible to use be used as a tool to help the study of distributed
it to study some aspects of CoPs as illustrated in CoPs. It provides graphs with information about
this chapter, but its interface and functionalities the community domain and the participation of its
should be improved. Its interface should be more members. Using the CA, we were able to observe
dynamic because, in the prototype, the user can the fluctuation in the level of participation, the
not choose the period of time used for the analysis members behavior, the most relevant subjects and
(we used seven days or 30 days). Furthermore, the evolution of the domain of a group participat-
as the visualization is not flexible, users can not ing in a discussion list.
choose the time period covered by the visualization We consider that the elaboration of methods,
and need to print the results to analyze them. For techniques and tools to study distributed CoP is a
both limitations, there are potential technological stimulating research subject. Although distributed
solutions available that should be evaluated. CoPs share some characteristics with their col-
As each community demands a specific ontol- located counterparts, geographically distributed
ogy and the CA is sensitive to the quality of the members face different problems as the distance
ontology, it is interesting to use a methodology to among members, the lack of awareness of other
build such an ontology. A methodology should help members, the higher number of members and the
to improve its quality by improving the repeat- different cultural mindsets (Wenger et al., 2002).
ability and the traceability of the ontology building We consider that such problems also affect the
process. A tool to help to semi-automatically build way they should be studied, thus methods and
an ontology could be also useful. techniques used to study collocated CoPs should
To improve the functionalities of the CA, tech- be adapted to the circumstances of distributed ones
niques for document classification, data mining, and new methods and techniques should be devel-
text summarization and others should be analyzed. oped. As distributed CoPs rely on technological
As the CA is developed in a Multi-agent platform, means to operate, we consider that computational
agents implementing such techniques should be tools are also necessary to study them. However,
developed and associated with the CA. as the technology can only enable a distributed
As the CA was first conceived to support the CoP, a tool to study them should be conceived in
coordination of CoPs, it is not associated to a association with a method.
method to study CoPs. We consider it a significant
limitation in our work, but there are some options
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204
205
Chapter 11
Exploring Virtual Communities
with the Internet Community
Text Analyzer (ICTA)
Anatoliy Gruzd
Dalhousie University, Canada
ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a new web-based system called ICTA (http://netlytic.org) for automated analysis
and visualization of online conversations in virtual communities. ICTA is designed to help researchers
and other interested parties derive wisdom from large datasets. The system does this by offering a set of
text mining techniques coupled with useful visualizations. The first part of the chapter describes ICTAs
infrastructure and user interface. The second part discusses two social network discovery procedures
used by ICTA with a particular focus on a novel content-based method called name networks. The main
advantage of this method is that it can be used to transform even unstructured Internet data into social
network data. With the social network data available it is much easier to analyze, and make judgments
about, social connections in a virtual community.
INTRODUCTION answer questions like: how and why one virtual

community emerges and another dies, how people
In the age of cheap digital data storage more and agree on common practices and rules in a virtual
more online interactions among people are being community, and how they share knowledge and
captured and stored for posterity. This treasure information among group members. Answers to
trove of data represents a unique opportunity these and other related questions will allow us to
for social scientists and Internet researchers to understand basic processes such as how people
study and better understand the inner workings meet, communicate, and establish social relation-
of virtual communities. Researchers can now ships. It will also help practitioners to develop
easily scrutinize these recorded interactions and new technologies to better serve the information
needs of different communities. For instance,
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch011 social networking websites like Facebook and
Exploring Virtual Communities with the Internet Community Text Analyzer (ICTA)
MySpace are good examples of how advance- provide a more secured and easier way to share
ments in information technology can help people private content with trusted individuals within
form and support a much larger number of online the so-called Web of Trust (e.g., Golbeck, 2008;
relationships than has ever been possible before. Matsuo et.al., 2004). Finally, companies can use
However, this avalanche of online data can be online social networks to recruit talented individu-
overwhelming for both researchers and the public als (e.g., Leung, 2003), find experts (Ehrlich et al,
at large. Thus, it is not surprising that there is an 2007; Li et al, 2007), organize more effective vir-
increasing interest in the ability to retrieve and tual marking campaigns (e.g., Domingos, 2005),
analyze online data generated by virtual com- or build brand loyalty using customer networks
munities automatically. (Thompson & Sinha, 2008).
This chapter presents a web-based system for
automated analysis and visualization of online
conversations called the Internet Community Text RELATED WORK
Analyzer (ICTA). The system is available at http://
netlytic.org. The main goal of ICTA is to automate Research on automated analysis and visualization
the process of analyzing and visualizing text-based of online conversations can be grouped according
communal interactions and provide researchers to the various types of computer-mediated com-
and other interested parties with effective auto- munication (CMC) technology presently in use.
mated methods to study virtual communities. This Below is a brief overview of some of the research
system was primarily tested with online learning on the four most popular CMC and online media
communities, but it can also be used to analyze a types: emails, online forums, blogs, and twitter.
wide variety of other types of text-based virtual This review is not meant to be exhaustive; its
communities. This chapter describes the develop- primary purpose is to provide a general overview
ment of ICTA, its infrastructure and user interface. of common methods used for analyzing and
In particular it focuses on a new method called visualizing online conversations and to give the
name network that allows users to automatically reader a starting point for further reading. Social
extract social networks from text-based computer networking (SN) websites such as Facebook and
mediated communication. Once discovered, social MySpace are not reviewed separately since these
networks can provide researchers with an effective sites often utilize one or more of the popular CMC
mechanism for studying collaborative processes types that will be discussed below.
in virtual communities such as shared knowledge
construction, information sharing, influence, and Emails
support. In addition to being useful for research-
ers, social networks can also help web develop- Social network analysis (SNA) is one of the
ers to improve online recommendation systems most common methods for studying email-based
by analyzing the preferences of other users with interactions. Email data contains characteristics
similar interests (e.g., Amazon.com, Netflix.com) that naturally fit with the network model; for
or provide new browsing capabilities for online example, senders and receivers form uniquely
information (e.g., Silobreaker.com). For example, identifiable nodes within a network, and email
with a social network representation of news it traffic can be used to establish links between the
is now possible to trace explicit or implicit con- nodes in the network. Among scholars who used
nections between events and individuals involved SNA to study email data are Diesner and Carley
in the news (Pouliquen et al, 2007; Tanev, 2007). (2005) and Lim et al. (2007). Both of these re-
Information about online social networks can also search teams used SNA to discover and analyze
206
communication networks from email exchanges thread trees and communication networks (based
among employees of Enron, a US energy com- on who replies to whom data) and displayed
pany that collapsed due to massive fraud in 2002. popular Usenet groups using a hierarchical display
Their research demonstrated that use of the SNA of topical clusters. Like Smith, Chin-Lung et al.
method and network representation of online (2002) also focused on the analysis of Usenet
conversations were very useful for tracking and newsgroups. These researchers built social net-
detecting anomalies in the communication patterns works based on the who replies to whom data,
of Enrons employees during the collapse of the and then used the discovered networks to study
company. In addition to using who sends emails interactions among group members and to look
to whom data, Venolia and Neustaedter (2003) for leading authors. Another group of researchers
also used temporal information to group email that have worked with Usenet data is Lam and
messages into conversations. By grouping long Donath (2005). Their research took them down
conversation threads together, they were able to a different path that involved the use of anima-
create a new way to visualize email data and in the tion to represent social interactions in Usenet
process also made it much easier to comprehend newsgroups. For example, in one of their novel
and handle large-size email archives. Another interfaces for visualizing Usenet conversations,
common method to study email-based interactions each thread is displayed as a moving square in
involves the use of clustering algorithms. For the path of a sine wave. The speed represents
instance, Sudarsky and Hjelsvold (2002) applied how active the thread is, and the frequency and
a clustering algorithm on domain names found in amplitude represent how recent the thread is. The
email addresses to build a hierarchical view of main benefit of using animation is that it makes
email data combined with a temporal visualiza- it possible to represent additional characteristics
tion. This additional way to visualize email data of a virtual community on one screen. The disad-
allowed researchers to reduce the search space, vantage is that animated visualization tends to be
and eliminate the difficult task of filing messages less self-explanatory and may require additional
into folders (p. 3). For more references on e-mail training for the user of the animation.
research, see a detailed review by Ducheneaut
and Watts (2005). Blogs
Online Forums Although blogs are not considered to be a tradi-

tional CMC technology, people do often use blogs
Another popular CMC used by virtual communi- to form and maintain explicit or implicit connec-
ties are online forums. Marc Smith and his col- tions with others on the Internet (Blanchard, 2004;
leagues have done extensive research in automated Dennen and Pashnyak, 2008). As with emails and
analysis and visualization of messages posted by forums, one of the most common forms of repre-
members of different Usenet newsgroups, a type senting social interconnectivity in the blogosphere
of online forum; a few of their publications in is to use network visualization. Network visual-
this area include Smith and Fiore (2001); Vigas ization has been used to represent links between
and Smith (2004); Welser et al. (2007). As part different blogs (e.g., Chin and Chignell, 2007;
of their research, they proposed different ways to Herring et al., 2005; Lin et al., 2007; Pikas, 2008),
represent communication patterns among Usenet topics that are being discussed in the blogosphere
members as well as ways to represent the content of (e.g., Tirapat et al., 2006) and most recently links
the members communication. For example, they between blog readers on a single blog (e.g., Gruzd,
visualized communication patterns in a form of 2009b). There are also some researchers who did
207
not rely on network visualization to analyze the ter: friends (defined as who replies to whom)
blogosphere. Tseng et al. (2005) developed an and followers (defined as who follows whom).
interesting visualization called a mountain view They found that Twitter users have a very small
for representing different topical communities number of friends compared to the number of fol-
among different blogs. Their visualization is a two lowers (n.p.). In Honeycutt and Herring (2009),
dimensional graph consisting of a series of peaks so-called VisualDTA diagrams were used to plot
and valleys, where peaks represent authoritative the evolution of topics in a conversation over time.
blogs and valleys represent blog-connectors that This was done to determine whether people use
tend to link to authoritative blogs. Indratmo et Twitter to carry on a conversation with others.
al. (2008) developed an interactive visualization The researchers found that although Twitter was
called iBlogVis for browsing blog posts and com- not originally designed for collaborative work
ments on a single blog. In iBlogVis, a blog entry and conversations, these types of interaction can
is displayed as a diamond shape and a line; [t] and do happen there.
he diamond shape provides an interface to view In addition to the academic studies highlighted
the content of an entry, while the length of a line above, many web developers have also devised
represents the number of characters in an entry some very novel visualization techniques to
(p. 41). Finally, there also has been some work explore the mountains of textual data being cre-
done in text summarization of blog posts and com- ated by Twitter users. One type of visualization
ments. Recent research in this direction includes that has caught on with developers in the Twitter
that of Asbagh et al. (2009) and Hu et al. (2007). information space is geo visualization. These geo
Their approaches attempt to find the main topics visualizations usually involve plotting tweets on
of a blog based on sentences extracted from blog a geographic map (usually using Google Maps)
entries and/or comments posted by blog readers. in real-time. Some examples include Trendsmap
(http://trendsmap.com), GeoMe (http://www.
Twitter geome.me), and GeoChirp (http://www.geochirp.
com). These systems analyze users posts from
Most recently research on virtual communities has Twitter to discover popular topics in the form
shifted to Twitter, a popular new micro-blogging of keywords and then display those keywords
platform for people to share short messages or on a map based upon where geographically
tweets (no more than 140 characters long) about those keywords were originally posted. Another
what they are currently doing. Twitter users can popular class of visualizations attempts to sum-
also read or follow other peoples tweets. Like marize activities of a specific user on Twitter. For
blogs, Twitter was originally designed as a one example, Twitter-Friends (http://twitter-friends.
way communication medium. Recent research com) visualizes some general statistics about a
on Twitter suggests that users of this platform particular user such as: the overlap of outgoing
are also using it to carry out in-depth conversa- and incoming connections, the number of replies
tions and to maintain online relationships (boyd received per day, and so on. The site can also build
et al., 2009; Gruzd et al., 2009; Wellman et al., and visualize a network of who follows whom on
2009). Recently two separate studies about Twitter Twitter. Other similar websites like Twitalyzer
were conducted by Huberman et al. (2009) and (http://www.twitalyzer.com) and Tweetypants
Honeycutt and Herring (2009). Huberman et al. (http://tweetypants.com) can calculate usersinflu-
(2009) used automated analysis and network vi- ence on Twitter by using automated text analysis
sualization techniques to build and compare two of their recent tweets.
different types of social networks found on Twit-
208
Thus far, research in this area has yielded a on How to study recorded online conversations
number of helpful visualization techniques for of virtual communities using ICTA, followed by
studying virtual communities. However, all of a detailed description of social network discovery
the various techniques discussed above tend to be techniques available in ICTA.
CMC-specific. They do not allow researchers to
plug in their own conversational data for analysis
and visualization. The author of this chapter is at- INTERNET COMMUNITY
tempting to fill this need by developing the ICTA TEXT ANALYZER (ICTA)
web tool, which incorporates techniques from both
content analysis (CA) and social network analysis Background
(SNA) for automated analysis and visualization
of online text-based communication. This project started in 2006 as a way to make
Currently, there are a few existing projects on sense of a large archive of bulletin board post-
the Internet that should be mentioned here. These ings from eight online classes collected over a
projects broadly share some of the functional- period of four years. Each class in this archive
ities of ICTA; however, for the most part they generated on average of about 1500 postings.
are designed for other fields and have different However, aside from manually reading each of
implementation and goals in mind. Some examples the postings, there were few other options for
include visualization tools like Swivel1 and IBMs analyzing such a large amount of data. The first
Many Eyes2 that allow anybody to upload some version of ICTA v1.0 was developed and presented
data and then visualize it by selecting one of the at the Communities and Technologies conference
available visualizations such as graphs, charts, in 2007. ICTA v1.0 facilitated searching the text
histograms, etc. There are some major differ- from these eight classes. The main screen of this
ences between these pure visualization tools and tool provided the user with a means to select the
ICTA. First, these tools are not tuned to work with class and bulletin board(s) to be analyzed. During
CMC-type data. They mostly work with data that the analysis the system generated a tag cloud to
is already organized in a table format such as a show popular topics (nouns and noun phrases) in
table of top 50 US companies that made the most the selected bulletin boards (see Figure 1). The
money in 2008 and their corresponding revenues. size of a topic within the cloud correlated with
Second, these online tools provide only top-level its frequency count; the higher the frequency, the
visualizations without interactive features that larger the word would appear. By clicking on any
would allow researchers to explore and delve into topic, ICTA v1.0 returned a list of all instances
their datasets at different levels of granularity. Fi- where that particular topic was located within the
nally, the visualization tools mentioned here lack dataset (see Figure 2). And by clicking on any of
some basic security features. Most researchers are the instances the user could see the full posting.
working with private datasets; at the very least they Alternatively, the user could also search by simply
all want some control over who can have access to typing a desired term into a text box, ICTA then
their dataset and view the results. In sum, Swivel returned a list of all instances where that particular
and IBMs Many Eyes are easy to use and good term was found (if it was present in the dataset).
for the public since they allow for basic visualiza- The 2006-2007 LEEP language study con-
tions, sharing, and discussion over the Internet. ducted together with Professor Caroline Hay-
But for the reasons mentioned above these tools thornthwaite (Haythornthwaite & Gruzd, 2007)
are not satisfactory for researchers whose needs showed that this system was useful in the pre-
are very different. The rest of this chapter will be liminary exploration of large datasets and in the
209
Figure 1. An interactive tag cloud showing the top 30 (user adjustable) topics automatically extracted
from all messages posted in July 2009 to the Internet Researchers listserv
identification of important topics being discussed operation of an online community. For example,
by group members and their changes over time. using a simple automated text analysis we can
This first study with ICTA also led to two impor- easily tell that there are many disagreement-type
tant improvements. First, ICTA v1.0 did not have postings in a particular dataset; however, this
capabilities to upload a new dataset. As a result information alone does not tell us whether the
the first improvement to the next version of ICTA postings are coming from just a few members
was to add an interface where anybody can create who tend to disagree with each other or are a
their own account and upload their own dataset general characteristic of this particular commu-
for further analysis with ICTA. Second, ICTA nity as a whole. To increase the range of types of
v1.0 primarily focused on the text analysis of research questions that a researcher could address
online interactions. Although useful, text analysis with ICTA, a social network discovery and visu-
alone does not provide a complete picture of an alization component was added to the system.
online community. It does not take into account This new component in ICTA can use both traffic-
relationships between group members that may based (who talks to whom) and content-based
also provide important insights into the internal data to automatically extract social network in-
Figure 2. A web interface within ICTA that shows all instances where the word Wikipedia was located
within the sample dataset
210
Figure 3. A visualization feature (stacked graph) within ICTA showing the use of important topics over time
formation and offer visual representations of the v1.0 described above to build concise summaries
analysis. of the communal textual discourse. This is done
by extracting the most descriptive terms (usually
User Interface nouns and noun phrases) and presenting them in
the form of interactive concept clouds or stacked
Below is a brief description of ICTAs interface graphs that show the use of important topics over
and functionalities. time (see Figure 3).
A user starts by importing a dataset, which Another feature that is available in the text
is done by uploading a file or by specifying the analysis step is to define different groups or
location of an external repository. Currently ICTA categories of words/phrases/patterns (so-called
can parse text-based interactions stored in one of linguistic markers), count how many instances of
three formats: XML (e.g., RSS feeds), MySQL each category are in a dataset and then display
database, or a Comma Separated Values (CSV3) them in the form of a treemap view (see Figure
text file. After the data is imported, the second 4). Using this functionality a researcher, for ex-
step is to remove any text that may be considered ample, can define and use categories consisting
as noise. This is an optional step that is primarily of various linguistic markers that have been shown
designed to remove redundant or duplicate text that to be useful in identifying instances of social,
has been carried forward from prior messages. To cognitive, and/or meta-cognitive processes such
accomplish this ICTA simply removes all lines that as decision-making, problem-solving, question-
start with a symbol commonly indicating quotation answering, etc (see for example, Alpers et al.,
such as > or :. But a user is not restricted to just 2005; Corich et al., 2006; Pennebaker & Graybeal,
these two symbols. In fact, in the expert mode, 2001). For demonstration purposes, ICTA comes
it is possible to remove almost any text patterns with several commonly used categories such as
such as URLs or email addresses from messages agreement, disagreement, uncertainty, social
using a mechanism called regular expression4. presence, etc. Users can also modify the existing
After the data importing and cleansing steps categories to better reflect their research questions
are completed, the data is ready to be analyzed. or create their own categories.
In this stage, ICTA uses capabilities from ICTA
211
Figure 4. A visualization feature (treemap) within

choices to select from. ICTAs interface allows
ICTA of various predefined social, cognitive, and
users to fine tune many of the available param-
meta-cognitive categories found in the sample
eters and thresholds. After networks are built, they
dataset
can be visualized and explored using a built-in
network visualization tool. Users also have the
option of exporting the resulting networks to
other popular social network analysis programs
such as ORA5, Pajek6, UCINET7, or NodeXL8. In
addition to a number of basic visualization features
such as scaling, selecting cut off points to hide
weak nodes or ties9, ICTA can also display ex-
cerpts from messages exchanged between two
individuals to show the context of their relations.
The ability to call up and display excerpts from
messages makes it a lot easier to read a network
and understand why a particular tie exists. This
feature is activated by moving a mouse over an
edge connecting two nodes (see Figure 5).
AUTOMATED DISCOVERY OF
The final stage of analysis and the focal point
SOCIAL NETWORKS IN ICTA
of this chapter is the network analysis step which
includes the procedures for building so-called
This section presents two automated procedures
chain networks and name networks (described in
used in ICTA for discovery of social networks from
more detail in the next section). When building
text-based online interactions in a virtual com-
these networks from a CMC-type dataset, there
munity, focusing on the name network method,
are a lot of different parameters and threshold
Figure 5. ICTAs social network visualization showing connections among top participants on the Internet
Researchers listserv in July 2009
212
a key feature in ICTA. The section describes the many posters. So, although the chain network
procedures in the context of threaded discussions method provides some approximation of who
due to their wide acceptance and usage by various talks to whom data, such approximation is not
virtual communities. However, ICTA is capable very accurate.
of analyzing other online data types such as non- In the examples below if we were to rely on
threaded discussion lists, chats, and blogs. just the chain network to discover ties we would
miss some important connections. In Example
Chain Network Method 1, the chain network only finds one connection
between Sam and Gabriel. But there are actu-
Chain networks are built automatically using in- ally four possible connections with Sam. This is
formation from the posting headers, specifically because except for Gabriel, the other addressees
reference chains (a reference chain refers to a (Nick, Ann, and Gina) in the sample message
running list of group members who previously below were not among the people who had previ-
posted to a particular discussion thread.) ICTA ously posted to the thread. In Example 2, Fred is
provides four distinct options for building chain the first person who posted to the thread, thus the
networks: reference chain is empty. As a result, the chain
network method finds no connections in this
Option 1: Connecting a poster to the last posting. However, upon closer examination there
person in the reference chain only is actually one potential connection between the
Option 2: Connecting a poster to the poster Fred and a person named Dan, who has
last and first (thread starter) person in the not posted to the current thread.
chain, and assigning equal weight values
of 1 to both ties Example1:
Option 3: Same as option 2, but the tie FROM: Sam
between a poster and the first person is as- REFERENCE CHAIN: Gabriel
signed only half the weight (0.5) Nick, Ann, Gina, Gabriel: I apologize for not
Option 4: Connecting a poster to all peo- backing this up with a good source, but I
ple in the reference chain with decreasing know from reading about this topic that
weights libraries []
The chain network method operates under the Example 2:

assumption that the reference chain may reveal FROM: Fred
the addressee(s). More specifically, it is usually REFERENCE CHAIN: <empty>
assumed that a poster is replying to the immediately I wonder if that could be why other libraries
previous poster in the reference chain (a variation around the world have resisted changing
on this method is often used with email-type data; its too much work, and as Dan pointed out,
see for example, Hogan, 2008.) Unfortunately, the too expensive.
above mentioned assumption is not always true
in highly active, argumentative, and/or collabora- As an alternative and/or complement to the
tive communities such as online classes, or where chain network method, ICTA provides access to
many discussion topics may be in play at one time. another method called name network (developed
Furthermore, an individual may seem to respond by the author of this chapter). The name network
to one post but in the text refer to several others, method discussed in the following section over-
synthesizing and bringing together comments of
213
comes some of the inherent weaknesses of the For all remaining words, to determine whether
chain network method. a word is a personal name, the algorithm relies on
a dictionary of names and a set of general linguistic
Name Network Method rules derived manually. To find first names, the
procedure uses a dictionary containing over 5,000
This section outlines the implementation of the of the most frequently used first names in the
name network method and highlights some of the United States as reported by the US Census11. If
manual override features available in ICTA that a capitalized word is found right after a first name
can be used by researchers to further improve the this word is classified as a middle or last name.
accuracy of the resulting social network analysis. In addition to the dictionary, ICTA also relies
To develop the name network method, the best on an additional source of personal names - the
practices from the literature on computational From field in the message header (e.g., Culotta et
linguistics were relied on as the basis. A detailed al., 2004). In addition to a posters email address,
literature review of the best practices is available the From field sometimes includes his/her name
in Gruzd & Haythornthwaite (in press). In general, enclosed within a set of parentheses. To recognize
the name network method consists of two main names in the From field of the message header,
steps: node discovery and tie discovery. the algorithm uses a simple string matching pattern
that looks only for words found within the round
Node Discovery brackets (if any). For example, agruzd@gmail.
com (Anatoliy) will produce Anatoliy.
During this step all references to people in the To recognize names that are not likely to be
messages such as names, pronouns, and email found in the dictionary, such as nicknames, ab-
addresses are identified. Currently there are many breviated names, unconventional names, etc. for
software packages that can perform this task10. example AG or AnatoliyG the algorithm relies
However, many of them are weak in terms of on context words that usually indicate personal
execution speed and/or accuracy. Furthermore, names such as titles (e.g., Professor, Major, Ms.)
these packages are often trained on documents and greetings (e.g., Hi or Dear).
from newspaper or medical domains which tend To exclude personal names that are part of a
to have more formal and standardized spellings, building or organization name, such as the Ronald
capitalizations, and grammar rules. As a result, Reagan Presidential Library, the algorithm first
these packages are unsuitable for working with ignores all sequences of more than three capital-
CMC-type data which are filled with idiosyncratic ized words, and second removes phrases in which
spellings, capitalizations, and grammar. To address the last word is found in a pre-compiled list of
these limitations a hybrid approach to personal prohibited words such as Street or Ave.
name discovery was used. The approach attempts While the algorithm described above is very
to satisfy the following two criteria: (1) to pro- thorough, it is still not yet capable of achieving
cess messages in real-time and (2) to understand 100% accuracy. At this point in the process, in-
informal online texts. correctly spelled names may be missed and some
The algorithm works as follows. First, it re- possible false-positive words may still be on the
moves stop-words, such as and, the, to, of, etc. list. However, since accurate name extraction is
Second, the algorithm normalizes all remaining a vital foundational building block in automated
words by stripping all special symbols from the inference of social networks, the accuracy level
beginning and end of any word, including posses- should be as close to 100% as possible. To bridge
sives (e.g @Dan or Dans becomes Dan). the gap between automated name discovery and
214
Figure 6. A web interface within ICTA for editing extracted names: Top 30 names automatically extracted
from the Internet Researchers listserv for messages posted during July 2009
the desired 100% level of accuracy in the final list Hi Dustin, Sam and all, I appreciate your posts
of names, ICTA allows researchers to manually from this and last week []. I keep thinking
review and edit the list of extracted names (see of poor Charlie who only wanted information
Figure 6). This allows those with knowledge of the on dogs. [] Cheers, Wilma.
group members (e.g., knowing nicknames and full
names) and/or of the subject matter (knowing that As indicated in the header, this posting is from
references to Reagan may be to a library or airport wilma@bedrock.us, and it is a reply to the post
in the current context) to fine-tune the name list. by hle@gl.edu. And tank123@gl.edu is a person
The end result of this semi-automated name who actually started the thread. There are four
extraction procedure is a highly accurate list names in the posting: Dustin, Sam, Charlie, and
consisting of all occurrences of personal names Wilma. According to the algorithm, there will be
in the postings. connections between the poster wilma@bedrock.
us to each name in the posting:
Tie Discovery
wilma@bedrock.us - Dustin
After all network nodes consisting of previously wilma@bedrock.us Sam
extracted personal names are identified, the next wilma@bedrock.us Charlie
step is to uncover if and how these nodes are wilma@bedrock.us Wilma
interconnected. The algorithm used relies on the
content of messages to infer ties between people. There are a few problems with this initial ap-
It works under the assumption that the chance of proach. First, Wilma is a poster; so there is no need
two people sharing a social tie is proportional to for the wilma@bedrock.us Wilma connection.
the number of times each of them mentions the Second, what will happen if more than one person
other in his/her postings either as an addressee has the same name? For example, suppose that
or a subject person. As a way to quantify this as- there is more than one Sam in the group, how would
sumption, the algorithm adds a nominal weight we know which Sam is mentioned in this post-
of 1 to a tie between a poster and all names found ing? Conversely, there could be situations where
in each posting. Below is a sample posting that many different names can belong to one person.
attempts to demonstrate how the algorithm works: Furthermore, in the example above, Charlie is
not even a group member; he is just an imaginary
From: wilma@bedrock.us user. Ideally, the poster should not be connected
Reference Chain: tank123@gl.edu, hle@gl.edu to Charlie. To address these problems, ICTA uses
215
a name alias resolution algorithm. To disambigu- candidate, then the algorithm uses the email with
ate name aliases, the algorithm adopts a simple the highest level of confidence. However, in some
but effective approach that relies on associating cases selecting an email with the highest level of
names in the postings with email addresses in the confidence may produce an incorrect result. For
corresponding posting headers (further referred as example, in one of the sample datasets, there were
name-email associations). By learning name-email two Wilmas: wilma1@email.com with the confi-
associations, the algorithm knows that there are, dence level set to 27.45, and wilma2@email.com
for example, two Nicks because of the existence with the confidence level set to 18.83. If we were
of two associations for Nick with two different to select an email with the highest confidence
email addresses. level, then all mentions of Wilma in all postings
Finally, to achieve the highest level of accu- would be attributed to only wilma1@email.com.
racy on this task, a semi-automated approach was But of course this would be wrong since in some
adopted. A web interface was developed to allow instances it might be wilma2@email.com.
a manual correction of the extracted associations To ensure that the algorithm identifies the
(see Figure 7). For each email address that had at right Wilma, the following fail-safe measure was
least one name associated with it, ICTA displays implemented. If there is more than one email can-
a list of choices for possible aliases sorted by didate, the algorithm then relies on an additional
their confidence levels. Using this interface, a source of evidence the reference chain. First, it
researcher can easily remove and/or add a new identifies an overlap between email candidates for
name-email association by selecting a name from a name and emails from the reference chain. If
a list of all names found in the dataset from a drop the overlap is empty, then the algorithm proceeds
down menu. as usual and uses the email with the highest con-
After learning all possible name-email asso- fidence level (further referred to as the strongest
ciations and their overall confidence levels, the candidate). When the overlap is not empty, it
algorithm goes through all postings once again means that one or more email candidates have
to replace those names mentioned in the body of previously posted to the thread. Based on the
the postings that have been associated with at manual analysis of the sample dataset, the name
least one email. If a name has more than one email mentioned in the posting is more likely to belong
Figure 7. A web interface within ICTA for manual alias resolution
216
to an email candidate that is also in the reference judgments about social connections between
chain than to an email candidate that is not. Tak- community members.
ing this observation into consideration, if there ICTA in general and the name network
are two possible email candidates, as in the case method specifically have already proven to be
of Wilma, and the strongest candidate (wilma1@ useful in studying virtual learning communities
email.com) is not present in the reference chain, (Gruzd, 2009a; Haythornthwaite & Gruzd, 2007)
but the other candidate (wilma2@email.com) is, and is currently being tested in the context of
then the algorithm uses the one that is also in virtual communities among blog readers (Gruzd,
the reference chain. In cases where both email 2009b). Future research will include the evalua-
candidates have previously posted to the thread, tion of ICTA and the name network method on
the algorithm takes the candidate who has posted larger datasets from other domains such as: online
most recent posting to the thread. health support groups, communities of political
This section concludes the description of the bloggers, communities of YouTube contributors,
name network algorithm which consists of two and 3-dimensional virtual communities on Second
main steps: node discovery and tie discovery. Life. To effectively analyze datasets from such
diverse domains, the name alias algorithm at the
heart of the name network method will require
CONCLUSION AND additional modifications. For example, currently
FUTURE RESEARCH the name network method resolves name aliases
by assuming that each group member uses only
The chapter presented a new web-based system one unique email address to post messages to a
called ICTA (http://netlytic.org) for automated group. However, this is not always the case in
analysis of text-based interactions in virtual com- open virtual communities. To make the name
munities. ICTA is designed to help researchers and network method more useful, it needs to do more
other interested parties derive wisdom from large than just automatically identify that two people
size datasets. The system does this by offering a are connected. It should also find how they are
set of text mining techniques coupled with useful connected, what types of social relations they
visualizations. ICTAs content and network analy- share, and what roles they have in a group. This
sis procedures help users automatically discover means that any future work will need to incorporate
who talks to whom in a virtual community and techniques for automated role and relationship
what they are talking about. ICTAs visualization identification. Some initial work in this direction
component also enables users to explore the result- has been done by Matsuo et al. (2007) and Mori
ing data using visualizations techniques such as et al. (2005) on web pages, and by Diehl et al.
stacked charts, treemaps, and networks. (2007), Carvalho et al. (2007), and McCallum et
After describing ICTAs infrastructure and user al. (2005) on email datasets.
interface, the second part of the chapter discussed Finally, many virtual communities are now
two social network discovery procedures used by using multiple types of electronic communication
ICTA with a particular focus on a novel content- methods such as forums, chats, and wikis to carry
based method called name networks. The main on their discussions. It is important to know how
advantage of this method is that it can be used we can capture and combine network information
to transform even unstructured Internet data into from these various data streams to build a more
social network data. With the social network data comprehensive view of a virtual community. Thus,
available, it is much easier to analyze and make future work will include devising and evaluating
methods for collecting and combining evidence
217
from multiple data sources to build the name Carvalho, V. R., Wu, W., & Cohen, W. W. (2007).
network. Some of the challenges here include Discovering Leadership Roles in Email Work-
matching names that people use across different groups. In Proceedings of 4th Conference on Email
communication mediums. For example, an algo- and Anti-Spam (Mountain View, CA).
rithm needs to know that AnneT on the bulletin
Chin, A., & Chignell, M. (2007). Identifying
boards is the same person as Anne2 in the chat
Communities in Blogs: Roles for Social Network
room and Anne Tolkin on a wiki page.
Analysis and Survey Instruments. International
Journal of Web Based Communities, 3(3), 343
365. .doi:10.1504/IJWBC.2007.014243
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Chin-Lung, C., Ding-Yi, C., & Tyng-Ruey, C.
This work was supported by the Social Sciences (2002). Browsing Newsgroups with a Social
and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant. Network Analyzer. In Proceedings of the 6th Inter-
national Conference on Information Visualisation
(pp. 750-755), London, England.
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224
Chapter 12
Making the Virtual Real:
Using Virtual Learning Communities
for Research in Technical Writing
Reneta D. Lansiquot
New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York, USA
ABSTRACT
The emerging critical global collaboration paradigm and the use of virtual learning communities can
form structured domains that require complementary methods for educational research. The purpose of
this chapter is to illustrate how the social nature of virtual worlds can be used to teach technical writing
and the academic research process. A yearlong, mixed methodology, research study is used to demon-
strate the effect of this blended learning pedagogical approach on writing apprehension in advanced
technical writing courses. Students wrote manuals collaboratively for an audience of their peers. Second
Life, the online 3D virtual world created entirely by its residents, was both their subject of study and a
mode of meaningful communication.
INTRODUCTION mote the use of computer-supported collaborative

learning and now extend beyond such Web 2.0
Globalization has triggered and is accelerating technologies as blogs (see Lansiquot, Rosalia, &
the disappearance of the competition paradigm so Howell, 2009) to include 3D virtual worlds, no-
that the key issue is no longer whether students tably Second Life. Furthermore, newly emerging
can compete with their global counterparts, but mapping applications will soon expand this virtual
whether they can work with them (Surez-Orozco space. (This model has been termed Second Earth
& Qin-Hilliard, 2004). For instance, technical [Roush, 2007].) Such virtual communities provide
communication courses that are inherently inter- alternate spaces for real discussions and overcome
disciplinary (i.e., merging writing with science, geographic limitations. In virtual worlds, interac-
technology, engineering, and mathematics) pro- tion is more explicit and uses gesture rather than
needing to rely on purely text-based interactions
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch012 because students can actually see virtual avatars of
Making the Virtual Real
each other. They do not need to rely on conceptual dimension focuses on factual, conceptual, proce-
ideas of presence, such as aliases in a knowledge dural, and meta-cognitive knowledge. The cogni-
forum (Padmanabhan, 2008). Meeting in virtual tive process dimension emphasizes remembering
worlds can help create a sense of community that (recalling information), understanding (explaining
keeps students engaged in learning (Atkinson, ideas or concepts), applying (using the information
2008). What is evident, however, is that it is not in a new way), analyzing (distinguishing among
enough to use this technology in the classroom the different parts), evaluating (justifying a stand or
for its novelty effect or even for engagement; the decision), and creating (producing a new product
technology should encourage the use of academic or point of view). Proponents of construction-
skills so that students can transfer what they learn ism suggest in addition to considering the many
in a virtual world to traditional academics that dimensions of learning that educators should
use a highly structured or scientific method of consider what personally meaningful artifacts
collaborative investigation. their learners will have the chance to create and
This chapter will illustrate the value of a share in their learning (Papert, 1991). Adhering
broader and more interactive research design for to these educational goals, the use of computer-
understanding virtual learning communities by supported collaborative learning can foster active,
bringing into play the complementary methods constructive, intentional, contextualized, and
commonly used in educational research with reflective learning (Jonassen, 1995). Learning
those common to technical usability testing. To is enhanced if it (a) is situated in real-world or
facilitate an understanding of how learning com- simulated contexts, (b) fits new information with
munities function beyond traditional face-to-face what is already known, (c) is collaborative, and
communication, a brief overview of theory and (d) integrates assessment into the overall learning
practical application is given below. process. For advanced knowledge acquisition in
ill-structured domains, cognitive flexibility theory
(Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1991)
BACKGROUND explains the importance of fostering the ability
to restructure knowledge in adaptive response to
Cognition and Cognitive Flexibility situational demands. Its relevance is embedded
in how multiple concept representations support
Cognition is situated in social interactions. As Lave comprehension and usability (Passerini, 2007, p.
and Wenger (1991) observed, student learning 186). Understanding how cognition is distributed
styles are illustrated during the interaction and in effective groups can provide important implica-
collaboration afforded by situated learning. The tions for facilitating meaningful communication
different learning styles employed by students and scaffolding collaborative learning.
depend on what students are working on and with
whom they are working. Students tend to form a Distributed Cognition and
tentative community in which assuming distinct Project-Based Learning
roles is helpful in order to gain knowledge and to
use information in disciplined ways. Cognition and knowledge are not confined to
In terms of what students are learning, Blooms an individual; rather, they are distributed across
taxonomy calls for students to gain knowledge, objects, artifacts, and tools. As Rogers (2006) ex-
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, plained, distributed cognition is not a methodology
and evaluation. In Anderson and Krathwohls that one can easily apply to a problem, but it is,
(2000) revision of this taxonomy, the knowledge nonetheless, an analytic framework for examin-
225
ing the interactions between learners (Angeli, these elements, then the application of virtual
2008). Similar to distributed cognition proponents, technologies to traditional instruction such as
learning-by-doing advocates emphasize multi- writing instruction becomes more efficient.
disciplinary projects that are learner-centered,
incorporate independent and group research, and
focus on real-world problems (Schank, Berman, ACADEMIC APPLICATIONS
& Macpherson, 1999). A learning-by-doing ap-
proach is often instantiated in project-based learn- Mixed Methods and Techniques
ing because project-based learning encourages
students to use inquiry to understand their world An effective research study begins with a research-
and construct meaning from their own experi- able question and the selection of appropriate
ences. Once a project is completed, the learners research methods for answering it. Smith (2006)
also reflect on their reasoning, their strategies encouraged the use of triangulation, suggesting
for resource gathering, their group skills, and so that researchers should be aware that any single
forth (Driscoll, 2005, p. 405). When educators method has flaws and alone cannot really suf-
couple technology-mediated communication and ficiently explain real-world complexities. He
collaboration in virtual learning communities, pointed out that qualitative and quantitative
intersubjectivity has the effect of blurring the research are not distinct, but part of the whole
borders of the educational community, and making thinking process, and thus mixing methodologies
the learning context richer (Ligorio, Cesareni, & is simply formalizing what researchers already
Schwartz, 2008). Vygotsky (1978/2006) indicated do (p. 460). One particular problem related to
that intersubjectivity was a process occurring virtual learning communities and increased tech-
between learners in which social interaction nology connectivity is the increasing volume of
generates new understanding beyond the mere data generated by these communities. In addition,
combination of the various learners points of view. the technologies these communities are based on
Specifically, in addressing the use of virtual generate their own type of chaos, complexity, and
learning communities, Sullivan (2009) pointed contextuality. Completely mixed investigations,
out that, although anecdotal accounts have been or mixed methods, simultaneously use both types
written about Second Life and its use or potential of data collectionquantitative and qualitative
use in the classroom, there is a dearth of empirical and both types of data analysisstatistical and
studies published in peer-reviewed journals on the qualitative (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998).
subject. She argued for the use of self-study as The yearlong research studyA Students
one research methodology that could be used to Guide to Virtual Worldsreported herein ex-
begin filling this void. Her self-study on the use amines the interactions of 60 junior and senior
of Second Life in the classroom is an important undergraduate students from five sections of an
exemplar for learning and improving practice in Advanced Technical Writing course. Most of these
the use of emerging technologies in the classroom. students were completing baccalaureates in Com-
The challenge facing those seeking to use puter System Technology. In this writing course,
virtual communities in education is the difficulty students wrote manuals following an interactive
in identifying which elements have been produc- model of design with two essential properties:
tively brought togetherfor what purpose(s), in description of the components and the ways in
what ways, and on what scale to explore which which these components were related (Maxwell
phenomena (Green, Camilli, & Elmore, 2006). & Loomis, 2003). This study used complementary
When facilitators are able to identify clearly methods to explore how virtual learning com-
226
munities facilitate meaningful communication Students received little instruction on how

and examined the effect of creating virtual com- to navigate, build, and interact with residents in
munities on writing apprehension. Second Life, other than a review of what they
Participating students from five sections of learned during their tutorial in Orientation Island
Advanced Technical Writingthree sections dur- (the first stop after initial login where a new resi-
ing the Fall 2008 semester and two sections in the dent begins his or her second life). Students were
Spring 2009 semesterwere given the following meant to experience this new world as a user of
project instructions: their manual would, and the role of the teacher
became that of a facilitator. Previous assignments
1. Form groups of about three based on com- in this course served as scaffolds for this final
mon interests and areas of expertise. With group project. Class time was allotted to create
your group mates and on your own, explore and explore virtual communities and to interact
Second Life and teleport to locations related with residents. At the end of the course, to learn
to an agreed upon topic (e.g., where students how this project affected technical communica-
hang out or should hang out) that is best dis- tions, students evaluated their collaborations with
covered in this virtual world. Talk to others other students and the interactions they had had
within Second Life to gather information and with residents.
gain different perspectives on your topic. Tracing the evolution of student thinking and
Then, as a group, develop a questionnaire and writing skills was central to this mixed-method
survey residents to narrow your topic. What study, which used an adapted writing apprehen-
kind of students are you catering topart- sion test (Daly & Miller, 1975; Reed, Burton, &
timers or perhaps those with specific hobbies Kelly, 1988) to measure student writing apprehen-
or majors? Write an instruction manual on sion both pre- and post-participation. Analyses
your topic for studentsyour target audi- of project data indicated that students tended to
ence. The manual should contain information avoid writing less after their participation; the
and instructions (e.g., how-to, tips) that are apprehension many students felt towards writ-
useful to your student audience. Include ap- ing was significantly lowered (Lansiquot, 2009;
propriate graphics and snapshots taken in this Lansiquot & Perez, 2009; see Table 1).
virtual world. In a brief note preceding the Apprehension of writing may have been less-
instructions, specify your student audience ened by the explicit structure taught to students
and purpose. Be sure to include the avatar and the way in which this structure mirrored the
names of all group members. academic research process they had been vague-
2. To provide guidance in a world that is con- ly aware of before the course. Students were al-
stantly changing, develop an online multime- ready used to the interactive model of design and
dia version of your manual that includes at its five components. The instructor highlighted
least one original instructional video. Be sure how this structure was also like the one used in
to include helpful supplementary resources, formal research. Similar to formal research, stu-
Web sites, images, and videos, keeping in dents used the following steps in preparing their
mind your audience, instructional design manuals: purpose, conceptual framework, research
principles, and information architecture. questions, methods, and validity. A clear structure
3. Conduct usability testing and revise the and coherent organizationwhich would include
manual. introduction, procedures, findings, and discus-
sionprovide the means by which researchers
can present their study. This overall organiza-
227
Table 1. Paired sample tests
Paired differences Sig.

t df (2-tailed)
95% confidence inter-
M SD SE M val of the difference
Lower Upper
Pair 1 Writing apprehen- 4.91667 8.84383 1.14173 2.63206 7.20127 4.306 59 .000
sion pretreatment
posttreatment
tional structure was layered within the processes technical artifacts created along the way to
that students followed while writing their manu- community building.
als, in addition to being present in the manual Looking for areas of possible replication
itself and in the assessment of the collaborative or gaps in knowledge. In this case, figuring
experiences of students. Therefore, student expe- out what had already been effectively ac-
riences in virtual communities allowed them to complished in Second Life, what expertise
mirror academic argumentation through the fol- they could build on, and what was yet to be
lowing: done to add value to users lives.
Creating a prototype and conducting us-
Selecting their own topics, each group ability testing, which is an iterative process
defining the scope of its topic so that it that involves feedback. That is, students
was manageable within the time frame experiment with their product, testing and
considering the group members exper- refining it, until they complete their manu-
tise. Student topics ranged from one ex- al. Manuals had to include clear procedures
emplary student project entitled Second that could be replicated. As the students
Life Poetry Slam: A Students Manual conducted usability tests, they realized
for Organizing, Setting Up, and Hosting what information and tasks would indeed
Your First Virtual Event to the creation help their users. Frustration and initial set-
of an online library, which is being filled backs in performing a task in Second Life
with open titles connected to the Web (see were recycled into explanations for new
Schmid, 2008). Other student groups wrote users, which included tips and scaffolds,
manuals on such topics as setting up an art not unlike the teaching implications edu-
gallery and promoting events in Second cational researchers provide in their formal
Life. research studies.
Immersing themselves in the virtual learn- Presenting their findings to classmates on a
ing communities under investigation and group presentation day.
recording field notes of the experience. Concluding with a demonstration, discus-
Interviewing experts, residents of the vir- sion, and defense.
tual world. These interviews, students
pointed out, helped them refine the topics Students conduct traditional research while
of their manuals and begin to see objects performing research in virtual learning communi-
in this virtual world as crafted art, not just ties to create multimedia manuals.
228
Lessons Learned sustains itself longer throughout the semester. In

spite of this, instructors still must facilitate these
Students were provided a space to create their communities. Finally, faculty and administrative
own world, and to improve their collaborative buy-in and financial support is needed to sustain
academic writing and research. Project require- creating virtual learning communities and making
ments incorporated students prior knowledge, and sustaining innovative spaces for students.
but anticipated that students had not already
constructed a second life prior to the start of the Recommendations
course. Thus, students had to learn how to create
virtual artifacts with their groups and use their Research principles can be applied to a wide
newfound knowledge to teach others through a range of learning spaces that focus on how to
detailed instructional manual. In addition, it was integrate face-to-face and online instruction in a
not assumed that students would automatically pedagogically sound manner in order to form sup-
be engaged because of any prior use of virtual portive virtual learning communities. As Lave and
spaces. To wit, simply having students explore the Wenger (1991) argued, a community of practice is
virtual spaces was not enough: Students needed one assembled around a common goal. This goal
concrete projects. ought to be challenging so that layers of participa-
Initially, several students believed Second tion and expertise are respected. The project of
Life was a game, but they soon discovered that, creating a manual gave writers a real-world goal
although some areas adhere to the videogame of generating meaningful knowledge together.
structure with a rules-based structure and clearly Certainly, students would have been comfortable
defined goals and strategies to attain these goals making a digital story or narrative of their social
(Gee, 2003), this virtual world, in general, rather experiences in this virtual world, but an instruction
offers a chance to explore a second life. It does manual pushed them to produce more academic
not have a rules-based structure or a goal. Because writing. In addition, they were introduced to formal
of the nature of virtual worlds, educators must investigation and collaboration. Students were the
have clear learning goals and objectives when researchers in the blended learning spaces they
using them with students. SsStudents should be created. For example, students took field notes of
challenged and provided with just-in-time scaf- their reflective learning and described their virtual
folds to facilitate learning. As Sullivan (2009) communities. The position of being the creators
discovered, it is not enough to place students in of their virtual communities and experts for a
Second Life with general instructions to explore particular project improved students engagement
without a specific goal to achieve each time start- by making them responsible for teaching others.
ing a second life. In fact, the technology is not
enough. Students have reported being bored in
Second Life when they do not have a purpose. In FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
order to engage students, forming relationships
and, ideally, communities is a key to student Ultimately, the goal of successful educational re-
learning, as is engagement. As Jones, Warren, search is that it is read, disseminated, and improved
and Robertson (2009) found, the addition of a 3D upon. Although students in this course presented
online learning environment to blended learning their manuals to each other, the feedback received
courses can more rapidly create rapport among on their final versions generally came only from
students. This rapport, in turn, translates into the instructor. Therefore, future research should
accelerated discourse that occurs earlier in and involve students from a new class using manu-
229
Figure 1. A model of our solar system that rotates on appropriate axes and adheres to scientific principles
als created during this study as a model. Online field notes, teamwork, interviews, and the prin-
publication of manuals ought to happen earlier in ciples of academic research to collect usability
a course and should target a community outside data and produce multimedia manuals. Student
of the class, such as the Second Life community experiences were situated in a community of
itself. In addition, in order to refine communica- practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wegner, White,
tion with a larger outside community, the target & Smith, 2009) with members at different levels
community will include people in science, technol- of expertise and showing different intensities of
ogy, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields engagement at different times, but the goal was
because they will have professional interests in always clear: to work together to write a manual
common with these students. for their peers. This manual mirrored what one
Updated requirements of this student project does in conducting a research study. Student learn-
specify creating documentation of a complex ing was situated in the virtual world, but students
scientific or technological system to teach a con- had to think in the real world in order to figure
cept to a chosen audience (e.g., see Figure 1 for out how to accomplish the goals of their group
an example of a presentation of an astronomical project. It seems the virtual makes some things
concept). As a result, assessment of individual more real (Turkle, 2009).
student contributions during collaboration will be
needed. Because the competition paradigm is no
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232
233
Chapter 13
Virtual Communities as Tools
to Support Teaching Practicum:
Putting Bourdieu on Facebook
Rebecca English
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Jennifer Howell
Australian Catholic University Limited, Australia
ABSTRACT
The impact of Web 2.0 and social networking tools such as virtual communities, on education has been
much commented on. The challenge for teachers is to embrace these new social networking tools and
apply them to new educational contexts. The increasingly digitally-abled student cohorts and the need
for educational applications of Web 2.0 are challenges that overwhelm many educators. This chapter
will make three important contributions. Firstly it will explore the characteristics and behaviours of
digitally-abled students enrolled in higher education. An innovation of this chapter will be the appli-
cation of Bourdieus notions of capital, particularly social, cultural and digital capital to understand
these characteristics. Secondly, it will present a possible use of a commonly used virtual community,
Facebook. Finally it will offer some advice for educators who are interested in using popular social
networking communities, similar to Facebook, in their teaching and learning.
INTRODUCTION how to increase engagement (Barnett, Keating,

Harwood and Saam, 2002; Rye and Katayama,
Understanding the technology behaviour of 2003). It seems that only when the participation is
undergraduate education students in relation to attached to formal assessment in units, are students
Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as found to participate, however, when there is no
Blackboard while on practicum has been the assessment, students generally do not participate
site of much interest. The interest is especially or participate intermittently. This may be because
pronounced when trying to understand students they are expected to participate in multiple LMS
participation and interaction with the LMS and groups in multiple subjects. While there may be
an initial flurry of activity as students ask for ad-
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch013 vice, help, contact details, resources and general
Virtual Communities as Tools to Support Teaching Practicum
assistance, this initial activity often diminishes 2. How is Facebook used by students as part of
over time, which has left lecturers pondering their everyday communicative interactions?
why these discussion forums cannot be sustained
during the whole term of the teaching practicum. Facebook boasts more than 80 million ac-
This lack of participation seems to be incon- tive users (Facebook, 2008, p. 2). Somewhere
sistent with the students involvement in other among that number were the fourth year business
forums, including social networks. This study education students (N = 30) who were enthusiastic
examines how students interaction with social users of Facebook. The students in the study were
networks differs from their participation in dis- using the technology to communicate with friends,
cussion groups in LMSs. fellow students and staff, to share photographs, to
During the 2008 semester one practicum pe- undertake quizzes and to share their ideological
riod, it was decided that the Facebook behaviour convictions through joining various groups. This
and activities of an undergraduate cohort would behaviour helped to naturalise the use of the social
be used in lieu of a traditional LMS discussion. networking tool to communicate with the students
The cohort was fourth year business education while on practicum. This chapter will describe
students, who had friended their lecturer on the process of adopting a Facebook group with
Facebook. A short survey revealed that the students while on practicum and discuss the af-
majority of students had Facebook accounts so fordances the technology brings to the educational
the technology had a high uptake rate among this environment. It will describe the pedagogical
group of students. Hence a Facebook group was strategy adopted. The chapter will theorise the
created for these students during their four-week use of the technology using Bourdieus concept of
teaching practicum. A broad analysis revealed that capital among the group who will be described as
63% actively participated in the group, posting a Generation C. Finally, the findings from the study
total of 100 messages hence it would appear that will be analysed followed by a short discussion
this manifestation of online discussion groups of the perceived advantages and disadvantages of
may be more active over a sustained timeframe. using this technology with students.
This study sets out to theorise the digital be-
haviour of this group of students. While there is
little doubt that Web 2.0 technologies are making BACKGROUND
an impact in the communicative behaviours of
individuals, including the group who participated Conceptualising the
in this study, the tremendous growth in the popu- Differences in Digitalisation
larity of websites focusing on social activities and
collaboration (Abitt, 2007, p. 1) implied that What digital behaviours and expectations char-
sites such as Facebook can supply more than an acterise our students today? They use technology
entertainment function for students. Facebook (IM, Facebook, Flickr, Skype) to be constantly
described itself as a social utility that connects connected to friends, family, information and
people with friends and others who work, study entertainment, to connect with more people, in
and live around them (Facebook, 2008, p.1). more ways, more often. The current generation
The research questions guiding this study are: seamlessly transition between their real and
digital lives (BECTA, 2008, p.12). The char-
1. How can Facebook be used to communicate acteristics and behaviours of these students are
with students while on practicum? distinctly different from those of an aging faculty
who closely resemble Prenskys (2001) digital
234
immigrants those who have not embraced the the engagement of various groups with the field
use of ICT in the instructional process. and argued for an approach that examined the
Understanding the differences in digital emergence of the internet as a central role in the
behaviours and expectations between students curriculum, again finding that the digital divide,
and academics, those who are natural users of however clichd, was a significant representation
technology and those who may not be requires of the technological haves and have nots. However,
theoretical mechanism that can explain the differ- Selwyn (2004) cautioned that there was a need to
ent uptake of the digital tools and the expectancy define what is actually meant by ICTs when exam-
of different groups in universities. The theoretical ining the digital divide to incorporate technology
concept of capital offered by Pierre Bourdieu can as diverse as mobile phones, digital cameras, and
be extended and used for this process. Writers have computers incorporating both the soft (creation
used Bourdieus theories of capital to analyse the of content) and the hard (creation of hardware).
(differentiated) uptake, use and integration of ICTs He also cautioned against conflating access with
and focused on the digital divide. creation, arguing that the digital divide exists
Authors such as van Dijk (2006), Kvasny and more as a hierarchy of access between those that
Keil (2006) Cummings, Heeks and Huysman have no access to those that are actively engaged
(2006) and Bentez (2006) utilised Bourdieus in building the hardware and software associated
theories of cultural and social capital to explain with digital technology. He argued for the use of
disparities in digital uptake. These studies argued Bourdieus theoretical tools of economic, social
that the digital divide was reflective of wider di- and cultural capital to be used to analyse the digital
vides in economic, social and cultural resources. uptake and use by different groups. Finding that
Generally focused on social reproduction theories the economic capital used to purchase the ICTs,
and issues (due, in part to their use of Bourdieus the cultural capital that included the investment of
work) these studies theorised the digital divide as time, the inculcation into the ICTs and the social
another form of social and cultural division. For capital, which included the networks of online
example, van Dijk (2006) theorized that a lack of contacts, were all significant in the process, he
informational capital was a marked determinant instead offered the term technological capital to
of the digital divide, closely related to a lack of explain these differences (Selwyn, 2004).
social and cultural capital. Similarly, Kvasny and Studies that have examined the interactions
Keil (2006) also saw the digital divide as another of online or virtual communities have used social
form of social division arguing for more than an capital as a means of analyzing interaction. This
educational intervention to teach ICT skills. Cum- is because social capital can be used to theorise
mings, Heeks and Huysman (2006) used social how trust and knowledge are developed in online
capital to explore the online network. They based interactions (Daniel, McCalla, and Schwier, 2002).
their analysis of the digital divide on the three di- Social capital represents an abstract, hidden re-
mensions of social capital they saw as significant source that is tapped into when members of online
(Huysman, 2004), the structural opportunity to communities interact together to share ideas. The
share; the cognitive opportunity to share; and development of social capital has several aspects.
the relation-based motivation to share (p. 581). Firstly, it requires a level of positive interaction
In a study applying the ideas of Bourdieu in which exists over time and allows people to build
the field of cyber education, Menchik (2004) trust, share norms and commit to the group. Social
used cultural capital to theorise cyber education relationships, developed over time are considered
as a distinct field in education studies. He argued to be essential to knowledge development (Daniel,
that cultural capital was not enough to explain McCalla, Schwier, 2008). Secondly, it requires
235
reciprocation (Daniel, Zapta-Riviera, McCalla, digital and Internet driven world. They have
2003). While it does not have a dollar value, it seen the Internet develop in all spheres of life,
can be exchanged for recognition in a field. This both personal and in business. They have digital
is because, while there may be limited financial technologies such as high speed broadband and
gains to be made from interacting in an online digital cameras. This implies the different cultural
community, social desire to help and a social ap- and social as well as digital capital these groups
preciation of that help (Daniel, 2002). possess.
What seemed to be evident in these studies is
that there is a new generation of learners, distinct
from those of the past who possess a different DO GENERATION C POSSES A NEW
type of cultural and social capital. The cultural TYPE OF CAPITAL?
and social capital that the different generations
have possessed has created labels that were used In the studies that utilised Bourdieus conception
to identify their distinct characteristics. The Baby of capital, the focus was on the social and cultural
Boomers were the first such-labelled generational capital required to engage with the new digital
cohort and are typically the parents of Generation spaces and the differences in capital that created the
X. Generation X were largely born during the digital divide. These studies conceived of capital
1960s and 1970s and are regarded as entrepre- as accumulated history and accumulated labour
neurial and technology friendly (see Figure 1). (in its materialized form or its incorporated,
This generational cohort have seen and driven embodied form) which, when appropriated on a
the majority of technological innovations and private, i.e., exclusive, basis by agents or groups of
developments. For example, they have seen the agents, enables them to appropriate social energy
development of PCs, the WWW, email, mobile in the form of reified or living labour (Bourdieu,
phones and computer games. Generation Y, born 1986, p. 241). These studies have used capital as
during the 1980s and early 1990s have also been the ability to employ the appropriate resources
labelled The Internet Generation (see Figure 1). to engage productively in a field. If the agent
This cohort have grown up in an increasingly failed to do so it may indicate that the agent did
Figure 1. Generation X, Y and C
236
not possess the appropriate resources. This may by its own user-generated content (Dye, 2007,
be because they do not know how to engage with p.38).The habitual and fluent use of the Web 2.0
the technology, they might not have access to the technology and the creation of content implied that
technology or their social networks may not use they possessed more than just cultural and social
the technology. These studies used cultural capital capital. It seemed that the group also possessed a
to explain the comportment of the self towards digital capital. This generational cohort of digital
a technological end, social capital to explain the content creators use Web 2.0 habitually and flu-
network of relations that enable the use of the ently to create user-generated digital content. But
technology and economic capital to access the what types of innovations or digital technologies
technology. Inequalities in capital distribution are they using? This behavioural group, courtesy
were implicated in the different uptake of digital of Web 2.0 technologies, are fluent in social and
resources. From an educational perspective, the mobile digital technologies, WiFi, digital editing,
uptake of digital communities in the Generation MP3s, podcasts, RSS streaming and vodcasts.
Y or Generation C cohort indicates that more than Thus making them the first digitally native gen-
just cultural and social (and obviously economic) eration. They characteristically build networks,
capital are at play. The attributes of this genera- relationships and their very identity around and
tional grouping were hypothesised by Lawrence through content (Dye, 2007, p.38). Lenhart, Mad-
Lessig, who suggested that; Technology could den, Rankin Macgill and Smith (2007) reported
enable a whole generation to create remixed that 44% of US adult internet users (53million
films, new forms of music, digital art, a new people aged 18 and over) have created content for
kind of storytelling, writing, a new technology the online world through building or contributing
for poetry, criticism, political activism and to web sites, creating blogs, and sharing files (
then, through the infrastructure of the Internet, 5). It was these characteristics and activities that
share that creativity with others (Lessig, 2002, defined the capital possessed by the group in this
p.9)Generation C was a term first offered by the study. Perhaps one of the most distinguishing
Internet site, Trendwatching.com in 2004 and characteristics of this generational grouping that
builds on the work of Lessig (2002). Here, Genera- defines them as significantly different from prede-
tion C are defined as those who typically produce cessors is that there has been a shift from straight
and share digital content (Trendwatching, 2004), forward consumption of digital technologies to
such as blogs, digital images, digital audio or video customisation and coproduction (Trendwatching,
files and SMS messages. They are digitally fluent 2004, 14). This is an active and creative cohort,
and fearlessly use new forms of technology as hence the amount of user-generated content is
they are released. They fluently use computers, expected to increase significantly (Dye, 2007).
mobile telephones, the Internet and other associ- Generation C have grown up in a world dominated
ated technologies (see Figure 1). Generally, this by technology, the possess the capital required to
generational cohort is born late 1980s and early generate content and customise and coproduce
1990s but, this cohort is not limited to a narrow digital content. In Australia, in 2006-2007, 5.67
age range. As Dye (2007) states they arent cat- million households had home Internet access
egorised by age, theyre categorised by behaviour. (ABS, 2007). The number of people aged 15 years
And its very much about content-centric com- and over, who had accessed the Internet at home
munication, how they share, store, and manage during 2006-2007 was 61% (ABS, 2007). What
content (p.38). They are a generation that spans is interesting in this statistic is the purpose of this
across the age divide to encompass the growing access, 75% of all of home Internet consumption
population that creates, shares, and is connected is for personal/private use (see Table 1).
237
Table 1. Purpose of Internet use at home (ABS,

than a blend of social, cultural and economic
2007)
capital or technological capital.
Main purpose of Internet use at home
Personal/private 75%
Digital Capital
Work/business 15%
Digital capital is the blend of the social, cultural,
Education/study 8%
economic and technological skills, know-how and
Voluntary/community 1%
attributes that allow access to and interaction with
Other 1%
the digital environment. Digital capital is more
than the technological capital described by Selwyn
(2004) or informational capital described by Gigler
As Generation C is digitally fluent, the impact
(2004). Selwyn (2004) described technological
of technology is apparent in all spheres of their
capital as the specific technological forms of
life, no longer is it neatly divided into personal,
cultural capital that are useful to the information
business or education. Beyond digital fluency,
age, such as technological skills, know-how and
this group possessed the capital to make content
socialization into the technoculture via family and
and to interact digitally. What is apparent is that
the household (p. 353). However, Generation C
their social network is both physical and digital,
possess more than just technological skills and
often a hybrid blend of both. It is neither sepa-
know how. This generation appears to engage more
rated nor distinguishable. Relationships are
deeply than merely having access or ownership
maintained both via face-to-face, via sms, email,
of a technology, and engaging with and making
online chat and mms regardless of where the
meaningful use of that technology (Selwyn,
other person maybe (Goldberger, 2003). The
2004, p. 353), rather they are imbibed with the
impact of technology on social networks has re-
technology, and their whole social networks and
sulted in a significant shift, according to Dye
engagements are mediated by the technology.
(2007) it is simultaneously larger and narrower
This is also more than simply influenced by their
the entire globe is their new local, and niche
social capital (Selwyn, 2004, p. 353). Rather, this
communities are the new mass audience (p.40).
generation uses the digital tools and the ICTs to
The online tools and programs available to users
enact their social and cultural capital. Selwyns
mean that geographical and time constraints are
work was more around the Information Technol-
increasingly irrelevant. They possess an ability
ogy element, the technology itself; the significance
to use the technology as it exists, not programming
for Generation C is the Information Communica-
new technology. The Generation C cohort are
tion element of the technology. Sewlyn (2004)
populist users of the technology as it has been
argued, ICT use is increasingly about being able
created for them, incorporating it into their lives,
to draw upon expert sources of advice to help
using it to connect, to share, to create and to com-
us use ever-powerful computer systems that the
municate. Unlike previous generations who may
vast majority of users will never fully use, let
have possessed the technological capital to pro-
alone understand (p. 354). The students in this
gram new software, the Generation C cohort are
study used their ICT skills, their digital capital to
not specialist users of the technology and it is the
mediate between their digital and real lives. The
mass appeal which differentiates them from
relationships they had formed in the real world
other generational users of technology. It repre-
at university, in their sporting clubs, at work and
sents the digital capital that they possess rather
in their social lives were furthered, extended and
reinforced by their digital capital.
238
The Study The wall posts required a substantial amount

of seeding by the lecturer who acted as one of the
A Facebook group was set up by the lecturer and administrators of the group. This seeding was to
was closed meaning that potential members had ensure that the content, or at least discussions,
to request permission to join the group through were about teaching practicum and did not get
Facebook. This ensured that members were sidetracked into personal or social discussions.
only students enrolled in the university unit. Two This was quite an important aspect due to the
administrators were nominated, the lecturer and familiarity and prior use members had been
a colleague who was to teach the unit in the fol- engaged in on Facebook. As we were trying to
lowing semester. The students were encouraged to use the environment for a different application,
join the group in a face-to-face classroom setting this had to be established by seeding posts and
two weeks before practicum placements started. discussions. This meant that the vast majority
At this time, the students were required to attend of posts (31) that seeded or started discussions
class during the workshop to present and assess were posted by the lecturer acting as the groups
their peers assignment task, approximately 90% administrator with one of the rural and remote
of the enrolled cohort attended this session (n=28). student posting the second largest number of seeds
The students were in a classroom with a small (17). Four administrator posts were a result of a
computer lab. They were shown how to access the student who was on an international practicum
group page ([Subject code] goes on prac) and were placement having difficulty accessing the site
encouraged to join, several students joined dur- from China, one student who was on a rural and
ing the initial class discussion. In order to ensure remote placement was not able to access the site
that all students were given the opportunity to be at all and required the necessary step of email-
involved, an email was sent through Blackboard ing comments to the lecturer for posting, as her
to all students reminding them about the group school had blocked the Facebook application.
page and reiterating the joining instructions. Whilst Two discussion forums were started by one rural
they were strongly encouraged to join, participa- student who also posted 32 photographs and two
tion was voluntary. of the three video posts to the group page.
The members of the Facebook group was
wholly comprised of the student enrolled in the Method
undergraduate unit. This cohort of students had
met before in a subject in second year and may The wall posts were analysed for evidence of
have had other contact throughout the other four capital; social, cultural and digital. Messages
years of their degree. Anecdotally, they could be that were coded as Social Capital included
described as a close cohesive group, which may content that was concerned with developing or
have influenced their activities or at least enthu- were evidence of the social connections between
siasm to join the community. The majority of group members. This sense of social connected-
activity was on the wall described by Facebook ness manifested itself in ways such as supportive
as a forum for your friends to post comments or comments, references to shared experiences, col-
insights about you (Facebook, 2008, p.1). The loquialisms such as nick names and awareness or
wall is a front page application in Facebook knowledge of social pursuits or personal interests.
that is available when you open the group page. Cultural capital was demonstrated by the disci-
Its ease of use and its availability on the front pline knowledge or discussions they engaged in.
page probably contributed to its high level of use This included messages that shared their teaching
by the students. practicum experiences, asked for suggestions or
239
help with a particular teaching problem, shared (a) Digital Capital

teaching ideas or demonstrated some link to the
shared teaching culture they were all engaged in. As stated above, all of the postings made to
The final code, digital capital were messages that the community site were counted as evidence
illustrated interaction within the digital environ- of digital capital. The simple act of joining the
ment. These were varied in their level of digital Facebook community, navigating around the site,
fluency, such as request for help in doing some- understanding how to post a message to the wall
thing within the community space. All messages and being able to respond to a message were all
posted to the community site were counted as indicative of digital capital. The Facebook site is
evidence of digital capital as they were a specific not just an online community; it is imbued with
form of technological capital, as discussed in detail levels of Web 2.0 connectivity that would poten-
above. Messages were assigned multiple codes, as tially confuse the inexperienced. Whilst these
they were often analysed at being representative students would have been experienced in the use
of multiple forms of capital. of online communities, online discussion and other
Apart from the general posting of messages, such learning tools due to the Universitys LMS
three discussion topics were set up which at- Blackboard, the Facebook application is a differ-
tracted 15 posts. Two of these discussion topics ent experience again. The success of their ability
were requested by a member of the group via email to engage with this application was evidenced by
to the administrator/lecturer, as they were unable the number of messages posted (n=100).
to create the discussion forums themselves due
to not being an administrator of the group. The (b) Cultural Capital
lack of activity in this section of the group page
can probably be seen to be a result of the steps This category contained a reasonable number
required to access these, the wall is available on of posts (n=74) and largely included posts that
page one and the box to input a thread is accessed were associated with discipline knowledge. They
from the front page of the groups site, the dis- referred to teaching activities or responsibilities,
cussion forum requires three steps to access. The lesson plans, student behaviour or other topics
first involves clicking on the discussion topic, the associated with teaching and their school. These
second requires you to select reply to [poster] posts were generally initiated by the students
then students are able to post to the discussion. themselves and often answers or comments
(largely sharing similar experiences) were made
in response. For example;
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
HEY[sic],I just got home from my first full
The messages were coded into the three types of teaching day. It was awesome! Had so much fun.
capital; social, cultural and digital, which involved Im exhausted though, no sleep for the wikid [sic]
several steps. Once all the data had been collected, though... many lessons to prepare for tomorrow
the group wall was read to identify presence of plus grade 12 assignments to mark. Just wanted
the codes in the data. These three codes, in order to say its great reading all of your stories from
of frequency Digital Capital (n=100), Cultural your schools. [KB12/05/08.
Capital (n=74) and Social Capital (n=70). For
purposes of clarity and organisation, the results These posts were typically positive and encour-
will be presented through these three codes. aging by nature indicating that the group sense of
community was strong among participants. There
240
was also a growing sense of disciplinarity evident, meetings with staff? Were more problems raised
considering the stage of their undergraduate stud- and discussed via this method as they were peer-
ies, the sense of them as an emerging professional based or because they did not have such formalised
was beginning to appear. There were collective processes attached to them?
attempts to solve teaching problems, share stress, When a problem had been posted to the com-
expressions of concern as evidence of this devel- munity wall, it was interesting to observe the
oping teacherness. There appeared to exist an community swing into action and offer solutions.
implicit imperative for members to respond and This type of posting was evidence of both cultural
post messages within a short timeframe, which and social capital. The example below indicates
would indicate that they were regularly online and a response to the problem post described above.
participating. Hence motivation and engagement
would appear to be quite high. [students name], both of my teachers were ab-
The posts that were associated with prob- sent one day each of last week and the substitute
lems were often concerned with nerves, lack of teacher that was there is Early Childhood trained
resources, concern over teaching a particular and treats the seniors as if they were 6! She tried
subject for the first time, problems with students, to take over the class that I had total control over
problems with resources and problems with prac and mentioned to her quietly that just because im
supervisors. An example of these types of posts; [sic] a student teacher doesnt mean I dont know
how to make a class work. Kids out here talk all
.....I wud [sic] like to ask anyone who knows the the time and as long as their pens are moving at
answer a quick question. My supervising teacher the same time its all okay. I would ask for another
left for England yesterday & her replacement is a teacher to supervise your lessons. Someone with
first year & by 1st year I mean the class she has real experience with dealing with kids. Dont let
on Monday morning will be her first class EVER some fresh hot shot run you over... Maybe Im just
[sic]. Is she allowed to be my supervising teacher? talking to myself??? And has anybody picked up
I wasnt sure if there were rules etc to the require- their [different subject] stuff yet? Maybe [uni-
ments of a supervising teacher & whats worse versity name] can post my assignments to me.
is that she is IT and English & she is supervising [JM18/05/08]
my BCT classes. Anyone know? We took a class
together the other day and it will be interesting It was interesting to note that the number of
cuse [sic] the kids just walk straight over her. The problem (n=20) and solution (n=18) posts were
double last week had last 20 mins as free time. relatively matched. This group tool would appear
Let me know please. [AH18/05/08] to be an effective problem-solving resource. It
should be further noted that the solutions were
The types of problems were quite complex, but offered by the peer-group not by their lecturer.
could be broadly grouped as those pertaining to
specific classroom-based problems (such as stu- (c) Social Capital
dent behaviour or resources) and those pertaining
to problems with supervisors (see example above). This category contained the smallest number of
It would be interesting to correlate the problems posts (n=70) and was unique as it had two clear
that were raised in this forum, to those raised with periods of contribution, at the start of the field
the visiting liaison lecturers. Did members of this practicum and towards the end. The postings made
group solve their problems online rather than via at the start of the field practicum were positive,
more traditional methods such as face-to-face excited and anticipatory regarding the upcom-
241
ing field practicum placement. Those posted at on mistakes made on prac, greetings, jokes and
the end of the period were more supportive and they generally created a sense of togetherness
encouraging everyone to keep going as they con- amongst the group. An example of these types
cluded their placement. For example a posting of posts; Okay note to self: Students are feral a)
from the start of the field practicum; hey well after the state of origin, b) on rainy days.... Im
my first day at [XY] high went great! there are a sure Im going to just keep adding to this list.
few other prac teachers there but yeah dont think [FC29/05/08]
I will have much to do with them as they are in
totally different teaching areas....I have a lovely
prac supervising teacher and the best staffroom SOLUTIONS AND
and they are all lovely and really welcoming! RECOMMENDATIONS
got my own desk and have been given heaps of
resources already!!!! its great!! [sic] get to teach The students digital capital allowed them to en-
year 11 and 12 bct as well as year 9 sose and year gage with the Facebook group and assisted them
10 geography! should be great! Although [sic] to stay connected with their peers (social capital)
my geog [sic] supervising teacher is away this while on a practicum. The social capital that the
week so not sure if I will get to teach anything students possessed indicated their shared trust,
in that field this week! good luck to everyone:) their connection and their shared goals (cf Daniel,
[AN06/05/08] 2008; Daniel, Zapta-Riviera, McCalla, 2003). This
The posts in this category were typically quite social capital required stores of cultural capital.
long (more than 50 words) and hence would indi- This was so that they were seen to be talking in
cate that whilst they were largely concerned with the same language, as emergent professionals in
expressing excitement at commencing or finishing the schools where they were placed. The use of
practicum, they displayed a level of detail. This the group as a site for social connection while
commitment to explain and engage in community away from their peers, the large number of posts
discussions was an interesting phenomenon to and the continued commitment to the group
observe as it implies a building of a community demonstrated the usefulness of Facebook as a
among the students. system to encourage participation by students.
Social capital codes were also concerned with The group appeared to be successful because it
evidence of the social activities or connections accessed the students existing social capital, the
between group members. This is consistent with social network they were already connected to.
Daniel (2002) and Daniel et al. (2002; 2003; 2008) Similarly, the cultural capital that the students
that the connection, the capital that resided with held, both embodied and objectified were evident
the group through their shared experiences in in these posts. The students embodied their new
the course, between participants had developed a roles as teachers, used the language of teachers
trust that allowed the group to participate. This is and sought help from each other as fellow pro-
because the social capital of the group reveals the fessionals. Beyond this, however, they embodied
relationship. The quality of the responses in this the cultural capital of the social network. Their
category are a significant insight into the social connection with, and commitment to the social
capital that the group possessed (Daniel, Zapta- network of the Facebook group implied their
Riviera, McCalla, 2003). They were indicative of embodiment of the cultural capital to engage with
the sense of comradeship and connection between the technology. Beyond this, it also demonstrated
the students. There were postings that were self- their objectified capital, these students possessed
deprecating for not contributing more, comments the means of consuming, working with and using
242
the technology. However, it is the digital capital happening with friends and family. If a user posts
that linked the group together. These students an update to their status, for example sooo go-
shared their experiences using the technology, they ing to FAIL tomorrowwwwww [sic] !!!:( (CR,
created using the technology, Facebook was the 06/18/09) or is fuming (AW, 04/09/09), the up-
means through with their experiences were shared, date is visible on their friends Facebook Home
unpacked, extended, worked out and corrected. page. The status bar can be used to access the
students experiences and feelings, students who
post status updates create opportunities for the
FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR SOCIAL lecturer and others in their social community to
NETWORKING AND EDUCATION: follow up on what is happening, to provide advice
and assistance beyond the classroom.
Understanding the Capital Another example of this building of social
of Our Students capital between students and lecturers, is the
wall that appears on every Facebook profile
This short project demonstrated that students page. The wall allows friends to post messages
display all three types of capital that were the that are visible on the Home Page and can be
focus of this study; digital, cultural and social. seen by all other users who are friends. This can
But one could then ask, so what? We know that also be used to build rapport with students. One
our students are increasingly more digital, that student, CR was a first year undergraduate student
they engage in technology in both their personal enrolled in the lecturers class in early 2009. She
and student lives, that they are social beings that was also studying Physical Education teaching
use technology to maintain their sociability, but which required her to do a subject in anatomy. CRs
what does this mean for education and learning? post i have a rash.. i think its rabies.. enough to
Importantly these behaviours and types of capital get me out of my exam today you think? (CR,
are behaviours that can be built on to build rela- 06/19/09) created an opportunity for the lecturer
tionships with our students, that is, sharing social to ask all students who are also enrolled in the
capital in new Web 2.0 social networking ways. anatomy subject to how they were progressing in
The accessibility and popularity of Facebook their preparations for the exam. When the exam
among the student cohort at this institution imply was completed, the lecturer was able to post mes-
that there are many ways that the technology can sages such as Howd you go with the anatomy
also be used for building rapport with students. exam today? (RE, 06/19/09) onto the students
Importantly, rapport between students and their home pages on Facebook which provided an
lecturers. opportunity to discuss the students progress and
This seems to be consistent with the findings maintain contact and sustain the relationship after
of Huberman (2001) and Strehle, Whatley, Kurz the close of the semester.
& Hausfather (2001) that social networking tools Similarly, the IM (instant message) function
such as the Facebook group offer teachers the on Facebook is useful to have a conversation
opportunity to be exposed to new ideas and prac- in real time with students. While one student
tices, to assist with critical reflection and to access was on practicum placement in a school in the
new information and ideas. In one example of a country, she initiated an IM conversation about
Facebook application that can be used to build how to teach a particular aspect of her syllabus.
rapport, the students post their activities through The student described this as a useful opportu-
the status bar. The status bar is described by nity to have a proper conversation about the
Facebook as a means to connect with what is topic of study that would have been unable to be
243
facilitated through regular email messages. The 3500 word essay. UGH. [sic] (DL, 03/31/09). The
Inbox function is also useful to have a private majority of the students were not active within
conversation with students. In one example, a the group (out of the six students who were both
student wrote Hey Rebecca, Can i please have members of the group and friends with the lecturer)
an extension till monday [sic] for Assignment 2? with only two students actively writing on the wall.
Thankyou. (LB, 05/23/09). The ease with which students were able to create
However, there are problems with the Face- a group, which was a vehicle for complaining
book connectivity and the social capital that it about a subject at the university, demonstrated the
allows lecturers to build and extend. The students public nature of the social networking medium and
in this study tended to use Facebook rather than the risks it posed to the university environment.
regular university email channels. This can be seen The coordinator of the unit was not a member of
in the example from the student who applied for Facebook so he would have had no access to
an extension through Facebook rather than us- the site or its comments among students.
ing the university email function. This seemed to In higher education, we are concerned with
support Prensky (2001) who stated that students inducting our students within the discipline they
in todays classrooms are not the students the cur- are studying. Their programs have been designed
rent educational systems are designed to teach. to develop the skills, knowledge and theoretical
They seem to want to access lecturers in different understandings that will enable them to be profes-
ways and through different channels, any time of sionals in that discipline. Whilst the programs they
the day or night. When asked about his choice of enrol in our explicitly designed to develop those
Facebook over the university email, he stated attributes, the inculcating within the profession or
that he never checked his university email so was discipline is an implicit process. One that is nei-
loathe to use it. Similarly, the IM conversation with ther measured nor examined. However, using the
the student on practicum occurred very late on a lens of cultural capital, it is possible to determine
Saturday night. The connectivity that is a major the presence of disciplinarity. The messages that
benefit of using social networking to communicate were coded as being cultural capital were clearly
and connect with the students can also create a attempts by the students to assume the mantle of
situation where lecturers are constantly working. the discipline they were engaged in, they were
The experience of using Facebook in this study behaving in a professional manner, engaging in
seemed to support Dyes (2007) assertion that professional communication, solving problems
time is a premium for this generation who wishes and offering solutions to their peers and generally
to be able to access content wherever they go. It exhibiting their developing teacherness. Cultural
could be extended that they also wish to access capital was evident in a manner that could be
information and advice through various means examined, critiqued and even evaluated.
and at different times.
In another problem, students created and joined
a group titled anti [unit code] has poo assign- CONCLUSION
ments. All students who were friends with the
lecturer on Facebook and enrolled in the unit This study used a Facebook group to theorise
joined the group. It was a vehicle for students to the digital behaviour of a group of students while
complain about the assignment does [subject on a practicum placement in the final year of
code] not realise we reflect enough in their bloody their education degree. In the past, traditional
weekly textbook readings and journal reflections. LMSs discussion forums, such as those housed in
why demonstrate these stupid things again in a Blackboard, had been unsuccessful in attracting
244
and sustaining students posts, engagement and posed by Selwyn (2004) or informational capital
interest when they were not attached to formal described by Gigler (2004), digital capital was
assessment. This study began from the perspective found to be a part of these students and this gen-
that, as students are already engaged in socialising erations whole social experience. These students
using Facebook, perhaps this technology would were found to do more than just engage with the
be useful to communicate with students while on technology, rather they were imbibed with the
practicum as it was part of their everyday com- technology, and their whole social networks and
municative interactions. In the small study that engagements were mediated by the technology.
was conducted, Facebook was found to be a They were behaving as Lessig (2002) had proposed
useful tool as it engaged with students prior Web that Generation C would behave. This was why
2.0 activities. the Facebook group was so successful with this
Beyond this, however, this study wanted to small study cohort of students. It engaged with
examine how Facebook was used by this group. their prior digital behaviours and linked into their
Using Bourdieus conceptual tool of capital, the social networks.
study found that students were engaging with the Problems were found to exist with the use of
technology because it provided them with an op- Facebook in the small study here. Students, due
portunity to utilise a number of different species of to their high levels of digital capital, relied on the
capital. The students in this study were found to use technology to engage with the lecturer long after
social capital extensively in their wall posts. The class had finished. Students were found to use the
technology allowed them to stay connected with technology extensively while on teaching practi-
their peer group and to work towards, with a series cum, beyond the wall and the discussion group,
of likeminded fellow students, the continued devel- students used all the affordances of the technology
opment of their burgeoning professional identities. to engage with their peers and their lecturer while
Similarly, the students were also employing their on practicum and beyond. This meant that the
cultural capital in the posts. The cultural capital students expected their lecturer to be contactable
the students used were both embodied and objecti- whenever they were online, even at traditionally
fied. The students had embodied the technology inappropriate times. Similarly, the students tended
because it became part of their comportment in to use the Facebook to circumvent normal,
the world. It was central to their understanding university based, channels of communication.
of themselves and allowed them to work on their Facebook was a part of this group of students
project of forming their identity. The technology normal communicative channels, it was part of
was also objectified because the group used it their digital capital and, due to their engagement
appropriately. The students were engaging their with it, assisted them to work within their normal
capital to utilise the technology which, by virtue of social and digital behaviours.
its relationship with their current digital behaviour,
was found to be popular and worthwhile with this
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248
Chapter 14
Conversation Analysis
as a Tool to Understand
Online Social Encounters
Aik-Ling Tan
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Seng-Chee Tan
ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the application of Conversation Analysis (CA) as a tool to understand online
social encounters. Complementing current analytic methods like content analysis and social network
analysis, analytic tools like Discussion Analysis Tool (DAT) (Jeong, 2003) and Transcript Analysis Tool
(TAT) (Fahy, Crawford, & Ally, 2001) have been developed to study both the content of online discussions
as well as the interactions that take place among the participants. While these new tools have devoted
certain attention to the development of social interactions, insights into how online participants form
alliances among themselves and mechanisms for repairing a conversation when it breaks down remains
lacking. Knowledge of online social order (or the lack of), both its genesis as well as maintenance, is
essential as it affects the processes and intended learning outcomes in an online community. We argue
that using CA, while not popularly applied for the analysis of online discussions, gives the much needed
focus on the minute details of online interactions that are important to understanding social orderliness
of conversations in a virtual community. In this chapter, we illustrate how CA can be applied in analysis
of online discussion by applying Freebodys (2003) six analytic passes and suggest that CA may be used
as an alternative analytic tool in a virtual environment where conversations are generally asynchro-
nous. These six analytic passes are: (1) turn taking, (2) building exchanges, (3) parties, alliances and
talk, (4) trouble and repair, (5) preferences and accountability, and (6) institutional categories and the
question of identity.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch014
Conversation Analysis as a Tool to Understand Online Social Encounters
INTRODUCTION processes and maintenance of orderliness of how

participants in an online learning environment go
Conversation Analysis (CA) studies talk in natu- about their business of transacting and sharing their
rally occurring interactions. It originated from knowledge to accomplish learning is at best an
the works of Harvey Sacks (1974), who wanted intelligent guess by researchers currently. In this
to develop an observational science as an alter- chapter, we suggest using CA as a tool to uncover
native means to examine details in actual social and illumine the micro structures of virtual talk-
events. CA studies how social orders are produced in-interaction so as to better understand the social
and how societies reproduce these social orders structures that are embedded in the orderliness
through details grounded in talk-in-interaction. of online learning environments. The examples
CA seeks to place a new emphasis on participants presented in this chapter are chosen to illustrate
orientation to indigenous social and cultural how CA and Freebodys (2003) six analytic
constructs. It seeks to describe the underlying passes can be used and are useful for analyzing
social organization conceived as an institutional asynchronous discussion, the focus is not on the
substratum of international rules, procedures, and results and implications of each example analyzed.
conventions through which orderly and intelli-
gible social interaction is made possible (Goodwin
& Heritage, 1990, p. 283). BACKGROUND
In using CA to study interactions in a social
context, we seek to understand the transaction of With the proliferation of educational technology
events in the social world. We give emphasis to and its penetration into classrooms, educational
the routine everyday events and norms of how technologists begin to realize the urgency of scru-
the participants within specific social and cultural tinizing peoples on-line conversations as evidence
contexts involve themselves in forming, shaping, of educational processes and outcomes (Mazur,
affirming or denying each other to define the social 2004). Analytical methods like content analysis
orders (Tan & Tan, 2006). While conversations and social network analysis have been used by
traditionally involve two individuals, CA has been researchers to make sense of online interaction.
applied in broader institutional contexts such as Heckman and Annabi (2005) used content analysis
schools from the 1970s. Researchers like Mehan methodology to compare between face-to-face in-
(1983), Cazden (1986), and Sinclair and Coulthard teraction and online learning processes and found
(1992) have all carried out investigations into how that students assume more instructional role and
talk is used as a resource by teachers and students are engaged in higher order thinking processes
to accomplish learning. in asynchronous online environment. Similarly,
The application of CA in studying face-to- Hara, Bonk, and Angeli (2000) used transcript
face classroom interactions have enabled insights content analysis on students in a psychology
into the transactions that result in learning, but course and found that the course participants en-
its application to understanding online learning gaged in lengthy and cognitively more complex
environments appears to be limited. Everyone discussions. The methodological concerns of
recognizes that interactions in an online learn- applying content analysis have been thoroughly
ing environment are different from face-to-face addressed by Rourke, Anderson, Garrison and
interactions (Waither, 1996) and hence it is neces- Archer (2000) as early as the start of the new
sary for us to under the differences and how the century. In their paper, they highlighted the need
differences come about in order to gain better to examine objectivity, reliability, replicability
insights into the norms of online discussions. The and systematic coherence when using quantitative
249
content analysis. To complement the quantitative participants can contribute to a discussion from
information that is revealed by content analysis, different locations and at different times. The af-
CA and other qualitative methodologies can be fordances of each mode of communication have
used. While discussions on the potentials of CA prompted researchers to examine the differences
techniques for analyzing face-to-face discussions between them as well as to reconcile the strength
are not new, we are suffering from a dearth of of each mode of interaction. Researchers have
studies that apply CA on empirical data corpus attempted to develop models to study online inter-
in online conversations. This chapter attempts to action (for example, Gunawardena, Lowe, & An-
mitigate the gulf between theoretical notions of derson, 1997). Gunawardena and her colleagues
CA and its application in analysis of empirical studied online database with 554 list subscribers
online data. and proposed a social knowledge construction
Both face-to-face and online encounters have model with five phases, namely (1) sharing or
elements of cultural and social dimensions of comparison of information, (2) discovery and
knowledge; these knowledge manifest as shared exploration of dissonance or inconsistency among
meanings, judgments, and understandings of ideas, concepts, and statements, (3) negotiation of
expressed thoughts and beliefs within a specific meaning and co-construction of knowledge, (4)
context. As suggested by Mazur (2004), context testing and modification of proposed synthesis
can be defined as the sum of the dimensions and or co-construction and (5) agreement statements
properties of the social situation that relate to the or application of newly constructed meaning.
evolution, production or reception of discourse. As Building on the work of Gunawardena and her
such, face-to-face and online discussion presents colleagues in 1997, and ideas from social network
interaction in two contexts that are different but analysis (Wasserman & Faust, 1997), deLaat
yet share some similarities. To gain insights into (2001) analyzed the interaction patterns of an on-
the culture of face-to-face or online interaction, line community of practice within a Dutch police
examination of talk becomes the point of discourse organization. The objective of his analysis was
analysis. When people talk, they do not do so in to ascertain the activity of the participants and to
isolation. Talk among people is collective and establish the central participant in the community
consists of, as an example, speakers and listen- and the density of the discussions. Similar attempts
ers, or writer and readers. These different parties have also been made to develop analytic tools to
interact with each other to construct the social aid in analysis of interactions in computer medi-
events they experience. The central purpose of CA ated communication. Fahy, Crawford and Ally
is hence to investigate the norms and conventions (2001) and Fahy (2002) developed the Transcript
that speakers used in interaction to establish com- Analysis Tool (TAT) to analyse the interaction
municative understandings. For CA to be useful pattern in a computer conference and found that
in understanding the nuances of online learning while all participants participated in the discus-
environments, much work still needs to be done sion, the intensity and persistence of discussion
to enhance our understanding of context, content, differs among different participants. Like the
participant response and reaction, and the social earlier researchers, Jeong (2003) also developed
relationships inherent in all this on-line talk-in- an analytic tool (Discussion Analysis Tool, DAT)
interaction (Mazur, 2004, p.1095). based largely on coding principles to examine
In face-to-face conversations, there is a con- group interaction among participants in online
tinuity of time and space that is not a necessary threaded discussions and found that disagreements
condition in virtual online discussions. For ex- are unlikely to be posted by participants in response
ample, through asynchronous online discussion, to a position statements or arguments. While these
250
researchers have developed models and means of There is little attention given to the underlying
interaction analysis for online environments, the reasons of how these virtual online interactions
possibilities of examining social orderliness such are accomplished due to social order within the
as power relationships in the online talk is usu- community. We argue that knowledge of both
ally not addressed by these models. We suggest what is going on and how events are accomplished
here that CA could fill in this vacuum to provide are important. As such, we present how CA could
more intricate details of interaction in an online be used to illumine how online learning interac-
environment. For example, Panyametheekul and tions are accomplished by using six examples. In
Herring (2003) used CA to examine gender and this section, we will use Freebodys (2003) six
turn allocation in a Thai chat room and found out analytic passes to illustrate how CA may be ap-
that gender interacts with culture online in com- plied to understand the social order in online
plex ways such that Thai females appears to be learning environments. These six analytic passes
relatively empowered in Thai chat rooms. These are: (1) turn taking, (2) building exchanges, (3)
insights revealed through CA analysis provide parties, alliances and talk, (4) trouble and repair,
useful information about the mechanisms through (5) preferences and accountability, and (6) insti-
which social interaction actually takes place. tutional categories and the question of identity.
Analysis of each move is illustrated and elabo-
rated with examples. The focus here is on how
SIX ANALYTIC PASSES OF CA analysis using CA can be carried out rather than
ON ONLINE INTERACTIONS on the results of the analysis; hence, six different
examples that can best illustrate how analysis can
As discussed above, various analytic methods have be carried out for each of the six passes are cho-
been developed and deployed to understand differ- sen from different data sets rather than from a
ent aspects of online learning environment. Virtual single transcript.
asynchronous online interactions, while different
from the usual face-to-face interactions, are a result Turn Taking Structures
of human activity nevertheless. Analytic methods
employed to study these virtual asynchronous In studying turn taking structures in a face-to-face
interactions will hence need to provide insights interaction, we are interested in uncovering how
into how these interactions are conceived and turns are taken and allocated. In many instances,
maintained by each participant such that learn- turn-taking is not a random event and the system
ing and knowledge is synthesized. As discussed of turn-taking, while invisible to many of us,
earlier, most existing analytic methods aim to works in a systematic way to maintain the basic
reveal what is going on in the online interaction orderliness of any interaction. In this section, we
and what is being transacted (Table 1). illustrate how analyzing turn taking structures
Table 1. Existing analytic methods for online interactions
Analytic Method What is revealed

Content analysis Participants moves, knowledge and thoughts.
Development of ideas through the interaction.
Social network analysis The relevant manifested ties between the participants.
Discourse analysis Different variants of discourse analysis reveal different aspects of learning. For example, it can
reveal the growth in vocabulary of participants as they interaction with each other through time.
251
reveals the organization of conversations in online An online discussion demands each member
environment given its own unique affordances of the discussion group to make judgment about
when compared with face-to-face interaction. when their contribution needs to be made and has
In a face-to-face conversation, the parties to be made so that a coherent and sound discussion
involved in the talk will speak when they come can proceed. In Table 2, by tracking the date and
across signals like pauses from the speaker, a gaze time of each contribution made by the participants
directed from the speaker to the person nominated in the group, we found a nonlinear turn-taking
to take over the turn of talk, an explicit invita- structure. The content of the conversation in Table
tion from the speaker to speak, or simply using 2 was purposely hidden to highlight the turn-taking
speech markers like may I interrupt to indicate structure. Individuals in the group can initiate a
their desire to take over the conversation. The discussion (or a conversation) simultaneously
orderliness of having only one party speaking at across different threads and an individual can
any one time is important as it allows the rest of participate in two conversations simultaneously.
the participants to concentrate and listen to what
is being said. This orderliness is possible and
maintained in most face-to-face situations as the Table 2. Discussion between eight individuals
participants are aware and adhere to the social in a graduate course. Discussion between May,
norms and rules, which while unspoken, have Wayne, Albert, Sam, Herman, Dorothy, Charles,
been established and understood by all involved. and Simon
The familiarity of daily face-to-face encounters
has rendered turn taking and turn construction Thread 1
invisible to us. The question of interest here Charles (18 Nov, 16:09)
is whether interactions in an online learning en- May (27 Nov, 9:13:15)
vironment follows the same rules of turn taking Wayne (27 Nov, 9:32:38)
as in face-to-face interactions. In the absence of Albert (28 Nov, 18:27)
visible facial expressions, gaze and directedness
of face-to-face encounters, how do participants in Thread 2
an online discussion or conversation know when Sam (27 Nov, 9:14:12)
their turn of talk is? Surely, turn taking organiza- May (27 Nov, 9:26:58)
tion in an asynchronous online environment is not Albert (28 Nov, 11:03:46)
a random process with participants speaking or
contributing whenever they like. In this section, Thread 3
we use the interactions among a group of eight Herman (27 Nov, 9:19:51)
individuals in an introductory graduate course Albert (28 Nov, 11:04:58)
using an online discussion forum to illustrate
how turn taking structures are established such Thread 4
that the discussion proceeded with little difficulty.
Dorothy (27 Nov, 9: 21:56)
We begin the analysis by searching for clues or
Charles (27 Nov, 9:24:02)
cues that indicate the how participants determine
Simon (27 Nov, 9:26:31)
their speaking rights. Given the lack of facial or
verbal cues to signal the transition of a turn of talk
Thread 5
in an online environment, what are the evidences
Simon (27 Nov, 9:20:32)
available for participants to interpret turn of talk
Dorothy (27 Nov, 9:26:01)
or turn construction move?
252
For example, May was involved in a conversa- talk, in an online interaction, the participants rely
tion with Charles in thread 1 (taken to be one on the visual cues of a posted note. Once a note
conversation group), and at the same time, she is posted by a particular participant and appears
is also involved in a conversation with Sam in on the screen of other participants, it is perceived
thread 2. Similarly, Dorothy was involved in a by others that the turn of talk has ended and that
conversation with Simon in together with Charles they are free to respond. In the example cited, it
(in thread 4) but was also engaged in a separate is important to note that there is little evidence
conversation with Simon separately in thread 5. of multiple responses of similar content by dif-
Albert too, showed that it was possible for him ferent participants to a note that is posted. We
to simultaneously be involved in different con- postulate that the asynchronous nature of an online
versations at the same time. He was involved in environment allows for thinking time and hence
a conversation with Charles and May (thread 1), occasions of simultaneous, multiple responses
with Sam and May (thread 2) and with Herman to a single post is not frequent. Participants can
in thread 3. This multiple turn taking pattern, not read other notes, wait and think through what they
seen in face-to-face interactions, appears to be would like to say before taking up a turn of
common in an online discussion environment. talk. Finally, we question the evidence or cues
In a face-to-face interaction, a participant can be that allow participants to realize that the discus-
physically present only at a defined time and space sion has concluded. From Table 2, it is clear that
to speak to one group of people; in contrast, an discussion appears to cease when no new ideas
online environment provides the affordances for were posted by members of the group and no
an individual to participate in two conversations members of the group volunteered to start a new
simultaneously. topic of discussion.
More detailed analysis of the discussion threads
also revealed that within each thread, it is pos- Building Exchanges
sible to have more than one reply to one message
at different times. In thread 1 for example, May, Moving from analyzing single turns of talk, we
Wayne and Albert individually responded to now illustrate how these turns of talk can be
Charles message at different times. Similarly, in analyzed to ascertain how exchanges are built.
thread 2, May and Albert also responded to Sam Building exchanges is about establishing the
directly one day apart. In thread 4, Charles re- mutually understood character of exchanges that
sponded to Dorothy while Simon, instead of re- will take place, and who will take responsibil-
sponding to Dorothy, responded to Charles. This ity for sustaining what courses of action as they
form of taking up a turn of talk, immediate or play their various parts. We look for the ways in
delayed, is only possible because an online envi- which turns at talk are co-ordinated into larger
ronment is asynchronous. Compared with a face- collections, and directed at particular topics or
to-face environment, delayed and multiple turn tasks within an interaction. As analysts, we do
taking within a single thread (conversation) is a not (and usually have no means) to access the
unique feature of an online discussion. Participants internal thought processes and intentions of each
can decide when and which thread of discussion participant. What is accessible and visible to us
to participate in. are ideas that a participant deliberately makes
In online interaction, how do participants know available and also the reaction to how others have
if a turn of talk has ended? While participants in a responded to his/her apparent intentions. Examin-
face-to-face interaction relies on verbal and visual ing how exchanges are built hence offers insights
cues like gesture to indicate the end of a turn of into the participants (speakers) internal intentions
253
as compared to merely looking at a single turn of pants were aware of their responsibilities and the
talk. Using this analytic pass, we can gain a better goal of the discussion they were involved in; they
understanding of the interactions that occur during were also able to understand and interrupt each
the learning process. Emphasis on the process of contribution by fellow participant accurately. From
interaction helps increase understanding of what the use of relevant scientific terms like physical
actually goes on in an online discussion to bring environment, carbon dioxide, organisms, it
about learning. It complements current methods of was evident that the participants, who were nov-
examining online learning such as content analysis ices to pond ecology, understood this as a learning
that focus largely on the products. event and were trying to make sense of what they
In Table 3, the group of four boys (grade five) had observed in the pond using scientific language.
has just gone to the school pond and made some The participants mutually build on each others
observations about the living things that they exchanges to craft this learning event.
found in the pond. After their visit to the pond, The analysis of building exchanges further
they were tasked to discuss about the ecology of asked the question of how the discussion is
the school pond on Knowledge Forum, an online sustained or can be sustained so that the learn-
discussion forum. The discussion is facilitated by ing event actually takes place. From Table 3, we
the teacher, Angel, who posted a note in turn 5. notice that the learning event is sustained by four
In Table 3, phrases in square brackets (e.g., <My key features: (1) Sherman building on Williams
theory>) are customizable scaffolds in the form of idea of turtles, small fishes and survival of organ-
sentence openers available in Knowledge Forum. isms in the pond to complete the idea suggested
We begin analyzing for exchanges by examin- by William, (2) Sydney agreeing with the ideas
ing each turn of talk and relate this to the earlier presented by William and Sherman, (3) Robert
turn of talk and the later turn of talk. By examin- disagreeing with what Sydney has presented and
ing how each turn of talk relates to other turns of presenting his own point of view and (4) the social
talk offers insights into how the specific turn of norm for every member to make a contribution
talk is heard, read or understood by the in the discussion prompted every participant to
participants of the discussion. In the analysis of contribute. Hence, in this case, the online discus-
the group discussion between William, Sherman, sion was sustained because (1) there is a diversity
Sydney, Robert and Angel, it is evident that every of ideas among the participants, leading to some
participant knew their roles as contributors to the agreement and disagreement of ideas among some
discussion (turns 2-4). The discussion was sus- participants, (2) there are contributions of ideas
tained because each member of the group under- which appear incomplete so that members of the
stood their individual responsibility to contribute discussion can build on each others ideas and (3)
to the discussion positively by relating to the pond there is a clear understanding by the participants
visit they had just experienced. When the discus- of what the learning event is and their roles in
sion appeared to have ceased after turn 4 where the discussion.
no new ideas were suggested by the students,
Angel (the teacher) read this as a signal for her Parties, Alliances and Talk
to take over the turn of talk and she did this by
posing a question to stimulate further discussion. When a conversation takes place in an institution
This post by Angel was correctly responded by and involves more than one individual, it is likely
Sydney as he continued with the discussion by that the conversation does not proceed in a linear
posting his answer to Angels question. The dis- fashion (Mazur, 2004). In this analytic pass, we
cussion was hence sustained because the partici- are interested in the underlying reason leading to
254
Table 3. Discussion between four boys and their teacher. Discussion between William, Sherman, Sydney, Robert and Angel (Teacher)
Turn No. Participants Sequence of time What is discussed Remarks

1 William 14 May, 16:14:07 Why does the turtles and small fishes stay on one side while the bigger Initiates the discussion by posing a question
fishes stay on the other side? and giving his theory about the phenomena
<My Theory> I think it is because of the low bridge or the smaller fishes he observed.
are afraid of getting eaten.
2 Sherman 14 May, 16:14:08 <My Theory> The turtle eats some small animals or plants in the pond in Continues with the discussion by contribut-
the order to survive in the pond. ing his ideas. He is playing the role of a
fellow discussant.
3 Sydney 14 May, 16:16:06 I think that the function of the organism is to feed on other plants and on Acknowledges the earlier contributions and
other things in the pond. builds upon it. Also plays role as a fellow
discussant.
4 Robert 14 May, 16:18:03 I think that the organisms job is to be fed by other animals which live in Acknowledges the earlier contributions and
the pond. builds upon it. Also plays role as a fellow
discussant.
5 Angel 16 May, 11:17:08 <I need to understand> whether the organisms found in and around the Noticed that discussion has ceased with the
pond depend on each other for survival? lack of entries by the group. Took over the
turn of talk and asked a question to stimu-
late discussion.
6 Sydney 21 May, 16:08:40 <My Theory> The living things in the pond such as the water plants Took the responsibility sustain the discussion
give out oxygen on day time for the physical environment and the living by responding to Angels question.
things in the pond.The living things in the pond also produce carbon
dioxide for the plants to breathe during day time. Fishes and turtle also
like to live on the place with low turbidity so that they can see clearly
through the water but they also like to live in the high turbidity so that
they can hide from their enemies.
255
the non-linear interaction, specifically, how the From this example, we see three possible
interactions between the different parties organize principles of forming alliances between different
themselves - based on their knowledge, interests, parties in an online discussion (1) Explicitly
and institutional roles - into groups or meaningful stating, identifying or sharing ones own experi-
categories. Similarly, in online environments, how ences with that of another person (as in the case
parties and alliances are formed between different of Tim identifying with Yong in turns 3 and 4); (2)
groups of individuals would help us understand responding to questions that are posted online and
how learning takes place (or fail to take place). In using the questions to present a different point of
Table 4, we analyze a conversation between six view (see Lerk in turn 8); and finally (3) restat-
individuals (Yong, Xen, Tim, Yoyo, Tom and Lerk) ing or repeating position presented earlier with a
on the topic of water pollution in their homes. We rebuttal (as shown by Yoyo in turn 9).
present nine turns of talk as an illustration of how
alliances can be formed in an online discussion. Trouble and Repair
As stated in the earlier section, this analysis
begins with the examination of each turn of talk Trouble-and-repair is likely to be one of the most
and a decision is made on the purposes of each important and interesting analytic passes. When
turn of talk (see analysis column in the table). As speakers realize that their contribution in the
analysts, we are unable to get into the heads of conversation does not yield the response they
the speakers, it is important to ensure that the expected, and the conversation breaks down, cor-
earlier turn of talk as well as the next turn of talk rective mechanisms kick in to repair and restore
is taken into consideration during the analysis social order. Here we examine how trouble starts,
since what and how each utterance is heard usu- how it is recognized and how it is repaired. We
ally serves as the warrant for the interpretation of will also examine the consequences of failure to
the purposes of each turn of talk. Once the pur- recognize interactional trouble.
poses of each turn of talk is determined, we check In Table 5, we examine a case where indi-
for patterns into order to cluster the turns of talk viduals who do not understand the norms or are
by what each cluster accomplished in the interac- unfamiliar with the rules of contributions in an
tion event. Detailed analysis of each turn of talk online discussion to carry out a meaningful and
is found in the last column of Table 4. Overall, productive discussion. In this exchange between a
the analysis of each turn of talk can then be com- group of five Grade 5 girls (Angel, Yvonne, Helen,
posed as a coherent description of the event in Mandy and Mei), we illustrate how interactional
forming alliances. The nine exchanges in this trouble can manifest itself and how repair can
example accomplished the following: be carried out to allow successful and meaning
learning to take place. In this example, the girls
Turn 1 Posing the problem in the form of have just gone to the school pond to observe the
three questions. ecology of the organisms found in the pond. They
Turn 2 Possible answers to the questions have returned from their visit and were tasked to
suggested. discuss the inter-dependence of the organisms
Turns 3-5 Parties coming together to form found in the school pond.
alliances based on their personal experiences. The analysis of a transcript for trouble and
Turns 6-9 Other alliances are being formed repair is similar to the passes that have been de-
as there are alternative views. scribed previously each turn of talk is analysed
for the purposes accomplished in relation to ear-
lier and later turns of talk (see Remarks column).
256
Table 4. How can water from the tap become yellow? Discussion between Yong, Xen, Tim, Yoyo, Tom and Lerk
Turn Who/When What is posted? Analysis

1 Yong What problem will this pose? Posing questions concerning dirty water to the group.
22/2 What are the causes of this problem?
20:48:41 What are we talking about here?
2 Xen The water will be dirty & we cant use it. Replying to questions posed by Yong. Attributed the poor
23/2 I think the water was not treated properly. quality of the water to the poor water treatment process.
14:02:58
3 Yong Has that ever occurred to you at home? Yong asked another question in response to Xens answer.
23/2 Besides water not being treated properly, what could have caused the water to This is a question pertaining to personal experiences with dirty
15:52:37 turn yellow? water. Yong further asked if there were any other reasons for
water turning yellow.
4 Tim no but if it does i would freak out In response to Yongs question on occurrence at home, Tim
23/2 indicated that he would be horrified if it ever occurred to him.
20:49:21
5 Yoyo it did not occur at my house. disgusting yellow water will only occur when the Yoyo readily agreed with Tims stand and supported Tims
23/2 owner does not take care of the tap properly. discomfort with yellow water but saying that it had never
21:33:15 occurred to him and using the word disgusted to indicate a
similar distaste to dirty water as expressed by Tim. Here, Yoyo
further added that dirty water could possibly be caused by
owners neglect of the tap. Here we see Tim and Yoyo form-
ing an alliance based on their similar opinion to dirty wa-
ter. This is done by building on each others ideas positively.
6 Tom but i think even we care the tap still we have the yellow water as it is the water Tom took a different stand from Yoyo and Tim by starting his
23/2 that is polluted not the tap posting with the word But. He disagrees that the owner
21:43:18 and the tap could possibly be the cause of polluted water.
He countered Yoyo by stating that water can still be polluted
even if taps were cared for.

7 Yong I need to understand What do you mean when owners dont take care of the Yong built on Tom and Yoyos idea about owners taking care
24/2 taps properly? Is that the only reason why the water turned yellow? of taps and questioned the relationship between care of taps
18:25:18 and water turning yellow. Yong is not forming alliances with
either the tap-is-not-cared-for group and water-is-
originally-polluted group yet.
8 Lerk No. It is not that the taps are not taken care of. Its just that the water has been Lerk, another member in the discussion, showed his alliance
24/2 too polluted and it shall affect the water from the tap. with the water-is-originally-polluted group by providing
18:47:27 an answer to Yongs question.
9 Yoyo no, i only want to understand why they wanted to waste water Yoyo, maintains his stand of tap is not cared for and hence
24/2 water became polluted by offering a query as to why polluted
19:07:05 water is allowed into taps leading to a waste of water.
257
258
Table 5. Inter-dependence of organisms in the pond. Discussion between Angel, Yvonne, Helen, Mandy and Mei
Turn Participants Sequence of time What it discussed Remarks

No.
1 Angel, 14 May, 15.03 <Opinion> [a]The living things in the pond are, koi Group entry => multiple parties opinion
Yvonne, fish, tadpole, frogs, water lily, duckweed, terrapin, lotus Participants are uncertain how to start the conversation/
Helen, and turtles.[b]They depend on one another for food. discussion online.
Mandy,
Mei
(posted using Angel user
ID)
2 Angel 14 May, 15:57 <Opinion> We found, about 4 terrapins, lots of water 50 mins later, Angel, appeared to be the group leader, took
lettuces, some duckweed, small fishes in the pond. the lead in the discussion, speaking as a collective group
with the use of the pronoun We.
3 Mandy 14 May, 16:15: 01 <My Theory> Terrapins need water to survive so they Started the repair mechanism to contribute her personal
live in places with water like reservoirs, oceans, lakes, view, so that personal voice would not be subsumed in the
fountains and ponds. However they lay their eggs on group leaders note.
land.
4 Angel 14 May, 16:15:33 <My Theory> The water lettuce takes in carbon dioxide Angel realized the interactional trouble and started to re-
and releases oxygen through the process of photosyn- pair her contribution by stating her own theory rather than
thesis. speaking for the group.
5 Yvonne 14 May, 16:15:42 <My Theory> The water plants is important to the pond Yvonne caught on the rules or norms of how the discus-
is because it provides food for other animals. but if sion ought to proceed and offered her theory. Indicative of
the water plants are gone the animals such as terrapins successful repair in the interaction.
or turtles will be hungry and might even die. Can you
imagine a pond without water plants? It will be ugly but
only animals at the bottom.
6 Helen 14 May, 16:16:43 <My Theory> My theory is that the terrapin will feed Helen, another member, also realized her role to contribute
on the water lettuce to get food. to the discussion and following the norms and rules of the
discussion is able to do so successfully.
7 Mei 14 May, 16:22:08 <My Theory> my theory is water lettuce acts as a Another evidence that the new norm and rule is accepted.
shelter for the small fishes.
The purposes and warrants from the relevant turns Angel as evident in her entry in turn 3 realized
of talk are then interpreted and linked together to where the interactional trouble was as she read
form a narrative of the trouble and repair in the Mandys note. She repairs her contribution by
interaction. In this example, the first entry of this stating her own theory rather than speaking for
online discussion was a group entry posted using the group. Observing how Mandy and Angel have
Angels user id (refer to turn 1). This group opin- repaired and proceeded with the discussion,
ion is unusual as the forum is based on the prin- Yvonne caught on the rules or norms of how
ciple that members of the discussion group will the discussion ought to proceed and hence offered
contribute their individual ideas so that it can be her theory. This is indicative of successful repair
improved upon collectively. It appeared here that in the interaction. Helen, as a member of the group
the participants are somewhat uncertain how to also realized her role to contribute to the discus-
start the conversation/discussion online. After the sion and following the norms and rules of the
group note, some 50 minutes later, Angel, sup- discussion is able to do so successfully. Meis
posedly the group leader, decided to take the lead contribution to the discussion provided yet more
in the discussion since no members of the group, evidence that the original trouble of unfamiliar-
the teacher nor members of other discussion group ity with online discussion norm as exhibited by
posted a response or comment on the note. In her Angel has been repaired by Mandy.
note in turn 2, she presented her ideas as a col-
lective using the pronoun we. She appeared Preferences and Accountability
to be speaking on behalf of all the members in
the discussion group. We treat this as interac- Any conversation exchange is formed by con-
tional trouble since Angel was not adhering to tribution of each speaker in logical and coherent
the norms and rules of this discussion forum. If pairs: question-answer, charge-rebuttal and so
she speaks and presents ideas for the group, on. Speakers are accountable for providing the
then the discussion cannot proceed as the voices appropriate corresponding pair when they are
of the other members of the group will not be presented with the first part of a recognizable
heard. Further, members of her discussion group pair. For example, for invitations, acceptances
may not agree to Angels ideas. Mandy, upon are preferred over rejections and for ideas or
reading Angels contribution, self nominated to suggestions contributed, agreements and praises
present her personal views about the biology of are preferred over counter-arguments. Analysis
terrapins. While she built upon Angels ideas of of preferences and accountability is commonly
terrapins, she did not pursue the discussion of linked to formation of alliances, and trouble and
reporting on numbers directly. Rather, she pre- repair. When a dis-preferred response surfaced,
sented her idea about the biology of terrapins, participants of the interaction will respond in
probably as an effort to shift the discussion to such a way to show that the response given is not
bring out the idea of interdependence of organism acceptable and hence, studying preferences and
(there is no direct evidence in the discussion to accountability in online environment will reveal
conclusively attribute the intention). Mandys the acceptable social norms within each online
entry is interpreted as a repair move to (1) shift community and also between the relationship
the discussion from Angels collective represen- and rapport between different individuals. It will
tation to one that allows other members to present also reveal how participants hear and interpret
their views, and (2) to ensure topic shift to one preferences and subsequently use their turn of talk
which aligned with the requirement of the discus- to present their own preferences using different
sion. This repair mechanism is understood by accounting mechanisms.
259
Table 6 is an excerpt of a dialogue taken from
Yvonne offered her opinion in response to Timothy.
pected Yvonne to agree with him. Timothy realized

partially agreeing with what was presented earlier.
Wait a minute, or a second shows that Yvonnes

another reason to a previous turn of talk and also
reply is a dis-preferred answer; Timothy had ex-

a discussion on cleanliness of water between two
that his contribution style may be dis-preferred

by members; softened his tone and asked to be
Timothy presents his point of view by adding
persons who are members of a larger discussion

group of six persons.
Analysis for preferences and accountability is
tightly linked to trouble and repair and share
similar procedures. The differences in analysis
for the two passes are the intent of the analysis
and the narrative that is generated. In turn 1 of
Table 6, Timothy presented his point of view by
corrected.
Analysis
adding another reason to a previous turn of talk

that suggested a reason for tap water turning yel-
low. While presenting his view, Timothy also
Wait a minute, or a second. I thought that if the owners do not take care of their taps and
Dont think that is the only reason. it might be true that the water turned yellow because
so, the water turning yellow does not have any connection with the quality and material
or that the material of the pipe rusts and wears off and drop into the water, causing it to
partially agreed with what was presented earlier

them yellow, right? (Sorry if my blog has so many right? Correct me if I am wrong,
pipes, buyers will complain and that will harm the owners reputation, right? But even
different answers for this question. For example, it might be that the water is polluted,
of the pipes, right? The most important reason is that people pollute the water, turning
the owners do not take care of their taps, but that is not likely. There might be a lot of
I dont think the owner would take care of their taps. I think they are polluting water.
by using the phrase it might be true that.... Fol-

turn yellow. What reasons other than the above mentioned three do you know?
lowing Timothys suggestion that owners are

unlikely to neglect the care of their tap, Yvonne
offered her opinion which indicated that she did
not agree with Timothys opinion in turn 2. Here
she used I dont think... to express her difference
in opinion. Timothy saw Yvonnes reply as a dis-
preferred answer as can be seen from the expres-
sions Wait a minute, or a second in turn 3. The
use of this expression suggests that Timothy had
expected Yvonne to agree with him that the own-
Table 6. Wait a minute. Dialogue between Timothy and Yvonne
ers are responsible for the water turning yellow

but Yvonne gave an opinion that did not align
with his and hence the need to pause to clarify
What was discussed
stance. Timothy was also conscious that his con-

tribution style may be dis-preferred by members
in the group and hence he apologized for his style
and consequently asked to be corrected. This
ok?)
apology appears within the parenthesis and not

as part of the main text since it does not contrib-
ute to the development of ideas in the main dis-
cussion of polluted tap water.
Participants/Time
In analyzing for preferences and accountability,

the subtleties of what is expected and accepted
Sequence
20:48:55
20:25:32
21:45:59
Timothy
Timothy
Yvonne
socially online can be revealed. Insights into how

12/3
12/3
22/3
participants responsible for providing the second

parts of pairs cannot do so or did so in a manner
that is not acceptable will reveal how discussions
Turn No.
break down. By studying the systems of prefer-

ences in online discussions and what happens when
3
2
1
260
dis-preferred responses are made, facilitators and participants are all contributing their ideas online
participants of online discussions will be able to in the form of questions in turns 1, 3 and 5 while
engage in more productive discussion. Further, others contribute in the form of comments and
when participants account for their contributions discussions to the questions in subsequent moves.
in a dis-preferred manner, analysis can lead to the Examining the nine turns of talk, it is appropriate
diagnosis of trouble, so that repair mechanisms to ask the question of who is playing the role of the
can be activated. In reality, analysis of preferences teacher and who the students are. In a traditional
and accountability when coupled with analysis of teacher-student relationship and interaction, the
trouble and repair helps to illumine online social institutional responsibility, authority and power
norms and orderliness. to decide and dictate learning activities resides
with the teacher while students typically play
Institutional Categories and the role of students by responding to the teachers
the Question of Identity questions. In Table 7, it is possible that Edmund,
Ken or Paul could be the teacher since the turns
The institution authority and the identity adopted of talk exhibit questioning of ideas presented in
by each speaker in any interaction will depend on previous turns of talk and these questions directed
what is said and how it is said. As such, analysis the course of the discussion. It is important to
for institutional categories and identity of the par- note that the affordances of the online discussion
ticipants would reveal how the various participants allows for renegotiation of traditional roles of
orient themselves in the interactions. Participants, teacher-students interaction. This online discus-
particularly in institutions, orientate themselves sion revealed that the traditional institutional
with different identities and as a result of this, what power and responsibilities bestowed upon the
is by different individuals carry different mean- teacher is somewhat distributed to the students,
ings. For example, a rejection No uttered by in this case the participants of the discussion. The
different individuals could be a preferred request students, Cindy, Ken, Paul, John and Mark are
to a completion of a pair (as in a question by a free to express their views. Edmund, the teacher,
teacher to her students about additional lesson) did not exert control over the speaking rights of
or it could also be a dis-preferred completion (as the students. The students are given the liberty
in a request by a teacher to her students to hand to decide when they want to contribute their
in their homework). ideas or comments. They regulated each others
In this analytic phase, we examine turns of talk contribution with Edmund facilitating the discus-
to surface each speakers identity and the power sion by posing a question at the start. In fact, Ken
relations that exist between the speakers. The (in turn 3) and Paul (in turns 5 and 7) exhibited
example cited below (taken from Tan and Tan, teacher-like traits in the various turns of talk
2006) shows the interaction between a teacher and by asking questions to challenge ideas presented
five students as they work together to construct by other participants, likely to promote more in-
knowledge of convention currents. The students depth thinking about ideas presented. Analysis
had made an observation that when they placed a of institutional power and identity in an online
candle below a piece of paper cut out in the shape discussion allows concrete evidence of control
of a spiral, the spiral moved. over learning events to be visible. This helps to
Examine Table 7 and consider the nature of enlighten the interactions taking place to inform
the interaction taking place. What are the roles decisions make about learning.
and identities held by each of the participants
such that this learning event is possible? The
261
Table 7. Why the spiral moved? Discussion between Edmund, Cindy, Ken, Paul, John and Mark
1. Edmund: Explain how the burning candle caused the spiral to move.
2. Cindy: <My theory> is that the smoke from the flames causes the spiral to move. The flames smoke is thick, so
when the smoke rises, and the wind blows the smoke, the wind will blow the smoke and push it causing the
spiral to move. <I need to understand> if the wind affects the spirals movement.
3. Ken: <Opinion> how does the smoke cause the spiral to move? Do you mean the heat and light energy from the
flame instead?
4. Cindy: <My theory> the smoke makes the air expands, then the wind pushes the air upwards causing the spiral to
coil and turn up.
5. Paul: <I need to understand> where did the wind come from??? <My theory> is that there is no wind and the heat
given out by the spiral causes the spiral to coil and turn up.
6. Cindy: <My theory> is that the air comes from our surroundings.
7. Paul: <Opinion> is that if wind is included in the experiment, it would not be a fair test.
8. John: <My theory> is that the wind did not come from the surrounding but from beneath. It did not come from the
surrounding as when we did the experiment, we blocked the wind from the surrounding but not the wind
beneath. <This theory cannot explain> how the wind move from underneath the spiral.
9. Mark: <Opinion> Then it was not a fair test. <Reason> The experiment was conducted to find out how the heat from
the candle interacting with the spiral to make it move not the surrounding air.
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS mechanisms between face-to-face and online

environments?
Publications thus far have focused on CA as a It is also possible to conduct multiple pass
method for studying face-to-face social interac- analysis of the same transcript to provide a more
tions. With growing interest of understanding how holistic picture of what goes on in an online
the orderliness of online interactions is formed environment. For example, content analysis can
and maintained, it is therefore not surprising be applied to examine the levels of knowledge
that researchers of online learning are turning to construction achieved by the participants while
methods traditionally used by social scientists to CA can be used to reveal the possible process lead-
understand emergent trends in online interactions ing to the outcomes. Analytic passes like parties
(for example, Panyametheekul & Herring, 2003). and alliances can be used to understand how and
Future research using CA as a method could in- if power in real life influence interactions in an
clude studies that examine unique characteristics online discussion. With the growing popularity
of online interactions. For example, the non-linear of environments like second life, the translation
turn taking structure of an online environment of such power interplay to an online environment
presents opportunities for participants to take part needs to be understood. Similarly, in classrooms
in conversations with different groups within a where the use of online learning is popular, re-
short span of time. searchers can examine whether the interactions in
Given the different affordances of face-to-face classrooms have spill-over effects on interaction
and online environments, another area of study in the virtual environment and how these effects
could be comparison of face-to-face interactions can be encouraged or reduced, depending on the
with online interactions. For example, given outcomes of these interactions.
the lack of visual cues in most online interac- CA is an analytic method that is interpretative in
tions, are there differences in trouble-and-repair nature. Methodological issues such as objectivity,
reliability, replicability and systemic coherence
262
(Rourke, Anderson, Garrison and Archer, 2000) de Laat, M. F. (2002). Network and content
have been discussed extensively for methods such analysis in an online community discourse. In G.
as content analysis. Discussion and studies on Stahl (Ed.), Computer support for collaborative
these methodological issues could help to enhance learning: Foundation for a CSCL community;
the credibility of CA and widen its acceptance proceedings of CSCL 2002, Boulder, Colorado,
among researchers. USA, January 7-11, 2002. (pp. 160-168). Hillside,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Fahy, P., Crawford, G., & Ally, M. (2001). Patterns
CONCLUSION
of interaction in a computer conference transcript.
International Review of Research in Open and
The exploratory nature of CA as an analytic tool
Distance Learning, 2(1), 124.
to understanding online learning environment is
exciting as it has the potential to reveal what exist- Fahy, P. J. (2002). Epistolary and expository inter-
ing analytic methods could not present to us. With action patterns in a computer conference transcript.
the rich insights that CA has generated in face-to- Journal of Distance Education, 17(1), 2035.
face social interaction, its applications to online
Freebody, P. (2003). Qualitative research in edu-
learning environment present great potential wait-
cation: Interaction and practice. London: Sage
ing to be discovered. In this chapter, we illustrate
Publications.
some of these potentials by applying Freebodys
(2003) six analytic passes to examine transcripts Goodwin, C., & Heritage, J. (1990). Conversation
taken from online asynchronous discussion. Our analysis. Annual Review of Anthropology, 19, 283
analysis showed several interesting phenomena 307. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.19.100190.001435
in online interactions, for example, it is possible
Gunawardena, C., Lowe, C., & Anderson, T.
for participants to engage in several conversations
(1997). Analysis of a global online debate and
with different groups of people within the same
the development of an interaction analysis
period of time. Another example is the greater
model for examining social construction of
power assumed by the learners in an online envi-
knowledge in computer conferencing. Journal of
ronment, which could be partly due to the absence
Educational Computing Research, 17, 397431.
of a visual authoritative figure (teacher) that
otherwise would be expected to direct and guide
the conversations. Our examples provide only Hara, N., Bonk, C. J., & Angeli, C. (2000). Content
glimpses of possibilities that CA could offer. We analysis of online discussion in an applied educa-
believe that using CA as a method for analyzing tional psychology course. Instructional Science,
online interactions is a fertile ground of research 28, 115152. doi:10.1023/A:1003764722829
with potentials yet to be realized.
Heckman, R., & Annabi, H. (2005). A content
analytic comparison of learning processes in
online and face-to-face case study discussions.
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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS versation breaks down and the ensuing corrective
mechanisms to repair and restore social order.
Accountability and Preferences: Analysis Turn Taking Structure: Analysis of the
of how participants supply the second part in fundamental organization of a conversation by
sequence of pairs. which the conversation is achieved through turns.
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which turns at talk are co-ordinated into larger
266
Section 4
The massive amounts of data available in virtual communities can be used to build sophisticated as well as simple models
of human interactions that in turn can be used to build systems, and processes that can enhance understanding of ways to
support better interaction in these communities.
Modelling approaches in virtual communities are needed to understand more complex and more abstract phenomenon
and data structures in more concrete ways. Modelling provides the basis for measurement and to identify key metrics such
as community structure, conversion rates from readers to contributors, type and degree of cooperation and interactions
social dynamics. Important properties of data models are variables and characteristics of the models. Underlying these
characteristics is the ability to operationalise and measure the variables. For variables should be used with consistent models
that can in turn inform us about why certain communities are successful while others are not. Section 4 presents 4 chapters
dealing with user and data modelling of social behaviour, user traces as well context of interactions in virtual communities.
Chapter 15 presents work on modeling the diversity of user behavior in online communities. More specifically the au-
thors looked at how users contribute and attend to content, and how they form social links with their peers. The chapter also
attempts to illustrate the models being examined and parameter estimation procedure.
Chapter 16 presents a need to understand the role of context in knowledge-based systems. The chapter shows the rela-
tionships between explanation and context and presents different types of explanations in contextual-graphs formalism. The
chapter also presents a discussion on a case study of collaborative answer building.
Chapter 17 is focused on description and discussion of an agent-based modelling system. The chapter describes an agent
that acquires domain knowledge content from a learning history log database in a learning community and automatically
generates motivational messages for the learner.
Chapter 18 presents a Bayesian Network techniques for modelling complex social systems. It illustrates the use of this
methodology through the discussion of social capital and practical scenarios.
268
Chapter 15
Modeling the Diversity of User
Behavior in Online Communities
Tad Hogg
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA
Gabor Szabo
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA
ABSTRACT
This chapter describes models of the diversity of behavior seen in online communities, in particular how
users contribute and attend to content, and how they form social links with their peers. We illustrate the
models and parameter estimation procedure with a political discussion community. The models identify
key characteristics of users and the web site design leading to the diverse behaviors, and suggest future
experiments to identify causal mechanisms producing these characteristics.
INTRODUCTION (Lerman and Galstyan, 2008) to help users find

relevant content.
Online communities are becoming ubiquitous and The key aspects of the communities are the
allow exploiting wisdom of crowds (Surowiecki, users, their links to other users, and the content
2004) to create and rate content. Examples include they create and act on. User behaviors in these
identifying interesting current news stories (Digg), communities are often extremely diverse, with
creating encyclopedia articles (Wikipedia), shar- long-tailed distributions among participants.
ing photos and videos (Flickr and YouTube) and These behaviors include a concentration of activ-
fixing bugs in open source software (Bugzilla). ity among a few top users, a focus of community
Online communities often allow users to form attention on a small fraction of the submitted
explicit links with other users whose contribu- content, and a few active users forming most of the
tions they find interesting and many times they links in the community networks. Thus diversity
highlight the activity of a users designated friends plays a dominant role in community behavior.
Identifying the nature of this diversity can aid
in designing online communities, particularly
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch015 in identifying aspects of the web site design that
Modeling the Diversity of User Behavior in Online Communities
promote effective participation by various types Essembly allows users to contribute, rate, and dis-
of users (Ren et al., 2007). cuss content, in this case political policy questions.
This chapter describes models of this diversity Essembly encourages users to find others
based on choices users make with information with similar interests and form links with them.
readily available to them on the community web To facilitate this discovery, Essembly provides
site. The models suggest how diversity in be- each user a ranked list of the other users with
havior arises from underlying preferences of the similar ideological profiles based on their votes
users and the design of the site. Identifying these on the resolves. Unlike most online communities,
characteristics can help improve the web site by Essembly allows users to explicitly distinguish
attracting or retaining contributing users, and by links to others with similar preferences (e.g.,
suggesting what information the web site should discovered via their community activities) from
highlight about contributed content or other users. links to people they know socially. Specifically,
Models can also describe the aggregate average Essembly provides three distinct networks for
or typical behaviors in the community (Lerman, users: a social network, an ideological preference
2007). network, and an anti-preference network, called
We describe and illustrate these models in the friends (those who know each other in person),
context of a political group formation community allies (those who share similar ideologies), and
site, Essembly. The models not only explain the nemeses (those who have opposing ideologies),
observed diversity but also allow estimating users respectively. Users specify the link type when they
activity rates from their behavior on the site shortly create links. Network links are formed by invita-
after they join, and estimating the communitys tion only and each link must be approved by the
interest in new content from the initial reactions invitee. The resulting networks have a structure
of a few users. That is, model parameter estima- similar to that seen in other social networking
tion shows that user activity rate and community web sites, and the links generally conform to their
interest in new content becomes evident shortly nominal semantics (Brzozowski et al., 2008; Hogg
after users join or content is posted (Szabo and et al., 2008). In summary, user activities consist of
Huberman, 2010). creating resolves, voting (expressing their opinions
In the remainder of this chapter, we first on resolves on a 4-point scale ranging from strong
describe the Essembly online community that disagreement to strong agreement), commenting
we focus on for our models. We then discuss on resolves (e.g., to explain their vote or how they
models for user activity, content relevance and interpret the resolve), and forming links to other
link structure. We conclude with questions for users. The Essembly user interface presents several
future study and discuss how these models apply options for users to discover new resolves, e.g.,
to other online communities. based on votes by network neighbors, recency,
overall popularity, and degree of controversy.
Essembly is a modest-sized community for
ESSEMBLY which it is feasible to evaluate the behavior of all
users and contributed content over an extended
Essembly is an online community for political period of time. This comprehensive view is useful
discussion. These discussions center around user- for studying diversity of user behavior. In con-
created resolves reflecting controversial political trast, larger online communities, such as Digg or
issues such as overall, free trade is good for YouTube, generally require focusing on a sample
workers. Similar to other online communities, of users or content. Nevertheless, online commu-
nities generally show similar broad distributions
269
of behavior (Wilkinson, 2008) so the modeling For example, in modeling the number of votes
approach we illustrate for Essembly also applies a user makes, x could be the average number of
to these other communities. votes per day for users in the community and t
Our data set consists of anonymized voting the number of days a typical user is active in the
records for Essembly between its inception in community. The random variation arising from
August 2005 and December 2006, and the users the Poisson process then models the variations
and links in the three networks at the end of this around the expected value xt for different users.
period. Our data set has 15,424 users. Essembly However, a model using a Poisson process with a
presents 10 resolves during the user registration single expected value s for the entire population
process to establish an initial ideological profile. results in narrow distributions, in marked contrast
To focus on user-created content, we consider to the observed behavior in online communi-
the remaining 24,953 resolves, with a total of 1.3 ties. Instead, we capture the observed diversity
million votes. by having the rate x vary across the users and
content in the community. That is, our model for
user and resolve diversity posits an underlying
MODELING THE DIVERSITY quantity x, characterizing the user or resolve,
OF ACTIVITY which determines the mean of a Poisson process
producing the observed number of actions (for
Important aggregate measures of community be- users) or votes and comments (for resolves). The
havior are the numbers of actions users perform, values of x are not directly observable, but can be
how users spread their attention over the submitted estimated for individual users or resolves. These
content, how users form links to each other, and estimates are fit well by lognormal distributions
how the resulting networks influence subsequent (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a). A continuous value x
user actions. While motivations of individual users > 0 has a lognormal distribution (Aitchison and
depend on their specific interests and experience Brown, 1957) with parameters and > 0 when
with the community, aggregate behaviors of on- ln x is distributed according to a normal distribu-
line communities show many simple regularities tion with mean and standard deviation equal to
(Wilkinson, 2008). As a key aspect of community and , respectively. We denote this distribution
behavior, we focus on the diversity of the distri- as LN(,; x). Multiplying x by a constant t > 0
bution of the activity associated with users and also gives a lognormally distributed value s = xt
content. We thus require models relating observed with distribution LN(+ ln t, ; y).
counts of various actions in the online community In this chapter we focus on the aggregate be-
to underlying properties of the users and content. havior of the population. So instead of estimating
A simple approach to modeling observed values of x individually for each user or resolve,
counts, such as number of votes by an Essembly we estimate the parameters characterizing the
user, is as a Poisson random process. Such a model lognormal distribution of x values. This approach
assumes each action is made independently of the gives a description of the population as a whole
others at some rate x > 0 for a duration t > 0. The rather than individual users or resolves.
product s = xt is then the expected number of ac- Combining the lognormal distribution of
tions and the actual number of actions observed, characteristic values x and the Poisson process for
an integer k 0, is modeled as arising from a producing the observed number of actions with
Poisson distribution with mean s. Specifically, mean s = xt, the overall probability to observe k
the probability to observe the value k is Po(s; k) is the mixture of these two distributions, i.e., P(
= e-s sk / k!. + ln t,; k) where
270

and can also account for correlations between
P (m, s; k ) = 0
LN (m,s; s )Po(s; k )ds (1)
these two values among the users, as discussed
in Sec. 4.
While this integral does not have a simple
closed form, it is readily evaluated numerically.
We use maximum likelihood estimation based on USERS
this distribution to estimate the model parameters
and from the observed values (Collett, 2003). Users join Essembly by registering on its web site.
Specifically, with the observed actions (k1,k2,) Typically, users participate in the community for
for users active for times (t1,t2,), the log-likeli- a while and eventually lose interest. As a mea-
hood associated with parameters and is sure of activity time, we use the time between a
i ln(P( + ln ti , , ki )) where the sum is over users first and last votes (including votes on the
all the users. The maximum likelihood estimates 10 resolves presented during registration). Most
for the parameters and are those values users are active for only a short time (less than a
maximizing this expression, found through a day) and do not contribute much content.
numerical maximization procedure. For modeling the distribution of user actions,
For some behaviors, such as the total number we restrict attention to major users: users who were
of votes or comments a resolve receives, the dura- active at least one day and who had no activity
tion t is mainly determined by how the web site within the last 30 days of our sample. Our data
shows content to users (e.g., highlighting recently sample includes most or all of the activity of these
introduced resolves). In this case, the values of t users, since in our sample, few users ever return
appearing in Equation (1) are all the same, or nearly after 30 days of no activity. There are 3891 such
so, as illustrated in Sec. 5. For other behaviors, users, of which 18 had no activity (beyond their
such as the number of votes a user makes, the original registration with the site, which they took
durations vary considerably, giving another source more than a day to complete).
of diversity. In particular, users differ significantly Figure 1 shows the distribution of activity
in how long they remain active in the community. among the major users. The plot does not include
A simple model of how users decide to become the 18 users with no activity. The logarithmic scale
inactive is with a rate independent of how long
they have already participated, leading to an ex-
Figure 1. Distribution of number of major users
ponential distribution of durations. As described
vs. the number of actions (votes, comments, re-
in Sec. 4, such a model is a poor description of
solve creations and links) a user made. The gray
the observed activity times of users. Instead,
curve is the distribution from the model described
these times are described by a generalization of
in the text
the exponential distribution, called a Weibull or
stretched-exponential distribution,

W (, ; t ) = t 1e (t / ) (2)
When = 1, this is an exponential distribu-

tion. Our model gives the overall distribution as a
combination of the distribution of times and rates,
271
of the plot highlights the diversity of user activity: user activity rates are well-described by a lognor-
most users make few contributions to the commu- mal distribution (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a).
nity, while a few make hundreds or thousands of We can improve on this independence assump-
contributions. This broad distribution arises from tion by accounting for the generally decreasing
two factors: how long users participate on the site, activity rate of users as they spend more time
and how often they act on the site while active. with Essembly. In particular, we consider the
observed number of actions of a user who is active
Model for time t to arise from a Poisson process whose
expected value is ta where , characterizes the
In our data set, users typically return to Essembly rate the user participates in the site while active
every few days if they return at all. As a useful, and a characterizes how the average activity rate
but somewhat arbitrary, criterion, we say a user depends on the time a user remains active. A value
becomes inactive after 30 days of no activity. a = 1 corresponds to activity proportional to the
Figure 2 summarizes user behaviors, from the time a user is active, so average activity rate is
time they become active by registering until they independent of activity time, as assumed in the
become inactive. previous model (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a). Note
Users have a diverse range of interest in the that a constant activity rate was used in Sec. 3 to
community, as expressed in the time they remain illustrate the basic ingredients of the model.
active and their average activity rate while active, In the context of this model, the diversity of
i.e., the ratio of a users number of actions to the user actions arises from the combination of
time that user remains active. These values have and activity time values for each user. Based on
a slightly negative correlation, corresponding to the observed lognormal distribution of average
the observed behavior of users starting with rela- user activity times (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a), we
tively frequent actions after they register and suppose the values are lognormally distributed
decreasing activity rate over time. A simple ap- with parameters and , for the mean and standard
proach to modeling user activity is to ignore this deviation of ln , respectively.
small correlation and treat activity time and rate Figure 3 shows the distribution for the activity
as independent. This approach shows the average times of the major users, and a fit to a Weibull
Figure 2. Model of user behavior. People join the site as active users, who create resolves, vote and com-
ment on them and link to other active users. Users can eventually stop participating and become inactive
272
Figure 3. Distribution of activity times for major

time. The value in Table 1 gives a negative cor-
users on a log plot. Each bar shows the fraction of
relation between average activity rate and activity
users who become inactive, per day, within a 20-
time. The observed correlation between activity
day period. The curve shows a Weibull distribution
rate and time for major users is -0.17. As a test
fit to the values, with parameters given in Table 1
whether the model is consistent with this value,
we used the model to generate multiple samples
of hypothetical users whose actions are described
by the model. Each of these samples gives a cor-
relation between activity rates and times, thereby
producing a distribution of correlations that we
would expect if the model were correct. We find
about 15% of the samples have a correlation at
least as extreme as the observed value. So with
respect to this correlation, the model is consistent
with the data.
distribution starting at one day of activity (since, The curve in Figure 1 shows the probability
by definition, major users are active at least one values Puser from Equation (3), multiplied by the
day). The figure shows that the longer a user re- number of major users to give expected values
mains active, the lower the probability they will for the numbers of users with each number of
become inactive in the next day. actions. While the model is close over most of
Thus in this model, a user active for time t has the distribution, it does not capture the small
probability to perform k actions equal to P( + a number of cases with few actions. This is due to
ln t; ; k) as given by Equation (1). For the the larger negative correlation between activity
population as a whole, the model gives the prob- rate and time for users with just a few actions,
ability for k actions for users active at least one which is not captured by the simple dependence
day as in the model.

Puser (k ) = W (, ; t )P (v + a ln(t + 1), ; k )dt Table 1. Number of users active at least one day
0
(3) with no activity within 30 days of the end of our
sample, and actions by these users. The values
characterize user activity rate and the activity time
with P and W given by Equation (1) and Equation follows a Weibull distribution (Equation (2)). The
(2), respectively. The use of t + 1 in the second ranges for the model parameters are estimates of
factor arises because the set of users considered the 95% confidence intervals
here are active for at least one day, so the Weibull
distribution of activity times is for the time beyond Number of major users 3891
this one day minimum. Number of actions by these users 616335

Table 1 gives the parameters, including Model parameters for =1.80.1
maximum likelihood estimates for the values , =1.490.04
, characterizing the distribution of activity rates, Model power for growth of actions a=0.510.03
with time
and a, characterizing how average activity rate
Activity time distribution =0.700.02
changes with how long the user is active. Since a
< 1, activity grows less rapidly than linearly with =593 days
273
Discussion the community and providing mentors is the best

approach (Rashid et al., 2006).
This model of user activity accounts for diversity
as arising from two factors: the time a user chooses
to spend in the community and the users average CONTENT
activity rate during that time.
The lognormal distribution for suggests a A key question for user-created content is how user
multiplicative process (Redner, 1990) underlying activities distribute among the available content.
user preferences for how active they are while For Essembly, as with other online communities,
participating in the community. It would be in- there is a broad distribution in attention given to
teresting to relate this range to properties of the content. In Essembly, each resolve receives its
users, such as their involvement in political action first vote when it is created, i.e., the vote of the
groups and other demographics. The stretched user introducing the resolve. Thus the observed
exponential distribution of activity times indicates votes on a resolve are a combination of two user
multiple time scales for users to lose interest in activities: creating a new resolve (giving the re-
the site, indicating a mixture of processes (Frisch solve its first vote) and subsequently other users
and Sornette, 1997) leading users to abandon the choosing to vote on the resolve if they see it while
site, as also occurs in other online communities visiting the site.
(Wilkinson, 2008). We consider a users selection of an existing
A more general question on the origin of user resolve to vote on as mainly due to a combina-
diversity is the extent to which it arises from pre- tion of two factors: visibility and interestingness
existing characteristics of the users or from the of a resolve to a user. Visibility is the probability
differing experiences users have on the site. Our a user finds the resolve during a visit to the site.
model, by supposing each user has a characteristic Interestingness is the conditional probability a
value determining their activity rate, suggests user votes on the resolve given it is visible to
prior differences among users are the dominant that user. These two factors apply to a variety of
effect for Essembly. Similarly, a study of Wikipe- web sites, e.g., providing a description of aver-
dia contributors suggests heavy contributors are age behavior on Digg (Lerman, 2007). The web
different from rest of population even initially sites user interface design determines content
(Panciera et al., 2009). Other studies suggest a visibility. Typically sites, including Essembly,
significant influence for experience on the site, emphasize recently created content and popular
particularly whether other users attend to and content (i.e., receiving many votes over a period
encourage new users contributions (Butler et al., of time). Essembly also emphasizes controversial
2007; Joyce and Kraut, 2006; Wilkinson, 2008). resolves. As with other networking sites, the user
These differing causes of user diversity have interface highlights resolves with these proper-
distinct implications for building the online com- ties both globally and among the users network
munity. If user participation is mainly due to the neighbors. Users can also find resolves through
nature of the users, then a good approach is im- a search interface.
proving the exposure of the web site to potential For Essembly, the networks have only a modest
new users who would be interested in the site. influence on voting (Hogg et al., 2008). Recency
Conversely, if users are initially fairly homoge- appears to be the most significant factor affecting
neous and diversity arises through experience, visibility (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a).
then improving recognition of current users within One approach to modeling attention on content
considers how attention varies with time and in-
274
troduction of subsequent content, combined with Model

users willingness to visit successive pages or
scroll down a long list, described by the law of Our model assumes a resolve collects votes and
surfing (Huberman et al., 1998). For Essembly, comments as a Poisson process proportional to an
the number of subsequent resolves (resolve age) interestingness factor r, whose distribution fits
is the key contribution to loss of visibility. The well with a lognormal distribution based on votes
combination of different ages in the data sample (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a). Extending this model
is a significant factor in producing the observed to comments gives a Poisson process where the
distribution of votes (Huberman and Adamic, expected numbers of votes and comments for a
1999). In particular, for Essembly, this process resolve with completed activity are V r and Cr
gives votes following a lognormal distribution where V and C are the total number of votes and
with power-law tails (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a). comments, respectively. Each resolve receives
To model diversity of attention to resolves, one vote (from the user posting the resolve) when
we focus on old resolves, i.e., those introduced the resolve is introduced. Thus, the model applies
more than 30 days before the end of our sample. to votes other than the one vote introducing each
These resolves already have most of their votes resolve, and V is the difference between the total
and comments. This results in a simpler model, number of votes on the resolves and the number
without the need to account for aging effects, of resolves. In this model, we take the interesting-
i.e., some newly introduced resolves may be very ness of a resolve to be the same with respect to
interesting but havent yet had time to accumulate votes and comments.
many votes. On average, resolves receive 90% of With r distributed according to a lognormal
their votes within 30 days of their introduction. distribution with parameters and , the prob-
By restricting our discussion to these resolves, ability to observe k votes according to this model
we focus primarily on intrinsic properties of the is P( +ln V; ; k) as given by Equation (1). The
resolves that lead to their diversity of attention distribution of comments is the same form, with
rather than also having to consider how resolves V replaced by C. Table 2 gives the parameters,
receive votes and comments over time. including maximum likelihood estimates for
Figure 4 shows the distribution of activities the values , characterizing the distribution of
for the resolves. Not included in the plots are the interestingness of the resolves. The maximum
13 and 76 resolves with no votes or comments, likelihood estimation procedure is the same as
respectively. described above for the model of user activity.
The curves in Figure 4 show the expected
number of resolves with each number of votes
Figure 4. Distribution of (a) votes and (b) comments on resolves. The gray curves indicate fits from the
model described in the text, with parameters given in Table 2
275
Table 2. Number of resolves introduced at least 30

Discussion
days before the end of our sample, and votes and
comments on those resolves. The values r are the
The model shows the wide range of attention
interestingness for the resolves. The ranges for
arises from a broad lognormal distribution in
the model parameters are estimates of the 95%
interestingness of individual resolves, i.e., how
confidence intervals
well they appeal to the user community. Such
Number of resolves R=22848 lognormal distributions of content interestingness
Number of votes V=1208035
are also seen in other web communities, such as
Number of comments C=432315
Digg (Hogg and Lerman, 2009). An open question
Model parameters for r =-10.300.01
is identifying the origin of this broad distribution.
In the case of Essembly, the interest reflects the
=0.690.01
appeal of various political discussion topics em-
bodied in the resolves. The broad distribution of
interest seen in Essembly could arise from users
and comments, respectively. Specifically, the
pre-existing interests, which often show broad
expected number of resolves with k votes is RP(
distributions and may be explained by information
+ ln V; ; k), and similarly for comments with V
cascades and confirmation biases (Bikhchandani
replaced by C, with R the number of resolves,
et al., 1992; Shermer, 2006) rather than being
given in Table 2.
specific to the structure of the online community.
In our model, the same interestingness value
Another multiplicative mechanism that can
r applies to both votes and comments. Given the
produce a lognormal distribution of interesting-
value of r for a particular user, the votes and com-
ness of content is when the appeal of an item, not
ments are independent choices. The variation in
just is visibility, is influenced by the observed
r values among resolves introduces a correlation
popularity with other users in general, or among
between votes and comments. That is, a highly
friends. This is in addition to popularity giving
interesting resolve is likely to get relatively large
visibility: online communities typically highlight
numbers of both votes and comments. Thus a test
recent popular content. This influence is especially
of the model is how the distribution of correlations
likely in situations where the quality of content
it predicts between votes and comments compares
is difficult to evaluate personally, or the value
with the observed correlation. The correlation
depends on the number of others using it, as with
between numbers of votes and comments on
fashion or the latest cool product.
these resolves is 0.87, which is somewhat lower
Having identified lognormal distributions
than the value 0.94 predicted by the model. A
underlying both user activity and the attention
randomization test with the model indicates the
resolves receive, a natural question is whether
model is unlikely to produce a correlation as small
these distributions are related. For example, do
as 0.87. Thus while the model identifies a major
users with higher activity levels or who are active
factor underlying the correlation, there is likely
for longer times tend to introduce resolves with
some variation in users interests in voting and
high interestingness? Addressing this question
commenting on resolves to give somewhat less
requires estimating and r values for individual
correlation than the model predicts.
users and resolves (Hogg and Szabo, 2009a) rather
than the population-based models considered in
this chapter. Such estimates show that while more
active users introduce more resolves than less
active users, there is little correlation between
276
user activity rate and the average interestingness ing the activity rate for a user by the fraction
of the resolves they introduce to the community of actions that are link creations in each network
as a whole. gives a lognormal distribution for the rate a user
forms links. On average, the link creation rate
is A = 14526=616335 = 2.4% for the ally links,
LINKS and N = 2123=616335 = 0.35% for the nemesis
links, respectively, as a fraction of the rate for all
Users decisions of who to link to and how they actions. The numerators in these expressions are
attend to the behavior of their neighbors can sig- the respective number of links in the Essembly
nificantly affect the performance of online com- network, and the denominator is the total number
munities. Users can have several motivations for of all actions as shown in Table 1.
link formation, such as prior social relationships The observed number of links according to this
(friends) or discovery of others in the online model then arises from the same Poisson process
community with similar interests. Essembly shown in Figure 1 but with this rescaled mean
encourages users to explicitly distinguish these value with A and N, respectively. Since links are
link types. a relatively small fraction of the total activity, this
A common property of such networks is the rescaling produces fairly small mean values and
wide range in numbers of links made by users, hence a larger fraction of users with just a few
given by the degree distribution of the network. links compared to the distribution of total activity
The structure of the three networks in Essembly is among users. Using this rescaling, Figure 5 shows
typical of those seen in online social networking the distribution of degrees in the networks and
sites, with a broad distribution among the users. how they compare with the distribution from our
model, using only the parameters in Table 1 and
Model the fraction of link creation actions, A and N.
We can understand this diversity of degree dis- Discussion

tribution as a consequence of the distribution of
user activity discussed in Sec. 4. Forming links The number of links a user forms is a combina-
is one of the activities shown in Figure 2. Thus tion of the users activity rate and how long the
the model prediction for the link distribution is user remains at the site. The wide variation in
directly determined by the distribution for all activity times and rates among users give rise to
actions, shown in Figure 1. Specifically, multiply-
Figure 5. The number of major users in the Essembly social network who have a given number of links
of the indicated type: (a) allies, (b) nemeses. The solid curves show the expected link distributions based
on the model of activity for these users shown in Figure 1
277
a wide distribution of the number of links (Hogg she has cast, which provides another explanation
and Szabo, 2009a). of why we can approximate the link formation
In addition to the number of links a user makes, probabilities, as a constant for every user, without
an important question for the behavior of online explicitly having to assume users devote a given
communities is which pairs of users form those fraction of their activities to forming links.
links. User choices of whom to link exhibit proper- Our model treats the various user activities
ties such as transitivity that indicate users do not (e.g., voting or forming a link) as independent
form links at random, even given the distribution choices. However, these activities are somewhat
of number of links for each user (Hogg et al., related over the population as a whole. For in-
2008). The long-tailed degree distributions are stance, web sites, including Essembly, highlight
often viewed as due to a preferential attachment recent activity of a users network neighbors. In
process, which, combined with a limitation on this way, linked users are more likely to view the
the number of links a user has, gives truncated same content that unlinked pairs. This increased
power-law degree distributions (Amaral et al., visibility can lead to increased votes on the content.
2000; Vazquez, 2003). However, users in Essem- The importance of the online social network
bly have no direct access to the number of links during the life cycle of user-contributed content
of other users, thus of more direct relevance to depends on the nature of the web site. For example,
understanding and improving online communities in the Digg community-moderated news recom-
is identifying a mechanism users could use to find mendation service, the social network formed by
others to form links with, based on information the users has a large influence on attention while
available to them. Essembly users likely find each content is only exposed to a small fraction of the
other through shared interest in politics, and estab- users. As soon as content becomes easily accessible
lish links based on similar voting activities rather to a large user base (i.e., when a story is promoted
than how many connections they already have to the front page), the influence of social ties
(as would be the case in structure-based models). diminishes and mass exposure becomes the domi-
Essembly prominently highlights ideologically nant factor in making content visible. After this
similar and dissimilar users on ones personal change in content visibility, the characteristics of
page, which is a list that is inferred from votes users attending to the content changes as well;
on the same resolves by two users. This makes it namely in having much more limited participation
particularly easy for users to make connections in the social networks then users who peruse the
with people who share many common votes. Thus, content while it is on a less exposed part of the
for Essembly, a reasonable model for which pairs web site (Lerman and Galstyan, 2008).
of users form links in the ideological networks is
based on the number of votes they have in common
(Hogg and Szabo, 2009b). A reasonable assump- FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
tion is thus that the probability for link formation
is proportional to the number of shared resolves Our discussion of diversity of online communi-
between two users. Assuming random selection ties illustrates how new technology enables the
of resolves, this probability is in turn given by study of social processes. These technologies
the product of the number of resolves that two include both the availability of activity of online
users have voted on (for a detailed explanation, communities and the development of sensors
see the previous reference). Eventually there- to record interactions based on proximity and
fore, the probability that a user will form a link directed conversations (Pentland, 2007).
is proportional to the number of votes that he or
278
Our model raises a key question for future terest to small subgroups of users but not to the
work: how the lognormal distributions in user ac- population as a whole. Automatically identifying
tivity and resolve interestingness arise. Lognormal such subgroups could help people find others with
distributions suggest underlying multiplicative similar interests by supplementing comparisons
processes are involved, but the specific mecha- based on ideological profiles.
nisms for these processes and how they depend Our model of the networks describes the degree
on the web site design and type of content are not distribution but does not address other significant
yet known. Identifying such causal mechanisms properties of the networks, such as community
could benefit from controlled experiments, e.g., structure and assortativity. For a discussion of
with randomly selected subgroups of users to some of these points see Hogg et al. (2008). Nor
avoid self-selection biases. does our model address detailed effects on user
The long-tail distributions observed in online behavior due to their network neighbors.
communities pose a challenge for statistical Another aspect of diversity, not included in our
modeling because samples may not be indicative model, is the bursty time intervals between a users
of future behavior due to large variations among successive activities on the site (Barabasi, 2005;
users. Thus these studies can benefit from robust Vazquez et al., 2006). One approach to understand-
statistical tools (Brown and Sethna, 2003) and ing such behavior uses psychologically- motivated
require caution in situations where just a few diffusion models of decision-making (Bogacz et
highly active users can dominate the community. al., 2006), which can describe this distribution and
The study of online communities could benefit other aspects of users writing and commenting on
from more specific data showing not only what blogs (Gotz et al., 2009).
users did (e.g., vote on or download content) but Finally, beyond models to describe the diver-
also what they viewed and decided not to act on. sity in online communities is the question of how
Such data would allow models to better distinguish this diversity contributes to the performance of
effects of visibility (largely determined by web the online community, both from the perspec-
site design) from how interesting users find the tive of individual users and for the community
content once they see it. as a whole. The latter is particularly relevant
We modeled resolve vote distribution as due when the community members are engaged in
to a range of resolve interestingness combined an aggregate activity such as collective problem
with decreasing visibility with age. An interest- solving or information aggregation (Arrow et al.,
ing question is whether these factors have some 2008; Hahn and Tetlock, 2006). In appropriate
dependency. For instance, age could affect inter- contexts, diversity can aid these activities (Page,
estingness as well as visibility (e.g., a resolve on a 2007), so a significant question for the design
current news event vs. one on a general ideological of online communities is the extent to which the
value statement). The effect of age on interesting- observed diversity in activity relates to diversity
ness (as opposed to visibility in the user interface) of approaches to problem solving for the group
could depend on the type of web site. For example as a whole.
current events stories on Digg lose interest as the
story becomes old news (Wu and Huberman,
2007) whereas entries on Wikipedia for topics of IMPLICATIONS OF THE MODELS
general interest retain their relevance to the users
over an extended period of time. In the previous sections we gave descriptions of
An interesting extension of the model is to how users make use of an online community web
identify niche resolves, i.e., resolves of high in- service, and in particular what the natural patterns
279
are for their accessing the service. We have also longer accurately describe the number of votes on
analyzed how they form community links to other resolves, since more visibility will be added for
users that they have (or most likely, have not) resolves that are deemed interesting even from the
met in person, and what are the consequences of beginning. However, interesting but new resolves
this to the content they discuss. The models can will more likely receive the early attention they
be applied for predictions on at least two levels: would not get otherwise.
to forecast workload demand and provide a more While we focused on different aspects of user
personalized experience for the users. modeling, examining individual users and how
Similarly to how the Erlang formula was found their access rates change in time could allow web
to describe the call frequencies in call centers and site designers to estimate attrition probabilities
used as a predictive tool to design telephone ex- for users that exhibit certain patterns of diminish-
change boards for a long time (Erlang 1909), the ing usage. This is becoming more and more of a
amount of requests and the nature of activities in concern for very popular web sites that depend
web communities may well be extrapolated into on a large number of visitors for their existence.
the future by using and fine-tuning the models
discussed in this chapter. If the online service is
growing quickly and hardware resource usage is a CONCLUSION
concern, different usage levels may be provisioned
based on the number of future users as an input. We described several extended distributions result-
This assumes that individual user access pattern ing from user behavior on Essembly, a community
is independent of the number of total users in the where users create and rate content as well as form
system, which is most likely true as except in the networks. Essembly has extremely heterogenous
scenario where there are only a handful of users in populations of users and resolves. We introduce
total, no individual is ever aware of the full scope a model of these distributions as due to the key
of the user community. Users can observe others features of continual arrival of new users, exist-
activities only through content filters (similar ing users becoming inactive, and a wide range
resolves, similar users, recent votes, etc.) and of activity levels among the user population and
shared activities, which limits their overview of interest in the content. These features can apply
the whole user base. in many online community contexts, depending
A second application of the models is more on the nature of the shared content and how us-
visible, and has possible deeper consequences ers find it.
to user interface design. This is when the predic- The distribution of how users rate content de-
tions of the models are used to customize and pends on the origin of perceived value to the users.
personalize the information that the users are At one extreme, which seems to apply to Essembly,
shown as a result of a query or search. For ex- the items themselves have a wide range of appeal
ample, one could replace the usual resolve ranking to the user population, leading some content to
system where the popularity of resolves is not consistently attract user attention at much higher
measured by the total number of votes that they rates than other content introduced at about the
have received during their lifetimes, by one that same time. At the other extreme, perceived value
takes into account their ages and how actively could be largely driven by popularity among the
they have been voted on by users even if they are users, or subgroups of users. In rapidly changing
new (Szabo and Huberman 2008). This would situations, e.g., current news events, recency is
have the consequence that the rich get richer important not only in providing visibility through
mechanism for content popularity growth will no the systems user interface, but also determining
280
the level of interest. In other situations, the level Beyond helping users find interesting content,
of interest in the items changes slowly, if at all, designs informed by models could help with
as appears to be the case for Essemblys content derivative applications, such as collaborative
concerning broad political questions such as the filtering or developing trust and reputations, by
benefits of free trade. All these situations can lead quickly focusing on the most significant users or
to long-tail distributions through a combination content. Such applications raise significant ques-
of a rich get richer multiplicative process and tions of the relevant time scales. That is, observed
decay with age. But these situations have different behavior is noisy, so there is a tradeoff between
underlying causal mechanisms and hence differ- using a long time to accumulate enough statistics
ent implications for how the site design affects to calibrate the model vs. using a short time to
user behavior. Thus, the design and evaluation of allow responsiveness faster than other proxies for
participatory web sites can benefit from models user interest such as popularity.
relating user behavior to information readily A caveat on our results, as with other obser-
available on the site. vational studies of online communities, is the
These models can identify important aspects evidence for mechanisms is based on correla-
of the community design leading to observed tions in observations. While our model provides
aggregate behavior, and hence suggest design plausible causal explanations since it relies on
improvements to the online community web information and actions available to users rather
sites. In particular, online communities can have than aggregated descriptive variables not known
two primary purposes for their users: to share by individual users, intervention experiments
and aggregate information (e.g., for news story would give more confidence in distinguishing
recommendations on Digg), or help people form correlation from causal relationships. Our model
and maintain social relationships (e.g., Facebook). provides testable hypotheses for such experiments.
These different purposes correspond to distinct For example, if intrinsic interest in resolves is a
performance measures for the community and major factor in users selection of resolves, then
underlying social mechanisms to encourage deliberate interventions to change the number of
continued participation (Ren et al., 2007). The votes may change visibility but will not affect
models described in this chapter apply to both interestingness. In that case, we would expect
motivations: identifying diversity of both user subsequent votes to return to the original trend.
interest in the community and the relevance of Thus one area for experimentation is to de-
the content to those users. termine how users value content on various web
Consequences of our model include sugges- sites. For example, if items are valued mainly
tions for identifying user activity and interesting because others value them (e.g., fashion items
resolves early in their history. This possibility and a variety of other economic contexts (Ariely,
arises from persistence in voting rates over time, 2008)) then observed votes would cause rather
even before content accumulates enough votes than just reflect high value. In such cases, random
to be rated as popular, as is also seen in larger initial variations in ratings would be amplified,
user communities (Szabo and Huberman, 2008). and show very different results if repeated or tried
Such identification could help promote interesting on separate subgroups of the population. If items
content on the web site more rapidly, particularly all have similar values and differences are mainly
in the case of niche interests. For more specific due to visibility, e.g., recency or popularity, then
predictions, the models can be extended to include we would expect votes to arise from rank order of
the dynamics of the web site, particularly how votes (e.g., whether item is most popular) rather
users find content (Hogg and Lerman, 2009). than absolute number of votes. If items have
281
broad intrinsic value, then voting would show Bikhchandani, S., Hirshleifer, D., & Welch, I.
persistence over time and similar outcomes for (1992). A theory of fads, fashion, custom, and
independent subgroups. It would also be useful to cultural change as informational cascades. The
identify aspects of the model that could be tested Journal of Political Economy, 100, 9921026.
in small groups, thereby allowing detailed and doi:10.1086/261849
well-controlled laboratory experiments comparing
Bogacz, R. (2006). The physics of optimal de-
multiple interventions. Larger scale experiments
cision making: A formal analysis of models of
(Bainbridge, 2007; Salganik et al., 2006) would
performance in two-alternative forced-choice
also help identify causal mechanisms.
tasks. Psychological Review, 113, 700765.
doi:10.1037/0033-295X.113.4.700
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Brown, K. S., & Sethna, J. P. (2003). Statistical
mechanical approaches to models with many
We thank Chris Chan and Jimmy Kittiyachavalit poorly known parameters. Physical Review E:
of Essembly for their help in accessing the Es- Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics,
sembly data. We have benefited from discussions 68, 012904. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.68.021904
with Michael Brzozowski and Dennis Wilkinson.
Brzozowski, M. J., Hogg, T., & Szabo, G. (2008).
Friends and foes: Ideological social networking.
In Proc. of the SIGCHI Conference on Human
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Chapter 16
Context and Explanation
in e-Collaborative Work
Patrick Brzillon
University Paris 6 (UPMC), France
ABSTRACT
In a face-to-face collaboration, participants use a large part of contextual information to translate,
interpret and understand others utterances by using contextual cues like mimics, voice modulation,
movement of a hand, etc. Such a shared context constitutes the collaboration space of the virtual com-
munity. Explanation generation, one the one hand, allows to reinforce the shared context, and, in the
other hand, relies on the existing shared context. The situation is more critical in e-collaboration than
in face-to-face collaboration because new contextual cues are to be used. This chapter presents the
interests of making explicit context and explanation generation in e-collaboration and which types of
new paradigms exist then.
INTRODUCTION cues like mimics, voice modulation, movement

of a hand, etc. All these contextual elements
An important challenge for virtual communities are essential in the determination of a shared
is the development of new means for interaction, context among virtual-community members, a
especially in collaborative work. Any collabora- shared context that constitutes the collaboration
tion supposes that each participant understands space of the virtual community. Explanation
how others make a decision and the steps of their generation, which relies heavily on contextual
reasoning to reach the decision. In a face-to-face cues (Karsenty and Brzillon, 1995), would play
collaboration, participants use a large part of a role in e-collaboration more important than in
contextual information to translate, interpret and face-to-face collaboration.
understand others utterances by using contextual Twenty years ago, Artificial Intelligence was
considered as the science of explanation (Kodra-
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch016 toff, 1987). However, few concrete results can be
Context and Explanation in e-Collaborative Work
reused from that time (e.g. see PRC-GDR, 1990). users question was really, and in which context
There are several reasons for that. The first point the question was asked. The request for an expla-
concerns expert systems (and knowledge-based nation was analyzed on the basis of the available
systems after) themselves and their past failures information to the system. Now, we know that
(Brzillon and Pomerol, 1997). the system must understand the users question
There was an exclusion of the human expert and after build jointly with the user the answer.
providing the knowledge for feeding the expert Thus, the three key lessons learned are: (1)
systems. The interface was the knowledge KM (i.e. knowledge management normally)
engineer asking the expert If you face this stands for management of the knowledge in
problem, which solution do you propose? The its context; (2) any collaboration needs a user-
expert generally answered something like Well, centered approach; and (3) an intelligent system
in the context A, I will consider this solution, must incrementally acquire new knowledge and
but the knowledge engineer only retained the learns corresponding new practices. We present
pair {problem, solution} and forgot the initial in (Brzillon, 2007) and (Brzillon and Brzillon,
triple {problem, context, solution} provided by 2007) a context-based formalism for explaining
the expert. The reason was to generalize in order concretely the differences often cited but never
to cover a large class of similar problems when clearly identified between prescribed and effec-
the expert was giving a local solution in a specific tive tasks (Leplat and Hoc, 1983), procedures and
context. Now, we know that a system needs to practices (Brzillon, 2005), logic of functioning
acquire knowledge and its context of use. and logic of use (Richard, 1983).
On the opposite side, the user was excluded Focusing on explanation generation, it appears
from the noble part of the problem solving be- that a context-based formalism for representing
cause all the expert knowledge was supposed to knowledge and reasoning allows the introduction
be in the machine: the machine was considered of the end-user in the loop of the system develop-
as the oracle and the user as a novice (Karsenty ment and the possibility for generating new types of
and Brzillon, 1995). Thus, explanations aimed explanations. Moreover, such formalism allows a
to convince the user of the rationale used by the uniform representation of elements of knowledge,
machine without respect to what the user knew of reasoning and of contexts.
or wanted to know. Now, we know that we need Hereafter, the chapter is organized in the fol-
of a user-centered approach (Brzillon, 2003). lowing way. First, we install the background of our
Capturing the knowledge from the expert, it proposal. This background comprises two parts:
was supposed to put all the needed knowledge the consideration of explanations in knowledge-
in the machine, prior to the use of the system. based systems. In a second part, we show the
However, one knows that the exception is rather relationships between explanation and context,
the norm in expert diagnosis. Thus, the system what context is (the general framework, the shared
was able to solve 80% of the most common prob- context, granularity of context). The following
lems, on which users did not need explanations section presents different types of explanations in
and nothing about the 20% that users did not the contextual-graphs formalism that we introduce
understand. Now, we know that systems must be first. The following section discusses a case study
able to acquire incrementally knowledge with its of collaborative answer building.
context of use in order to address more specific
problems of users.
Systems were unable to generate relevant ex-
planations because they did not consider what the
286
BACKGROUND knowledge-based systems. This approach also

reached its limits because it was difficult to know
This section introduces briefly the evolution of the in advance all the needed knowledge and also
way in which explanations have been considered because it was not always possible to have models
in experts systems and after in knowledge-based of the domain. The users role was limited to be a
systems. In a second part, we show that it was data gatherer for the system. A second observation
clear that there is a relationship between explana- was that the goal of explanations is not to make
tion generation and context, the lack of concrete identical users reasoning and the system reason-
works on context at that time (end of the eighties) ing, but only to make them compatible: the user
has seriously limited the interest of explanations must understand the system reasoning in terms
in knowledge systems. of his own mental representation. For example,
a driver and a garage mechanic can reason differ-
Explanations in Expert Systems ently and reach the same diagnosis on the state of
and Knowledge-Based Systems the car. The situation is similar in collaboration
where specialists of different domains and different
The first research on explanations started with geographical areas must interact in order to design
rule-based expert systems. Imitating a human a complex object. A third observation is that the
reasoning, the presentation of the trace of the relevance of explanation generation depends es-
expert-system reasoning (i.e. the sequence of sentially on the context use of the topic to explain
fired rules) was supposed to be an explanation (Karsenty and Brzillon, 1995; Abu-Hakima and
of the way in which the expert system reaches a Brzillon, 1995).
conclusion. Indeed, it was right, but explanations Even if expert systems are now abandoned,
were generated at the implementation level. The there are important results that we can yet reuse,
following step was the use of canned texts where such as the base for new explanations proposed
Firing of Rule_23 allows to checking rule_7 was by Spieker (1991) and the qualities for relevant
replaced by something like The available facts explanations established by Swartout and Moore
allow to identify the failure on equipment piece (1993). Thus, beyond the need to make context
B3, and this leads to check if it is a mechanical explicit, first in the reasoning to explain, and,
problem. Explanations thus moved from the second, in the explanation generation, the most
implementation level to a representation level. challenging finding is that lines of reasoning and
However, the logic behind the chaining of the explanation must be distinguished. Figure 1 illus-
rules (why rule_7 is chosen first for example) was
hidden. An important reason discovered lately is
that a part of the control knowledge was put in Figure 1. Line of reasoning versus line of explana-
the inference engine implicitly by the knowledge tion (Abu-Hakima and Brzillon, 1995)
engineer (by imposing the ordering of rule check-
ing for example). Thus, it was not possible to go
another step above (i.e. a modeling level after the
implementation and representation levels).
Rapidly, it was clear that it was intractable
to explain heuristics provided by human experts
without additional knowledge. It was then pro-
posed to introduce a domain model. It was the
second generation of expert systems, called the
287
trates the evolution of the research on explanation perature is normally around 0C) is considered to
generation (Abu-Hakima and Brzillon, 1995). be hot (the French information) and cold (the
Figure 1(a) gives the initial view on explanation Brazilian information) in Rio de Janeiro (when
generation by a strict superposition of the lines of temperature is rather around 35C during winter).
reasoning and explanation (the firing of rule 23 Thus, the knowledge must be considered within its
allows to check Rule7). Figure 1(b) represents the context of use for providing relevant explanations,
first evolution corresponding to the introduction like to explain to a person living in Paris why a
of domain knowledge, the knowledge that is not temperature of 24C could be considered as cold
necessary for reasoning but for explanation. This in some other countries. Temperature = 24C is
was the first separation of the line of reasoning a datum. A process of interpretation leads to an
and the line of explanation. Figure 1(c) shows that information (hot or cold). Information is data with
lines of reasoning and of explanation interact, and meaning built on the basis of the knowledge that
providing an explanation may modify the line of the person possesses. The knowledge is specific
reasoning. The line of explanation was considered to a person and constitutes the context in which
during the development of the line of reasoning a person evaluates (and eventually integrates)
and not produced after the reasoning of the sys- information pieces in his mental representation.
tem. This corresponds to a collective building of Indeed, this is more particularly the part of the
a shared context jointly with problem solving. knowledge that the person finds more or less
Thus the key problem for providing relevant related to the information. It corresponds to a
explanations is to find a uniform representation mental representation that the person built from its
of elements of knowledge, of reasoning and of experience for giving meaning to the information
context. and eventually integrates the information in the
body of contextual knowledge already available.
Explanations and Contexts When information cannot be related totally to the
mental representation, an explanation is required
A frequent confusion between representation for making explicit the links between the informa-
and modeling of the knowledge and reasoning tion and the contextual knowledge of the person.
implies that explanations are provided in a given We will come back on this point on the following.
representation formalism, and their relevance There is now a consensus around the following
depend on explanation expressiveness through definition context is what constrains reasoning
this formalism. For example, ordinary linear without intervening in it explicitly (Brzillon
differential equation formalism will never allow and Pomerol, 1999), which applies also in e-
to expressand thus explainingthe self-oscil- collaboration (although with more complex con-
lating behavior of a nonlinear system. Thus, the straints) where reasoning is developed collectively.
choice of representation formalism is a key factor Explanation generation is a means to develop a
for generating relevant explanations for the user shared context among the actors in order to have a
and is of paramount importance in collaboration better understanding of the others (and their own
with different users and several tasks. reasoning), to reduce needs for communication
A second condition is to account for, make ex- and to speed up interaction.
plicit, and model the context in which knowledge From our previous works on context, several
can be used and reasoning held. This concerns conclusions have been reached. First, a context
the needed distinction between data, information is always relative to something that we call the
and knowledge. For example, a temperature of (current) focus of attention of the actors. Second,
24C (the datum) in winter in Paris (when tem- with respect to this focus, context is composed of
288
external knowledge and contextual knowledge. such as the knowledge known by the participant
The former has nothing to see with the current but let implicit with respect to the current focus,
focus (but could be mobilized later, once the the knowledge unknown to the participant (out
focus moves), when the former can be more or of his competence), contextual knowledge of
less related directly to the focus (at least by some other actors in a team, etc. Here, the focus acts
actors). Third, actors address the current focus as a discriminating factor between the external
by extracting a subset of contextual elements, and contextual knowledge. However, the frontier
assembling and structuring them all together in a between external and contextual knowledge is
proceduralized context, which is a kind of chunk porous and moves with the progress of the focus.
of contextual knowledge (in the spirit of the In our viewpoint, context is what surrounds a focus
chunk of knowledge of Schank, 1982). Fourth, (e.g. the decision making process or the task at
the focus evolving, the status of the knowledge hand) and gives meaning to items related to the
(external, contextual, into the proceduralized focus. On the one hand, context guides the focus
context) evolves too. Thus, there is a dynamics of of attention, i.e. the subset of common ground that
context that plays an important role in the quality is pertinent to the current task. Indeed, context
of explanations. acts more on the relationships between the items
As the context exists with the knowledge, a in the focus than on items themselves, modifying
context-based generation of explanations does not their extension and surface. On the other hand, the
require an additional effort because the explana- focus allows identifying the relevant elements to
tory knowledge is integrated in the knowledge consider in the context. It specifies what must be
representation at the time of their acquisition and contextual knowledge and external knowledge in
the representation of the reasoning (see Brzillon, the context at a given step.
2005, on this aspect). However, this supposes to For example, a focus on the driving task mo-
have a context-based formalism allowing a uni- bilizes contextual knowledge such as the fact of
form way to represent elements of knowledge, of knowing the meaning of the traffic signs, the fact
reasoning and of contexts. to have learned how to drive, etc., i.e. knowledge
that could eventually be used when the focus
evolves. Some knowledge from drivers personal
WHAT IS CONTEXT? context could also be considered such as a previous
experience in the driving task. For example, this
A Conceptual Framework corresponds to the choice of a specific method at
for Modeling Context a given step of a task. For driving-situation solv-
ing, a driver has several solutions, e.g. several
One of our aims is to take in account the context. behaviors for crossing an intersection. Indeed,
There are a lot of definitions of context, but we some contextual elements are considered explic-
refer to the definition of Brzillon and Pomerol itly, say for the selection of the behavior and thus
(1999) who consider context as the sum of two can be considered as a part of the way in which
types of knowledge. First, there is the part of the the problem is solved at the considered step.
context that is relevant at the current step of the A sub-set of the contextual knowledge is pro-
answer building, and the part that is not relevant. ceduralized for addressing specifically the current
The former part is called contextual knowledge, focus. We call it the proceduralized context. The
and obviously depends on the decision maker and proceduralized context is a sub-set of contextual
on the decision at hand. The latter part is called ex- knowledge that is invoked, assembled, organized,
ternal knowledge and appears in different sources, structured and situated according to the given focus
289
and is common to the various people involved in ter anymore and the contextual element leaves
decision making. A proceduralized context is quite the proceduralized context and goes back in the
similar, in the spirit, to the chunk of knowledge contextual knowledge. For example, arriving to
discussed in SOAR (Schank, 1982), and, in its a crossroad, a driver looks at the traffic light. If
building, to Clanceys view (1992) on diagnosis it is the green signal, then the driver will decide
as the building of a situation-specific model. A to cross. The instantiation of the contextual ele-
proceduralized context is like a local model that ment traffic light (green signal) has guided the
accounts for a precise goal in a specific situation decision making process and then the decision is
(at a given step). In a distinction reminiscent to made. The color of the traffic light does not matter
cognitive ergonomics (Leplat and Hoc, 1983), once the decision is made. Figure 2 illustrates our
we could say that the contextual knowledge is view on context for one person.
useful to identify the task at hand whereas the Contextual knowledge is more or less similar
proceduralized context is relevant to characterize to what people generally have in mind about the
the task realization, i.e. the activity. term context. Contextual knowledge is per-
An important issue is the passage of elements sonal to an agent and it has no clear limit (the
from contextual knowledge to a proceduralized infinite dimension of context for McCarthy, 1993).
context. This proceduralization process, which Contextual knowledge is evoked by situations
depends on the focus on a task, is task-oriented and events, and loosely tied to a task or a goal.
just as the know-how and is often triggered by When the task becomes more precise, a large part
an event or primed by the recognition of a pat- of this contextual knowledge can be procedural-
tern. This proceduralization process provides a ized according to the current focus of the answer
consistent explanatory framework to anticipate building. Although the contextual knowledge
the results of a decision or an action. This consis- exists in theory, it is actually implicit and latent,
tency is obtained by reasoning about causes and and is not usable unless a goal (or an intention)
consequences and particularly their relationships emerges. When an event occurs, the attention of
in a given situation. Thus, we can separate the the actor is focused and a part of the contextual
reasoning between diagnosing the real context knowledge is proceduralized. Contextual knowl-
and, anticipating the follow up (Pomerol, 2001). edge appears back-stage, whereas the procedural-
The second step needs a conscious reasoning ized context is front-stage in the spotlights.
about causes and consequences.
Brzillon and Brzillon (2007) discuss a second
type of proceduralization, namely the instantia-
tion of contextual elements. This means that the Figure 2. The three types of context
contextual knowledge or background knowledge
needs some further specifications to perfectly fit
the decision making at hand. The precision and
specification brought to the contextual knowledge
is also a part of the proceduralization process
that leads from the contextual knowledge to the
proceduralized context. For each instantiation of
a contextual element, a particular action will be
executed. There are as many actions as different
instantiations. However, once the corresponding
action is executed, the instantiation does not mat-
290
Moreover, the context must rather be consid- from contextual knowledge during the interaction
ered as a status of knowledge (external, contextual between two participants. The shared context
or proceduralized context) linked to the focus of at- contains proceduralized pieces of knowledge
tention. The context has a dynamic dimension that in the focus of attention of the two participants.
corresponds to a movement between contextual These pieces of knowledge are extracted from
knowledge and a proceduralized context during the contextual knowledge of each participant,
the evolution of the focus of attention (i.e. when are jointly structured by the two participants, and
the decision making process progresses). From one result in a shared knowledge. For example, the
step to the next one, either a piece of contextual first utterance of a participant gives a rule such
knowledge or external knowledge enters the pro- as Stop at the next station if the alarm signal is
ceduralized context or the proceduralized context triggered. Then, on the request of the second
moves into the contextual knowledge of the actor participant, the first one may add some pieces of
once used in the current focus which then evolved. knowledge related to his first utterance. If this
Participants face the problem of organizing and knowledge chunk belongs to the common part of
structuring contextual knowledge to transform the contextual knowledge of the participants, the
it in a relevant proceduralized context for their pieces are integrated into a mutually acceptable
answer-building process. This movement between knowledge structure, and then are moved to the
the contextual knowledge and the proceduralized proceduralized context. Here, the co-building of
context is realized inside the individual context the proceduralized context implies that, first, their
of each participant. Here eventual explanations interpretations are made compatible, and, second,
are for the explainer himself. the proceduralized context will go to enrich their
shared contextual knowledge after, thanks to ex-
Shared Context and planations. Thus, during the interaction process,
Proceduralized Context ties between participants of a decision group are
reinforced and this will impact the constitution
The construction of the proceduralized context of new decision groups in the future.
from contextual knowledge is often a process of The proceduralized context contains all the
communication in a work group. Figure 3 rep- pieces of knowledge that have been discussed and
resents how the proceduralized context is built accepted (at least made compatible) by all the
participants. The proceduralized context will
become again a part of the shared contextual
Figure 3. A representation of the interaction to knowledge of each participant while it will get off
build the proceduralized context the focus of the interaction context. Later, this
chunk of knowledge previously proceduralized
may be recalled, as any piece of contextual knowl-
edge, to be integrated in a new proceduralized
context. Thus, the more a participant is experi-
mented, the more he possesses available structured
knowledge. This is very similar to the externaliza-
tion process in sense given by Nonaka and Takeu-
chi (1995). Let us also note that the proceduralized
context can be shaped in procedures whether
implicit or explicit. In other words, parts of con-
textual knowledge are compiled into short cuts or
291
Figure 4. Granularity and dynamic of context

implicit procedures as a result of learning. The
proceduralized context building appears such as
a kind of contextualization for the current focus.
Thus, the focus and its context must be considered
jointly for optimizing interaction among partici-
pants.
The previous example of joint proceduraliza-
tion explains that whereas the proceduralization
process is primarily subjective, it can also be
shared and results into some common context in
communities sharing the same background and ex-
pertise. The shared contextual knowledge is build
by interaction among participants. It constitutes
a reference for the actors like the Rfrentiel
Opratif commun discussed in Leplat and de
Terssac (1990). The more the shared context vidual context of the persons writing the article
will be developed, the more efficient will be the in a proceduralized context such as provide the
decision group. information without direct links with the sponsors.
In Figure 4, individual contexts concern
Granularity of Context individuals and the group context, say a firm.
Now the firm evolves in an arena (e.g. a market)
In the previous section, individual contexts and in which the firm must fight and survive among
the shared context does not present the same other firms. Thus at this level, individual contexts
granularity. As said previously, it would be more concern the firms and the interaction context
convenient to consider context as a status of the would correspond to a market. This means that
knowledge (external or contextual knowledge, the two views on a firmthe internal view with
and temporarily in a proceduralized context), individuals, and the external view with the other
and information is what is transferred between firmsare strongly related, and the more the
contexts. For the case study that is described be- internal view will be coherent, the more the firm
low, we distinguish at a general level the group will be powerful externally.
context, at an intermediate level, the individual
contexts of the participants, and at the finer level,
the context of the project on which are interacting AN EXPLANATION TYPOLOGY
collaboratively the participants in the group. Figure IN CONTEXTUAL GRAPHS
4 gives an illustration of the situation.
According to our view on context, the contex- The Formalism of Representation
tual knowledge at a granularity level is transformed
in a proceduralized context at the finer granular- The development of our conceptual framework
ity. For example, a contextual information piece leads to the implementation of Contextual Graphs,
of the group context could be find a compromise which allows a uniform representation of elements
between a relevant information for the readers of of knowledge, of reasoning and of contexts. Then,
the newspaper and the notoriety of the sponsors in such representation formalism, we come back
of the newspaper. This contextual knowledge in on the types of explanation that are possible to
the group context will be interpreted at the indi-
292
generated in contextual graphs because explana- This leads us to speak of instances of a given ac-
tory knowledge is a natural part of the knowledge tion, because an action, which appears on sev-
in knowledge systems. A key point here is that eral paths in a contextual graph, is considered
contextual graphs are representation formalism each time in a specific context.
as workflows, Petri nets, Bayesian nets, etc. A contextual element is a couple of nodes,
However, the main difference is that Contextual a contextual node and a recombination node; A
Graphs is a user-centered formalism (Brzillon, contextual node has one input and N branches
2003): any user (e.g. a psychologist) needs less [1, N] corresponding to the N instantiations of
than one minute to learn and use the software the contextual element already encountered. The
(freely available at http://www.cxg.fr). recombination node is [N, 1] and shows that even
A contextual graph represents the different if we know the current instantiation of the contex-
ways to solve a problem. It is a directed graph, tual element, once the part of the practice on the
acyclic with one input and one output and a general branch between the contextual and recombination
structure of spindle (Brzillon, 2005). Figure 6 nodes corresponding to a given instantiation of
gives an example of contextual graph. A path in the contextual element has been executed, it does
a contextual graph corresponds to a specific way not matter to know this instantiation because we
(i.e. a practice) for the problem solving repre- do not need to differentiate a state of affairs any
sented by the contextual graph. It is composed of more with respect to this value. Then, the con-
elements of reasoning and of contexts, the latter textual element leaves the proceduralized context
being instantiated on the path followed (i.e. the and (globally) is considered to go back to the
values of the contextual elements are required for contextual knowledge.
selecting a branch, i.e. an element of reasoning A sub-graph is itself a contextual graph. This
among several ones). Figure 5 provides the defini- is a method to decompose a part of the task in
tion of the elements in a contextual graph. A more different way according to the context and the
complete presentation of this formalism and its different methods existing. In contextual graphs,
implementation can be found in (Brzillon, 2005). sub-graphs are mainly used for obtaining different
Elements of a contextual graph are: actions, displays of the contextual graph on the graphical
contextual elements, sub-graphs, activities and interface by some mechanisms of aggregation and
temporal branching. An action is the building expansion like in conceptual graphs (Sowa, 2000).
block of contextual graphs. We call it an action An activity is a particular sub-graph (and thus also
but it would be better to consider it as an elemen- a contextual graph by itself) that is identified by
tary task. An action can appear on several paths. participants because appearing on different paths
Figure 5. Elements of a contextual graph
293
Figure 6. Contextual Graph of the different collaborative building processes
and/or in several contextual graphs. This recurring is no importance to empty of travelers first either
sub-structure is generally considered as a complex the damaged train or the helping train or both in
action. An activity is a kind a contextualized task. parallel. This operation is at a too low level with
An activity is similar to a scheme as considered respect to the general task Return back rapidly
in cognitive ergonomics (Leplat and Hoc, 1983). to a normal service and would have otherwise
Each scheme organizes the activity around an to be detailed in the three paths in parallel lead-
object and can call other schemes to complete ing to the same sequence of actions after. Some
specific sub-goals. mechanisms of aggregation and expansion provide
A temporal branching expresses the fact (and different local views on a contextual graph at dif-
reduces the complexity of the representation) that ferent levels of detail by aggregating a sub-graph
several groups of actions must be accomplished in an item (a temporary activity) or expanding
but that the order in which action groups must be it. This representation is used for the recording
considered is not important, or even could be done of the practices developed by users, which thus
in parallel, but all actions must be accomplished are responsible for some paths in the contextual
before continuing. The temporal branching is for graph, or at least some parts of them.
context what activities are for actions (i.e. com-
plex actions). This item expresses a problem of
representation at a lower granularity. For example, A CASE STUDY
the activity Make train empty of travelers in the
SART application (Pomerol et al., 2002) accounts How collaboration can improve document com-
for the damaged train and the helping train. There prehension? Starting from the C/I comprehension
294
model developed by Kintsch (1998), Brzillon et The building of this shared context is a step of
al. (2006) set up a series of several experiments the process that we study. Even if one of the
aiming to test whether the ideas evoked during a participants knows the answer, s/he tries to build
prior collaborative situation can affect the com- this shared context, and the answer building thus
prehension processes and at which representation is enriched with the generation of an explanation
levels this may occur. The hypothesis was that for the other participant.
collaboration affected directly the construction of Our goal was to provide a representation of
the situation model. In order to test this hypothesis, the different ways to build an answer according
Brzillon et al. (2006) built an experimental design to the context of the question. Along this view,
in two phases: 1) a collaboration phase, and 2) the context of the question is the shared context
a comprehension phase (reading and question- in which each participant introduces contextual
naire). In the comprehension phase, the authors elements from his/her individual context. In a col-
run several experiments (with an eye-tracking laborative decision making process, such a shared
technique) where participants of the experiments context must be built. The shared context contains
had to read a set of texts varying both semanti- contextual elements on which participants agree,
cally and from the layout. The general purpose eventually after a discussion and having provided
was to correlate the verbal interactions occurring an illustration. A subset of this shared context is
during the collaboration and the behavioral data then organized, assembled and structured to build
(eye-movements and correct answers to questions) the answer. The result of this answer building is
recorded during reading. a proceduralized context (Brzillon, 2005). In
Here, we only discuss the modeling in the this chapter, we put these results in the larger
Contextual Graphs formalism of the collabora- framework of collaborative decision making that
tive verbal exchanges between two participants. discriminates a procedure and the different prac-
The goal was to build an efficient task model that tices, the prescribed task and the effective task,
would be closer to the effective task(s) than the the logic of functioning and the logic of use, etc.
prescribed task. Such a contextualized prescribed A practice is assimilated to a contextualization of
task is possible, thanks to a formalism allowing a procedure. Thus, our goal was to analyze how
a uniform representation of elements of decision an answer is built, its basic contextual elements
and of contexts. This study has two side effects. and the different ways to assemble these elements.
There are, first, the need to make explicit the shared The modeling of the answer building is made,
context for building the answer, and, second, the thanks to contextual graph. The main results that
relative position of cooperation and collaboration we obtained were the following ones. Two models
between them. The shared context is the common have been built, the dialog model and the answer
background from which the two participants of the collaborative building model. The Dialog model
experiments will build collaboratively the answer contained 4 phases:
to questions such as How does the oyster make
pearls? (The expected answer is A pearl arises E1. Reformulate the question
from the introduction of a little artificial stone E2. Find an example
inserted into the oyster sexual gland. The oyster E3. Gather domain knowledge (collection)
neutralizes the intrusive, the stone, surrounding E4. Build the answer from either character-
it of the pearlier bag. Once closed, this pearlier istics or explanatory elements (integration)
bag secretes the pearlier material: the mother-
of-pearl.) The quality of the answer depends For each pair of participants and for each ques-
essentially of the richness of the shared context. tion, we looked for the ordering of the 4 phases
295
Table 1. Different mean values for phases E1 to E4: frequencies into the collaboration (Col.1), Range
of occurrences (Col.2), and Frequencies of occurrences (Col.3)
Collaboration Range Frequencies

E1 1 1,27 70
E2 10 2,05 58
E3 120 1,98 133
E4 71 1,77 129
and which phase is a collaboration phase. Results Answer partially false

are presented into Table 1. False answer
For example, column 1 indicates that collabo- No answer.
ration used mostly phase E3 (i.e. gathering domain
knowledge to constitute the shared context) and The granularity of the answer depends on the
unlike phase E1 (Reformulation of the question). degree of development of the shared context.
Column 2 shows that phase 1 appeared mostly at
the beginning of exchange and phase E2 (Find an The Collaborative Building
example) at the end. Column 3 reveals that Model of the Case Study
phases E3 and E4 (construction) are the most
frequent phases carry out into the exchange. The contextual graph of the collaboration model is
Furthermore, collaboration appeared the most represented in Figure 6 and the activity (the pink
often at the beginning of exchanges. See (Brzil- oval) is detailed in Figure 7. The collaboration
lon et al., 2006) for more details. model is composed of 4 paths:
We obtain in this way a typology of explana-
tions in a collaborative building of answers. The Path 1: Both partners do not know the answer
typology aims to classify whether the answer has Path 2: Both partners do not know the answer but
been given and the granularity of this answer. We each has elements of explanation,
thus distinguish: Path 3: Co-building of the answer,
Path 4: One of the partners knows exactly the
Answer required at the right granularity answer and provides it.
Answer required but at a superficial level
Answer required but too detailed Interestingly, results show that when partici-
Partial answer pants collaborated by co-building the answer (Path
Figure 7. Details of the activity Exemplify represented by ovals in Figure 6
296
3), they gave mostly the correct answer either at participant. Here the cooperation is unidirectional
superficial level (b) or partial answer (d). When like the information flow.
either Path 2 (elements of answers) or Path 4 Indeed, we can expect a relatively continuous
(One-Way) has been used, no difference in the spectrum between the path where one participant
type of answers emerges. knows exactly (Path 4) and the situation where
none of the participants knows (Path 1).
Path 1: No Knowledge
about the Answer An Explanation Typology Based
on Contextual Graphs
Both participants do not know the answer. They
have no elements of the answer at all. However, We established a typology of explanations, based
they try to utter some rough ideas (example, a on previous works and exploiting the capabilities
parallel with a known topic) in order to trigger a of contextual graphs. By adding a new practice,
constructive reaction of the other. several contextual information pieces are re-
corded automatically (date of creation, creator,
Path 2: Elements of the Answer the practice-parent) and others are provided by the
participant himself like a definition and comments
Both participants do not know the answer but think on the item that is introduced. Such contextual
to have elements for generating an explanation. information is exploited during the explanation
Generally, a participant leads the interaction by generation. Thus, the richness of contextual-graph
proposing elements or asking questions to the formalism leads in the expressiveness, first, of
other. Explanation generation is a kind of justifi- the knowledge and reasoning represented, and,
cation or validation to themselves of their general second, of the explanations addressing different
understanding of the question, without trying to participants requirements. The main categories of
build an answer. explanations identified in contextual graphs are:
Visual explanations correspond to a graphi-
Path 3: Two-Ways Knowledge cal presentation of a set of complex information
generally associated with the evolution of an item,
Both participants have a partial view of the answer, e.g. the contextual graph itself, the decomposi-
know some of the elements of the answer and try tion of a given practice, the series of changes
to assemble them with the elements provide by the introduced by a given participant, regularities in
other. They have the same position in the answer contextual graphs, etc. Note that we are dealing
building, and there is no need for explanations with contextual graphs with an experience-based
between them or for external observer. This is knowledge base.
a situation of maximal cooperation. However, Dynamic explanations. They correspond
without external validation, the quality of the to the progress of the answer building during a
answer is rather variable. simulation addressing questions as the What if
question. With the mechanisms of aggregation and
Path 4: One-Way Knowledge expansion, a participant can ask an explanation
in two different contexts and thus receives two
One of the participants knows exactly the answer, explanations with different presentations (e.g. with
provides it immediately and spontaneously, and the details of what an activity is doing in one of
spends his/her time after to explain the other the two explanations). The dynamic nature of the
explanation is also related to the fact that items
297
are not introduced chronologically in a contextual internal viewpoint based on activity components.
graph. For example, in Figure 6, the contextual A macro-explanation from an external viewpoint
element 15 (Need to justify?) has be added after is built with respect to the location of the activity
(1) the action 16 (Cite elements of the answer), in the contextual graph like any item, similarly to
(2) finding a situation where both explainer and a context-based explanation as discussed above.
explainee know all elements. Thus, there is no This allows to providing (at least) two different
need to justify. Finally, the proceduralized context types of explanation on the activity Exemplify
along a practice is an ordered series of instantiated at the macro level for the explainer and at the
contextual elements, and changing the instantia- micro level for the explainee. Note that the ex-
tion of one of them is changing of practice and plainer also may ask a micro-explanation in case of
thus changing of explanation. doubt on explainees understanding. This twofold
User-based explanations. The participant explanation is linked to the notion of activity, but
being responsible of some practice changes in the can be used by any participant with aggregation
contextual graph, the system uses this information and expansion of local sub-graphs of parts of the
to tailor its explanation by detailing parts unknown whole contextual graph.
of the participant and sum up parts developed by Real-time explanations. There are three types
the participant. Such an explanation allows the of such explanations. First, the explanation is asked
author of a practice to identify the contextual ele- during an answer building when the system fails to
ments that he had not taken into account initially match the participants practice with its recorded
and that has been introduced by other participants). practices (e.g. a new explainer may decide to
Context-based explanations. The definition provide a personal experience as an example not
of the proceduralized context (an ordered se- considered in Figure 7). Then, the system needs
quence of instantiated contextual elements) shows to acquire incrementally new knowledge and to
that a given item (say the activity exemplify learn the corresponding practice developed by
represented by an oval in Figure 6) on different the participant (generally due to specific values
branches of the contextual graph appears in dif- of contextual elements not taken into account be-
ferent contexts. This means that the explanation of fore). This is an explanation from the participant
the activity on any branch will be different from to the machine. Second, the participant wished to
explanations on the two other branches. We exploit follow the reasoning of a colleague having solved
this finding in our driver-modeling application for the problem with a new practice (and then we
representing good and bad behaviors of car are back to simulation). Three, the system tries
drivers on a unique contextual graph (Brzillon to anticipate the participants reasoning from its
and Brzillon, 2008). Thus a relevant explanation contextual graph and provides the user with sug-
relies heavily on the building of the proceduralized gestions and explanations when the user is operat-
context (different for each item such as different ing. These suggestion and explanation rely on the
instances of the same activity), and because the contextual elements that are explicitly considered
contextual graph can be incrementally enriched, in the contextual graph. Note that it is because the
explanations can be richer also. system fails to represent a users practice that the
Micro- and macro-explanations. Again, with user explains to the system the new practice by
the mechanisms of aggregation and expansion, it introducing new knowledge, knowledge that the
is possible to generate an explanation at different system can reuse after. Moreover, these different
levels of detail. For such a complex item like an types of explanation (and others that we are discov-
activity (or any other sub-graph), it is possible to ering progressively) can be combined in different
provide on them a micro-explanation by using an ways such as visual and dynamic explanations.
298
Lessons Learned on the Case Study Repetition of the question occurs when the
participants of the experiments wish to be
Cooperation and collaboration are two ambigu- sure to understand correctly the question,
ous notions that have different meanings across i.e. to be able to find some relationships
domains, and sometimes from one author and between elements of the questions and
another one. The difference between cooperation contextual elements of their mental repre-
and collaboration seems related to the sharing of sentation of the domain (or maybe to have
the participants goal in the interaction. In coop- time to build their mental representation of
eration (co-operation), each participant aims at this question).
the same goal and the task is divided in sub-tasks, An answer can be given at different levels
each sub-tasks being under the responsibility of of granularity. Thus, we observe correct
a participant. Thus, each participant intervenes answer at the right level as well as at a too
in the shared goal through a part of the task. In low level of granularity (too many details)
collaboration, participants have different goals or too high level (rough description of the
but interact in order to satisfy at least the goal of answer). For example, gas instead of
one of them, or one of his sub-goal. An example CO2 for sparkling water. Participants of
is the Head of a service and his secretary, often the experiments have a problem for find-
called a collaborator. The secretary takes in charge ing the right granularity of their answer.
a part of the Heads task, but only as a support for One can know the answer but not the ele-
the complex tasks of the Head (i.e. by collecting ments or even the rationale (e.g. everybody
all the needed information for the Head that will knows that a refrigerator keeps cold the
make the decision). food, but few knows that this relies on the
However, we think that the difficulty to agree 2nd principle of the Thermodynamics). As a
between cooperation and collaboration relation- consequence, participants may express an
ships is the lack of consideration for the dynamic external and superficial position.
dimension of the relationships. Two participants
may cooperate at one moment and collaborate Collaboration as a minimal expression of coop-
at another moment. The shift comes from their eration: one leads the interaction and the other only
background (their individual contexts) with feeds in information (or only agrees), reinforces
respect to the current focus and their previous the statement of the other. When participants of
interaction (the shared context). If one participant the experiments gather contextual information,
can fix the current focus, then the other only the goal is not to build immediately the answer
agrees, and there is a minimal cooperation, i.e. because they want first to determine the granular-
collaboration for validating the answer. If none of ity that their answer must have. Once, the level of
the participants knows how to address the current granularity is identified, the selection of pieces of
focus, they try together, first, to bring (contextual) contextual knowledge to use in the proceduralized
elements of an answer, and, second, to build the context is direct. When they cannot identify the
answer as a chunk of knowledge (Schank, 1982) right level of granularity, they enter the process
or a proceduralized context, i.e. a kind of chunk of an explanation generation.
of contextual knowledge (Brzillon, 2007). This An explanation is given to: (1) justify a known
is a full cooperation. Several lessons could be answer, (2) progress in the co-construction of the
learned from this study: answer by sharing elements and their intercon-
nection; (3) when participants are not sure of the
granularity of the answer (e.g. participants speak
299
of gas instead of CO2 for sparkling water). The In this chapter we argue that a key factor for
explanation (given for an answer) is frequently the success of relevant explanations is to use a
less precise than an answer (generally at a macro- context-based formalism, like Contextual Graphs,
level), and is often for use between the participants. that represent in a uniform way all the richness of
Several groups were confused and explain instead the knowledge and reasoning in the focus. A good
of giving the answer (thus with additional details option is to consider context of use simultaneously
not necessary). The answer appears to be a kind with the knowledge. As a consequence, this allows
of minimal explanation. developing new types of explanation like visual
explanations, dynamic explanations, real-time
explanations, etc. Indeed, we have developed a
CONCLUSION new typology of explanations that include past
works on explanations but goes largely beyond.
In a virtual community, people have feature in Moreover, these different types of explanations
common (e.g. French speaking people in New can be combined together to provide richer ex-
York), but it is not sufficient for collaboration. planations.
A collaboration supposes the sharing of several However, this is only the first step. A promis-
contextual cue (a language, social cues, an envi- ing path is to explore intelligent assistant systems.
ronment, etc.)that will impact the collaboration. Indeed, computer-mediated means can keep and
Relevant explanations are a crucial factor in any reuse a trace of interaction between human actors.
collaboration between human actors, especially In real-time situations, the human actor cannot
when they interact by computer-mediated means. lose time to answer questions of a machine be-
First, collaboration looses some advantages of a cause the actor is generally under time pressure
face-to-face collaboration in which a number of (e.g. an incident solving in a control room), but
contextual elements are exchanged in parallel with the machine can act in parallel with actors in a
the direct communication. Second, collaboration kind of personal simulation replaying similar
can benefit of new ways to replace this hidden past situations, and making suggestions when
exchanges of contextual cues between actors by appropriate. In that sense, the machine may be-
the use of the computer-means themselves. come an excellent secretary, fixing alone all the
Explanation generation is very promising for simple problems of human actors, and preparing
collaboration because explanations use and help a complete folder on complex situations letting
to maintain a shared context among actors. We are actors make their decision. Here, the machine
now in a situation in which computer-mediated generates explanations for humans.
interaction concerns human and software actors. Conversely, when the machine fails to address
Software must be able to react in the best way correctly a problem, the machine may benefit of
for human actors. For example, for presenting a its interaction with the human actors to acquire
complex set of data, a software piece could choose incrementally the missing knowledge and learn
a visual explanation taking into account the type new practices. As a consequence, the machine will
of information that human actors are looking for. be able to explain later its choices and decisions.
We show that making context explicit allows the Now, there is a software piece called Contextual
generation of relevant explanations. Conversely, Graphs that is able to manage incremental acqui-
explanations are a way to make contextual knowl- sition and learning, and begins to provide some
edge explicit and points out the relationships elementary explanations.
between context and the task at hand, and thus As a general learned lesson, expressiveness
develop a real shared context. of the knowledge and reasoning models depends
300
essentially of the representation formalism chosen Brzillon, P., & Brzillon, J. (2008). Contextual-
for expressing such models. This appears a key ized task modeling. Revue dIntelligence Artifici-
element of collaboration with multiple sources elle, 22(5), 531548. doi:10.3166/ria.22.531-548
of knowledge and different lines of reasoning
Brzillon, P., Drai-Zerbib, V., Baccino, T., &
intertwined in a group work. This is a partial
Therouanne, T. (2006). Modeling collaborative
answer to our initial observation that collabora-
construction of an answer by contextual graphs. In
tion would be better understood if we consider
Proceedings of IPMU, Paris, France, May 11-13.
jointly its two dimensions, the human dimension
and the technology dimension. Then, explanation Brzillon, P., & Pomerol, J.-Ch. (1997). Lessons
generation would be revised in order to develop learned on successes and failures of KBSs. Special
collective explanations for all the (human) Issue on Successes and Pitfalls of Knowledge-
participants in the collaboration that is in each Based Systems. In Real-World Applications.
mental representation. Failures and Lessons Learned in Information
Technology Management, 1(2), 89-98.
Brzillon, P., & Pomerol, J.-Ch. (1999). Contextual
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302
303
Chapter 17
Intelligent LMS with an Agent
that Learns from Log Data
in a Virtual Community
Maomi Ueno
The University of Electro-Communications, Japan
ABSTRACT
This study describes an agent that acquires domain knowledge related to the content from a learning
history log database in a learning community and automatically generates motivational messages
for the learner. The unique features of this system are as follows: The agent builds a learner model
automatically by applying the decision tree model. The agent predicts a learners final status (Failed;
Abandon; Successful; or Excellent) using the learner model and his/her current learning history log
data. The constructed learner model becomes more exact as the amount of data accumulated in the
database increases. Furthermore, the agent compares a learners learning processes with Excellent
status learners learning processes stored in the database, diagnoses the learners learning processes,
and generates adaptive instructional messages for the learner. A comparison between a class of students
that used the system and one that did not demonstrates the effectiveness of the system.
INTRODUCTION a didactic lecture that covers the subject matter,

but a facilitator assists the autonomous learning
The constructivist approach has pervaded the area process. The learner plays a passive role in the
of educational technology in recent decades. It has former scenario and in the latter the learner plays
been argued in this approach that the responsibil- an active role in the learning process. The emphasis
ity for learning should be increasingly with the thus shifts from the instructor and content-centred
learner (Von Glasersfeld, 1995). Therefore, the approach toward the learner-centred approach
role of instructor has changed to facilitator from (Gamoran, Secada & Marrett, 2000).
that of teacher (Bauersfeld, 1995). A teacher gives A central feature of this facilitation is indi-
vidualizing learners and helping them to achieve
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch017 self-growth through self-evaluation and coopera-
Intelligent LMS with an Agent that Learns from Log Data in a Virtual Community
tion with others (Merriam & Brockett, 2007). For 1. The agent builds a learner model automati-
example, according to the well known theory by cally by applying the decision tree model.
Knowles, facilitation is designing a pattern of 2. The agent predicts a learners final status
learning experiences, conducting these learning (1. Failed; 2. Abandon; 3. Successful; or 4.
experiences with suitable techniques and mate- Excellent) using the learner model and his/
rials, and evaluating the learning outcomes and her current learning history log data. The
rediagnosing learning needs (Knowles, 1983) constructed learner model becomes more
(Knowles, Holton & Swanson, 1998). e-Learning, exact as the amount of data accumulated in
which emerged as a method of attaining the learner- the database increases.
centred approach, provides a new autonomous- 3. The agent compares a learners learning
learning environment that combines 1. multimedia processes with excellent learners learning
content, 2. collaboration among learners, and 3. processes in the database, diagnoses the
computer-supported learning (Ueno 2007). e- learners learning processes and generates
Learning should work even if there is no human adaptive instructional messages for the
facilitator and a huge number of learners partici- learner.
pate in it. It would essentially be impossible for
facilitators to individualize such a huge number It should be noted that the learner model
of learners and facilitate their learning. The main strongly reflects the learning culture of the com-
idea in this chapter is that a computational agent munity because the model was built using log
in a Learning Management System (LMS) plays data of the past learners.
the role of facilitator instead of human teachers. In addition, some previous research on learning
The proposed agent uses the learners history motivation found that the effects of a mentors
data in a learning community, which is stored in motivational messages were adapted to a learners
a database, to compare the learning process of status in e-Learning. Visser and Keller (1990)
the learner with that of the past excellent learn- reported that motivational messages could reduce
ers. A computational agent that learns using the dropout rates and later attempted to improve mo-
decision tree model, one of machine learning or tivation in e-Learning situations using such mes-
data-mining technologies, from data is called a sages (Visser, Plomp, and Kuiper, 1999). Gabrielle
learning agent. (2000) applied technology-mediated instructional
The decision tree model (Quinlan, 1986), which strategies to Gagnes events of instruction and
is a well-known method that is equivalent to the demonstrated how these strategies affected mo-
Bayesian belief network, enables users to obtain tivation. Thus, agent messages are also expected
valid results even if the number of variables in the to be effective in facilitating learner motivation.
tree increases significantly, although interpreting The developed LMS with the agent system was
the meaning of a structure is more difficult than compared with one without it in actual e-learning
in the Bayesian belief network. classes for one semester. The results showed that
Building a meaningful model requires a number a much lower number of students withdrew from
of variables for representing a learners status. classes when the LMS with the agent system was
For these reasons, in this study we used an intel- used. In addition, the average score of the final test
ligent agent based on the decision tree model and was significantly higher in the case of the LMS
installed it into an LMS. The unique features of with the agent system. Answers to questions and
this system are summarized as follows. interviews with learners showed that the agent sys-
tem enhances learners motivation and contributes
to learners maintaining a constant learning pace
304
learners showed that the agent system enhances database and that automatically generates adaptive
learners motivation and contributes to learners instructional messages for the learners.
maintaining a constant learning pace contributes
to learners maintaining a constant learning pace.
Finally, we note that this study does not focus LMS SAMURAI
on the group works in collaborative learning but
the individual works in this study can be easily We have developed an LMS called Samurai
extended to group works but the individual works (Ueno, 2002) that is used with many e-learning
in this study can be easily extended to group works courses; 128 e-learning courses are now offered
easily extended to group works. by The University of Electro-Communications,
through this LMS. Samurai consists of a contents
presentation system (CPS), a contents database
RELATED STUDIES (CD), a discussion board (DB), a learning history
database (LHD), and a data mining system (DMS).
Various studies have been done that have applied The CPS integrates various kinds of content and
data mining techniques to learning history data presents the integrated information on a web page.
in e-learning. Becker and Vanzin (2003) tried to Figure 1 shows a typical e-learning content presen-
detect meaningful patterns of learning activities tation by Samurai. The contents are presented by
in e-learning using the association rule. Minaei- clicking on the menu button. A sound track of the
Bidgoli,et al. (2003) proposed a method to predict teachers narration is also presented based on the
a learners final test score using the combination research of Mayer and Anderson (1991), and the
of multiple classifiers constructed from learning red pointer moves automatically as the narration
history data in e-learning, and they reported that a proceeds. This lesson corresponds to a 90-minute
modified method using a genetic algorithm could university lecture and includes 42 topics. Although
improve the prediction performances. the content in Figure 1 is textual, the system also
Talavera and Gaudioso (2004) and Hamalainen provides illustrations, animations or computer
et al. (2006) separately proposed a method to pre- graphics, and video clips. In this lesson, there
dict final test scores using the naive Bayes model are 11 topics presented as textual content, 11 as
from learning history data in e-learning. Huang et illustrations, 10 as animations, and 10 as video
al. (2007) predicted learning efficiency as defined clips. The CPS also presents some test items to
by test score/learning time using a support vec- assess the learners degree of comprehension as
tor machine (SVM) from learning history data in soon as the lessons have been completed (Figure
e-learning. However, these studies only tried to 2). The CD consists of various kinds of media,
predict learners performance in e-learning from text, jpeg and mpeg files, and so on. The teacher
learning history data, and therefore, they did not prepares a lecture and saves the contents in the
discuss how to effectively utilize the predicted CD. Then the CPS automatically integrates the
data mining results to improve learners results. contents, and presents them to the learners.
Furthermore, the employed data mining engines The learners can ask questions about the con-
in these studies were not installed into an LMS to tents in the DB (Figure 3). They can also submit
automatically analyze the learning log database. the products of their learning for the given task
Here, we proposed not simply a system to predict a (for example, a report or program source) using
learners final status using a data mining technique, the DB. The LMS monitors learners learning
but an agent that acquires the domain knowledge processes and stores them as log data in the LHD.
related to the content from a learning history log The stored data consist of a Contents ID, a
305
Figure 1. The LMS Samurai
Figure 2. Example test frame
Learner ID, the number of topics that the learner AN AGENT USING THE DECISION
has completed, a Test Item ID, a record of data TREE MODEL FOR E-LEARNING
input into the DB, an Operation Order ID (which HISTORY DATA
indicates what operation was done), a Date and
Time ID (which indicates the date and time that Prediction of Learners Final Status
an operation started), and a Time ID (which in-
dicates the time it took to complete the operation). The main idea here is to apply a data-mining
These data enable the LMS to recount the learn- method to the huge amount of stored data and
ers behavior in e-learning. construct a learner model to predict each learners
final status: (1) Failed (Final examination score
306
Figure 3. Example discussion board
below 60); (2) Abandon (The learner withdraws 7. The average number of times the learner
before the final examination); (3) Successful (Final has changed the answer to questions in the
examination score is more than 60 but less than e-learning.
80); or (4) Excellent (Final examination mark is 8. The number of times the learner has posted
more than 80.) For this purpose, the well-known opinions or comments on the discussion
data-mining decision tree model (Quinlan, 1986) board.
is employed using the following variables reflect- 9. The average learning time for each topic.
ing each learners status each week.
As all courses run for 15 weeks, 15 decision
1. The number of topics the learner has learned. trees are prepared corresponding to the learners
2. The number of times the learner accessed learning history data for the 15 weeks. The con-
the e-learning system. tinuous variables are categorized into the number
3. The average number of times the learner that minimizes the entropy. We used the ID3 al-
has completed each topic. (This implies the gorithm (Ueno, 2002) as a learning algorithm for
number of times the learner repeated each the decision trees because the computation cost
topic.) is low and the estimators are robust.
4. The average learning time for each lecture, The program source was developed using Java
which consists of several types of contents and installed in Samurai. The decision trees are
and runs 90 minutes. always learned using updated learning histories.
5. The average of the degree of understand- Therefore, the decision treesstructures for predict-
ing of each topic. (This is measured by the ing the learners final status are always changing.
response to the question corresponding to In this algorithm, all variables are always used. A
each topic.) decision tree learned from 1,344 learners data is
6. The average learning time for each course shown in Figure 4. This tree was prepared using
consisting of fifteen lectures. 14 weeks of learning history data. The two values
in parentheses indicate the number of cases in
which the inference is correct and incorrect. For
307
Figure 4. Example of a constructed decision tree
example, (408/18) indicates that the probability introduces an outline of the system. The agent
of the correct inference is 408/426. In this sys- provides adaptive messages to the learner using
tem, decision trees corresponding to the weekly the learner model. The agent also performs vari-
learners status are constantly being constructed. ous actions based on the learners current status,
as shown in Figure 6. The instructional messages
Outline of Intelligent Agent System to a learner are generated as follows.
The main purpose of the intelligent agent system 1. The system predicts the target learners future
is to provide optimum instructional messages status and probability using the constructed
to a learner using the previous automatically decision tree.
constructed learner model. The agent appears in 2. If the predicted status is Excellent, the
the LMS as shown in Figure 5. First, this section agent provides messages like Looking
Figure 5. An intelligent agent (Note that the presented message is not misspelled. The message is mov-
ing continuously across the frame.)
308
Figure 6. Various actions of the agent
great!, Keep doing your best, and Data Structure

Probability of success is xx%. If the pre-
dicted status is not Excellent, the system The system constructs a decision tree from learn-
searches for the closest Excellent node ing history data and stores it in the database.
from the current predicted status node. For The data structure of the constructed decision
example, using Figure 7, we consider a part of tree is defined using XML, as shown in Figure
the decision tree in Figure 4. If the predicted 8. <NAME> indicates the course subject name
status is Failed, the nearest Excellent and variable names. <VARIABLE TYPE> has
node is the gray node in the figure. The sys- two types: Explain, which means explaining
tem finds the nearest Excellent node and variables and Object, which means object vari-
determines the operations that will change able in the decision tree model. <ATRIBUTE>
the learners predicted status to Excellent. refers to the values an explaining variable takes.
In this case, the average learning time for <OUTCOME> means the values an object vari-
each topic is detected. The system provides able takes. <DEFINITION> corresponds to the
messages with the predicted future status, node structure. For a target variable defined by
the probability of success estimated by the <FOR>, a parent variable in the tree is expressed
decision tree, and the instructional messages by <GIVEN>. <TABLE> means a table that has
according to Table 1. a number of positive instances and a number of
negative instances.
Figure 7. Part of the decision tree in Figure 4
309
Table 1. Instructional messages corresponding to the detected variables
Variables Instructional messages

1. The number of topics the learner has learned. Progress in your lesson is behind. Please do more lectures.
Progress in the lesson is liable to be slow. Lets do more lectures.
2. The number of times the learner has accessed the e-learning You have not engaged in the lesson well. Lets access the system
system. more often.
3. The average number of times the learner has completed each Dont forget previously learned contents! Lets review the previ-
topic. ous contents again.
4. The average learning time for each lecture, which consists of It seems that you are working through the lecture too quickly.
several types of contents and runs 90 minutes. Please spend more time on each lecture.
5. The average of the degree of understanding of each topic (This Were the contents of the lesson difficult? Lets do the lecture
is measured by the response to a question that corresponds to each from the beginning once again.
topic.). When there is something you dont understand, lets post a ques-
tion on the discussion board.
6. The average learning time for each course consisting of fifteen You have not engaged in the lesson well. Lets access the system
lectures. and study more slowly and carefully.
7. The average number of times the learner has changed the answer Your knowledge does not appear to be very robust. Lets do the
to the e-learning questions. lecture from the beginning once again.
8. The number of times the learner has posted opinions or com- Learning is more effective when done between learners. Lets
ments on the discussion board. participate in and contribute to the discussion board.
9. The average learning time for each topic. Did you do the lecture correctly? Ordinarily, a lesson should take
more time.
Message Generation Algorithm structed decision tree, and if the predicted status
is Excellent the system sends complimentary
Figure 9 shows the algorithm to generate instruc- messages to the learner. Otherwise, the system
tional messages in the proposed intelligent agent searches the nearest ancestor node whose descen-
system. According to the algorithm, the system dant node has an Excellent node. If the system
first predicts the learners future status from his/ finds the ancestor node which has an Excel-
her current learning histories data using the con- lent descendant node, the system searches for
Figure 8. Example of the data structure of the constructed decision tree
310
Figure 9. Instructional message generation algorithm
the Excellent node which has the shortest path data in e-learning. Minaei-Bidgoli, et al.(2003)
from the ancestor node. If the several Excellent compared prediction performances of machine
nodes exist which have the shortest path length learning methods (decision tree model, Naive
from the ancestor node, the system selects the Bayes, and SVM) to predict a learners final test
first searched for Excellent node to generate score from learning history data in e-learning.
instructional messages. The decision tree showed the best performance
Next, the system selects a set of nodes that in the results. On the other hand, Talavera and
form a path from the ancestor node to the Excel- Gaudioso (2004) and Hamalainen et al. (2006)
lent node and generates instructional messages conducted similar experiments and insisted that
corresponding to the set of node variables accord- Naive Bayes was the best model. Finally, Huang
ing to Table 1. et al.(2007) found that SVM was the most effec-
If there are several instructional messages tive model. Thus, these previous studies reported
corresponding to one node variable, the system different results which means that the predictive
selects a message using a random number. performance depends on the characteristics of the
This algorithm is installed into Samurai us- data (the kinds of variables, data size, domain,
ing Java. This system can create 2,048 patterns of learners age, and so on). Therefore, we also
adaptive instructional messages to learners, such needed to evaluate various models with respect to
as the one shown in Figure 5; thus, it is expected to data obtained from the LMS Samurai just as the
adaptively correspond to various learner statuses. previous studies did. We compared the decision
tree model with the ID3 algorithm Naive Bayes
model, and SVM. Here, we employed the most
COMPARATIVE PREDICTION popular Naive Bayes model, the multivariate
EXPERIMENTS Bernoulli model(Domingos & Pazzani, 1997)
and a well known SVM that has a polynomial
Some previous studies have been done on pre- kernel(Vapnik, 1995).
dicting a learners final test score using several First, the latest data from 800 learners were
machine learning methods from learning history randomly sampled from the learning history
311
database for 128 courses in the LMS Samurai. number of categories, SVM shows the best per-
Furthermore, learner history data from 400 out of formance. However, it is clear that SVM over fits
the 800 learners were randomly sampled as train- the data when there are four or more categories.
ing data, and the remaining 400 learners history Antagonistically, although the decision tree model
data were used as validation data (test data) for a shows lower performance than SVM when there
cross-validation experiment. The cross-validation are a small number of categories, it shows the
experiment was performed to predict learnersfinal best performance with four or more categories.
status from their learning history data. Decision Although Nave Bayes shows lower correct
tree and Naive Bayes models use only categories prediction rates, the reason is that the explaining
variables as input data, but the learning history data variables that are used all have a mutually strong
use continuous variables data. Consequently, the correlation; nevertheless, the model assumes the
continuous variables data in the learning history variables are conditionally independent respec-
data were categorized to be uniformly distrib- tively. From these results, the decision tree is the
uted in each category. Although SVM can use most suitable for the data stored in LMS Samu-
the continuous variables data for input data, this rai because the proposed agent needs to use four
experiment applied the categorized data to SVM categories as variables.
under the same conditions as the other models.
Here SVM employed the polynomial kernel as a
kernel function. FEEDBACK FOR TEACHERS
To categorize the input data, the range (from the
minimum value of data to the maximum value of The proposed LMS can also provide feedback on
data) of each variable was divided by the number all learners to a teacher, as shown in Figure 10. In
of the categories m into the category ranges. As this system, the feedback comprises the degree of
a result, the continuous data were transformed to the learning progress, the learning time, and the
category data xicj (if the i-th variables category rate of understanding for each learner. In addition,
cs range includes j-th learners data then xicj =1, this system also presents the current instructional
otherwise xicj =0),(i=1,9, c=1,,m, j=1,,N). messages to the teacher that the agent has sent to
The number of categories for all variables was each learner.
changed from two to five in the experiment.
The results are listed in Table 2. Each value
indicates the correct prediction rates of the cross-
validation given the number of categories in the
corresponding model. When there is a small
Table 2. Correct prediction rates(%) obtained in the cross-validation experiment
NC DT SVM Nave Bayes

2 75.00(88.70) 80.75(89.25) 75.50(76.25)
3 80.00(84.75) 81.00(88.7) 76.00(77.25)
4 82.00(88.75) 74.00(91.5) 77.00(77.75)
5 80.25(84.75) 78.76(91.5) 76.75(77.75)
Note NC: number of categories; DT: decision tree model using the ID3 algorithm. The parenthetical values indicate the fitting rate of the
training data.
312
Figure 10. Feedback for a teacher
EVALUATIONS that did not for one semester. The decision tree for
the agent system was learned using 1,344 learn-
The system was evaluated by comparing a class ers histories. The details of the two e-learning
of students that used the agent system with one classes are summarized in Table 3. The results
Table 3. Comparison between classes with and without the system
With agent system Without agent system

Subject name Information & Communication Technology Information & Communication Technology
Undergraduate students (third and fourth Undergraduate students (third and fourth
Students
year) year)
Learning place Each students home Each students home
Credits 2 2
Number of students 74 92
Term 2003, April 10 - July 31 2004, April 10 - July 31
Number of students who withdrew from the
14 (18.9%) 49 (53.2%)
course
Average: 93.26 Average: 78.74
Final test scores
Variance: 43.2 (n=60) Variance: 215.24 (n=43)
P-value 1.33E-07
Total learning time (minutes)
P-value 1.25E-05
Average degree of progress of lesson
P-value of the statistical difference test of
0.00031
two averages
Total number of contributions to discussion
714 928
board
313
Figure 11. Plotted results of Question A given to (a) the class with the system and (b) the one without it
show that far fewer students withdrew from the we assume that the difference between the results
class if they had used the LMS with the agent for the two classes are due only to the agent system
system. In addition, the final test scores, learn- use, the results mean that learners opinion about
ing time data, and progress of learning data also the agent system tended to be polarized compared
indicate that the proposed agent system enhanced to the opinions of the class without it.
learning significantly. Figure 12 summarizes the learners responses
The presentation of the predictive learners frequencies to Question B. The results show that
future status and the presentation of adaptive many learners rated the agent systems messages
instructional messages help learners maintain the as Good or Very good and this means that
required learning pace. As a result, the learners the instructional messages from the agent system
can progress until they reach their predicted future are acceptable for many learners. However, it
status. should be noticed that five learners rated it as
Furthermore, all learners were asked Question Bad.The learners who rated the system as Bad
A: How would you rate the systems ability to gave the following reasons:
enhance your e-learning? 1. Very poor; 2. Poor;
3. Fair; 4. Good; 5. Very good.
The group with the agent system was asked an Figure 12. The results of Question B
additional question, Question B: How would you
rate the adequacy of the instructional messages
from the agent system? 1. Very bad; 2. Bad; 3.
Fair; 4. Good; 5. Very good.
The results for the Question A are shown in
Figure 11. Response frequencies of answers 2
and 3, Poor and Fair were less for the class
with the system than for the one without it. This
indicates that the system is effective in enhancing
learning and the instructional messages have a
positive effect on e-learning. However, it should
be noted that the response frequency of Very
poor increased for the class with the system. If
314
The messages from the agent were dis- withdrew from the class was significantly lower
tracting. I didnt concentrate on my learn- than in the case of the LMS without the agent
ing due to the agents constant actions. system. In addition, the results showed that the
The messages from the agent were med- average score on the final test was significantly
dling because I previously knew my-self higher when the agent system was used. Some
almost all the messages content even if the questions and interviews with the learners showed
agent didnt send them. that the agent system enhanced learning motiva-
tion and was instrumental in learners maintain-
This means that the messages from the system ing the required learning pace. Thus, the results
are sometimes meddling for some autonomous demonstrate that the agent system is very effective
learners who can learn by themselves. Therefore in maintaining learners motivation in e-learning.
we think that the system needs a function whereby In addition, it is important to note that in
learners can hide the agent from the system when- practical use we should not use the automatically
ever they want. constructed tree structure without reviewing it.
This is because some teachers are not earnest in
facilitating e-learning, and the automatically con-
CONCLUSION structed tree structure is not valid for e-learning.
For example, some teachers give a final result of
This chapter proposed an LMS in which an intel- Excellent to all learners without deliberation,
ligent agent provides effective adaptive messages and the constructed trees structure shows that any
to learners using learning history data in a learn- learner might be predicted to be Excellent. If
ing community and data mining techniques. The we consider the constructed tree structure to be
unique features of this system are as follows. invalid, we use the typical structure in Figure 4
instead of the invalid structure. This procedure is
The agent builds a learner model automati- also adopted when there is no data and no struc-
cally by applying the decision tree model. ture because the course has never been provided
The agent predicts a learners final status before. Finally, we note that this study does not
(Failed; Abandon; Successful; Excellent) focus on the group works in collaborative learn-
using the learner model and his/her cur- ing but the individual works in this study can be
rent learning history data. The constructed easily extended to group works. This is one of
learner model becomes more precise as the future tasks.
amount of data accumulated in the data-
base increases.
The agent compares a learners learn- REFERENCES
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318
Chapter 18
A Computational Model
of Social Capital in
Virtual Communities
Ben Kei Daniel
ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a Bayesian Belief computational model of social capital (SC) developed within
the context of virtual communities. The development of the model was based on insights drawn from
more than five years of research into social capital in virtual communities. The Chapter discusses the
key variables constituting social capital in virtual communities and shows how the model was updated
using practical scenarios. The scenarios describe authentic cases drawn from several virtual communi-
ties. The key issues predicted by the model as well as challenges encountered in building, verifying and
updating the model are discussed.
INTRODUCTION from several virtual communities. The key is-

sues predicted by the model as well as challenges
This chapter presents the Bayesian Belief com- encountered in building, updating, verifying and
putational model of social capital (SC) developed updating the model are discussed.
within the context of virtual communities. The
development of the model was based on insights
drawn from more than five years of research into A MODEL OF SOCIAL CAPITAL
social capital in virtual communities. The Chapter
discusses the key variables constituting social There are fundamentally many variables consti-
capital in virtual communities and shows how tuting social capital in virtual communities. For
the model was updated using practical scenarios. examples, social capital is frequently defined as
The scenarios describe authentic cases drawn a function of positive engagement or engagement
which is shared by many definitions. More specifi-
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch018 cally, when people engage in positive engagement
A Computational Model of Social Capital in Virtual Communities
on issues of mutual interests they are more likely critical ingredient and a lubricant to almost many
to get to know more about each other which is forms of social interactions. Trust enables people
critical to the development of social capital. to work together, collaborate, and smoothly ex-
The value derived from positive engagement change information and share knowledge without
can include sharing personal experiences with oth- time worsted on negotiation and conflict (Cohan
ers, endorsing positive behaviour or discouraging & Prusak, 2000). Trust can also be treated as an
negative one, sharing information, recommending outcome of positive attitudes among individuals
options, and providing companionship and hos- in a community.
pitality, all of which are not only vital elements Further, in virtual communities, trust can only
for community living but social capital. be created and sustained when individuals are
Productive relationships crucial to social provided with an environment that can support
capital occur when people have a common set of different forms of awareness. In other words,
expectations, mediated by a set of shared social people with shared vision and goals and shared
protocols and are willing to identify with each language and terminology are more likely to de-
other as members of the same community. An- velop trusting relationships with each other than
other important aspect of building social capital those interested in different things and who do
in virtual communities is when members estab- not understand each other.
lish a certain level of shared understanding. The These variables are the detailed specification of
process of establishing shared understanding the elements of social capital in virtual communi-
often draws upon a set of shared beliefs, shared ties. The second step in building a model of social
goals and values, experiences and knowledge. capital is to map the variables (see graph 1) into a
Shared understanding is essentially enhanced by graphical structure based on qualitative reasoning.
various forms of awareness. And for many years In particular, the knowledge of the structure of
researchers in human computer interactions have the model was grounded in current research into
established that awareness is critical to effective social capital and physical communities as well as
interactions and productive social relationships in recent work on social capital in virtual communi-
virtual settings (Gutwin, at al., 1998). ties (Daniel, McCalla & Schwier, 2005). And the
Maintaining different forms of awareness in qualitative reasoning of the causal relationships
a virtual community therefore, lubricates and among variables was based on the results of syn-
increases the value of engagement and possibly thesis of current research on social capital. This
increases shared understanding. In any enhanc- research suggests that peoples attitudes in virtual
ing social capital in virtual communities, people learning communities can strongly influence the
need to be aware of people they are interacting level of their engagement with each other and
with. They want to know where others are located consequently their ability to know various issues
(demographic awareness) and what they are up about themselves, which in turn can influence
to. In more professional settings or in distributed their level of trust in each other. In other words,
communities of practice, people are often curious when people have positive attitudes towards each
of what others do or are interested in (profes- other, they are more likely to engage on fruitful
sional awareness), what others know (knowledge discussion that in turn raises their level of aware-
awareness) or what they are able to do (capability ness in terms of what is being discussed but also
awareness) increase their understanding of the strengths and
Trust is another influential variable of social weakness of others in the community.
capital. Several research studies used trust as The causal relationships among the variables
proxy for measuring social capital. Trust is a in the graph is shown by the direction of the ar-
319
Figure 1. Graphical model of social capital
row i.e. attitudes influencing different forms of tice) the graph topology enables different forms
awareness and the strength of the influence sug- of experiments to be conducted, which can apply
gesting strongly positive relationship among the to both types of communities. Once a Bayesian
variables. Further, since awareness can contribute Belief Network graph is developed, the third stage
to both trust and distrust the strength of the rela- is to obtain initial probability values to populate
tionships can be medium positive, medium weak, the network. Initial probabilities can be obtained
etc. depending on the kind of the awareness. For from different sources, and that sometimes ob-
instance demographic awareness has a positive and taining accurate initial numbers that can yield
medium effect on trust (see Figure 1), meaning valid and meaningful posteriors can be difficult.
that it is more likely that people will trust others The approach presented in the book is intended
regardless of their demographic backgrounds and to simplify the construction process.
in fact this is the case with distributed communi-
ties of practice. Computing Conditional Probabilities
Extending this type of qualitative reasoning
resulted in the Bayesian Belief Network structure In a Bayesian network, every stage of situation
shown in Figure 1. In the graph, those nodes that assessment requires assigning initial probabilities
contribute to higher nodes align themselves in to the hypotheses. These initial probabilities are
child to parent relationships, where parent normally obtained from knowledge of a particular
nodes are super-ordinate to child nodes. For ex- situation prevailing at a particular time. However,
ample, trust is the child of shared understanding; converting a state of knowledge to probability
different forms of awareness and social protocols, values is a challenge facing Bayesian Modellers.
which are in turn children of interaction and at- In the book, the initial conditional probabilities
titudes. for the social capital model were obtained by ex-
The graph presented above relates to the two amining qualitative descriptions of the influence
kinds of virtual communities (virtual learning between two or more variables. Each probability
community and distributed community of prac- value describes strength of relationships and the
320
Table 1. Social capital variables and their definitions
Variable Name Variable Definition Variable States

Attitudes Individuals general perception about each other and others actions Positive/Negative
Shared Understanding A mutual agreement/consensus between two or more agents about the meaning of High/Low
an object or idea
Awareness Knowledge of people, tasks, or environment and or all of the above Present/Absent
Demographic Aware- Knowledge of an individual: country of origin, language and location Present/Absent
ness
Professional Awareness Knowledge of peoples background training, affiliation etc. Present/Absent
Engagement An extended period of interaction between two or more people that goes beyond positive/negative
exchange of words but important and meaningful social connections.
Social protocols The mutually agreed upon, acceptable and unacceptable ways of behaviour in a Present/Absent
community
Trust A particular level of certainty or confidence with which an agent use to assess the High/Low
action of another agent.
letters S (strong), M (medium), and W (weak) Knowledge Awareness 0.98 (a threshold value
represent different degrees of influence among the for strong = 0.98). The weights were obtained by
variables in the model are (Daniel, Zapata-Rivera subtracting a base value (1 / number of states, 0.5
& McCalla, 2003). The signs + and - represent in this case) from the threshold value associated
positive and negative relationships among the to the degree of influence and dividing the result
variables. by the number of parents (i.e. (0.98 - 0.5) / 2 =
Once, the initial probabilities were determined, 0.48 / 2 = 0.24), this follows the fact that in the
a fully specified joint probability distribution was graph Knowledge awareness is a child of both
computed. In the process, each node, X (where X interactions and attitudes.
implies any variable in the graph), the probability Table 1 shows the threshold values and weights
distribution for X conditional upon Xs parents. used in this example. Since it is more likely that
For example, the distribution of shared understand- a certain degree of uncertainty can exist, value
ing conditional upon its parents (engagement, = 0.02 leaves some room for uncertainty when
attitudes and community type) was specified. As considering evidence coming from positive and
earlier discussed in the chapter, different forms of strong relationships. These threshold values can
awareness are critical to engagement that stimu- be adjusted based on expert opinion.
lates positive social capital. This approach has appeared in early work
The criterion used for obtaining the condi- (Zapata-Rivera, 2002; Daniel, Zapata-Rivera &
tional probability values was based on adding McCalla, 2003). Using this approach it is possible
weights to the values of the variables depending to generate conditional probability tables (CPTs)
on the number of parents and the strength of the for each node (variable) regardless of the number
relationship between particular parents and the of parents.
children. For example, Attitudes and Engagement Of course the accuracy of this approach is also
have positive and strong (S+) relationships with dependent on how the consistency, coherence and
Knowledge Awareness; the evidence of positive validity of the initial knowledge gathered from
engagement and positive attitudes will there- experts and the decisions knowledge by the en-
fore, produce a conditional probability value for gineer to transform the knowledge gathered into
321
Table 2. Threshold values and weights with two parents
Degree of influence Thresholds Weights

Strong 1- = 1 - 0.02 = 0.98 (0.98-0.5) / 2 = 0.48 / 2 = 0.24
Medium 0.8 (0.8-0.5) / 2 =0.3 / 2 = 0.15
Weak 0.6 (0.6-0.5) / 2 =0.1 / 2 = 0.05
initial probabilities. For instance, assuming some ing, scenarios are developed underlying various
subject matter experts are consulted to obtain events based on either evidence or an experts
initial probabilities, this knowledge is translated knowledge to test and tune the model over time.
into the threshold weighted values as described A scenario can generally be described as a set of
in Table 2 depending on the degree of influence written stories or synopsis of acts in stories built
among the variables (i.e. evidence coming from around carefully constructed events. In scientific
one of the parents states), a knowledge engineer and technical sense a scenario describes a vision
can be guided by domain expert when working of the future state of a system. Such a description
on the threshold values. can be based on current assessment of the system,
of the variables and assumptions, and the likely
Querying the Model interaction between system variables in the pro-
gression from current conditions to a future state
In general, the mechanism for drawing conclu- (Collin, 1989). In virtual communities, scenarios
sions in Bayesian models is based on probability provide simple, intuitive, example based upon
propagation of evidence. Propagation refers to descriptions of the patterns of interactions two
model updating based upon known set of evi- or more variables of interests.
dence entered into the model. A Bayesian model A scenario-based modeling is essentially a set
contains many variables each of which can be of procedures for describing specific sequences
relevant for some kind of reasoning but rarely are of behaviours within a model that illustrate actual
all variables relevant for all kinds of reasoning at interactions within a learning community. The goal
once. Therefore, researchers need to identify the is to understand and explain the interactions of
subset of the model that is relevant to their needs. variables or set of events within a model and how
In other words, it is sometimes the case that the these might possible influence direction of interac-
modeller only enters evidence to few variables tion patterns, and subsequently their influence on
in order to observe changes in certain variables. the level of social capital within that community.
Querying a Bayesian model refers to the This means that a single scenario might describe a
process of updating the conditional probability possible given state of interactions as it were in a
table and making inferences based on new evi- community, and upon its implementation possible
dence. One way of updating a Bayesian model alternative explanations are provide to describe
is to develop a detailed number of scenarios that the current and future behaviours of a model.
can be used to query the model. Constructing When several scenarios are used together to
and updating a model of social capital in virtual describe possible outcomes of events within a
learning communities is a complex task since model, they can exceed the power of predictions
there are numerous underlying variables that are based on a single hypothesis or a set of propositions
not necessarily obvious in virtual communities. In drawn from a single data set. While a hypothesis
order to facilitate model construction and updat- normally refers to a set of unproven ideas, beliefs,
322
and arguments, a scenario can describe proven CASE SCENARIOS

states of events, which can be used to understand
future changes within a model. During the process of updating the Bayesian
Further, the outcomes of the events might model, various evidences were collected and
be further used to generate a set of hypothesis. compiled as scenarios to simplify the process
These hypotheses can then be used to understand and to enhance clarity of the stories. These sce-
a specific situation within a model. Moreover, narios are intended to emulate an experimental
the results of a scenario and hypothesis can be data and to illustrate the process of updating an
combined to further refine the consistency and initial Bayesian model using similar evidence. It
accuracy of a model. However, for a scenario- is likely that the results of the model predictions
based approach to be useful the scenarios created could change in the face of more empirical data.
within any particular evidence or data sets must
be plausible and internally consistent. Case 1: A Virtual Learning
Scenarios in Bayesian modeling of social capi- Community of Graduate Students
tal provide alternative explanations to particular
changes in variables and their effects on a particular Community A was a formal virtual learning com-
community. The use of a scenario-based approach munity of graduate students learning fundamental
to query a model also offers with a common vo- concepts and philosophies of E-Learning. The
cabulary and an effective basis for communicating members of this community were drawn from
complex and sometimes paradoxical conditions. In diverse cultural backgrounds and different profes-
the context of my research, this provides opportu- sional training.
nity for incorporating strategies from qualitative In particular, participants were practising
perspectives and to avoid the potential for sharp teachers teaching in different domains at second-
discontinuities that most quantitative approaches ary and primary schools levels. Some individuals
exclude from qualitative approaches. in the community had extensive experiences with
In updating the model on social capital new educational technologies, while others were nov-
evidences in form of scenarios were used. And a ices but had extensive experience in classroom
scenario is a written synopsis of inferences drawn pedagogy. These individuals were not exposed
from observed phenomenon or empirical data. to each other before and thus were not aware of
Druzdzel and Henrion (993) described a scenario each others talents and experiences.
as an assignment of values to those variables in Since the community was a formal one, there
Bayesian network which are relevant for a certain was a formalized discourse structure and the social
conclusion, ordered in such a way that they form protocols for interactions were explained to partici-
a coherent storya causal story which is compat- pants in advance. The special protocols required
ible with the evidence of the story. different forms of interactions including posting
The use of scenarios as an approach in updating messages, critiquing others, providing feedback
Bayesian network models is based on psychologi- to others postings, asking for clarifications etc.
cal research (Pennington & Hastie, 1988). This As the interactions progressed in this community,
research shows that humans tend to interpret and intense disagreements were observed in the com-
explain any social situation by weighing the most munity. Individuals began to disagree more on
credible stories to test and understand social phe- the issues under discussion and there was a little
nomena. Furthermore, updating a Bayesian model shared understanding among the participants in
using scenarios is an attempt to understand various most of the discourse.
relationships among variables within a network.
323
Case 2: A Distributed Community of interaction, individuals interacted as if there

of Practice of Software Engineers were clear set social protocols to be followed in
the community.
Community B was a distributed community of
practice for software engineers who gathered to Case 4: A Distributed
discuss issues around software development. The Community of Practice of
main goals of the community were to facilitate Biomedical and Clinicians
exchange of information, and knowledge and
peer-support to the members of the community. This case for community D is extracted from a
Members of this community shared common recent phenomenon observed within the health
concerns. In terms of skills, participants composed system research. Increasing complexity of clinical
of highly experienced software developers and problems and the difficulty to engage all health
novices. Participants were drawn from all over professionals to do research, coupled with fail-
the world and were affiliated to different organi- ure to rapidly move research into new clinical
sations, including researchers at University and approaches, procedures and technologies have
software support groups. created a need for new approaches to clinical re-
After a considerable period of interaction, in- search, practice and policy interface. The hallmark
dividuals were exposed to each other long enough of these new approaches for health research is
to start exchanging personal information among embedded in the conceptual framework of distrib-
them. It was also observed that individuals of- uted communities of practice of biomedical and
fered a lot of help to each other throughout their clinicians. Such a community normally operates
interactions. Though no formal social protocols as an interdisciplinary unit, drawing member-
were explained to the participants, members in- ship from nurses, clinicians, policy analysts and
teracted as if there were social protocols guiding academic researchers to move research findings
their interactions. Further, there were no visible into patient care.
roles of community leaders. The continuous demand for understanding
of complex human diseases, the solutions to
Case 3: A Distributed Community chronic diseases and preventative measures will
of Practice of Programmers most likely lie within many disciplines with the
biomedical sciences, clinicians and nurses, all
Community C consisted of a group of individuals coming together and participate in a distributed
learning fundamentals of programming in Java. community of practice.
It was an open community whose members were Members of this community are highly dis-
geographically distributed and had diverse demo- tributed in terms of both epistemological stances
graphic backgrounds and professional cultures. towards addressing health problems as well as
They did not personally know each other; they the organizations in which they work. And so for
used different aliases from time to time while them to effectively work together, it is imperative
interacting in the community. Diverse program- that knowledge required for solving problems
ming experiences, skills and knowledge were also draw from theories, concepts or models that are
observed among the participants. It was interesting integral of two or more disciplines.
to observe that though these individuals did not It is also required that methods of problem
know each other in advance, they were willing to solving need to be developed from multiple per-
offer help and to support each other in learning spectives throughout the collaborative process
Java. Though there were no formal social protocols and shared understanding and awareness of what
324
people can bring to the table are definitely some of evidence. However, this is a step to come up
the issues this group deals with. Though diversity with more cases to train the model and run some
as seen in this community brings rich and diverse empirical experiments to validate the model.
views, methods, approaches and procedures en- This phase of a model development further helps
riches problem solving, are difficult to enforce experts to examine the model and refine it based
due to lack of shared understanding. on their knowledge of the domain. The Bayesian
Some of the challenges associated with diffi- model therefore serves as an interactive tool that
culties of collaboration in interdisciplinary groups enables experts to create a probabilistic model,
include, language barriers, cultural diversity, simulate scenarios and reflect on the results of
establishing a reasonable level of shared under- the predictions.
standing to leverage differences and initiating
useful for building trusts for a group succeed. In Community A
order for such a community to be effective, there
is need for members to be aware of the value of Community A is a virtual learning community
each disciplinary contribution to the joint accord. (Community Type = VLC.) Based on the case
They need to develop mechanism to help them description shared understanding is set to low
translation interface to facilitate share understand- and professional knowledge awareness is set to
ing as they work together. doesnotexist. Individuals in this community are
familiar with their geographical diversity and so
demographic awareness is set to exists. There is
UPDATING THE MODEL well-established formal set of social protocols set
previously by the instructor (social protocols =
The scenarios described above all represent typi- known.) Figure 2 shows the Bayesian model after
cally situations where the model can be applied the evidence from community A has been added
in real world settings. In order to test and update (shaded nodes) and the results of the posterior
the initial Bayesian model of social capital, each probabilities.
case scenario was analysed looking for various The results of the predictions show the highest
evidence regarding the impact of individual vari- level of trust (P (Trust=high) =41.0%) and a cor-
ables in the model. Once a piece of evidence was responding probability level of SC (P (SC=high)
added to the model, typically through tweaking a =36.2%). These values are relatively low. Sev-
state of a variable (i.e. observing a particular state eral explanations can be provided for the drop in
of a variable) or a process commonly known as
variable initialisation, the model is updated and
results are propagated to the rest of variables in Figure 2. Probability distribution for community A
the Bayesian model. This process generates a set
of new marginal probabilities for the variables in
the model. In the three case scenarios, the goal
was to observe changes in probability values for
trust and social capital.
The model prediction outcomes were based on
the nature of the cases described in the chapter.
It is important to note that the cases themselves
represent general characteristics of virtual com-
munities, and is not directly based on empirical
325
the levels of SC and trust. First, there was a attitudes in the model were positive which have
negative interaction in the community and lack positively influenced demographic cultural aware-
of shared understanding in the community. The ness and social protocols. Further, the presence
lack of shared understanding had possibly af- of shared understanding and the high degrees of
fected the level of trust and subsequently social different kinds of awareness and knowledge of
capital. It is also possible that negative interactions social protocols in this community have resulted
and attitudes have affected the levels of task in high levels of trust and SC.
knowledge awareness and individual capability In spite of the evidence, demographic cultural
awareness. It could also be inferred that experi- awareness has little influence on the level of trust
ences of more knowledgeable individuals in the in this kind of a community and subsequently, it
community were more likely to have been ignored, has not significantly affected SC. This can be ex-
making individuals to become less co-operative. plained by the fact that professionals in most cases
are likely to cherish their professional identity
Community B more than their demographic backgrounds. This
is in line with a previous study, which suggested
Variables observed in this case include commu- most people in distributed communities of practice
nity type which has been set to community of mainly build and maintain social relations based
practice (DCoP); professional awareness was set on common concerns other than geographical
to exists, since after interaction, it was observed distribution (Daniel, OBrien & Sarkar, 2003).
that individuals in that community became aware
of their individual talents and skills. Knowledge Community C
awareness was set to exists as well. Individual
in this community shared common concerns and Variables extracted from this case scenario include
frame of reference, and so shared understanding community type (VLC), shared understanding,
was set to high. Figure 3 shows the Bayesian professional awareness, demographic awareness,
model after the evidence from community B knowledge awareness were all set to exists. Figure
has been added (shaded nodes) and propagated 4 shows the Bayesian model after the evidence
through the model. from community C has been added (shaded nodes)
Propagating this set of evidence, high levels and propagated through the model.
of trust and SC (P (Trust=high) =93.1% and P In community C, high levels of trust and SC
(SC=high) =73%) were observed. Given the evi- (P (Trust=high) =92.7% and P (SC=high) =78.4%)
dence, it was also observed that interactions and were observed after the propagation of the evi-
Figure 3. Probability distribution for community B
326
Figure 4. Probability distribution for community C
dence. These high levels of trust and SC can be Community D

attributed to the fact that the community was based
on an explicit and focused domain. Though mem- Community D is a truly a distributed community
bers might conceal their identities, they were of practice manifesting all the features. In this
willing to positively interact and participate in community that has a strong identified need of
order to learn the domain. Further increase in the collaboration across domains having shared in-
levels of trust and social capital can also be at- terests and concerns and identified need to build
tributed to the presence of shared understanding. collaborative joint enterprise, which is dependent
In other words, people in that community got on social capital. However most of the variables
along well and understood each other well enough. critical to the development of social capital are
They used the same frame of reference and have lacking. As a result, shared understanding was set
common goals of learning a domain (Java pro- to low, social protocols not observed, professional
gramming language). and knowledge awareness all set to low.
The results of the models prediction revealed
considerably low levels of trust (P (Trust=high)
Figure 5. Probability distribution for community D
327
= 59.6%) low level of trust and correspondingly communities. Furthermore, research into social
low level of social capital (P (SC=high) = 35.1). capital in virtual communities is still premature and
This is expected since core variables of social more needed to be done in terms of understanding
capital critical to distributed communities of the nature of independent variables constituting
practice such as shared understanding and profes- these communities and how they causally relate
sional awareness were absent. to each other.
There are two ways to construct Bayesian
models, one is to learn a graphical structure from
CHALLENGES data and the one is to initially propose a graphical
structure based on some logical reasoning and
In theory computational models are expected train the graph to learn probability values from the
to be fully verified and valid but in practice, no structure using new evidences. The latter is the ap-
computational model will ever be fully verified, proach used to build the social capital graph. This
guaranteeing 100% error free accuracy. But a approach is not necessarily consistent all the time.
high degree of statistical certainty is certainly still There is a need to run a number of experiments
required to achieve for a model to deliver useful to further validate and refine the structure, which
insights and knowledge. in this case was minimally done. The sensitivity
One of greatest challenges of building a com- analysis conducted on the structure though has
putational model is making it valid, relevant and proved the logic used for building the model and
useful, which implies in most part establishing some of the findings from the synthesis of what
model credibility. This requires gathering empiri- constitute social capital, it will be more interest-
cal data, subjecting the model to undergo several ing to reconfigure the structure and re-run several
rigorous verification and validation stages. It also sensitivity analysis and observe the variability
requires establishing an argument that the model of the degree of influence of all the variables on
has produced sound insights and sound data based social capital and social capital to each other its
on a wide range of tests, which are comparable own components.
to data in real world settings. These procedures though useful are not neces-
The development of the social capital model sary to do since the overall goal of the model is
presented in this book did not passed rigorous to demonstrate a procedure for modelling social
model validation leading to statistically significant capital rather than building a final model of social
results. Since like in many social systems, model- capital, which though possible requires further
ling social issues is not so much about gain 100% work and perhaps in the second edition of this book.
error free models but about insights required to
understanding and solving problems. In addition,
most of the approaches used for building models CONCLUSION
of social systems make use of qualitative infer-
ences rather than quantitative predictions about The ultimate goal of this chapter was to dem-
the future state of systems. onstrate a working example of a computational
The input variables used for building the model model of social capital in virtual communities. It
of social capital were extracted from what exists is also intended provide guidance to researchers
in the literature, which might not necessarily be and practitioners interested in exploring social
empirically based, or situated within virtual com- issues in virtual communities. Moreover issues
munities, though variables such as awareness were predicted by the model are intended to open up
based on understanding of social capital in virtual debate about social capital in virtual communi-
328
ties and its technical and social implications to ing in terms of how to enhance social capital in
knowledge sharing and social networking. virtual communities.
A Bayesian Network is highly suitable for
modelling social capital, since its variables are
still highly uncertain. This uncertainty to current REFERENCES
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330
Section 5
Methods, Measurements
and Matrices
In the previous section the importance of modelling was emphasized. In addition to building models, there is a need to
develop measures and metrices for analysing interactions in virtual communities. Section 5 covers diverse measurement
metrics, methods and approaches for studying virtual communities.
Chapter 19 is targeted at virtual community researchers with interest to quantitatively examine or employ the geography
of a community, but has no training in the methodologies necessary to do so. The chapter takes the reader from the data
collection stage through the application of several simple techniques.
Chapter 20 discusses how virtual communities are associated with business and describes how these communities can
support the overall business effort. The chapter then examines the ways that the execution of certain business processes
such as the lessons learned process can have a strong supporting role in maintaining the health of virtual communities.
Chapter 21 provides an example of community building methodology using a step-by-step approach. The chapter first
shows an overview of reaching at defining community specication and building methodology which translate into specic
measurable goals, social media and tools selection and matching and how these can be ultimately into software.
In Chapter 22 technologies capable of locating and sorting networked communities of geographically disparate indi-
viduals within virtual communities are discussed. From a methodological point of view, the chapter suggests that virtual
communities and social networks between individuals subsume the role of neighborhood areas as the most appropriate unit
of analysis for deriving consumer insight, and as such, the methodologies of geodemographics need repositioned to accom-
modate social similarities in virtual, as well as geographical space.
Chapter 23 presents work on the development of a cellular phone applicationProBoPortable that displays information
regarding the progress and achievement of tasks and division of labor in project-based learning (PBL) for higher education.
ProBoPortable works as wallpaper on the screen of the learners cellular phone, and it cooperates with Web-based groupware.
Chapter 24 introduces a mathematical retrieval system that helps mathematics learners self-study effectively. The chap-
ter presents math-retrieving system module, which takes analyzed problems submitted from users, retrieves solutions from
similar stored problems and ranks the retrieved problems to users.
Chapter 25 focuses on quantitative content analysis of online interactions, in particular, asynchronous online discussion.
It clarifies the definitions of quantitative content analysis and provides a summary of 23 existing coding schemes, broadly
categorized by the theoretical constructs under investigation.
Chapter 26 offers an overview of how Semantic Web technologies can be used to provide a unified layer of representation
for Social Web data in an open and machine-readable manner, to generate shared models and shared semantics, facilitating
data gathering and analysis.
Chapter 27 outlines a process of virtual ethnography that combines emic and etic methods of data gathering adapted to
the virtual context to provide a true accounting of the social constructs inherent in the virtual world.
Chapter 28 explores the epistemological, and ethical boundaries of the application of a participant-observer methodol-
ogy for analyzing avatar design in user-generated virtual worlds.
The chapter describes why Second Life was selected as the preferred platform for studying the fundamental design
properties of avatars in a situated manner.
Chapter 29 presents a participatory design experiment influenced by swarming activity. The chapter also introduces a
new approach of writing narratives in virtual learning communities driven by social Web 2.0 and contrasts it with traditional
storytelling approaches.
Chapter 30 examines how a variety of research approaches can be applied to the study of cross-blog interactions. It
shows challenges of studying cross-blog interactions and discusses strengths and limitations of traditional approaches and
provide examples of how a new approach may be used to help fully capture the complexity of the interactions.
Chapter 31 explicates methodological procedures for the measurement and visualization of chat-based communicative
interaction in MUVWs as social networks. It presents a case study on an educational MUVW, the SciCentr programs spon-
sored by Cornell University and shows how this was used to elaborate methods and related findings.
Chapter 32 proposes an online multi-contextual analysis (OMCA) as a new multi-method approach for investigating
and analyzing the behaviors, perceptions, and opinions of social network site (SNS) users. The approach was designed to
extend methods currently available for the investigation of the use and social consequences of these sites with techniques
that converge upon and triangulate users perceptions of their online behavior.
Chapter 33 discusses participant observation as a method of data collection for studying social interaction in online
multiplayer games and the communities within them and looks at various practical issues connected to conducting participant
observation in online multiplayer communities.
Chapter 34 explores trends and developments in news-oriented virtual communities. The chapters shows reviews of
several data collection and analysis techniques such as content analysis, usability testing and eye-tracking and propose
that these techniques and associated tools can aid the study of news communities. The chapter examines the implications
these techniques have for better understanding human behavior in virtual communities as well as for improving the design
of these environments.
Chapter 35 presents major challenges associated with the analysis of interaction patterns in informal virtual communi-
ties. Drawing from previous research whose intent was to develop a theoretical model of interactions, social network as
well as content analysis were employed to understand the structure and nature of interaction in such virtual communities.
Chapter 36 discusses basic research methodologies to help virtual community researchers clarify the dilemma inherent
in the virtual community research fraternity. The chapter also presents advanced discussion of systematic methodological
application where data collected for a research study can be conveniently treated, analysed and interpreted to be able to
write a professional masterpiece of a research report as a contribution to the knowledge data base.
Chapter 37 focuses on quantitative content analysis of online interactions, in particular, asynchronous online discussion.
It clarifies the definitions of quantitative content analysis and provides a summary of 23 existing coding schemes, broadly
categorized by the theoretical constructs under investigation.
Chapter 38 a theoretical model of business brand model along with analyses of an actual virtual community.
Chapter 39 presents a novel systematic model of interaction analysis which was designed and successfully experimented
with a wide sample of adult learners in order to enhance and understand cognitive, socio-organizational and emotional-
affective processes of virtual learning communities (VLCs).
333
Chapter 19
A Beginners Guide
to Geographic Virtual
Communities Research
Brent Hecht
Northwestern University, USA
Darren Gergle
Northwestern University, USA
INTRODUCTION particular characteristics of a communitys spatio-

social network (Larsen, Axhausen, & Urry, 2006;
Virtual communities have important geographic Larsen, Urry, & Axhausen, 2006).
components. Community participants live, work, Geographic analyses can also allow an inves-
and travel to specific places on the Earths surface, tigator to answer questions that are not overtly
and communities often reflect the characteristics geographic in nature. In such cases, these analyses
of these places. In addition, community artifacts can provide an efficient alternative or supplement
are often imbued with geographic information. to more traditional methods such as large-scale
Researchers can use these often under-appreci- surveys, interviews, or observational techniques.
ated geographic elements to understand important In many ways, it is this capability of geographi-
patterns in virtual communities interaction with cal analyses that is more powerful for the virtual
the real world. For instance, one could build communities researcher. The number of research
and study a shared repository for a biking com- topics here are infinite, but could include modeling
munitys geographic knowledge (Priedhorsky & the relationship between social networking site
Terveen, 2008), investigate whether community usage and socioeconomic status, understanding
artifact density is biased towards certain areas of human photo-taking behavior (Hecht & Gergle,
the globe (Hecht & Gergle, 2009), or model the 2010; Yanai, Yaegashi, & Qiu, 2009), model-
ing and sharing dynamic travel behavior based
on interaction within social networks (Pultar &
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch019
A Beginners Guide to Geographic Virtual Communities Research
Raubal, 2009), and identifying self-focus bias in MINING GEOGRAPHIC

wikis (see the case study at the end of the chapter). INFORMATION FROM
This chapter is targeted at the virtual com- VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
munity researcher who wants to quantitatively
examine or employ the geography of a community, Before engaging in any study involving the geo-
but has no training in the methodologies neces- graphic component of virtual communities, it is
sary to do so. We take the reader from the data necessary to obtain geographic information or
collection stage through the application of several to transform pre-existing geographic informa-
simple techniques, suggesting more advanced tion into a usable form. Usable forms include
literature when space limitations prevent us from latitude/longitude coordinates, bounding boxes
delving into details. We also take special care to around geographic features, and advanced po-
flag important pitfalls that cause hard-to-notice lygonal and polylinear representations (e.g. the
but critical errors. Finally, we close with a brief shape of the United States and the path of a road),
but illustrative research project case study. along with the attribute information attached to
This chapter is effectively an introductory these data, such as a username, population, etc.
lesson in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Formally, geographic information is defined
and Geographic Information Science (GIScience), as atomic pairs of the form <x,z> where x is a
customized for the virtual communities researcher. location in space1 and z is a set of properties [at-
A GIS is a set of tools for performing operations tributes] of that location; or information that is
on geographic data that are too tedious or expen- reducible to such pairs. (M. Goodchild, 2001; M.
sive or inaccurate if performed by hand. In doing Goodchild, Yuan, & Cova, 2007). For example,
so, it helps reveal what is otherwise invisible in the x in a pair could be a latitude/longitude of a
geographic information (Longley, Goodchild, city that is mentioned in a forum posting, and the
Maguire, & Rhind, 2005b). Another definition z could include the average income of the city, the
many GIS educators find useful describes GIS username of the poster, his/her centrality in a social
as a powerful set of tools for collecting, storing, network, and/or the size of the post (Figure 1).
retrieving at will, transforming, and displaying This section discusses important methodolo-
spatial data from the real world for a particular gies for obtaining geographic information and
set of purposes. (Burrough & McDonnell, 1998) making it usable for virtual communities research.
GIScience is the science and engineering behind We also point the reader to easy-to-use tools for
this set of tools. It can be loosely considered applying these methodologies.
analogous to information science but for the well-
defined class of geographic information (Longley, Latitude and Longitude Pairs
et al., 2005b).
While GIS/GIScience and computer science A growing number of virtual communities gener-
are closely related, this chapter should be acces- ate community artifacts that contain latitude and
sible to readers with no programming experience longitude coordinates. Assuming this structured
at all. However, programming ability (or access to information is accurate, it is often immediately
someone with knowledge of programming) will usable in geographic analyses. Classic examples
help the reader more readily leverage the tools include the latitude and longitude (lat/lon[g])
we mention for their own research. In particular, tags that have been manually associated with
experience with web-based application program- hundreds of thousands of Wikipedia articles or
ming interfaces (APIs), Java, and/or statistical online photo collections that have been manually
programming will be useful. or automatically tagged with lat/lon information.
334
Figure 1. Examples of geographic information datasets. Each row represents an <x,z> pair. Note the
variety of representations that can make up x (in this case there are both latitude and longitude coor-
dinates and complex polygonal representations), as well as the diversity of possibilities for z attributes
Later in the chapter we discuss challenges that can Bing3, Yahoo!4 and MapQuest5 all provide web-
result from the poor spatial representations inher- based address geocoding APIs.
ent in latitude and longitude points (such as inac-
curate area and distance calculations). However, Geographic Information
if the virtual community being studied explicitly in IP Addresses
contains lat/lon tags, a researcher can generally
consider herself lucky. Geographic information One form of geographic information that is fre-
in other forms (covered later in this section) is quently available to virtual communities research-
generally harder and more error prone to extract. ers is that contained within IP addresses. Through
the process of IP geolocation, a users location can
Street Addresses be determined with a certain degree of precision
and accuracy. Usually, the more one pays for the
Street addresses require a quick and relatively ac- geolocation software, the better the precision and
curate process known as address geocoding before accuracy. One cannot expect to achieve sub-city
they can be used by most geographical analyses. level precision at any reasonable level of accu-
This process, which generally turns a street address racy. Country-scale research, on the other hand,
into latitude and longitude coordinates, is usually is generally very suited to IP geolocation.
quite exact. However, the returned coordinates can MaxMinds6 free GeoLite Country, for in-
sometimes contain inaccuracies about the size of stance, advertises 99.5 percent accuracy at a coun-
a city block or the locations may be inaccurately try scale (99.5 percent of country identifications
positioned on the wrong side of a street (although are correct), while its GeoLite City package offers
this situation is improving). Google2, Microsoft 79 percent accuracy for the US within a 25-mile
radius (different countries may be more or less
335
accurate). IP geolocation companies frequently of- can begin. Geocoding associates a toponym with
fer free online sample versions of their software a spatial footprint of structured geographic infor-
that can be used to geolocate a small number of mation using a digital gazetteer (M. Goodchild
IP addresses. & Hill, 2008; Hill, 2000). A spatial footprint can
Readers should be somewhat cautious when be a latitude and longitude point, a bounding
using and interpreting IP geolocation data as some box around a citys borders, or even a detailed
of the causes for IP geolocation inaccuracies can polygonal representation. In other words, whereas
add significant systematic error to certain studies. geoparsing resolves geo/non-geo ambiguity,
For example, if you were examining a community geocoding resolves geo/geo ambiguity. Again,
of distributed software developers and that group Washington presents an interesting example.
of users primarily connected via a VPN (virtual Even if we are sure that we are operating in the
private network) to their companies then you geographic domain, Washington can refer to a
might have a bias in the results you would get U.S. state, the capital of the United States, or even
back from IP geolocation. a street in Albany, California. Without additional
assistance, it is not clear which footprint should
Geographic Information be matched with the term Washington. The case
in Natural Language of London presents similar problems.
Contextual clues can help the disambiguation
Very frequently, community discussions and other process. Chances are that if a community mem-
artifacts contain vast amounts of geographic infor- ber writes about how much she enjoys visiting
mation in the form of toponyms, or place names, in the Tate Modern and Buckingham Palace on the
natural language. Yahoo! describes this informa- weekends, the London she refers to will be that
tion as geographically relevant, but not [easily] of London, England. Once this is recognized, a
geographically discoverable. (20092009Yahoo! spatial footprint (i.e. latitude/longitude pair) for
Developer Network, 2009!!) London, England can be used in a geographic
Geotagging is the process of identifying top- analysis. However, if she writes that she is a stu-
onyms in text and matching them with structured dent at the University of Western Ontario, then
geographic information. It is composed of two London, Ontario is likely correct, and London,
parts geoparsing and geocoding (a generalized Ontarios (very different) spatial footprint is used.
form of address geocoding) (Pasley, Clough, Virtual communities researchers will often
Purves, & Twaroch, 2008) each of which is a perform the entire geotagging process, but in
difficult process and can introduce error. The goal some cases only the geocoding step is necessary.
of the geoparsing process is to disambiguate top- The latter is true for getting geographic informa-
onyms from non-geographic named entities (solv- tion from data in necessarily geographic database
ing geo/non-geo ambiguity). Consider the case fields such as the hometown field in Facebook.
of Washington, for example. Without context, The strict typing of the field means that its value
geoparsing is impossible to do, as Washington is nearly guaranteed to be a geographic entity,
can be a place (e.g. Washington Park), a former thus there is no geographic ambiguity and the
U.S. president (George Washington), part of geoparsing stage can be skipped.
a newspaper title (e.g. Washington Post), etc. Both Yahoo! and MetaCarta offer web-based
Natural language processing (NLP) techniques APIs for geotagging. Metacartas GeoTagger API7
are generally used to partially solve this problem. has the advantage of advanced natural language
Once toponyms have been identified with a processing, meaning it is capable of correctly
certain degree of accuracy, the geocoding process interpreting the expression 10 miles North of
336
Phoenix as more than just Phoenix. Yahoo!s case the researcher will likely run up against the
Placemaker8 geotagging API, however, may be GSP because Facebook users typically specify
more familiar to a developer already working with their current city (e.g. Chicago), and not their
Yahoo!s APIs, and is better suited to handle high neighborhood (e.g. Hyde Park). In our work
volumes of text. reported in (Hecht & Gergle, 2010), we were
Generally speaking, if geocoding alone is re- unable to specify the proximity of Flickr users
quired, either the address geocoding or geotagging to their photos with a precision better than 50km
web APIs can be used to extract spatial footprints. for the same reason.
Knowing that only geocoding is needed allows An even nastier instance of the GSP occurs
the researcher to use the Google, Mapquest, and/ when some spatial footprints are encoded at an
or Bing APIs, instead of being restricted to any appropriate scale for a study, but others are not.
particular functionalities and foibles of Metacarta The English Wikipedia, for instance, encodes all
and Yahoo! (such as traffic limits). footprints as single points, including, for example,
Once geographic data has been collected, it the state of Alaskas. Distance-based studies using
is important to understand its limitations. The this point will be fallacious, especially within the
following section identifies the largest of these region. For instance, Anchorage and the state of
limitations for virtual communities researchers, Alaska are around 400km apart according to the
as well suggesting tips for getting around it. English Wikipedias spatial footprints! Similarly,
any study that requires knowledge of contain-
ment relations would be impossible using this
THE GEOWEB SCALE PROBLEM: dataset. To get around this problem, (Hecht &
ALASKA ON THE HEAD OF A PIN Moxley, 2009) automatically removed the more
egregiously coarse spatial footprints in Wikipedia
Scale is a fundamental concept in the study of using a list of the geographic features with the
geographic information. Patterns observed at one largest real footprints: countries and first-order
scale, for instance, are not necessarily observed at administrative districts (i.e. provinces, states, etc.).
other scales. In addition to the many other scale- Taking a similar approach, (Lieberman & Lin,
related concerns in geographic research (such as 2009) assumed that coordinates not specified to
the ecological fallacy and the modifiable area unit a certain number of significant digits implied that
problem), online geographic research usually faces the geographic features being represented were
a distinctive scale problem: the Geoweb Scale very large, and filtered them from their analysis.
Problem (GSP) (Hecht & Moxley, 2009). Stated Another approach is to decrease the resolution of
in the virtual communities context, the GSP oc- the experiment to the lowest common denominator
curs when the spatial footprints available are at resolution, which is the method described in the
too coarse a scale for a given research problem. case study below.
This can occur when the community itself embeds If you do geographic virtual community
structured geographic information or when this research long enough, chances are you will run
information is derived using techniques such as into the GSP. Unfortunately, there is no easy so-
IP geolocation or geotagging. lution. The two approaches used in the literature
How does this manifest in virtual communities are either to (1) redefine your study around the
research? Consider a researcher aiming to uncover spatial representation limitations of your data or
the relationship between the socioeconomic status (2) filter your data to remove the most egregious
of neighborhoods in Chicago with the number of cases. At the very least you need to be aware of
Facebook users in those neighborhoods. In this this potential problem and think critically about
337
how your study or usage of geographic informa- A vital component of these optimized representa-
tion can be affected. tions are projections.
However, with the invention of GPS, geo-
tagging, and Google Earth, centuries of expertise
PROJECTIONS: YOU KNOW THE and knowledge have been unwittingly ignored as
EARTH ISNT FLAT, BUT DO YOUR researchers and practitioners from many fields
TECHNIQUES AND METHODS? naively attempt geographical analysis, entranced
by these new technologies. Careful attention
It is our hope that most people reading this chapter to projections (and coordinate system issues in
are aware that the Earth is not flat. However, it is general) is a necessary step and unfortunately
surprising how often this piece of common knowl- one that is often skipped. In the place of projec-
edge gets overlooked in the analysis of geographic tion expertise has arisen a knee-jerk reaction:
data by researchers naive to traditional geography, considering the Earths surface to be an accurate
cartography, and related fields. In order to use lati- Cartesian coordinate system with longitudes as the
tude and longitude points (or other types of spatial x-coordinates and latitudes as the y-coordinates. A
footprints encoded in latitude and longitude), it flat earth assumption is inherent to this approach.
is essential to fully understand the implications Geographers have long called this flat-Earth
of the shape of the Earth on geographic analyses, latitude and longitude projection the unpro-
especially those done at a global/continental scale jected projection9 and have strongly cautioned
and/or those that require great precision. against its use in analyses. Any introductory GIS
In order to represent the Earths surface on a flat textbook worth its salt will warn of the serious
plane such as on a map or a regular grid distor- problems that can occur (Longley, Goodchild,
tions must necessarily be introduced. For centu- Maguire, & Rhind, 2005a) when applying raw
ries, geographers, cartographers, mathematicians latitude and longitude coordinates in analyses. The
and others have examined ways to manage these important thing to remember for virtual communi-
distortions in order to optimize the functionality ties research about the unprojected projection is
of planar Earth representations for specific tasks. that it does not preserve true area, scale, distance,
Figure 2. In the unprojected projection on the left, the latitude and longitude grid seems to set up pixels
of identical area across the globe. However, it can be easily seen in an equal area projection like the
Mollweide Projection (right), that this is not actually the case. Units of square lat/lon degree are much
smaller near the poles than at the Equator because lines of longitude get closer and closer together as
they approach the poles
338
or shape, particularly anywhere far from the equa- different programming languages and forms10.
tor (i.e. England, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Unfortunately, if local precision is required, the
etc.). As a result, most calculations one makes Earth-as-sphere assumption behind the great circle
(such as average distance, density measures, etc.) calculation becomes a problem, because the Earth
using this projection are significantly distorted. is not quite spherical (see next subsection).
The most obvious corollary is that researchers Area calculations require transformation of the
who report lengths, densities or areas in units per underlying latitude and longitude coordinates into
degree or units per square degree are failing to true linear coordinates (meters, km, etc.)11 using
report findings in a consistent fashion. A degree/ an equal area projection. Equal area projections
square degree has different meanings at different guarantee that areas on the map are always in the
latitudes. As shown in Figure 2, this due to the fact same proportion to areas measured on the Earths
that the real-world length of a degree of longitude surface (Longley, et al., 2005a). This is in stark
varies with latitude. At the equator, one degree of contrast to the unprojected projection, where an
longitude is ~111km, but it is ~70km at 50 latitude area A that appears larger on the map than an area
and ~38km at 70 latitude. For reference, Berlin, B may actually be smaller in real life. All full
Germany is at ~52N latitude and Quito, Ecuador desktop GIS software packages provide extensive
is approximately at the Equator (0). As such, a projection technology. Those familiar with C
square degree around Berlin is ~6,200 km2 but can use the famous PROJ.412 software package,
~12,300 km2 around Quito. Similarly, research that and Java programmers can take advantage of the
reports distance results in latitude and longitude excellent open-source GeoTools13 code library.
degrees is equally erroneous. GeoTools contains many of the operations of a
Of course, all of these problems are their most professional GIS package, albeit only in Java code
severe for global-scale research, but regional and form. Finally, many statistical packages such as
local analyses will be affected as well if reason- R and MatLab have spatial extensions that are
able precision is required. capable of performing projections.
Solving the projection problem for distance cal- As an important aside, the famous Mercator
culations is easier than for area-based calculations. projection is also an example of a projection that is
Googles Map API and others can calculate driv- very much not equal area. The Mercator projection
ing distance, which for some research problems displays Greenland, for example, as being mas-
is the preferred distance metric over straight-line sively larger than Mexico, but in actuality, the two
Euclidean distance. For global research problems are approximately equal in area. This may shock
where local precision is not required, great circle anyone who uses Google Maps regularly, as it is
distance is a computationally simple proxy for encoded in the Mercator projection. Google ap-
the minimum as the crow flies distance. Great parently failed to consult cartographers, who long
circle distances, which differ extensively from ago noted that the use of the Mercator projection
Euclidean distances calculated from latitude and for world maps should be [repudiated] by authors
longitude coordinates in nearly all cases, are and publishers for all purposes (Boggs, 1947). Of
derived from the same curved paths flown by course, performing area-based analyses on data in
airplanes. These paths (chords of great circles) a Mercator projection (perhaps from data that used
only look curved because of the projection on a screenshot of Google Maps as a base map) is as
which they are often drawn; in fact, they are the problematic as using data in unprojected (latitude
shortest paths between two points on a sphere. and longitude) form. A more appropriate projec-
An Internet search will reveal dozens of great tion for the globe or local areas should be used.
circle straight-line distance calculators in many
339
Figure 3. In this screenshot from Google Maps, Greenland appears as large as Canada due to the area
distortions inherent to the Mercator projection. Had Google chosen an equal-area projection, Greenlands
area would have been accurately depicted as being approximately that of Mexico
Readers interested in gaining more expertise In fact, it is not even a spheroid or ellipsoid, but
in projection-related issues (and the datum-relat- has an irregular, constantly changing surface.
ed issues discussed below) have many options. However, for reasons of computational simplicity,
The Geographers Craft14 is a well-reputed (al- the Earths shape is usually approximated in most
beit a bit long in the tooth) online resource. In- GIS analyses with an ellipsoidal model called a
troductory GIS textbooks should all have at least datum. Latitude and longitude points are always
one chapter dedicated to coordinate systems. derived on a datum, and each datum is optimized in
Finally, those who crave the mathematical nitty certain parts of the world. A latitude and longitude
gritty can turn to John Snyders classic text on coordinate means nothing without knowing the
projections (Synder, 1987). underlying ellipsoidal model on which it is based.
In other words, a single latitude and longitude
Latitude and Longitude, coordinate refers to different real-world locations
According to Whom? in different datums.
The reason readers should not panic after
There is yet another major concern regarding the reading the preceding sentence is that most re-
shape of the Earth that can have large effects on searchers working with online geographic data
research projects that need local accuracy and will encounter geographic information encoded
precision. As noted above in the discussion about in one of two datums. WGS84 (World Geodetic
great circle distances, the Earth is not a true sphere. Survey 1984) is the default datum in most GPS
340
devices and web-based APIs, and therefore is the more than one dimension. Spatial autocorrelation
most common datum behind latitude and longitude is so important to the study of geographic infor-
coordinates. However, with the advent of Google mation that it is described in the so-called First
Earth, a new datum has risen in popularity: the Law of Geography15: everything is related to
Google Earth datum. The Google Earth datum everything else, but near things are more related
deviates from WGS84 due to a problem called than distant things(Tobler, 1970).
(satellite) image misregistration. Goodchild (M. While it is well beyond the purview of this
F. Goodchild, 2007) found that in Santa Barbara, chapter to explain this phenomenon in detail
California, this error will cause positioning to (spatial statistics is the field that focuses on spatial
be off by about 40 meters. Google Earth image autocorrelation issues), it is important that geo-
misregistration also affects any geographic data novices be aware of spatial autocorrelation. In
layer made using Google Earth as a reference. particular, the virtual communities researcher
Depending on what type of project the reader should know that spatial autocorrelation can
has in mind, the above two paragraphs should cause a violation of the standard independent
result in one of two reactions: and identically distributed (iid) assumption of
regression error terms. According to de Smith
1. 40 meter error? Why do I care about 40 and colleagues, many (most) spatial datasets
stinkin meters? exhibit patterns of data and/or residuals in which
2. 40 meter error! That ruins my whole project! neighboring areas have similar values (positive
spatial autocorrelation) and hence violate the
The key difference between these two reac- core assumptions of standard regression models.
tions is the required precision and accuracy of the (de Smith, Goodchild, & Longley, 2009). One ap-
research project, as well as the ratio of the number proach to addressing spatial autocorrelation is to
of data points likely to be affected to those likely use Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR),
not to be affected. A person seeking to count how which allows parameters in regression models
many Flickr photos tagged latitude and longitude to vary across space. Another is to implement a
points lay within each country in the world will mixed regressive spatial autoregressive model,
likely have the first reaction. Researchers who which explicitly incorporates an autoregressive
want to crowdsource gravestone database genera- component, or to apply a spatial error model.
tion or landmine identification should be in the De Smith and colleagues (de Smith, et al., 2009)
second camp. These researchers will also have to provide an excellent overview of these methods
be extra careful about other coordinate system/ and others, along with suggestions of tools that
projection issues (and other types of precision/ can be used to implement them. Their book is
accuracy concerns). available in online form for free16.
SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION: IF CASE STUDY: DETECTING

YOU SMELL, ITS LIKELY YOUR SELF-FOCUS IN WIKIPEDIA
ROOMMATE WILL SMELL TOO
In order to ground our geographic information
Statistics wonks in the readership may be familiar crash course in real virtual communities research,
with temporal autocorrelation, or the tendency of the remainder of this chapter is dedicated to a short
observations made nearby in time to be correlated. case study based on the paper Measuring Self-
Spatial data has an analogous property, albeit in Focus Bias in Community-Maintained Knowledge
341
Repositories (Hecht & Gergle, 2009). We will Polish (Callahan & Herring, 2009) but such an
of course center our attention on the geographic approach is necessarily limited to the sample that
analyses, especially with regard to how we handled is drawn and large-scale / global patterns are more
many of the issues raised above. difficult to reveal.
The goal of our study was to examine diversity However, by using the geographic information
in knowledge representations across many dif- embedded in many Wikipedia articles, we realized
ferent language editions of Wikipedia. In other that we could reduce the amount of error-prone
words, is there a global consensus emerging as human labor, as well as drastically increase the
to the structure and content of world knowledge, number of languages and articles studied. We
or does each Wikipedia contain large amounts of ended up examining data from around 8.9 mil-
unique information? And if the latter is the case, lion articles in 15 different Wikipedia language
is this unique information random, or is it self- editions. Because hundreds of thousands of these
focused (i.e. centered on the particular interests articles are tagged with latitude and longitude
and realities of speakers of each language)? These coordinates, we could identify the location on
research questions were motivated by the implicit the Earth at which these articles exist. We were
global consensus of world knowledge assump- able to use this information to answer questions
tion in many areas of computer science-based such as Do Russian-speakers tend to write more
virtual communities research (see (Adar, Skinner, (relatively) about Russia than anyone else? and
& Weld, 2009) for example). Even Wikipedias Do Finnish-speakers blab on and on about Fin-
co-founder Jimmy Wales seems to assume that land relative to Spanish-speakers? We formal-
there is one single sum of world knowledge in ized these inquiries in the geographical analyses
his famous quote about the Wikipedia projects that follow.
end goal: Before describing these analyses in detail,
however, we must highlight an important subtext
Imagine a world in which every single person to the above discussion. One of the much under-
on the planet is given free access to the sum of appreciated aspects of geographic information
all human knowledge. Thats what were doing. is that it can help researchers investigate non-
geographic topics. This is particularly true in
We had many options in exploring this difficult virtual communities research, where geographic
research question. A typical virtual communi- information can provide a unique analytical lens
ties approach would have been to interview or to examine otherwise difficult or impossible ques-
survey Wikipedia authors from several different tions. Our research question about the diversity of
languages about the type of world knowledge world knowledge representations was in no way
they encode. However, this would be challenging explicitly geographic. However, through the use
given the need to deal with multi-lingual survey and analysis of geographic information, we were
development, encoding and interpretation of the able to provide stronger evidence and expend fewer
data, and numerous other challenges associated resources than with a non-geographic approach.
with global surveying. Moreover, Wikipedians
are particularly averse to participating in surveys. Geographic Data
Another approach would have involved choos-
ing a small sample of articles in several differ- As noted above, the location component of our
ent languages, and examining their particular geographic information (the x) was the latitude
characteristics. Indeed, after the publication of and longitude coordinates embedded by Wikipe-
our article, this was done between English and dia contributors into hundreds of thousands of
342
Wikipedia articles. Of course, the only articles was a measure of how much the article located
in which a lat/lon tag make sense are those that at each pair was being written about. We found
have a permanent and specific footprint on the that one simple way to quantify the somewhat
surface of the Earth, which we call explicitly abstract idea of being written about is to use the
geographic Wikipedia articles. For instance, indegree or number of inlinks for each article,
explicitly geographic articles include University because when an author of a given Wikipedia ar-
of Saskatchewan, Toronto, and Golden Gate ticle a links to an explicitly geographic article b,
Bridge. Articles without lat/lon tags are those like the author must necessarily be writing something
Stephen Colbert, Diet Coke, and iTunes. about the topic of b in article a. In the end, each
As noted above, Wikipedias latitude and lon- of our 15 shapefiles contained a listing of lat/lon
gitude tags are a canonical example of the Geoweb coordinates (x) for every explicitly geographic
Scale Problem. Latitude and longitude tags are article (in a language edition l) paired with the
inherently zero-dimensional, while some of the indegree in l (z) of each of those articles. We also
entities described in Wikipedia are quite extensive included additional attributes (z), such as article
one- or two-dimensional (on a map) features. It is title, in order to help us visually inspect the data.
quite difficult to accurately describe Alaska in a It was then necessary to aggregate all this
lat/lon point, but that does not stop Wikipedians information into summary statistics for some set
from doing it. As such, we carefully chose our of spatial features that are comparable across all
minimum scale of analysis to circumvent the languages. Articles themselves are not comparable
GSP, a process that will be described below and because the vast majority of explicitly geographic
is repeatable in similar virtual community work. articles do not exist in all 15 languages. The first
concern in our aggregation was to choose a unit
Geographic Analyses that was appropriate given the GSP. This meant
that we had to choose first-order administrative
We used a combination of our open-source, Java- districts (states, provinces, etc.) or larger, due to
based WikAPIdia Wikipedia analysis software, the Alaska problem mentioned above. Had we
which is optimized for geographic analysis, chosen a smaller unit counties for example the
and ESRIs ArcGIS software17. ArcGIS is the article for the state of Alaska would be consid-
industry-standard GIS package, but it is a costly ered to be within the county20 that the lat/lon tag
piece of software. Our study could have also been for Alaska happens to fall within. In the end, we
performed albeit with greater effort using other performed our analyses at two scales: first-order
software, such as Matlab or R (with their spatial administrative district-scale and country-scale.
extensions). GRASS GIS18, the most popular Similarly, but less obviously, had we decided
open-source GIS software, would have also been to use a grid of geographic pixels21 a common
possible, but GRASS is notoriously difficult to choice for researchers new to geographic informa-
use. Finally, GeoTools (Java) was another option. tion pixels smaller than the state of Alaska would
First, using WikAPIdia, we exported all latitude fail to solve the GSP. In general, where possible, it
and longitude tags into the Shapefile file format, is best to use real spatial units that have inherent
which is a GIS industry standard19. We created a semantic meaning to the research question (e.g.
separate shapefile for each of the 15 languages. states, counties, countries) rather than pixels. This
Like all geographic information data formats, can be done using the Point-In-Polygon (PIP) or
shapefiles allow both the storage of location (x) spatial join algorithms in any of the GIS or GIS-
and attribution information (z). In our case, the capable software packages mentioned above and
x was the latitude and longitude pairs, and the z geospatial data that is usually available in ESRIs
343
Figure 4. A choropleth map showing self-focus in the Russian Wikipedia through indegree sums, which
indicate how many articles in a Wikipedia link to articles about places in a geographic region. We were
careful to use a proper data classification strategy in this cartographic product
Shapefile or Googles KML file format (from reader to interpret. Before producing a choropleth
stakeholder websites22 or via a web search). (i.e. colored-polygon) map, it is important that the
Once we executed the aggregation, we were researcher be familiar with the standard methods
able to perform both statistical and visual analyses of data classification (e.g. quantile, natural breaks,
of the results. We will leave the rather detailed etc.). Many websites23 provide good tutorials on
statistical analyses to readers who download the this topic. However, consulting a GIS or cartogra-
paper, but the visual reporting both elucidates phy textbook, (e.g. (Slocum, McMaster, Kessler,
the power of geographical analyses and presents & Howard, 2009) or reading the entertaining
an opportunity to briefly touch upon appropriate How to Lie With Maps (Monmonier, 1996) is
cartographic techniques for reporting these types of course a more complete solution.
of results. Hopefully, through this case study the reader
Figure 4 shows the rather extreme nature of has gained a greater understanding of how geog-
our results: Russia is the destination of the most raphy can enable exciting virtual communities
links in the Russian Wikipedia (by far). This was research. Readers should also be able to repeat
repeated across nearly all 15 languages. In order many of the steps above in their own work.
to truthfully convey the results of our study in
map form (Figure 4 appeared in our paper), we
made absolutely sure that our data classification NEXT STEPS: WHERE
strategy accurately represented our findings. A TO GO FROM HERE
cartographic novice or an expert manipulator
could easily exploit the maps legend to naively In this chapter, we have covered what we believe
or unscrupulously alter the readers impression of to be the minimal information required to begin
the data, especially given the lesser-known units examining virtual communities with a geographic
of inlinks. It is also possible through navet to lens. However, this chapter is by no means a
produce maps that are simply very difficult for the replacement for a solid GIS course series. The
344
majority of major universities (and many com- de Smith, M. J., Goodchild, M. F., & Longley,
munity colleges) will have at least one GIS course P. A. (2009). Data Exploration and Spatial Sta-
available. There are also online courses offered by tistics Geospatial Analysis (3rd ed.). Leicester,
universities such as Pennsylvania State24, which UK: Matador.
is well known in GIScience circles, and GIS
Goodchild, M. (2001). A Geographer Looks at
software companies25. Finally, a growing number
Spatial Information Theory. Paper presented at
of universities including Harvard, UC Berkeley
the COSIT 01: Conference on Spatial Informa-
and UC Santa Barbara offer geographic analysis
tion Theory 2001.
consultation centers in the vein of academic sta-
tistics consulting. Goodchild, M., & Hill, L. L. (2008). Introduction
to Digital Gazetteer Research. International Jour-
nal of Geographical Information Science, 22(10),
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 10391044. doi:10.1080/13658810701850497
Goodchild, M., Yuan, M., & Cova, T. J. (2007).
We wish to offer special thanks to Dr. Martin
Towards a general theory of geographic repre-
Raubal (UC Santa Barbara, Geography), Dr.
sentation in GIS. International Journal of Geo-
Emilee Rader (Northwestern University, Technol-
graphical Information Science, 21(3), 239260.
ogy and Social Behavior), and Dr. Holly Barcus
doi:10.1080/13658810600965271
(Macalester College, Geography) for their invalu-
able comments and suggestions. We also thank Goodchild, M. F. (2007). Citizens as Sensors: The
the anonymous reviewers of this chapter for their World of Volunteered Geography. GeoJournal,
feedback. 69(4), 211221. doi:10.1007/s10708-007-9111-y
Hecht, B., & Gergle, D. (2009). Measuring Self-
Focus Bias in Community-Maintained Knowledge
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3rd International Conference on Weblogs and ing urban growth in the Detroit region. Economic
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D. (2005a). Georeferencing Geographic informa- maker Beta Beta. Retrieved July 20, 2009, from
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Longley, P., Goodchild, M., Maguire, D., & Rhind, Yanai, K., Yaegashi, K., & Qiu, B. (2009). De-
D. (2005b). Introduction Geographic Information tecting Cultural Differences using Consumer-
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ENDNOTES
web. Paper presented at the ACMGIS 08: 16th
ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on 1
An important topic in cutting-edge GI-
Advances in Geographic Information Systems. Science research is the inclusion of the
Priedhorsky, R., & Terveen, L. G. (2008). The temporal dimension, so x now usually refers
computational geowiki: what, why, and how. Pa- to a location in space-time, not just space.
per presented at the CSCW 08: The 2008 ACM
2
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/docu-
Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative mentation/services.html#Geocoding.
Work.
3
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
cc981067.aspx.
4
http://developer.yahoo.com/maps/rest/V1/
geocode.html.
5
http://www.mapquest.com/features/devel-
oper_ tools_oapi_ quickstart.
346
6
http://www.maxmind.com. 17
http://www.esri.com/
7
http://ondemand.metacarta. 18
http://grass.itc.it/
com/?method=GeoTagger. 19
Here we used GeoTools Input/Output pack-
8
http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/place- ages
maker/. 20
Geography trivia sticklers in the readership
9
Another common name is a Geographic will note that counties are called boroughs
Coordinate System, as opposed to a Pro- in Alaska.
jected Coordinate System. 21
The geographic pixels methodology refers
10
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gccalc.shtml and to dividing up the geographic study area
http://www.chemical-ecology.net/java/ into arbitrarily-sized square area units (i.e.
lat-long.htm both offer easy-to-use manual 10km-by-10km).
circle distance calculators. 22
The U.S. Census (http://factfinder.census.
11
The job of all projections (not just equal area) gov) and/or Statistics Canada (http://www.
is converting the angular coordinates of statcan.gc.ca/) are good places to start
latitude and longitude into linear coordi- looking.
nates with units like meter, nautical mile, 23
Statistics Canada provides an excellent
kilometer, etc. overview at: http://atlas.gc.ca/sitefrancais/
12
http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/. english/learningresources/carto_corner/
13
http://geotools.codehaus.org/. map_content_carto_symbology.html
14
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/ 24
http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/GISCer-
notes/coordsys/coordsys_f.html. tificate.shtml
15
While its called a Law, geography and 25
http://www.gis.com/education/online.html.
GIScience researchers agree that it is more These educational opportunities are provided
of a guideline or rule-of-thumb. by ESRI, which sells the famous, powerful,
16
http://www.spatialanalysisonline.com/. and rather expensive ArcGIS software.
347
348
Chapter 20
A Theoretical Method of
Measuring Virtual Community
Health and the Health of
their Operating Environment
in a Business Setting
Brent Robertson
Sancor, Canada
ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how virtual communities are associated with business and describes how the
communities support the overall business effort. The chapter then examines the ways that the execution
of certain business processes such as the lessons learned process can have a strong supporting
role in maintaining the health of virtual communities. Quantitatively measuring key aspects of these
business processes provides a strong indication of the health of virtual communities that are linked to
the process. The chapter introduces a measurement by objectives system, describes how it can be used
to assess the health of virtual communities and how this can be extrapolated to assess the supportive
nature of the overall business environment the communities are operating in.
INTRODUCTION tend to invest only in things which bring a net

return, so their investment in these virtual com-
Virtual communities exist within the business communities suggests that many companies believe
munity and within businesses themselves. They there is value in them and that they will have a
are a key part of the knowledge transfer system net positive return on their investment. Because
within a business. Companies invest money in there is perceived value in business-based virtual
supporting the virtual communities, not just the communities, there needs to be a way to measure
internal ones but external ones as well. Companies their health and provide those making the invest-
ment with information related to the health of
their communities.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch020
A Theoretical Method of Measuring Virtual Community Health
The business environment in which a virtual feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in
community operates will impact its overall health. cyberspace. (Chapter 1). Wenger, McDermott,
If the environment is supportive of virtual com- and Snyder (2002) define a Community of Prac-
munities, they will have a better chance to suc- tice as groups of people who share a concern, a
ceed than if the environment is toxic. Since the set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and
investment is made, it is reasonable to measure who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this
the health of a virtual communitys business en- area by interacting on an ongoing basis. (p. 4).
vironment to ensure it is supportive. Distributed Communities of Practice (DCOP)
There are several business processes that can (Daniel, Sarkar, and OBrien, 2006) focus on
benefit from developing linkages with virtual communities of practice that are wholly supported
communities. Benefits accrue to both the process by virtual means.
and the community. Processes become more robust A question to be addressed is whether DCOPs
and the communities have a continual stream of in the workplace are a subset of virtual communi-
relevant discussion topics. ties. Simply because web-based technologies are
As opposed to attempting to directly measure used by businesses does not mean that businesses
the health of a virtual community, indirect mea- have created virtual communities. Rheingolds
sures based on the performance of key elements definition weaves an emotional component with
of linked business processes may be established. a technology component, forcing the question
Using a modified version of the Productivity does utilizing web-based technology in a business
Measurement by Objectives methodology (Fe- setting constitute a virtual community?
lix and Riggs, 1983) provides a sound method From a technological perspective, we are all
of measuring the interface activity between any aware that businesses have begun to utilize web-
business process and the virtual communities that based technology as a means of enhancing busi-
support it. The quantitative output values support ness performance. Technological components of
clear presentation of virtual community health DCOPs that businesses are using include email,
to those with an interest. Aggregating the output online forums, discussion areas, websites, and
values across various groupings of communities libraries most of which are routinely used by
provides a relative measure of the health of en- employees in small and large business enterprises
vironment they operate in. for world wide communication.
The goal of the chapter is to present a measure- In any business-related internet and intranet
ment method that can be used to provide those setting, anonymity is difficult and use of actual
with an interest an understanding of the health of names and often additional contact information
business-based virtual communities and the over- is expected. Because names are used and there are
all health of the environment they operate in. The often professional settings where names meet,
measurement method is presented with a template communication does form a sense of community.
that can be adapted for use by practitioners. In small to medium-sized businesses, the most
common means of electronic communication is
email. Other forms of communication are typically
BACKGROUND web-based and involve targeted web and discus-
sion sites which provide support for employees
Rheingold (1993) defined Virtual communities in the business enterprise. Professional and other
as social aggregations that emerge from the associations have discussion sites where business-
Net when enough people carry on those public related issues are posted and addressed, web sites
discussions long enough, with sufficient human where current news is posted, and directories
349
so that specific individuals can be located for them. The majority of people are passionate about
discussions. their work something demonstrated clearly in
In larger businesses, internal intranet systems Demmings Red Beads Experiment where even
exist. These intranets provide a secure internal though individuals know on an intellectual level
network where key elements of the internet may that they cannot succeed, they passionately wish
be mimicked and accessed by employees only. to (Demming, 1994). Participants in work com-
The focus of an intranet is supporting the business munications also develop a strong emotional bond
through communication and file storage. Intranets with other employees on two levels, one because
support email, discussion sites, internal websites, they are colleagues with a common goal of busi-
classified advertisements, and more currently ness success and a second because work is such
instant messaging software. Typically, business an intense part of their lives as humans. As a result
intranets also have a portal to the external World of the emotion involved, the lack of anonymity,
Wide Web (the internet) to support employees who and the public nature of many of the discussions,
use the internet to capitalize on public domain employees who participate in internet and intranet
information and applications. From a technical DCOP communications as part of their work are
perspective, DCOPs do meet the criteria estab- participating in virtual communities. Although
lished to be considered a virtual community. there are many forms of electronic communica-
Looking at the emotional component of the tions, this chapter will focus on discussion groups.
virtual community classification, employees are
emotionally involved in their employing busi-
nesss overall success. If the business is not suc- MEASURING THE HEALTH
cessful, the employees will experience a threat to OF BUSINESS-BASED
their income. If you threaten a persons income, VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
you are posing a threat to their basic physiological
needs (Hersey, Blanchard, and Johnson, 2001). Virtual Communities
There is no question that this results in strong within a Business
emotion just look at the picket line of any labour
strike for verification. As well, many business Business-based virtual communities have a
activities support other employee physiological group of regular participants which interact on
needs such as social, esteem, and self actualization various aspects of the community focus and limit
needs (Maslow, 1987). These factors and their themselves to that focus while participating in
influence on all aspects of human needs generate the community. In many cases, they are DCOPs
very strong emotions in employees; therefore, the with a specialized focus on their particular area of
emotional component of Rheingolds definition interest (ie: metallurgy, accounting, safety, etc). In
is satisfied. some cases, virtual communities are broader and
Looking at Rhiengolds publication, it be- less defined in interest and focus than a DCOP.
comes apparent that the social aggregations are Some virtual communities look at how to inte-
all focused on specific topics and that those who grate / leverage the knowledge generated by the
participate may over time feel a sense of com- DCOPs and their members to benefit the overall
munity and emotional bond. This is aligned with organization.
business communications. Those who participate Virtual communities can exist either internally
in business groups are typically focused on their within a businesss intranet or externally on the
area of contribution to the overall success of the internet. Virtual communities that are internal
business a topic area with special significance to maintain the specialized focus but only have em-
350
ployees of one business enterprise as members. Business Processes and Silos

External business-oriented virtual communities
have membership from multiple businesses and All businesses have processes they are simply
are typically sponsored by professional associa- the steps that are taken to execute the work of the
tions or vendors. Both internal and external virtual enterprise. For example, the simplified process
communities are extremely valuable to a business. of a retail transaction is:
Internal business-based virtual communities
operate within an environment which impacts 1. Customer selects merchandise
the health of the community. The environment is 2. Cashier Associate determines price and
the business culture (Deal and Kennedy, 1982). enters it into the register
Logically, there is a strong correlation between 3. Payment is made (steps vary with type of
the environment and the health of virtual com- payment cash, credit, etc)
munities. If time is not provided for virtual com- 4. Cashier wraps / bags item
munity use or if those who use them are looked 5. Cashier passes receipt and bagged item to
upon unfavorably within a business or business customer
department, the virtual community will struggle.
If participation in an internal virtual community All processes have a trigger and an endpoint,
is supported and managerially recognized, the the trigger in this case being a customer selecting
community will have fewer barriers to ongoing merchandise for purchase and the end point be-
health. When looking at business-based virtual ing the customer has the receipt and the bagged
communities, measuring the health of the virtual merchandise.
community environment is as important as mea- Processes exist for most key elements in a busi-
suring the health of the community itself. ness. There are marketing processes for placing
an advertisement in a publication, accounting &
Virtual Community Issues banking processes, and work execution processes.
Every process is a series of steps that is repeated
Key issues within virtual communities are enforc- each time the trigger occurs. The goal of a process
ing the regulations about discussion items and is to achieve the same outcome every time the
community participation levels. It is common to process is executed (Deming, 1994).
have a moderator established to monitor discus- The terms Quality and Continual Improvement
sions, ensure non-topic postings are curtailed, (sometimes known as Operational Excellence)
and to ensure a level of respect and decorum is are based on writing down the steps in a business
maintained. This being said, generating interest processes and following the steps. Quality comes
in the group and enlarging its membership is typi- from following the steps. Continual improvement
cally beyond the moderators control. comes when you identify an improvement to one
Even in a strong business environment, virtual or all the steps and update the written process
communities that have little to discuss will cease description and activities to reflect it.
to exist. Business processes that support discus- Silos or functional units in a matrix organi-
sion and drive increased membership would zation are the organizational specialties within
support the virtual communitys longevity and a business that have multiple personnel (Project
vigor. Recognizing that these supporting business Management Institute, 2008). Marketing would
processes exist and taking steps to integrate them be a silo, as would accounting, engineering, and
into the world of virtual communities would be risk management. Silos are staffed with special-
beneficial to both. ized individuals, each having a similar focus and
351
typically with similar training and varying levels learned during the execution of their business
of experience (ie: accounting). Everyone in a silo activities. The lessons can be about any aspect of
has the common goal of executing the work in their the business. Lessons learned typically describe
scope in a way that supports the overall business. an issue, provide some background, describe
It is common for processes within a large busi- how it was resolved, and (sometimes) discuss
ness to cross artificial work boundaries. These the effectiveness of the resolution. Another type
cross-silo processes originate in one silo and gen- of lesson describes steps that led to something
erate work in other silos, sometimes in sequence working exceptionally well. In both cases, the
and sometimes in parallel. An example of this is goal is to reduce company waste by providing
when engineers design a new piece of equipment. the knowledge for others in the business to act on
Someone identifies the need for the equipment, the in similar situations.
design is developed and drawings / specifications Lessons are collected using various method-
are created, a fabrication shop is selected to build ologies including random submissions, focused
the equipment, the shop receives authorization to meetings, and, in some cases, project gate reviews
proceed, inspectors monitor construction of the (Project Management Institute, 2008). Once a les-
equipment, payment installments are issued, con- son is submitted, the lesson must be reviewed and
struction is completed, the equipment is shipped verified. The verification portion of the process is
and received at the work site, and it is installed key without verification, there could be errone-
and commissioned. This process involved multiple ous or outright wrong information placed in the
silos and even an external fabrication shop. database which would create problems (including
discrediting the other data stored in the database).
Virtual Communities and Verification involves getting independent
Cross-Silo Processes review of the submitted lesson to ensure it is cor-
rect and well presented. Verification is improved
In large businesses, certain business processes can when there are numerous reviewers, some that
be used to enhance virtual community activity. were directly involved and some that were not
Knowledge-focused cross-silo business processes involved but are checking to ensure the lesson
are not specific to a single virtual community contents make sense. All reviewers must have
topic area. They are focused on the management a reasonable background in the subject matter.
of corporate knowledge. An example of a busi-
ness process that supports virtual communities Integration of Processes
is the lessons learned process (Weber, Aha, and and Virtual Communities
Becerra-Fernandez, 2001; Cristal and Reis, 2006).
Although there are numerous other processes that Like any community, virtual communities need
support virtual communities (examples include the a reason to exist. There is always more work to
non-conformance process, the continual improve- do than there is time to do it, so people need a
ment process, and the risk management process), valid reason to spend time in a virtual community.
this chapter will focus on examples involving Participants would like to experience reward
the lessons learned process. The lessons learned through the ongoing intellectual and emotional
process is common among large businesses and stimulation the subject area provides as well as
it cuts across all organizational silos. There is no having a sense that their thoughts and opinions
portion of a business where lessons are not learned. are supporting the business.
The process goal is the capture, storage, and By integrating the verification portion of
dissemination of corporate lessons that were the lessons learned process with internal virtual
352
communities, the communities benefit from a and integrate the comments into the final lesson
continual stream of discussion topics. The lessons learned text.
learned process benefits by having a strong cadre The more members who provide feedback
of appropriately qualified reviewers. Because the related to an item, the more confidence the Les-
outcome of the review will have a lasting impact sons Learned Coordinator can have in the result.
on the company and individual reviewers names For example, if a lesson is forwarded to a virtual
may be attached, interest levels will be high and community for validation and only one member
emotions will be involved. There may even be comments, the confidence the Lessons Learned
aspects of a lesson which are reviewed by external Coordinator has in the submission would not be
virtual communities, providing additional spin-off high. However, if ten people comment and agree
benefits. Note that the methodology used for inte- with the submission, confidence that the lesson
grating the lessons learned process with a virtual is valid increases.
community would be the same when integrating
other business processes with a virtual community. Measuring to Determine
When lessons that fall within a communitys Virtual Community Health
area of focus are submitted for discussion, some
of the individuals that are part of the virtual com- Business processes can be measured to determine
munity become engaged. As part of their role in how well they are performing. When a process
the business enterprise, they are interested in cap- step is formalized, expectations related to time
turing the knowledge presented and providing the and quality are documented. Having documented
best possible insight for each lesson. Community expectations provides a benchmark that elements
members can reasonably be expected to review of the process can be measured to. Once integration
the lesson, discuss it, revise it to ensure clarity, of the virtual community into the business pro-
and provide a reasonable critique of any suggested cess is formalized, the communitys performance
actions. It is anticipated that the initial lesson against expectations can be measured. Although
submitter would participate in the discussions this may not be valid for non-business virtual
and provide additional information as needed. communities, it is certainly valid in a business
When the virtual community has reviewed the virtual community.
lesson, the initial submission can be updated with Recognizing that there are several techniques
the new information (one of the functions of the for measuring business process performance, it is
person managing the lessons learned process the suggested that using a Measurement By Objec-
Lesson Learned Coordinator). tives (MBO) system would provide meaningful
In order to ensure integration between the measures that reflect the health of virtual com-
lessons learned process and virtual communities, munities. The author has successfully used MBO
a formal step of communicating to the virtual to measure administrative processes in a business
community must be placed in the processs dia- setting and is confident that its application in this
gram or supporting procedure. Communicating setting is appropriate.
to the virtual community requires that the Les- MBO measurement systems output quan-
sons Learned Coordinator select the appropriate titative data. Quantitative data is superior to
virtual community(s), post the draft lesson in the qualitative data in that it removes or downplays
community, and ensure that community members the subjectivity associated with qualitative mea-
are notified. The Lesson Learned Coordinator sures and permits relative comparison between
would then revisit the community a few weeks communities. It also reduces the un-calibrated
after the lesson was posted, review the comments, judgment that is frequently encountered when
353
individual leaders are asked to assign values for automated scoring also supports the assessment
their organizational health. of the virtual community environment.
MBO utilizes a matrix structure that is flexible, A suggested MBO matrix format for determin-
can be modified to suit specific needs, and can ing the health of virtual communities is presented
be calibrated once the needs are identified. The in Table 1. When reviewing the matrix, please
matrix itself is easy to use once it is understood keep in mind that its application for measuring
and because virtual communities are all computer knowledge processes is still theoretical and cali-
based the matrix can be fully automated so that bration is required. Also note that it would have
measures are provided with the click of a mouse. to be further calibrated for each business-oriented
The key to successfully using the MBO format virtual community it was applied to.
is establishing the right elements to measure as To develop a better understanding of how the
well as the benchmark and measurement scale. matrix works, we will work through a lesson
A significant measure of virtual community learned validation. A potential lesson is received
health is the number of responses per lesson learned by a Lessons Learned Coordinator. In order to
submitted. If a community is healthy, its members validate the lesson, it is posted in a virtual com-
will be actively participating in community discus- munity for comment. Comments are collected by
sions. When a potential lesson learned is posted the Lessons Learned Coordinator and the poten-
to a virtual community, a healthy community will tial lesson is validated, modified, or rejected.
discuss, evaluate, and either validate, modify, or
reject the lesson. In a formal process, that becomes The Matrix Score Would be
their defined role. A community that is not healthy Calculated for Each Lesson
will have very few if any comments. Recognizing Posted to the Virtual Community
that some items will be very controversial and
will generate much discussion while other items The first component of the overall submission
will either be accepted or rejected outright, there score is developed by dividing the number of
is still an opportunity to measure the overall trend members that responded (a quick count) by the
within the community. number of members in the group. The calculated
In addition to measuring the number of re- percentage is written in the Measured Value
sponses per lesson, the time elapsed between cell below the % Of Members Responding col-
submission and response and the quality of each umn heading. The calculated percentage is then
response should be measured. A weighting factor compared to the scoring ranges directly below
is part of the matrix, and it is used to adjust the the measured value cell. When the scoring range
importance associated with each measure. that the measured value falls within is located, the
score value in the left hand column is awarded
MBO Matrix Operation (enter it into the Actual Score cell beneath the
% Of Members Responding column). The actual
By definition, virtual communities are electronic score is then multiplied by the weighting factor
in nature. This supports having the MBO matrix below it and the result recorded in the Weighted
fully automated eliminating the need for manual Score cell.
calculation of community scores. Even in situ- The average time between the submission
ations where manual calculations are required, being placed in the virtual community and the
experience has proven it takes less than a couple responses is then calculated. Using a methodol-
of hours per month in most instances. Having ogy similar to what was done for % of Members
354
Table 1. Suggested MBO matrix for determining the health of virtual communities
% Of Members Average Time Elapsed Between Subjective Evaluation of

Assessed Element
Responding Submission and Response Quality of Responses
SCORE VALUE (Measured Value) (Measured Value) (Assessed Value)
High Performance Level
>30% 1 day Exceptional
(Award 10 Points)
Score of 9 27% - 30% 2 days
Score of 8 23% - 26% 3 days Very Clear
Score of 5 14% - 16% 9 days Acceptable
Score of 4 11% 13% 11 days
Score of 2 5% - 7% 20 days Significant Revision Required
Very Low Performance Level
<5% > 20 days
(Score of 1)
Actual Score (Actual Score) (Actual Score) (Actual Score)
Weighting Factor 40% 40% 20%
Weighted Score (Weighted Score) (Weighted Score) (Weighted Score)
Overall Submission Score
Responding, the actual score and weighted score within the established measurement time period
are calculated and entered. (monthly, quarterly, biannually, etc).
As part of their role, the Lessons Learned
Coordinator is responsible for reviewing each of Matrix Calibration
the responses to the initial submission. The Les-
sons Learned Coordinator is required to make a It is likely that each community will have its own
subjective assessment of the responses for clarity matrix calibrated to support its unique character-
and choose one of the potential values under the istics. Calibration includes subjectively adjusting
Subjective Evaluation of Quality of Responses the weighting factors, the scoring ranges, and the
column. The corresponding score value in the elements assessed.
left hand column is then entered into the Actual The matrix should be calibrated so that re-
Score row and the weighted score is calculated alistic community measures of strong, average,
and entered. and struggling are output. Reasons for needing
The three weighted scores are then added specific calibrations for each community include
together and the overall submission score is en- community size, member workload, and charac-
tered in the Overall Submission Score box. The teristics of the members.Using the MBO matrix
scoring process is repeated for each submission shown in Table 1:
issued to the virtual community. The results are
averaged and the average or Aggregate Score A strong community would be one having
is reported to community and business leaders an aggregate score of over 7
355
An average community would be one hav- Determining the health of the environment can
ing an aggregate score between 5 and 7, be done using a dashboard arrangement which
A struggling community would be one provides a unique visual display all of the virtual
having an aggregate score less than 5. communities in an environment at the same time as
their measured health is displayed. Dashboards are
Standardizing calibration to reflect these designed to show all the component communities
categories would provide useful information to aggregate score by colour (typically red strug-
those leading the virtual communities and those gling, yellow average, or green strong) with
responsible for funding them. With a robust and the numerical value also shown.
calibrated measurement system, virtual communi- The dashboard display of the MBO scores
ties that are struggling can be quickly identified. comes in a row, column, table, chart, or any other
Once identified, business leaders can work to relevant format that ensures the viewer can quickly
determine the issues and take appropriate measures identify any problem areas. This is particularly
to restore the health of the community. valuable in situations where there are multiple
environments active within a large company
Virtual Community Environment and a very senior person wishes to gauge their
health. A quick scan of the dashboard identifies
In a large organization, there may be several dif- any struggling virtual communities and a string of
ferent business groupings or areas. For example, reds quickly identifies any problem environments.
at least one large oil company has a group that
pumps oil from wells and delivers it to refineries, Benefits
another group responsible for refining it, a group
responsible for delivering and selling the refined There are numerous benefits to establishing a
gasoline to consumers, and a group responsible systematic way to quantify the health of virtual
for building any project having a total price over communities within an organization. Measures
$ 10 million. Each of these groups would have support early action by leaders when issues are
numerous active virtual communities. The group identified, support the processes that are integrated
itself (ie: refining) would be the environment into the community, and provide members with
that the virtual communities operate in.a smaller feedback showing how well they as a team
organization, there may be only a few virtual are supporting their overall organizational goals.
communities and the single environment of the Measures provide individual community
business. leaders with feedback about their communitys
Measures of the health of each virtual com- health. If their community is struggling, they are
munity can be aggregated to provide a measure able to take steps to address the situation. It also
of the overall virtual community environment. gives them objective evidence that they can use
MBO provides an indication of the health of each within the business leadership structure to make
of the communities within a group. If they are a case for changes.
all reasonably healthy, then it is likely that the Strong, vibrant, virtual communities are as-
environment is healthy. If there is strong varia- sociated with knowledge transfer, innovation,
tion with groups at both ends of the spectrum, and committed employees. Areas with perpetually
there are likely problems within portions of the struggling virtual communities are likely experi-
environment. If they are generally scoring poorly encing other issues as well, and it is valuable to
across the board, the overall environment is likely be able to identify them and begin investigating
not healthy. what the issues are.
356
Knowledge transfer processes support the business-based knowledge sharing sites as virtual
success of the business organization. Lessons communities.
learned, risk, quality, and similar processes are Virtual communities having very little to
targeted specifically at reducing waste within an discuss cease to exist as the membership looses
organization. These processes rely on informa- interest. By integrating knowledge-based business
tion validation from individuals who are work- processes into a businesss virtual communities,
ing in specialized areas within the organization. there is a constant stream of discussion items
Submitting items to the community for review and there is benefit to the integrated business
also disseminates information and discussion of processes. This is especially true for cross-silo
the information ingrains it within the community business processes such as lessons learned, risk
members. management, and quality.
Measures that indicate to senior managers that Along with the improvement in overall health
their knowledge transfer processes are working of virtual communities, integration of business
well provide a level of comfort that waste due process with the communities allows measure-
to repetition of past mistakes will be minimized. ment which is an indicator of community health.
Providing the measures to the teams ensures The measurements are based on the MBO matrix
that team members and leaders are aware of how methodology. Measurements are calibrated and
well they are meeting company expectations. produce quantitative results. Measurement out-
Virtual communities can take pride in their perfor- puts can be presented to leaders to provide them
mance or their leaders can take corrective action if with an indication of the health of their virtual
the community is struggling. Having the ability to communities. The results are specific enough to
identify the strong performing virtual communi- ensure focused steps can be taken.
ties as well as the struggling communities enables Virtual communities operate within a busi-
discussion about what is working and what should ness environment. Some business environments
be changed within the struggling communities. support virtual communities and some are rather
toxic to them. By using a dashboard method of
displaying the health of the virtual communities,
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS senior business leaders can quickly assess the
health of the virtual community environment
The methodology presented for measuring the present within their organization. Issues can be
health of virtual communities has not been tested addressed as needed. This provides them with an
or studied in a controlled manner. Future research indication about the overall state of knowledge
in the area should be focused on testing the pro- transfer within the organization a key element
posed measurement system in a large operating of business success.
business which has existing virtual communities.
This chapter is designed to open the door to further
discussion and research in the area. REFERENCES
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CONCLUSION sons Learned for Distributed Projects Through
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User-Centred Design for Online Learning Com- (2001). Management of Organizational Behavior:
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358
359
Chapter 21
Building Web Communities:
An Example Methodology
Jan Isakovi
Artesia, Slovenia
Alja Suli
Artesia, Slovenia
ABSTRACT
The aim of the chapter is to provide an example of community definition and community building meth-
odology using a step-by-step approach. The presented community specification and building methodol-
ogy allows refining a broad community purpose into specific measurable goals, selects the social media
tools that are best matched with the company needs and results in a platform specification that can be
relatively simply transformed into software specifications or platform requirements.
INTRODUCTION becoming increasingly important for companies

to learn about the changing media landscape and
The Internet is a tool which enables individuals embrace the new wave of online social technolo-
from all over the world to connect, work and play gies to (re)connect with their customers or make
together in ways that were not possible before. internal collaboration more efficient.
Individuals now have the power to become content Among other things, companies should pay
producers and global thought leaders without the attention to the phenomena of web communities
help of big corporations or mainstream media. and how web communities can influence their
These changes are also challenging the traditional business. Many companies want to have their own
perception of enterprises. Consumers can now web communities based around their product or
talk to each other on a global scale and they de- service, but a lot of them fail to define the right
mand more from companies. On the other hand, goals and strategy for a web community and con-
global and distributed companies are also using sequently fail to build a lively web community
online tools for collaboration and innovation. It is with a clear business value - even if they have
the right product or service to build a community
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch021 around. In this chapter we will take a look at the
Building Web Communities
most important elements of web communities and community can include emotional connections,
how we can combine these elements in a value- shared activities, resources and conventions, and
added methodology for defining and building web interpersonal support (Lazar and Preece, 1998).
communities. We will also present our step-by-step Community building is a complex interdisci-
community building approach using an example plinary process that does not have many estab-
community definition process. lished models. Too often the models focus on the
software used by web communities and forget that
software is just a tool that enables a community
DEFINING WEB COMMUNITIES to communicate and interact over space and time.
Software or any other technology by itself doesnt
Communities were traditionally formed through form communities or guarantee a successful
interaction with other individuals living in the same online community (De Souza and Preece, 2004).
location. Grouping has enabled people to deal with Early examples of web communities like The
their environment in a more effective way. Modern WELL (http://www.well.com/), which started as
communication networks and broadly available a simple bulletin-board system (BBS), show that
transportation has made it easier for people to stay web communities often dont require advanced
or get in touch over longer distances (Wellman et software to spring into live. Instead, successful
al, 2002). Therefore, communities can nowadays web communities are determined by social factors
be defined as networks of interpersonal ties that (such as people, purpose and policies), although
provide sociability, support, information, a sense of well-designed software functionality and usability
belonging and social identity (ibidem). This can can improve the success of a community (ibidem).
be achieved both in local neighborhoods and on Much more important is getting together the right
the Internet using various web technologies. When people, who have something in common and are
communities are formed on the Internet, we can willing to invest their time and effort into their
call them web communities, online communities community (which is of course also true for of-
or even virtual communities. Web communities fline communities). Therefore the focus of this
can also have an offline component. Howard chapter is on the people-side of the community
Rheingold, one of the pioneers in the field of web building process.
communities, defined a web community as a Communities are often created with a bottom-
group of people who may or may not meet one up approach, we can also call these communities
another face-to-face, and who exchange words and member-initiated (Porter, 2004). People naturally
ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin come together with a common interest, and the
boards and networks (Preece, 2001a). community is managed by members (ibidem).
People instinctively form web communities In the business world, we often have the desire
every day. They can be centered around such to build a community top-down. We can call
things as a common purpose, interest, practice these community organization-sponsored, and
or circumstance (Clarke, 2009). They want to the members of these communities are somehow
exchange information about how to file their tax connected to the business and goals of the organi-
report (community of purpose), talk about their zation (ibidem). A company might want to expand
favorite music (community of interest), connect a real world community of customers on the web
with other individuals doing the same job (commu- or wants to give customers or employees the op-
nities of practice) or talk about the problems they portunity to network in an online environment with
have with their teenage children (community of hopes that they might form a web community and
circumstance). Other shared attributes of an online strengthen their relationships with one another and
360
the company. In these cases, communities often 6. Encouraging the right etiquette and ground
arent naturally born, but require some planning. rules for communication and conflict
It is worth noting that not every company will solution,
be able to create a successful community with a 7. Promoting regular events that bring members
top-down approach and that is why there isnt a together,
single magic formula for community building, 8. Integrating community rituals around impor-
but rather a series of guidelines that can help a tant events (e. g. welcoming new members),
company figure out if and how a web community 9. Allowing members to run sub-groups (espe-
can help its business. This chapter focuses on tools cially in large communities) (Couros, 2003).
and strategies that can help build organization-
sponsored communities. Similarly, Typaldos (2000) defined the follow-
According to Preece (2001), there are three key ing principles of that define a web community:
components that contribute to good sociability of shared purpose, member identity, sharing and
a community and are therefore the main factors of exchanging information, ideas, support, good
a communitys success: Purpose (a shared focus), etc., building trust, forming reputations, working
People (personal characteristics of community in small groups, shared space, boundaries, gov-
members), and Policies (written and unwritten ernance, expressing group identity, and tracking
rules and norms, trustworthiness). We also be- history and the evolution of the community. We
lieve that it is important to define a clear added can translate Kims or Typaldos into community
value for both the community members and the parameters, which help us define platform software
company, which is either sponsoring or building specifications, terms of service, standard of com-
a web community. Too often companies fail to munication (business or more personal) and can
provide a clear added value for the members and be used as a monitoring tool for the community
focus only on the added value for themselves. growth and health in its later stages. However,
Or, on the other extreme, companies can forget we do believe that knowing the Purpose and
about the need of having an added value, which the People, who form a community, are the key
is aligned to their business goals. principles that should be thought out before going
Once we figure out the basic characteristics of into specifics of a community.
our community and its members, we should also Figure 1 shows what we believe is the best way
start thinking in more concrete terms about how to define and build a community. The fundaments
our community will be defined and managed. are built by understanding the type of community
One of the best models for this was provided by we can build (and what will be its main purpose)
Amy Jo Kim through her nine design principles and the characteristics of the users of our desired
for building web communities: community. This will enable us to find a clear
added value for both the users and the company
1. Defining a clear purpose, or organization trying to build the community.
2. Building gathering places for community Once these basics are defined, we can use them
members, to define concrete community parameters and
3. Creating meaningful personal profiles, strategy. The rest of the chapter will define each of
4. Planning for different roles within the the building blocks in more detail and provide an
community, example of how the model can be used to define
5. Defining community leadership practices, a web community.
361
Figure 1. Community model
DEFINING COMMUNITY PURPOSE the characteristics of the users of our desired

community.
Of the design principles mentioned above, defining
a clear community purpose should be a starting
point of any community building. It is important to DEFINING THE USERS
understand why people join a certain community.
What is their motivation and what problems is the Knowing the users is a crucial part of any commu-
community solving for the individual? We should nity building process. We start by defining the user
also define a clear purpose of the community for needs, motivation and purpose for joining a certain
the company or organization trying to build a web web community and continue with an analysis of
community. The purpose specifies what user and how they usually behave in web communities.
company need(s) the community fulfills. The aim There are different theories and models on why
of this phase is to find some matching needs or people join communities that kkinen (2004)
common points of interest on both sides. divides into three main groups: economic theories,
These are some basic questions you should try social theories and the interest perspective. Ac-
to answer in this first phase: cording to economic theories, people participate
in online communities if the perceived benefits
1. What is the value of community to its mem- exceed the sacrificed resources or costs, such as
bers and for the company or organization? time, energy, knowledge (ibidem). Social theories
(basic purpose) emphasize the social benefits of participating in a
2. Why should somebody register with your community, such as reciprocity among community
community? (why wont a Google search members, defining and maintaining members
do?) social identity, finding like-minded people, en-
3. Why should they be back regularly? (how tertainment or self-realization values (ibidem).
to provide persistent value) The interest perspective deals with the interest of
4. Why will a possible competitor be unable to community members, and divides interests into
simply copy your community project in 12 self-interests and community-interests or altruism
months? (how to harness network effects) (ibidem). Members are motivated to participate
to please their own personal motivations and also
Once we are able to identify a common pur- to benefit other members, by doing which they
pose for the community, we should try to define get recognition, personal satisfaction or, to put it
362
Figure 2. User participation hierarchy
in terms of economic theories, they get benefits Users can belong in different groups and can
that repay the resources they invested into their change their membership over time or depending
participation. on the circumstance. Forrester Research arranges
When thinking about the potential users it is these groups in a participation ladder - from the
therefore important to think about how a web com- lowest (Inactives) to the highest (Creators) (Li,
munity can benefit the members. Additionally, we Bernoff, 2008). We arrange them a bit differ-
can use this knowledge during the software design ently to emphasize the relative equality of active
process to make it easier for members to participate participation types. A creator is not automatically
and get recognition for their participation. For this more important than a critic or a collector - it is
purpose, several incentive mechanism like rating active participation that matters, and not the form
systems, leader boards or personal recommenda- that it takes.
tions can be used (Cheng and Vassileva, 2006). It is important for a company to be able to
The next step is understanding how people estimate the number of users in each of the user
usually behave in web communities. The model participation types for its own community. In
created by Forrester Research defines six basic other words, we must be able to know how many
groups of online users: users would be willing to consume content in our
community (passive participants) and how many
1. Inactives (do not participate in online would be willing to create content for passive
communities), participants to consume (active participants). The
2. Spectators (passive participants - content usual rule-of-thumb is 90-9-1, or 90% of passive
consumers), content consumers, 9% occasional contributors
3. Joiners (participate in social networks), and 1% of regular content contributors (Nielsen,
4. Collectors (organize, tag, and share 2006). However, this can be very different for
information), some user groups and even for smaller communi-
5. Critics (write reviews of content, rate ties with stronger ties. In a large, open commu-
content), nity, it will be more common to see a large per-
6. Creators (create content) (Li, Bernoff, centage of passive participants, who are often
2008). called lurkers (Preece et al, 2004).Passive par-
ticipants satisfy their needs by reading following
what active participants are saying, and it is not
363
always necessary to try to convert passive par- BUILDING A COMMUNITY

ticipants into active ones (ibidem). According to
Critical mass theory, communities need a critical In this section, we present our community build-
mass of participants to make participation worth- ing methodology that builds on the previous two
while, but it is unclear what the exact number in sections in more detail through an example. It
different kinds of communities might be (Preece, is based on common community purpose and
2001b). value for both the members and the company or
It is also important to find out what web com- organization (see Figure 3).
munities the target user group already belongs The core of our methodology is the Waterfall
to and what social tools they are familiar with model for software development, which includes
or like using. Using the most appropriate social these basic phases: Requirement Specifications
tools helps user acquisition and retention, as they phase, Software Design, Implementation and
do not have to learn to use new tools. Testing & Maintenance (Parekh, 2005). In our
The best way to accurately gauge the social opinion, the Waterfall model is a useful framework
profiles of the users is to perform a survey on a for defining web communities, as all web com-
sample of the target users groups, asking them munities use a certain complex software for its
about their internet and social media use. online interactions. The pre-defined stages and
clear deliverables at each stage help to focus the
community definiton and building process and
keep it on its tracks. However, it is often worth
noting that the first and third phase of the Water-
Figure 3. Community definition process
364
fall model are usually the most important phases buying ProPet food? What do they want? How
of web community definition and building, as we do they feel about the company and what do they
nowadays have a great selection of open-source generally like to do online? The best way to do
software ready to be used to support different that is to meet with a sample of them or ask them
types of communities. to fill out a survey. The meeting or survey showed
Our main contribution to the basic Waterfall us that the users want healthy pet food, but they
model can be seen in the Requirement specification also need more information about cat health - e.g.
phase, in which we included various elements of what illnesses are serious, how to prevent them.
community models presented in previous sections We now have both the company and user
(Purpose, People, Added Value, Community pa- needs and can define the basic purpose of the
rameters). We believe the advantage of combining community for both parties. In the case of PetPro,
various community models and theories with an the purpose of the community would be discover
established software development process is the product niches and build relationship. The purpose
fact that companies (and project managers) are for users to join a community would be getting
already familiar with this process and can easily information about cat health.
follow the progress across different stages.
The main deliverable of the Requirement Second Step: Added Value
Specifications phase is the definition of concrete
Community parameters, which can be used to Clearly defined purpose allows us to define added
prepare clear software specifications (the Soft- value for both client company (increased revenue)
ware Design phase in the Waterfall model). This and their customers (improved cat health) which
chapter mainly focuses on the process during the translates into concrete benefits for both the
Requirement Specifications phase, although the company and users. As pet health is an ongoing
other two phases are also very important for a concern, there is an incentive for users to come
successful community process. back, provided we keep providing them with value.
In the rest of the chapter well present our
methodology in more detail by presenting the case Third Step: Users Social Profiles
study of PetPro, a fictional company specializing
in cat food and other products for cat lovers. PetPro In this step, we take another look at the target
is a company that sells high quality cat food and user group from a different viewpoint. We want to
now wants to expand into health pet products. know what kind of users they are when it comes
They wish to use the crowdsourcing model to to participation in online communities. Are they
discover possible product niches. active or passive participants? What tools are they
using? With the help of surveys and other research
First Step: Purpose methods, we can then create an active participation
graph that charts the profile of active users. We
A series of meetings with the client company is have plotted the results on a two-dimensional XY
the best way to get to know the company. In our chart to better showcase the strength of particular
case, we find out that they already have a lot of user type (e.g. light creator / moderate creator /
loyal clients and that their brand is respected. The strong creator), but they can also be shown as bars
need of PetPro is to increase their sales with new representing different user types.
product niches. As Figure 4 shows, the pet community mem-
The next step is to take a look at the users bers are eager creators. During our research, we
in relation to the company. Who are the people find many cat blogs on the web, where proud
365
Figure 4. Active participation graph of a sample PetPro community
owners share pictures of their cats and document create new products that address the most frequent
their daily adventures. The mass of sites where pet health problems.
users can rate pictures of cats also tell us that there Because of the strong Critics component, we
is a strong critic component to the community. also allow users to rate issues based on impor-
Because there is no large cat owner forum or blog tance. Users can of course also rate blog posts
aggregators, we conclude that the users are weak and comment both on suggested issues and blog
joiners and collectors. These findings are further posts. Because there are already many other com-
validated using surveys. munities for cat lovers and because the users arent
eager joiners, we dont add an excessive number
Step Four: Proposed Solution of social networking features and dont force us-
ers to register. We however make sure they can
Given the defined added value and the user social share our content and access it content from their
profile and participation data, PetPro decides to other communities using, for example, widgets.
set up a website with a blog written by experts
(veterinarians) that will cover most common cat Step Five: Community Parameters
health issues without focusing on PetPros existing
products. Visitors of the site can suggest health The community parameters are then used to specify
issues to be dealt with in the next post and vote the community details in more concrete terms us-
on suggestions made by other visitors. In this ing the community model described above. As the
case, the added value for community members cat owners are likely to have blogs and share cat
is expert advice on cat health, and the company pictures, user profiles are set up which allow users
can accurately gauge the scale of cat health issues to link to their blog and showcase pictures of their
based on the number of votes a specific health pets. To promote user activity and establish leader-
issue gets and on the number of page views for ship, karma is introduced, which increases when
each of the expert posts. This will enable them to users perform specific actions (suggest questions,
vote on questions, get their question answered, post
366
pictures). Users with the highest karma receive members, which can also result in new software
discount coupons for PetPro products. As the cat specifications. An example would be the rising
owners are not prone to joining social networks, success of social networking platforms like Face-
no further social functions will be implemented book which could cause us to add social network-
at the start; the company does, however, include ing features or integration with other platforms.
a votable suggestion box to detect possible future Communities are a living organism that changes
wishes for platform expansion. in time and for this reason we often return to the
We also have to define clear goals and metrics beginning of the community definition process
that we can use later on to evaluate the success of even after we already have a live community.
the web community. In the example, such goals
could be to get 3 new product ideas per year and
establish a dialogue with our customers. The COMMUNITY BUILDING PITFALLS
metrics could include the number of submitted
issues, ratings, page views and incoming links. Our model includes a few basic assumptions.
Firstly, that the company has clearly defined
business goals, knows their strengths and weak-
SUMMARY nesses and knows their users well. One of the
disadvantages of using a Waterfall model in our
The basic process for community building starts methodology is that insufficient (or even false)
with a perceived need - either at the company or the requirements can result in poor strategy, which
user side (the need of PetPro to find new product fails to meet the goals of the project.
niches). The need is solidified in a purpose for the Second, that there actually is a basis for the
community (to make cats healthier), which, joined community to form. A lot of products, services
with the user profiles (active participation profile, and companies do not lend themselves to forming
willingness to use different technologies), defines online communities (think of car tires or dairy
the added value (expert cat health advice, direct products) and it might be hard to find an overlap
connection to cat health problems) which provides between the company purpose and a user purpose.
benefits to the company and users and fulfills the And third, that the company is willing to invest
initial need. After the main community parameters their time and resources into growing and fostering
have been defined, we define the community pa- the community. It is not enough to spend a few
rameters which serve as a good foundation for the months planning and implementing a community;
community platform software specification. That a community is a long-term commitment, which
allows us to select the best software platform for requires the right kind of people. A combination
the community or identify the required custom of all these is rare; be prepared to realize that dur-
modules that should be developed to support ing the community definition process and decide
community specifics. We also define the goals whether to proceed with the community building
and metrics we use to gauge community success. or whether to halt the project and perhaps use
Following the launch of our new community, the requirements for a more lightweight strategy.
we can use the results of the community model
that is used in the conceptual stage to monitor the
progress of our community and to adjust our com- CONCLUSION
munity strategy when needed. In the later stages
the community model should be improved by The business value of web communities is be-
empirical data and feedback from the community coming more important each day. However, a
367
lot of companies fail to define the right goals and Couros, A. (2003). Communities of Practice: A
strategy for a web community and consequently Literature Review. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from
fail to build a lively web community with a clear http://www.tcd.ie/CAPSL/academic_practice/
business value. Our community building process pdfdocs/Couros_2003.pdf
starts with clear definitions of company needs and
De Souza, C. S., & Preece, J. (2004). A frame-
user needs. We then define a common purpose for
work for analyzing and understanding online
a community that will fulfill both these needs by
communities. Interacting with Computers, The
providing case-specific added value. After that,
Interdisciplinary Journal of Human-Computer
we use the community parameters to define as
Interaction.
much about the community as we can in advance.
This allows us to prepare documents like Terms Lazar, J., & Preece, J. (1998). Classification
of service, train community managers and clearly Schema for Online Communities. In Proceedings
define the needed software platform. We set clear of the 1998 Association for Information Systems,
business goals for the community and translate Americas Conference (pp. 84-86).
them into community metrics, which will allow
Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning
us to track the community progress, alert us to
in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.
possible problems and enable us to modify com-
Boston: Harvard Business Press.
munity growth strategy if needed.
Despite the seemingly simple community Nielsen, J. (2006). Participation Inequality: En-
building process, it is worth keeping in mind couraging More Users to Contribute. Retrieved
that building communities is, at heart, a human July 10, 2009, from http://www.useit.com/alert-
problem - not a technological one. Human partici- box/participation_inequality.html
pants usually do not lend themselves to orderly
Parekh, N. (2005). The Waterfall Model Explained.
processes. That is why our methodology is, at
Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.
heart, just a foundation and not a panacea. Every
buzzle.com/editorials/1-5-2005-63768.asp
real community building project will be different
and it is important to learn and adapt to a specific Porter, C. E. (2004). A Typology of Virtual Com-
business and user environment. munities: A Multi-Disciplinary Foundation for
Future Research. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 10(1). Retrieved September 2,
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Preece, J., Nonnecke, B., & Andrews, D. (2004). ADDITIONAL READING

The top 5 reasons for lurking: Improving com-
munity experiences for everyone. Computers in Forrester Research. (2008). Social Technographics
Human Behavior, 2(1). Profile Tool. Retrieved July 10, 2009, from http://
www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.
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Company, 38, 369.
Kim, A. J. (2000). Community Building on the
Wellman, B., Boase, J., & Chen, W. (2002). The Web: Secret Strategies for Successful Online
Networked Nature of Community: Online and Communities. Peachpit Press.
Offline. IT&Society, 1(1), 151165.
Uhrmacher, A. (2008). 35+ Examples of Corporate
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social-media/.
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370
Chapter 22
Virtual Geodemographics:
Consumer Insight in Online
and Offline Spaces
Alex D. Singleton
University of Liverpool, UK
ABSTRACT
Computer mediated communication and the Internet has fundamentally changed how consumers and
producers connect and interact across both real space, and has also opened up new opportunities in
virtual spaces. This book chapter describes how technologies capable of locating and sorting networked
communities of geographically disparate individuals within virtual communities present a sea change
in the conception, representation and analysis of socioeconomic distributions through geodemographic
analysis. It is argued that through virtual communities, social networks between individuals may subsume
the role of neighborhood areas as the most appropriate unit of analysis, and as such, geodemographics
needs to be repositioned in order to accommodate social similarities in virtual, as well as geographical,
space. The chapter ends by proposing a new model for geodemographics which spans both real and
virtual geographies.
THE DENUDATION OF REAL WORLD you live shapes who you are, and in the case of
GEODEMOGRAPHICS commercial applications; what you are likely to
buy in the future. This kind of classification has
Geodemographic classifications work by catego- apparently sustained considerable success in the
rizing real world geographic areas into a series of commercial sector by leveraging greater returns
Types which purport to represent homogeneous through target marketing (Birkin, Clarke, &
and multidimensional characteristics of individu- Clarke, 2002; Harris, Sleight, & Webber, 2005),
als living with neighborhoods. Fundamental to this and classifications are increasingly used by the
view is that the geographical location in which public sector for social marketing and customized
service delivery (Longley, 2005). The assignment
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch022 of an individual within a classification Type is
Virtual Geodemographics
achieved by address matching against a small area mediated communication poses to areal clas-
geography equivalent in size to census areas, US sification. To what extent do social similarities
Zip Codes, UK/Canadian Postcodes and so forth, manifest both between and within online virtual
an assignment process that is potentially vulner- spaces supplement or even replace conventional
able to the ecological fallacy (Birkin et al., 2002) geodemographic classification?
and suppression of diversity within areas (Voas
& Williamson, 2001). Furthermore, although
geodemographic classifications are constructed TOWARDS A GEODEMOGRAPHY
using data which relate to geographic areas, their OF CYBERSPACE?
mode of construction is avowedly aspatial, in that
the clustering procedures that are used to create Before reconsidering the role of geodemographics
the classification are optimized by searching as a tool for generalized representation it is impor-
for patterns of social similarity, independent of tant to define how online spaces are constructed,
locational proximity. As such, the geo prefix to as this influences how they can be understood and
geodemographics perhaps implies greater spatial measured. There is long established interest in
intelligence than perhaps exists in reality. how new forms of interaction and place forming
Against this backcloth, the growing role of processes are enabled by information and commu-
the Internet for mediating relationships between nication technology (Adams, 1998; Batty, 1997;
producers and consumers is fundamentally chal- Valentine & Holloway, 2002). A useful typology
lenging the supremacy of geographic classification of online and offline spaces is provided by Batty
as a method of targeting based on homogeneity of (1997:340):
behaviors between consumers within a neighbor-
hood area (Longley & Singleton, 2009a, 2009b; 1. Place/space: the original domain of geog-
Longley, Webber, & Chao, 2008). The core prin- raphy abstracting place into space using
ciple underlying current geodemographic classi- traditional methods;
fications is that birds of a feather, flock together 2. Cspace: abstractions of space into
(Sleight, 2001), that is, the locations of consumers c(omputer)space, inside computers and their
with similar traits, tastes and preferences exhibit networks;
spatial autocorrelation. For traditional market- 3. Cyberspace: new spaces that emerge
ing activities such as the provision of targeted from cspace through using computers to
mail shots or the location of advertising bill communicate;
boards, response rates can be estimated simply 4. Cyberplace: the impact of the infrastruc-
as a function of the typical characteristics of the ture of cyberspace on the infrastructure of
local population likely to view these offerings. traditional place.
However, more and more consumer interaction
takes place on the Internet, where the similarities For a full review of early developments in
between consumer behavior are less obviously computer mediated communication had their
viewed through the lens of geographic co-location. implications for the development of cyberspace
Instead, consumers or potential customers can see Rheingold (1994) and Batty and Barr (1994).
be drawn together from across large geographic As discussed in the previous section, geodemo-
areas. To date, critiques of geodemographics have graphics has demonstrated use across a variety of
been limited to offline behaviors occurring across application areas in place/space and more recently
geographic space, and as such little attention has cyberplace (Longley et al., 2008). Although early
been directed at the challenges that computer commentary argued that communication enabled
371
Table 1. Facebook demographic profile May 2007 vs. May 2006 (Lipsman, 2007)
Age Segment May-06 (000s) May-07 (000s) Percent Change

Persons: 12-17 1,628 4,060 149%
Persons: 18-24 5,674 7,843 38%
Persons: 25-34 1,114 3,134 181%
Persons: 35+ 5,247 10,412 98%
by the Internet would erode the importance of is a relatively new but growing phenomenon
place/space (Benedikt, 1991; Caincross, 1997), (Boyd & Ellison, 2008) (see Table 1), the study
these effects, as argued by Kitchin (1998) were of offline social networks has a longer history
overstated. Today, businesses still cluster in real extending back to the 1970s (Boornam & White,
geographic spaces to build on economies of prox- 1976; Freeman, 2004; Galaskiewicz, 1979; Scott,
imity, and the majority of the workforce do not 2007; Wasserman, 1994; White, Boornam, &
telecommute from their homes into virtual offices. Breiger, 1976) with applications across a multiple
Connection to the Internet has not replaced our sciences including health (Christakis & Fowler,
interactions and organization across real space, 2007), education (Hawe & Ghali, 2007), crime
and as such, place/space areal targeting applica- (Calv-Armengol & Zenou, 2004) and politics
tions using geodemographics as traditionally (Crossley, 2007).
conceived still maintain relevance. However, Although online networks may also demon-
the Internet, since these early commentaries has strate real world spatial autocorrelation, this offline
changed. Goodchild (2007:27) differentiates that spatial clustering is likely to be more diffuse, and
the early Web was primarily one-directional, particularly so for those networks built around
allowing a large number of users to view the niche activities. Thus, the likely success of target-
contents of a comparatively small number of sites, ing individuals within cyberspaces based on space/
[whereas] the new Web 2.0 is a bi-directional place geo-location is eroded, thus undermining
collaboration in which users are able to interact the value of spatial classification such as geode-
with and provide information to central sites, and mographics. Indeed, in a study of LiveJournal
to see that information collated and made avail- (www.livejournal.com/) friendships Liben-
able to others. This paradigm shift has enabled Nowell et al.(2005) showed that around a third
numerous and rapidly expanding cyberspaces to of social-network friendships were independent
develop around multiple different types of digital of geography. In response to this problem market-
interaction (Dodge & Kitchin, 2001). In this new ers have had to develop a range of new strategies
information age, and as predicted by Castells to reach networks of individuals communicating
(2000), networks have become an increasingly online. One example technique which substitutes
important organizational framework on which new areal targeting is viral marketing, defined as a
organizations have been made. The conception of method which takes advantage of networks of
networks as the building blocks for cyberspaces influence among customers to inexpensively
is increasingly evident in those new services achieve large changes in behaviour (Richardson,
popularized online that link individuals together 2002:61). In this type of targeting, marketing
through their personal associations, or sharing of messages are sent to a range of individuals
common interests. Although the development and within a targeted community who pass these on
success of these social network internet websites through their network of social connections. In
372
Figure 1. Second Life: Total active users (Data: Linden Labs, maps created by author)
this type of marketing, the individual and their and where people are represented by animated
relationships become the focus for targeting characters. Virtual worlds in their current form
rather their geo-location and ascribed geodemo- extend from the technologies of internet relay chat,
graphic classification. through Multi User Dungeon/Domains (MUD)
Thus far discussion has concerned the implica- and early graphical representations of MUD such
tion of online activity served through traditional as Active Worlds (Dodge & Kitchin, 2001). There
HTML based websites, albeit with elements of are many different virtual worlds which range in
interaction enabled by database connectivity purpose, scale and sophistication. One of the most
and scripting languages. A developing area of popular is Second Life from Linden Labs (http://
cyberspace are those situated in virtual worlds secondlife.com/) which as of 26th June 2008 there
(Bainbridge, 2007:472; Butler, 2006), defined were 14,123,766 residents1, around double the
as an electronic environment that visually mim- total population of London. The frequency of
ics complex physical spaces, where people can active users, the time spent online and the ratio
interact with each other and with virtual objects, between the two measures are shown in Figures
Figure 2. Second Life: Time spent online (Data: Linden Labs, maps created by author)
373
Figure 3. Second Life: Ratio between the user frequency and the time spent online (Data: Linden Labs,
maps created by author)
1-3 for each country in the world, illustrating how ican Apparel entering Second Life as an oppor-
use of this technology has penetrated numerous tunity to expand their market and brand with
disparate but real geographic locations. limited cost. Second Life consumer intelligence
The Second Life operating environment was will have an increasing value for all types of
created with tools which enable an economy, al- companies wishing to target their selling and is
lowing users to both produce and consume prod- recognised by a number of real life market research
ucts and services sold for virtual money (Linden companies who have produced a range of panel
dollars). Users can purchase or sell this currency surveys conducted with Second Life residents
through LindeX the Second Life virtual finan- (Tarran, 2007).
cial exchange, thus making it possible to make Cyberspaces enable real-time and scale free
real world money from virtual business activities. interaction between their inhabitants, be this
Virtual worlds present further challenges for through passing association in virtual worlds,
marketers and social scientists looking to under- or via connections within social networks. In
stand and segment consumer behaviour. In addi- a sense, cyberspaces decouple the association
tion to interactions enabled by social networks between behavioural patterns and place, thus
between individual users of these cyberspaces, undermining the prerequisite of traditional geode-
virtual worlds also partition activities across a mographics that affiliate people into typologies
Euclidean space, that is, each building, home, based on consumption patterns of those people
shop and avatar is located at a specific set of in the area where you live. Area becomes far
spatial co-ordinates, thus re-engaging the possibil- more difficult to define and specifically so given
ity of spatial targeting. However, despite early that interactions and activities in Cyberspace do
calls (Batty, 1997), there has been little research not necessarily have to occur at a fixed place, or
to date on how the relationship between activities, even in place at all as traditionally conceived.
space use and organisation are comparable to our For example, what is the place of a send email?
real world understandings of geographic pro- Given these challenges, it can be argued that in
cesses. This has however not deterred the many Cyberspaces the appropriate geographic scale of
large corporations with real world presence in- analysis is the individual. However, analogous
cluding Ford, Coca Cola, MTV, IBM and Amer- to those challenges of linking individual records
374
from within multiple and large administrative who provide endless choices online in turn are
data in space/place, identifying an individuals matched by consumer unlimited demand. This
digital footprints across multiple cyberspaces is business model is enabled by the removal of the
equally challenging. For example, how can you physical limitations of retail such as geographic
link the behaviours of an individual on the social location and shelf space, and as such negates the
networking website Facebook to their activities opportunity cost of stocking more items. In a
in Second Life given that there is no unique ID? physical store, each product has to occupy shelf
There is an acute need for more research in this space, and there is a cost associated with each
area, specifically as online and offline interactions of these items in terms of ground rents, staff-
will increasingly overlap. ing, heating and lighting. As such, the physical
store will generally cater for those items which
are popular and can be sold in large quantities.
VIRTUAL CHOICES AND Anderson (2006) describes these as the hits,
INFORMATION ASYMMETRY and it is posited here that, like newspaper reader-
ship, it is these large and well defined hits which
A related challenge for offline targeting solutions traditional geodemographic classifications are
such as geodemographics is that they are optimised predominantly suited to target. The challenge for
to predict homogeneous consumption patterns of future geodemographic classification will be how
limited and well defined behaviours. For example, they can adapt to better account for the plethora
the earliest examples of commercial geodemo- of niches which make up long tail of future online
graphic classifications examined the readership retail markets.
of newspapers (Batey & Brown, 1995), a product The Internet democratizes the dissemination
category which tends to correlate highly with of information and provides consumers with a
political allegiance(Newton & Brynin, 2001), vot- plethora of tools which enable them to compare
ing patterns (Johnston & Pattie, 2006) and socio- products or services, read reviews and search
economic status (Chan & Goldthorpe, 2007). In for the best prices. Some of this information
these examples there is a close correspondence is prepared by teams of professional or semi-
between the specification, or the indicators used, professional reviewers (e.g. www.gizmodo.
and the outcomes as measured by the classification. com), and some is based on the opinions of the
In an era of online mass customerization (Wind public (e.g. www.tripadvisor.com/). Around 52%
& Rangaswamy, 2001) online retailers offer the of consumers on the Internet use it to compare
ability to customise product offerings to meet the product information (Nie & Erbring, 2000), and
specific needs of individuals. An example of such in previous studies the provision of third party
a service is provided by the computer retailer Dell consumer information has been shown to have
who offer the ability to customise products down a significant and cumulative effect on consumer
to the level of individual components. Although online shopping behavior (Ward & Lee, 2000). Al-
traditional classification may be useful to predict though Levitt and Dubner (2005) argue that these
those neighbourhoods likely to purchase new websites have the effect of reducing information
computers, it is unlikely to have successes at asymmetry (Akerlof, 1970), the uneven access
discriminating between disaggregation with this between those who do and do not engage with
group based on niche tastes and preferences of new information and communication technologies
individuals. This issue of nice tastes is explored (Longley & Singleton, 2009a) will likely create a
by Anderson (2006) who develops a thesis for more complex spatial arrangement of those ben-
the long tail of retail, where those companies efiting from these information. As access grows
375
to online resources which govern more informed aware of these risks (Madden, Fox, Smith, &
consumer choices this will likely affect the aggre- Vitak, 2007), and indeed a number of companies
gate retail behaviors of the e-engaged(Longley now provide consumers with various ways of
et al., 2008). This therefore has implications for assessing their digital footprint, both in terms of
those neighborhood level segmentations that do data transferred2, and those occurrences of your
not account for such patterning of internet use. details across various websites3. These issues are
For example, a targeted mail shot advertising a complex, and also have parallels with other real
new low price for a product may not be as effec- world methods of data collection, for example,
tive if the potential consumer has access to price in those activities of retailers operating store card
comparison information indicating that the same schemes. When users collect points on their store
product could be purchased elsewhere for the card based on the value and items in their shop-
same or lower price. ping basket, they also are providing retailers with
a plethora of information about their shopping
behaviour. This information is used by retailers
IMPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES to provide targeted promotions and inform store
intelligence (Hunby, Hunt, & Philip, 2007), and
This brief review of those online technologies in the case of some schemes, these information
affecting the usefulness of geodemographics are available outside the borders of the stores in
demonstrates a need to revisit the underpinning which the data was collected. A further implica-
philosophy and methodology used to justify and tion for geodemographic classification builders
construct these spatial representations. There is a requirement for better understanding of how
are a number of implications which need to be information gathered online relates to offline
investigated in this new research agenda. With behaviors, and indeed analysis if these are either
an assertion that individuals subsume the role of complementary and as such reinforcing, or; con-
neighborhood as the most appropriate scale of tradictory, thus providing new insights. Some
analysis; where transactional information creates research has been completed in terms of social
a significant resource for targeting effective pro- capital accumulation (Wellman, Haase, Witte, &
motions linked through either a website logon, or Hampton, 2001) and specifically how these con-
virtual identity; this in turn requires new insight structs may influence offline behaviors (Blanchard
into issues of privacy and surveillance, particularly & Horan, 1998; Matei & Ball-Rokeach, 2001).
in the way in which information gathered about Other researchers have looked at the relation-
individuals online can be collected, collated and ship between engagement with new information
reused. Privacy concerns for geodemographic communication technologies and the arrange-
classification is not a new phenomenon (Goss, ment of these behaviors across real geographic
1995), however, if these classification are to space (Longley & Singleton, 2009a; Longley et
be extended to measure virtual as well as real al., 2008). The link between online behaviors for
geographies, further research is now necessary offline applications are beginning to be explored,
to address a growing body of concern about the for example Sulake, a Finnish provider of a virtual
way in which online information may impinge on world have started utilizing the platform to produce
privacy, security and civil liberties(see Alessandro market research data by surveying 42,000 consum-
& Ralph, 2006; Miyazaki, 2008; Whysall, 2000). ers across 22 countries (Jana, 2007). Additionally,
Users of the internet are becoming increasingly with the advent of geocoded online content, such
376
Table 2. A new framework for geodemographic analysis
Space/Place Cyberplace Cyberspace

Direct Mail targeted by online Targeted website adverts based
Direct Mail targeted by home
Initiation and offline purchasing linked to a on a search criteria e.g.
address.
store card. Google Adverts.
Walk in store recording customer Using websites to purchase items
Regular Purchasing Recording of online purchases.
information e.g. Evans Cycles which are collected in store.
N/A Too expensive for the Online recommendations tailored Online recommendations
Customisation majority of stores to uniquely by offline shopping behaviours tailored by previous online
customise products. linked to a store card. shopping behaviours.
as the real geographic location of Twitter4 feeds, interactions, more sophisticated methods are re-
this offers new online information which could quired to identify and map homogeneous clusters
potentially be mined for offline spatial intelligence of behavior at the scale of the individual. Although
at an individual level, with resulting implications one can adopt a dichotomous view of consumer
for privacy. An example of this is demonstrated transactions, where online and offline behaviors
through Twittervision5 which plots the spatial are neatly partitioned, online behavior have rel-
location of Twitter feeds onto a Google Map. evance to real world consumer habits and the
In order to action further research on the mining and linking of this type of information
challenges and implications posed by those new could potentially lead to new insights. Given
technologies discussed this chapter proposes a new significant evidence that the role of traditional
framework through which geodemographics can advertising media channels are being eroding as
be repositioned. This is a matrix made up of of- an effective tool for engaging potential consum-
fline (space/place), hybrid (cyberplace) and online ers (Anderson, 2006; Webster, 1992), it is posited
(cyberspace) geographic spaces; cross tabulated that geodemographics in its current form will
against three levels of increasing purchasing com- experience gradual erosion of their effectiveness
plexity ranging from initiation, regular purchasing unless the concerns presented in this chapter are
and customization (see Table 2). Of the nine cells addressed. Our established understanding of the
in Table 2, which each contain examples of a range behaviors which govern consumption are clearly
interactions between suppliers and consumers, challenged by the new e-infrastructures described
traditional geodemographics arguably only have in this chapter, and as consumer responses to
function as traditionally conceived for space/place areal targeting initiatives changes; investigation
initiations which are based on the area in which is now required as to how better response rates
a person lives. Although it could be argued that can be garnered through new methods of segmen-
area classification may add insight into the types tation and engagement. These changes represent
of neighborhoods in which an individual consumer a shift in our understanding of how consumer
lives (where address is known), and as such could behaviors can be modeled, from a top down hi-
be applicable across multiple areas of the matrix, erarchical approach where classification builders
this information is likely to be far less insightful produce automated spatiality (Thrift & French,
than information mined at an individual level. 2002) based on users postcode, to the type of
In this chapter it is argued that the benefit of generative bottom up social science discussed by
examining behavior at a neighborhood level is Batty (2008) and Epstein (2007).
eroded by increased consumer activity within
multiple cyberspaces, and that because of these
377
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380
381
Chapter 23
Development of Cellular
Phone Software to Prompt
Learners to Monitor and
Reorganize Division of Labor
in Project-Based Learning
Toshio Mochizuki
Senshu University, Japan
Kazaru Yaegashi
Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Hiroshi Kato
The Open University of Japan, Japan
Toshihisa Nishimori
The University of Tokyo, Japan
Yusuke Nagamori
Tsukuba University of Technology, Japan
Shinobu Fujita
Spiceworks Corporation, Japan
ABSTRACT
The authors have developed a cellular phone application called ProBoPortable that displays information
regarding the progress and achievement of tasks and division of labor in project-based learning (PBL)
for higher education. ProBoPortable works as wallpaper on the screen of the learners cellular phone,
and it cooperates with Web-based groupware. When a learner activates his/her phone, ProBoPortable
immediately retrieves the current status of the appropriate project from the groupware database and
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch023
Development of Cellular Phone Software to Prompt Learners to Monitor and Reorganize
displays it on the screen. A classroom evaluation was performed in an undergraduate course; the evalu-
ation confirmed that ProBoPortable enhanced mutual awareness of the division of labor among learn-
ers, who modified their own tasks by monitoring the overall status of the PBL. Using ProBoPortable
increasingly fostered the sense of a learning community among the subjects. Moreover, social facilitation
encouraged the learners to proceed with their own task due to the presence of others who are mutually
aware of each members status.
INTRODUCTION Kato and his colleagues, EDL has the following

three characteristics.
In recent years, project-based learning (PBL)
has been used extensively as a major educational Emergence of division of labor: One can
method for higher education (Gijbels et al., 2005). interactively negotiate the border of the
PBL is a type of learning activity in which a learner division of labor by taking into account
studies along with other learners while working what others are doing in their regions.
toward a common goal and collaborating on tasks This is called awareness in the context
as a group. This trend results from the fact that of computer support for collaborative work
undergraduate students are expected to enhance (CSCW).
their creativity and social skills before they gradu- Maintenance of division of labor: One can
ate and commence participating in the society. continue coordinating the division of labor
Throughout PBL, learners rarely perform the with others through a continuous monitor-
same task simultaneously. They prefer to divide ing of their task status. Since stability is
a certain part of the task into smaller tasks and achieved through constant negotiation in
allocate each task to individual group members. ever-changing situations, maintenance is a
Even in cases in which the rules for the division dynamic and aggressive idea.
of labor are institutionalized by a teacher or an Reorganization of division of labor: Based
organization, group on the monitoring of the status of others
members sometimes cross the borders of the tasks, one can flexibly reorganize the divi-
division and coordinate their tasks with other sion of labor as required (ibid, p. 2654).
members across these borders as the occasion
may demand. For instance, if the task monitor However, undergraduate students in PBL get
provides a task performer with some instructions very little time to interact with each other on cam-
and then notices the task performers errors, it pus for working together or sharing and discussing
is implied that the monitor becomes involved in their progress or situation. For example, they can
performing the task. Thus, the division of labor meet only in the classroom, while eating lunch,
is reorganized in a more or less ad lib and ad hoc etc. Therefore, PBL in higher education some-
manner such that the task progresses uninterrupted times faces social problems such as social loafing
and error free (Hutchins, 1990). Kato et al. (2004) (Latan et al., 1979) and process loss (Steiner,
termed such a crossover of division of labor as the 1972), or it may result in the learners dropping
emergent division of labor (EDL) and argued out of the project. Such problems are attributed
that EDL should provide extensive opportunities to a lack of collective cognitive responsibility
for learning in situations where scaffolding (Wood (Scaradamalia, 2002), social presence (Short et
et al., 1976) takes place naturally. According to
382
Figure 1. ProBo (Left: ProjectHome; Right: ToDo list)
al., 1976), or workspace awareness (Gutwin et expect this mobile platform will facilitate coop-
al., 1995). eration and stimulate the emergent division of
In order to help learners assess the current labor among learners because an increase of
division of labor in a group and then plan and workspace awareness online makes students re-
reorganize the next step by themselves, Nishimori sponsible for working together to complete their
et al. (2005) have developed a Web-based group- collaborative task; students must be aware of what
ware for PBL called ProBo (formerly Project is going on around them as part of the collabora-
Board) (Figure 1). ProBo has been designed to tion (Gutwin et al. 1995).
visualize and allocate tasks among learners, and
to share files among those learners during PBL. Design and Development
ProBo has the following four features: (1) Pro- of ProBoPortable
jectHome, which indicates the manner in which
learners should organize their division of labor ProBoPortable is cellular phone software that
and the progress of their respective tasks; (2) the tracks the progress and achievement of project
ToDo list, which presents tasks structured in the tasks in real time; it also displays the division of
form of a tree diagram; (3) the Scheduler, which labor in PBL. ProBoPortable is used in the NTT
allows learners to confirm the schedule for each DoCoMo 901 to 905 series cellular phones and
taskthe deadline that needs to be scheduled; runs in the Java SDK 1.4 development environ-
and (4) FileBox, which stores the files pertaining ment. Fogg (2003) indicated that mobile termi-
to tasks. Learners can communicate with each nals such as cellular phones could be persuasive
other on every task, file, and the entire project technologies that increase peoples awareness of
using the memo function. However, a study in their situations and promote the reorganization of
an undergraduate course revealed that even by their actions. In Japan, cellular phone penetration
using ProBo, most students did not possess an among undergraduate/graduate students stood at
overall grasp of the progress of the other members 96.3% as of October 2003 (Hakuhodo, 2004).
in their group, and they did not reorganize their Under such circumstances, Nakahara et al. (2005)
division of labor. revealed that the cellular phone display was effec-
In order to address this issue, the present study tive in promoting student participation in online
aims to design and develop a mobile learning discussions.
environment that prompts learners to assess the ProBoPortable was designed to work as wall-
status of their group in real time and maintain and paper on the screen of the learners cellular phone
reorganize their division of labor. The authors (Figure 2) in order to keep them updated regarding
383
Figure 2. ProBoPortable Interface (displayed on

that the authors selected to display on the screen,
the cell phone screen)
based on the requirements of EDL.
ProBoPortable displays all the learners work-
ing on the project as warehouse keepers. It also
displays the current status of each members
progress, the tasks allocated to each member, the
tasks each member has completed, any backlogged
tasks, and the overall progress of the projectthis
is indicated by a dollar amount on the display.
The project income increases with the comple-
tion of each task. As a learner progresses on a
task, the corresponding box shifts slightly to the
left. When the task is completed the box moves
the progress of their project and to stimulate the to a different stack. The boxes are color-coded to
division of labor as soon as the necessity arises. The enable the learner to instantly identify the areas
software cooperates with the Web-based group- of the project that require urgent attention. When
ware ProBo. When ProBoPortable is configured a task has reached its deadline, the color of the
as wallpaper, it automatically retrieves real-time corresponding box turns red. Additionally, the
status updates for a project from the ProBo da- background color of each warehouse reflects
tabase and displays the status immediately; this whether learners are accessing or updating their
occurs whenever a learner activates or uses his/ sections on the main project website. Thus, learn-
her phone, checks e-mails, etc. Due to the limited ers are expected to keep track of other members
screen size of cellular phones, ProBoPortable status on a daily basis, perform their tasks, and
displays only the selected information from the reorganize their division of labor as and when
ProBo database. Table 1 shows the information required.
Table 1. Relationship between visualized information on ProBoPortable and ProBo
Information Index Target Expression

Member(s) Each member Warehouse keepers and their Each member has a color code
facial colors
Number of Number of boxes Box(es) If a new task is added on ProBo, a new box will
Tasks be added from above
Progress of each Shift length Box corresponding to the task If a learner makes progress with a task, the cor-
task responding box will shift slightly
Approaching the Color Corresponding box If the deadline of a task is approaching, the color
deadline for the task (normal or red) of the corresponding box will change to red
Progress of the Background color Backgrounds If the progress of the project shows a lower value
project (normal or red) of all the members of the than the benchmark, the color will change to red.
project
Money Amount of money If the task is completed, the amount will increase
Whether or not each Background color (of Relevant learner(s) If the learner has not confirmed the status of EDL
learner has con- relevant learner(s)) via ProBo/ProBoPortable, his/her background
firmed the status color will change to black
384
EVALUATION OF PROBOPORTABLE software being used in the classroom with respect

IN AN UNDERGRADUATE COURSE to the context of the course being taught in the
classroom. In accordance with group structure, the
Course Outline students preferred topics, and their phone models,
11 students participated in using ProBoPortable.
The research was conducted in an undergraduate They installed ProBoPortable, and it served as
course taught by one of the authors at a university the wallpaper on their phones throughout the
in Japan between June 5 and July 10, 2006; dur- four-week period starting June 12. The students
ing this period, the class met six times. A total also used ProBo.
of 94 students participated in the course. The In order to evaluate the enhancement of stu-
students were divided into 20 groups with 46 dents awareness of their status and the encour-
individuals per group. The common objective agement to assess and reorganize the division of
of each group was to conduct a presentation on labor, the authors analyzed the operation logs of
the current situation and the prospects of one of ProBo and ProBoPortable from June 12 to the
the various topics associated with information final class. In addition, the post questionnaire (85
communication technology. Each group had to effective responses, 90.4%)which contained
conduct a survey on an assigned topic and make questions regarding the awareness of division of
suggestions on that topic to improve future society. laborwas administrated after the final class. In
The web-based groupware, ProBo, served as the order to investigate the effects of ProBoPortable
standard groupware for every group in this course. on the maturation of the groups as learning com-
During the final session (i.e., the sixth session), munities, the post questionnaire contained items
each group was allotted 5 minutes to present their from the sense of community scale (Rovai, 2002)
research. The topics covered in each session are that the authors modified to suit PBL. These items
listed in Table 2. were also administered in the pre-test survey (83
effective responses, 88.3%) on June 12 and were
Research Design used as comparative data.
Furthermore, the authors performed a focus
The research was formulated using the split-class group interview after the post questionnaire on July
design (Carver, 2006) in order to evaluate the 10 in order to review the conditions under which
Table 2. Class schedule
Date Session Topic

Jun. 5, 2006 1 Orientation, PowerPoint and ProBo Operation
Research in assigned area (Web, book, papers, etc.), Discuss the research topic
Jun 12 2 Focus research topic
Further research in the topic area
Pre-test Survey on Sense of Community Scale
ProBoPortable Orientation (for ProBoPortable users only, after the class hour)
Jun 19 3 Organize the data studied by previous week
Develop presentation story
Jun 26 4 Making presentation (PowerPoint file)
Jul 3 5 Making presentation (PowerPoint file)
Jul 10 6 Class Presentations/ Post-test Survey (a portion of the survey was only for ProBoPortable users)
Group Interview (for ProBoPortable users only)
385
ProBoPortable was used; these were not recorded accessed his/her group status with ProBoPortable
in the operation history. Such an additional focus averaged 615.7(S.D. = 634.3, maximum = 1573,
group interview regarding the questionnaire is minimum = 187), and the number of times a stu-
often used for usability testing in order to clarify dent accessed the status of a group that was not
backgrounds or reasons for answers in the ques- his/her own group averaged 72.5 (S.D. = 75.1,
tionnaire (Kuniavsky, 2003). In general, a focus maximum = 184, minimum = 27).
group is helpful for obtaining data and insights
that would be less accessible without interaction Students Evaluation
in a group setting: listening to others experiences of ProBoPortable
or ideas stimulates the production of memories,
ideas, and experiences (Vaughn et al., 1996). The Table 3 shows the overall evaluation of ProBoPort-
authors considered that the focus group was useful able. All 11 users answered questions on a 4-point
for identifying the actual user experiences with Likert scale. The learners rated the items related to
ProBoPortable because they took place in the par- the collaboration among group members highly.
ticipants private sphere. One of the authors (not Almost all learners provided a positive answer
the one who served as the instructor) performed a for the question regarding whether the system
structured group interview with five students who was helpful in determining how to proceed with
used ProBoPortable: Andrew, Betty, Caroline, the project. In addition, the results showed that
Diana, and Eliza (fictitious names). learners felt encouraged when they saw the status
of tasks, which were represented by boxes. On the
Results and Discussion other hand, the results showed that direct interac-
tion among learners was not achieved very often.
From June 12 to July 10 (29 days), the number of However, this does not imply that ProBoPortable
times each student used ProBoPortable averaged prevented mutual task coordination among learn-
688.2 (S.D. = 470.6, maximum = 1757, minimum ers, as described below.
= 253). On average, each student used ProBoPort-
able 23.7 times a day. The number of times a student
Table 3. Summative evaluation of ProBoPortable (4-point Likert scale)
Items Average
(1) I have checked the name of group members using the keypad. 3.00
(2) I felt an urgent need to complete a task when I saw a box dropping down. 3.18
(3) I felt that I had achieved something when any box was cleared. 3.27
(4) I felt that I had achieved something when the amount of money increased. 2.82
(5) I have contacted a group member after I saw the display of ProBoPortable. 1.45
(6) I felt a sense of community with other group members. 3.18
(7) I have monitored the progress of group members in other projects with horizontal keypad as needed. 3.27
(8) ProBoPortable was helpful to review how to proceed with the project, and any reorganization necessary. 3.64
(9) It took time to become familiar with ProBoPortable. 2.00
(10) ProBoPortable was helpful with project collaboration. 3.36
(11) I would like to use a tool like ProBoPortable in a group project in the future, if it is available. 3.64
386
Awareness of Collaboration Status Group averaged 0.08, U = 324.5, n.s.); however,

and its Effects on Students no significant statistical difference was observed.
Activities Therefore, the results suggest that ProBoPortable
encouraged students to confirm their task status
In order to accurately confirm the effect of ProBo- and schedule, and assess the division of labor of
Portable, the Mann-Whitney U-test was adminis- their learning activity.
tered to examine the differences between students Furthermore, significant differences and trends
who used ProBoPortable (n = 11, hereafter referred were observed with regard to items such as From
to as the Experimental Group) and those who time to time, I wanted to talk to other member(s)
did not (n = 83, hereafter referred to as the Con- outside the classroom to negotiate a protocol for
trol Group) with regard to the 20 questions (see proceeding with the project (U = 250.0, p <.05)
Table 4) on the students self-evaluation of their and I frequently contacted other group member(s)
PBL with a 5-point Likert scale. According to the outside the classroom in connection with the group
test results, significant differences were observed activities (U = 274.0, p <.10). This suggests that
in items such as I was aware of the progress of ProBoPortable presents opportunities to generate
each task undertaken by the other members (U learning activities and mutual adjustment outside
= 138.0, p <.001), and I monitored the pace at the classroom.
which other group members were working and Results of the group interview indicated that
adjusted my pace accordingly (U = 233.0, p <.01). social facilitation by coaction effects encouraged
These results indicate that ProBoPortable helped the students to perform the task allocated to them
students to understand the status of others tasks rather than reorganize their division of labor.
as well as confirm whether others were aware of
their own progress in the task. ProBoPortable also Interviewer: Well, when you found that the color
helped members to flexibly adjust their own task, of the box changed to red, how did you feel
as necessary, by continuously monitoring others or what did you do?
status as well as their own. Caroline: I would just feel pressured.
Analysis of the operation log (the number of Diana: I felt I should perform my tasks urgently.
people accessing each function per day) of the Caroline: I would feel uncomfortable if the profes-
Web-based groupware ProBo showed that signifi- sor could see my status and recognize that
cant differences existed between the Experimental I had some overdue tasks. If the professor
Group and the Control Group with regard to the accessed ProBoPortable, wouldnt you (feel
number of times participants accessed the ToDo the same)?
list and the Scheduler. The ToDo list organizes Diana: I was more worried about the other mem-
and displays the PBL tasks (the Experimental bers being aware of my status, rather than
Group averaged 0.175, the Control Group aver- the professor.
aged 0.101, U = 273.5, p <.05) and the Scheduler Betty: Well, I thought that the members may get
confirms the prospects of PBL (the Experimental angry at my progress, or something like that.
Group averaged 0.357, the Control Group aver- Caroline: They would think Oh, she stopped her
aged 0.142, U = 311.0, p <.05). The group using job again or something like that.
ProBoPortable accessed the task profiles more Betty: They say its OK, when they meet us in
often (the Experimental Group averaged 1.11, face-to-face, but
the Control Group averaged 0.86, U = 322.5, Diana: Yeah, that is true, although no one speaks
n.s.), and they also modified tasks more often (the their mind. So I felt I have to do my tasks
Experimental Group averaged 0.12, the Control as early as possible.
387
The statement I was more worried about the some members whose background color
other members being aware of my status, rather changed to black, what did you do?
than the professor indicated that the students felt Caroline: I would definitely call the members
evaluation apprehension from the other members whose colors become black.
in their group; that is, each of the students using Betty: Me, too. I would send a message on the
ProBoPortable knew that he/she watched the other mailing list to encourage them.
members status, just as they could see their own Caroline: Yeah. I would send them Are you all
status. The questionnaire survey also revealed that right? Because I wasnt expecting that any
the item I think that the other group members of the members background colors would
were also aware of the progress of my tasks (U change to black.
= 172.5, p <.01) was significantly higher in the Betty: We would be worried if one of our back-
Experimental Group. This served as sufficient grounds had changed to black.
proof that there was mutual monitoring and evalu- Diana: Yeah, even if the color changes to red,
ation among students in the group. Such evalu- Id get worried.
ation apprehension promoted coaction effects, Caroline: Definitely. I would send a message to
which promoted students own tasks (Cottrell ask their condition. Well, we would probably
et al., 1968). However, this did not imply that have communicated more if we had belonged
ProBoPortable prevented mutual task coordination to the same college and were acquainted
among students. The following excerpt from the with each other However, we usually dont
group interview is evidence that students were have many opportunities to meet each other.
sometimes encouraged to communicate with each
other in order to coordinate their division of labor This dialogue indicated that the movement of
if they felt some anxiety from seeing their status the warehouse keepers or a change in the color
on ProBoPortable. of other students backgrounds made the students
aware of each others activeness, progress, and
Caroline: Eliza phoned me. status, which then caused the question Are you
Eliza: Yeah, yesterday. all right? However, we could not observe such
Caroline: She said It seems that Im the only situations often because social loafing or dropping
one working on ProBo. Are you aware of out had not seriously occurred, and therefore, di-
it? Are we OK? rect interaction seldom occurred among students
Eliza: Because all of you werent working on during the experiment.
ProBo. Consequently, it can be concluded that to a
Betty: Sorry, sorry. certain extent, ProBoPortable provided students
Caroline: No, its OK. I dont blame you. with opportunities for the mutual reorganization
Interviewer: So, is there anyone who called your of division of labor. Moreover, we believe that our
members or sent e-mails after noticing their system could have encouraged mutual interaction
status on your mobile? if a situation had occurred where members needed
Caroline: Us? (pointing to Diana and Eliza) to support each other. In this experiment, however,
Eliza: But we usually call each other anyway, such situations did not arise or were infrequent;
because were close friends. therefore, the effect of social facilitation was
Interviewer: I see. The two of you have been efficacious in the sense that they had to perform
friends. How about the other students? Well, the allocated tasks on their own rather than cross
for example, when you noticed there were the border of the division of labor.
388
Figure 3. Effects on the sense of learning community and its subscores
Effects on the Sense of motivate and prompt students to learn in a dis-

Learning Community tributed environment. The results revealed that
the subscore Learning significantly increased;
With regard to the sense of community scale, thus, these findings clarified that ProBoPortable
a two-way multivariate analysis of variance enhanced not only mutual awareness of the divi-
(MANOVA) was used to examine the effects over sion of labor among learners, but also the sense
week 2week 6 (the initial and the final stages of learning community, which promotes their
of the group) and of with/without ProBoPortable learning in PBL.
(groups with ProBoPortable or those without it).
This was done in order to determine the influence
of the interaction between these two factors on the REDESIGNING TO ACHIEVE
maturation of groups as learning communities. CLASSWIDE MUTUAL ASSESSMENT
There were statistically significant main effects AND TO MAKE THE ENTIRE CLASS
of week 2week 6 and with/without ProBoPort- A LEARNING COMMUNITY
able on the scale score of the sense of learning
community (F (1,1) = 4.386, p <.05 and F (1,1) = As mentioned earlier, ProBoPortable facilitated
4.549, p <.05, respectively), though there was no cooperation, stimulated the emergent division of
significant interaction (Figure 3). For a detailed labor among learners, and enhanced the sense of
examination of the significance of such effects, learning community among learners in a project
additional two-way MANOVAs were applied to group. In order for PBL to be more successful in
the subscores of the scaleConnectedness and a course, it is important to prevent social psycho-
Learning. There were statistically significant logical disincentives such as group polarization
main effects of week 2week 6 and with/with- or groupthink within project groups (Janis, 1982).
out ProBoPortable on the subscore Learning Ozawa and his colleagues (2004) mentioned that
(F (1,1) = 5.392, p <.05 and F (1,1) = 5.540, p intergroup interaction provides opportunities for
<.05, respectively), though there was no signifi- learners to review the activities of their own group.
cant interaction. Furthermore, slightly significant On the basis of the aforementioned result, such
effects were observed in week 2week 6 and intergroup interaction is also expected to foster a
with/without ProBoPortable on the subscore sense of learning community in the entire class.
Connectedness (F (1,1) = 2.935, p <.10 and F Therefore, ProBo and ProBoPortable were
(1,1) = 2.842, p <.10, respectively), though there redesigned in order to foster an overall reflection
was no significant interaction. of the project group activity by not only monitor-
Palloff & Pratt (1999) indicated that enhancing ing the status of the project members, but also
the sense of learning community is important to mutually assessing the class-wide projects. ProBo
389
Table 5. Additional information that the revised versions of ProBoPortable and ProBo displays
Design Principles Name Information (in detail) Objective

Learners can learn by Attention Ranking based on how often To compare the attraction of a learners own group
obtaining an unobstructed ranking every group has attracted with that of other groups in order to review his/her own
view of all other learner ac- attention from other groups groups activity, to prompt learners to access to the status
tivities at any point of time recently of groups that are at the center of attention for reference,
and to generate evaluation apprehension among groups
Login rank- Ranking based on how often To compare the activity level of a learners own group
ing each group member has with that of other groups, and to prompt learners to access
logged in to ProBo recently the status active of groups for reference
Recent ac- Most recent operations per- To make learners aware of the activity within a learners
tions formed by learners in other own group and that of other groups, and to prompt learn-
groups ers to access the status of active groups for reference
Learners can learn from Recent Most recent communication To overhear communications among other groups
fragments of conversation memos using memos on tasks, files, students, and to obtain useful hints to make progress with
overheard among other or ProjectHome of ProBo their project
learners
and ProBoPortable were enhanced using the fol- accessibility in order to facilitate casual
lowing two principles based on recent learning conversations among learners or groups.
space researches (Oblinger, 2006) and educational Moreover, sometimes, learners can over-
environments in design education, where general hear fragments of conversation from out-
courses were provided in PBL format. side their group and take a hint to extend
their learning activity.
Learners can learn by obtaining an unob-
structed view of all other learner activities Such characteristics of learning environments
at any point of time: Classrooms or learn- are considered to provide learners with opportuni-
ing spaces where learners actively engage ties to reflect on their own groups progress by
in their learning activities are similar to comparing ones group with other groups, and
traditional classroomswhere learners sometimes opportunities of appropriation, i.e.,
felt they had less responsibility for par- the process of taking something that belongs to
ticipationwith seats and tables arranged others and making it ones own (Wertsch, 1998,
in rows and the instructor at the front of p. 53). ProBo and ProBoPortable were redesigned
the room. New age learning spaces pro- and extended to display two types of informa-
vide multiple focal points in classrooms, tion in order to accomplish the abovementioned
promote visibility, and provide learners principles (Table 5).
with an unobstructed view of other learn-
ers work or activities within other groups Information on recent activities in all other
whenever they are within the classroom. groups: ProBo and ProBoPortable both
Learners can observe how other learners provide information on Attention rank-
proceed and be inspired by other groups ing, Login ranking, and Recent ac-
activities. tions. Attention ranking indicates how
Learners can learn by hearing conversa- often each group has been monitored by
tions among other learners: The above- other groups. It is expected to prompt
mentioned learning spaces also provide learners to access the status of groups that
390
Figure 5. Ticker field headings displayed on

are at the center of attention for reference,
ProBoPortable
and to enhance the evaluation apprehen-
sion among groups in order to stimulate
their activities. Both Login ranking and
Recent actions are also intended to make
learners aware of the activities of other
groups.
Information on recent communication on
ProBo and ProBoPortable in all other
groups: Learners can communicate with
each other regarding tasks to be complet-
ed, files to be shared for the project tasks,
and the overall status of their own project the other hand, ProBoPortable displays all the
by using the memo function. ProBo and above mentioned information in the ticker field
ProBoPortable display headings of the oth- whenever a learner opens and activates his/her
er groups recent messages. Learners can phone; current information is updated whenever
be aware of where interactions are occur- ProBoPortable is activated or refreshed.
ring or how other groups are progressing A pilot study using this revised version of
in their project(s). ProBo and ProBoPortable that was conducted in
another undergraduate course revealed that pro-
The revised version of ProBo displays At- viding information regarding other groups fostered
tention ranking and Login ranking on the evaluation apprehension among learners groups
left-hand side of ProjectHome, and Recent ac- and stimulated their activities via social facilita-
tions and Recent memos on the left-hand side tion. It also indicated that students were encour-
of the other functions except ProjectHome (see aged to reflect on their division of labor, rethink
Figure 4 for an example). The current status of the protocol of their project, and communicate
different groups is immediately retrieved from the with each other. This pilot study was conducted
groupware database whenever a learner logs onto with a rather limited number of students. There-
ProBo, accesses a function, or refreshes the page. fore, we would like to empirically discuss the
Learners can access the corresponding informa- accurate effect of the revised version of ProBo-
tion on other projects by clicking on hyperlinks Portable in a future work.
pertaining to each aspect of the information. On
CONCLUSION
Figure 4. Information on recent actions displayed
on ProBo The authors developed ProBoPortablea cel-
lular phone application for enhancing certain
functions in Web-based groupware. In order to
facilitate cooperation and stimulate the emergent
division of labor among learners, ProBoPortable
displays the status of division of labor on the
screen of a cellular phone. A classroom evalua-
tion in an undergraduate course confirmed that
ProBoPortable enhanced mutual awareness of
391
division of labor among learners, who modified Scientific Research (B) (Subject No. 19300290,
their own tasks by monitoring the overall status representative: Hiroshi Kato) from the Japanese
of the PBL project. The sense of a learning com- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
munity was significantly fostered through the use and Technology.
of ProBoPortable. Moreover, the learners were
encouraged to proceed with their own tasks due
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394
Chapter 24
Mathematical Retrieval
Techniques for Online
Mathematics Learning
Le Van Tien
Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam
Quan Thanh Tho

Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam
Hui Siu Cheung

ABSTRACT
In recent years, the number of computer-aided educational softwares in mathematics field has been
increasing. Currently, there are some research prototypes and systems assisting finding mathematical
problems. However, when finding appropriate mathematical expressions, most of these systems only sup-
port mechanisms to search expression in a strict exact manner, or search some similar problems based on
wildcard, not on the similarity of expression structures and semantic meanings. Such mechanisms restrict
users significantly from achieving meaningful and accurate search results of mathematical expressions.
In this chapter, we introduce a mathematical retrieval system that helps mathematics learners self-study
effectively. The most important module in our system is the math-retrieving system module, which received
the analyzed problems submitted from users, retrieves solutions from similar stored problems and ranks
the retrieved problems to users. To fulfill these requirements, we have researched and proposed some
advanced mathematical retrieval and mathematical ranking techniques. Experiments have shown that
our proposed techniques highly suitable for mathematical retrieval as they outperformed the techniques
used in typical document retrieval system
INTRODUCTION development for many prototypes and applications

intended to process information on the Internet.
In recent years, Information Retrieval has emerged The names such as Google (Google), Yahoo!
as a significant field in terms of both research and Search (Yahoo), Baidu (Dawn, 2007) and Bing
(Schofield, 2009) have become familiar to Inter-
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch024 net users nowadays. These search engines have
Mathematical Retrieval Techniques for Online Mathematics Learning
attracted the increased numbers of Internet users helping mathematics learners approach desirable
because of their powerful capabilities of finding solutions quickly.
information quickly over the huge resources avail- In this chapter we also discuss applying math-
able on the World Wide Web. However, the current ematics search engine in the education domain,
generation of search engines has shown some rather than merely technical aspects. Thus, we
prominent shortcomings in searching semantic propose a mathematical retrieval system that helps
information. For example, with the query Where mathematics learners self-study effectively. The
is the Sun Flower?, it is not easy to infer the real proposed system consists of the following major
semantics associated with the term Sun Flower, modules. First, a math-browser module has been
which can be a kind of flower or a company developed to help learners browse classes of
name. Clearly, this question cannot be answered mathematics problems in a friendly and organized
precisely if we are only merely based on the word manner. Next, a testing module has also been built
lexicon. Thus, the need of a search engine which to enable learners to take a trial test and get the
can search semantic content effectively becomes results online. Lastly, a math-retrieving module
highly desirable, which introduces the recently has been constructed to assist users on solving
emerging semantic search engine Wolfram Alpha exercises based on some information retrieval
(Johnson, 2009). techniques. This module can help users find similar
This research investigates mining and retriev- problems when trying to solve certain specific
ing semantic information on another type of data, problems. In addition, the system can get input of
rather than the textual one. In our system, we have mathematical expressions from users in a friendly
attempted to build a module that can retrieve the hand-writing manner. During the development of
mathematical content precisely. One important such a system, we have researched and employed
advantage of mathematical data is that it conveys the following advanced mathematics retrieval
higher semantic level than that of textual data. techniques:
For example, when encountering the term log
appearing in a mathematical expression, we can Mathematical retrieval: we have proposed
be certain about the semantic meaning associated a technique to process and retrieve math-
with this term, which is the arithmetic logarithm ematical data, adapted from the typical
function. vector space model and tfidf weights that
Currently, there are some research prototypes are widely used for document retrieval
and systems assisting finding mathematical (Baeza-Yates & Ribeiro-Neto, 1999).
problems such as MathWebSearch (Kohlhase Mathematical ranking: While the adapted
& Sucan, 2006) and MathDex (Miner & Muna- tfidf technique is useful for retrieving
valli, 2007). However, when finding appropriate mathematical problems, it is not efficient
mathematical expressions, most of these systems to rank the retrieved problem due the spe-
only support mechanisms to search expression cific meaning implied by mathematical
in a strict exact manner, or search some similar symbols and formulas. Thus, we develop
problems based on wildcard, not on the similarity a graph-based matching approach for the
of expression structures and semantic meanings. ranking problem. Our approach suggests a
Such mechanisms restrict users significantly mixture between the Hungarian algorithm
from achieving meaningful and accurate search (Kuhn, 1956) with a self-developed tree-
results of mathematical expressions. Therefore, a based matching algorithm to deal with va-
mathematics search engine based on similarity of riety of mathematical problems ranged in
mathematical expressions has important value in different levels of complexity.
395
The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. The input of an IR system includes queries and
In the next section, we provide readers with some documents. Queries are formal statements of infor-
background knowledge, which include informa- mation needs, for example search strings in web
tion retrieval, mathematical retrieval and match- search engines. In information retrieval system, a
ing problem. Then, we give the architecture of query does not uniquely identify a single document
our proposed system, followed by a case study in the collection. Instead, several documents may
on how to use it. Next, we discuss in details our match the query, perhaps with different degrees
core techniques on mathematical retrieval and of relevancy. The processor is part of the retrieval
ranking. Performance evaluation is given in the system concerned with the retrieval process. The
next section. Finally, the chapter is concluded by process may involve structuring the information
some discussion on conclusion and future work. in some appropriate ways, such as classifying or
clustering it. It will also involve performing the
actual retrieval function, that is, executing the
BACKGROUND search strategy in response to a query. The output
is usually a set of citations or document numbers.
In our proposed system, we intend to let user input In an experimental system, the evaluation step is
some mathematics problems, then we retrieve often required after achieving the output.
some similar problems from our databases whose
solutions will be returned to the users as their Vector Space Model and
hints and references. Thus, we furnish this section Similarity Measures
with some background in information retrieval
and mathematical retrieval. Nevertheless, since In most modern document retrieval systems, the
retrieval of mathematic data is more specific yet documents will be processed and represented as
complicated than that of textual data, we will numerical vectors, therefore the set of documents
discuss some matching techniques particularly will form a so-called vector space model. Then, the
employed for this case. similarities between documents will be calculated
via similarity measures of the vectors, which is
Document Information Retrieval typically based on the tfidf weights. The details
of those concepts are briefly discussed as follows.
Information Retrieval System Vector space model. Vector space model (or
term vector model) is an algebraic model for
Information retrieval (IR) is the science of search- representing text documents (and any objects,
ing for information in documents, searching for in general) as vectors of identifiers, such as, for
documents themselves, searching for metadata example, index terms. It is used in information
which describe documents, or searching within filtering, information retrieval, indexing and rel-
databases, whether relational stand-alone data- evancy rankings. In vector space model, a docu-
bases or hyper textually-networked databases such ment is represented as a vector. Each dimension
as the World Wide Web. IR is interdisciplinary, corresponds to a separate term. If a term occurs
based on computer science, mathematics, library in the document, its value in the vector is non-
science, information science, cognitive psychol- zero. Several different ways of computing these
ogy, linguistics, statistics and physics. An infor- values, also known as (term) weights, have been
mation retrieval system (IR system) comprises developed. One of the best known schemes is tfidf
three components: input, processor, and output. as abovementioned. Typically terms are single
words, keywords, or longer phrases. If the words
396
are chosen to be the terms, the dimensionality of where | D | is total number of documents in the
the vector is the number of words in the vocabu- corpus, and the denominator is the number of
lary (the number of distinct words occurring in documents where the term appears (that is ni,j 0).
the corpus). Then
Term FrequencyInverse Document Fre-
quency (tfidf). The tfidf is a weight often used ni, j D
in information retrieval and text mining. This tfidf i, j = tf i, j * idf i = * log
weight is a statistical measure used to evaluate how nk kj
{d j
: ti d j }
important a word is to a document in a collection
or corpus. The importance increases proportion-
ally to the number of times a word appears in the Similarity Measures. Various algorithms are
document but is offset by the frequency of the available to measure similarities between docu-
word in the corpus. The term frequency in the ment vectors. Two of the most commonly used
given document is simply the number of times a are Euclidean distance and cosine measure.
given term appears in that document. This count
is usually normalized to prevent a bias towards Mathematical Retrieval
longer documents (which may have a higher term
frequency regardless of the actual importance of Currently, in Mathematical Retrieval, there are
that term in the document) to give a measure of some research prototypes proposed; each of
the importance of the term ti within the particular which has its own specific approach and different
document dj. achievement. In this section, we firstly review
some related approaches and projects aiming to
ni, j retrieve mathematical content. Then, our proposed
tf i, j = method is presented.
nk k,j MathWebSearch. MathWebSearch is the
mathematical search engine developed by Michael
Kohlhase and Ioan Sucan (Johlhase & Sucan,
where ni,j is the number of occurrences of the 2006). The MathWebSearch system harvests
considered term in document dj, and the denomi- the web for content representations (currently
nator is the number of occurrences of all terms in MathML and OpenMath) of formulae and in-
document dj.The inverse document frequency is dexes them with substitution tree indexing, a
a measure of the general importance of the term technique originally developed for accessing
(obtained by dividing the number of all documents intermediate results in automated theorem proven.
by the number of documents containing the term, For querying, the development team presents a
and then taking the logarithm of that quotient). generic language extension approach that allows
constructing queries by minimally annotating
existing representations. In summary, the result of
D
idf i = log , this project is all the problems that have the same
{d j
:ti d j } expression or sub-expressions with the query, no
ranking technique is proposed. The prototype of
this project can be found at http://search.math-
web.org/. There are other projects that have the
approach and results similar to this project such
as Mbase (Kohlhase & Franke, 2001)
397
MathDex. MathDex (Miner & Munavalli, Graph Matching Problem

2007) project proposes an approach to search for
mathematical notation. The approach aims at a When ranking retrieved problems based on their
search system that can produce good results with similarity to query, we encounter situation which
a large portion of the mathematical content freely needs to evaluate the similarity between two sets
available on the World Wide Web today. The basic of mathematic terms. After some conversions, this
concept is to linearize mathematical notation as a problem can be treated as a matching problem and
sequence of text tokens, which are then indexed can be solved by applying a matching algorithm.
by a traditional text search engine. For adequate So, in this section, we give some information about
precision and recall in the mathematical context, matching problem. Because matching problems
more complex combinations of atomic queries are are often concerned with bipartite graphs, we in-
required. This approach is to query for a weighted troduce briefly bipartite graph before discussing
collection of significant sub-expressions, where matching problem and its algorithm.
weights depend on expression complexity, nesting
depth, expression length, and special boosting of Graph Matching
well-known expressions. In summary, the result
of this project is all the problems that have the Given a graph G = (V, E), a matching M in G is
same expression or sub-expression with the query, a set of pair wise non-adjacent edges; that is, no
and these problems are sorted based on the num- two edges share a common vertex. We say that
ber of same sub-expressions and the number of a vertex is matched if it is incident to an edge in
mathematical terms of them. The prototype of this the matching. Otherwise the vertex is unmatched.
project can be found at http://www.mathdex.com/. A maximal matching is a matching M of a
In general, the current mathematical search graph G with the property that if any edge not in
engines aim at retrieving the mathematical con- M is added to M, it is no longer a matching, that
tents on the Internet in the short time. Almost these is, M is maximal if it is not a proper subset of
systems retrieve mathematics contents based on any other matching in graph G. In other words,
the exact matching of sub-expressions. Search a matching M of a graph G is maximal if every
engine that really retrieves the mathematics con- edge in G has a non-empty intersection with at
tents based on mathematical similarity is rarely least one edge in M.
seen. In our project, we suggest an approach to A maximum matching is a matching that con-
retrieve the mathematical contents which is based tains the largest possible number of edges. There
on the similarity level between two mathematics may be many maximum matchings. The match-
expressions. In order to improve the execution ing number of a graph is the size of a maximum
cost of the retrieval method, we propose to clas- matching. Note that every maximum matching
sify mathematics problems into different clusters must be maximal, but not every maximal match-
before indexing them. Then, the retrieval process is ing must be maximum.
performed based on the generated clusters, rather A perfect matching is a matching which covers
than a single expression. In order to calculate the all vertices of the graph. That is, every vertex of
similarity between two mathematical expressions, the graph is incident to exactly one edge of the
we rely on the techniques on graph matching, matching. Every perfect matching is maximum
which is reviewed subsequently. and hence maximal. In some literature, the term
complete matching is used.
Given a matching M,
398
An alternating path is a path in which the Set of edges (x[i], y[j]) satisfying c[i,j]
edges belong alternatively to the matching Fx[i] Fy[j] = 0 is a complete match-
and not to the matching. ing with k edges. This is our expected
An augmenting path is an alternating matching.
path that starts from and ends on free (un-
matched) vertices. MATHEMATICS RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
We can prove that a matching is maximum if In this section, we will overview the overall archi-
and only if it does not have any augmenting path. tecture of our proposed system for mathematics
retrieval. To illustrate how our system works, an
Matching in Bipartite Graph operational case study on a working session in
the system will be presented then.
In the mathematical field of graph theory, a bipar-
tite graph is a graph whose vertices can be divided System Architecture
into two disjoint sets X and Y such that every edge
connects a vertex in X and one in Y; that is, there The architecture of our proposed mathematics
is no edge between two vertices in the same set. retrieval system is given is Figure 1. As we can
Matching problems are often concerned with see, our system is a client-server web-base system.
bipartite graphs. Finding a maximum bipartite The communication between client and server is
matching (often called a maximum cardinality handled by AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And
bipartite matching) in an unweighted bipartite Xml) technology, which helps to reduce the re-
graph G = (V = (X + Y), E) is perhaps the simplest sponse time and improve our system performance.
problem. The augmenting path algorithm finds When a user uses web browser to visit our
it by finding an augmenting path from each x system, he/she communicates with the client
X to Y and adding it to the matching if it exists. layer, which contains three main components that
are Math Browser, Math Editor, and Admin Con-
Matching Algorithms trol Panel. These components first receive the
requests from users, then create corresponding
Hungarian algorithm (Kuhn, 1956) is a combinato- ajax requests and send them to the server. At the
rial optimization algorithm which solves matching server, there are six main modules, namely Rec-
problem in bipartite graph in polynomial time ognition module, Browsing module, Retrieval
(O(n3)). The first version, known as the Hungarian module, Testing module, Clustering module, and
method, was invented and published by Harold Administration module. The names of these mod-
Kuhn in 1955. This was revised by James Munkres ules should be self-explanatory. These modules
in 1957, and has been known since as the Hungar- are built based on the.NET framework. In this
ian algorithm, the Munkres assignment algorithm, system, the following utilities are facilitated:
or the Kuhn-Munkres algorithm.
The main idea of Kuhn-Munkres algorithm Math Browser: It allows users to browse
to solve the bipartite matching problem with mathematical knowledge in a friendly and
minimum weight is as follows. Finding two array organized manner.
Fx[1..k], Fy[1..k] which satisfy: Mathematical Retrieval: It supports re-
trieval of similar mathematical problems
c[i, j] Fx[i] Fy[j] >= 0 for a given problem. The retrieved prob-
lems will be ranked accordingly.
399
Figure 1. System conceptual architecture
Trial Testing: It assists users to self-study the screen displays information of the currently
via a trial test. chosen cluster, which includes all paths from
root node to the current cluster and all problems
These features will be illustrated via an opera- in this cluster. The user can access one cluster on
tional case study followed. The most interesting the paths to current cluster by clicking on the cor-
feature, Mathematical Retrieval, will be discussed responding button. He can also view the solution
in details in the next section. for a specific problem in a cluster by clicking on
the View solution link. Finally, if the user wants
Operational Case Study to return to the main menu in order to choose
another system functions, he needs to click on
In this section, we will present some screens Main Menu button at the bottom of this screen.
specifying assumed scenarios of our system. As
abovementioned, these scenarios include Math Math Retrieval
Browser, Mathematical Retrieval and Trial Test-
ing. Math Retrieval supports retrieval of mathemat-
ics problems similar to a query problem input by
Math Browser users. As depicted in Figure 3, there is a writing
table that allows the user to write expression of the
The main interface of Math Browser is given in problem that he wants to find other similar ones.
Figure 2. As can be observed, the mathematics The user can also see all possible characters which
knowledge is organized as a hierarchy that allows system has recognized from his written informa-
users to browse in a systematic manner. In this tion. If the recognition character is not correct, he
browser, mathematics topics are represented by can easily choose the appropriate one among the
the concept of clusters. Each cluster can be con- characters in Recognized Characters window.
sidered as a topic. As we can see, all mathematical After recognizing the query problem from the
topics are displayed in Clusters window at the user, the system will do the retrieval and ranking
left of the screen. These topics are displayed in processes. After processing, the result will be
tree view, which helps users to browse the topics displayed back to the user as presented in Figure 3.
friendly and easily. The remainder at the right of
400
Figure 2. Math browser interface
The result contains the top ranked problems Testing

together with their solutions. Top ranked problems
indicate the stored problems that are most relevant If the user chooses the Testing function, he will
to current expression. The returned problems are see screen as depicted in Figure 4. After reading
sorted according to the similarities to the inputted the question in the Question window, the user
expression. Based on the corresponding solutions can write his answer in the Writing panel. The
of the retrieved problems, users may find hints or recognition result is displayed in the Expres-
infer the solutions for the requested problem. sion window. He can easily navigate among all
questions by using the control buttons in Control
Table window. When finishing inputting the
answer, a user can click on EVALUATE button
to get the evaluated mark for his answer. After
Figure 3. Mathematical retrieval
401
Figure 4. Solution submitted for the test
clicking on EVALUATE button, if the users MATHEMATICAL RETRIEVAL AND

answer and the solution are the same mathemati- RANKING
cally, he will see the following screen informing
the evaluated mark for his answer. We use the As given in the case study, the most interesting
Maple library to evaluate the correctness of the feature of our system is the ability to retrieve
submissions of users and notify the results to the the stored problems relevant to a query and
users accordingly. rank the retrieved problem accordingly. In our
architecture, this feature is handled mainly in the
Retrieval module, as depicted in Figure 5. After
the Recognition module successfully recognizes
the query given by users from the Math Editor,
Figure 5. Operational mechanism of retrieval module
402
the Retrieval module will then retrieve relevant variable are the same kind in terms of semantic
stored problems from the database. In the data- meaning. Thus, the process to convert a math-
base, all of stored problems are clustered into ematical expression into a tfidf vector consists
groups, or clusters, based on their similarities. of the following steps:
Therefore, the Retrieval module will retrieve the Partitioning functions: The recognized ex-
whole clusters that are most relevant, rather than pression must be converted into vector form to
individual problems. Then, the Retrieval will rank apply the vector retrieval model later. To convert
the problems contained in the retrieved clusters. the expression into the vector form, we consider
In order to cluster and retrieve the mathemat- each mathematical function (such as log, cos, sin,
ical problems, we represent the query and the ect.) as a dimension of a vector. For example, with
stored problems as vectors of tfidf weights, as a vector space comprises five dimensions which
discussed in the Background section. Then, we are integral, sin, cos, log, and identifier, the ex-
use some tree-based matching techniques for pression sin log sin x is presented by
ranking the retrieved problems. These will be
vect(1,2,0,1,1). This presentation means that: The
discussed in detail as follows.
expression includes one integral function, two sin
function, no cos function, one log function and
Representing Mathematical
one identifier which is x. This process will receive
Expressions as tfidf Vectors
the mathematical expression from the recognition
module and convert it into the vector form.
In a modern document retrieval model, the fol-
lowing steps are usually performed to convert a
Stemming number/variable: Because our
document into a tfidf vector: keywords identifi-
approach based on the similarity, we con-
cation, stemming and tfidf weights calculation.
sider two specific numbers or two specific
For example, let us consider the query I want
variables are the same. This step replaces
to know about JAVA compiler. When identify-
each specific number/variable by a general
ing keywords, we firstly remove unimportant
number/variable notation.
words (i.e., non-content words such as pronoun,
Calculating tfidf weights: In the last steps,
prepositions, etc.) to get significant keywords,
we applied the techniques similar to those
which are JAVA and compiler. In the stem-
of the textual retrieval process to produce
ming step, we convert each keyword to its base
the corresponding tfidf weights.
form. For example, compiler will be reduced to
compil. After having the base forms produced,
For example, let us consider the query expres-
the tfidf weights are calculated as discussed in
the Background section. sion sin log sin x with database which has 100
When dealing with the mathematical data, documents in which there are 80 documents con-
because of the advantage of highly semantic rep- tain the integral function, 60 documents contain
resentation, the step of finding keywords becomes the sin function, 20 documents contain the log
simple. In a mathematical expression, a function function, 40 documents contains the cos function,
name/operator is considered as a keyword, and and 100 documents contain the identifier. After
the stemming step is not necessary when dealing the partition function step, the query is presented
with this mathematical data. With a specific vari- by vect(1,2,0,1,1). By calculating tfidf weight for
able/number, we consider it as general variable/ each dimension of this vector, we have tfidf vec-
number as the stemming step in textual retrieval. tor of the expression. For example, the tfidf weight
For example, we consider x variable and y of term sin is calculated as follows:
403
the number/variable stemming on these vectors,

2 100 2 5 calculate their tfidf vectors, and finally measure
w sin, query = tf sin, query * idf sin = * log = * log 0.0887
1+2 + 0 +1+1 60 5 3 their similarity based on cosine formulae. As we
can see, this ranking approach is similar to that of
the textual retrieval technique, so it performs well
0.0194
1 100
wintegral, query = tf integral , query * idf integral = * log with the problems that almost content is textual
5 80
(the problems such as Calculating velocity of a
person if he spent 1 hour to go from his office to
0 100 supermarket. The distance between his office and
wcos, query = tf cos, query * idf cos = * log = 0 the supermarket is 12km.).
5 40
Ranking Based on Tree-Matching
1 100
wlog, query = tf log, query * idf log = * log 0.1398 With problems whose contents include math-
5 20
ematical expression, we can also apply ranking
technique based on tfidf, but the evaluation value
widentifier , query = tf identifier , query * idf identifier =
1
* log
100
= 0
will be not reasonable in some cases. For example,
5 100 with the query sinlogcosx, let us consider three
expressions which are sinlogcosx, sincoslogx
and coslogsinx. Clearly, we expect to retrieve
Thus, the tfidf vector corresponding to occur-
the problem sinlogcosx first because it is the same
rence vector vect(1,2,0,1,1) is vectTF-IDF(0.0194,
problem with the query. But when we measure
0.887, 0, 0.1398, 0).
the similarity of these expressions, we will have
the same values in terms of tfidf, meaning these
Ranking Mathematical Expressions three expressions have the same similarities when
compared with the query. Obviously, this is not
In order to help the user find the most suitable
the result we have expected. So, to deal with this
problems quickly, the returned problems need to
case, we propose a matching approach known as
be sorted. In this process, the result problems are
Tree-Matching algorithm to evaluate the similar
ranked based on their similarity with the input
value between two mathematical expressions.
query. Basically, we have two choices for rank-
In the Tree-Matching approach, we consider
ing methods. With a problem description which
an expression as a tree, and develop an algorithm
is almost textual, we do the ranking task based
to evaluate the similarity value between the query
on the similarity between the corresponding tfidf
expression and the sample expression as the simi-
vectors. With a problem including mathematical
larity between two trees. The idea of evaluating the
expressions, we propose a ranking method based
similarity of two expression trees is very simple;
on Tree-Matching algorithm.
it is performed level-by-level, and node-by-node.
This general idea is described visually in Figure 6.
Ranking Based on tfidf Applying this idea, we will evaluate the simi-
larity of two expression trees by recursively
In order to rank the problem which is almost text,
comparing mathematical terms at each level, from
we have applied the same technique as when re-
top to bottom. At a specific node on a tree, we
trieving clusters. With this approach, we firstly
terminate the evaluation on its leaves if the math-
convert the sample problems into vectors, then do
404
Figure 6. Example of comparing two expression trees
ematical term is not similar to the corresponding exhaustively match all possible cases of the nodes
one in the remaining tree. between two trees in order to find out the best
matching. For example, with the two trees given
Matching Methods for Tree- in Figure 7, we can see that the best matching in
Matching Algorithm level 2 is to match the sin term in the left tree
with the sin term in the right tree, and similarly
When comparing two trees, we have observed to two x terms. In order to find the best matching
an important remark that the number of operands in these cases, we suggest applying one of two
and their order in expression are very important algorithms, which are known as Permutations
in almost operators. So, in some trivial cases, the (Bona, 2004) and Maximum Bipartite Matching
comparison can just be simply performed from algorithms.
top level to deepest level, from the left to the Permutation matching algorithm is similar to
right. However, there are some so-called special the brute-force search (or exhaustive search)
operators such as addition (+), multiplication or technique. This means that we generate all pos-
product (*) which do not require a fixed number sible orders of matching, then calculate the simi-
of operands and allow the operands organized in larity weight of each matching method and choose
any arbitrary order. In this case, we must try to the best one. This method always returns the best
Figure 7. Example of mathematical expression matching trees
405
possible matching. In addition, it is algorithm is Clearly, by applying this conversion, our

quite intuitive and easy implement. However, the problem becomes the problem of finding the
complexity of this algorithm, which is O(n!), is complete matching which has maximum weight.
very high. So we decided to apply this approach So, we can solve the matching problem by apply-
in case the maximum number of operands is not ing the maximum bipartite matching algorithm
greater than six terms. In our implementation, we which we have been covered in the Background
have attempted to speed up this algorithm by us- section. In our implementation, we have applied
ing the non-recursive permutation algorithm. the Kuhn-Munkres algorithm, which is considered
When the number of operands in an operator as one of the best algorithms which solves the
becomes too large, we suggest applying maximum matching problem in bipartite graph.
bipartite matching algorithm, because the com-
plexity of this algorithm is O(n3), so it runs more
smoothly when comparing to the permutation PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
algorithm in these cases. But the trade-off is that
we need more computing space when applying this In this section, we present an initial experiment
algorithm. So, we decide to apply this algorithm to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed
when the number of nodes in the tree is greater mathematical retrieval system. In the experiment,
than 5, just simply because O(53) O(5!). we use a database consisting of 80 mathematics
To applying the maximum bipartite match- problems extracted from textbook. Table 1 lists
ing algorithm to our problem, we consider X as the 20 illustrated problems. We have performed
the set of nodes at ith level in one tree, Y is set of the system performance evaluation based on the
nodes at the ith level in the remaining tree, and 10-fold method. When a fold has been used as a
(x[i], y[j]) is an edge which its weight c[i, j] is the testing data, the remaining folds act as the train-
value of similarity when comparing x[i] and y[j]. ing data. After performing testing on 10 folds,
For example, with the trees in Figure 7, we will we received 79/80 correct results, which is about
have the following bipartite graph as in Figure 8, 98.75% of accuracy.
with the white nodes standing for mathematical We have also compared the performance of our
terms in the left tree are in the left side, and the tree-matching ranking with other typical ranking
grey nodes standing for mathematical terms in techniques in terms of typical IR measures like
the right tree are in the right side. recall, precision and F-measure, using the same
query sets as depicted in Table 1. There are two
ranking techniques are used for comparison. In
Figure 8. Example of expression bipartite graph
the first technique, the typical tfidf vector-space-
model (VSM) is applied. In the second one, we
also make use of VSM for retrieval; the data are
clustered before retrieved. Table 2 presents the ex-
perimental results of the techniques implemented.
As can be seen in Table 2, when combined
with the clustering technique, VSM-based re-
trieval technique can be improved significantly
in terms of both recall and precision. It is because
when data are clustered, information is better
represented as clusters and thus making the re-
trieval performance better. As compared to the
406
Table 1. Examples of some stored problems

CONCLUSION
lnx
In this chapter, we have discussed mathemati-
lnx * ln sin x cal retrieval issue and proposed a mathematical
lnx * ln(2x ) retrieval system. Rather than just searching for
information like some typical document retrieval
x * lnx systems, the proposed system is very useful for
x *lnx
2
mathematics learners, since it can suggest hints
from solutions of relevant problems retrieved.
lnx * ln(2x ) * ln(3x ) Thus, the learners can self-study on an online
lnx * sin (ln x ) environment.
lnx * cos (ln x ) Taking into account the characteristics of
mathematical contents, we have also proposed
lnx * sin (ln x ) * ln(2x ) some appropriate mathematical retrieval tech-
sin (ln x ) *(lnx )
2
niques, which are adapted from typical document
retrieval techniques combined with some graph
ln ln x
x
matching methods. To represent mathematics
expression for efficient retrieval, we suggest
ln ln x 2
x2 to modify the concept of tfidf weight to better
reflect the mathematic-specific contents. There-
x * ln ln x
2
fore, mathematics expression can be retrieved
lnx * sinlnx effectively in our system. To make the ranking
x of our system more reasonable and accurate, we
lnx * coslnx adopt a tree-matching approach, which can handle
x the mathematical structures almost precisely.
ln (ax + b ) Moreover, our system is equipped with a friendly
interface allowing users to directly submit their
(ln x )
4
solutions in a drawing board, which is the most

x natural and convenient manner.
lnx * ln(3x) Thus, our system, in one hand, fully takes
x2 advantage of the online environment to liberate
learners from physical distance and time con-
x * sin x * ln x * ln cos x straints. Learners can access the system from
anywhere and at anytime they wish. In other hand,
our system helps typical learners to avoid technical
difficulty such as getting themselves familiar with
specific symbol-embedded editors or sufficiently
VSM+clustering technique, the precision gained
mastering skill of keyboard typing to practice
by Tree-matching queries technique is slightly
their studies. In our system, users are provided a
lower, however the recall is quite better. As a
convenient learning environment to communicate
result, the tree-matching ranking technique
information in a traditional manner, i.e. users can
achieved the best performance in terms of F-
just simply write down what they have in mind as
measure.
if they are working with typical paper-and-pencil
407
Table 2. Comparison of IR techniques
Techniques Recall Precision F-measure

VSM 74% 85% 79%
VSM + Clustering 92% 89% 90%
Tree-matching 91% 99% 95%
tools. In short, our system combines the advantages Kohlhase, M., & Sucan, I. (2006). A Search Engine
of both online and traditional studying methods. for Mathematical Formulae. In Proceedings of 8th
With the furnished feature of intelligent re- International Conference (pp. 241-253), AISC
trieval of mathematical contents, our system can 2006 Beijing, China, September 20-22.
also therefore play the role of a virtual tutor, who
Kuhn, H. W. (1956). Variants of the Hungarian
is able to provide learners hints for their currently
method for assignment problems. Naval Research
unsolved problems. In other extent, our system
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can also serve as an online testing program for
nav.3800030404
mathematics learners. All of these features can be
implemented with a significantly reduced cost of Miner, R., & Munavalli, R. (2007). An approach
manpower and administration but still preserving to mathematical search through query formula-
a friendly and easy-to-use interactive mechanism tion and data normalization. Towards Mechanized
for users, which is one of vital requirements to Mathematical Assistants (pp. 342355). MKM.
conduct the success of a studying program.
Schofield, J. (2009). Microsoft launches Bing.com
as its new search engine. The Guardian.
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speed of China. Los Angeles Times. Google search
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Johnson (2009). British search engine could rival Mathematical Retrieval: To retrieve math-
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408
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409
410
Chapter 25
Online Ethnographic Methods:
Towards a Qualitative Understanding
of Virtual Community Practices
Jrgen Skgeby
Linkping University, Sweden
ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the use of online ethnographical methods as a potent way to reach qualitative
understanding of virtual communities. The term online ethnography envelopes document collection, online
observation and online interviews. The chapter will explain the steps of conducting online ethnography
from defining setting and spelling out your research perspective, to collecting online data, analyz-
ing gathered data, feeding back insights to the studied community and presenting results with ethical
awareness. In this process the chapter will compare online ethnography to traditional ethnography and
provide illustrative empirical examples and experiences from three recent online ethnographical stud-
ies on social information and media sharing (Skgeby, 2007, 2008, 2009a). While multimedial forms of
data and data collection are becoming more common (i.e. video and sound recordings), the focus of the
chapter lies mainly with text-based data. The chapter concludes by discussing methodological benefits
and drawbacks of an online ethnographical process.
INTRODUCTION record other, more transient, conversations make

it possible to collect social data from virtual com-
User engagement and communication sharing are munities. Indeed, the growing body of research
two very central activities of virtual communi- in the field of Internet studies provides support to
ties. In themselves, these activities also lay the the viability of online methods to examine virtual
ground for online methods as practical means of community practices, behaviours and sentiments
data-collection. The enduring qualities of some (Granello & Wheaton, 2004; Hine, 2005; Kinnevy
conversations and the technological means to & Enosh, 2002; Maczewski, et al., 2004). Not only
does this development give an improved scholarly
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch025 foundation for researchers to honour the field in
Online Ethnographic Methods
which the participants are working the online well as mediated interviews with key informants
environment (Crichton & Kinash, 2003), but also can help researchers to shape a valid description
that turning to the Internet for data collection [] of a studied virtual community.
prompts one to think outside of the traditional box
and leads to creative methods and measurements
(Skitka & Sargis, 2006, p. 543). THE ONLINE ETHNOGRAPHICAL
PROCEDURE
Online Ethnography as a Method
to Understand User Engagement The online ethnographical procedure consists of a
and Communication Sharing number of different steps, namely cultural entrance
(or entre), collection and analysis of data while
Online ethnography is a qualitative approach to also making sure that trustworthy interpretations
data collection in virtual communities. As such, are made, conducting ethically sound research and
its aim is usually to look beyond amounts and dis- making sure that members of the studied milieu can
tributions and to try to unearth the deeper reasons provide feedback to the research(er). This chapter
for behaviours or sentiments (i.e. why?). In the will describe these steps, but use a slightly differ-
attempt to find answers to the question why? ent, and elaborated taxonomy, i.e. defining setting
online ethnography must acknowledge that usage and research perspective; making an entrance;
is often situated in specific communities and with qualitative online data collection; analysis; and
specific communication technologies. As Jones presentation of results. Additionally, the author
(2005) puts it: Internet studies can [] describe will also consider the omnipresent ethical dilem-
and intervene in the life and values of the people mas that colour online ethnographical research.
who use the internet, and these can be best under-
stood, no matter our temporal distance, through Defining Setting and
close observation and analysis of specific people Research Perspective
and technologies, in specific places and times.
In many ways, online ethnography is not very This chapter will assume that an important re-
different from traditional ethnography (Hine, search question has already been defined and
2000; Jakobsson, 2006). In fact, online ethnogra- that online ethnography has been identified as a
phy has been described as [traditional] ethnogra- workable method for addressing this particular
phy adapted to the study of online communities question. It may be that online ethnography is
(Guimares, 2003; Kozinets, 2002). Thus, to judged to be the only available method for this
understand online ethnography, this chapter ar- specific question. In some cases it might even
gues that it is important to understand the costs be seen as counterproductive to include other
and benefits of traditional ethnography. A very (offline) data collection methods particularly
short, but concise, explanation of ethnography when researching the specifics of mediated
would articulate it as a description of individuals, social interaction (Markham, 2004b). Still, it is
groups or cultures in their own environment over important to understand that online ethnography
a (long) period of time. As such, ethnography is is one method part of a larger repertoire of viable
not explicitly wed to a specific set of methods, but qualitative methods. This means that even though
commonly the utilized methods are qualitative in a study is aimed towards a virtual community,
nature (e.g. observations and unstructured inter- online and offline methods can sometimes be
views). This chapter will discuss how document used in conjunction when researching certain
collection, direct observations and participation as practices or other social phenomena (Garcia, et
411
al., 2009; Silver, 2000). Thus, defining the setting Soulseek is a file-sharing application and
and how the studied phenomena permeates or tightly knit network used mostly to exchange
does not permeate the online/offline border can music, although able to share a variety of files.
be crucial for subsequent methodological choices. It was created by Nir Arbel, a former Napster
Consequently, the setting should be defined in both programmer. Like Napster, it relies on a central
social and technical terms, illustrating for example server. Soulseek is free of spyware and other mali-
typical features, system development processes, cious code. Soulseek is different from other file
user base, historical background, characteristic sharing programs as it allows users the option of
social phenomena (if any), content of significance downloading full folders instead of just single files.
in FAQ:s, any official standards of conduct etc. The original Soulseek userbase was composed
The declaration of setting provides readers with mostly of members of the IDM [Intelligent Dance
the basic knowledge needed to contextualize the Music] Mailing List, and most of the music first
findings and insights presented later as well as found on Soulseek was underground electronic
judge how the studied phenomena relates to the music or music created by the users themselves.
chosen setting on a larger scale. The reader can After Audiogalaxy [another popular music-
then make connections between the application sharing service] was shut down, however, many
genre, its features and the emergence of rules or former Audiogalaxy users migrated to Soulseek
practices. From a study of music file-sharing we and brought copyrighted music owned by record
see an example of how a high-level description of labels belonging to the RIAA [Recording Industry
the setting can be written below (Skgeby, 2007): of America Association]. Nevertheless, Soulseek
remains a favourite of fans of underground and
Example: High-Level independent music, and a large portion of file-
Setting Declaration sharing on Soulseek is legal sharing of music that
is distributed under a free license.
The network Soulseek (slsk) is one of the more The userbase has grown rapidly since its begin-
popular P2P music networks, although it has kept nings, and there are now some 120,000 users at
an underground spirit to it. Some members are any given time, with more than one million total
annoyed that Soulseek is appearing in the me- registered users in early 2004. (Soulseek, 2006)
dia, something that has become more common. In terms of interaction, the picture below shows
Soulseek is not a large-scale business endeavour, the overall interaction categories (these would be
which makes the official descriptions and bio- expanded on in a more elaborated description).
graphical accounts of it stem from Wikipedia Within each category there are additional, more
(Soulseek, 2006) or published interviews with specific features.
the main programmer (Mennecke, 2003), rather This chapter strongly recommends that the
than press releases or white-papers. critical next step of an ethnographic research
process is to declare the perspective from which
Figure 1. A structural overview of the interaction repertoire in Nicotine (one of the applications used
to access and interact with the Soulseek network)
412
the researcher(s) are initiating their endeavour. we, as online ethnographers, ask ourselves, and
This is a step that is more often than not, overseen people in our close surroundings, some important
by (online) ethnographic research papers. This questions, namely:
may be due to the limited space often provided
to papers or chapters, but nevertheless, as ethno- What phenomena do I/we initially see in
graphic research is so dependent on the relation- the problem area and why?
ship between researcher and the researched Are there other ways to delimit/categorize
context, it presents itself as a necessary component phenomena in the problem area?
of any ethnographic study. To declare a research What are my experiences of the problem
perspective means to initiate a self-reflecting area?
process, where the researcher(s) try to unfold his What are my preconceptions about rela-
or hers prior interpretations and personal experi- tionships between phenomena in the prob-
ences of the studied domain and the present re- lem area?
search questions. It also means to acknowledge What are my values relating to phenomena
the perspective that pure objective and value-free in the problem area?
descriptions are very difficult, if not impossible.
The Internet is also a setting for fieldwork and as Answering these questions, honestly and with
such not neutral to bias from agendas, personal detail, is likely to enhance the dependability of
histories or social norms (Murthy, 2008). Thus, the research. As described, once an ethnographical
much importance lies in the in depth awareness study is launched it is often seen as an obligation
and declaration of such potential preconceptions for researchers to, as accurately as possible, de-
and the realization of how such preconceptions scribe the context of the study (e.g. for reasons of
can enrich the research. In many ways, an ethno- transferability). This chapter argues that before a
graphic process is about taking turns between the study is launched a declaration of self-reflection
stories of the researcher (e.g. the debriefing de- also needs to be conducted (i.e. by reflecting over
scriptions) and the stories of the participants, the questions above).
looking for instances where those stories converge
(Guimares, 2003). Example: Researcher Perspective
This chapter, and much of the literature on Insider vs. Outsider
interpretative methods, mentions the method-
ological importance of declaring the research In prior studies conducted by the author of this
perspective (Jones, 2005; Walstrom, 2004). In new chapter (Skgeby, 2007, 2008, 2009a), the stance
media contexts it becomes particularly important, of the researcher was to be an outsider with certain
as it has the potential to further strengthen the inside experience. The benefits of such a position
entire field of Internet studies: One action to be are that there still is room for reflective observa-
undertaken is questioning by us how we come tion as well as improved analytical skills from
to the knowledge we have. That is to say that, if knowing the basics of interaction and technical
an interpretative turn consists at least in part of features (e.g. by avoiding technical slip-ups or
self-reflection, of knowing how we know others, elementary social faux-pas). Other ethnographers
then we must as part of the development of our have also deemed this to be a favourable research
research and scholarship unpack the complicities stance (Forsythe, 1999). A clear benefit of hav-
and complications of our own positions as Internet ing an inside experience is that researchers who
users (Jones, 2005). The process of unpacking are viewed as insiders, or at least knowledgeable
our own positions as Internet users requires that of the local customs, will face an easier task
413
when recruiting key informants (i.e. for follow-up caution with respondents. Naturally, any attempts
interviews). Associating with central community to recruit or approach participants should adhere to
members, engaging them as participants of the the current informal rules, or netiquette, in order
research (rather than just respondents), provides to circumvent potential social gaffes.
the researcher(s) with situated interpretative profi-
ciency. The taking on of key informants could not Online Ethnographic Data Collection
only add interpretative fine-tuning, but potentially
also enhance the reach of the method allowing for Once entrance is made, data collection may
hidden or hard-to-reach populations to be included commence. The three most common data collec-
in the study (Matthews & Cramer, 2008). tion methods used in online ethnography are (1)
document collection, (2) online observation and
Making an Entrance (3) online interviews.
By document collection I refer to the gathering
How to enter the studied community depends of some form of archived interaction (e.g. mailing
much on whether hidden or open research is in- list archives, forum discussion archives). Online
tended (i.e. if the researcher intends to not only observation refers to the researchers concurrent
gather data from archives, but also engage or use of, and data collection through, the services
participate in the ongoing activities of the com- or applications utilized in the studied online
munity and its members). This, in turn, could practice. For example, the use of chat services
depend on the nature of the studied community (Svenningson, 2001), or virtual world systems
and how the results are fed back and ultimately (Jakobsson, 2006) as both means and ends to ob-
disseminated. At the end of the day there is the serve practices. Compared to document collection,
question of how sensitive the material is judged online observation is real-time and synchronous,
to be and the potential harms and benefits that something which carries implications on both
can result from the publication of the research the observation type and the researcher role (as
(Murthy, 2008). Thus the entrance in a community shall be elaborated on later). Online interviews
can vary from simply identifying a community means to use synchronous, micro-synchronous
forum message archive appropriate to study, on or asynchronous communication technology as a
the basis of the level of activity in it (i.e. num- mediator of an interview. Benefits and drawbacks
ber of active members, amount and richness of of each method will be concisely summarized
postings) (Kozinets, 2002) to overtly presenting under each section respectively.
oneself, the study and continuous results, obtaining
collective informed consent and taking measures Document Collection
to protect participant privacy (Sharf, 1999). The
practical issues and consequences of presenting Document collection refers to the gathering of,
oneself as an online researcher, and how it may in some sense, archived data. In general, the data
depend on the specific social context, is effectively comes from asynchronous genres of communica-
discussed by Garcia and colleagues (2009). They tion, such as discussion forums, blogs or mailing
say, for example, that gender can still be an issue, lists. As such, the data collected via document
sometimes posing a threat and sometimes acting collection is usually made up of textual material.
as a factor enhancing trust. Referring to official However, with the increasing multimediated social
web pages hosted by the University in charge, or interaction in for example social networking sites,
other proofs of authorization, seems to balance audio and video are to an increasing extent included
out any informal tones that can otherwise build as data sources. The richness of social network-
414
ing sites is acknowledged by Murthy (2008) who variety of discussions, not only pertaining to the
ascertains: when conducted alongside other data specific research question. This approach is largely
(e.g. interviews), the sites can provide unique made possible by the continuously refined search
in-depth autobiographical accounts of scenes options and techniques offered by both general
and respondents (p. 846). Certain structural and (e.g. Google) or specialized (e.g. Boardreader,
contextual information can also be collected via, Omgili, Blogpulse) search engines. As such there
for example, screenshots. is a larger reliance on language and technology,
The selection and amount of data collected but also a potential to widen both the reach and
is usually at the discretion of the ethnographer variety of the data.
and should, naturally, be guided by the research
question. Since a lot of communities are highly Online Observation
social arenas with its benefits and drawbacks,
data can be cluttered with off-topic material. Internet use is often distributed over different
In a general sense, ethnography is interested in techniques (such as discussion groups, instant
all community activities, but depending on the messaging conversations, shared files, member
research question a preliminary sorting can be profiles etc.) and capable of leaving many mani-
resource-saving. A risk is that it can be hard to fest traces. A combination of different sources
predict what to save and pursue and what to discard of data can be very rewarding for scientists with
and ignore, even with a narrow topic of research. an interest in social activities on the net. Thus,
On the one hand, this depends on the relevance to actually engage in the common activities of a
of answering the research question and is up to network or community is beneficial in reducing the
the skills of the researcher. On the other hand, potential gap between what people say and what
the technical cost of saving additional material people do. In much virtual community research
from online ethnographic studies is usually low, the co-evolvement of social activities, groupings
so while a preliminary sorting can save time and and technical tools and development becomes a
effort, there is always a possibility to re-include central theme. What is interesting is to understand
material previously disregarded. how the virtual community works, often from the
Document collection is typically one of two perspective of the users. However, the user does
types: (1) targeted or (2) distributed. Targeted not act in a sociotechnical vacuum: the motiva-
document collection means that one specific fo- tions, technology, netiquette, and conflicts of
rum is selected because of its specific relevance interest etc. emerge during social interaction. As
to answering the research question (e.g. topical such, using the same application(s) that members
or demographical relevance). In this case, the are utilizing can considerably help the online
actual collection boils down to identifying rel- ethnographer understand new aspects of use.
evant discussion threads or posts and saving Note that this could also include using any other
these. If the research question is limited in scope applications that the studied community favour,
in relation to the overall topic of the forum, this which may further assist to develop a sense of
chapter suggests to make use of search options what is relevant, important and significant to the
included for the specific studied forum, but also end-users. In summary, the researcher should make
that a final relevance judgement must be made an effort to experience daily life as it is composed
at human discretion. In the case of distributed for the regular members of the studied community
document collection, several for a (or blogs), are (Garcia, et al., 2009). In the words of Walstrom
searched for relevant discussion. It might be that (2004): Moreover, this approach obliges research-
these are general discussion fora containing a wide ers to not only participate in the [online] groups
415
Table 1. Observation types and researcher roles (Svenningson, 2001)
Participant Partly participant Only observing

Open observation [Participant observer] [Reporter]
Partly open observation
Hidden observation [Wallraff/undercover] [Spy]
that they study but also to have experienced the and the process of collecting them, is not to be
dilemma central to the participants discussions. underrated. Several authors have reported on the
This participation, however, can be hidden, high value of field notes in online ethnography
open or somewhere in between. In the table (Baym, 2000; Jakobsson, 2006). In studies of an
below we see a summary of different research online music sharing community, the researchers
perspectives based on hidden/open and participant/ usage of a sharing application generated an ample
observing dimensions: amount of central field notes (Skgeby, 2007).
The choice of how to conduct online observa- The main point of online observation and field
tion can depend on several factors. Depending on notes is that the researcher must be sensitive to
the type of community it is not always techni- phenomena that cannot be deduced from text only.
cally possible to be open towards all other mem- For example, in the aforementioned music study,
bers (e.g. in P2P file sharing). Another aspect is fieldnotes about the conduct of users in terms of
whether online observation is used as primary or what they downloaded and shared, in combina-
supplementary method. If used as supplementary tion with what they talked about, provided deeper
method and not dealing with individuals or sensi- insights and theoretical sensitivity than conversa-
tive data, but as a way to confirm insights about tions alone. Typical categories of data that can
ways of conduct in a general sense (i.e. practices) be recorded via fieldnotes are implicit practices,
a hidden approach could be defended. However, member hierarchies, relationship structures and
if used as a primary method and dealing with tacit knowledge.
potentially sensitive data, the researcher-partici-
pant trust can be heavily damaged if conducted Online Interviews
in a hidden manner (Skitka & Sargis, 2006).
The question of how to record data from online Online interviews can be performed synchro-
observation has several possible answers. For nously or asynchronously. The main genres
example, Jakobsson (2006) made video record- (Barnes, 2003) of computer-mediated commu-
ings of a virtual environment (while concurrently nication which are used for performing online
also entrusting his avatar with a video camera). interviews are either instant messaging (Davis,
Screenshots is another, more static, option. As et al., 2004; Lawson, 2004; Voida, et al., 2004)
always, such material must be kept confidential. or e-mail (Bampton & Cowton, 2002; Meho, in
If considered for publication, informed consent press). The big initial difference between these
and/or anonymization should be collected and two genres is that instant messaging (IM) is syn-
performed. Interestingly, the role of field notes chronous and e-mail is asynchronous. This has
has been thoroughly discussed in literature on certain implications on the type of interaction
traditional ethnography (Emerson, et al., 1995), that can take place. While both these genres rely
but as regards online ethnography it has not been on certain technological skills and resources, IM
well covered. However, the importance of these, is more time-dependent/time-intensive and thus
416
sensitive to technical problems, possibly creating The aim with the interview becomes more
lags and delays in responses. IM conversations clear due to the absence of visual and bodi-
also have the potential of being concurrent, for ly cues
example an interviewee can sometimes manage No non-verbal cues that discourage or dis-
as many as 20 conversations at the same time tract participants
(Crystal, 2001). Goes beyond geographical and economical
Interestingly, online interviews direct attention limitations in term of reaching participants
towards the benefits and drawbacks of convention- and interviewees otherwise not accessible
al or face-to face interviewing. Scholars skewing Can be conducted with the convenience of
away from online interviews often acknowledge time and familiarity of the home or work
the technical benefits that come with it, such environment
as diminished costs, speed and geographic reach. Transcription is less demanding (in its sim-
However, the social aspects are often treated with plest sense, copy and paste)
scepticism. The lack of nonverbal behaviour, Disclosure of more honest and deep
the possibilities to manufacture online identities information
(for both interviewers and respondents) and less
in-depth replies (Fontana & Frey, 2000) are only Limitations:
some of the common misgivings. Nevertheless,
as more scholars conduct online interviews, the Limited non-verbal cues for encouragement
overall picture tends to get more nuanced. Many Empathic and emotional communication is
researchers have dedicated time and effort to de- not obviously manifested
scribing the drawbacks and benefits of mediated Covert or constructed identities or char-
interviewing (Crichton & Kinash, 2003; Kivits, acteristics, as well as temporary nature of
2005; Olivero & Lunt, 2004; Selwyn & Robson, participation, can make follow ups difficult
1998). Their accounts reveal a dependable data Potentially skewed population (e.g. pre-
collection method capable of producing rich and dominantly young European or American
in-depth data. male)
As before mentioned, it is captivating to high- Asynchronous: can be stretched out over
light the strengths and limitations of online inter- time due to flexibility in response time
views, since they indirectly reveal what is good respondents can answer in their own time
and bad about traditional interviews (Gruber, et al., Requires careful development of research
2008; Joinson, 2001; Murray & Sixsmith, 1998). relationships and knowledge of studied
To summarize, the strengths and limitations are: venue, and thus, time
Strengths: Potential strategic self-presentation
Online conversations allow participants to It is imperative to remember that, when con-

reconsider, research, recognize and reflect sidering the benefits and drawbacks, depending on
on words and expressions prior to posting which perspective is taken, the pluses and minuses
them, allowing the conversation to be mu- can be interpreted reversely. For example, the in-
tually negotiated terviewee has a possibility to, at any time, increase
Interviewees with textual skills are able the latency of, or even withdraw without a trace
to create more refined accounts of their from the interview. While this is on the one hand
experience not a desired outcome for the interviewer, it is
on the other a safety vent, increasing a sense of
417
security for the interviewee. Likewise, the careful lurk in concurrent discussion or access archival
development of a trusting research relationship is data, the necessity of obtaining consent or not is
not merely time-consuming, but also essential and debated (Bruckman, 2002; Chen, et al., 2004).
rewarding in terms of generating high quality data: For large public forums there is an issue regarding
Email communication is then constructed as a from whom to seek permission as well as who has
continuous alternation between an informal and the mandate to deny access since they are public
formal style in answering the question, between (Clegg Smith, 2004). While archived interaction
interviewing and conversing (Kivits, 2005). is by many Institutional Review Boards regarded
Olivero and Lunt (2004), as well as Kivits as public information (Skitka & Sargis, 2006),
(2005), stress the importance of upholding a researchers must themselves make contextually
trustful, sensitive and linguistically adaptive re- informed judgments regarding how to deal with
lationship. Since e-mail interviews rely on textual these issues in specific cases. One way to ground
communication, the linguistic and paralinguistic insights with the studied community is to feed
methods of strengthening the relationship is cen- back tentative results to the studied community
tral. As such, the researchers sensitivity to issues (see the upcoming section on design patterns).
of fostering trust, reciprocal conversation and
questioning, equal partaking, authentic disclosure, Example: Distributed Document
cooperation and reflexivity becomes important. Collection and Ethical Concerns
When it comes to synchronous interviewing (e.g.
instant messaging or chat) a particularly inter- As an example of something in between the outer
esting possibility is to conduct group interviews, edges of hidden and open research, in a study
similar to offline focus groups. For a detailed conducted on general forum discussions about
account of the group interview process we refer Facebook, the author took steps to protect the
to the work of Klein et al. (2007). privacy of users by not using participants screen
names and by assembling prototypical quotes
Ethical Considerations from several users (with the increasing possibili-
ties to search forums and blog, researchers must
Research ethics come particularly in focus when be careful not to cite word for word since this
conducting online ethnographies (Sharf, 1999). A makes quotes findable and thus traceable and not
part from the ethical issues pondered under each anonymous). However, informed consent was not
method respectively, there are also some general deemed possible since users were dispersed over
issues that come to mind. Online material can be several various discussion forums and not always
quite dynamic and ephemeral. At the same time, reachable for questioning (Skgeby, 2009a).
one benefit from collecting textual material on-
line is that it is automatically transcribed without Analyzing Online Data
particular efforts. The transcripts can easily be
copied or saved for future use and reuse. At times Analysis of textual data can follow many different
they are also publicly available online for quite frameworks (e.g. conversation analysis, discourse
some time. This can of course also be a problem, analysis, feminist analysis). This chapter does
why the issue of informed consent is important not have the space to include run-throughs of all
(Spinello, 1995). Scholars who intend to engage in potential analytical frameworks. Rather, we shall
discussion and post questions to the forum usually propose the more general approach of Romano et
introduce themselves and their goals prior to the al (2003), combined with thematic analysis (Braun
study (Walstrom, 2004). With researchers who & Clarke, 2006; Freeday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006).
418
For the purposes of this chapter, the comprehensive In step 1, data is collected as per previously
framework of Romano et al illustrates the overall described methods. In conventional terms, step 2
methodological procedure, while the thematic in the model above contains what is commonly
analysis gives detail to the selection and coding referred to as analysis. Most, if not all, research
steps of this procedure (see Figure 2). Put simply, questions owes legacy to previous research, either
thematic analysis refers to a careful reading and theoretically or empirically. Accordingly, an ap-
re-reading of the data in order to find recurrent plication theory is often used to create an initial
themes across the data. Using more general code categorisation. Of course, it might turn out
frameworks like these is purposeful in a handbook so that all initial categories are developed into
chapter since readers are likely to come from a refined categories or even discarded as no data
variety of disciplines. Because thematic analysis supports them. Step 2.1 sees the initiation of the
is a general and flexible method that has been used thematic analysis. The input to this step is format-
in many different methodological and theoretical ted raw data. Formatting is usually done so that
traditions, however under different monikers, either each row of text is separated by a line break
it can provide a common starting ground. As or that initial analyst judgment separates tentative
such thematic analysis also connects nicely to a findings. Through an iterative process, where
prominent quality of the procedure presented by the analyst conducts careful reading and re-
Romano and colleagues, namely that it is open reading of the data, s/he then identifies emergent
to and acknowledges the influence of application and recurrent themes and key terms. These evolve
theories (i.e. initial theories and research efforts as more data is included in the coding and cluster-
that colour the preliminary categorization of the ing steps (2.2 and 2.3). The analyst must be
studied area). sensitive to themes that emerge from the data:
There needs to be a balance between experi-
Figure 2. Overall analysis procedure (adopted and amended from Romano et al. (2003))
419
menter expectancy through overreliance on a can be used in a multiplicity of ways, including

priory theory and total dependence on data-derived ways it was not intended and (b) there are many
meaning that may not provide any generalizabil- artefacts that can be used to accomplish one
ity of the results. (Romano, et al., 2003) These specific task (Ihde, 1993). An underlying postula-
new themes are likely to influence the collection tion of use qualities is that different artefacts (or
of data, allowing for a deeper analysis of that genres of artefacts) will present/generate diverse
particular theme. Consequently, the sample size use qualities; use qualities that a designer will
is in most cases not decided in advance. Rather need to bear in mind during the craft of interac-
the reduction step guides elicitation. Once no new tion design. While many general user experience
classes of phenomena are found, elicitation can attributes has been introduced over the years,
be stopped (or redesigned). So, from a pragmatic the use qualities approach suggest that not all
view the final sample is likely to reflect the vari- of them are equally relevant to all systems. One
ance of the population. way to make use qualities more specific in terms
of informing design is to include opposing use
Presenting Results qualities as conflicting forces in design patterns
(Arvola, 2006). However, before taking the full
Ethnographic studies normally result in thick step to design patterns, this chapter argues that
descriptions (i.e. lengthy and exhaustive descrip- it is important to consider the potential space in
tions of the studied phenomena). While these between conflicting use qualities.
are certainly valid and appropriate for online
ethnographic studies as well, there are at times Analytical Dimensions
conditions underlying online ethnographic re-
search to inform design. In these cases a thick Analytical dimensions aims to envelope the full
description may be too dense and generate a diversity of use qualities that commonly exist in
need for more appropriate forms of presentation complex information systems (Skgeby, 2007).
(Diggins & Tolmie, 2003). Earlier work in online Analytical dimension offer a frame for relating
ethnography has suggested three alternative ways and contrasting the complexity of the studied
to present results particularly suited for studies of conflict. As such, it is good for presenting a
information systems intended to provide design comprehensive view that supports comparison
suggestions (Skgeby, 2009b). This chapter will over several specific cases. The basic anatomy of
only briefly outline these presentation techniques. the analytical dimension is a polarized conflict,
For further detail please refer to the works cited where the most obvious/prevalent counterparts
under each respective technique. make up the poles of the dimension. Once these
poles are identified, they give the researcher the
Use Qualities opportunity to postulate, identify and research
activities, concerns and intentions in-between
Lwgren (2006) describes use qualities as prop- the extremes. Analytical dimensions also sustain
erties of a digital design that is experienced in its analysis of users who have decided to change from
use. The concept is based on value perspectives one specific way of online conduct to another. A
that include instrumental, aesthetical, social/com- prototypical example would be users who have
municative, constructional and ethical aspects. initially provided photos completely publicly, but
These perspectives are significant to a varying then decide to be more selective about the receiv-
degree depending on the use or practice that is ing audiences of their pictures. In summary the
being researched. Largely because (a) any artefact analytical dimension is a versatile communicative
420
tool, allowing both for precise descriptions, but solution functions and feels, patterns can
also recognizing the full range of potential use be put to empirical tests
qualities that make up the dimension. They are shareable in that they create a
concrete common resource debatable to all
Design Patterns involved stakeholders. They also create a
way for people who are not designers, but
As hinted previously, both use qualities and ana- still holds relevant and valuable knowl-
lytical dimensions can inform design patterns. In edge, to inform the design (Erickson, 2000)
short, a design pattern is a structured exposition They can help to bridge the gap between
of a generic solution to a problem in a context. the qualitative descriptions of (users)
Another way to say it is that the design pattern problems and solutions applicable in a de-
includes a feature that resolves forces in some sign or implementation phase (or analysis
context(s) (Martin, et al., 2001; Martin & Som- phase, for that matter)
merville, 2001). The concept of design patterns
was originally developed by architect Christopher There is now a significant range of pattern
Alexander and colleagues (Alexander, 1979). forms spanning from minimally functionalistic
Alexander had noticed that there were qualities to more narrative ones (Fincher, 2000). How-
of architecture that were hard to define, but that ever, there are also a number of elements that
were still very common and desirable. To create are common to most design patterns: a name; a
shareable descriptions of these qualities Alexander description of the problem, a description of the
developed design patterns and while it is hard to context, the forces at play; and a generic solution.
summarize all that has been written about them, A benefit that cannot be over-emphasized is that
there are certain features that seem more or less design patterns are fairly simple and to the point,
agreed upon, to be precise: and can therefore straightforwardly be brought
back to the studied communities for discussion. A
Design patterns address a re-occurring user-grounded assessment of developed patterns
problem in a specific context strengthens both the validity and reliability of the
They build on understanding of what results. So, when a design pattern, use quality or
needs, interests and motivations (forces) analytical dimension is considered ready for shar-
that drive people in specific contexts. ing, feeding it back to the community or to any
They include a feature(s) that coordinates users reporting a special interest in the study and
or resolves these forces its results, is imperative. Indeed, a benefit of all
They are not too vague nor too specific and of the above forms of presentation is the ease with
are thereby able to help designers under- what tentative results can, and should, be fed back
stand what forces are at play and how these to the studied community. Drafts of insights and
can be resolved, but still be flexible enough study results posted to the community can open
to allow infinite specific solutions up to both grounding and improvements of the
They focus on what is good, rather than research in whole (Erickson, 2000; Matthews &
critique what is bad Cramer, 2008). This can be accomplished through
They are testable. That is to say, by ap- regular forum posts. Another alternative is to use a
plying the pattern to other cases, by shar- research blog where results, interpretations and
ing the patterns and debating, discussing, draft texts can be published for public (or semi-
agreeing and disagreeing on them, and by public) scrutiny and be subject to suggestions for
examining how a specific pattern-derived editorial development (Murthy, 2008). It needs to
421
be said though, that the benefits and drawbacks that many of the fundamental epistemological is-
of such efforts are, so far, largely unevaluated. sues and controversies remain the same (Travers,
2009). These include for example the concept of
Example: Feeding Back Results validity in ethnographic studies and interpretative
versus critical analytical frameworks. However, in
A recent study (Skgeby, 2007) used a combined terms of data quality, there is tentative support to
effort to address the grounding of interpretations that online methods may attract higher motivated
as well as to estimate the sufficiency of collection, and more unprompted participants than traditional
some tentative analysis results were fed back to approaches (Skitka & Sargis, 2006).
the network forum to generate discussion. The From a methodological point of view it is
goal was to instigate discussion and use this as a motivating to discuss what issues that are be
recurring source of data (which could challenge brought to light by doing research in, and through,
the analysis or be incorporated as further proof of a technology-mediated context (e.g. a virtual
trustworthiness). The feedback did generate some community). At large, the Internet holds certain
debate and discussion that was enriching both to characteristics, which are supported more or less
analysis, as well as to picking up on keywords and by the various applications utilizing it. Internet is,
in-vivo-expressions (Internet slang is common in a certain sense, global; it is, in a certain sense,
in forums). Apart from that, the feedback also anonymous; it is, in a certain sense, interactive;
has the function of meeting informants on their and it supports digital manipulation (material can
ground. This can help to make a more situated and be digitized, transferred, stored, cross-referenced
grounded judgment about the appropriateness of and reproduced with certain flexibility and ef-
including quotes and applying certain analytical ficiency) (Weckert, 2000). These characteristics
reasoning. However, there is a risk connected bring some fundamental differences with regards
to this procedure, why after two general forum to researching virtual communities compared to
feedback sessions it was decided to attempt more corporeal communities:
personal feedback through interviews with users.
The reason results were not fed back to the macro- The population online may be heteroge-
level forums more extensively or continuously neous and almost ubiquitous to research-
was the risk of cluttering or biasing the naturally ers, which raises questions about the valid-
occurring discussions. Fortunately, discussions ity and reliability of the data. There may be,
were very rich and inspired and consequently, the for example, potential misrepresentative
grounding of interpretations was mainly done via attractions, that is, that the people respond-
individual key informants. ing to calls for participation or people who
post to forums etc. are only a minor extro-
vert part of the actual population
DISCUSSION: BENEFITS, Not only are the users dissimilar, but the
DRAWBACKS AND specific technologies used to communicate
EPISTIMOLOGICAL ISSUES can be quite diverse and consequently in-
fluence the entire sociotechnical setting
This chapter has shown that there are both similari- Identity, anonymity and pseudonymity
ties, as well as certain characteristic differences be- give rise to methodological concerns
tween a traditional ethnographic procedure and its All statements above raise issues pertain-
counterparts when studying virtual communities ing to research ethics
and cultures. It is imperative though, to remember
422
Credibility and Transferability of edly present in other communities and societies

Online Ethnographic Studies (i.e. a theoretical transferability). Another way
to put it is to say that the theoretical recognition of
Credibility refers to the degree by which the results the studied phenomena makes the use of applica-
are recognizable and valid from the perspective tion concepts theoretically meaningful. Moreover,
of the participants and transferability refers to the the use of an application theory can aid in holding
degree to which the results can be transferred or back the overwhelming idea of trying to draw a
generalized to other settings and contexts (Guba complete picture of all social interaction occurring
& Lincoln, 1989). While ethnographic studies are in a virtual community (LeBesco, 2004).
often idiosyncratic in nature, there is still reason The heterogeneity of the user group is a cir-
to discuss and even try to defend such scien- cumstance, which also adds to the difficulty of
tific concepts as credibility and transferability. A generalizing results. The difficulty in accurately
complete coverage of the full population is often sampling a representative population stresses
impractical, not to say impossible. Consequently, an even greater importance in representing the
because of practical and material constraints, social and technological structures surrounding,
there is a need to sample the population. In online emerging and co-evolving with it. By sensitively
ethnography there is a practical issue: it can only describing these circumstances and mechanisms
address individuals who speak up or write up the potential transferability of the results becomes
or somehow participate. Further, there is often an more highlighted, and thus of more use to fellow
explorative purpose to the study why the number researchers and practioners.
of individuals interesting to the study is hard to While themes and insights are usually devel-
predict. Thus, it is hard to generate a statistically oped from one specific community, they often
representative sample based on a distribution cri- represent a class of concerns and intentions, which,
terion: The significance of this argument is even at times, have also been identified or alluded to
greater when we think of other more dynamic units: in other contexts. In other words, the results are
as we do not know how characteristics concerning not transferable as to what opinions users in other
emotions, attitudes, opinions and behaviour are virtual communities actually have, but rather as to
distributed in the population, aiming at statisti- what opinions users in these networks can have.
cal representativeness of samples is technically Thus, online ethnography describes the social sig-
groundless. (Gobo, 2004, p. 440) Instead, online nificance of dimensions and the relations between
ethnographers must focus on finding communi- them, rather than statistically logic populations,
ties that hold high significance and relevance for and how many individuals who possess a certain
the research question. A more specific way to put characteristic. Further, there is cause to consider
it is to say that when studying certain practices, the authenticity of online ethnographical data.
we need to look at online settings where those Markham (2004a) reports that online textual
practices are likely to occur. communication can be very representative, and
Online ethnographic studies can thus be gener- assuming that it is less so than, say, interviewing
alized because they contribute to a growing body face-to-face, could be impetuous. Presenting
of scientific research, which forms a system of tentative results to the studied community is one
cases. They also constitute tests of hypotheses and way to increase the authenticity. Another way is to
methods, which may supplement the overall un- consecutively, and for extensive periods of time,
derstanding of a phenomena (Flyvbjerg, 2004). In use the current applications and gain first-hand
addition, by using an application theory, the study experience of the various aspects of everyday life
can be anchored in insights that have been repeat- in the virtual community.
423
Dependability and Confirmability CONCLUSION

of Online Ethnographic Studies
The conclusion drawn from working with em-
Dependability refers to the obligation of the re- pirical data from document collection, online
searcher to provide accurate descriptions of the interviews and application use is that they are
context so that readers feel they can depend on highly workable sources for insights into end-
the results. This is particularly important; as a user problems and solutions; verbalized concerns
fundamental assumption of qualitative research and intentions; experiences and stories; and likes
is that we cannot measure the exact same thing and dislikes. With regard to online ethnographic
twice. This has two practical implications: (1) data collection it is also important to consider the
researchers must aim to describe the sociotech- balance of collecting data to the level where no
nical context to the best of their ability and (2) additional or new information emerges and the
it is a benefit if presentations of results are also risk of collecting too much data. Due to the avail-
in forms that can be easily compared. As regards ability and ease of data collection, huge amounts
to the first proposition, this chapter has already of data can be accumulated, increasing the risk of
provided information on describing the setting. having an insurmountable records and spending
In reference to the second, researchers must be too little time actually classifying and analyzing
aware that there are obvious risks with condensing them. Again, this shows the importance of liv-
insights, such as over-reduction or constraining ing the life and becoming aware of communal
future interpretations of data (Diggins & Tolmie, memberships, rituals, language and behaviours in
2003). Consequently, researchers should stress order to bring depth and quality to the analysis.
that any developed models or theories are most In summary, online ethnography is capable of
often not complete or generic theories. Rather, revealing:
models are interfaces through which the data can
be understood. Hidden aspects of an activity what was
Confirmability refers to the degree by which the previously known and, perhaps even docu-
results can be confirmed by others. This becomes mented within the community might not
interesting vis--vis confidentiality and anonym- be good descriptions of what is actually
ity. While confirmability is certainly desirable, performed. Insignificant details may very
there can also be reason to protect users or even well make an activity meaningful and
the entire virtual community from identification. worthwhile to its actors.
Again, this highlights rigour in describing setting Public knowledge (e.g. media reports and
and perspectives along with the importance to folk models), are frequently in contrast to
establish refined reflexivity (Delamont, 2004) the unofficial aspects of an activity. Thus,
and trustworthy interpretations of data (Golaf- there is a need to complement the pub-
shani, 2003). Another way is to actively engage lic picture with aspects based on studied
participants, in order to get confirmation from practice.
them. Established techniques, such as inter-rated Categories and expressions used naturally
analysis and coding are also adequate (Conway, within an area of research, emphasizing lo-
et al., 1995), although there are also scholars who cal and situated expertise.
regard single-hand analysis as a methodological Concrete needs, objectives and methods
strength (Emerson, et al., 1995). that are described in ways that are recog-
nizable to those who have and perform
them.
424
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429
Chapter 26
Understanding Online
Communities by Using
Semantic Web Technologies
Alexandre Passant
National University of Ireland-Galway, Ireland
Sheila Kinsella
Uldis Bojars
John G. Breslin
Stefan Decker
ABSTRACT
During the last few years, the Web that we used to know as a read-only medium shifted to a read-write
Web, often known as Web 2.0 or the Social Web, in which people interact, share and build content col-
laboratively within online communities. In order to clearly understand how these online communities are
formed, evolve, share and produce content, a first requirement is to gather related data. In this chapter,
we give an overview of how Semantic Web technologies can be used to provide a unified layer of repre-
sentation for Social Web data in an open and machine-readable manner thanks to common models and
shared semantics, facilitating data gathering and analysis. Through a comprehensive state of the art
review, we describe the various models that can be applied to online communities and give an overview
of some of the new possibilities offered by such a layer in terms of data querying and community analysis.
INTRODUCTION of people who are using Web technologies. People

read and comment on blogs, participate in edit-
Social media is now a part of the everyday lives ing wiki pages, use social networking to interact
with their friends (or to get new ones), and share
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch026 pictures, memories and more via services such as
Understanding Online Communities by Using Semantic Web Technologies
Figure 1. Using the Semantic Web to facilitate

Flickr or YouTube: the whole paradigm often being
community analysis
known as Web 2.0 (OReilly, 2005). Moreover,
this phenomenon goes further, for example, im-
pacting research communities with services such
as the Nature Network - http://network.nature.
com/ - and enterprise information systems in a
shift known as Enterprise 2.0 (McAfee, 2006).
The more that both data and people interact and
connect via Web 2.0, the more scientists (both
from Social Science and Computer Science) try to
understand how online communities are formed,
how they evolve, what do they share, and what
valuable information can be extracted from these
analyses. Yet, the diversity of tools, communities
and services makes the process of gathering the
data, and consequently understanding these com-
munities, a complex task. For each ecosystem,
new algorithms must be built, new links must be
mined, new applications must be designed, etc.
Nevertheless, another trend from the research
community during the last ten years, the Semantic
Web (Berners-Lee et al., 2001), aims to provide
models for interoperable data between applications
The chapter is structured as follows. In the
and can be of great interest for communities from
first part, we will focus on current practices to
the Social Web. By relying on standard models to
understand and model virtual communities and
represent data as well as shared semantics between
their related content as well as describing the
applications, it offers a means to better integrate
shortcomings of these approaches, such as relying
and query data from various systems, as well as
on vendor-specific APIs. It will hence provide us
creating links between them. Using Semantic Web
with incentives to introduce the core of this chapter,
technologies can help us to better understand these
i.e. the need for Semantic Web technologies for
online communities, by providing common means
modelling virtual communities and identifying the
to represent, link and mine information from vari-
advantages they offer regarding data and content
ous distributed systems and heterogeneous data
analysis as well as interoperability between social
sets, as emphasised by Figure 1.
applications. In the second section, we will then
Thus, the goal of this chapter is to provide
introduce Semantic Web principles and provide a
readers - especially advanced undergraduate and
comprehensive stateof-the-art review of existing
graduate students in Computer Science, Social
models from the Semantic Web that are dedicated
Science and more generally in Web Science (a
to Social Web data. In the third part, we will then
term that we will describe later) with a compre-
discuss use cases on how to use these technolo-
hensive state-of-the-art study on how Semantic
gies to better understand communities. We will
Web technologies can be used to model, export
thus give the reader an overview of possibilities
and analyse virtual communities in distributed
that are offered by such methods: querying com-
environments such as the Web or Web-based
munities, mining profiles from distributed social
Information System (e.g. corporate organisations).
430
networks, browsing social data, etc. In the fourth version of the Web, it does not refer to an update
section, we will discuss some upcoming chal- of the World Wide Web technical specifications
lenges and we will focus both on how Semantic and architecture (TAG, 2004), but rather to new
Web technologies can be used to solve some of structures and abstractions that have emerged on
them and at the same time which challenges are top of the ordinary Web. Although it is difficult
still faced by the Semantic Web community in to define the boundaries of what structures or
the context of understanding virtual communities, abstractions belongs to Web 2.0, there seems to be
especially at Web scale. Finally, we will conclude an agreement that services and technologies like
the chapter with an overall discussion on how the blogs, wikis, folksonomies, podcasts, many-to-
Semantic Web could help to understand not only many publishing, social networking sites (SNSs),
virtual communities, but also the Web in general. Web APIs, web standards and online Web services
We will discuss the recent Web Science Research are part of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has not only been a
Initiative and will discuss how, in our opinion, technological but also a business trend: accord-
the Semantic Web and the Web Science agenda ing to Tim OReilly: Web 2.0 is the business
relate to each other, and how Semantic Web tech- revolution in the computer industry caused by the
nologies could help people to better understand move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt
the evolution and complexity of the Web and of to understand the rules for success on that new
Web-based information systems. platform (OReilly, 2006).
In addition to participation features (through
blogging, wiki participation, etc.), an important
UNDERSTANDING VIRTUAL feature of the Web 2.0 meme is the online social
COMMUNITIES networking aspect. Social networking sites such
as Friendster (an early SNS previously popular in
From a Web to a Social Web the US, now widely-used in Asia), orkut (Googles
SNS), LinkedIn (an SNS for professional relation-
Since it was established, the Web has been used to ships) and MySpace (a music and youth-oriented
enable communication not only between comput- service) - where explicitly-stated networks of
ers but also between people. Usenet newsgroups, friendship form a core part of the website - have
mailing lists and web-based forums allowed people become part of the daily lives of millions of users,
to connect with each other and thereby enabled and have generated huge amounts of investment
communities to form, often around specific topics since they began to appear around 2002. Since
of interest. The social networks formed via these then, the popularity of these sites has grown hugely
technologies were not explicitly stated, but were and continues to do so. (Boyd and Ellison, 2007)
implicitly defined by the interactions of the people recently described the history of social networking
involved (e.g. by replying to each other). Later, sites, and suggested that in the early days of SNSs,
technologies such as IRC (Internet Relay Chat), when only the SixDegrees service existed, there
instant messaging and blogging continued the simply were not enough users: While people were
trend of using the Internet to build communities already flocking to the Internet, most did not have
of interest. extended networks of friends who were online.
One of the most visible trends on the Web is According to Internet World Stats, between 2000
the emergence of Web 2.0-style services. The term (when SixDegrees shut down) and 2003 (when
Web 2.0 (OReilly, 2005) refers to a perceived Friendster became the first successful SNS), the
second-generation of Web-based communities and number of Internet users had doubled.
hosted services. Although the term suggests a new
431
Web 2.0 content-sharing sites with social example, the first Web browser Amaya was not
networking functionality such as YouTube (a just a read-only browser, but it also allowed one
video-sharing site), Flickr (for sharing images) to edit pages from the browser (similar to methods
and Last.fm (a radio and music community site) now popularised by wiki interfaces).
have enjoyed similar popularity. The common
features of a social networking site include Current Approaches for Data
personal profiles, friends listings, commenting, Mining and Analysis
private messaging, discussion forums, blogging,
and media uploading and sharing. Many content- The field of social network analysis (SNA) gives
sharing sites, such as Flickr and YouTube also us a methodology for gaining insight into the
include some social networking functionality. In structure of communities. Social network analysis
addition to SNSs, other forms of social websites uses methods from graph theory to study networks
include wikis, forums and blogs. Some of these of individuals and the relationships between them.
publish content in structured formats enabling The individuals are often referred to as nodes or
them to be aggregated together. actors, and they may represent people, groups,
A common property of Web 2.0 technologies countries, organisations or any other type of social
are that they facilitate collaboration and sharing unit. The relations between them can be called
between users with low technical barriers al- edges or ties, and can indicate any type of link, for
though usually on single sites or with a limited example, acquaintance, friendship, co-authorship
range of information. In this book we will refer or information exchange. Ties may be undirected,
to this collaborative and sharing aspect as the in which case the relationship is symmetric, or
Social Web, a term that can be used to describe directed, in which case the relationship has a
a subset of Web interactions that are highly social, specific direction and may not be reciprocated.
conversational and participatory, whereby social Social network analysis enables us to discover
media content is being created and augmented on information such as the key people in a network,
a variety of social media platforms. The Social the distinct communities in a network, and the
Web may also be used instead of Web 2.0 as it is different types of roles which occur in a network.
clearer what feature of the Web is being referred Apart from comprehensive textbooks in this
to, and we will use both in this chapter. area (Wasserman and Faust, 1994), there are
Finally, it is worth noticing that this social vi- many academic tools for visually examining
sion of the Web is actually closely aligned to the social networks and performing common SNA
original vision of the Web, as Tim Berners-Lee routines. For example, the tool Pajek - http://
noted in an interview with the BBC: The idea vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/pajek/ - can be
was that anybody who used the web would have used to drill down into various social networks.
a space where they could write and so the first A common method is to reduce the amount of
browser was an editor, it was a writer as well relevant social network data by clustering. One
as a reader. [] What happened with blogs and can choose to cluster people by common friends,
with wikis, these editable web spaces, was that by shared interests, by geographic location, by
they became much more simple. When you write tags, etc. visualisations. Alternatively, a library
a blog, you dont write complicated hypertext, you like JUNG - http://jung.sourceforge.net/ - which
just write text, so Im very, very happy to see that provides analysis and visualisation methods, can
now its gone in the direction of becoming more be used to develop custom analytic or visual tools.
of a creative medium. Since the beginning of the In any case, before loading the data into one of
Web, that participation aspect was enabled. For these analysis tools, the relevant data must first
432
be converted to an appropriate representation, to one site. However, if analysis requires data to

which is dependant on the tool used. For more on be collected from multiple sites, integration can
social network analysis, and on a Semantic Web be problematic.
framework for carrying out SNA, see the chapter For example, let us consider two major ap-
titled Semantic Social Networks Analysis, a plications for the Social Web, the first one being
Concrete Case. Twitter, the microblogging service, and the second
Another approach for analysing online comone being Flickr, the photo sharing system. Both
munities is using Natural Language Processing provide a public API that can be used by third-
(NLP) algorithms to extract entities, topics and party developers to make their own applications,
relationships from textual content generated by or to simply gather some data to analyse the
users. However when dealing with social media communities (e.g. identifying social networks,
sites, performing NLP can be particularly difficult groups the users belong to, etc.). Yet, these APIs
due to the typically informal nature of user posts, are different both in terms of sending the request
which tend to contain a lot of slang and context- and parsing the results. While both of them are
dependant terms, with little attention given to based on HTTP calls and provide common formats
spelling and grammar (Gruhl et al., 2009). Thus, for the API output response (such as XML and
while NLP algorithms are potentially very useful JSON JavaScript Object Notation, a popular
tools for investigating SNSs, there are challenges format for exchanging structured data within Web
particular to user-generated content which must 2.0 applications), they use different parameters
be handled. and return values. For example, to identify all
When dealing with typical SNSs, even just the people who are connected to a particular user
acquiring the relevant data can require a lot of on Twitter (and to get results using XML), one
effort. A typical approach is to start from the must call a URL pattern such as http://twitter.com/
profiles of a seed user or set of users, and follow friends/ids/terraces.xml which retrieves results
the links to their friends profiles, and friend-of- shown in Table 1.
friends profiles, and so on. Often it is necessary to On Flickr, a similar query is performed by
download each users profile as a HTML page, and calling a pattern such as http://api.flickr.com/
then scrape the desired information. This process services/rest/?method=flickr.contacts.
is time consuming and sometimes difficult. The getPublicList&api_key=f4c67b996f01077cf2e1
code requires updating every time the structure d1469a7e790f&user_
of a page is changed, and needs to be completely id=33669349%40N00&api_sig=c8c0fd49fe472
rewritten for every new website which one wishes 72e1410e9574c98096c and the results are shown
to investigate, since information is represented in Table 2.
differently depending on the website. As one can see, there is no obvious relationship
As an alternative to scraping, many Web 2.0 between these two models: while they share com-
sites provide APIs, for example LiveJournal, Twit- mon properties in terms of data artefacts, such as
ter, Flickr and YouTube. The main motivation for the user id, this one is represented as an XML tag
providing APIs is to facilitate the integration of by itself using id on Twitter, but as an attribute
services into new applications or mashups. One nsid on Flickr, which makes integration complex.
can send requests to an API about a particular user, Moreover, the parameters that have to be passed
content item, or other resource, and the results to the API are also different. In the next chapter,
are returned in a structured, easy-to-parse format. we will see how Semantic Web technologies,
This makes the process of data acquisition much providing uniform description of resources using
easier, at least when the data of interest is limited RDF and ontologies, can be used to provide a
433
Table 1. Example of a social network retrieved using the Twitter API
< ?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8?>

<ids>
<id>30076775</id>
<id>59870857</id>
<id>19927027</id>
<id>39321347</id>
[]
</ids>
Table 2. Example of a social network retrieved using the Flickr API
<rsp stat=ok>
<contacts page=1 pages=1 per_page=1000 perpage=1000 total=6>
<contact nsid=32233977@N00 username=captsolo iconserver=3223 iconfarm=4
ignored=0/>
<contact nsid=43184127@N00 username=cygri iconserver=8 iconfarm=1 ig-
nored=0/>
<contact nsid=14027651@N04 username=scorlosquet iconserver=3291 icon-
farm=4 ignored=0/>
[]
</contacts>
</rsp>
common layer of representation over such data, are using is mainly a Web of documents (either
from heterogeneous APIs to standardised repre- text files or multimedia ones), linked together by
sentation models (both in terms of how to get the untyped and unidirectional hyperlinks. While this
data and how to understand it). is probably enough for human readers (who can
interpret the content of these documents and the
meaning of the links between these documents),
SOCIAL SEMANTICS the situation is far more complex for software
TO THE RESCUE agents. For example, one person reading the
Wikipedia page about Paris can understand that
The Semantic Web: An Introduction this is a city and that a link to a page about France
identifies that Paris is located in France, but there
When looking at the initial proposal that led to is no means for a software agent to understand
the World Wide Web (Figure 2) by (Berners-Lee, anything about the nature of the objects described
1989), we can see that it links typed objects (people, in these pages, despite the evolution of NLP algo-
projects, software, etc.) using various types of rithms that can be used to extract named entities
properties (describes, refers to, etc.). However, and relationships from such pages.
in spite of this initial proposal, so far the Web we
434
Figure 2. The architecture proposal by Tim Berners-Lee that gave birth to the Web
The Semantic Web vision aims to solve these Identifiers (Berners-Lee et al., 2005) - as identi-
issues by providing a Web of machine-readable fiers for everything that is described on the Web:
information, with well-defined structure and se- people, cities, communities, etc. These URIs act
mantics. The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) as Web-scaled identifiers for naming resources.
recently termed this as a Web of Data, in contrast For example, <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Gal-
to the Web of Documents, i.e. a Web in which way> can be used to identify the city of Galway,
data (not just documents) can be represented, (while <http://dbpedia.org/page/Galway> would
exchanged and understood in a meaningful way. identify a page about it). There can be multiple
The Semantic Web is not a new Web, discon- identifiers for the same resource, and we will
nected from the current one, but an extension of
the current Web (Berners-Lee et al., 2001). While
most of the current standardisation efforts around
the Semantic Web have occurred via the W3C Figure 3. The Semantic Web layer cake from
within their Semantic Web activity - http://www. the W3C
w3.org/2001/sw/ - some older projects such as
SHOE (Helfin and Hendler, 2000) have focused
on similar ideas leading towards a machine-
readable Web.
In order to achieve the Semantic Web goal,
different technologies are needed, that form the
complete Semantic Web layer cake, depicted in
Figure 3. While we do not aim to provide a com-
plete description of this stack, some particular
elements must be understood before going further
in this chapter.
A first component that enables the Semantic
Web is the use of URIs Uniform Resource
435
detail this in the context of online identity in a Web-based tools, like Neologism (Basca et al.,
later section of this chapter. 2008). Ontologies are usually published on the
Another requirement is to define facts or as- Web in order to be shared. Moreover, they can be
sertions about these URIs, for example, to say extended remotely, i.e. one can create his or her
that Galway is a city. RDF Resource Descrip- own ontology extending existing ones. It is also
tion Framework provides a way to do so by important to mention that the goal of the Seman-
defining a triples-based model in the form of tic Web is not to build a wide and unique Web-scale
<subject> <predicate> <object>, with <subject> ontology, but rather to let everyone define their
and <predicate> being URIs, and <object> being own and agree on a set of core ontologies, some
either a URI or a literal. RDF is composed of both of them being described in (Bizer et al., 2007).
an abstract graph model and of various serialisa- The two main languages used to represent on-
tions that map this abstract model to a machine- tologies on the Web are RDFS (Brickley and Guha,
readable form. These serialisations include RDF/ 2004) and OWL (Bechhofer et al., 2004), the lat-
XML, N3, Turtle (being a subset of the previous ter being more expressive than the first one (e.g.
one) and more recently RDFa for embedding providing cardinality constraints on properties).
RDF annotations directly inside XHTML docu- Finally, SPARQL provides a graph-based
ments. For example, the snippet of code (Turtle) query language (Prudhommeaux and Seaborne,
shown in Table 3 represents that Galway is a city 2008) as well as a protocol (Clark et al., 2008) to
and that DERI is based in Galway, both having retrieve information from RDF graphs, and it can
human-readable labels. be used to identify content created and shared in
Thirdly, there is a need for shared vocabular- online communities as we will later describe. In
ies to represent the meaning of these URIs. On- the next sections of this chapter, we will describe
tologies (Gruber, 1993) provide this additional how such languages can be used both to represent
layer of semantics, allowing us to define classes and to query online communities on the Web.
and properties as well as more advanced axioms.
For example, one could define (in a formal way), The Two Sides of the
that <http://example.org/Person> represents the Social Semantic Web
concepts of Person and <http://example.org/
name> represents a name property. Ontologies While the Semantic Web vision has long been
can be developed using desktop clients, such as disconnected from the Social Web, an important
Protg - http://protege.stanford.edu/ - or using trend of these last few years has been towards
Table 3. Example of RDF data (in N3 syntax)
@prefix dbpedia: <http://dbpedia.org/resource/>.

@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>.
@prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>.
dbpedia:DERI foaf:based_near dbpedia:Galway ;
rdfs:label DERI ;
rdfs:label Digital Enterprise Research Institute.
dbpedia:Galway a dbpedia:City ;
rdfs:label Galway ;
rdfs:label Gaillimh@ga.
436
considering how they could be integrated. Indeed, then it becomes more interoperable and
not only are they not meant to be disconnected portable between applications;
but they can be efficiently combined, in a trend On the other hand, leveraging the wisdom
generally known as the Social Semantic Web of the crowds from Web 2.0-based services
(Breslin et al., 2009), representing the conver- is a perfect opportunity for creating a large
gence of these two fields as the Web evolves. amount of Semantic Web data. As pointed
Thus, many researchers have demonstrated the out by (Berners-Lee, 2005) I think we
usefulness of this convergence (Heath and Motta, could have both Semantic Web technology
2007) (Ankolekar et al., 2008) and new trends supporting online communities, but at the
have emerged such as Semantic Wikis (Buffa et same time also online communities can
al., 2008), Semantic Microblogging (Passant et also support Semantic Web data by being
al. 2008) or Semantic Social Network Analysis the sources of people voluntarily connect-
(Erto et al., 2009a). NLP also plays a part in ing things together.
this convergence, enabling relationships extracted
from free text to enhance a knowledgebase, such Combined together, these two paths allow us
as in the SOFIE system (Suchanek et al., 2009). to overcome the chicken-and-egg problem with
More generally, two different ways for com- Semantic Web technologies: tools are needed to
bining the Semantic Web and the Social Web can showcase the values of these technologies to end
be considered: users, but data is also required to make these tools
work properly. Hence, the integration of these two
On one hand, some efforts focus on using sides is twofold, and leads to the Social Semantic
Semantic Web technologies to model social Web, bridging the gap between the Social Web
data. With models such as FOAF Friend and the Semantic Web (Figure 4).
Of A Friend (Brickley and Miller, 2004)
- and SIOC Semantically-Interlinked
Online Communities (Breslin et al., 2005)
- that we will describe in the next subsec-
tion, Social Web data can be represented
using shared and common models, and
Figure 4. The social Semantic Web
437
ONTOLOGIES FOR THE SOCIAL platform way to define social networks, one key
WEB: STATE OF THE ART factor of FOAF and of Semantic Web technologies
themselves. That is, we enrich the network value
Social Networking of a graph by linking information together at Web
scale (Hendler and Golbeck, 2008) (Passant et
In order to represent social networking informa- al., 2009a). Merged together, different FOAF
tion using Semantic Web technologies, FOAF profiles can then be combined for an integrated
Friend Of A Friend (Brickley and Miller, view of ones social network, using profiles from
2004) http://foaf-project.org is probably the different people and even different applications,
most well-known ontology. It provides a model as shown in the following picture. Here, we can
to represent people (with a foaf:Person) class, see that three social networks have been defined
their properties and attributes (ranging from on three different platforms, but are generally
foaf:name to foaf:schoolHomepage) as well as a interlinked thanks to the use of common URIs to
foaf:knows relationship which is used to represent identify the people belonging to these social
social networking aspects. This last relationship networks. Practically, this means that three dif-
is semantically weak, and to overcome this lack ferent services, e.g. a weblog using WordPress, a
of precise semantics, the RELATIONSHIP vo- Content Management System based on Drupal
cabulary - http://vocab.org/relationship/ - provides and a wiki using MediaWiki can unify their social
a set of subproperties such as rel:colleagueOf networks, while being managed by three distinct
or rel:lifePartnerOf to describe more precise applications that natively store their information
relationships between people. Moreover, since using various heterogeneous models. Then, on
ontologies can be extended in a distributed man- the top of this unified social network, new ser-
ner as we mentioned in the first section, anyone vices can be deployed, as we will see in the next
can create his or her own property, for example, sections.
wroteAChapterWith could be used to identify Various services natively export their data
people in a social network as being co-authors. using FOAF, such as LiveJournal - http://livejour-
In FOAF, each person is generally represented nal.com/ -, FriendFeed - http://friendfeed.com - or
by its own URI, and information about a person the Apache project directory - http://projects.
is put on the Web in what is generally called a apache.org/ - the last one in combination with
FOAF profile, i.e. a set of assertions about the DOAP - Description of a Project -, an ontology
person that put it online, acting as an online and used to describe software projects. In addition,
semantic ID document. For example, the snippet various exporters have been built for open-source
shown in Table 4 identifies that Alex knows Sheila applications, such as Drupal and WordPress, as
and that he works at NUI Galway: well as for major Web 2.0 services, by mapping
As one can see in the previous example, URIs their vendor APIs to the FOAF ontology. There
identifying people can come from different ser- also exist exporters for Flickr, Twitter and even
vices, which provides a distributed and cross- Facebook, providing common machine-readable
Table 4. Example of FOAF information
<http://apassant.net/alex> foaf:name Alexandre Passant ;

foaf:knows <http://sw.deri.org/~sheila/foaf.rdf#me> ;
foaf:workplaceHomePage <http://www.nuigalway.ie/>.
438
Figure 5. Integrating FOAF data from different profiles
information about social networks from these Two things must be understood from these
services that can be uniformly browsed and que- examples, especially regarding the limits we
ried, as we will see later. The snippet shown in identified in the previous chapter:
Table 5 shows some Flickr social network infor-
mation from the FOAF exporter, in RDF/XML. Firstly, following Linked Data principles,
Therefore, identifying some people that are each user is represented by their own URI
known by someone else can be carried out using and information about himself or herself (in
a single SPARQL query, no matter where the data this case, their social network) can be au-
comes from. The example in Table 6 shows how tomatically delivered when dereferencing
this can be done, and such a query can be applied this URI with an RDF-aware client. That
to any dataset of RDF data using the FOAF ontol- information is then provided in a machine-
ogy, provided for instance using the aforemen- readable format, using one of the RDF se-
tioned exporters: rialisation that we previously mentioned.
For instance http://apassant.net/alex iden-
Table 5. FOAF data generated from the Flickr exporter
<foaf:Person rdf:about=http://apassant.net/home/2007/12/flickrdf/peo-
ple/33669349@N00>
<foaf:name>Alexandre Passant</foaf:name>
<foaf:mbox_sha1sum>80248cbb1109104d97aae884138a6afcda688bd2</foaf:mbox_sha-
1sum>
<geonames:locatedIn rdf:resource=http://sws.geonames.org/3038213//>
<foaf:holdsAccount rdf:resource=http://apassant.net/home/2007/12/flickrdf/
user/33669349@N00/>
<foaf:knows rdf:resource=http://apassant.net/home/2007/12/flickrdf/peo-
ple/86846122@N00/>
</foaf:Person>
439
Table 6. Example of a basic SPARQL query to identify friends of a person using FOAF
PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>.

SELECT ?knows
FROM <http://example.org/user>
WHERE {
<http://example.org/user> foaf:knows ?knows
}
tifies one of the authors of this chapter, Finally, while we will focus on Semantic Web
and that URI, when being dereferenced, technologies (i.e. we mainly consider RDF(S)/
redirects to http://apassant.net which pro- OWL solutions), it is also worth mentioning the
vides information about himself, in RDFa. microformats community http://microformats.
Hence, there is no need to use different API org/ - which follows a similar idea for adding
calls, with various parameters, to retrieve structured information to the Web. While less
the social network of a particular user, and powerful (i.e. less extensibility, no reasoning over
standard tools can be used. microformatted data), they can be translated to
Secondly, this information is available RDF using GRDDL Gleaning Resource Descrip-
using the same format (RDF) and seman- tions from Dialects of Languages (Connolly,
tics (using the FOAF ontology and the 2007).
foaf:knows relationship for the network
definition) whatever the original format Social Media Contributions
is, and it can then be queried with any
SPARQL engine, provide a unified query One of the first things that comes to mind when
scheme on the top of social data from dif- considering a common model for representing so-
ferent services. cial media contributions (from different services)
in a uniform way is RSS (an acronym with various
However, since exporters define their own URI definitions including Really Simple Syndication
for each person, there is a need to mention that and RDF Site Summary). It provides a simple,
two URIs refer to the same person. That can be but widely-deployed format for representing the
done thanks to the owl:sameAs property, which recent contributions from a social media system,
specifies that two URIs identify the same resource, e.g. posts on a weblog or the latest edits in a wiki.
as described in (Bojars et al., 2008). For example, Among the different RSS variations, RSS 1.0 is
the statements shown in Table 7 declare that these based on RDF - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/ -
different URIs (from different exporters for Social and it has been extended using different modules,
Web services) identify the same person. such as the Content Module - http://web.resource.
Table 7. Unifying identities using owl:sameAs
:me owl:sameAs flickr:33669349@N00 ;

owl:sameAs twitter:terraces#me ;
owl:sameAs facebook:foaf-607513040.rdf#me.
440
org/rss/1.0/modules/content/. Similar to RSS is be used to differentiate these two kinds

the Atom Syndication Format - http://tools.ietf. of contributions in the RSS feed. Hence,
org/rfc/rfc4287.txt - an XML format and recent specificities of social media contributions
IETF standard that is also commonly used for (such as multi-author editing in wikis) are
syndicating web feeds (e.g. from Blogger.com). not taken into account in RSS.
Generally, RSS and Atom feeds consist of a Finally, RSS does not expose the complete
container (the website itself, a channel in RSS) structure of a community such as version-
and some items, both having a description, link, ing of items, user groups, etc. as it is main-
etc. as shown in the following picture. In terms ly limits one to data about the item.
of related formats, it is also worth mentioning
NewsML http://newsml.org/ - mainly used for To overcome these limitations, various models
exchanging information between news agencies, have been deployed. For example, with regards
since 2000. to wikis, WIF Wiki Interchange Format and
In spite of their large-scale deployment and WAF Wiki Archive Format have been devel-
their ease of use, several issues arise with RSS oped (Vlkel and Oren, 2006) as common models
and Atom, especially if one wants to take advan- to exchange and archive data between different
tage of it to analyse a given community: wikis, as well as the WikiOnt vocabulary (Harth
et al., 2005), with a more complete list of wiki-
First, they are only syndication formats. based models being available in (Orlandi and
Hence, they only expose the latest items Passant, 2009). Other specific models include
produced in a given community; generally SAM (Franz and Staab, 2005) and NABU (Os-
the last 10 or 20. Therefore, one cannot get terfeld et al., 2005) for instant messaging, as well
a complete overview of the community un- as mle (Rehatschek and Hausenblas, 2007) and
less they have crawled all RSS feeds since SWAML (Fernndez et al., 2007a) for mailing list
the creation the community, which gen- representation using Semantic Web technologies.
erally does not happen as SNA is done a In addition to these specific models, and in
posteriori. order to provide interoperability in online com-
Then, there is no fine-grained representa- munities between different types of applications,
tion of the items that have been produced. the SIOC project was created http://sioc-project.
For example, comparing an RSS feed from org/. SIOC Semantically-Interlinked Online
Wikipedia with one from Twitter: one Communities (Breslin et al., 2005) (Bojars et
is about wiki pages and edits, the other al., 2008) provides a complete ecosystem, and
is about status updates, but nothing can
Figure 6. RSS syndication
441
Figure 7. The SIOC Core ontology
is comprised of an ontology and a set of related lightweight ontologies such as Dublin Core (in
tools to enable semantics in online communities. this example, it is used to represent the creation
The SIOC ontology consists of the SIOC Core date and title of a blog post).
ontology (Figure 7) and five different modules. The SIOC modules collection includes an argu-
While created to be lightweight, the classes and mentation module (for describing argumentative
properties contained in the SIOC Core ontology discussions), an access module (for access rights
are powerful enough for representing many types and permissions), a services module (for basic
of conversation that can occur in online commu- information about Social Web services), a types
nities. For example, it can be used to state that module (that provides fine-grained classes such
Alice has created a Post in a particular Forum (a as sioct:Wiki and sioct:WikiArticle to describe
sioc:Forum being a general discussion space, not various content item types and containers) and a
specifically a bulletin board) and that Bob posted quotes module to represent quoting patterns on the
a reply Post in another Forum, as Table 8 shows. Social Web and in systems such as bulletin boards
As one can see in the previous example, mod- and email discussions. There is also a module pro-
elling metadata for community-created content viding alignments with the SWAN (Ciccarese et
is carried out by combining SIOC with other al., 2008) ontology, in order to enable a complete
Table 8. Example of SIOC data for a distributed conversation
http://example.org/blog/post/1 rdf:type sioc:Post ;

dct:created 2009-08-07T09:33:30Z ;
dct:title Wheres Wally? ;
sioc:has_creator http://example.org/alice ;
sioc:has_container http://example.org/blog/1 ;
sioc:has_reply http://foobar.org/blog/post/3.
http://foobar.org/blog/post/3 rdf:type sioc:Post ;
dct:created 2009-08-07T10:43:55Z ;
dct:title Here he is! ;
sioc:has_creator http://foobar.org/user/bob ;
sioc:has_container http://foobar.org/blog/bob.
442
Figure 8. Interlinking Social Web data with SIOC
framework for modelling argumentaative discus- Integrating Social Networks and

sions in scientific online communities, especially Social Data in Online Communities
in the context of biomedical information (Passant
et al., 2009c). As we explained in previous sections, different
In addition to the ontology, various SIOC ap- ontologies can be used to represent both social
plications have been created: producers (for open- networks and social data. More specifically, FOAF
source applications such as Drupal or WordPress and SIOC have strong ties together, and one physi-
as well as exporters for major services like Flickr), cal person (with FOAF) can be linked to several
crawlers and dedicated browsers, with some of user accounts (with SIOC), with each of them
them described in a future section of this chapter. related to his or her various contributions within
All together, these applications and the ontology online communities. In this way, it can provide
then enable interoperability on the Social Web at a complete semantic social graph, overcoming
Web scale (Figure 8), providing better ways to the original silos of information from the original
gather, analyse and browse such data as the next websites, as depicted in the following picture.
section will emphasise. Social network portability is a related term
Finally, another interesting feature of social that has been used to describe the ability to reuse
media applications is tagging, i.e. using free-text ones own profile across various social network-
keywords to provide user-driven indexing of Web ing sites and applications. The founder of the
2.0 content. Various vocabularies have also been LiveJournal blogging community, Brad Fitzpat-
designed to enable interoperability between tag- rick, wrote an article in August 2007 from a de-
ging systems, including the Tag Ontology, SCOT, velopers point of view about forming a decen-
MOAT and CommonTag. A more detailed descrip- tralised social graph - http://bradfitz.com/
tion of these models for semantic tagging is avail- social-graph-problem/ - which discusses some
able in (Passant, 2009) and in another chapter ideas for social network portability and aggregat-
from this book (Erto et al., 2009b). ing ones friends across sites. Dan Brickley, the
co-creator of the FOAF vocabulary, wrote a re-
443
Figure 9. Social data portability using FOAF and SIOC
lated article entitled The World is Now Closed Querying Information from
which talked about how SNSs should not define Online Communities
ones relationships in absolute terms and that even
an aggregate social graph cannot be so clearly As we mentioned earlier, SPARQL allows us to
defined - http://danbri.org/words/2007/09/13/194. run unified queries on any dataset of RDF-ised
In parallel with this, a social network portability social data for analysis purposes. For example,
mailing list was established discussing many one can retrieve a list of 10 people that claim to
interesting topics including centralisation versus know Tim Berners-Lee, ordered by name, using
decentralisation, FOAF, XFN, hCard, OpenID, the query in Table 9. This query, as with the oth-
Bloom filters, ownership of your published con- ers in this section, can be run using the SPARQL
tent, categorizing friends and personas, the Open- endpoint available at http://lod.openlinksw.com/
FriendFormat, SNAP (Social Network Application sparql that hosts a replica of the Linked Data
Platform), aggregation and privacy, and XMPP cloud, the result of the Linking Open Data proj-
(Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol). ect, providing billions of RDF statements from
sources as diverse as DBpedia (Auer et al., 2008)
Use-Cases and Case Studies or biomedical information systems, thanks to a set
of good practices for publishing and interlinking
In this section, we will describe some use-cases data on the Web (Berners-Lee, 2006) (Bizer et
and case-studies of what can be achieved thanks al., 2007).
to the previous models when analysing informa- More complex queries can also be done, in the
tion from online communities. More advanced context of understanding communities, for ex-
examples of social networking analysis and ample, to identify people interested in a topic and
querying can be found in the chapter by (Erto their relationships, which can be useful for topics
et al., 2009b) in this book. such as expert finding on the Web. The query in
Table 10 then retrieves a list of people that know
someone interested in a topic containing the string
semantic, and the figure below corresponds to a
444
Table 9. Retrieving people using SPARQL and FOAF
SELECT DISTINCT ?name

WHERE {
?s foaf:knows <http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i> ;
foaf:name ?name.
}
ORDER BY ASC(?name)
LIMIT 10
part of the answer. While provided using a simple Another advanced area in which this kind of
tabular view, more advanced analysis can be done queries can be applied concerns the geolocation
with such queries, such as ranking people by aspects of social networks. For example, the
interest or mining subcommunities depending on query in Table 11 identifies all the persons known
the relationships that the topics share together, by Sheila that are based near a location identified
for instance considering that Semantic Web Ser- by its coordinates (using the foaf:based_near
vices is a subtopic of the Semantic Web and then property). Such queries are used in the FOAFMap
identifying related subcommunities from that application (Passant, 2006) that provides a geo-
relationship. location mashup of social networking information
thanks to Google Map, as depicted in Figure 11.
Table 10. Identifying people around a particular topic
SELECT DISTINCT ?pname ?fname ?interest

WHERE {
?p foaf:name ?pname ;
foaf:knows ?k.
?k foaf:name ?fname ;
foaf:topic_interest ?interest.
FILTER (REGEX(?interest, semantic, i))
}
Figure 10. Results of the previous SPARQL query
445
Figure 11. Geolocation of social networks using FOAFMap
Moreover, using advanced SPARQL features providing a single entry point to browse ones
(San Martin and Gutierrez, 2009) such as aggre- own data from several applications.
gates that are currently being standardised in the In order to take advantage of such uniform mod-
W3C SPARQL Working Group (http://www. elling, we developed a simple application called
w3.org/2009/sparql/wiki/Main_Page), Semantic FOAFGear (based on the Flash GraphGear API),
Social Network Analysis features can be pro- available at http://apassant.net/home/2008/01/
vided on the top of RDF data represented for foafgear that permits one to browse a distributed
instance using FOAF and SIOC. social graph in a coherent way. Thanks to the use
of FOAF, and more generally of Semantic Web
Browsing Distributed Social Graphs technologies, the script that produces the graph
contains just 100 lines of code and uses only
As we saw in the previous section, using FOAF SPARQL to identify friends across networks, while
to model social networking information provides original applications would have required various
a uniform representation layer for networks APIs to do something similar, leading developers
wherever or whatever the original application is. to learn each API separately and to mash-up results
Moreover, one can centralise his or her various together. The figure below shows the application
profiles using owl:sameAs statements, hence being used to browse the networks for a particular
Table 11. Combining social networking and geolocation
SELECT DISTINCT ?o ?lat ?long

WHERE {
<http://sw.deri.org/~sheila/foaf.rdf#me> foaf:knows ?o.
?o foaf:based_near ?place.
?place geo:lat ?lat.
?place geo:long ?long.
}
446
Figure 12. Browsing distributed social networks
user from Twitter, Flickr and Facebook, centralised and provides a generic view of all RDF data as-
around the persons profile. sociated with SIOC. The application aggregates
Social Web content from various sources into a
Browsing Topics and Contributions local RDF store and provides various ways to
from a Community view the content and associated data.
When viewing posts from an individual forum
The SIOC Explorer (Heitmann and Oren, 2007) or a group of forums, the user is presented with
allows users to browse and explore Social Web the list of posts in a reverse chronological order.
content from disparate online community sites in Each post is summarised (see Figure 13) and can
an integrated manner, as long as the browsed data be expanded in order to read the full content.
has been represented using SIOC. The core of this Clicking on the creator of a post shows all posts
application is BrowseRDF a faceted navigation (including comments and replies) written by this
system for RDF data which is domain independent person, across all forums; clicking on a topic shows
Figure 13. Faceted exploration of SIOC RDF data in the SIOC Explorer. The facets on the left allows
to filter information by author in a given community
447
all posts tagged with this topic, again across all component, the application can extract two types
forums. In contrast to ordinary feed readers, such of social contextual information from online com-
lateral browsing works across all different types munity sites: the social neighbourhood (i.e. social
of community forums that can be described in network) of each site member and the indicators
SIOC: clicking on a name (e.g. Elias Torres) of their online reputation. As a result, this proto-
will not only show this users blog posts, but also type allows users to browse and explore all this
his microblog posts and IRC conversations. disparate information in an integrated manner.
A generic faceted navigation interface is of- In addition to views provided by the SIOC
fered on the left-hand side, displaying relevant Explorer itself, this application provides views
facets that are not already shown as a part of the that let users explore persons social context
default browsing interface. Facets are built dy- and relations with other content creators. Figure
namically at view time and will show the proper- 14 shows an example of a persons description,
ties and values derived from the actual data, while including information from his FOAF profile
also displaying properties which may not be known such as his picture, homepage and interests, and
at the system design time. Some facets (like the also his extracted social context. The screenshot
year) contain only simple values while complex shows a summary of these relations, with more
facets, such as maker or topic, can be further details and links to actual people in the social
expanded to see subsequent sub-facets (as shown neighbourhood available. It also shows the users
on the bottom left of Figure 13). online reputation metrics. For example, we can see
that this user has written 338 posts and made 115
Discovering Social Networks comments, and knows 634 people through shared
from SIOC Data discussions activity that could have taken place
across several different sites, but has been unified
The Social SIOC Explorer (Bojars et al., 2007) thanks to the use of SIOC data.
builds upon the SIOC Explorer described earlier A persons interests could be extracted using
and allows users to see and explore social relations NLP algorithms from content that they publish
on the Social Web manifested via user-generated online. Alternatively the use of Semantic Tagging
content. The motivation for this application comes ontologies could help in mining user interests,
from the observation that the social context related notably MOAT and CommonTag since these
to content and its creator is as important as the con- models focus on using URIs to represent tags,
tent itself. An interesting concept in this regard is instead of simple strings, so that tagged content
the notion of object-centred sociality as described becomes meaningful and is linked to structured
by Jyri Engestrom - http://www.zengestrom.com/ information.
blog/2005/04/why_some_social.html - (Knorr-
Cetina, 1997) - which provides evidence that Advanced Navigation Interfaces
people are connected via the content they create,
co-annotate, and reply to. These collaborations Last year, the Digital Enterprise Research Institute
uncover the implicit relations between people (DERI) at the National University of Ireland,
which are typically ignored by other Social Web Galway and boards.ie, the largest Irish message
applications such as feed readers. board site, ran a competition in which entrants
What makes the Social SIOC Explorer dif- were asked to submit interesting creations based on
ferent is the usage of FOAF in addition to SIOC discussion posts created on boards.ie between 1998
data, the addition of user profile pages and the and 2008 (approximately 9 million documents),
social context analysis component. Using this represented in RDF, mainly using the FOAF and
448
Figure 14. An example user profile with extracted social relations
SIOC ontologies. Among the various submissions, Finally, the third prize was awarded to the
the three winning ones provided advanced brows- Forum Activity Graph, a visualisation
ing and visualisation interfaces: service showing the popularity of forums
on boards.ie as represented by coloured
The top winning submission was entitled rivers of information, which were drawn
SIOC.ME and illustrates how 3-D vi- as SVG graphics and then rendered and
sualisations may be harnessed to not only displayed using Google Maps.
provide an interactive means of presenting
or browsing data but also to create useful As we have already mentioned, as well as the
data analysis tools, especially for manipu- applications themselves, an interesting aspect of
lating the semantic (meaningful) data these services is that since they rely on data based
from online communities and social net- on known formats, the methods can be adapted
working sites. to any application. Hence, the use of Semantic
In second place was a visualisation appli- Web technologies can be used to provide adapt-
cation called boardsview, providing an able browsing interfaces for online communities,
interactive, real-time animation where one as we demonstrated with the previous example
can watch the historical content from many of FOAFGear.
discussion forums changing in real or com-
pressed time (see Figure 15). Such appli- Challenges and Research Agenda
cation can be used to evaluate the wealth for the Social Semantic Web
of a community and how such community
evolve among time. Once again, a main Before concluding the chapter, we would like to
advantage is that this service is applica- give an overview of some important challenges
tion agnostic as it just uses SIOC data and that still need to be considered in the context of
does not consider the original applications social data on the (Semantic) Web. Indeed, while
that have been used to model such data. the technologies we have described so far solve
various issues with regards to understanding
449
Figure 15. Visualising evolving conversations over time
online communities, some other issues still have However, an interesting aspect of social net-
to be considered. working and media-sharing websites is that most
people use various websites because they want to
Trust and Privacy in deliberately fragment their online identity: up-
Online Communities loading pictures of friends on MySpace, forming
business contacts on LinkedIn, etc. (Figure 16).
When dealing with online community analysis, and Under each persona, a user may reveal completely
especially with social data, whether it is personal different facets of their personality. People may
information, social networking data or social me- wish to share many of their identities with certain
dia contributions, privacy is an important issue to contacts, but retain more privacy when dealing
consider. Policy languages can be used to allow or with others. For example, many people are care-
deny access to some social resources, as well as ful to keep their personal life distinct from their
to provide restricted access to SPARQL endpoints professional life. Yet, as we saw in the previous
(Abel et al., 2007). In addition, these policies can sections, inference and querying capabilities of
be finely defined thanks to the amount of RDF the Semantic Web could enable better computation
data now available on the Web, especially social and reasoning over social data, sometimes break-
data. For example, one could use information from ing this voluntary fragmentation (especially when
his or her social network to allow access to their reasoning over Inverse Functional Properties).
CV. This could be based on the people with whom Hence, while the Semantic Web provides some
one shares information on the LinkedIn business solutions to privacy issues, it also introduces new
networking service (Passant et al., 2009b). ones that must be taken into account.
450
Figure 16. Identify fragmentation on the Social Web (from http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredcavaz-

za/278973402/)
In addition, another related area is trust, i.e. query processing on this data? Soundness and
ensuring that the information provided on the Web completeness are new means for evaluating in-
is trustworthy and comes from relevant sources. formation retrieval on the Semantic Web, e.g. one
Models such as FOAF can have an important role can include approximate querying defined by time
to play, combined with authentication techniques constraints as proposed by MaRvin (Oren et al.,
such as FOAF+SSL (Story et al., 2009) or OpenID. 2009). Another question is how does one enable
In addition (Hartig, 2009) recently showed how querying over a set of heterogeneous schemas?
trust can be enabled when querying information For this, rule languages such as RIF - Rule Inter-
in SPARQL, a first step towards the top level of change Format (Boley et al., 2009) -, that enable
the Semantic Web layer cake. rules and interoperability between these rules on
the Web, have a role to play.
Querying the Web as a Database: In addition to these considerations about
Scalability and Architectures the scalability of distributed computing for the
Semantic Web, certain issues arise regarding ap-
While the Semantic Web aims to provide advanced plication architectures. (Heitmann et al., 2009)
querying capabilities, considering the Web as a gi- showed, by analysing more than 90 Semantic
ant database, we must keep in mind that this is not Web applications, that most of them use a com-
a database per se: the Web is distributed, content mon set of components (Figure 17) such as data
is very dynamic, it uses various heterogeneous interfaces or crawlers. Yet, there is still a need to
schemas, etc. Hence, various issues arise. better understand the implications of the Semantic
For example, how does one keep the distrib- Web for developers.
uted nature of the Web but also allow efficient
451
Figure 17. Components of Semantic Web applica-

are also threats becoming apparent: espionage,
tions from (Heitmann et al., 2009)
cyber war and identity theft, for example. These
opportunities and threats show that the Web is not
an artefact solely of interest to computer scientists:
there are also legal, economical and social issues
which are essential to consider if we are to truly
comprehend the Web.
Web Science is a new interdisciplinary branch
of science (Berners-Lee et al., 2006) (Hendler et
al., 2008) which aims to shed light on the phe-
nomena which are emerging on the Web, and to
engineer its future so that it evolves in a way which
is beneficial for society. It was formally proposed
The Social Semantic Web and Web in November 2006 when the foundation of the
Science Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) - http://
webscience.org/ - was announced. The WSRI
We would like to conclude this chapter with aims to bring together researchers from different
some thoughts regarding online communities, disciplines to study the World Wide Web in order
the Social Semantic Web and the recent Web to gain understanding which can help guide its
Science Research Initiative. The Web has per- future use and design. The diverse fields from
meated our daily lives. In a short space of time, which Web Science draws include mathematics,
much of our banking, commerce, and information physics, computer science, sociology, psychology,
dissemination needs have become dependent on law, political science, economics, and ecology.
the Internet. Therefore an understanding of the The issues included within the scope of Web
processes which play out on the Web is vital. At Science are broad-ranging and include technical
the moment, however, these properties are not issues (e.g. architecture, languages), social issues
fully understood. Understanding the Web is not (privacy), legal issues (intellectual property) and
as simple as understanding the technology behind many more.
the routers and servers which power it. The Web There is a strong relationship between the So-
has evolved into a vast and complex network. cial Web and Web Science (Passant et al., 2009a).
Billions of interlinked documents are available Online communities using Web 2.0 technologies
online, and Web 2.0 technologies are enabling have contributed vast amounts of data and com-
a significant fraction of the worlds population plexity to the Web, and are of great interest to
to communicate with each other and create and sociologists and researchers interested in under-
share content. Simple interactions between people, standing the motivations and behaviour of citizens
documents and content result in emergent proper- of the Web. On the other hand, Web Science can
ties on a macro scale. This is a phenomenon similar also support online communities, by providing
to those observed in networks studied previously solutions to problems of trust and privacy, for
by physicists (e.g. of interacting particles) and bi- example. The Social Web and Web Science have
ologists (e.g. of protein interactions). The growth a lot to contribute to each other. Virtual communi-
of the Web and the network effects which have ties are prime objects of study for scientists of the
emerged present many opportunities in areas such Web, and Web Science can be a valuable source
as advertising, science, and healthcare, where more of solutions for virtual communities.
and more activities are taking place online. There
452
The Semantic Web can similarly benefit from Ankolekar, A., Krtzsch, M., Thanh Tran, D., &
Web Science. Much effort has been put into build- Vrandecic, D. (2008). The Two Cultures: Mash-
ing the foundations of the Semantic Web, and ing up Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web. Journal
making semantically-described data available. of Web Semantics, 6(1), 7075.
However, there is still a need to understand the
Auer, S., Bizer, C., Kobilarov, G., Lehmann, J.,
consequences for users of the Web which have
Cyganiak, R., & Ives, Z. (2008). DBpedia: A
resulted from these technologies and the increased
Nucleus for a Web of Open Data. In Proceedings
exposure of data. Standards for the Web of Data
of the 6th International Semantic Web Conference
are still in their formative stages, and perhaps
(ISWC 2007), Busan, Korea.
Web Science can provide an insight into the best
ways to proceed with these. Basca, C., Corlosquet, S., Cyganiak, R., Fernn-
The future of the Social Semantic Web and the dez, S., & Schandl, T. (2008). Neologism: Easy
future of Web Science are very much interlinked. Vocabulary Publishing. In Proceedings of the
By studying the Social Semantic Web, where the ESWC2008 Workshop on Scripting for the Se-
interconnections between people and resources mantic Web (SFSW2008).
are richly described, we can gain deep insight
Bechhofer, S., van Harmelen, F., Hendler, J., Hor-
into the online activities of communities. What
rocks, I., McGuinness, D., Patel-Schneider, P. F.,
we learn can contribute to developing solutions
& Stein, L. A. Dean, M., & Schreiber, G. (Eds.)
to the challenges identified in this chapter.
(2004). OWL Web Ontology Language Reference.
W3C Recommendation 10 February 2004. http://
www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Berners-Lee, T. (1989). Information Management:
The work presented in this chapter has been funded A Proposal. Technical report, CERN. http://www.
in part by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html
No. SFI/08/CE/I1380 (Lon 2). We would also
Berners-Lee, T. (2005). Podcast at ISWC2005. Re-
like to acknowledge the winners of the SIOC
trieved from http://esw.w3.org/topic/IswcPodcast
data competition whose entries were referenced
in this chapter, as well as Eyal Oren and Benjamin Berners-Lee, T. (2006). Linked Data. W3C De-
Heitmann for their work on the SIOC Explorer. sign Issue. Retrieved from http://www.w3.org/
DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
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457
Chapter 27
Understanding and Using
Virtual Ethnography in
Virtual Environments
Robert Hancock
Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Mindy Crain-Dorough
Becky Parton
Jeff Oescher
ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to outline a process of virtual ethnography that combines emic and etic methods
of data gathering adapted to the virtual context to provide a true (Richardson, 2000) accounting of
the social constructs inherent in the virtual world. The first section of this chapter discusses the unique
characteristics of virtual ethnography when used to explore virtual environments such as Second Life
or MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. The second section presents some of the methodological is-
sues related to conducting such research. Finally, the third section offers for consideration some unique
challenges related to the application of such methods. Two concerns are discussed: 1) identifying an
understanding the phenomenological structures unique to a particular virtual environment and 2) the
implications of such knowledge with regard to the design of new virtual educational environments.
INTRODUCTION ments such as Second Life or World of Warcraft.

These online environments are the virtual home
This chapter is divided into three sections. The of tens of millions of individuals who now spend
first discusses the unique characteristics of virtual almost as much time in the virtual world as they
ethnography when used to explore virtual environ- do the real one. Ethnography or ethnographic
evaluation is a descriptive account of social life
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch027
Understanding and Using Virtual Ethnography in Virtual Environments
and culture in a particular social system based on find a similar construct in the real world. Doing
detailed observations of what people actually do. ethnographic research on virtual communities re-
(Johnson, 2000). Ethnographic fieldwork can and quires different tools from those used in traditional
should be meaningfully applied to virtual worlds ethnographic studies (Pacagnella, 1997) for which
with appropriate tools (Garcia et al. 2009). Virtual excellent methodological literature already exists.
ethnography is the application of ethnographic Doing ethnographic studies on graphically based
methodology to virtual worlds, for purposes of this virtual environments requires an additional set of
chapter, focusing on the graphically based Mas- approaches to those traditionally used to assess
sively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games text based online environments.
(MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, Guild- The second section of this chapter outlines a
wars, and EVE online or Massively Multiplayer process of virtual ethnography that combines emic
Online Learning Environments (MMOLEs) such and etic methods of data gathering adapted to the
as Quest Atlantis. Second life is the real worlds virtual context to provide a true (Richardson,
most popular virtual world with the worlds most 2000) accounting of the social constructs inherent
popular MMORPG being World of Warcraft. in the virtual world. This process of virtual eth-
MMORPGs are focused on here as they are more nography will be defined in light of the following
similar in structure to the MMOLEs currently in key components.
development, and general, MMORPGs require
more in terms of interaction and task completion 1. Establishment a tabula rasa in the mind of
than virtual worlds which often focus more on the ethnographer.
world building (second life, Active Worlds) rather 2. Digital Fieldwork and Key Informants
than interaction as a primary activity. 3. Problem Definition
These new environments have rapidly evolved 4. Sample Identification
over the last decade and have proven very addic- 5. Cultural Layering
tive to millions of people from diverse cultural 6. Approach Design
backgrounds. Some such as World of Warcraft 7. New Proxemic and Kinesic Structures
being specifically for diverse environments 8. Data Collection Methodologies
(Ducheneaut et all, 2006). vThey also pose unique 9. Methods of Analysis
challenges for the qualitative researcher. Typically 10. Publication of Findings
an ethnographic approach offers perhaps insights 11. Ethics
into communities, but, due to the unique nature
of virtual worlds, such methods require a special The third section of the chapter offers for
understanding and consideration of the phenom- consideration some unique challenges related to
enological constructs which are the underpinnings the application of such methods. Two concerns
of virtual society. For example, in traditional are discussed: 1) identifying an understanding the
real-world ethnography, age is a factor which can phenomenological structures unique to a particular
usually be assumed to have a linear relationship virtual environment and 2) the implications of
with certain other variables such as status. Where such knowledge with regard to the design of new
in many online environments, virtual age (i.e., virtual educational environments.
the age of the character, alter-ego, or toon), not
physical age, has the linear relationship. Thus it
is much more common to find a 12 year old lead-
ing a virtual guild that includes individuals 5 or
6 times his/her real world age than it would be to
458
BACKGROUND THE PROCESS OF VIRTUAL

ETHNOGRAPHY
Culture
Establishment of a Tabula Rasa
Culture is the sum of a social groups observable in the Mind of the Ethnographer
patterns of behavior, customs, and way of life
(Harris, 1968, p. 16). The most popular ideational One of the most important things for a virtual
definition of culture states that culture comprises ethnographer to do first is to clear their mind
the ideas, beliefs, and knowledge that characterize of preconceived notions of cultural norms and
a particular group of people (Fetterman, 1998). In assume a holistic perspective with regard to the
the authors opinion, both perspectives are neces- environment being studied. Commonly referred
sary to conduct a good ethnography. A successful to as the reflexivity or the awareness of biases and
ethnography depends on the degree to which the pre-conceptions, the process of becoming aware
researchers findings reflect those characteris- of the biases possessed and the act of setting them
tics of a group mentioned above. As millions of aside makes research more credible. In so doing,
people enter the digital environment, entire social the researcher sets their mind as a blank slate
landscapes (i.e., cultures by any definition) have or tabula-rasa. Three methods of doing this are
evolved that have great interest to both academic writing memos, keeping a reflexive journal, and
and applied ethnographers. This environment, being interviewed about ones biases.
however, is so new that much of what worked
in traditional ethnography must be reconsidered. Layered Culture in the Virtual World
Virtual Ethnography in the MMORPG According to Robert Moore, Nicholas Duch-

and MMOLE Environments eneaut and Eric Nickell (2006) interaction in
MMORPGs is of course an instance of computer
Virtual ethnography is the application of ethno- mediated communication and as such, it involves
graphic methods to virtual worlds, in particular two different kinds of awareness information: (1)
the graphically based Massively Multiplayer real-world, or what a player is currently doing
Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) or in the physical world and (2) in-game, or what a
Massively Multiplayer Online Learning Environ- player is currently doing in the virtual world. The
ments (MMOLEs). Proxemic, spatial distance, authors of this chapter built upon this concept to
and kinesic, agent movement, structures have assert that in the virtual world there are actually
changed entirely in graphical online environments, three cultures to consider: the construct culture,
and there are now multiple layers of culture (e.g., the agent culture, and the players home culture.
source and digital) that must be examined. These The Construct Culture. The culture of the
changes force necessary changes in ethnographic game/world construct is the created reality
methodology. initiated by the game designers. It has potential
components such as formal hierarchies of achieve-
ment, formal rewards, etc. It is of great importance
and influence but is often hard to study. Construct
kinesic structures can hardly be studied for partici-
pant or agent feedback when the structures are put
in place by construct designers. For example, all
characters in World of Warcraft have a pre-crafted
459
set of dance moves so the graphical representation home culture criteria. These criteria can play
of (/dance) is similar for sexes and races. Nothing a vital role in the agent culture activities of the
can be determined by observing the graphics of guild or group.
such a conducted action other than the fact that a
generic emote was called by the user. Emic and Etic Procedures
The Agent Culture. This culture created by
the individuals who interact with the game/world The unique nature of the multiple layers of culture
construct. It is this culture which is arguably forces the virtual ethnographer to take at least a
most easily evident. It consists of interactions limited etic perspective in examining the pre-
between players/participants, hereafter referred set structures of the construct culture and their
to as agents, with each other and the construct. relationship and interplay with agent in home
Because the construct normally forces an economy, cultures in a particular environment. The culture
agents must interact on some level. Status in this that a given agent in World of Warcraft is a part
culture and observance of the rules of this culture of cannot be generalized to World of Warcraft as
dominate agent activities. These activities can oc- a whole but rather only to the server (one of hun-
cur both inside and outside of the game construct. dreds) that the agent is interacting with because
For example, a guild (i.e., a group of players who the demographics of home cultures differs from
aid each other) often uses an outside web-page to that of other servers, and the agent culture differs
organize their in-game activities. In addition they from that of other servers. It is profitable for the
facilitate communication by using formal outside virtual ethnographer to take a etic perspective in
software such as Ventrillo to enhance voice com- observing foundational cultural constructs and
munication. The agent culture strives to, and often their interplay on a particular server before im-
succeeds, in dominating the construct culture. In mersing themselves for more emic accounts on that
World of Warcraft it is possible to create ones server. For example, if the researcher is interested
own dance moves to replace the generic moves in studying, the relationship between home culture
triggered by (/dance). It is reflective of the domi- religious grouping and guild activities, they would
nance of the agent culture that a guild would assist be well served to first survey several servers to
a new player in acquiring their own individual find one that has a suitably large agent culture of
or guild dance moves. The agent culture has its home culture religious guilds.
own behaviors and beliefs that are observable. In It is desirable to obtain an emic perspective
terms of lexical analysis the agent culture refers to in the particular culture to understand it the way
a new player as a newbie if they are respectful the virtual inhabitants do, but it should be realized
of the culture and are willing to be taught. This is that as in the real world such an understanding
not a derogatory statement. However, if an agent cannot be obtained quickly. Realistically, for
is disrespectful or abusive of the customs of the environments such as World of Warcraft, the au-
culture they are referred to as a noob which is thors find it difficult to believe that a fully emic
a derogatory term with a rough translation of not perspective can be reached until one has reached
willing to be taught. endgame content. In other words, agents have
Home Culture. The investigator cannot forget to some extent maximized their achievements and
that although the MMORPG agent mask is in place are pushing the boundaries of new achievements
and the agent culture dominates, there is also the being developed by designers. Currently, in World
home culture of the players. It is not uncommon of Warcraft, an agent realistically reaches this
to see players groups based upon political align- content somewhere between one and two years of
ment (e.g., home country), religion, age, or other casual to active interaction. The construct culture
460
forces different styles and methods of interaction 1922). These problems, which are eventually
based upon previous achievements, so a researcher crafted into specific research questions, give
cannot practically achieve a holistic perspective focus to the research. They are often expressed
from interaction without progression through the as aims and should be made clear in order that
construct system. This can be extremely time the purpose of the research can be established
consuming, which is why one cannot achieve and the appropriateness of the sample assessed.
an emic perspective by creating a character and Also, research questions may change or become
simply observing. This will not allow access to more specific as the study progresses and the
the various levels of extremely complex interplay design emerges. Some currently relevant research
within the environment. problems for educational researchers include level
and type of cooperation between agents in joint
Digital Fieldwork, Key task completion, motivation for task completion,
Informants, and Key Events and path choice when confronted with multiple
ways of accomplishing a task.
Fieldwork is the key to ethnography (Sanjek,
1990). Digital fieldwork is the collection of Sample Identification
data from key informants and key events in the
digital environment. Differences in observational The purpose of sampling in virtual ethnography is
technique and interviewing will be dealt with in essentially to develop and discover categories on
the section on proxemic and kinesic structures. the way to developing theory (Mackenzie, 1994).
It is important to remember when selecting key It is concerned not only with the selection of key
events to study that there are events from all informants and key events to give insight to the
three cultures that are relevant. For example, the phenomena under study, but also with sampling
construct culture has formal holidays to celebrate across time, place, and cultural strata. It is an
such as Midsummer Festival, Noblegarden, and ongoing process occurring at those points during
Brewfest in World of Warcraft. The agent culture the fieldwork, when people, places and times are
has several holidays of its own such as raiding, selected. This purposive (Field & Morse, 1985)
leveling parties, and toon (character or agent) or theoretical (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) sampling
marriage. Also, the home culture plays a role is a form of comparative methodology whereby
with agent prayer groups, birthday celebrations emerging ideas and possible hypotheses may be
etc. The combination can make for some complex tested out in different contexts or with different
areas of interplay (e.g., the home culture spouse groups, thus refining constructs and discover-
attending the toon marriage of his/her spouses ing or developing categories. One knows when
agent to another toon arranged to be held during an adequate sample has been achieved when
the festival of love). Care must also be taken in the saturation point has been reached or when
choosing key informants, because it is the interplay further sampling of events or informants yields
of role in the different cultures that can determine redundant information. The virtual ethnographers
the value of the agent to the ethnographer. sampling method can often benefit from the use
of specific purposive sampling techniques such
Problem Definition as maximum variation, in which you sample for
all levels of a phenomenon, such as achievement
The starting point of digital ethnographic research level and critical incident where you sample key
is a set of questions or foreshadowed problems events that were critical to changes to character
from which the fieldwork begins (Malinowski, role in the game.
461
Cultural Layering The Internet does greatly facilitate casing the

scene prior to creating a strategy for entering into
The notion of community, an all-important unit for active participation. It is much easier to lurk on the
anthropological understanding, has been claimed Internet in most cases than to unobtrusively hang
to be actually illusory when enacted on the internet out in an Amazon village. (Thomsen, Straubhaar
as para-social rather than real phenomena (Cal- et al. 1998, online)
houn 1991). Another common objections to the While it is hard to be unnoticed, there are so
possibility of an online ethnography are the lack many natural lurkers (i.e., people away from
of face to face interaction and the lack of a notion keyboard) that it is very possible, even desirable,
of place in which to ground fieldwork. However, to lurk (Williams, 2007). However as mentioned
MMORPG environments have largely eliminated above one cannot lurk through all environments,
these arguments and more recent studies of the and most virtual ethnographers in general dis-
feasibility and potential successful use of eth- courage the practice of just lurking (Mason,
nographic methods have been well documented 1996; Learning, 1998). Gaining a total picture
(Hakken, 1999). The problems involved in what of all interactions at some point will become
the authors term as cultural layering are also necessary. For example, an observer can join a
well documented: guild and observe the guild chat and or listen in
The disparate approaches to new media and on the ventrillo channels, but he cannot join the
Internet studies also reflect the ephemeral nature guild in activities if not at the required level or
of the new media, the often elusive and ambigu- rank for those activities. Also, when observing for
ous constructions of individual and collective scientific purposes on those channels, the agents
identities mediated by these technologies, and the should be notified for ethical reasons.
problem of gaining an ontological footing within Structure and function in virtual ethnography
rapidly obsolescing technologies. (Wilson and remain the key concepts that guide research in
Peterson, 2002, p.451) virtual social organization. Structure refers to
Do to the extreme complexity of cultural struc- the social structure or configuration of the group,
tures and identities in the MMORPG environment, such as ranks within a guild and function refers to
it is recommended that the virtual ethnographer the social relations among members of the group.
begin their process of study by lurking and Symbols are still powerful expressions of meaning
gathering such etic data as may help define their to be studied. The agents tabard, pets, mounts, and
problems. This mirrors expands upon the tradi- equipment are condensed expressions of mean-
tional method of leveled participant observation ing that evoke powerful statements to those who
where the ethnographer may expand the participant understand them. Rituals are repeated patterns of
role as they become more comfortable with the symbolic behavior that play a part in everyday life
environment. such as the totally non-scripted Mammoth parades
that occur in Dalaran in World of Warcraft.
Approach to the Design As in traditional ethnography, virtual ethnogra-
phy calls for a defined operationalism, the defini-
It is recommended that, unless the environment tion of ones terms and methods of measurement.
is one known to the researcher, the investigation To establish a significant link between facts and
begin by lurking. Although it is not as easy theory the virtual ethnographer must quantify
to lurk in the MMORG as in other web con- or identify the source of ethnographic insights
structs, this process is greatly facilitated by the whenever possible. Accuracy is gained through
environment. specificity..
462
New Proxemic and semi-structured, informal, formal, retrospective,

Kinesic Structures etc.) are appropriate for the virtual environment.
The MMORPG format actually facilitates inter-
The MMORPG environment by nature renders viewing by eliminating clothing etc. as possible
some unobtrusive measures (e.g., outcroppings) forms of contamination. Questionnaires, however
obsolete. Since the environment is generally are made more problematic as the agent often has
unalterable by its inhabitants, the outcropping to leave the MMORPG client and go to a website.
structures are at best reflective of the construct to complete the instrument. An action, that often
culture and are of limited use for analysis. This is put off and forgotten, resulting in low response
is a great difference between the MMORPG and rates. As such, it is recommended that for virtual
the Virtual World such as Second Life however, ethnography, the structured interview should
as in the virtual world of Second Life, the shaped replace the questionnaire whenever possible. Pro-
environment provides a main area for study. jective techniques can also be problematic within
Kinesics are likewise of limited use in analyzing the environment and should only be attempted
body movements in most environments, as most when the ethnographer can be sure of producing
such movements are generally not scriptable, that the proper form to cue responses. Questions relat-
is, customizable, in the environment. However, ing to proxemics and kinesics in the environment
much can be learned by those movements that should be addressed such as;
are customizable, since such movement was
important enough to the person to script it onto 1. Have you developed any special movements,
their character. Proxemics are very important, sayings, or actions for your toon?
however, as the positioning of an agents toon in 2. Do you have a special place you stand for
a non-combat grouping or in the environment can guild pictures etc.?
show place within a social group.
Field notes become simple with the use of mul-
Data Collection Methods tiple screen capture technologies such as Camtasia
Studio. It is easy for the virtual ethnographer to
As in traditional ethnography, entry can best be capture all video and audio responses to interview
facilitated through an intermediary or go-between questions as well as participant observation data.
in the society. As is mentioned earlier, ethnogra- It is recommended that the virtual ethnographer
phy is perhaps best facilitated after a period of purchase an inexpensive attachable hard drive to
participant observation of which part or whole their machine (e.g., 500mb to 2 terrabyte) to store
is facilitated through lurking. Ideally participant the large amount of video that will be accumulated.
observation should take a minimum of six months The Developmental Research Sequence cre-
to one year and should constitute full immersion ated by James Spradley could be utilized in a vir-
in the environment to internalize the basic beliefs, tual ethnography. It involves a three-step process
hopes, fears, etc. of the people being studied. beginning with descriptive observations in which
Participant observation sets the stage for more the spaces, activities, objects, acts, events, times,
advanced techniques such as interviewing. goals, and feelings within the virtual environment
The interview is perhaps the virtual ethnog- are explored to begin to create domains of exist-
raphers most important information gathering ing constructs (Spradly, 1980). Next, focused
technique. Interviews explain and put into context observations are conducted to examine structures
what the ethnographer sees and experiences. All among construct domains. Finally, selective
of the standard interview types (e.g., structured, observations are used to determine relationships
463
between constructs and to make interpretations of THE IDENTIFICATION OF

how constructs fit into the virtual environment. PHENOMENOLOGICAL
STRUCTURES IN THE
Methods of Analysis MMORPG/MMOLE ENVIRONMENTS
As in traditional ethnography, analysis begins Both interpretive (transcendental) and hermeneu-

with the virtual ethnographers perception. The tical phenomenology have a large potential role
ethnographer must select and isolate pieces of in assisting the virtual ethnographer. Interpretive
material that form patterns relevant to a scope of phenomenology strives to accurately represent
inquiry based on theory. Programs such as NVivio the voice of the participants of lived experience,
Nud*ist can assist in this process and in pattern while hermeneutical phenomenology attempts to
recognition. Triangulation, can be used to establish represent the experiences and views of the eth-
ethnographic validity, testing sources against one nographer. After presenting the participants voice,
another. Fortunately, it is possible to pull logged the interpreter moves to a level of commentary
information from the MMORPG directly into that considers the first level of presentation from
analysis programs such as Nud*ist. various interpretive vantage points. In the case
of the virtual ethnography, these vantage points
Publication of Findings must include consideration of the different levels
of culture.
Games and simulations have stepped to the fore- The interpretive commentary should serve to
front of educational technology research, provid- clarify the meanings of the first level description
ing individuals with several avenues to publish and articulation, assisting the reader in making
findings. Perhaps, one of the best avenues to get qualitative distinctions in the first order commen-
feedback on potential publications in the area of tary. For example, when interviewing a member
educational technology is through the Advanced of an adults only guild, it is important to not only
Research on Virtual Environments for Learning cover the interviewees voice but to examine that
(ARVEL), a special interest group of the American voice in the context of construct, agent, and home
Educational Research Association, or the games cultures. In addition, it is important to identify
and simulations special interest groups of the any additional phenomenological structures that
International Society of Technology in Education can be used as interpretive vantage point. Does
(ISTE) and the Society of Technology and Teacher the person have children in the real world, for
Education (SITE). example? While it is understood that the level
of examination will probably differ from a pure
Ethics phenomenological study to an ethnography con-
structed with some phenomenological constructs,
The unique structure of the MMORPG environ- the ethnographer will be much better able to present
ment makes it easier to commit ethical violations a clear picture of the interviewees experiences or
such as recording an interview unobtrusively within the case of the hermeneutical phenomenology,
out asking the interviewee for their consent. Thus the experiences of the ethnographer.
the responsibility falls on the virtual ethnographer The MMORPG environment is such that com-
to make a stronger effort to uphold high ethical mon real world phenomenon, such as discrimina-
standards for the rights of groups and individu- tion, take on totally different aspects to agents
als. Of particular concern is the complexity of dependent on a multitude of factors present in
informed consent in this situation. each of the three cultural levels. It is this use of
464
layered cultures and phenomenological constructs cal and anthropological methodologies for the
which makes the process of virtual ethnography conduct of qualitative studies in this area. It is
and allows the ethnographer to use hermeneuti- important to continue to develop and validate
cal phenomenological experiences as a basis for the methodologies of virtual case study, virtual
examining the different levels of cultural interplay phenomenological study, virtual grounded theory,
both upon his/herself and on the experiences of and virtual narrative. In short, all of the normal
other agents. approaches for sociological and anthropological
study need to be updated as the environments are
changing so quickly.
THE IMPLICATIONS FOR
VIRTUAL EDUCATIONAL
ENVIRONMENT DESIGN CONCLUSION
It is very important for MMOLE designers to The emergence of the online environment and
realize that the construct culture they establish online cultures has caused a need to update tradi-
will serve as the groundwork for the agent and tional methods of ethnography to meet the unique
real world cultural interplay that will follow. needs of the virtual environment. For example,
This is something that has occurred haphazardly the potential for ethics violations has grown as
in the MMORPG environments with some nasty methods of collecting data have been largely
surprises for developers. However the MMOLE simplified. However, the most important aspect of
environment is potentially an environment that a change for the ethnographer is the realization that
child may have to participate in someday with no the virtual world represents layers of construct,
chance of quitting the game. In the MMOLE agent, and real-world cultures that interact
environment it is not wise to proceed haphazardly. with one another. To proceed with MMOLE
There exists a need to put as much emphasis on design without adequate sociological research
the study of online cultural interaction and its into cultural interplay in such environments is
ramifications for child development as there is potentially risky. virtual ethnography offers the
on technical development for virtual worlds. The ethnographer the ability to experience, and based
fact that there are few, if any, available studies of upon experience, correctly interpret phenomena
this type or even methodologies for conducting and the experiences of others.
such studies indicates that insufficient attention The MMORPG environment is a rich area of
has been paid to this area. The environmental developing culture worthy of study. It just takes
design of the new millennium is virtual and it is minor modifications of traditional methodologies
intrinsically tied to the sociology of schooling. such as virtual ethnography to make it worthwhile.
More study in this area is needed. As in any good ethnography, the key ingredient is
time invested on the part of the ethnographer. This
time must be spent if we are to develop appropriate
FUTURE TRENDS learning environments for our childrens future.
It is the authors opinion that the crossroads of

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468
469
Chapter 28
Participant-Observation
as a Method for Analyzing
Avatar Design in User-
Generated Virtual Worlds
Jeremy O. Turner
Simon Fraser University Surrey, Canada
Janet McCracken
Jim Bizzocchi
ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the epistemological, and ethical boundaries of the application of a participant-
observer methodology for analyzing avatar design in user-generated virtual worlds. We describe why
Second Life was selected as the preferred platform for studying the fundamental design properties of
avatars in a situated manner. We will situate the specific case study within the broader context of ethno-
graphic qualitative research methodologies, particularly focusing on what it means to live and role-
play - within the context that one is studying, or to facilitate prolonged engagement in order to have the
research results accepted as trustworthy or credible (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This chapter describes a
case study where researchers can extract methods and techniques for studying in-world workshops
and focus groups. Our speculations and research questions drawn from a close analysis of this case study
will illuminate the possible limitations of applying similar hybrid iterations of participation-observation
tactics and translations of disciplinary frameworks into the study of user-generated content for future
virtual world communities. Finally, we will review the broader epistemological and ethical issues related
to the role of the participant-observation researcher in the study of virtual worlds.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch028
Participant-Observation as a Method for Analyzing Avatar Design in User-Generated Virtual Worlds
INTRODUCTION Art Critic. Through their role-playing of Modern

Artists, the participants determined the degree to
Established virtual world anthropologists have which they would allow the Modernist Art-Critic
applied participant-observation in Second Life to (Researcher) to go beyond passive-observation
examine mundane social interaction in order to and act as a participant-influencer. This attitude
identify as many of those grounding assumptions of willing inclusiveness from the participants
as possible (Boellstorff, 2008: 65). However, towards the researcher exists primarily because
the extent to which the researcher may play an the participant-observer is considered as another
actively critical role in the context of collaborative individual role-playing a researcher in a spirit
user-generated content in these worlds is not well of playful interaction. This raises a crucial ques-
understood. According to Boellstorff (2008:8), tion - whether the researchers adopted role drifts
There is no illusion of detached objectivity to too far from being an equal participant amongst
shatter in participant observation because it is consenting subjects? In an extreme case, many
not a methodology that views the researcher as conventional anthropological researchers from
a contaminant. It constantly confronts the dif- the real world would perceive a highly active
fering forms of power and hierarchy produced researcher as a contaminant.3 In order to address
through fieldwork, not all of which privilege the this question directly, we use this case study to
researcher [...] illustrate and analyze the researchers playful
This embodied form of participant-observation exploration of the liminal spaces between passive
is most appropriate within virtual worlds where observation, active criticism, and constructive
the creative agency of the researcher is equiva- persuasion.
lent to that of the participants. This is especially Our case study focuses on the dynamics
true in participatory worlds such as Second Life between the researcher and avatar participants
where the avatar end-users directly contribute to who have been recruited from a self-consciously
both the general form of the world as well as its artistic community. Odyssey Island has been
discrete contents1. firmly established in Second Life since 2007.4 The
One of the motivations for participants to community forms a domain of embodied real-
enter user-generated worlds such as Second Life time learning where peer-reviewed participant-
is to play out diverse roles that test the ontologi- observation and collaborative content-creation
cal boundaries of identity and social positioning among avatar residents is the accepted norm.
associated with Real Life (RL). In this sense, These conventions for research as a form of
most qualitative researchers who choose to study embodied praxis (including role-playing) can be
Second Life and its inhabitants are encouraged by traced back to previous investigations with earlier
their participants to engage in indigenous com- chat-based virtual worlds such as: Digitalspace
munity events as fellow avatar citizens rather than Traveler, Blaxxun Cybertown, Active Worlds and
as aloof ethnographic observers (Ayiter, 2008).2 There.com (Damer 1997, Dickey, 1999 & Dipaola/
Agreeing with Ascott (2007) that Second Life Turner, 2008).
is a [...] rehearsal room for a future in which we Unlike these worlds, however, Second Life
endlessly create and distribute our many selves, offers a persistent community infrastructure,
we conducted a case study focused on peer critique continuing academic discourse and capacity to
of avatar designs. Our participants had the oppor- maintain the participants customized avatar
tunity to rehearse their assigned roles as Mod- designs. Although the template avatars from
ern Artists, and we created a complementary earlier virtual worlds fostered the development
participant-observer researcher role, the Modernist of role-playing archetypes; Second Life has the
470
ability for role-players to create whatever avatar worlds has reached fruition in a world where Post-
they envision. In earlier worlds, a participant modernism is now the dominant cultural frame-
would have to be an expert in external software work. However, Postmodernism does not privilege
applications5 for creating avatars from scratch. the application of elemental design principles in
Second Life provides fertile ground in which all the same way Modernism did, making it more
research roles can be critically constructed in complex to identify and clarify artistic intentions.
real-time. With this background, we imported a
theoretical framework that could be adopted by
the researcher and the participants. RESEARCH DESIGN
Our overarching research design is a qualitative

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK participant-observation case study set within the
virtual world of Second Life. Virtual worlds are
The interdisciplinary nature of virtual worlds inherently representational and as a result, creators
transcends the traditions of discrete and singular in Second Life view the Modernist obsession with
media such as painting, sculpture, architecture, abstracted design elements as outdated. Also,
theatre and music. They therefore provide an ideal since Second Lifes avatars and virtual space are
context for determining whether the Modernist usually composed from a socially collaborative
art-historical discourse and principles are still rel- environment, the idea of an isolated Modernist
evant in Second Lifes Post-Modern virtual world. genius working within a singular medium is
Since the Neo-Classical era of the Enlighten- archaic. Furthermore, there has been a tendency
ment6, there persists an art-historical discourse within the community to remediate content from
concerning the aesthetic parameters for defining previous art movements and popular culture
an autonomous medium7. Critics and artists dis- (Bolter, 2007). Since Modernisms discourse is
cussed whether there were unique properties that now historical, we decided to frame our research
belonged to one specific medium over another8. as a Post-Modernist game involving the playful
The modernist paradigm of the 20th century as remediation of Modernist stereotypes/archetypes.
articulated by critics such as Greenberg held that In addition to its representational nature, Sec-
discrete media existed, and that they had specific ond Life is a multi-mediated world. However,
authentic poetics that were distinct from those there is a gap in our understanding of the poetics
of other media. According to Greenberg, any au- that characterize avatar design in this multi-
thentic artwork would display clearly the design media world. While some writers have analyzed
considerations afforded by the peculiar character- virtual spaces in Second Life through the lens of
istics of its medium. The material properties medium specificity (Heim, 2000 & Dena, 2006) we
from which the art was produced both reflect believe there is still a need for rigorous academic
the medium and reveal the process of individual analysis focusing on avatars as isolated Modernist
creation (Greenberg 1940 in OBrien, 1986). artifacts. Our approach was to explore the bound-
Beginning in the early 1970s, the Post- ary between Modernist medium specificity and
Modernist critique confronted this Modernist Post-modernist critique of representationalism for
paradigm. Post-modernism was consistent with the purpose of articulating design principles within
the rise of digital technologies and the associated the context of a virtual environment. Through the
shift towards more interdisciplinary practices such assumed persona of the modernist-art-critic-as-
as bricolage, sampling, simulacra, and networked participant-influencer, we have begun to identify
collaboration. The popularity of networked virtual
471
which medium-specific aesthetics provide utility Methods

for virtual world artists/designers.
The Modernist era witnessed the art-critics Our main method for this research was to create
accelerated epistemological and ontological trans- a case study of a Modernist Art Critic within
formation from a passive-observer (i.e. cultural Second Life using participant-observation as our
anthropologist) to a participant-influencer. In strategy to engage with our participants and collect
other words, art-critics could use their persuasive data on the interactions. Our researcher assumed
personas to compel the subjects (artists) to reach the default nOOb11 avatar while conducting a
very specific aesthetic outcomes - even if these workshop and a focus group (see Figure 1).
outcomes were alien to the original intentions of
the artist. Greenberg made extremely aggressive
studio visits, choosing and editing paintings,
telling artists what to do (Perreault, 2006). In Figure 1. The researcher poses as a newbie
Modernist times, an artifact was analyzed from an art-critic. (2009, Jeremy O. Turner. Used with
a-historical context. The artists-as-subjects were permission)
not really the ones being researched (i.e. Vasari,
1550). Instead, the objects of observation were
the artifacts they had created with the hopes of
impressing the researcher-as-critic. The epistemo-
logical target becomes more sensitive when the
avatar design being observed is both an artifact and
a visual extension of the artists own role-played
personas. Controversial Greenbergian critics took
a pro-active role, insisting that Modernist artists
conform to their aesthetic ideals. These ideals
would transcend both the chosen avatar role and
situated ethnographic context. In this case, these
ideals were re-purposed in order to transcend
Second Lifes ethnographic context.
Therefore, through the complicit act of role-
playing a Greenbergian art-critic in the name of
researching avatar artifacts on their own terms,
we simulated the attitude of critical detachment
mid-way through the case studys focus group
session. This simulated detachment mirrored
aspects of the same role-played personality traits
that Greenberg himself used in real life. For
example, he also simulated an attitude of critical
detachment in order to avoid content through
a veil of objective authority to his truth claims
(Carpenter, 2008:7) 9. The researcher role-played
this attitude of objectivity in order to convince
his peers in the High Art community that he was
a cultivated and discerning Modernist aesthete10.
472
nOOb instructed the participants to make The participants were recruited through
whatever avatar designs they felt were unique snowball sampling (Taylor 1999 & Boellstorff,
to Second Life, asking them to type their thoughts 2008). This technique is sometimes considered
out loud in the text-chat channel. He questioned a form of convenient/opportunistic sampling
why they were designing their avatars in particu- where trusted participants help attract additional
lar ways. subjects through friendship networks. In addition,
In the subsequent focus group session, the there was a public call-for-participation for an
researcher went beyond the norms of participant iterative avatar design workshop placed within
observation and openly critiqued the participants Second Life and Facebook.12
designs as if he were a Modernist art-critic. He also Throughout the duration of both the recruiting
encouraged a show and tell of non-anthropomor- procedure and the research period participants
phic avatars for discussion purposes. The nOOb were informed about the purpose of the research
avatar was used to remind the participants of the and the ways in which their data was going to be
template processes from which they designed their stored.13 Participants were assured that we would
very first avatars. We hoped that if the subjects take every effort to preserve the integrity and
were reminded of the default origins, they might privacy of the data.14
see that Second Life can be framed as a singular
medium out of which pure Modernist forms Data
could emerge. The participants appeared comfort-
able with the researchers neutral appearance The majority of the data in this study was collected
and this allowed for increasingly active modes during intensive case study sessions totaling 4
of participant-observation to occur through the hours. The data included videos, screenshots,
text-chat channels. text-chat responses and avatars (see Table 1)
The data was analyzed through six Modernist
Participants parameters: medium-visibility, figure-ground,
abstraction-representationalism, functionality,
Six participants were selected based on their ability perception of craftsmanship and visual simplicity.
to role-play aesthete peers. This demographic For the initial analysis, the researcher watched all
was sampled from a established contemporary of the videos and created summaries relating the
arts community in Second Life; a) for their in- avatars visual appearances and building processes
nate understanding of Modernist principles, b) to each parameter. In addition, the researcher went
their relationship to the indigenous evolution of line-by-line through the text-chat responses and
Second Lifes avatar design, and c) their ability highlighted keywords that alluded to these param-
to role-play the archetypal artist. eters. After the text-chat responses had been coded
Table 1. Categories of data types
Category Workshop Focus Group Total

Videos (minutes/rounded) 45 (session total) 41 (session total) 86
Screenshots 5 9 14
Valid text-chat responses 514 299 813
Valid text-chat word count 4,029 3,110 7,139
Avatars 4 (initial) 4 (designed) 4 (designed) 22 (presented) 34
473
to fit the parameters, additional summaries were tween participants and our researcher welcomed
created to hypothesize preliminary findings. The critical feedback, we took this opportunity to
screenshots were used to focus in on particular gradually reveal an increasingly Greenbergian
visual aspects of the studied avatars. Fortunately, personality behind his neutral and innocent
this data contained enough qualitative depth and looking avatar appearance. Unlike extreme Mod-
internal validity to be expediently parsed through ernist critics, we ensured that the critiques were not
each of the analytical parameters devised by the harsh. However, despite the mild nature of these
researcher. aesthetic interventions, the researcher influenced
One of the challenges with employing a participants as an art critic rather than simply
qualitative participant-observation methodology observing or working on his own avatar creation.
is the huge complex data-set that results from the As the Modern Art-Critic began to take a more
many interactions with participants. However, we pro-active critical role, we pushed Boellstorffs
believe that immersing oneself fully within Sec- considerations for participant-observation to their
ond Lifes community infrastructure to obtain epistemological limits.
comprehensive aesthetic standards requires this The researcher started the session by passing
long-term commitment. Once this data has been around another note-card explaining the kind of
fully analyzed, the multiple perspectives offered appropriate Modernist visual design parameters
by the participants should help ensure that the he expected to see in some degree within each
final results will be more robust. Even in our avatar15. After explaining the parameters, he then
initial stages of data analysis, preliminary conclu- proceeded to politely question each participant
sions are emerging. about why they may have chosen to not structure
their avatar in these ways.
Research Procedures
Avatars as Artifacts
Once the participants had agreed to participate, we
invited four of the short-listed participants to take The main artifacts we have analyzed are the avatars
part in an intensive two-hour workshop and focus presented by the participants. We did this in order
group session. For the workshop, participants to correlate higher level design principles for visual
were sent an additional note-card explaining the avatar construction. All of the visual and textual
Modernist art-historical discourse. During this data collected from the case study workshops,
first session, our researcher did not reveal the focus groups and expert interviews were related
full Greenbergian personality and promised to back to the analytic framework derived from the
initially remain as a passive observer in order to literature outlining art-historical arguments for
avoid un-natural influence that would restrict the medium-specificity. In other words, we decided
freedom of participants to design avatars. to try out themes on subjects and play with
In some cases during the workshop, partici- metaphors, ontologies, concepts (Bodgan &
pants were asked to pose in particular ways for Bilken, 1992, pg XX) in order to identify pat-
visual-documentation purposes. We also reminded terned regularities (Walcott, 1994b, pg XX).
them to speak (type) their mind out loud in the Through the identification and analysis of pat-
text-chat channel, explaining their avatar design terned regularities, the intention was to extract
decisions. Our researcher noted he would be saving the performative essence of building avatars in
his avatar design critiques for the focus group ses- Second life either through modular assembly,
sion, where he would exchange correspondences pre-selection or through template shaping (Ma-
with each participant. Since the conversation be- novich, 1995).
474
Video, screenshot and text data recorded from [12:38] uuuuuuu Heliosense: but you did not use
the preceding workshop was embedded back into any tattoos...they did not seem important
the virtual environment for closer peer-reviewed to you
analysis and critiques. This data was also available [12:38] 3star Tyne: most clothes covr up tats
for re-use as illustrative reference material when [12:38] uuuuuuu Heliosense: but are they es-
conducting expert interviews via email. Thus, sential?
the expert interview process16 can be seen as a [12:38] Ember Coakes: Uh... Im not sure anything
methodological triangulation of the data gathered is essential to me
from the workshop observations and the focus [12:38] uuuuuuu Heliosense: I am looking to see
group artifact critiques. what is essential
[12:38] Juliet Chambers: again... with a blank
paper in front of you, would you start from
WORKSHOP AND FOCUS the tattoos?
GROUP RESULTS [12:40] Ember Coakes: Juliet, Im not arguing
that the base avatar isnt meant to be built
The video-documented avatar designs from the on, but a humanoid form isnt as wide open
avatar-creation workshop, and the text-chat results as blank paper, thats all.
from the focus group session provided illuminating
data for preliminary analysis.The art-critics active The intent of this participant-observation
role in the process allowed him to further elicit process was to challenge previous avatar design
additional valuable data during the focus group. assumptions made by the participants during the
Our techniques were drawn from an accumu- workshop. Preliminary findings indicate that when
lated experience of role-playing stereotypically the Art-Critic passively engaged the participants
artistic roles (i.e. artists, composers, journal- during the creation of their own unique avatars,
ists etc) in virtual worlds over the years. This the designs were highly representational and
history of active participation through alternate post-modern (i.e. relating to their personal sense
avatar roles led to an increasing awareness of of self in Second Life).
performativity(Butler 1993 in Identity: A In Figure 2, the researcher is seen posing with
Reader, 2000)17. This self-conscious awareness three of his workshop participants. This screenshot
helped us to fully comprehend the range of possible was taken very close to the end of the workshop
personality interactions in which a prototypical session.
modernist art-critic might engage. The evidence The following is an excerpt of text-transcript
for this theatrical integration of our personal evidence supporting the idea that the researcher
understanding of Greenbergs artifact-centric wanted to initially assume a passive-observer role
epistemological approach was most prevalent rather than overtly role-playing a Modernist Art
when participants avatar designs were openly Critic...
critiqued by their peers. For example, the Modern-
ist Art-Critic (uuuuuuu Heliosense) artificially 12:34] Ember Coakes: I vaguely recall a mention
catalyzed a debate between participants over of a Modern Art theme - has that gone away?
whether or not ornamentation constituted an es- [12:34] uuuuuuu Heliosense: for this workshop, I
sential feature of an avatars design: do not want to impose any design criteria... it
is up to you... I gave out a suggestion... but
it is open to personal interpretation
475
Figure 2. Workshop session: The passive-observer technique. (2009, Jeremy O. Turner. Used with
permission)
After the researchers passive observation PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

techniques, all three participants focused on rep-
resentational humanoid avatar forms. Throughout At this early stage in the data analysis process,
the workshop session, there was no visual evidence three preliminary findings have emerged.
indicating Modernist avatar designs.
Once the Art-Critic assumed a more active
critical role during the focus group session, a Figure 3. Workshop session: The focus group
role-played Modernist hierarchy between the playing the modernist art discourse as a research
artist (participant) and critic (also participant) game (2009, Jeremy O. Turner. Used with
took shape. As soon as the avatar artifacts were permission)
re-contextualized as modern art, the presented
designs took on a much more abstract appearance
[See Figure 3].
Figure 3 illustrates a sample abstract avatar
designed by the focus group participant 3Star
Tyne (SL name) with some particle-help by Cole-
marie Soleil (SL name). This avatar design ap-
peared only after the researcher made it clear that
we were exploring abstract avatars as a kind of
role-playing game or performance (See Fig-
ure 4) with the researcher playing the role of
Modern Art Critic.
476
Figure 4. Visual evidence in the text-chat supporting the idea that academic research was treated as
a performance (2009, Jeremy O. Turner. Used with permission)
The first is that the participants consistently CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

make mythological narrative associations with
their avatars in Second Life even if the avatar in For many avatars practicing art within the situ-
question was originally intended to be abstract. ated community discourse in Second Life, even
This finding would probably have been seen by virtual findings are considered to be more
Greenberg as a contaminant of the theoretical trustworthy when researchers can show that
framework. However, there is evidence that at they spent a considerable amount of time in the
least on a subconscious level, formalistic con- setting. Prolonged community interaction gives
cerns do indeed inform the participants design the researcher increased opportunities to observe
processes. Our second preliminary finding is that and participate in a variety of authentic activities
all of the participants first sculpted their avatars (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). At some point within a
shape (i.e. structural outline of the body) before virtual world case study, embedded researchers
ornamenting the figure with skin tinting, clothing, usually provide conversational evidence that
props and animations. Our third finding, based on confirms their active participation in related in-
the final artifacts is that the participants oriented world events.
in some degree towards the modernist ideals of If a researcher can demonstrate a previous
formalist simplicity and minimal elegance. The history even under the assumed guises of other
evidence for this finding is the observation that avatar identities18 - the research process will ben-
most of their avatars body-part components and efit from consensual validation. These validations
clothing relied on limited color schemes and can help indemnify the researchers assumed role,
undifferentiated geometrical patterns. the data collection/analysis process and even the
aesthetic results (i.e. the avatar artifacts).
A researchers previous community experience
with real-time content creation can also be ethno-
477
graphically validated on a local level within the remained passive throughout the entire case study.
context of an experiential continuum (Dewey, When the observation techniques appeared too
1934). According to Dewey, art as experience passive, the participants questioned the research-
can be qualitatively validated by participants so ers competence in Second Lifes embedded prac-
long as the researcher/educator can persuasively tices. Without active intervention, the researcher
re-connect to a historical lineage of embodied began to look a bit like someone spying from
praxis (Ibid., 1934). Our chosen experiential an institution. We solved this potential tension by
continuum for the case study spans across the introducing the more active critical role for the
narratives of our imported theoretical framework focus group session.
as well as Second Lifes seven year long embodied Fortunately, role-play was consensually ac-
art-historical legacy.19 By treating Second Life knowledged during this process. The participants
as a bounded social system with [...]spaces, (all of whom had fine-arts and design training)
territories, with recognizable edges between the expected the researcher to have knowledge of both
inside and outside20 our study has operation- the avatar-construction tools and an understanding
alised role-play as a technique to pull the atten- of Second Lifes unique cultural context in order
tion away from perceived imbalances with the to be perceived as an insider. This acknowledg-
participant. The role-playing technique allowed ment contributed to the participants willingness
the participants to gradually become comfortable to contribute avatar designs as artifacts for textual
with our researchers active in-world experience. analysis.
A central theme of our work is the researcher We believe that it is the self-conscious act of
as active participant-observer within a virtual role-playing inside this bounded system that
artistic community. This case study directs at- enables the participants to define those empirical
tention to an ethnographic position resembling edges that frame the research phenomena from
auto-ethnography. With this positioning, the outside the case study i.e. on a real world
ethical boundaries between the researcher and institutional level. In other words, the participants
participant roles are stretched as the researchers immersed themselves in role-playing the game
personal artistic narrative may unintentionally of Modern Art to a point where they focused
influence the creative direction of the participant. more on particular design characteristics related
Since the researcher is left to rely on his/her to their avatars than on any institutional bound-
own instincts and abilities throughout the inquiry aries that distinguish between the researcher and
(Merriam, 1998:p41ff)21, there is a risk that the participant in the real world. As a result, these
participant-observer will compromise their redesigned avatars become much more than merely
search integrity. He/she must position participants artistic residue from an event.
work as collaborative, rather than production on After completion, this research will have use-
behalf of the researcher. If the playful nature of value beyond Second Life when next-generation
the researchers role has not been explicitly ac- virtual worlds artists and scholars deliberate on
knowledged, the participants may not have fully which designs most directly represent the social
trusted the intentions of the researcher. Any lack expressivity of the evolving medium of user-
of faith would be further compounded if the re- generated virtual worlds. All of these elements
searcher could not prove his/her own embedded might not have been made explicit without some
peer reputation within the artistic community. playful sense of critical interaction with our
Furthermore, the perceived aloofness of the researchers assigned role. We believe that our
art-critics assumed personality would have been research will help evolve both our own personal
too risky if the role of participant-observation praxis and that of our colleagues.
478
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greenberg/kitsch.html
ENDNOTES
Greenberg, C. (1960). Modernist Painting. In G.
Battcock (Ed.), The New Art: A Critical Anthol- 1
Second Life is given special attention be-
ogy. Retrieved May 25, 2009 from http://www. cause it follows a content-creation model
sharecom.ca/greenberg/modernism.html that begins with the individual avatar user,
rather than through content that has been
Heim, M. (2000). The Feng Shui of Virtual En- pre-fabricated by the corporate creators of
vironments. VRST 2000 ACM Symposium of the world.
Virtual Reality Software and Technology. Seoul, 2
For quantitative researchers, the role-played
Korea. October, 24, 2000. Retrieved April 8, insistence on passing around surveys for
2009 from http://www.mheim.com/files/Feng%20 evaluation purposes is often met with com-
Shui.PDF munity alienation.
Judd, D. (1975). Specific Objects. Donald Judd:
3
For any researcher of a user-generated vir-
Complete Writings: 1959-1975. Halifax: NSCAD tual world to be viewed by his/her subjects
Press. as a contaminant, the implications of this
would take on a very real significance since
most researchers study these worlds for
auto-ethnographic reasons. That is, they see
themselves as already part of this culture or
480
at the very least, as eventually joining this agreed to these conditions when they first
culture at some point in the future. signed and approved Second Lifes Terms of
4
http://odysseyart.ning.com. Service (TOS) agreement. http://secondlife.
5
i.e. Maya, 3DStudioMax, and SketchUp. com/corporate/tos.php.
6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 15
See the Data sub-chapter for a list of these
Neoclassicism#Neoclassicism_in_ ar- parameters.
chitecture_and_in_ the_decorative_and_ 16
Experts were interviewed through an itera-
visual_arts. tive process of email-correspondence.
7
i.e. the artistic community was making great 17
Butler, Judith 2000. Critically Queer, in
effort to define any sculpted material as a Identity: A Reader. London: Sage Publica-
sculpture or a painted canvas as a paint- tions. Originally cited, 1993.
ing and not as an expression of poetry 18
Many users in Second Life have alternate
or a piece of music (Lessing, 1776 in avatar accounts, known as ALTs - http://wiki.
McCormick, 1962).. secondlife.com/wiki/Alt#Alt_Account.
8
Ibid. 19
Historically speaking, most of the praxis
9
http://www.uqtr.uquebec.ca/AE/Vol_14/ related to the aesthetics of Modernism
modernism/Carpenter.htm. took place on Odyssey Island where our
10
For additional text-chat evidence, please researcher has practiced under the guise of
email our researcher at jot@sfu.ca. alternate avatar roles since 2006.
11
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Noob. 20
Stake, R. (Personal Communication, Janu-
12
http://www.facebook.com. ary 2010.) Permission requested. Drawn
13
The in-world consent form clearly indicated from http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/CIRCE/
that the research was conducted in a virtually EDPSY490E/B17.pdf.
public space and that all chat-transcripts 21
Merriam S.B, (1998), Qualitative Research
were automatically cached by Second Lifes and Case study applications in education,
main servers in San Francisco.. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco Patel R, Tebelius
14
The participants were informed that as U, (1987), Grundbok.
citizens of Second Life, they have already
481
482
Chapter 29
Participatory Design
Experiment:
Storytelling Swarm in Hybrid
Narrative Ecosystem
Kai Pata
Tallinn University, Estonia
ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a participatory design experiment that is influenced by the swarming activity. The
chapter introduces a new approach to writing narratives in virtual learning communities of the social
Web 2.0 and contrasts it with traditional storytelling approaches. In the participatory design experiment
we developed a hybrid virtual storytelling playground that augments the real world a hybrid ecosystem
of narratives. It consists of social software tools freely available in the Web, such as microblogs, social
repositories of images, and blogs, the real locations in the city, and the storytellers who leave their
digital contents. The results of writing narratives as a swarm in a hybrid ecosystem are presented. In
our experiment, instead of bending old novel formats into the hybrid ecosystem, the evidences of new
evolving narrative formats of this hybrid space were explored.
INTRODUCTION socially gathered information online (OReilly,

2005; Constantinides & Fountain, 2008). Such
The explosion of social software blogs, wikis, environment is hybrid in many ways it inter-
social repositories and -networks started the connects people virtually, unites their everyday
era of the participatory Internet, or the so called experiences in geographical and web places, and
Web 2.0, that enables participants to actively combines their personal selection of social tools
reflect, publish and share their experiences; gain into networks that enables the peers to monitor
awareness of and monitor other individuals, their daily activities and meaning-making that goes
communities and networks; publicly store and across such environments. The particular activity,
maintain their artifacts; and personally retrieve gaining popularity in the participatory web, aims
at creating personal and collaborative narratives.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch029 This chapter introduces a participatory design
Participatory Design Experiment:
experiment of writing narratives in the new hybrid that are simultaneously geo-located. With tags,
environment. It was investigated how people write that is, descriptive terms associated with content
narratives using the uncoordinated behavior of items by members of the community, geographi-
swarming. Using the swarming approach high- cal positions can be related with meanings and
lighted certain aspects in the participatory design activities shared by the members, and places can
methods. The results concretized new storytelling be searched by such aspects.
standards emergent in social web, which are in It is possible to create immediately such loca-
contrast with traditional storytelling approaches. tive content using GPS-equipped mobile devices
that are situated simultaneously in a physical and
a virtual environment (Tuters & Varnelis, 2006).
HYBRID ECOSYSTEM Locative content can also be accessed from virtual
environment and used to trigger social interactions
The concept of hybrid ecosystem consists of two with a place (Tuters & Varnelis, 2006; Kaipainen
parts. First, hybrid refers to the structural property & Pata, 2007). Many common social Web appli-
of the world that is achieved by deliberate blend- cations have integrated locative functionalities,
ing of geographical spaces with collaborative e.g. Flickr.com, Google.maps.com, Brightkite.
environments such as blogs, microblogs, wikis, com, while most of the blogs and wikis still
social repositories and -networks. In this new lack this possibility. For a community this kind
environment the borders of geographical spaces of link between geographical and virtual spaces
and participatory software environments can be and meanings is a way to build their identity,
blurred or eliminated whenever purposeful, al- determine their particular territory as a place, and
lowing embedding artifacts across the borders to distinguish themselves from other communities.
create an augmented and more interactive world Notable is, that this community territory is not
in the context of community activities. defined only by their location in geographical
The second, ecosystem term together with or software places. This territory is also defined
its explanatory sub-concepts place and niche by meaning- and activity aspects, which bring in
describes how such hybrid geographical places extra dimensions to the space. For marking this
and participatory software environments together abstract space we can use niche term.
with their users also represent a complex func- Niches may be conceptualized as particular
tional system. Place is a personally meaningful abstract spaces for taking community specific
spot in the surrounding environmental space. actions, holding and recreating community mean-
The place involves conceptual construction and ings. Thus, niches contain meaningful community
knowledge building. The augmented concept of places. The concept of niche is used in biology
place not only refers to a geo-position, but to the to describe an abstract space in which certain
holistic conglomeration of events, objects, emo- species have optimal living conditions for per-
tions and actions of an individual in the place, and forming actions related to their life. Hutchinson
includes both natural, e.g. geographical elements. (1957) defined niche as a region (n-dimensional
In our experiment we constructed a setting in hypervolume) in a multi-dimensional space of
which individuals defined places by associating environmental factors that affects the welfare of
artifacts such as impressions, historical content, a species. Niches appear as generalizations and
images etc. with geographical locations. A feasible they become evident if many similar individuals
method of associating contextual metadata with live, interact and evolve in certain conditions. Each
space information is artifact-centered, in which individual keeps constantly adapting itself to the
the contextual annotation is added to the artifacts niche of the species. A niche in our context is a
483
community-specific and community-determined has previously found meaningful and taken into
subspace in hybrid ecosystem, an optimally mean- account will determine her perspective. To return
ingful region for the community. We can define a to the level of storytelling, we assume that in each
niche as the n-dimensional hypervolume delimited step of the storytelling activity, a participant takes
by the range of each tag that is optimal for meaning a perspective, which determines the aspects of the
sharing. Niches may have, but do not have to have story to be elaborated. Taking perspectives is the
geographical coordinates in real world. This is in defining feature of the community dynamics in
line with Hoffmeyers concept of semiotic niche the process of the online narrative-construction, to
(1995) intended to signify semiotic spaces that are be discussed below. A perspective is by definition
actualized by certain organisms in species specific individual, but sharing perspectives determines
semiotic processes when interacting with their niches. If noticing such priorizations to be shared
environment. Magnani (2008), and Magnani and by more than one individual, these perspec-
Bardone (2008) in turn use the term cognitive niche tives become community-defining and facilitate
to point at the distributed space that participants some community actions more than the others,
create by interrelating individual cognition and and contribute to the determination an abstract
the environment through the continuous interplay community-specific niche.
through abductive processes in which they alter Communities may have different niches for
and modify the environment. particular types of activities. Further, one may
We can summarize that participatory media assume that in the process of an activity, a niche
environments together with geographical loca- is never static but is always in the stage of evolu-
tions can be conceptualized as a hybrid ecosystem, tion as the community members explore different
provided that participants of social media have perspectives. We assume that a niche for writing
ecological dependence of the particular set of hybrid narratives is constituted when individuals
tools that they use as their niche for taking action. share some common online storytelling culture.
Here the concept of tool should be interpreted as it These amount to similar ways of telling stories
is used in an activity theory (see Leontjev, 1978), and looking at things, that is perspectives. Implicit
which considers artifacts (e.g. digital narratives, perspectives have impact when the participants
images), software (e.g. social software tools) and relate themselves with locations by means of tag-
language (e.g. user-created ontologies such as ging. As a collective activity, tagging determines
tags) as mediators of action. Hybrid ecosystem shared subspaces in the narrative space. Other
is an ecologist view to the dynamic system con- participants, active in the same subspace, may
sisting of an augmented space in which activities find these places by tags and use such contents
of people with various artifacts in geographical as triggers of their emotions or action. They may
locations using participatory social software create also integrate the existing digital contents in
a feedback loop to this space that influences the hybrid ecosystem into new stories, contributing
evolution of communities and determines their with their own perception of the places. These
interaction in this space. contributions constitute evolutionary feedback
How does the hybrid ecosystem emerge and loops to the niche (Pata, 2009a,b). The dynamic
function? A hybrid ecosystem is by default too hybrid ecosystem shapes its participants and it-
many dimensional to be made sense of directly. self, and allows the evolution of the community
We assume that the observer can only perceive it habitat for community actions and meanings.
by taking a perspective at a time. A perspective
is a personal priorization of shared dimensions
of an ecosystem. The dimensions that a person
484
Narrative Construction we must follow the complete unfolding and

as Online Activity resolution of the plot.
4) The structure of the story may be linear pro-
Learning through developing and discussing gressing from unfolding the conflict, rising
narratives in the social Web spaces has become a action, climax and resolution. Alternatively,
new form of learning. As Kirsti Ala-Mutka (2009) the patterns of actions and interrelationship
Aputs it, writing narratives or storytelling is one of characters may occur throughout the story.
of the innovative aspects that learning in Web 5) The author of a story plays often an active
2.0 communities has introduced to education. role in the story either as the first person
Bruners (1996) culturalpsychological approach narrator who participates in the story as an
to education emphasizes narratives as vehicles observer, minor character or even the ma-
for meaning making and identity-determination. jor participant or the third person narrator,
Recently, Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine sum- who stands outside the story itself and can
marized in their white paper Web 2.0 storytell- be all-knowing and might describe action
ing: emergence of the new genre that: Web 2.0 from many characters viewpoint, evaluating
storytelling in education serves as composition participants and actions in the story.
platform and as curricular object. They con-
sidered Web 2.0 storytelling as a distributed art These characteristics of novels are deeply
form that can go beyond the immediate control rooted in our minds. They may also reappear in
of an initial creator. They encouraged educators the transformed shape if different modes of writ-
to give Web 2.0 storytelling a try and see what ing are used in hybrid ecosystem. For example
happens (Alexander & Levine, 2008). This was microblogging (e.g. Smallplaces in Twitter http://
also the initial starting-point for our experiment twitter.com/smallplaces; Twiller http://twiller.
about narrative ecology. tcrouzet.com/), mobile text-messaging (e.g. Novel
While the boom of narrative-centered social Idea http://www.mobfest.co.za/novelidea/default.
software environments is obvious in the Web html) and blogs (eg Protagonize http://www.
culture, there is not enough understanding of how protagonize.com/) are among the newly adopted
participants actually use such environments while means for writing narratives. A typical approach
storytelling. This chapter focuses on a new way of in these environments is to segment and order
collective narrative construction. To keep the idea the story into small chapters or tweets and make
of narrative open enough for further discussion it available to a broad audience that is allowed
the definition is not fixed in the beginning of the to rate or comment the story. Jay Bushman has
chapter but let it open along the following chapters. been experimenting with translations of famous
According to Kurland (2000) the following are authors stories into the microblogging format
the general characteristics of traditional stories: (e.g. The Good Captain http://www.loose-fish.
com/waifpole/the-good-captain/) with the aim at
1) They have a plot, a geographical setting, embedding fiction between the streams of nonfic-
where and when the story takes place, and tion that is constantly present in our daily lives.
characters who are involved into the plot by His goal is to blur the line between the real world
taking actions. and the story world (Shaer, 2008).
2) The plot of the story usually involves con- However, Crang (1998) has noted that different
flicts and its resolution. modes of writing may express different relation-
3) Stories are generally read and appreciated ships to space and mobility. This may affect the
only in their entirety, to understand the story standards of writing narratives, and perceiving
485
them as novels in participatory web. Spatiality that in hybrid ecosystems can be characterized as
is common to both stories and human geography is swarming phenomena. Swarming refers to self-
a key concept in new emerging narratives in hybrid organizing behavior in populations such in which
environments. On one hand, human geography is local interactions between simple decentralized
filled with emotions about places. On the other, agents can create complex organized behavior.
stories contain a set of geographical associations A swarm is a community in which every agent
that plays a key role in shaping participants is only responsible for its individual actions, but
geographical imaginations (Crang, 1998). Using the actions altogether cause shared intelligence to
this commonality extensively, some authors (e.g. emerge. Such swarming systems can accomplish
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind global tasks and form complex patterns through
http://www.carlosruizzafon.co.uk/shadow-walk. simple local interactions of autonomous agents.
html) have embedded their novels into the real Individuals in swarms have ecological relations
geographical locations and provide itineraries for to the collective. They maintain their individual-
exploring the novels parallel in real and virtual ity and viability in case if the collective swarm
world to enable for the readers embodiment of the intelligence and viability emerges (Sauter et al.,
fictional story as part of city reality. We may take 2005). Swarming relies on using the environment
the previously described storytelling approaches as as a shared memory, and on reading information
examples of reintroducing old formats of fiction both from the environment and from the swarm
in the new social software environments. Yet, it members signals to maintain individual wellbe-
is important to find out, which completely new ing. Thus, swarming is one of the main mechanisms
storytelling standards might emerge in participa- how hybrid ecosystems function and evolve.
tory web. In other ways, swarming can be viewed as the
dynamics of creation of perspectives using tags
Swarming as a Bio-Metaphor for annotation, and perceiving certain signaling
for Writing Narratives perspectives from the hybrid ecosystem.
In this study we initiated writing narratives in
While looking for the new models to depict the a hybrid ecosystem (see Figure 1) as swarming.
nature of storytelling in hybrid ecosystems we ar- To use a biological metaphor, a hybrid narrative
rived to another biological phenomenon swarm- ecosystem can be imagined like viewing through
ing (Bonabeau, et al., 1999; Kennedy, Eberhardt a prism of foraging ants.
& Shi, 2001). As we assume, many activities
Figure 1. Swarming: Foraging behavior of ants (above) and writing narratives in hybrid ecosystem (below)
486
The foraging example is illustrative because be defined by themselves or by other participants

it provides a generalized model for the various of this community. The perceived similarity with
behaviors that have been observed in social soft- respect to the chosen perspective with some previ-
ware environments where participants create and ously perceived perspective might be used as the
use textual and visual artifacts. A central place criteria of orienting to the next action. This may
food foraging is a swarming behavior that con- trigger participants to continue exploring similar
sists of two main phases: an initial exploration perspectives, providing a narrative trajectory that
for food, followed by carrying it back to the nest is fluctuating around certain meaningful places
(Sudd & Franks, 1987). The foraging ant is ran- for them in hybrid ecosystem.
domly searching to explore new area. If an ant When finding something of interest, the objects
collides with some food it picks it up and leaves are captured in textual or digital image format
a certain pheromone on the trail. If foraging, each using microblogging programs (Brightkite.com,
ant is alert for this pheromone as a food marker Zannel.com) in mobile phones. Alternatively,
that may have been left by other ants in the trail digital cameras could be used and artifacts would
for finding food. They are always moving towards be uploaded later. Microblogging environments
the direction where there is a greater concentration enable to pull digital contents automatically also
of that pheromone. However, the pheromone dis- to the social repositories (Flickr.com) or social
sipates over time. If there are not enough ants networks (Facebook.com). Stories uploaded from
collecting food and dropping pheromone on the microblogging environment can be mashed using
way home, the trail may disappear. The system special tags, and pulled as RSS feeds to the other
of diffusion and evaporation leads of a competi- social software environments for monitoring. This
tion among food sources for available ants, because may be done for extracting various stories from
the number of ants is limited and the trails need the collected artifacts individually or for the com-
a steady walking of ants along them to stay stable. munity. The artefacts can be locatively geotagged
The shorter the distance of a feeding place to the in microblogging systems (e.g. Brightkite.com,
nest, the shorter is the trail, the more often ants Zannel.com), and connected to stories either by
walk from nest to feeder and back per time unit. simple linking, tagging with keywords or merg-
This leads to a stronger positive feedback loop ing them and providing longer explanations in
and race conditions among the feeders, selecting personal blogs.
for the nearest one. The pheromones similar to The attention of an emerging story is caught
those signaling about food may also be used to by various trace-leaving techniques like mash-
allure ants from the track. An enemy trying to ing, pulling and aggregating, tagging for social
conceal the search target, may spread false signals retrieval, social awareness technologies or hybrid
to attract the ants to a location of little interest. maps etc. These collected and personally mean-
To avoid this trap, the signal is responded only if ingful artifacts with tags serve as signal trails for
it reaches to certain threshold value (Marshall, the narrators themselves to continue with certain
2005). story aspects, and also for other storytellers to
As an analogue to ants foraging behavior, contribute for this story or to trigger their own
human storytellers in their hybrid ecosystem stories. The application of microblogging environ-
search for and are influenced by the attractors ments and social mashups with tags enables for
(interesting perspectives) in the hybrid space. In other participants an immediate access to the new
a similar manner, the participants of a narrative- signals of potential attractors, causing selective
constructing activity may choose the strong at- noticing in the hybrid ecosystem. Following the
tractor places in the hybrid ecosystem that may signal trail opens the possibility of accumulating
487
more content for a particular story, especially if In the hybrid narrative ecosystem tags (like
several individuals start to strengthen the signal. pheromones) are glued to the soil material
The more similar content is accumulated, the (geotagged content of the narrative pieres, text,
more attractive and visible the story trail becomes images). This provides signals and makes story
as a trace in the narrative ecosystem. This trace elements attractive. The artifacts that are marked
attracts other individuals and thereby reinforces with same tags or artifacts that contain certain
itself. Strong signal trails may also be attacked significant elements for the storytellers will be
and reused, for example by alluring the crowds noticed and integrated into stories. However, these
away from the original trail with various similar stories are not linear, but can be viewed rather as
signal baits. The initial story may thus become story dimensions.
modified into many paths. Secondly, such artifacts from certain story
Adopting traces of other individuals of the dimensions that are available in the geographical
swarm depends on analogy or closeness of the locations will become gateways to other geo-
attractor narratives to ones own. Various forms graphical locations where artifacts with similar
of collaboration may appear. One is agglomer- tags have been embedded. Such geo-locative story
ating stories in the manner comparable to how dimensions form an ecological knowledge of the
termites build the nest (Kennedy et al., 2001). hybrid narrative ecosystems, influencing how
Termites build high dome-like termite nets fol- participants will interact with the environment.
lowing the swarming behavior. They take some
dirt in their mouth moistening it and then start Participatory Design-
to move in direction of the strongest pheromone Based Research
concentration. They deposit dirt when the smell
is strongest. After some random movements Design-based research has become one of the
searching for a relatively strong pheromone field, leading methods in developing and investigating
the termites will have started a number of small the characteristics and user behavior with new
pillars. The pillars signify places where a greater technologies. Traditionally, design-based research
number of termites have recently passed, and thus exhibits the following characteristics (Design-
the pheromone concentration is high there. The Based Research Collective, 2003):
pheromone dissipates with time, so in order for it The central goals of designing environments
to accumulate, the number of termites must exceed and developing theories or proto-theories of
some threshold; they must leave pheromones faster cognition are intertwined;
than the chemicals evaporate. This prevents the Development and research take place through
formation of a great number of pillars. As termite continuous cycles of design, enactment, analysis,
pillars ascend and termites become increasingly and redesign. Research on designs must lead to
involved in depositing their loads, the pheromone sharable theories that help communicate relevant
concentration near that pillars increases. The implications to the involved participants; research
termites are attracted to let the dirt between the must document how the design is functioning in
pillars that attract them from several sides. Termite authentic settings;
arch-building contains two kinds of behaviors: The development of such accounts should
cue-based and sign-based. In the cue-based case rely on methods that can document processes of
the change in the environment provides a cue for enactment to outcomes of interest.
the behavior of other actors (e.g. growing pillars The design process contains both develop-
provide such cues). In the sign-based swarming ing a practical environment and activity design
the pheromones are used as signals. (Reigeluth, 1999), as well as, testing the theo-
488
retical framework underneath this design (Cobb, design method in which a designer participates
2001; Edelson, 2002; Sweller, 2004). As to the in the peoples world and finds an understand-
epistemology of the design process, Cobb (2001) ing of a problem from the same point of view as
has focused on the role of design as a strategy the people. Palaigeorgiou et al. (2009) suggest
for testing theories. He assumed that the strength that the participatory culture of Web 2.0 and the
of theories developed through design research implicit empowerment of the users should be as-
originates from their explanatory power and sociated with participatory design projects. The
their grounding in specific experiences. From the eco-cultural adaptive design (Phenice et al., 2009)
point of view of theory construction, the practical provides another dynamic participatory design
process of applying a theory to construct a design approach in which participants are seen as active
exposes the possible inconsistencies in the theory, agents who are capable of influencing their own
and is, therefore, even more effective than the activities. Users create unique settings, when
analytical research (Edelson, 2002). Discovering interacting with new technology. Such settings,
that some activity designs are superior to others common to communities, may be referred to as
can also provide insights into human cognitive eco-cultural niches, which can be fully enacted and
architecture that may otherwise be difficult to characterized only by the users of this niche. Using
achieve (Sweller, 2004). the cultures of participation is yet another method
In our case, a specific hybrid narrative ecosys- of participatory design (Fisher, 2009). Cultures
tem was developed in the experiment by initiating of participation require contributors with diverse
a narrative swarming process, and its properties background knowledge who value different ways
and functioning were investigated by the swarm of participating. This will bring out different eco-
participants. One reason to run our experiment cultural niches within the designed systems. Fisher
using participatory design was the concern to (2009) emphasizes that to increase social creativ-
avoid that the resulting design and theory stayed ity in the cultures of participation requires that
apart from the actual user practices. Participatory participants had diverse perspectives, they could
design approach views technology and technol- act independently without the direct influence of
ogy applications in the context of daily life rather others, their interaction in the design process was
than as isolated products. Participatory design decentralized focusing on their own approaches
represents an approach to design in which the to the settings, and the aggregation mechanisms
participants using some methods or technological were existing for turning individual contributions
systems play a critical role in designing it together into collections, and private judgments into col-
with the professional designers. lective decisions. In addition, participants must
The applications of participatory design be able to express themselves (requiring technical
vary in the commitment to user participation in knowledge how to contribute), must be willing to
design, and the power balance between users contribute (motivation), and must be allowed to
and designers. At one end of the spectrum, user have their voices heard (control). The participa-
involvement in participatory design approach tory cultures approach is very relevant in case of
is limited to providing designers with access to swarm behavior.
users skills and experiences, while giving them Fisher (2009) suggests using the method of
little or no control over the design process or its seeding new technology ideas to participatory
outcome. At the other end of the spectrum users cultures. The seeding, evolutionary growth, and
can participate as designers and are fully involved reseeding method (Fischer & Ostwald, 2002) pos-
in developing the design outcome. For example, tulates that systems that evolve over a sustained
Okamoto (2009) has described the inclusive time span must continually alternate between
489
periods of planned activity (the seeding phase), collaboration in the hybrid space. Thus, images
unplanned evolution (the evolutionary growth and texts carried attributes of both spaces they
phase), and periods of deliberate (re)structuring were partially informal and related with personal
and enhancement (the reseeding phase). The seeds emotions and experiences in hybrid ecosystem,
should be built in participatory design activities and partially formal and documentary observing
and would evolve over time through small con- and monitoring why these stories were extracted
tributions of a large number of people. from other dimensions, embodied and finally
embedded to the ecosystem.
Storytelling as a Participatory According to Muller (2008), story collecting
Design Instrument and storytelling generally require a kind of third
space to occur. The authors of stories own the
One argument to use participatory design emerged stories, they write from their own perspectives,
from the methodological attempt to combine data which are sometimes in strong conflict with one
creation and data interpretation aspects: creating another; the authors can make use of one anothers
narratives by swarming activity, and investigat- materials, effectively moving away from single-
ing this activity in hybrid ecosystem by using author narratives and into a kind of collaborative
the very same narrative activity. We relied to collage of materials, which conveys interlinked
the fact that storytelling has been used as one of stories; and the community members can negotiate
the methodological approaches in participatory and define their roles.
design research. Each participant of the narrative ecology ex-
At the heart of participatory design is the con- periment could have its own view to the hybrid
cept of hybridicity, which relates with the hybrid ecosystem, and would arrive to the experiment
experiences and the analytical third space idea with a personal set of research questions. When
(Muller, 2008). Hybrid experiences refer to the writing narratives they could operationalize their
practices that may take place neither in the partici- personal design-based views of storytelling in the
patory domain, nor in the researcher domain, but hybrid place, and simultaneously monitor them-
in some in-between region that shares attributes selves and other storytellers. Monitoring the other
of both roles spaces. This in-between region storytellers could cause unorganized collaboration
is a fertile environment in which participants can on narratives. Participatory surveillance term a
combine diverse knowledge into new insights and new form of gaining awareness, empowering
plans for action. and building subjectivity that emerges in social
If to apply the participatory design approaches software environments (Albrechtslund, 2008) ap-
in which the commitment and responsibility is plies to describe this monitoring and collaboration
shifted to the participatory cultures, the designer in the hybrid ecosystem. Secondly, individuals
and the user roles can be viewed as the differ- could investigate the ecosystem collaboratively
ent voices of same people. This will enable the as designers. This meant that groups could discuss
emergence of the movable analytical third space before the design experiment, how to use tools in
in the experiment. the experimental settings, and write down their
In our case, storytelling was used for imple- joint research questions about the hybrid ecosys-
menting the design of the narrative hybrid ecosystem. These questions might guide them to be more
tem. The students task in the experiment was not focused as investigators of the system. In the end
only to try storytelling in hybrid ecosystem but of the experiment the group members could collect
also to reflect about why certain items were col- evidences of the storytelling phenomena, discuss
lected, what triggered their attention and initiated the findings and write the report.
490
Experiment: Writing Narratives sibility, synthesizing in a creative way and leading

in a Hybrid Ecosystem to professionalization (Wijnen, 2000).
The Narrative Ecology master course was
Participatory Design Experiment in planned and run two times with slightly different
the Narrative Ecology Course settings and time-period in Tallinn University in
Spring 2009. At the first run of the course a group
Investigating storytelling phenomena in hybrid of Estonian students with various backgrounds
narrative ecosystem calls for methodological from interactive media, art and semiotics and
approaches rooted in participatory design. In two supervisors (N = 13) started the participatory
this chapter we describe a participatory design design experiment about ecosystem of narratives
experiment of the Narrative ecology course in in the face-to-face meeting. This was followed by
Tallinn University. Our methodological approach individual explorations of the hybrid ecosystem
for investigating hybrid narrative ecosystems of narratives for 1,5 months. The final meeting
combines methods from Design-based research was used to summarize the results of the design
and -learning (Design-Based Research Collective, experiment. The second run of the course fol-
2003; Wijnen, 2000; Ning, Williams, Slocum and lowed the same structure, however it was more
Sanchez, 2004) and Participatory design research intensive and lasted 1 week. Participants of that
(Kensing & Blomberg, 1998; Muller, 2008) with course were 15 international students visiting
those of the Swarming principles (Bonabeau, Estonia as part of their studies, and 5 local master
Dorigo & Theraulaz, 1999). students of Interactive Media and Knowledge
The participatory design experiment in our Environments program.
case was organized as a university course Nar- In both cases the students were prompted to
rative Ecology targeted for master students of plan the design experiment and raise by themselves
Interactive Media and Knowledge Environments. various theoretical questions about writing nar-
The course aimed to give learners an experience ratives in the hybrid ecosystem. Testing the ap-
of the design-based research and competences in plicability of the narrative swarming framework
initiating and planning various kids of experiments in hybrid ecosystem was one goals of our design
in the city space. We used the design-based learn- experiment. The deeper understanding of nature of
ing approach (Winjen, 2000) because it enabled hybrid ecosystem, and its functioning for writing
simultaneously to achieve research aims and the geo-locative narratives was another goal of our
educational goals, embedding teaching into the investigations. We also wanted to clarify the new
contextualized design-oriented research. Ning, evolving narrative formats and collect evidence
Williams, Slocum and Sanchez (2004) have how narratives appear in a hybrid ecosystem.
assumed that design-oriented learning takes a A four-step strategy for testing theories in
unique approach of a combination of objectivism/ design-based research, introduced by Cobb (2001),
behaviorism and constructivism because it is a framed our narrative swarming experiment in
mix of understanding of explicit design param- hybrid ecosystem. This strategy of design-based
eters and conducting conscious and yet implicit research started from developing a theory of
creative activity. Design-Based Learning is char- swarm-like actions in hybrid ecosystems, and
acterized as integrative, going beyond individual hypotheses of the new narrative standards (this
disciplines, multidisciplinary, practice-oriented, can be referred to as a seed); continued with deriv-
creative, leading to differentiation, co-operative ing some design principles from the theory and
(teamwork), motivating, competence-oriented, translating these into concrete designs using the
furthering creativity, activating, fostering respon- participatory cultures (the evolution of the seed);
491
and ended with evaluating the designs in relation to What are the perspectives in the hybrid
the theory (preparations for the reseeding phase). ecosystem that storytellers use in their nar-
Elaborating the Cobbs suggestions, the concrete ratives?
steps of the design process were developed using Which forms of collaboration will occur in
the participatory design approach: narrative swarming?
What are new emerging technical and literary
(1) Developing the framework of possibilities standards of storytelling in hybrid ecosys-
provided by the hybrid ecosystem for writ- tems?
ing narratives (the seeds), and highlighting Would the storytellers distribute the stories
the objectives of the design experiment as across the hybrid ecosystem parts and how
researchers in the focus group discussions do other participants discover and follow
of participants. distributed stories?
(2) Selecting technology components suitable
in the experiment, which were available for Simultaneously, new questions could appear in
all the participants. the cause of action. Students final group reports
(3) Using participatory culture the participants opened some of the issues and characteristics
individually interacted with the hybrid nar- of hybrid narrative ecosystems. Running the
rative ecosystem, and created the ownership participatory design experiment in a swarm-like
of the design experiment from their own manner could mostly provide rather vague qualita-
perspective. In this step simultaneous ob- tive answers to these questions and highlight the
servation and documentation of the process possible limitations of our theoretical approach.
took place.
(4) Evaluating the narrative hybrid ecosystem Data Collection from the Hybrid
in focus groups, using the initial objectives, Narrative Ecosystem
as well as, the objectives that were created
by each participant in action. Our experiment served as the first step of inves-
tigating what the important characteristics might
Neither the preferred technology use in hy- be that a technological implementation should
brid ecosystems nor the characteristics of the contain in order to enable and support storytell-
hybrid narrative ecosystem were clear when the ing in hybrid ecosystem. Therefore, we took
participatory design experiment was initiated. In mainly a qualitative approach of collecting and
the design experiment, no initial story topics were analyzing the accumulated data and participants
deliberately decided. This decision was taken to experiences. In the results part we also propose an
investigate natural processes that appear in hy- ontospace approach of representing community
brid ecosystems. Using the swarming as a model data in hybrid ecosystem as a future approach.
for writing narratives brought several questions First, the tags as personal and shared perspec-
about the nature of the hybrid ecosystem into the tives in hybrid ecosystem were used for getting an
students focus. As part of the design experiment, insight look to the ecosystem of narratives. The
students had to raise initial research questions to tagged story content could be monitored in Flickr
guide their observations. Some of the questions and Blogs. Second, the sequences of perspectives
were the following: and themes in personal narratives were analyzed
from personal microblogs (Brightkite), blogs, and
image repository feeds (Flickr). The attention was
also on the combination of various data-types into
492
story sequences. Third, various collaboration evi- be provided with the proper support systems to
dences were under investigation e.g. comments, monitor the signal traces of narratives (e.g. loca-
references, links, reusing each others content etc. tive tags in the hybrid ecosystem).
The qualitative analysis was conducted using the In general, community activities in certain
focus group discussions in which the participants niches may be viewed both from time- and fre-
investigated the accumulated hybrid narrative quency aspect. The temporal view as a trajectory
ecosystem together, using their initial research may consists of the sequence of taking perspec-
questions, and the questions that had risen during tives when people compose their narratives.
active participation in the experiment. The frequency view, in turn, might represent
For analyzing the uncoordinated and self- the frequency of taking certain perspectives in a
organized action of participants in online com- defined time period. An individual trajectory may
munities we can distinguish the phases of the bring them frequently to the same positions in the
swarming processes in hybrid narrative ecosystem hybrid space. It is clear that if individuals of one
as following: community were active in hybrid ecosystem, some
perspectives that define their interaction with the
a) Passively monitoring others in personal niche would be more frequent than the others. So
networks without taking action e.g. using the frequency, how often community members take
friendfeeds; certain perspectives, might indicate the patterns
b) Leaving traces of meanings and action in of their relationships within an ecosystem and
networks (e.g. embedding artifacts anno- should be visualized in hybrid space.
tated with texts and tags, interconnecting
artifacts);
c) Monitoring other participants for actively RESULTS: TOWARDS NEW
taking centrally non-coordinated collabora- WAYS OF STORYTELLING
tive action. IN HYBRID ECOSYSTEM
These actions suggest that the analysis of the Design Solutions for
hybrid ecosystem data is not only useful for the Storytelling in Swarms
post-activity investigations, conducted by few
investigators in order to understand what hap- Two design settings were collaboratively devel-
pened. We claim that the analytical tools to get oped (see Figure 2). In the first course a distributed
guidance from the community niche, and finding community environment (http://ecologyofnarra-
signals left by the community members should be tives.wordpress.com/) was organized connecting
available for the participants during their active various students individual social software tools
participation in writing narratives. We assume that (Brightkite.com, Zannel.com, Twitter.com, Flickr.
the members of the swarming community would com, Facebook.com, and blogs at Wordpress.com)
behave like investigators of their activity niche in with RSS feeds, and agreeing about the joint tag
order to better adjust themselves into the hybrid narrativeecology. Using this tag, mashups of
ecosystem. They should adjust their perspectives collected content could be pulled together and
with the community-suggested perspectives in or- monitored by the participants and participants from
der to be guided in their personal narrative writing outside the community. Each of these social tools
or to be involved in the collaborative narratives. enabled alternatively to arrange a set of friends
By doing so this activity both stabilizes and shifts that could be monitored. Each student was asked
the community niche. Thus, participants should to contribute to the narrative ecosystem weekly.
493
Figure 2. Individuals social software tools can be interconnected forming the system to monitor each
other while writing narratives.
In the second course, the individual blog solu- in some cases in the same microblogging channels
tion that was used in the first course, was replaced to catch other students awareness.
with the joint group blog (http://hybridnarra-
tiveecosystem.wordpress.com/), where all the Narrative Ecosystem Formation
participants could add their content. This change
was mainly undertaken to speed up the story In our experiment we were looking for the emer-
creation as a community and increasing the aware- gent collaboratively perceived and used places in
ness of participants of each other. The students hybrid environment that triggered collaborations.
had to contribute to the narrative ecosystem It is to be reported that the experiment of writing
daily. narratives in swarm-like manner succeeded as
After running the experiment, it became evi- predicted. Individual participants actually relied
dent that the most frequently followed paths in on items posted by others, while processing their
the social applications used by storytellers were own personal narratives.
the friendfeeds in microblogging environment Mapping personally meaningful places in
Brightkite.com, and the mashed feeds arriving hybrid ecosystem took place when individual
from Brightkite and Flickr with the narrativeecol- storytellers embedded object representations from
ogy tag that could be monitored in blogs. It was geographical locations to the social software envi-
found that new geolocative storytelling supports ronments and annotated these artifacts with tags.
using the tools that provide quick uploading of For example in Flickr digital artifacts embedded
the content in locations and constant monitoring in the hybrid ecosystem were described simulta-
of other storytellers. The elaborated stories that neously by tags that represent how participants
participants combined in their blogs were triggered conceptualize these artifacts, how they use the
of the materials that were initially uploaded using space and artifacts for taking actions, how they
microblogging tools. These stories were advertised give meaning to the places, and with GIS that
494
provides the geocoordinates of the place. Such ar- system, be it a geoposition, or the tag, or a time
tifacts became searchable in the Flickr and Google stamp of an event, and blend them and refer to
maps with tags, revealing dimensions of the city. them in various hybrid ways. Individual enti-
The artifacts from all the participants of the ties (e.g. places) occupy this space, and each of
experiment were mashed together in the microb- them can be identified by its ontoposition in the
logging environment Brightkite using friendfeeds ontospace. An ontospace is a means to relate the
or in Twitter.search.com with tags (e.g. #narra- existence of entities of a domain to each other
tiveecology), and pulled for monitoring into other and to the domain to which they belong in terms
mediums such as to the personal blogs as RSS of similarity, in turn defined as proximity in the
feeds. We could observe that often participants did ontospace. Altogether, the ontospace constitutes
not add the tag metadata for perceived dimensions the referencing system needed in collaborative
explicitly, however the content of texts and images activities in a hybrid ecosystem.
still enabled them to perceive and embody some The ontospatial formalism allows the identifi-
perspectives of the other participants. cation of niches for collective meaning sharing. A
When writing narratives in a community of niche in our context is a community-specific and
a hybrid ecosystem, some popular perspectives community-determined subspace of an ontospace,
were determined (e.g. food, buildings, graffitti, an optimally meaningful region for the community.
emotions, contrasts, happiness, particular software The ontocoordinate system allows us to define a
beyond others, particular geographical locations niche as the n-dimensional hypervolume delimited
beyond others). Within this community niche by the range of each ontodimension that is opti-
certain places became more preferred than the mal for meaning sharing. Visualizations of more
others, and started to trigger collaboration. The favored community places in the community niche
participants started taking similar perspectives would serve as maps for individual community
they collected similar contents and annotated these members to find interesting and useful perspec-
with the same tags and reused peers contents in tives for their stories or becoming involved in
their narratives. Put another way, the participatory swarm type of collaboration while working on
design experiment enabled them to collect some their individual stories.
evidence about the nature of such shared places. One interesting aspect that such exploratory use
There appeared to be several challenges for of ontospace representation might provide relates
design solutions that could support writing nar- with the community analysis for action potentiali-
ratives in hybrid ecosystem: ties. Ontospace representation would reveal useful
information about community places and actions.
a) Visualizing more favored community places This could be used for creative collaboration
for participants of an ecosystem purposes also between different communities.
For example the discussions and negotiations
We propose that community places may be between two contradicting communities, based
made visible on the representations of the hy- on their perspectives, might be triggered in digital
brid ecosystem, for example using ontospace environments or real actions could be initiated in
methods (Kaipainen, et al., 2008). This metadata geographical locations.
approach defines descriptive feature dimensions
(ontodimensions) that altogether constitute an b) Representing all dimensions of the hybrid
ontological space (ontospace). Using ontospace, ecosystem space
it is possible to represent any type of description
of the digital content situated in the hybrid eco-
495
Up to now, there are means of marking geo- path in an in hybrid ecosystem from one place to
graphical locations and meanings of artifacts in another may be described as a trajectory in an
the hybrid space (see Kaipainen, et al., 2008). ontospace. When writing hybrid narratives, each
However, it is not clear technically how to annotate person moves along personal trajectory in the on-
artifacts with the coordinates of the software loca- tospace, creating particular personal places. This
tions simultaneously with geopositions and tags. trajectory is not predetermined with the story plot
For example, for indicating that one artifact of the but emerges during enaction with the ecosystem.
story is situated in microblogging environment The trajectory as a storyline is determined by and
and another is situated in the blog, or alternatively, combined from a limited set of dimensions that the
that artifacts that are combined into a story are person highlights, and a small number of hybrid
situated in the different participants blogs, mi- places where the person stays during activities.
croblogging sites or image repositories. Thus, it Thus, the trajectory usually fluctuates between
is still not possible that all the hybrid ecosystem the limited amounts of closely situated positions
place coordinates were mapped on one spacial in the hybrid space. Technically the trajectory in
representation and used for social navigation. hybrid space is currently observable to the others
only by means of monitoring such as participatory
c) Sequencing the unique stories surveillance in social software (using mashed
feeds, friendfeeds etc.). In the experiment it was
So far, in hybrid ecosystem there are no good technically not possible to visualize the story
means of sequencing story elements as we do in formation as a trajectory. In the future, visualized
traditional novels. For example, it is not easy to trajectories in the hybrid space may become power-
follow the storyline if the story components are ful guides for community members to better adjust
situated in different software systems. But we see their personal activities in respect to community
the possibility of connecting and tracing story preferences. Trajectories may serve as new ways
elements from one virtual environment to another of perceiving and sequencing stories.
can be provided with the ontospace representation
in future elaborations of the system. A persons
Figure 3. The pain perspective is attributed to the geographical location in town (left)
496
Figure 4. Contrasting artifact with its surrounding

Popular Perspectives for Individual
opens a new perspective (right)
and Collaborative Narratives
Several common perspectives were identified by

the participants of the design experiment while
analyzing the results available in the hybrid eco-
system. Popular perspectives appearing in hybrid
ecosystem of narratives may be roughly divided
into individual and collaborative. The evidence
of popular perspectives taken by individuals is
presented in Figures 3-6. Usually participants
of an experiment did not start their stories from
themes or topics that were planned beforehand.
Many of them explained in the discussions during
last face-to-face meeting that the first impression
to start the story came from the environment. This
impression initiated the deeper interest towards
certain perspectives in the hybrid environment
and triggered them to continue the story. Personal
Figure 5. The red perspective as a trigger of the story
497
Figure 6. Literary stories as triggers of finding perspectives
stories were most frequently formed extracting lected because of previous memory of other
and documenting perspectives of the locations, stories (see Figure 6).
and urban design of the city (see Figure 3). Per- It was notable that some participants tried to
sonal memories and impressions were used to embed action triggers to the hybrid ecosystem
find perspectives. Perspectives towards the nature to trigger collaboration (see Figure 7). Some
phenomena were taken. Contrasting between participants assumed that storytelling triggers in
the objects and their environment also created hybrid environment might be embedded into the
perspectives (see Figure 4). town as graffiti. In several cases, hybrid graffiti
In several cases emotional triggers were used appeared that connected real locations and digital
as perspectives for extracting certain content. For artifacts in social software. The graffiti locations
example, one participant searched for the hap- were commented in the computer-based system.
piness images from the Flickr database to un- Figure 8 demonstrates that the storyteller reused
derstand if this feeling is same for different nations the digital graffiti image from another storytellers
in different locations. Another student focused on Flickr account and elaborated the context in his
the impressions of red color in the environment blog, creating a hybrid graffiti that interpreted
(see Figure 5). contents situated in the geographical location.
Loading places and buildings with emotions As we have mentioned above, monitoring
and personifying them was one of the ways of others by friendfeeds, and the formation of hybrid
integrating images to the stories. Another way ecosystem by means of tags appeared to be the
was to relate existing stories that the narrators had triggers for individual storytelling and swarm-like
read previously, to the new objects and places collaborating on writing narratives. On top of
found in town. Thus, the perspective was se- such social surveillance, one participant in the
Figure 7. Embedding collaboration triggers to the contextual text of the virtual artifact
498
Figure 8. Hybrid graffiti as a narrative
Figure 9. Illustration of the hybrid being created by collaborative narrative activity
499
experiment got an idea of initiating social surveil- was a relevant model for describing it. The main
lance activities as part of her narrative. In her blog forms of collaboration on narratives were:
she wrote the following: I came up with the idea I. Becoming triggered by content collected by
of new narrative using parts of bodies in urban others and reusing content uploaded by others as
environment and trace the dimension of urban part of your stories, giving new interpretations to
hybrid being, thus research how different par- the content (Figure 11). Such activity indicates
ticipants perceive and participate. For this ex- that some perspectives in hybrid space may lead
periment common tag besides #narrativeecology narrators to discover new perspectives that may be
is mixedbodies and then for particular images - related with the initial perspective. This develops
head, foot, torso, arm. In flickr you can easily various possible trajectories in hybrid space that
organize photos in a batch (rotate, add tags, geo may lead each reader to find and combine new
location to all needed pictures at once and send stories using the available story parts.
them to the group sets ;). II. Dedicating the content to other storytellers
One example, the illustration of storytelling to be used in their stories (Figure 12) appeared to
as reminiscent of ants foraging behavior was be one ways of agglomerating content related to
documented with the hat graffiti in Tallinn certain perspectives. This behavior was similar
(Figure 10). One participant noticed the signal to the swarming behavior of termites, while con-
trail of hats and started to follow it document- structing the nest without initial agreement of
ing such graffiti in his microblog. Another par- actions.
ticipant noticed the trail of hats in the microb- III. Adding content to another story (Figure
log feed, and started collaborating and finding 13) was another behavior indicating that agglom-
and collecting the hats as well. Strong collabo- eration of stories may appear without predeter-
ration magnets were food, buildings, emotional mination of collaboration.
scenes, and scenes that triggered curiosity. IV. Picking up stories, acting them, and docu-
Collaboration always appeared without plan- menting this action in a story (Figure 14) was an
ning suggesting that indeed a swarm behavior interesting behavior which indicated that a result
Figure 10. The signal trail of hats in hybrid ecosystem
500
Figure 11. Reusing content in stories as a form of collaboration
Figure 12. Dedicated content in the stories
of reading narratives in hybrid ecosystem enaction ration indicated to what perspectives participants
may also be the real physical action. might react emotionally in the hybrid environment.
V. Commenting on others stories was one of
the more traditional forms of the collaboration on New Ways of Storytelling
narratives (Figure 15) that usually appears often
in blogs and microblogs. However, such collabo- When starting the narrative swarming experiment
in hybrid ecosystem, one of our assumptions
501
Figure 13. Added content to another story
Figure 14. Enacted story is captured as a new artifact in the story
was that the new storytelling format differs from We could also detect some interesting mutation
the traditional storytelling. Table 1 presents the of old storytelling standards in the new environ-
comparison of the differences of traditional and ment. For example, participants agreed that em-
swarming storytelling in hybrid ecosystem. bedding self to narratives, for example adding
502
Figure 15. Commenting as a form of collaboration on stories
Table 1. The comparison of storytelling formats in traditional novels and swarm narratives in hybrid
ecosystem
Traditional story Swarm narrative in hybrid ecosystem

Is created purposefully according to the plotline Emerges without predetermined themes or plot
Is integrated uniquely into a single whole story Is an agglomeration of differently combinable content portions
Becomes understandable as whole plot is read Can be understood from portions of content which can be noticed and integrat-
ed differently depending of the perspective of the reader
Has linear or pattern structure organized into chapters Appears as a cluster of close-bye and interrelated perspectives, but each reader
embodies the story differently depending of the sequence and selection of
perspectives
Represents actions in geographical setting Can be enacted in the hybrid ecosystem
Represents (tells about, mirrors) emotions and actions Indicates to some real enaction potentialities for participants of the hybrid
of characters ecosystem
Is written by one author Appears as a result of many authors individual storytelling
The author in active role in the story as a character or Each author strengthens particular personally preferred perspectives, thus
as narrator changing the hybrid ecosystem and adjusting it for himself and participants
alike, thereby allowing community formation and functioning
shadow signatures as digital watermarks on im- New geo-locative stories appeared to be

ages, appeared as a new form of authorship dec- granular and consisting of little content portions.
laration in stories (see Figure 16). This is compa- The stories might become evident and appear as
rable to the authors voice in traditional novels. a result of accumulation of these portions. The
However, most of the collected evidence in- emergent story might not have a start and end. It
dicated that narrative writing in hybrid ecosystem was a flow of impressions that might eventually
without predetermined topics caused the emer- obtain a storyline, or even several story lines for
gence of new standards for writing narratives. different participants. Yet, providing the visibility
503
Figure 16. Narrator embedded on the digital

due to the swarm activity. Thus cloning could
artifact of the story
hype up some stories.
The most remarkable was the finding that the
swarm stories were not traceable as linear for-
mations, which follow a plot. They were formed
and perceived as agglomerations of content with
certain perspectives, allowing different readers to
perceive different stories. Reading the stories pro-
vided enactment possibilities in hybrid ecosystem:
emotional participation by commenting, contribut-
ing to the story or deriving the story by taking the
lead as a new narrator in digital environment, and
role-playing the story in geographical locations
were some examples. This enactment possibility
indicated that hybrid narrative ecosystem with
of stories as linear sequences and composing story participants, contents, and locations represented
plots appeared to be technologically unaided. a new participatory story type that differed from
Individuals tended to mutate their narratives the traditional type of story standards.
as a result of ecological perception. Sometimes
these could initially be mere errors that took place
if individuals tried to repeat an existing narrative CONCLUSION
in another virtual environment (for example if
adding descriptions and tags to the Flickr im- In this chapter the participatory design experi-
ages uploaded by means of Brightkite mobile ment of the narrative swarming activity in hybrid
microblogging). Also deliberate reinterpretation ecosystem was described. The research brought
of artifacts took place. Most often if the narrative up various aspects in respect to developing and
was transformed from one environment to another testing an activity design for writing narratives
(e.g. from microblogging environment to the in hybrid ecosystem, validating the theoretical
blog) authors tended to elaborate it. If artifacts swarming framework underneath this design,
were borrowed from one individual to another, and clarifying the methods of running a design
the new person and different context could cause experiment with swarm members. The main results
different perception of this digital entity. This were presented about:
kind of evolution of stories might have eventu-
ally changed the attractor tag concentration to the Using participatory design approach with
extent that the original story trace was lost and the swarm members;
the individuals needed to start the search for new Using narratives both as the analytical
narrative resources as new attractors. tools in the design process, as well as, the
It would be important to note that swarm-like means of creating the design of the hybrid
collaboration did not assume an initially decided ecosystem;
goal, but sufficed for collaborative patterns to The nature of the hybrid ecosystem of nar-
emerge. Cloning narrative pieces by analogy might ratives, and the naturally occurring partici-
also make the trace of the narrative more visible, pant behaviors in it;
similarly like pheromone traces are agglomerated The best technological designs for writing
narratives in hybrid ecosystem, and re-
504
quirements to better support this activity, that decentralized narrative behaviors of the swarm
and; members would be resulting in collaborative
The use of traditional and novel storytell- creation and action in places. We envisioned that
ing approaches in participatory web, and using the ontospacial representation of the hybrid
the mechanisms of supporting it in future ecosystem might be a useful approach to visualize
designs. places, niches and the stories as trajectories in
this space for the swarm members. In the future
We applied the participatory design approach runs of the course Ecology of Narratives we
by initiating a design-based learning course in will focus on supporting such technical methods
which the role of the designers was fully given that enabled to dynamically map the appearing
to the users of the future design. The design ob- contents of the stories and use these perspectives
jects the formation of a hybrid ecosystem using as signals in the hybrid ecosystem for navigation,
a narrative swarming activity, and the develop- narrative creation and enaction.
ment of new formats of writing novels in this
environment were expected to emerge in the
course of their activities, however, without initial ACKNOWLEDGMENT
coordination of individual user actions towards
goal-directed collaboration. Thereby, a very This study was funded by the Estonian Science
open-ended experimental situation was created in Foundation grant 7663 and Estonian Ministry
which participants had a freedom to investigate of Educationa and Research targeted research
the emergence of the design solutions that they 0130159s08. All the participants of the partici-
could not initially grasp as phenomena. This ap- patory design experiment are acknowledged, as
proach enabled to investigate the new narrative contributors to this chapter. Special thanks are
behaviors characteristic to participatory web, and given to prof. Mauri Kaipainen for critical com-
avoid adopting traditional storytelling methods ments and discussing the approach.
directly to the hybrid ecosystem. It was possible
to collect data about the swarming phenomena and
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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Ontospace: An ontospace is a spatial ontology

it is a flexible set of metadata that describes a
Hybrid Ecosystem: Hybrid ecosystem is an domain of information by means of spatially con-
ecologist view to the dynamic system consist- ceptualized ontodimensions. Ontospace provides
ing of an augmented space in which activities one representation of hybrid ecosystem.
of people with various artifacts in geographical Perspective: Perspective is a personal percep-
locations using participatory social software create tion of ontodimensions that can be fixed with
a feedback loop to this space that influences the ontocoordinates in an ontological space.
evolution of communities and determines their Swarm: A swarm is a community of an hybrid
interaction in this space. ecosystem in which every participant is respon-
Niche: Niche is a range of perspectives of the sible for its individual actions and relies on reading
community members that define a subspace in a the signals from the ecosystem and from the swarm
hybrid ecosystem, where a particular community members, which causes the emergence of shared
can be effective in taking actions. intelligence and enables swarms to accomplish
Ontocoordinate: An ontocoordinate is the global tasks and form complex patterns through
position of an entity on an ontodimension and simple local interactions of autonomous agents.
expresses a value and descriptive feature associ-
ated to the entity.
Ontodimension: An ontodimension corre-
sponds to a descriptive feature of an entity within
a domain of information, also interpretable as
class membership.
508
509
Chapter 30
Researching Community in
Distributed Environments:
Approaches for Studying
Cross-Blog Interactions
Vanessa P. Dennen
Florida State University, USA
Jennifer B. Myers
Christie L. Suggs
ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine how a variety of research approaches can be applied to the study of cross-
blog interactions. Cross-blog interactions can be challenging to study because of they often require the
researcher to reconsider traditional notions of temporality, discourse space, and conversation. Further,
in many instances they are neither static nor well defined; defining the beginning and end of a discus-
sion as well as locating all components of the discussion can be difficult. For this reason, we advocate
a blend of six approaches (social network analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis, conversation
analysis, narrative analysis, and ethnography). For each, we discuss strengths and limitations and
provide examples of how the approach may be used to help fully capture the complexity of these interac-
tions. Additionally we discuss web-based tools that are helpful when engaged in this type of research.
INTRODUCTION ingly developed around the Internet. Their de-

velopment has been a largely informal process
In the last decade, blog-based communities in as people connect with others who either have
which people write in a diaristic manner about shared interests or are otherwise considered desir-
their lives, thoughts, and interests, have increas- able virtual neighbors. These communities exist
around many topics, including parenting, knitting,
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch030
Researching Community in Distributed Environments
medical conditions, cooking, and travel, and a BACKGROUND AND BRIEF

wide variety of professions including education, REVIEW OF LITERATURE
research, medicine, politics, and library science.
A shared hobby, lifestyle, or profession is the The growing body of research on blogs repre-
glue that initially binds many of these communi- sents a variety of topics, including the traits and
ties. At first, a small group of individuals start their motivations of bloggers (Miura & Yamashita,
own blogs and find other individuals with blogs 2007; Stefanone & Jang, 2008), identity issues
toward which they feel an affinity. These bloggers (Dennen, in press; Qian & Scott, 2007), content,
connect to each other via links and comments. Over characteristics and taxonomic categories for blogs
time these small networks attract others who are (Herring, Scheidt, Bonus, & Wright, 2005; Lagu,
initially readers but become commenters and/or Kaufman, Asch, & Armstrong, 2008), the impact
bloggers themselves. This second phase of com- of blogging on peoples lives (Baker & Moore,
munity development encompasses both people 2008), and how blogging might be characterized
who intentionally begin blogging in order to be within a particular country or culture (Trammell,
part of the network as well as people who have Tarkowski, Hofmoki, & Sapp, 2006). Many,
long been silo-style bloggers or bloggers in other although not all, of these studies have looked at
networks who later make the decision to connect blogs and bloggers as individual units, surveying
into the community. or observing them in a singular context. However,
Community connections in online settings, blogs are an interactive medium and often blogging
particularly distributed ones like blogs, are com- is a community enhancing or community found-
plex. What may initially appear to be individual ing activity. By community enhancing, we refer
posts on individual blogs upon closer inspection to blogs that are used to enhance communities
reveals itself as a complex, interwoven dialogue of that already exist in other forms, like face-to-face
sorts among multiple participants, not necessarily social networks and professional organizations.
all aware of each other, across multiple spaces. Studies in this area have looked at how real-life
These dialogues are read, in part or whole, by the acquaintances interact via blogs (Nardi, Schiano,
bloggers, their commenters, and unknown lurkers. & Gumbrecht, 2004; Takhteyev & Hall, 2005). In
In most cases the availability of blog archives the community foundation sense, blogs represent
means that the dialogues linger on well past their the backbone of a community, and the community
initial active phase. typically is one that would not exist were it not
In this chapter, we examine issues related to for blogs. Studies in this area have shown how
researching these blog-based interactions. First communities have formed around collections of
we raise some of the challenges facing research- individually authored blogs (Dennen, 2006; Den-
ers who work in this area. Next we discuss how nen & Pashnyak, 2008; Qian, 2008; Wei, 2004)
a variety of research methods and approaches and around single blogs with a larger readership
might be used, both alone and together, to look at that is active either via collective authorship (Silva,
various elements of blogging interactions. Finally, Goel, & Mousavidin, 2008) or, in the case of sole-
we share ways in which Web-based tools may be authored blogs, comments (Blanchard, 2004).
used to support these research efforts. Our find- Community is one reason why people blog,
ings here are based both on our experiences as although it should be noted that not all bloggers
researchers studying blog-based communities of engage in community interactions and a large
practice and on our readings in this area. number of blogs exist in relative isolation (Herring
et al., 2005). Bloggers who have strong social ties
510
to other bloggers are more likely to persist with may determine site policies, remove messages
the medium over time than those who have weak and comments, and otherwise control the site in
social ties (Lento, Welser, & Gu, 2006) and many ways that are not possible in collective community
isolated blogs are abandoned. These ties between spaces. The resulting interactions on an individual
blogs most often co-occur with one of three com- blog have been described as modulated (Nardi,
monalities: age, location, and shared interests Schiano, Gumbrecht, & Swartz, 2004), perhaps
(Kumar, Novak, Raghavan, & Tomkins, 2004). because interaction with others is via blogs is a
Interactions among bloggers may go beyond choice; interaction is not inherent to the medium.
the merely social. The role of reader or audience Individual bloggers may demonstrate their sense
is influential on the activities of many bloggers of community via membership in a webring (Qian,
(Nardi et al., 2004), making the act of blogging a 2008; Wei, 2004) or through blogroll links in the
clearly dialogic one. Bloggers often find that they sidebar, which have been likened to a friends
receive a great deal of support from their fellow list on a social media site (Bhagat, Cormode,
bloggers and commenters (Baker & Moore, 2008; Muthukrishnan, Rozenbaum, & Xue, 2008).
Dennen & Pashnyak, 2008; Qian, 2008) and they Community interactions, in the form of comments
may engage in knowledge sharing practices with and links to individual posts, may take on a burst
them as well (Efimova, 2009). Thus, the many like structure, with periods of waxing and waning
reasons given for participating in blogs, whether activity based on what is being discussed (Kumar
as blogger or audience/commenter, mirror rea- et al., 2004).
sons why people participate in other types of This difference between a community of blogs
virtual community, namely for friendship, support, and other virtual communities has implications for
knowledge, and recreation (Ridings & Gefen, how community members interact, necessitating a
2004). This finding is not surprising, since blog- wider range of norms and expectations based on
ging communities share many of the same binding virtual space and ownership. What is appropriate
characteristics as other virtual communities. to post on ones own blog may not be appropriate
There is, however, one key difference between to comment on someone elses blog or to post on
interacting within a community of bloggers ver- a community blog. Participants must be conscious
sus a virtual community supported by bulletin of space, role, and norms. We liken this situation
boards, listservs or other centralized technologies. to the difference in behavioral expectations when
This difference relates to the technology itself at home with guests, as a guest in someone elses
and how it shapes the resulting communication: home, or in a public setting among peers. It has
Bloggers own their own virtual spaces, and further implications for how research is conducted
their interactions in the blogosphere may take on blog-based interactions, noting that these inter-
place across a variety of spaces designated (from actions may span more than one blog and may be
the perspective of the blogger) as mine, yours, subject to varying norms and expectations based
and shared. Here we also differentiate between a on who says what and where they say it.
community of bloggers and community blogs, the
former consisting of interlinked individual blogs
and being the focus of this chapter, and the latter CROSS-BLOG INTERACTIONS
exemplified by Slahsdot and MetaFilter. Within a
community of blogs, individuals do not just have Cross-blog interactions are topical discussions
usernames and profiles but rather they control that take place across multiple blogs. They take
their own space. The essence of the blog is that on multiple forms. In some cases, bloggers hap-
it is a platform for an individual. That individual pen to be posting about similar topics at the same
511
time and find each others posts. Such occurrences general thread of posts may begin taking on a direct
are not uncommon when the topic is somewhat response quality and original bloggers may enter
temporally based, such as current or seasonal the fray in a more conversational manner with
events. Since many people are experiencing the follow-up posts once they see how their initial
same or similar events simultaneously it can be writings have developed into a larger discourse.
difficult to determine who has influenced whom Still, for as much as the posts can be brought
or to what degree the collection of related posts together in a convergent manner, new posts and
represent some form of conversation. resulting discourse often will take the interaction
In other cases, one blogger clearly is influenced back out in a divergent manner.
by anothers post, thus beginning the discourse.
The subsequent post may take the form of a Challenges of Researching Cross-
commentary on or response to the original post. Blog Interactions
Although bloggers generally are free to reply on the
original blog and often do, they are likely to move Blog-based communities pose some potentially in-
commentary and responses to their own blogs for teresting challenges to the researcher interested in
a host of reasons, including length of response, community interactions. Blog-based communities
desire to speak directly on the topic to ones own consist of multiple virtual spaces, each owned
audience, and desire to comment while being a by an individual, which are interconnected with
step removed from the original post and attached others via links. Bloggers tend to compose and
commentary. This last case is the equivalent of share their primary thoughts on their own space,
trying to whisper an aside to friends rather than but also comment on others blog posts. Reaction-
address the original speaker. ary thoughts may appear either in comments or as
Finally, a cross-blog conversation may develop new posts on ones own blog. Although individuals
via two or more entirely original posts on the same tend to write about what they are experiencing and
topic (e.g., the telling of parallel stories). These thinking, they also write in response to what they
posts begin in isolation and are later collected by read elsewhere and follow community trends, such
one or more bloggers who have seen them and as memes. Thus, each blog may be considered a
noted their relatedness (see Figure 1 for a diagram narrative discourse unto itself, and yet it is also a
of a cross-blog conversation). At some point the part of a larger community discourse. We might
Figure 1. Possible cross-blog conversation structure
512
think about these interactions as a cohesive whole fairly easy to identify, but at the edges membership
that is made of many standalone parts with links becomes fuzzy. Some bloggers leak over from
that create a discourse that is greater than just the other communities, following their blog-friends.
sum of the individual parts. For example, a mommy blogger may become
Researching blog-based communities requires interested in the lives of academic bloggers whom
reconsideration of traditional notions of fieldwork, she meets in the comments on a favorite academic
research site, and even space. As boyd (2009) mommy bloggers blog. Although she is not an
notes, although we may use the term community academic herself, she may be accepted into this
to refer to a group of people who have a common community as a regular over time.
interest and interact with each other, somewhat Also, blogs may be altered over time. In other
inherent to the idea of social networking is the words, they do not produce stable archives. Blog-
egocentric network. Thus each contributor to the gers may return and delete or edit earlier posts
discourse will have different perceptions of the at will, and at times they may even disable their
discourse, its origins and its central points, based archives or delete and restart a blog (Dennen,
on their own place within the community. 2009). Commenters, too, may return to delete their
For researchers, who may follow a defined set earlier words and a blogger may either delete or edit
of blogs, tracking an entire conversation across comments left on her blog by others. Occasionally
multiple blogs or identifying the leader and fol- blog posts that have long since moved off of the
lower posts on a particular topic can be difficult. front page of a blog will be re-discovered after
How does one determine the genesis of a particular a period of time, possibly generating a second
conversation or trend? If two people begin post- wave of comments or becoming part of another
ing on a topic at or near the same time, how do discourse. Bloggers may return to and comment on
we know that they were unaware of each other their earlier words at a later date, in effect altering
or if one was writing in reaction to the other un- their meaning. While these acts all generate rich
less there is an explicit mention of the influence? data, they can be quite difficult for a researcher
Researchers are dependent on bloggers to use to effectively track.
links and in-text references to others to help guide
the process of tracking how particular thoughts Solutions
and trends develop and change over time. While
prompted interviews with direct questions about So how does one study the interactions of a
how post Y might have been influenced by post multi-layered, ill-defined and ever-changing
X might help with this process of piecing together community such as a blog-based network? In
the narrative, we know, too, that in the restorying particular, how does one capture the nuances of
process people are likely to tell different versions cross-blog interactions? Our focus is primarily
of their story not out of any desire to deceive, on interpretive methods because we believe that
but merely because their memory and experience more automated link and content analysis meth-
of it is always changing (Mishler, 2006). These ods, although regularly used in studies of online
iterations of personal interpretation, although often community, are unable to effectively tease out
fascinating, are quite challenging to the researcher. many of the nuances of blog interactions and
Further, defining the bounds of a blog-based their related meaning. In a blog-based community,
community can be difficult. Membership bound- context is critical and not sufficiently captured
aries are fluid and many bloggers participate in via primarily quantitative or structural means.
multiple blog-based communities (e.g., academic Further, blog posts and comments often serve
mommy bloggers and knitting scientists). A core is multiple, complex functions (Dennen & Pashnyak,
513
2008) which cannot be readily documented via So how does one study social relationships
these means. A well-triangulated interpretivist among a group of bloggers? Zhou and Davis
study, however, can provide a comprehensive (2006) used hyperlinks as a means of assessing
picture of the interactions taking place within the relationship between blogs and blogger, with
the community. Specifically, we recommend a individual links between blogs creating a web
multi-method approach to researching interactions depicting blogger awareness and the number of
in distributed communities, blending elements of links between two sources serving as an indica-
social network, discourse, conversation, content, tor of the strength of the relationship. Chin and
and narrative analysis with the particular mix de- Chignell (2007) recommend a seven-step process
pendent on the research questions and context. This that involves both crawling blogs for links and
approach helps capture the richness of cross-blog conducting a sense of community survey to help
interactions and other distributed internet-based filter out blogs that may not truly fit the com-
discourses in a systematic manner. munity. Largely automated processes such as
Below we discuss each of these methods, first theirs, while popular, include little, if any, con-
separately and then with a focus on how they can textual data. As a result, they serve as a general
be used in concert with each other. In the individual gauge of who is aware of whom and potentially
discussion of each method, we provide examples the degree of interest one blogger has in another.
of its use, from both our research on academic There are two key problems with their use. First,
diaristic bloggers and the published studies of as is noted by Kadushin (2005) in the context of a
other scholars, and point out the advantages and discussion on analyzing social networks via public
limitations of the method. records, it may be ethically questionable to make
statements about who is central and where power
lies in a community when the researcher has not
SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS materially engaged in assessing the data set for
accuracy. Blog links are not reliable indicators of
Social network analysis (SNA) helps define the relationship depth or type, and a human researcher
bounds of a community and the nature of the needs to personally examine the links and make
participants relationships. Through SNA, blog- decisions about whether or not a given link should
gers who serve as pillars, organizers, and hubs of be included in the data set a daunting task when
the community can be identified. Additionally, you consider the number of links that appear in a
the strength of relationships or communication typical blog sidebar. Second, they fail to account
ties among the members of a community can be for parts of the community structure and discourse
determined, showing who has close connections such as lurkers or non-blogging commenters, who
and a likelier propensity to communicate and leave no links but who are nonetheless a part of
who has a weaker connection (Haythornwaite, the interaction and links to sites of interest to,
2002, 2005). Beyond looking at overall com- but clearly outside of the community (e.g., mass
munity relationships, social network analysis can media, government, institutional, and humor sites).
be used to identify both egocentric (surrounding Critics of such methods, such as Schmidt
an individual) and event-centric (involved in an (2007), differentiate hyperlinks from social ties
event) networks. Depending on the nature of the and note that relationships among bloggers may
cross-blog interaction being studied, any of these also play out via other, unseen forums such as
three foci (community, egocentric, and event- email. Thus non-automated methods of data col-
centric) may be used. lection may be needed to accurately depict social
relationships within blogging networks. To that
514
end, a variety of interpretivist methods are avail- an idea, is an important part of understanding a
able for establishing and documenting awareness cross-blog interaction. Further, it can be blended
and social relationships in online settings. Hine with event structure analysis (Heise, 1989) to
(2009) takes an ethnographic approach to defining help depict the narrative nature of temporal and
the virtual community boundaries. boyd (2009) contextual relationships between particular posts
uses a snowball approach, starting with a few in- in a discourse.
dividuals and fleshing out the community around
them. To snowball in a systematic manner, one
might use questionnaires, as is recommended by CONTENT ANALYSIS
Vehovar, Lozar Menfreda, and Koren (2008) for
the study of ego-centered network. Schmidt (2007) Content analysis, as the name suggests, is a
suggests a focus on procedural rules when study- method of studying the content of blogs or posts.
ing blogging communities, looking at blogger as As such, it is useful for identifying trends and
reader, author, and networker and considering themes. Textual content can be examined via
the selection, publication, and networking rules enumerative or thematic means, the former rely-
that would govern each of these roles. These net- ing heavily on word counts and ordering and the
working rules, then, cover the norms that govern latter being more contextual (Grbich, 2007). As
how bloggers would establish and maintain their with social network analysis, there is a tension
social relationships and would then impact how between potentially having the ability to automate
these relationships are made visible to researchers. the analysis process given a digital data set and
The major strength of SNA is its ability to help needing to make context appropriate judgments
define cross-blog relationships, which may range before applying a code to a unit of data.
from mere awareness (one-way or two-way) to Content analysis has been used in a variety of
significant discursive interactions (two-way or blogging studies as a stand-alone method. Her-
multi-party). It does this by helping the researcher ring et al. (2006) used content analysis to identify
examine not just the relationship between two blog properties, checking if blogs changed in
isolated bloggers, but also how that relationship characteristics over a four year period. Herring
compares to others within the larger community and Paolillo (2006) used a program called Gen-
and how it is situated within the community. So- der Genie to compare gendered writing styles to
cial network analysis excels at taking what may types of blogs, finding that filter blogs tend to be
seem chaotic and unstructured and finding the stylistically male in their language use whereas
order within. In so doing it does not necessitate journal blogs are more female, regardless of the
imposing traditional hierarchical structures, but actual authors gender. Similarly, Huffaker &
rather can deal with the tangled nature of organi- Calvert (2005) examined the frequency of word
cally formed and governed networks (Moore & counts focused on gender and self-disclosure
Contractor, 2003). Social network analysis has topics and emoticon use in their study of the role
one major limitation for studying cross-blog in- that language plays in self-presentation on blogs.
teractions, namely that it does not extend much Content analysis is highly systematic and
beyond looking at relationships between entities, structured, which is one of the methods strengths.
whether those entities are blogs, bloggers, or blog In a blog-based community, for example, content
posts. However, information that SNA does yield, analysis can be used to determine how frequently a
such as reciprocity of relationships, strength of particular topic is raised or a person is mentioned.
relationships, centrality of key figures, identifi- Although topical content and taxonomic catego-
cation of who originates, develops, and spreads rization are the most common results of content
515
analysis, it is worth noting that the method also of interrelated and interconnected blogs, noting
has been used to code units (e.g., posts or blogs) both the dominant and minority viewpoints. DA
for their function and tone (Dennen & Pashnyak, helps us situate the meaning of words and actions
2008; Pashnyak & Dennen, 2009). In this sense, in a larger cultural context, showing how they
content analysis can begin to provide broad stroke impact and are impacted by our ideas about par-
indicators of how community participants interact ticular topics such as gender or power. Discourse
with each other by identifying how common it is analysis also draws on concepts such as Bakhtins
for participants to ask each other questions, request notion of voice, which allows us to see both the
advice, and engage in other forms of conversation. individual and social voices at play in a dialogue
One key limitation of using content analysis (Agha, 2005); footing, which represents the frame
to study interactions is its reliance upon a clearly an individual uses when engaged in dialogue
defined standalone unit of analysis. In the blog about a particular event (Goffman, 1981); and
world, that unit would most likely be the post, positioning, which helps us make fine distinc-
comment, or blog. As Miura and Yamashita (2007) tions in how qualities such as power, expertise,
noted, each individual blog post is effectively an and emotion shift from speech act to speech act
opportunity for interacting with others and that (Davies & Harr, 1990). Using these frameworks
interaction is not limited to the originating blog. and others, DA helps us uncover the differences
Although theoretically a cross-blog interaction between what is said, what is meant, and what is
itself could be a unit of analysis, objectively iden- understood.
tifying each unit with certainty could be difficult. In the discourse analysis of blogs, the re-
Thus, what is not easily captured via content searcher is working with how meanings develop
analysis is the way in which posts, comments, and within the dynamic, triadic relationship among
blogs are interwoven as parts of a larger discourse. blogger, commenter, and reader. These roles shift
Used alone, content analysis reduces a rich data based on ones actions and perceived ownership
set into counts, which are useful for describing of space. Whereas reading is purely receptive,
overall trends and for identifying linguistic norms. commenting provides a reactive opportunity to
However, used with discourse analysis (discussed alter the discourse (shift a position, reposition a
next), content analysis facilitates a robust triangu- frame, etc.), but only within the acceptable bounds
lation of key themes within the data set. of the blog owner. In contrast, when acting as a
blogger and composing posts for display in ones
own space, a member is being performative.
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS One of the key strengths of using discourse
analysis is that it readily lends itself to the ex-
Discourse analysis (DA) promotes the examina- amination of interactions across blogging com-
tion of blogs as texts to uncover both prominent munities and then illuminates both the dominant
and marginalized discourses within a community, and minority positions. This use also is in keep-
showing how these discourses are developed ing with a virtual research method called Web
among and in turn impact members. It is rooted in Sphere Analysis which examines relations within
Foucaults notion of discourse as a construct that somewhat similar web spheres or media-bound
can support or remove ones power and dominance interest groups (Schneider & Foot, 2005). Its key
in a given setting. The use of a DA approach when limitation in this context is, in essence, a symptom
looking at cross-blog communication is fairly of its strength: As such, discourse analysis does
straightforward in that the researcher focuses on not provide clear structures for depicting these
the key discourses that emerge across a collection interactions that it captures, nor does it really lend
516
itself to any form of summary quantification of CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

data which can be useful for researchers looking
to express the prevalence of a particular theme Conversation analysis (CA) often is classified as
or attitude. a specific form of discourse analysis, but we feel
Within our own research, several discourses it merits separate discussion in this context due to
have emerged across the blogging community its particularly detailed focus on how individual
and have shaped both the nature of what is said utterances, words, and word sequences provide
and how it is said. They have impacted the de- meaning. Although originally used to examine
velopment of norms and the relationships among live, spoken speech acts such as face-to-face
bloggers. Prominent themes we have noted via and telephone conversations, CA provides help-
discourse analysis of academic diaristic bloggers ful techniques for looking at written speech acts
include academic hierarchies, gender, academic such as those which appear on blogs. True, online
practices, and the relationship between personal written communication is lacking in terms of tra-
and professional lives. In some of these instances, ditional notions of inflection, pauses, and other
the blogosphere has encouraged the examination characteristics common in everyday speech, but
of certain discourses in ways that might not hap- it still retains some components of conversation,
pen in face-to-face environments. For example, albeit in a slightly different form and with varying
topics such as sexism in the workplace are dis- norms and expectations.
cussed and individual stories are shared freely. CA encourages us to look at particular word
Thus, we have seen how these key discourses choices and sequences for the purpose of deter-
play out differently in this online community of mining their communicative function. In particular
academics than they typically do in face-to-face it has three key uses in the context of cross-blog
communities of academics. studies:
Discourse analysis also helped us illuminate
the way in which blog-based interactions facili- 1. Examining how the written language of the
tated communication among academic mothers, blogosphere has developed (e.g., special uses
who may feel isolated as such in their institutions. of certain words for particular function);
Together they can share both practical solutions to 2. Examining how norms governing communi-
juggling the two major parts of their worlds and cation develop in the blogosphere (e.g., what
moral support. And others who are not parents type of advice and feedback is welcome and
may enter the fray with alternating support and what type is not; how to disagree respect-
reinforcements of the belief that these worlds fully); and
should be kept separate. We can see that these 3. Identifying how virtual space (e.g., the dif-
women feel far freer allowing their worlds to ferent locations in which one may contribute
visibly blend in the blogosphere, whereas they to the community) impacts communication
keep them separate and draw the line between and perception (e.g., comments versus posts;
personal and professional in a different place single-blog versus multi-blog conversation).
in real life. Although content analysis might be
another approach that would help effectively We next discuss an example that incorporates
note the presence of discussions on both topics, all three of these uses at once from our research
it is discourse analysis that shows the interwoven on a community of academic bloggers.
nature of the topics in the blogosphere. There are occasions when a blog presents with
a post that contains an intriguing title but the body
merely says poof. The practice of editing blog
517
posts so that they merely read poof has become study, Efimova and Ben Lassoud (2008) perhaps
accepted. Those who see it understand without come closest at the moment with their look at how
additional information that at one time a longer a relationship developed over time using a variety
post resided there, and was likely removed because of media, studying closely the various speech acts
of its overly personal, emotional or otherwise and exchanges that occurred and how they related
sensitive nature. Using the word poof in lieu to the stage of the relationship. However, theirs is
of some greater explanation is now a norm, with not a CA study. Further, those few microanalyses
poof seeming reminiscent of a magician making of online dialogue that have focused on CA issues
a rabbit disappear with the wave of a wand (or a have also looked at synchronous communication.
stroke of the keyboard, in this case). The reason Thus, for a researcher looking to apply CA to
for leaving the placeholder is simple and under- the study of blog-based interactions there are no
stood by community members: the placeholder clear guidelines to dictate either how traditional
overwrites the original message, preventing that CA methods should apply or what new methods
original message from hanging out in a cyberspace might need to be developed to facilitate analysis
limbo where it could be picked up by RSS feeds of Web-based transcripts.
and search engines. Merely deleting the original
message via the blog software would not have the
same results, and the full content of the original NARRATIVE ANALYSIS
post could still be displayed via RSS. Thus, altering
the original post is the best solution to removing Blogs readily lend themselves to a narrative form.
content from a blog. These narratives differ from more traditional film
Those community members who have seen the and novel narratives in that they are constructed
original message, upon later seeing the poof, of brief, episodic posts that can stand on their
know that they should not divulge details of what own, making them more similar to soap operas
they read earlier. To do so would be to violate a and other serial media formats (Walker Rettberg,
community norm. If they wish to speak further 2008). One difference, however, is that serial
with the blogger about the topic of the original format media make an overt attempt at coherence
post, they might leave a fairly cryptic and non- between episodes, following a clearly defined
specific message such as I, too, have experi- plotline from which individual episodes do not
enced that problem. Feel free to email me if you stray, and bloggers tend to be more inconsistent
would like to discuss it further. In so doing, the in that regard, covering a greater breadth of topi-
commenter provides an invitation to move the cal content and weaving in and out of different
discussion to a more private space, knowing that storylines as suits the needs of the author rather
it is not appropriate to continue it on either the than the audience.
bloggers or commenters public blog in either Personal or diaristic blogs present both micro
posts or comments. Thus, the use of one word in (event-oriented, situated) and macro (life) narra-
a particular context and the surrounding norms tives. Each post or a small series of posts may
that have developed provides a brief example of present a story in its entirety, but collectively
what can be uncovered via CA techniques applied all of the posts on a blog create a larger story
to a blog-based interaction. that is (so long as the blogger is active) always
One of the biggest challenges to using CA in developing. And then there is a further narrative,
blog-based research right now is that the litera- at an even more macro level, that develops both
ture provides little guidance. It is, in some ways, in moments (a hot discussion of a timely topic)
uncharted territory. Although not actually a CA
518
and over time (the story of community) as people Although we have focused on naturally occur-
interact across their blogs. ring narratives in our research, narrative frame-
Narrative analysis can be useful both for works also might be used as part of a purposeful
looking at personal experience narratives as pre- data collection effort. For example, Ellonen,
sented on individual blogs as well as examining Kosonen and Henttonen (2007) studied an ac-
the co-constructed narratives that develop across tive discussion forum community, developing a
blogs, the former being more about agency and case study focused on identifying how a sense of
the latter more about negotiated meaning in a community develops. A major component of their
virtual space via stories (Squire, Andrews, & data set, in addition to interviews and observa-
Tamboukou, 2008). Given how laden blogs are tions of natural community interactions, were
with narratives, an examination of these narra- written narratives that they specifically asked
tives feels like a rather intuitive and organic way community members to share via the discussion
of studying them. Much can be gleaned from not forum. Similarly, Hanisch and Churchman (2008)
only the content of the stories, but also how they asked interview participants to create stories about
are told and how others receive them. their practices in a virtual community of practice,
A key limitation of this approach is that the using the stories as a reflective device and then
field of narrative research is fairly ill defined, using thematic analysis to tie them together across
with no clear methodological guidance. Further, interviews.
the framework lacks an accepted focus or even
clearly established approaches that compete for
acceptance and prominence (Squire et al., 2008). ETHNOGRAPHY
The work that makes up this area represents dif-
ferent fields; type, level, and genesis of stories; We discuss ethnography last not because it is least
and analytic approaches. However, this limitation important but because it is, in a sense, the most
may be readily overcome by pairing a narrative all-encompassing of the methods. Ethnographic
framework with another method. studies of virtual communities have focused on
Narrative analysis has not been popular topics like storytelling practices (Orgad, 2005),
framework in the study of blogs and blogging gender roles (Kendall, 2002), community build-
communities to date. However, we have found that ing and events (Dibbel, 1998), and representation
narrative analysis is particularly useful as a way of of self via a particular technology (Senft, 2008).
making sense out of individual blogs, clusters or Whereas methods like content analysis tend
sub-communities of blogs, and blogging events. to rely strictly on transcripts and social network
We have pulled from Schanks (1995) work on analysis, ethnography more readily encourages
narrative and intelligence, which has been useful use of multiple data collection methods. Indeed,
for identifying types of stories told in the blogo- Orgad (2009) suggests that the collection of on-
sphere, as well as Hermans (2002, 2009) work line data alone is not sufficient to study an online
on elements of narrative, which has been useful community. She suggests that to limit ones study
for analyzing the ways in which stories are told to either online or offline data is effectively to
and how that contributes to their reception. Also only be able to tell part of the story, but with both
useful is Labovs concept of the coda (Patterson, online and offline data together a fuller story may
2008), which focuses on the afterthoughts of a be told. For example, the back story to an online
story and how it relates to the larger world of the event may be rich and not at all evident via the web
storyteller. archive that it produced. Alternately, an interview
519
may yield only one persons limited perspective or comments at ones convenience. Not only do
slanted reading of an event, with little to say about the interviews take time, but it also becomes
what an archive reveals to be a major event in the necessary to establish trust and rapport with the
community. Further, there is the issue of persona participants in the online setting prior to interview-
juggling; how a person acts and presents himself ing them. However, the time spent establishing
in the online world may not be the same as how he a rapport may be well rewarded in terms of find-
presents himself in the physical world and how he ings. Participant interviews can help shed light
describes his online experiences, too, may differ not only on individual interpretations of online
based on setting. Often ones thoughts as shared in activities, but also on intent and motivations,
an interview are more reflective than the ones in offline developments within the community, and
a forum that are part of a lived experience. Also, relevant actions that perhaps fall outside the scope
as Mishler (2006) notes, peoples stories change of the time period the researcher was observing.
over time with each telling, as they develop new Participants may even encourage the researcher,
interpretive lenses and reframe their thoughts in if not already involved as a participant observer,
light of current events. Thus, in an ethnographic to get involved more directly within the commu-
data collection effort we may find an archive of nity. Developing the ability to engage with the
an experience or even a written story about it in population as a participant observer can result
the online world that takes on one shade of mean- in an enhanced understanding of the community
ing and then hear a further evolved or interpreted being studied and provides yet another layer of
version of it in an interview at a later time. perspective although, as Gatson and Zweerink
Notions of privacy, too, come into play here. (2004) note, engaging in this way can require
We might consider privacy as something that careful management of researcher presence along
occurs on a continuum, ranging from public and the way, avoiding community controversies and
open at one end entirely private on the other always respecting the rights of human subjects.
end, with points in-between for semi-public and
semi-private settings (Sveningsson Elm, 2009).
Most blogging communities, including the one BLENDING THE APPROACHES
we study, are public, meaning that anyone can
access them without so much as a username and At first glance drawing upon these multiple ap-
password. Thus, endless lurkers are possible and proaches may seem onerous, and most current
they are impossible to identify. A participant may studies in this area draw more narrowly on one
not wish to say certain things in the public forum approach. However, the approaches are comple-
that is the online world, but in a more private set- mentary and, taken together, provide the methods
ting and with the knowledge that his words will be and tools to establish a comprehensive description
attributed to a pseudonym he may offer additional of interactions in a blog-based community. They
or different thoughts. Thus, exploring an online can be used in ways that pair differing strengths
community via both on and offline interactions and compensate for the weaknesses of individual
with its participants allows for greater triangula- methods. Table 1 provides a summary of these
tion of data and results in a more robust study. strengths. Cells lacking a notation should not
Accessing offline data through activities such necessarily be considered indicative of a weakness,
as participant interviews can be a time-consuming but rather a sign that the characteristic may not be
process, particularly compared to the relative inherent to or readily facilitated by the method as
ease of downloading archived blog posts and most often implemented.
520
Table 1. Strengths of methods in cross-blog research
SNA Content DA CA Narrative Ethnography

Analysis Analysis
Accommodates cross-blog thematic analysis X X X X
Accounts for external (off-blog) communications X
Can be automated X X
Considers reader/audience (including lurkers/non-partic- X X X X
ipants)
Contextualizes data X X X X
Documents relationships between bloggers X X
Focuses on content of interactions X X X X X
Focuses on structure of interactions X X
Integrates multiple data types (e.g., archives, interviews) X X
Provides clear guidelines for using method X X
In practice, some forms of content analysis, TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

discourse analysis, and conversation analysis as
we have discussed them here are considered re- Researching an online community, particularly an
lated, at times appearing with somewhat different active and ill-defined one, can at times feel about
names (e.g., critical discourse analysis rather than as easy as herding cats. However, there are tools
just discourse analysis) and being collectively and related research techniques that can be used
grouped under the larger title of discourse analy- to help find and aggregate all relevant strands of
sis. The particular labels themselves are not so a dialogue or interaction, and others that can be
important; as Gee (1999) notes, what he calls used to facilitate the process of keeping field notes
Discourse goes by many other names, and although and conducting preliminary analysis on them.
there are shades of difference in what terms may For each one, we will describe the tool and then
emphasize and encompass the overarching goal discuss briefly how the tool might be used and
to provide a meaningful way of analyzing words, which approach it supports.
whether written or spoken is a shared one.
There is a parallel to our recommendations
here about using a blended approach for studying BLOG SEARCH ENGINES
cross-blog interactions in Herrings (2005) presen-
tation of Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis In the last few years, search engines that specifi-
(CMDA) as one coherent approach. Herrings cally focus on blogs have been developed. These
CMDA approach primarily uses content analysis search engines, such as Technorati (technorati.
methods to study online behavior, but also allows com) and Blogpulse (blogpulse.com) address part
for taking steps toward critical discourse and con- of the search engine problem raised by Wouters
versation analysis as is contextually appropriate. and Gerbec (2003), namely that they focus on
Herring further recommends allowing the research information and do little to facilitate searches
question to drive the specific determination of for interactions. As a result, it is very difficult to
analytic method(s) to be used. search for online interactions such as those on
discussion boards and in chat forums. However,
521
these interactions have increasingly become the authors will post updates, and some may be quite
raison dtre for many Internet users. More spe- prolific while others post infrequently. Syndication
cifically, in the study of cross-blog interactions it feeds and aggregators help researchers automate
can be even more difficult to find that which we this process of checking blogs, eliminating the
seek as researchers. When we observe face-to- need to visit blog pages just to see if there has
face settings, we often are aware of the number been an update. Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
of participants both vocal and silent and we is a technology that transmits information about
accept the ephemeral nature of many interactions. web site updates via a system of feeds. Interested
However, on the Web we expect these dialogues people may subscribe to particular RSS feeds via
to be archived and thus searchable not just in a tool called an aggregator. Then it is possible to
the sense of finding a conversation on one blog, check for updates to multiple web sites from one
but also being able to track that conversation as location. Aggregators, such as Google Reader
it moves across blogs. (reader.google.com) and Bloglines (bloglines.
Technorati and Blogpulse allow users to easily com), notify the subscriber when one of the sites
aggregate all blog posts mentioning a particular that they track has been updated, typically display-
topic, or linking to a common URL. These search ing the update in part or whole and providing a link
options make them useful tools for tracking parts to the original post on the blog itself. Aggregator
of cross-blog conversations that might otherwise features such as marking and saving interesting
be missed. Users can enter a URL, either for a blog blog entries help researchers quickly track entries
in general or to the permalink page of a particular to which they will want to return, which can be
post, and find other blogs that have linked there. particularly useful when engaged in discourse,
Technorati also has a tagging system. Tags can conversation, or narrative analysis.
be searched and posts intentionally written on the
same topic (e.g., posted for blog carnivals, which
are compilations of posts from different blogs on SOCIAL BOOKMARKING TOOLS
a pre-determined topic) can be easily located.
Locating relevant blogs and posts is not Tech- While aggregators are very useful for monitoring
norati and Blogpulses only useful research func- a large number of blogs, typically their bookmark-
tion. They also provide trending data about what ing and annotation features tend to be of limited
topics are popular at a particular time. Technorati utility. However, social bookmarking tools such as
additionally presents information about a blogs delicious (delicious.com), Diigo (diigo.com), and
position in the overall blogosphere through the SharedCopy (sharedcopy.com) allow research-
use of authority rankings (the number of unique ers the capability to store, categorize and share
blogs posting a new link to the blog within the last bookmarks. Private research work groups can be
six months). These data can be used to support created and comments, notes, and highlights can
social network analysis, enabling the researcher be made directly onto a Web page and shared with
to compare blogs and assess their centrality and other researchers. Real-time text conversations
prestige. can be held on the blog or Web page, allowing for
instant communication or asynchronous discus-
Syndication Feeds and Aggregators sion. Activated by a single click on the toolbar,
these tools can be used for on-the-fly coding of
Tracking tens or hundreds of blogs within a given blogs, posts, or any other unit of text with a unique
community on a regular basis can be a time-con- URL. Later, all similarly categorized URLs can
suming task. There is no set schedule on which blog be quickly selected and viewed.
522
The commenting features of social book- ers who feel uneasy trusting a company such as
marking tools can be useful when engaged in Google, the owner of Blogger, with their private
discourse, conversation, and narrative analysis. field notes can with relatively little expense or
Essentially, these tools simplify the analysis technical expertise set up their own web domain
process by providing a means for researchers to and use free or open source blog software.
search fluidly through their tags and notes while Beyond field notes, we also feel it is useful
linking directly to the source without extra data for blog researchers to keep their own blogs of a
processing procedures. Compared to traditional similar format to those being studied. Engaging in
qualitative data analysis tools, the process of the very activity of research interest can provide
getting from data collection to analysis is greatly the researcher with insight into the lived experi-
streamlined (although admittedly more limited ence of the research participants. In the case of
in terms of analytic power such as searches us- diaristic and personal blogging in a community
ing Boolean logic). Further, since these tools are setting, researchers may benefit from having a
Internet-based, members of a research group can direct perspective on phenomena like what it
use the comments to share their own perspectives feels like to share personal information in a public
as a nascent form of data analysis or, later in the forum, to exchange comments with people known
process, as a form of triangulation. Alternately, an only by username, and learning how to navigate a
individual researcher might use the annotations set of online community norms for the first time.
as a form of field notes. However, one word of
caution is necessary when doing analysis with
these tools: Keeping ones data and analytic notes CONCLUSION AND FUTURE STEPS
entirely online and located in one place or on one
tool is a bit risky. Researchers should be sure to In this chapter, we have discussed how six dif-
make regular backups of their data and notes. ferent research approaches social network
analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis,
conversation analysis, narrative analysis, and
BLOGS ethnography might be applied to the study of
cross-blog interactions. Cross-blog interactions
For a blog researcher, the act of reflexively and are increasingly of interest as more people find
reflectively blogging oneself can be quite useful. themselves joining, either naturally or intention-
In particular, blogs can be a useful medium for ally, a larger community of bloggers, comments,
keeping field notes. It is easy to either link to or and lurkers. Participation in blogging communities
directly quote a passage of another blog within a can result in a variety of benefits for individuals,
blog post, and then each post can, depending on the ranging from the development of social support
blogging program used, be tagged or categorized and friendships to learning and even professional
for easy retrieval at a later date. The automatic advancement. Further bloggers have been shown
time and date stamps make it easy to track back to have increasing influence in the mass media,
ones own thoughts and see how they developed which have reported discussions that take place
over time in tandem with activities in the studied in the blogosphere, interviewed bloggers, and
blogging community. even developed stories based on issues initially
The major concerns with using a blog for field raised in blogs. Thus, better understanding how
notes would be privacy and security. However, it blog-based discourses particularly those that take
is possible to password protect blogs at either the place across multiple blogs form and influence
whole blog or individual post level. Research- others is important
523
As we have shown, few studies focus specifi- Blanchard, A. (2004). Blogs as virtual communi-
cally on cross-blog interactions, although a grow- ties: Identifying a sense of community in the Julie/
ing body of related work on virtual communities, Julia Project. In L. J. Gurak, S. Antonijevic, L.
online communication, and online behavior writ Johnson, C. Ratliff & J. Reyman (Eds.), Into the
large exists. Whether research approaches will blogosphere: Rhetoric, community, and culture
become more unified and consistent or divided of weblogs. Retrieved from http://blog.lib.umn.
and specialized for different online forums (e.g., edu/blogosphere/blogs_as_virtual.html
blogs versus social networking sites) remains to be
boyd, d. (2009). A response to Christine Hine. In
seen. We anticipate, however, that the theoretical
A. N. Markham & N. K. Baym (Eds.), Internet
grounding of the approaches we have discussed
inquiry: Conversations about method (pp. 26-32).
here will remain the backbone of this research,
Los Angeles: Sage.
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we encourage all Internet researchers in this area
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to provide great transparency to their approaches.
for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20, 4363.
Although discussion of method tends to be brief
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Knowledge and communities. Boston: Butter- blog interactions.
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of communication networks. New York: Oxford may be written by a reader or, in response to a
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528
Post: An entry on a blog written by a blogger. Really Simple Syndication (RSS): A technol-
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discretion of the blogger. a particular blog or other web site is updated.
529
530
Chapter 31
Methods for the Measurement
and Visualization of
Social Networks in Multi-
User Virtual Worlds
Devan Rosen
Ithaca College, USA
ABSTRACT
Virtual communities that allow many users to interact in a virtual world, often called multi-user virtual
worlds (MUVWs), allow users to explore and navigate the virtual world as well as interact with other
users. The communicative interaction within these virtual worlds is often text-based using Internet relay
chat (IRC) and related systems. IRC has posed a difficulty for researchers looking to evaluate the interac-
tion by analyzing and interpreting the communication since data is stored in the form of chatlogs. The
current chapter explicates methodological procedures for the measurement and visualization of chat-based
communicative interaction in MUVWs as social networks. A case study on an educational MUVW, the
SciCentr programs sponsored by Cornell University, is used to elaborate methods and related findings.
INTRODUCTION (visual representation of an individual in-world)

in the virtual worlds along with communicative
Although the graphical quality of MUVWs has fields, such as a text box where they can post
been increasing in quality, and variety of appli- comments and track the discussion of other users.
cations that these worlds have been used for is Text boxes displaying IRC has been a successful
rapidly expanding, the interaction within these tool at allowing for communicative interaction.
virtual worlds has remained primarily Internet However, IRC poses a difficulty for researchers
relay chat (IRC). There has been an increase in seeking to analyze and interpret the communica-
the use of Voice over IP (VoIP) in MUVWs, but tive interaction since data is stored in the form
the larger, community oriented MUVWs still use of chatlogs that can often be in the thousands of
mainly IRC. Users generally appear as avatars pages. The current chapter discusses and applies
methodological procedures for the representation
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch031 and analysis of chat interaction in MUVWs as
Methods for the Measurement and Visualization of Social Networks in Multi-User Virtual Worlds
social networks. Literature on the social network is directional but there is not the same value of
approach to human communication is presented relation the link is asymmetrical and lacks reci-
followed by a discussion of virtual worlds for procity. Non-directional links simply indicate an
education. A review of parallel methodological association of two actors in a shared partnership,
techniques leads to the elaboration of methods such as two students being part of the same class.
proposed in the current chapter. A case study on Links that are directional indicate the movement
two project worlds from the SciCentr program is from one point to another, such as the number of
used to elaborate methods and related findings. phone calls one person makes to another, or the
Finally, research limitations and future research degree of liking one person has for another. Ad-
possibilities are offered. ditionally, these links can also be symmetrical or
asymmetrical. There are several measures of how
connected individual nodes are, as well as how
BACKGROUND connected the entire network is, discussed below
The Social Network Approach Degree Centrality
Social network perspectives focus on the structure The degree measure of centrality is calculated by
of social systems and how the elements of a social counting the number of adjacent links to or from
system come together. Individual characteristics an actor in a network (Brass & Burkhardt, 1992).
are only part of the story, the people influence each Freeman (1979) conceptualized this measure as an
other, and ideas and materials flow throughout indicator of individual activity, representing the
the network. From the network perspective, the number of alternatives available to an individual
social environment can be expressed as patterns in the network.
or regularities in relationships among interacting Degree centrality may also be appropriate for
units. These patterns are often called structure. The capturing such power-enhancing behaviors that
current section elaborates some of the network happen via direct interaction, such as integration
concepts and terminology used in the subsequent and reciprocation. Likewise, degree centrality
methods for the analysis of MUVWs. can also indicate other direct interactions such
The form of social network that will be uti- as coalitions and the avoidance of relying on
lized in this chapter is a communication network, mediating actors for indirect access to resources
defined as the patterns of contact that are created (Brass & Burkhardt, 1992). While a relatively
by the flow of messages among communicators straightforward measure, degree centrality pro-
through time and space (see Monge & Contractor, vides insight into individual contributions to the
2003; Rogers & Kincaid, 1981). Communication interconnectedness of the overall network (Rogers
network analysis identifies the communication & Kincaid, 1981).
flow, or communication structure. Relation ties
(linkages) between actors are channels for the Strength of Ties
transfer (flow) of either material or nonmaterial
resources, or for an association between actors, Strength of the ties between actors, indicating
such as a friendship tie. The ties that exist between quantity of the relation, can vary greatly and has
the nodes can vary along several elements, includ- profound impact of the nature of the network.
ing strength, direction, and reciprocity. Strength of the tie can be measured as dichoto-
Links between actors can be measured as being mous, indicating simply the presence or absence
either non-directional or directional. If the link of a link, or valued, indicating the degree of the
531
relation (e.g. how many times per week does one Since face-to-face interaction is generally ephem-
person talk to another). eral, it is very difficult to refer back to previous
In summary, the central power of social net- parts of the conversation for reference, something
work analysis is to bring to life an otherwise static that is possible vie IRC. The persistence of these
social structure, and to path the development of interactions allow for the storage of all data as
this structure over time. Although a static analysis chatlogs, which can in turn be used for analyses
can reveal a traditional organizational structure, of the users interaction. However, the nature if
for example, such as a hierarchical organization, chatlogs as a dynamic, non-threaded interaction
the ability to identify emergent structures greatly introduces some methodological hurdles regard-
increases the understanding of social systems and ing analysis.
better contributes to our understanding of behavior All users citizenships that allow them to
(Krackhardt & Hanson, 1993). Further, network select user ids and passwords. These consistent
measures allow for analyses of the relationship logon names allow for collection of chat data since
between structure and several variables, including the chat windows are present during all activity.
performance and satisfaction. Chat sessions are stored as log files containing the
Online communities and MUVWs continue raw chat data including metadata such as time-
to grow in popularity and application, and using stamps and user ids attached to every comment.
social network analytic methodologies researchers The metadata allows for the precise tracking of
can garner an understanding of the structure of the source and pacing of interaction.
interaction within these virtual spaces. There have been advancements in the analysis
of computer-mediated interaction in a number
Communicative Interaction in MUVW of areas, discussed herein. Marc Smith and col-
leagues have added a substantial cache of methods
Although MUVWs have a wide array of uses and and perspectives by studying the interaction and
applications, communicative interaction within structure of Usenet (Smith, 1999; Turner, Smith,
the virtual world is generally conducted through Fisher, and Welser, 2006). Usenet is a online
Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC is conducted bulletin board-type system commonly called
semi-synchronous way, where comments posted newsgroups, although they are not necessarily
appear almost instantly for other users to view and associated with news, as many newsgroups
respond to. IRC is a much more real time mode of are for recreational, technical, political, and
computer-mediated communication than listserv cultural topics. One of the benefits of analyzing
messages, bulletin boards, and email. Much like Usenet is that the interaction is threaded in tree-
instant messaging (IM), IRC allows users to select like structures, where conversations lead to sub
a set username that appears before each comment threads and content can be cross-posted together
they post allowing multiple users to comment and newsgroups. This threaded structure provides a
maintain conversational interaction. Posts to IRC clear distinction of who is responding to whom,
conversations are generally quite short, usually when the response was posted, and what groups
one or two lines, allowing the IRC interaction are associated with the interaction. Using this
to be similar to multi-participant face-to-face data, Smith et al. have explicated a number of
conversation (Paolillo, 1999). methods for the structural analysis of these online
IRC interaction is conducted within a chat-box communities via their Netscan project and have
that displays all users comments along with their written on interaction, participant contribution,
username in a log file. In addition to IRC interac- and newsgroup hierarchies.
tion being semi-synchronous, it is also persistent.
532
Marc Smith has also investigated the social a gap in procedures to extract structural social
life of small graphical chat spaces by analyzing networks from IRC. Many of the parallel online
Microsofts V-Chat systems (Smith, Farnham, and community (e.g. Usenet) and social media (e.g.
Drucker, 2000). The VChat research illustrates the social networking sites) research streams have
usage patterns of graphical chat systems, illumi- benefited from structural analysis and social
nating the ways physical proxemics are translated network representation, but interaction via IRC
into social interactions in online environments. is still one of the most common forms of interac-
Krikorian, Lee, Chock, and Harms (2000) devel- tion in a variety of contexts (i.e. online gaming,
oped methods to study user proximity in graphi- educational environments), yet the structure still
cal chat rooms, and found that various perceived remains cloaked behind the form of log file data
demographics influenced the social distance of used to store IRC. Understanding the structure of
avatars in the graphical chat environment. the interaction provides an in-depth and unique
In addition to the structural analysis performed window into MUVWs along several lines. First,
in the research discussed above, there have also network position can be used to identify network
been a number of methodological advancements roles such as, similar to Turner et al. (2006) iden-
regarding the communicative content of online tifying roles such as answer person and question
communities. Sack (2000) generated conversa- person. Second, network analytic techniques can
tion maps of newsgroup postings, and was able be employed in the subsequent data, such as cen-
to explain what very large conversations look trality and tie strength, discussed above. Finally,
like by visualizing large amounts of interaction in network visualizations can be generated allowing
newsgroups. Suthers, Dwyer, Medina, and Vatrapu for visual and representational analyses, elements
(2010) developed a framework for representing that have traditionally important to community
and analyzing distributed interaction within multi- research (Preece & Maloney-Krichmar, 2005).
user virtual environments, including some struc-
tural representation of interaction in sequential re-
cords of events. However, the methods developed METHOD
were microanalytic and have yet to be employed
on large-scale data. Rosen, Woelfel, Barnett, and Social Network Analysis
Krikorian (2003) explicated a methodology for
semantic network analyses of IRC interaction in The structure of the communicative interaction
MUVWs, representing a methodological advance- within a MUVW may be examined through
ment in the quantitative analysis of the content network analysis. Network analysis is a set of
of IRC interaction. However, there has been little research procedures for identifying structures in
to no development of methods to extract social social systems based on the relations among the
networks from IRC interaction. Many of the systems components. Network analysis considers
techniques mentioned above map, display and human behavior or social process as the result of
study thread-based online communities, such as their environment in structured social relations,
Usenet groups; whereas graphical chat-rooms and is the methodology used to operationalize the
sequentially log chat interaction, which is difficult network approach to interaction, discussed above.
to separate and analyze as sub-groups, parsed Based on these relations, network analysis
interaction, or as a structural system. identifies the communication structure of a sys-
Even though Rosen et al. (2003) analyzed tem in which information flows link the system
the content of IRC interaction in MUVWs using components. As communication flows become
semantic network analysis, there still remains structured over time, this process forms a com-
533
munication network through which participants Network analysis is generally performed using
are interdependently linked. In this sense, network one of many available software packages, as hand
analysis is an appropriate methodology to study computing network matrices and related matrix
the structure of interaction in MUVWs. algebra function is extremely time intensive.
The basic network data set is an n x n matrix S, UCINET (Borgatti, Everett & Freeman, 2002) was
where n equals the number of nodes in the analy- used for the current research. Data is prepared for
sis. A node is the unit of analysis; in the current analysis by generating a network matrix where
research a MUVW participant will be considered each cell represents directional flow between the
a node. Each cell, Sij, indicates the strength of notes represented by the corresponding row and
the relationship, amount of communication from column. Once the matrix is entered into UCINET,
person i to person j. Relationships in networks are degree centrality was generated by the function
analyzed as directional when possible, as in the Network>Centrality>FreemanDegree, and the
current study. This method provides the direc- setting were set to asymmetrical relations and to
tional differences between all analyzed parties, ignore the diagonal of the matrix.
representing the communication matrix. Links Network mapping procedures are used to
between actors can be measured as being either generate sociogram maps that visually represent
directional, or non directional, and can very on the networks created using above procedures.
strength. Links that are directional indicate the These will allow for the visual analysis of other
flow from one point (node) in the network to network data, as well as elaborate cliques and
another. Additionally, these links can also be sym- network roles that can remain cloaked when only
metrical or asymmetrical. If the link is directional analyzing numerical outputs. Network mapping
but there is not the same value of relation the link was performed with the NetDraw application that
is asymmetrical and lacks reciprocity. The degree is contained in the UCINET package. Once the
measure of centrality is calculated by counting the network data is opened in NetDraw, nodes were
number of adjacent links to or from an actor in a colored as red and yellow to identify student
network. Further, in-degree indicates the number participants from mentors. Lines representing
of adjacent links that flow into a given node, and links between nodes were set to have thickness of
out-degree indicates the number of adjacent links line represent strength of connection, and arrows
that flow out of a given node. Degree centrality were placed on the end of the lines to indicate
may is appropriate for capturing power-enhancing direction. Node position in the sociograms is
behaviors that happen via direct interaction, somewhat arbitrary as the nodes can be moved
such as integration and reciprocation. Likewise, around in the software, but have been positioned
degree centrality can also indicate other direct in the current study using the NetDraw function
interactions such as coalitions and the avoidance of Node Repulsion to represent distance based on
of relying on mediating actors for indirect access strength of tie and relative centrality.
to resources. Strength of the ties between nodes,
indicating quantity of the relation, can also vary MUVW Communication
greatly and has profound impact of the nature of Matrix Formation
the network. Strength of the tie can be measured
as dichotomous, indicating simply the presence or To generate the n x n matrix used in the analysis of
absence of a link, or valued (such as the amount of MUVW interaction, a process was developed that
communication between two people), indicating extracts the strength of the relationship between
the strength of the relation. each cell, Sij. Since IRC is logged temporally
based on the sequential comments of participants,
534
methods can be used to generate relational strength with the support of trained teacher/coaches and
based on proximity in the interaction. The process undergraduate mentors. SciCentr, founded as the
included two parameters that were used to gener- K-12 outreach component of Cornell Universitys
ate relational data from IRC interaction. First, a supercomputing center, has used 3D MUVWs
loop parameter was used to reset the recording of for educational outreach since 1998. Based in
data for an individual; when a participant posts a the Active Worlds virtual worlds environment,
comment to the IRC they are entered into the data SciCentr worlds feature science, technology,
field, but when they post another message, their engineering and math (STEM) content, as well
field is reset. Second, using the time stamp that as projects centered on art and social studies. In
accompanies all posts, a temporal parameter was 2007, SciCentr began a research program, Worlds
used to help insure that a user is not considered for Internet Technology and Science (WITS), in
connected to all users that posted after their post. partnership with the Computer Science depart-
This parameter can be set for use based on the ment, focused on broadening participation in
context, as some interactions are faster moving computing through a grant from the National
than others (as in he case of multi-player online Science Foundation (BPC-DP # 0634418). The
games); the current study used a limit of 30 seconds current research examines the interactions among
before a users connection was reset. middle school youth participating in after school
programs supported through the WITS award.
CASE STUDY
RESULTS
MUVWs are designed primarily for communi-
cation between people, often for the creation of Degree Centrality
virtual spaces and/or manipulation of objects
in the virtual world. These virtual worlds are a Results of degree centrality measures generated
popular form of multimedia-based entertainment, from the entire interaction from the CyFair pro-
such as multi-user video games, but MUVWs gram at school #1 can be found in Table 1, and
have also been increasingly used for educational from the Virtual Adventurers program at school #2
purposes. Educational MUVWs are generally in Table 2. User IDs correspond to note labels on
designed to enable and support inquiry-based the network maps in Figures 2 and 3. The coding
learning and conceptual understanding (Center for used for User info in the tables are: C = CyFair,
Implementing Technology in Education, 2008). V = Virtual Adventurers, P = student participant,
See Figure 1 for examples of MUVWs from M mentor, F = faculty, V = visitor.
SciCentr (Mahar, Corbit, and Wofford, 2008). In
the top image shows and interactive simulation, Network Mapping
Gene Machine exhibit, from Jumping Genes
world. Exhibit worlds provide STEM content Results from mapping out the social networks from
and design examples. Interactive components chatlogs of the IRC interaction during the entire
non-playing characters, web access, programmed project at the two locations, one in upstate New
plugins, and in-world navigation. The bottom York, school #1, and one in central Pennsylvania,
image shows five Richmond, VA students from school #2, revealed that student participants were
a SciFair team, represented by avatars. SciFair quite central in the overall network of interaction.
teams, the focus of this case study, research, See Figure 2 for network representation of the
design, build and share their own project worlds school #1 CyFair (C) network, and Figure 3 for
535
Figure 1. Examples of MUVWs for education
network representation of the school #2 Virtual within the MUVW. Representing a who-to-whom
Adventurers (V) network. In both networks student network, the network maps reveal that there is
participants are represented by yellow (lighter) and a more centralized, core-periphery structure in
mentor/coaches are represented by red (darker). school #2. This finding indicates that during the
Additionally, the thickness of the lines indicates interaction in that schools MUVW, there were a
strength of tie. Numerical id tags are used to rep- group of students and mentors that were less central
resent the nodes to ensure anonymity of the users. in the discussion network, creating a periphery,
opposed to the most central actors, creating the
core of the network. Analysis of degree centrali-
DISCUSSION ties reveals that many of these actors were visiting
participants.
The network outputs presented above represent a What is also interesting is that the listing of
structural view of the communicative interaction degree centrality scores in Tables 1 and 2 indi-
536
Table 1. Normalized degree centrality for school Table 2. Normalized degree centrality for school
#1 interaction #2 interaction
Normalized Degree User Normalized Degree Centrality Role

User Centrality Role
VP1 43.210 Participant

CM1 35.225 Mentor
VM1 32.407 Mentor
CP1 29.480 Participant
CS1 13.979 Lab supervisor
VM2 15.432 Mentor
CM2 10.538 Mentor
VM3 14.198 Mentor
VM4 13.889 Mentor
CM5 8.831 Peer Mentor
CM4 5.660 Mentor
VM5 11.111 Mentor
CM5 3.726 Peer Mentor
VF1 8.951 Lead Faculty
CC1 2.574 CYFair coach
VM6 5.864 Lead Mentor
CV1 0.228 Visiting Student
CV2 0.213 Visiting Student
other participants, even though they were present
CV3 0.199 Visiting Participant in the MUVW.
CV4 0.057 Visiting Coach Another important finding is that the mentors/
CV5 0.028 Visiting Coach coaches are not the most central actors in the net-
CV6 0.000 Visiting Student work. In school #2 two of the least central actors
are the Lead Faculty and Lead Mentor. It is often
very important in MUVWs for education, like the
cate a fairly similar distribution of students to one used in this case study, which the interaction
mentors in the two schools, but structurally they is mainly between the students as they become
are quite different. Further, school #2 has fewer more and more engaged in the educational topics.
supervisors/mentors as the most central actors in If the findings had pointed to many of the men-
the network when analyzing the structure of the tors/coaches as the most central, it would have
interaction visually. These findings indicate that indicated that they are dominating the interaction.
structural maps of MUVWs interaction are more Yet, the results from the network analyses indicate
informative when paired with a ranking of degree that the students were engaged by the MUVW and
centrality Finally, the maps reveal that there is were indeed the more dominant participants in the
one isolated actor in school #1, indicating that communicative interaction, with the exception of
that person did not communicate at all with the one very central mentor on each school.
537
Figure 2. Network map of school #1 interaction
Social network analysis techniques contribute communities, and the two developments have
to the study of virtual communities by providing been complimentary. The ability for researchers
both developers and researchers with a window to analyze the structure of networked interaction
into the structure of these communities. The last has helped to inform developers of the heuristics
few decades has seen rapid development of net- of the applications, and the complexity of these
work analytic techniques, as well as networked applications has pushed researchers to develop
Figure 3. Network map of school #2 interaction
538
new methods and techniques to explain and rep- ments like MUVWs, and using social network
resent the social interaction. One of the principle analysis to extract communication networks can
ways that network analysis contributes to the study provide that window.
of virtual communities is by providing methods Although the current research presents some
to study the strength and nature of relationships relevant findings, future research should in-
within these communities, which researchers now corporate several additional levels of analysis.
consider to be a more useful basis for defining com- First, measuring other forms of centrality, such
munity than physical proximity (Haythornthwaite as betweeness and closeness, will give further
& Wellman, 1998; Preece & Maloney-Krichmar, insight into the social structure of the MUVW.
2006; Wellman, 1997; Wellman & Gulia, 1999). Second, including individual demographics in
There are shortcomings to using methods of the analysis can give an understanding of what
network analysis for the study of online commu- types of individuals were the most engaged and
nities. First, anytime relational data is extracted central in the interaction. Some possible variables
from the contexts of the interaction issues of could be satisfaction with their experience, gen-
validity arise, as the extraction may be stripping der, computer efficacy, and age. Third, extracting
important information about the context. Users networks using longitudinal data will allow for
decision to interact with each other are often a much richer level of analysis; yet longitudinal
informed by affordances of the web interface or data is often difficult to extract and even more
heuristic usability, but may show up in analyses as difficult to analyze. Fourth, structural analysis
simply a relation. Likewise, online communities should be paired with a content analysis of the
have a wide array of purposes and populations, interaction to provide a multi-level understand-
and quantitative methods can often distill these ing of the social interaction. Finally, spatial and
nuances out of the findings. One of the ways that object oriented information should be included
researchers can avoid some of these shortcoming to further enrich the quality of interaction data
is to perform their analysis in cohort with com- (see Ducheneaut & Moore, 2004; Krikorian, Lee,
munity developers or monitors, as is the case Chock, and Harms, 2000).
with the current research, to allow for a level of
qualitative analysis to help develop the methods
and to clarify findings. It is particularly important ACKNOWLEDGMENT
that scientists develop parallel quantitative and
qualitative methods for the analysis of online Research supported by NSF BPC Demonstration
communities so that we can gain an understand- Project #0634418, Worlds for Internet Technol-
ing of the nature of relationships as well as the ogy and Science (WITS), in collaboration with
nature of interaction within these communities. Margaret Corbit, Jennifer Wofford, and Richard
Bernstein, Cornell University.
CONCLUSION
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Chapter 32
Online Multi-Contextual
Analysis:
(Re)Connecting Social Network
Site Users with Their Profile
Alyson Young
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
David Gurzick
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
Anabel Quan-Haase
The University of Western Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes online multi-contextual analysis (OMCA) as a new multi-method approach for
investigating and analyzing the behaviors, perceptions, and opinions of social network site (SNS) users.
This approach is designed to extend methods currently available for the investigation of the use and
social consequences of these sites with techniques that converge upon and triangulate users perceptions
of their online behavior. Using quantitative measures of SNS usage, OMCA provides a much neglected
level of analysis. We discuss current methodological practice in SNS research and introduce OMCA as an
alternative approach. We then describe two studies that have employed OMCA to illustrate the methods
diversity and potential for providing new insights. Finally, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of
OMCA in comparison to single approaches and draw conclusions for theories of SNSs.
INTRODUCTION relationship between SNSs and such diverse

topics as trust (Dwyer, Hiltz, & Passerini, 2007),
The widespread adoption of social network sites information revelation (Gross & Acquisti, 2005),
(SNSs) has generated considerable interest among privacy (Dwyer et al., 2007; Gross & Acquisiti,
researchers in the uses and social consequences 2005), friendship formation and maintenance
of these sites. SNS research has examined the (boyd, 2007; Ellison et al., 2007), and well-being
(Valkenburg, Peter, and Schouten, 2006). The
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch032
Online Multi-Contextual Analysis
primary focus of these studies has been on the data on profile choices, and an overview of site
social change affected by the SNS, as well as the navigation and usage. We show in the chapter how
complex intersection between social change and OMCAs key principles help in gaining insight
system design and use. Key issues addressed in into users decisions about how to use SNSs and
terms of social change are the development and the motivations for certain behaviors on the sites.
maintenance of social relationships online and This is, to our knowledge, a much neglected area
offline, the representation and changing notions of investigation in SNSs research.
of the self on these sites, and changes around This chapter commences with a review of
privacy perception and enactment. However, with the current work on SNSs, focusing in particular
emerging research streams, new research struggles on the methodological approaches employed by
also arise. Similar to studies of the Internet, stud- researchers. Then the chapter shifts to describe
ies of social media wrestle with the limitations of OMCA as a new approach to investigating SNSs
old data collection methods for examining these and learning about users perceptions and attitudes
new media forms (Quan-Haase, Wellman, Witte directly. What follows is a review of two examples
& Hampton, 2002). of research projects that illustrate the application
This chapter adds to the current discussion of of OMCA to SNS research: (1) Fieldtrip, an online
new media and methodological concerns, opportu- community platform that combined user surveys
nities, and challenges (Markham & Baym, 2009) with detailed records of member activity on the
by proposing a new approach to the study of SNSs. site and (2) an examination of Facebook, which
Specifically, we examine the utility and feasibility paired profile data with user commentary and
of online multi-contextual analysis (OMCA) as a survey data. We conclude with a discussion of
new and particularly comprehensive method for the value of OMCA to SNS research and avenues
SNS research. At the core of the method lies the for future research.
assumption that in SNS research users have been
disconnected from their data through both survey
methods and data crawling techniques. OMCA SOCIAL NETWORK SITES
draws theoretically on user-centered design and
attempts to reconnect users to their data by asking Social network sites1 (SNSs), such as MySpace,
respondents to comment and reflect upon their LinkedIn, and Facebook, have rapidly increased in
online behavior. Moreover, this method recog- popularity. Statistics show that approximately 80
nizes the strengths of triangulation as a means to to 90 percent of undergraduate university students
converge different data sources, and the need to are active participants (Strater and Richter, 2007)
converge data analysis via the SNS profile page. and that adult use of SNSs in the United States has
Triangulation comprises the use of multiple data nearly quadrupled in the last four yearsfrom 8
collection methods to cross-examine results, and percent in 2005 to 35 percent in 2009 (Lenhart,
allows researchers to both verify data validity and 2009). The popularity of these sites is due to
enrich data obtained from one source with data users ability to converse with their friends and
from another source. By drawing on different data peers, to share digital cultural artifacts and ideas,
sources, multiple contexts are created, allowing for and to connect with vast networks of peers (boyd
the analysis of each context independently as well and Heer, 2006). Through the construction of a
as the interplay between them. The data converge profile users are able to signal aspects of their
at the SNS profile page because this is the space personality, which assists in identity formation
of primary importance to SNS studies, providing, and performance (boyd, 2007).
for example, demographic information on users,
543
With the mass adoption of SNSs, it is becom- place themselves at a greater risk for cyber and
ing increasingly important to extend the research physical stalking, identity theft and surveillance.
in this area and to examine these sites in terms In addition to analyses of privacy concerns,
of their uses and social consequences, including research has emerged examining users reasons
how these sites affect our social interactions and for information disclosure on SNSs (Schrammel,
relationships, as well as our understanding and Kffel, and Tscheligi, 2009; Tufekci, 2008) and
perceptions of privacy and disclosure regulation. the privacy protection strategies users employ
SNSs have quickly become one of the most signifi- (Tufekci, 2008; Young and Quan-Haase, 2009).
cant global identity and reputation management Young and Quan-Haase (2009) found that users
systems. In addition, mobile-based platforms, such motivation for revealing information is influenced
as Twitter, have rapidly become global phenom- by network size and general concern for Internet
ena, enabling users to share thoughts and brief privacy, and that users protect themselves by
messages in real time (Ala-Mutka et al., 2009). excluding personal information, using private
Because these sites often rely on the disclosure of email messages, and altering their default privacy
personal information in order to be effective and settings.
useful, new and larger scale risks have emerged for Finally, there has been extensive research con-
users, including greater visibility and traceability, ducted on the use of SNSs for identity expression
the risk of impersonation and identity theft, and (boyd and Heer, 2006) and friendship formation
cyber-bulling (Ala-Mutka et al., 2009). and maintenance (boyd 2006; Ellison et al. 2006;
Various authors have presented findings on Ellison et al. 2007). These studies have shown
privacy concerns and risk perceptions (Acquisti that certain SNS profile elements are seen as
and Gross, 2006; Govani and Pashley, 2006; Gross necessary to assist friends and peers in locating
and Acquisti, 2005; Livingstone, 2008), arguing users on the site, thereby acting as signals, which
that users may be putting themselves in danger due assist users in making decisions about declaring
to the amount of information they tend to disclose, friendship connections (Lampe et al., 2007). In
the relatively open nature of the sites, and the ap- the next section, we provide an overview of the
parent lack of privacy controls enacted by users. current approaches used to study SNSs, drawing
These studies have consistently demonstrated that particular attention to the approaches strengths
users disclose considerable amounts of personal and weaknesses.
information and that the information disclosed is
predominantly accurate. Research on privacy in
SNSs has suggested that the disclosure of personal APPROACHES TO STUDYING
information on SNSs may have implications for SOCIAL NETWORK SITES
users. For example, in her article examining social
networking privacy issues in the United States, The use of, and engagement in, virtual communi-
Susan B. Barnes contends that because schools, ties, such as SNSs, has resulted in a massive ac-
college admissions officers, and future employers cumulation of data. In an effort to make sense of
are checking [SNSs], personal information and these data, two approaches have been continually
pictures revealed online can directly influence a employed for the study of SNSs: (1) downloading
students education, employment and financial profiles by data mining the site using automatic
future (2006, under Privacy). Similarly, Gross crawling devices (Gjoka et al., 2008; Gross and
and Acquisti (2005) argue that in disclosing per- Acquisti, 2005; Krishnamurthy, Gill and Arlitt,
sonal information on Facebook users effectively 2008), and (2) relying on aggregated data from
online and paper-based questionnaires (Ellison et
544
al., 2006; Ellison et al., 2007; Govani and Pashley, downloaded, allow developers to collect user
2006; Gross and Acquisti, 2005; Joinson, 2008; information. This method is also employed by
Tufekci, 2008). A few studies (e.g., boyd and Heer, researchers to unobtrusively collect data on users.
2006; Livingstone, 2008) have employed ethno- Finally, the authors were unable to verify if their
graphic research including interviews, qualitative crawled sample was representative of the general
surveys, and focus groups. Facebook population. This was due to their reli-
As with any line of inquiry, the current practices ance on the 10 random users2 feature and to their
used to study SNSs have their strengths and their sampling of the friends of the randomly returned
weaknesses. Analyzing actual user profile data, users, which may have skewed the distribution
for example, tends to be more accurate than self- of application installations to those individuals
reported data, and can be used to direct additional within the same social network.
analysis to areas of particular interest (Schrammel, The second approach to the study of SNSs is
Kffel, and Tscheligi, 2009). Moreover, the prac- to rely on self-reported data collected through
tice of crawling user profiles enables researchers online and paper-based questionnaires. Survey
to collect large amounts of quantifiable data in a research has been widely used in the social sci-
relatively time-efficient and cost-effective man- ences as a method for collecting user data (Babbie
ner. As Schrammel, Kffel, and Tscheligi (2009) and Benaquisto, 2002). This technique overcomes
point out, however, this data collection technique many of the aforementioned issues with data min-
introduces several limitations: First, private ing a site, including the inability to access private
data cannot be accessed in this manner; second, data without requesting a friendship connection.
requesting friendship connections in SNSs, to ac- Survey research also enables investigators to col-
cess private data, creates bias and limits the data lect significant amounts of numeric data that can
collected to those individuals who easily accept be used to measure overt and descriptive aspects
friendship requests and who are connected to of a population (Creswell, 2003). Furthermore,
the network; and third, some SNSs have enacted the standardization of questions typically associ-
policies or more technical measures to protect ated with survey research provides data from all
user data against automatic crawling devices. respondents in the same form lending to ease of
Commenting on one of the more popular SNSs, comparability (Babbie and Benaquisto, 2002).
Gjoka et al. (2008) cite three similar concerns in Despite these advantages, sole reliance on self-
their examination of how Facebook applications reported data introduces some limitations because
are installed and used by users, suggesting that self-reported data are typically not as accurate as
the sites relatively restrictive data access poli- data that have been mined from an online site.
cies limit the usefulness of crawling devices to This is often due to involuntary errors, such as
collect unbiased and representative data. Gjoka failure to remember which profile fields have been
et al.s main argument is that their choice of populated and what information has been added
sampling method, which involved data mining to ones profile, and intentional misinformation as
Facebook profiles, did not allow them to crawl a result of social expectancy (Schrammel, Kffel,
user profiles that were restricted to outsiders. In and Tscheligi, 2009). Indeed, online questionnaires
addition, they were unable to capture information tend to be plagued by self-selection biasthat is,
from privacy-conscious individuals who refused individuals who agree to participate in the ques-
to place applications on their profile. Introduced tionnaire, or who are able to participate, may be
in 2007, Facebook Applications enable third party different from those individuals who choose not
developers to create tools that interact with many to participate, creating an unrepresentative sample
of the core Facebook features, and which, when (Gunter et. al, 2002). The increased prevalence
545
of spam, phishing schemes, and media attention of the patterns and practices related to how users
of nefarious online scams, has likewise created navigate multiple points of online presence, but
reluctance towards online participation in research also the motivation he or she has for doing so.
in general (Gurzick and Lutters, 2009). This type of research might also consider how
A few studies have employed qualitative various practices alter a users perception of his
methods to examine SNSs, such interviews, case or her online identity, and how this might impact
studies, and ethnographies. Two key advantages the way communities are designed to support
of using semi-structured interviews are: (1) they identity management.
enable the researcher to gain a first-hand account
of respondents attitudes and opinions through
focused, conversational, two-way communication ONLINE MULTI-CONTEXTUAL
(Babbie and Benaquisto, 2002; Creswell, 2003), ANALYSIS: AN ALTERNATIVE
and (2) they are more flexible than structured APPROACH
methods, such as surveys, providing respondents
more freedom to change the course of the conver- To extend the current practices used to study SNSs,
sation and bring up new issues that the researcher we propose the use of a multifaceted method-
had not preconceived (Axinn and Pearce, 2006, ological approach termed online multi-contextual
p. 6). Semi-structured interviews also allow re- analysis (OMCA). The premise behind OMCA
searchers to probe and follow-up with additional is that data obtained from questionnaires, data
relevant questions when new issues arise that crawlers, observations, and interviews may not
do not directly follow from the prepared line of provide a complete enough picture of user behavior
questioning. Creswell (2003), however, identifies when used independently. Rather, by triangulat-
four potential limitations of this method. First, ing various data sources, a more comprehensive
semi-structured interviews tend to provide infor- picture of the phenomenon emergesone that
mation that has been filtered through the views provides insight into both user activity, as well as
of interviewees. Second, this method frequently user perceptions and motivations for this activity
provides information obtained in a designated as conducted on these sites. In our approach, we
locale rather than in a natural setting. Third, the propose to ground the analysis in the user profile.
researchers presence at the interview may result There are three main reasons for focusing on the
in biased responses. Finally, individuals are not user profile. First, the user profile is a standard
generally equally articulate or perceptive enough and central component of the SNS; it represents
to provide complex and eloquent responses. an ideal locus for converging participant self-
The methodological approaches employed for reported and researcher-observed or recorded data,
the study of SNSs have provided important insights and thus for studying a range of phenomena on
into a wide range of research questions, includ- these sites. Second, the user profile emerges as an
ing information revelation practices, friendship identity marker, reflecting users online personas
formation and maintenance, privacy concerns, (boyd and Heer, 2006; Lampe et al., 2007). Stud-
and identity formation and expression. However, ies that focus on either self-reported data or data
these methodological approaches fail to create a crawling provide an incomplete analysis, which
meaningful bridge between behavioral data and disconnects users from their self-presentations.
user perceptions and reflections. For example, Third, user profiles are not stable; they tend to
researchers investigating how an individual user evolve over time as a result of changes in the us-
coordinates and manages participation across mul- ers life, experiences with the site, and evolving
tiple SNSs will require more than just knowledge user practices and norms. Hence, asking users
546
to voice their opinions and provide insight into Maloney-Krichmar and Preece, 2004). A downside
their decision-making processes, and combining of user-centered design is that this approach can
this information with other data, is essential to be time-consuming and costly due to the need for
understanding changing practices on SNSs. constant communication with end-users (Abras,
Two key lines of methodological development Maloney-Krichmar and Preece, 2004).
influence OMCA. First, multi-method design or At a broad level, OMCA includes all variants
triangulation. Multi-method research refers to the of multi-methods approaches that align metrics3
combination of a variety of data collection and of SNS use with self-reported perceptions of ac-
analysis techniques in a complementary manner. tivity in these sites. To provide examples of this
Triangulation is one of the most frequently em- approach in practice, two forms of OMCA are
ployed multi-method models and is generally used covered in this chapter: (1) combining profile data
when a researcher wants to confirm, cross-validate with survey data and detailed site usage and, (2)
or corroborate findings in a single study (Creswell, profile analysis, which consists of pairing profile
2003). This allows for the use of multiple sources data with user commentary and survey data.
of data to enable a more comprehensive under-
standing of the research problem than is possible OMCA in Practice: Examining the
with a single method (Creswell and Plano Clark, Fieldtrip Online Community
2007). Another advantage is that it affords the
researcher opportunities to harness the strengths of This first example describes how OMCA was
some methods to offset the weaknesses of others employed to examine the use and social conse-
(Axinn and Pearce, 2006). This form of research, quences of the SNS Fieldtrip. The goal of the
however, has potential challenges for researchers, study was first to understand how users would get
including the need for extensive data collection, involved with the SNS and second to learn about
familiarity with multiple methods, and time de- their perceptions of the usefulness of the SNS. To
mands associated with analyzing both textual and achieve these two goals, OMCA was employed to
numeric data (Creswell, 2003). collect data from two sources: (1) user behavior,
Second, we draw on user-centered approaches which was collected by recording users activity
to information systems. User-centered design while they were logged on to the site and (2) user
describes the inclusion of end users in the design perceptions, which involved collecting data on us-
process to more fully explore the needs and de- ers perceptions of the SNS through self-reported
sires of users and the end uses of products (Abras, questionnaires. Combining these two types of
Maloney-Krichmar and Preece, 2004). A primary data was insightful because it not only provided
goal of user-centered design is to ensure that the information about the system (e.g., navigation,
user can use the product with minimal effort and as content development, and presentation), but also
intended. This often involves consulting users on provided insight into how useful and relevant
their needs and engaging them during the gather- users themselves perceived the SNS.
ing and usability testing phases. A key advantage Fieldtrip is an online community developed
of user-centered design is that by involving users to engage adolescents in formative discourse, in
in the design process, researchers and developers order to increase their awareness of educational
are able to gain a deeper understanding of the factors in their lives and to motivate them to take
organizational, social, psychological and ergo- ownership of their educational futures (Boot et
nomic factors that influence the use of computer al., 2009, Gurzick and Lutters, 2009). Located at
technology, leading to the development of products Fieldtripfilms.com, the site provides a venue for
that are more efficient, effective and safe (Abras, its adolescent members to view short films and
547
to interact with other users by posting messages non-participants by virtue of their lack of post-
to other users profiles or to the community-wide ing, were indeed important members for analysis.
message boards. Fieldtrip was designed to operate This insight helped the researchers understand
for 30 days, during which a wide range of metrics that for some adolescents, active interaction in
were recorded on users engagement with the site, the community forums was not a beneficial ap-
including times and durations of logins, profile proach because they responded positively from
and other content viewings, and posting activity. observational learning and participation. In other
At the conclusion of their time in the community, words, one could be a silent participant or lurker
each member was asked to complete a survey that (see Preece, Nonnecke and Andrews, 2004) in
investigated their experiences in Fieldtrip and the online community, yet still report positive
whether or not their experiences prompted any attitudinal change.
attitudinal changes toward education. Two itera- The context of revealed user behavior (recorded
tions of Fieldtrip have been completed, with 70 activity) is a valued addition to the context of
adolescents participating in the first (May-June, users declared perceptions (survey reports), as
2007) and 45 in the second (May-June, 2009). users routinely, and often unknowingly, craft
Fieldtrip was also designed as a platform for ways of performing tasks that bypass the hurdles
researchers to collect and analyze user data to erected by the tools of a system. With traditional
uncover adolescents use of the site and their methods of analyzing SNSs, deficiencies within
perceptions of the communitys design. Using a system are often overlooked because they only
OMCA, the researchers were afforded a glimpse evaluate if the user reached his or her desired
into the exact trajectories followed by a user outcome (e.g., finding a piece of content, report-
to accomplish particular tasks, as well as their ing attitudinal change) and if the outcome was
understanding of the end result of their efforts. positive. By exposing this gap, researchers who
In doing so, the researchers were provided with might otherwise perceive a system as successful,
knowledge of whether or not users followed the may now become aware of hidden flaws in a sites
processes intended by the designers of the SNS. For design or avenues for potential improvement.
example, user activity logs assessed if users arrived Such knowledge allows the designers of sites
at particular content they positively commented like Fieldtrip to further comprehend how their
on in their survey by following navigational links systems are used. Evaluating either measurement
in other members profiles or by following links of activity or measurement of user perceptions in
in other areas of the community. isolation would fail to account for the totality of
By overlaying measurements of site activity the systems use, leading developers to design
with user perceptions, it was found that those mem- SNSs more likely to reflect behaviors that differ
bers who indicated positive attitudinal changes from real-life situations.
where a subset of members who had not actively
commented on the site message boards. Further Examining Facebook
analysis of the activities of this subset provided through the OMCA Lens
evidence that, despite their lack of posting, these
users were often frequent and sizeable consumers In this section, we illustrate how OMCA was
of the site content. Had the analysis of Fieldtrip employed in a study of information revelation and
utilized only measurements of posting activity or privacy in Facebook, and the unique insights that
user perceptions, this insight would have remained the triangulation of data provided (Young, 2008;
undetected. Instead, OCMA revealed that those Young and Quan-Haase, 2009). Facebook is a
users, who might otherwise have been deemed SNS developed by former Harvard undergraduate
548
student Mark Zuckerberg, which allows users to the actual number of friends they had in their
add friends, send messages and update personal personal network. As profiles are generally private
profiles in order to notify friends and peers about spaces, users are often able to restrict researchers
themselves. As the focus of much research on SNSs from viewing their profiles. Hence, prior to start-
has been on the amount and types of information ing the profile analysis, participants were asked
revealed, the relatively open nature of the informa- if they felt comfortable showing their profile and
tion, and the apparent lack of controls employed discussing it in the presence of the researcher. In
by users, the aim of this particular study was to the study, participants were willing to share their
expand on the current research by identifying profiles and were interested in discussing the
the factors that influence information revelation various profile elements in more depth.
and privacy protection in Facebook, as well as to The profile analysis allowed for further prob-
examine the strategies developed by students to ing about respondents motivations for disclosing
protect themselves against privacy threats. The certain types of information and to ask questions
nature of this study required a focus on the user about specific profile elements. For participants,
by getting him or her to reflect on decisions made the profile analysis served as a memory tool,
concerning his or her profile. triggering new thoughts and comments on issues
In this example, the analysis of a users pro- that had been discussed earlier in the interview.
file was employed to enrich other data collection This provided insight into users decision making
stages. The primary form of data collection entailed process as they engaged with the site. Another
a survey of 77 participants and 21 semi-structured advantage of the approach was that it allowed
interviews. Survey data were used to describe the researcher to confirm information provided in
the information revelation practices of a sample the semi-structured interview, providing a second
of undergraduate students, and asked students to source of information. Any discrepancies that
indicate what types of information they reveal on arose between respondents self-reported data and
their profiles (e.g., real name, age, relationship the actual data on the profile were not used as a
status, etc.) and the levels of privacy protection that means of confronting participants. Rather, these
they employ (profiles viewable by only friends, discrepancies were used to provide important
some networks and all friends, all networks insights into how users perceive they use the
and all friends). Similar to previous research, the system versus their actual use. The researchers
survey provided numerical data on users patterns were then able to distinguish between what re-
of information revelation and privacy practices. spondents think they have disclosed from what
It was key to combine numerical data with the they have actually disclosed on their profiles.
semi-structured interviews and profile analysis to Based on cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger,
obtain a rich picture of the phenomenon of privacy. 1957), we term this discrepancy system behav-
Semi-structured interviews consist of an interview ior dissonance, which refers to the discomfort
guide that contains pre-determined questions that experienced when a person has opposite ideas
are flexible enough to probe respondents further or thoughts about a person, event, or issue. The
when unexpected information arises. As part of study of system behavior dissonance in and of
the semi-structured interviews, the profile analy- itself is of great interest to system designers and
sis was conducted and consisted of viewing the social scientists because it provides insight into
participants profile and discussing the following where problems might exist with the site design.
four topics: (1) the information they had revealed, Viewing the profiles in the presence of users
(2) the privacy settings they had in place, (3) the also proved beneficial as any discrepancies in
protective strategies they had employed, and (4) findings could then be directly addressed with
549
the participant. This led to unexpected findings. over existing approaches. First, each source of
The profile analysis provided rich accounts from data provides a different context for analysis,
respondents, which were used to expand and allowing for the triangulation of data from vari-
elaborate on information already obtained in the ous contexts. The triangulation of methods has
interviews. The profile analysis often showed that several advantages, including the cross validation
students were frequently unaware or had forgot- of information, the enrichment of data, and the
ten what information they had revealed on their comparison of data from various sources. Second,
profiles, the number of friends they actually had OMCA draws theoretically from the notion of
on their friends list, and what privacy settings they user-centered design, wherein users are included
had enacted. For example, one respondent in the in the design process to more fully explore the
sample, Rebecca, a 22-year-old social sciences needs and desires of users and the end uses of
and humanities student, reported that she had products. We propose grounding the OMCA in
altered the default privacy settings on Facebook the user profile because the profile is the standard
to friends only. However, the profile analysis and central component of SNSs, representing us-
revealed that she had not made any changes to the ers online personas, as well as changes in users
default settings and that her profile was still open lives, experiences with the site, and evolving user
to all networks and all friends. These results help practices and norms. In this way, the profile acts
to illustrate discrepancies in findings between data as the locus of user activity, making it ideal for
obtained from surveys and data obtained from the triangulation of participant self-reported data
web crawlers. Thus, the difference between what with researcher observed or recorded data, as well
students think they have done and what they have as for observing various phenomena that occur on
actually done may not be adequately represented the site. Third, OMCA juxtaposes users behav-
in surveys, resulting in inconsistent findings from iors and perceptions providing insight into a new
one research method to another. and often difficult to uncover area of research in
SNSs. Through this analysis, OMCA can provide
a broader understanding of user activity and user
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE and community perceptions of this activity.
RESEARCH DIRECTIONS Through the use of two recent research projects
that utilize the OMCA method, we illustrate the
The study of SNSs demonstrates that virtual com- importance of extending and adapting current
munities have unique methodological challenges methodological approaches. The first example
that researchers are just beginning to grasp. By discussed is based on an analysis of Fieldtrip, an
reviewing current practices and illustrating the online community for adolescents. The Fieldtrip
strengths and weaknesses of various approaches, project paired surveys with actual site usage data
we demonstrate that there is a need to develop showing how the system was employed and how
new methods to account for the characteristics useful and relevant users themselves perceived
and particularities of virtual communities. Online the community. An important finding from the
multi-contextual analysis (abbreviated OMCA) contextual analysis was that a sub-set of users
is proposed as an extension of existing research who did not regularly provide input on the site
approaches used for the study of SNSs. contenthad benefitted from participating in the
OMCA builds on the current methodological community, despite their low participation. These
approaches used to study SNSs, incorporating lurkers had little impact on the site activity, but
multiple methods rather than relying on data from the site had an important impact on them. By
a single method. OMCA has three advantages employing OMCA to the study of Fieldtrip, re-
550
searchers were able to identify important points of allowing users to comment on and reflect upon
analysis that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. their behavior on virtual communities.
Similarly, in the study of privacy on Facebook,
it was uncovered that users often either had for-
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ENDNOTES 3
Metrics refer to systems of related measures
that enable the quantification of particular
1
In the context of the present study, the characteristics.
term social network sites (SNSs) is used to
554
555
Chapter 33
Participant Observation in
Online Multiplayer Communities
Marko Siitonen
University of Jyvskyl, Finland
ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses participant observation as a method of data collection for studying social inter-
action in online multiplayer games and the communities within them. Participant observation has its
roots in the social sciences, and especially in the field of anthropology. True to a natural inquiry ap-
proach, studies utilizing participant observation try to understand the actual habitat or lifeworld of
those participating in the study. This chapter looks at various practical issues connected to conducting
participant observation in online multiplayer communities. Examples of data collection are presented,
including saving log files, capturing images and video, and writing field notes. Participant observa-
tion seems well suited for studying online communities since it can respond well to the challenges of
the ever-changing technology and social situations, the need to take into account multiple channels of
communication, and the complex and sometimes hidden nature of computer-mediated social interaction.
INTRODUCTION social aggregates have many names in the world

of online computer games, ranging from clans
The phenomenon of online multiplayer gaming to guilds to teams. In this chapter the term
has grown enormously since the beginning of multiplayer community is used for consistency.
the 1990s. Many online games have social sides Studies on social interaction in online mul-
to them and require social interaction among tiplayer games span multiple approaches and
players for the game to function as designed. It contexts. For example, there have been studies
is around and within these kinds of games that looking at communication in text-based virtual
groups, teams and communities are formed. These realities (e.g. Reid, 1996; Schiano & White, 1998;
Cherny, 1999; Utz, 2000), massively multiplayer
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch033 games (e.g. Tosca, 2002; Jacobsson & Taylor,
Participant Observation in Online Multiplayer Communities
2003; Ducheneaut & Moore, 2004; Kolo & Baur, from spring 2004 until the beginning of 2005. The
2004, Taylor 2006, Siitonen, 2007), and first per- participant observation took place in one of the
son shooter games (e.g. Manninen, 2001; Wright, MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Game)
Boria & Breidenbach, 2002). Many of these and available at the time, Anarchy Online. During
similar studies have used some form of participant the period of participant observation, the author
observation as a part of their methodological ar- participated in two multiplayer communities. The
senal. Here games-related research has reflected data used in the final analysis included images and
the broader field of research into social interac- log files of the actual gaming situations as well as
tion online, where participant observation has field notes and interviews with players. The ex-
been regularly chosen and used since the earliest amples, written in the first person, are interwoven
forays into the dynamics of life online, such as into the discussion presented in this chapter a
Howard Rheingolds The Virtual Community: stylistic choice that highlights the intrapersonal
Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (1993). dimension of accounts of participant observation.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide some A more detailed account of the data collection,
insight into the use of participant observation by analysis and the results of the study can be found
examining the process of data collection within in the original research report (Siitonen, 2007).
the context of online multiplayer games and the
player communities that operate within them. The
chapter opens with an introduction to participant PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
observation as a method of data collection. The AS A STARTING POINT FOR A
bulk of the chapter deals with the use of participant DEEPER UNDERSTANDING
observation in practice.
The approach taken in this chapter is both Participant observation has its roots in the early
theoretical and practical. Selected literature on days of social science, and especially in the field
participant observation, ethnography, and studies of anthropology. It is often connected to ethnogra-
of social interaction in online multiplayer com- phy, even though the two are not synonymous. Put
munities are contrasted with practical examples very simply, ethnography can be seen as a broad
from a real-life participant observation. The ac- methodology that aims to produce richly written
tual examples work as illustration on two levels. accounts of human experience through direct
First, they help concretize the topic in question. contact with human agents in natural settings.
Second, they highlight the role of presenting data Ethnography is based on an iterative-inductive
when writing research reports. In research that approach and typically utilizes multiple methods
utilizes participant observation, data are typically of data-collection. (OReilly, 2005.) Ethnography
presented to illustrate a point and in order to put usually includes participant observation, but all
forward a sound argument. studies utilizing participant observation should
While the focus of the chapter is on issues not automatically be labeled ethnographies (see
related to collecting data, it is important to ac- e.g. Wolcott, 1995).
knowledge that in studies utilizing participant The approach taken in participant observation
observation the division between data collection, is that of naturalistic inquiry, where the researcher
analysis, and writing the final presentation of the tries to understand the actual habitat or lifeworld
study are typically blurred: the process of analysis of those participating in the study. When using
starts as soon as the observation begins. participant observation to study a community,
The examples used in this chapter are based on the researcher tries to get as close as possible
a period of participant observation that went on to the social interaction in the community and
556
ultimately tries to piece together how the people able social processes. They are not born out of
in the community live and function in certain nowhere, and neither do they disappear instantly
situations, and what they think is important and and without trace. This means that in order to
meaningful for them. The purpose of this immer- understand its present situation one has to know
sion is to give the researcher experience of the something about the history of the community. On
living conditions and other factors that affect the the other hand, in the case of new communities it
social reality being studied. (Mann & Stewart, might be wise to let the community develop before
2000) In terms of length, participant observation attempting to see its special qualities or define its
is usually long-term, taking months or even years motivations (Harrison & Stephen, 1999). Because
(Miller & Slater, 2000). It is because of these of this continuity of the community process, the
characteristics that participant observation is often results of a study might vary greatly depending
closely connected to ethnography. on whether the community studied has just been
The open-ended nature of participant observa- born, is already diminishing, or just happens to
tion means that studies using it typically follow an be experiencing a slower phase of interaction
emergent design, in which the research plan can during the data-gathering period. Issues such as
be changed during the research process if neces- when the data are collected and how long the data-
sary (Frey, Botan & Kreps, 2000). As a method collection takes are of special importance when
of data collection, then, participant observation conducting a study of online communities. If not
offers a fairly open-ended and flexible way of enough time is spent in the process, it is hard to
getting an insight into social phenomena in the estimate the reliability of the research (Kendall,
Internet. For example, the range of data that can 1999). Participant observation also offers the pos-
be collected during a participant observation is sibility of reflectivity during the research process.
very wide. The actual data can consist of field For example, the researcher can be in contact with
notes, pictures, recordings, and so on. Participant the participants of the study long after the official
observation is also often combined with other period of data-collection is over, and this continu-
means of data collection, like interviews (Mann ous connection can be used both to test new ideas
& Stewart, 2000). This multiplicity can be seen about the study, and to confirm the reliability of
as an advantage since social phenomena on the the analysis (Ward, 1999).
Internet rarely constitute orderly ensembles. Social
interaction on the Internet tends not to be bound to
any one specific program or technology (Taylor, CONDUCTING PARTICIPANT
1999). For example, the members of a multiplayer OBSERVATION IN A
community can communicate with each other MULTIPLAYER COMMUNITY
in the game they play, in a shared IRC-channel
(Internet Relay Chat), by e-mail and so forth. In Before venturing deeper into the realm of multi-
such cases concentrating on only one technology player communities, it is perhaps important to stop
or channel of communication would be ill-advised, and ask what exactly distinguishes multiplayer
giving an overly simplified and narrow view of communities from other forms of online com-
the operation of the community. munity. Unfortunately there is no easy answer to
In addition to its openness and adaptability, this question without making sweeping general-
participant observation easily takes into account izations. In many ways multiplayer communities
the temporal changes within an online community can be seen as sharing qualities with other forms
(Kendall, 1999; Nocera, 2002). Communities, of online communities, such as their voluntary
virtual or not, are inherently continuous and vari- nature, their dependence on computer-mediated
557
communication, and their possible geographical contacts at least some members of the community
and cultural dispersion. However, there are some and explains to them his or her role as a researcher.
qualities that are especially typical of multiplayer Here it has to be noted that Nocera is effectively of
communities and help one to understand the chal- the opinion that the researcher should always tell
lenges of conducting participant observation in this the participants about the research. This first part
particular context. The most important of these of a research project could be described as more
are the closed nature of many multiplayer com- passive and orienting than the sequential phases.
munities, and their emphasis on shared activities During the second and third stages of Noceras
as opposed to only shared beliefs. Closedness in model, the researcher becomes a member of the
the case of multiplayer communities can refer community. In addition the researcher can conduct
to both the environment in which they operate selected interviews with some members of the
and the permeability of the communitys social community. Data gathered during the participa-
network. Unlike in many other forms of online tion can be used to deepen the themes of these
communities, much of the social interaction of interviews. The purpose of these stages is for the
a typical multiplayer community takes place researcher to immerse himself within the social
within the closed system of a game, or within dynamics of the community. The fourth stage
other channels where participation is limited, consists of categorizing and analyzing the data
such as voice-over-IP applications. Multiplayer gathered during the participation. (Nocera, 2002.)
communities also typically represent closed net-
works, where membership has to be applied for Step One: Into the Game
and where most community activities are hidden
from casual observers. The emphasis on shared When using participant observation as a method
activities in multiplayer communities stems from of data collection, knowing how to play the games
the gaming context. While there are some docu- related to the study is usually essential. First of
mented cases where playing the game is of little all, it is often impossible to participate in the life
or no importance to the multiplayer community of the community if one is unable to play along.
(e.g. Schiano & White, 1998), it is typically the Second, in order to understand what members of
activity of playing a game together that operates the community are talking about the researcher
as the major motivation behind the community needs to know something about the language used
effort. Together these qualities mean that anyone in the game and in the community. Last but not
wanting to conduct participant observation in least, the researcher needs to be aware of the many
multiplayer communities should be prepared to game-connected rules, rituals and roles that govern
truly enter the community and play along. communication within the community, as well as
Every research process is unique, but there are the motivations behind play (Mortensen, 2002).
certain steps that most studies utilizing participant Taking the first steps in learning the vocabu-
observation take. These steps are well illustrated lary, or jargon, of a game and the community
in Noceras (2002) model for the ethnographic within it is usually straightforward. Most of the
study of virtual communities. In Noceras model, general communication follows conventions usu-
the first stage consists of the researchers attempts ally followed in the Internet, like the use of certain
to get to know the phenomenon that he or she abbreviations such as lol (laughing out loud)
will be studying. This stage includes things like and smileys. The manual of the game might also
learning the language of the community and the provide some explanation of the vocabulary used
basics of using the necessary communication in the game. Still, there are some things that can
technologies. In addition, the researcher typically only be learned through playing the game and by
558
being in contact with other players. These usually the time difference means that he or she must
include game- or community-specific jargon (like find time to play in the very late or early hours
names of places, players or events), and nonverbal of the day. This time-consuming nature of online
communication (as when using voice or graphical computer games can be wearying even for an
representations to communicate). experienced gamer. Moreover, in a game that is
Learning the basics of any given game is usu- evolving twenty-four hours a day, it is not always
ally not difficult. What might be difficult, however, clear that one can participate in all the activities
is to master the game well enough to be able to one would like to. Rather, the researcher is forced
participate fully in the activities of a multiplayer to accept that the data will capture only a sample of
community. Depending on the game and the com- the total social interaction occurring in the game.
munity, the level required from members of the
community may be quite high, and even if the Step Two: Into the Community
community is not inclined toward competitive
play, continuous shortcomings on the part of a It is not always easy to reach into a multiplayer
new member are not generally appreciated. Even community and look at the social interaction that
after learning to play the game and understand takes place there. Many contemporary online
the communication surrounding it, the learning computer games are built so that some parts of
process is far from over. Most online multiplayer the game are hidden from a casual visitor or a
computer games are under constant development, new player. It is therefore unrealistic to think that
with newer versions and updates being published quickly dropping into a game would provide suf-
all the time. The social reality of any given game ficient data for a deep analysis of the communica-
might also be in continuous flux: returning after tion that takes place in that games community.
a short break even an experienced player might A researcher might, for example, encounter only
encounter a feeling of disorientation, encountering other casual players and newbies (new and/or
changed language practices as well as changes inexperienced players), and thus miss the social
in the in-game social dynamics (Siitonen, 2007). interaction that is taking place between more
Because of this complexity, it is typical for players established players (Kendall, 1999).
of online multiplayer games to provide mutual There are several ways to get into a multiplayer
support and share their knowledge with other community. Some of these, such as being a found-
players (Taylor, 2003; Siitonen, 2007). ing member of the community, can be relatively
In addition to knowledge and skills, a par- difficult to achieve as a researcher. For research
ticipant observer also needs resources such as purposes it is more common that the researcher
machinery and software. Of the resources required either requests permission to join or is drafted
to conduct participant observation in multiplayer into a community. Requesting permission to join
communities, perhaps the most important is time. is an uncertain way of entry, especially in more
For example, a typical playing session of an competitive multiplayer computer games, where
MMOG can last several hours, with some people such requests can be seen as pleading and will
staying online for even longer. In addition, most therefore be ignored. A more certain, but by no
popular online computer games are typically means foolproof way of gaining entry is to be
synchronous. This means that the time of day can drafted into a community. During a typical drafting
have an effect on the number of members of the process a member of a community approaches the
community who are online. For example, if the candidate and asks him or her to join them. Draft-
researcher is European but the majority of coming is often conducted by high-ranking members
munity members are from North America, then of the community. Some organizations have even
559
appointed their own drafters especially for this which to convince participants of the legitimacy
task. (Siitonen, 2007.) In an application procedure and intentions of the study. One way of adding
the new applicant encounters for the first time the to the transparency of the study is to provide a
social norms of the community, as expressed by web page with information about it (Catterall
the interviewer, a symbolic gatekeeper (Taylor, & Maclaran, 2001). This is especially useful in
2006). The next paragraphs present an example cases when there are many participants, or when
of gaining entry into a multiplayer community: the members of the community are continually
changing. In these situations, constant remind-
During one typical gaming session I was resting ers of the role of the researcher might be tiring
my character in between missions in an area gen- for both the researcher and the participants. A
erally used for such downtime. While resting, web page can contain information that it would
I was approached by another player with whom be inconvenient to share within the game or in
I had teamed up sometime earlier. This person a similar fast-paced social setting. Special care
started to chat with me about the game and my should be paid to the style and language used on
preferences while playing it. What had started as the page. The use of institutional addresses, logos
a simple chit chat quickly turned into an interview and other such symbols might also help create a
when it became clear that he was a high-ranking feeling of reliability (Fogg, Soohoo, Danielson,
member of a community, and that his community Marable, Stanford & Tauber, 2003).
was on the lookout for possible new members.
Collecting Data Online
The interview was relatively short, as we had
obviously dealt with many issues already when we After learning to play the game and getting into
played together earlier. The person interviewing the flow of social interaction taking place within
me said that how I had acted in the team had had it, questions related to the actual data collection
a considerable effect on his decision to approach arise. Unlike much of the social interaction in
me. Soon enough we concluded that the socially the Internet, the social reality of online games
oriented goals of the community might fit my does not necessarily consist only of textual com-
playing style and person, and before I knew it I munication. This means that it is not as simple
was a member on probation. (Siitonen, 2007: to gather data as, for example, when looking at
107108.) discussion forums or chat-based communities. In
Whatever the method of gaining entry is, it this respect, online games resemble the physical
can be very beneficial if the researcher knows reality: it is nigh impossible for a researcher to
someone inside the community. Indeed, in some grasp the whole phenomenon; instead he or she
multiplayer communities a new applicant is not will mostly be restricted to the observations and
even considered without recommendations from notes that can be made while playing. On the other
established members. (Siitonen, 2007.) hand, the involvement of computers means that
It is important to note that, despite ones there are many ways of recording and collecting
good intentions, it can happen that sometimes data that would be difficult or impossible to obtain
the intended participants-to-be in the study do in a traditional face-to-face setting.
not believe the researcher or do not want to be When choosing to use participant observation
studied. In the social reality of the Internet it is as a method of data collection, one is choosing
almost the norm not to trust people too quickly. at least partly to adopt a qualitative research ap-
This can sometimes prove problematic for a study, proach. Research approaches utilizing participant
since the researcher has only limited means by observation take into account the interconnected-
560
ness of the methods of data collection and the actual social interaction actually experience when they
data collected. In other words, they recognize are communicating in a computer-mediated en-
that the data include not only the actual social vironment (Marvin, 1995).
interaction involved, but also the experiences and The oversimplifying nature of log files is
feelings of the researcher and the thoughts that led evident when looking at social interaction in on-
to the choices made during the research process line games. Many games function not only on a
(Emerson, Fretz & Shaw, 1995; Frey, Botan & textual, but also on an audio-visual level, which is
Kreps, 2000). totally ignored in the creation of textual log files.
The next paragraphs look at the process of data Still, log files do provide an interesting avenue
collection from the point of view of recording log of data collection, and should not be ignored en-
files, making field notes, and capturing images tirely. Instead, the researcher should be aware of
and video. In addition to these, there might be the importance of situational information when
several other ways of obtaining relevant data. For interpreting automatically generated log files.
example, researchers using participant observa- The next example presents a portion of an au-
tion can use interviews or even surveys to deepen tomated log file generated by the Anarchy Online
their knowledge of the research topic. However, software. This excerpt shows three characters
this is moving into topics that go well beyond the talking to each other while playing the game (the
scope of this chapter, and are thus omitted from names of the characters have been changed).
the consideration presented here.
16:10: Crell: aggro here
Recording Log Files 16:11: Fiendpower: insig here
16:11: Lilah: poor doc got loving
At first it seems that the Internet provides many 16:11: Crell: heh, I like loving
relatively easy means of collecting data auto- 16:11: Crell: atrox can take some
matically. After all, almost every act leaves some 16:12: Lilah: ah buffs dropping...
kind of a trace on the network, and these traces 16:12: Fiendpower: yeah if it get to bad ill mongo
can often be saved fairly easily for later use. For them to me
example, the possibility of automatically saving 16:13: Lilah: omg crell you scared me
log files does enable the researcher to gather a 16:13: Crell: hee
large number of messages quickly into a static and 16:13: Crell: nothing like a little scare in the
easily accessible form. Here a word of warning is morning!
in place, however. The promise of the automated 16:13: Lilah: im an old lady dont do that to me
saving of data might lead the researcher to try to 16:13: Crell: oih, sorry
record everything a position which is not only
unnecessary, but may actually be detrimental to Without situational information, it is impos-
the completion of the study (Wolcott, 1995). sible to know for example what happened between
There are some well-known problems that can 16.12 and 16.13 in the conversation. The auto-
arise when analyzing log files. One of the most matically generated log file alone cannot answer
important is that log files simplify the actual com- the questions posed by the researcher, but instead
munication in at least two crucial ways. First, the situational information has to be included in some
stable form of the log files cannot fully represent way. For example, one can go through the log
the temporal dimension of the social interaction, files after playing the game and insert additional
such as the dynamics of turn taking. Second, log information when necessary. Here follows the
files cannot convey what the participants in the excerpt with added information:
561
The game takes place in a science-fiction themed matically generated log files. In practice, screen
MMOG. A group of players have chosen to team shots and other similar forms of data can be used
up in order to be able to fight better against the to increase situational awareness of a log file
opponents that the game provides them. At the excerpt. However, it must be said that whatever
moment of recording this log file, the team is their shortcomings, automated log files can be
hunting monsters on a swamp. One player in the an invaluable aid in collecting large amounts of
team is playing a doctor, a character that can textual data concerning social interaction in online
heal other characters. This character, Crell, is at computer games.
first under attack, but the situation calms down.
Making Field Notes
16:10: Crell: aggro here [aggro = when a monster Taking notes about the activities and interaction
turns aggressive towards a character] within the community is usually an integral part
16:11: Fiendpower: insig here [insig = insignia, of gathering data during participant observation,
a collectable item in the game] though by no means the only possibility. Field
16:11: Lilah: poor doc got loving notes form the starting point for the final textual
16:11: Crell: heh, I like loving form of the research and the thoughts within it.
16:11: Crell: atrox can take some [atrox = one of They also help the researcher to outline and analyze
the character races in the game, usually a the phenomena during the data collection stage.
muscular, enduring humanoid] (Emerson et. al., 1995.)
16:12: Lilah: ah buffs dropping... Making field notes while participating in an
16:12: Fiendpower: yeah if it get to bad ill mongo online computer game differs from doing so in
them to me [mongo = (in this case) to use face-to-face contexts in one crucial way other
special skills or spells to force a monster to members of the community have no way of know-
attack a certain character] ing when the researcher is actually making notes,
or even if he or she is doing it at all (Paccagnella,
1997). Mostly, this can be seen as liberating,
The fight is over, and the team sits down. The which helps the researcher to make notes without
water of the swamp is half covering the characters. disturbing the ongoing social interaction. In many
Crell lies down, and is totally covered by water. face-to-face situations it would be inappropriate
Suddenly Crell emerges from the water. for the researcher to start visibly recording what
is happening. In other situations it might even be
altogether forbidden. Of course there are solu-
16:13: Lilah: omg crell you scared me tions to this dilemma, such as withdrawing from
16:13: Crell: hee the scene to write the notes somewhere else, or
16:13: Crell: nothing like a little scare in the waiting until the situation is over before starting
morning! to make notes about it. On the other hand, it can
16:13: Lilah: im an old lady dont do that to me be claimed that the actual act of writing notes
16:13: Crell: oih, sorry contributes to how the relationship between the
researcher and the other members of the com-
Adding so much detail into every excerpt munity forms (Emerson et al., 1995: 25). From
might prove impractical at times, but what the this viewpoint, the visible note making is not a
above example illustrates is the importance of hindrance, but rather an important part of the
situational information when interpreting auto-
562
whole ethnographic research process that is being been such a big problem. I seem to get friends
missed when note-taking is hidden. rather steadily the way Im playing.
The freedom to make notes while participating Field notes are a flexible way of collecting
in a game cannot always be taken for granted. data that enable the researcher to react to chang-
Many of the games that include social interaction ing or unexpected situations. For example, not
require players to be active at least some of the all communication in multiplayer communities
time, and sometimes this level of activity is so is necessarily computer-mediated. Face-to-face
high that it is almost impossible to do anything player meetings, middle of the night phone calls
else while playing. In these cases, note taking is and similar occasions call for sensitivity from
very similar to that done in face-to-face contexts, the researcher and trust in ones own capacities
where most of the actual writing happens after the of observation.
situation is already over.
There are several types of field notes one Capturing Images and Video
can take. For example, observation notes might
include accounts of how certain things happened. Typically, online computer games use graphical
Such notes are typically written either during an representations to create the world in which the
activity or directly after it, for example straight game takes place. This means that it is possible
onto the log files. Another example of field notes for players to express themselves graphically.
are personal notes, which might include feel- One advantage of doing participant observation
ings statements about the research process (For in a computer-mediated context is that it is pos-
information concerning different types of field sible to record both images and video, including
notes see e.g. Richardson, 1994). A single note sound, without the risk of disturbing the ongo-
could also include both aspects, as illustrated in ing social interaction. This is a significant benefit
the next excerpt: compared to conducting participant observation
2.2. Monday Gaming time two hours. I played in a face-to-face situation, where such actions
at the end of the workday, from three to five. There could be obtrusive. In effect, it is technologically
were surprisingly few people present at the server, possible to record everything that happens during
and it was difficult to find company. It occurred a gaming event.
to me that if a player lives in a different time zone In practice there are two ways of capturing
than the majority of the other players, the gaming images and video during participant observation.
experience can be truly lonely. In addition I noticed One is to take screen captures, which effectively
once again how much easier it would be to fare freeze the situation into a snapshot. The other is to
well in the game if I knew more people. In the end use video capture, which is the equivalent of tap-
I did manage to get company, though. I met another ing the situation with a camcorder. Taking screen
player of approximately my characters experience shots is the simpler of the two options, and one
level, and we did some missions together. I also that is already often included in the user interface
saved some of the conversation during this gam- of the game. In addition, taking screenshots does
ing event, but I started the recording only in the not usually take up much of the resources of the
middle and had to stop it again when my gaming computer, ensuring smooth and uninterrupted
partners line went dead for some reason. Well, gameplay.
anyway one more name to the friends list! I still Even though taking screenshots is relatively
dont know how to propose someones name into simple, it has its downsides. Many online computer
the friends list myself, but at least so far it hasnt games are synchronous in nature. This means that
capturing an image or saving a log file brings
563
about the same problems as recording techniques no amount of notes written up afterwards could
in physical reality. What if the character was doing truly recreate the happening.
an elaborate dance, or what if the players com- Some online multiplayer games support by
municated through a series of jumps or gleeful default the possibility of recording the playing
shouts transmitted through a microphone? Such event, giving the players a chance to share and
creative ways of expressing oneself during the review successful games. Still, it is more common
game are often the most interesting phenomena that one needs a special program to do the video
related to how social interaction takes place while capture. The need for an external program might
playing with other people (Wright et al., 2003). lead to problems. Especially newer online games
A good example of the inadequacy of screen might require extensive amounts of resources
shots versus video capture is the birthday cel- from the computer and the network to operate
ebration of Anarchy Online. In order to honor properly, and the addition of a separate recording
the launch of the game, a yearly fiesta was held, program might significantly hinder gameplay.
to which the grand society of the game were all The programs might also suffer from compatibil-
invited. Hundreds of players joined in, guided ity problems with the hardware of the computer,
by a radio broadcast transmitted via the Internet. further complicating matters. Finally, the video
Dancing and games took place, and most char- sequences might be relatively long, making the
acters were seen wearing something festive and handling and analyzing of the data challenging.
extraordinary, as seen in Figure 1. While screen Sometimes it is possible to obtain videos or re-
shots help paint a lively picture of the atmosphere plays of actual playing events without taping them
of the celebration, as a researcher I was left feel- oneself. In the context of some online multiplayer
ing that ultimately the better option would have games, like Counter Strike, sharing recorded
been to record the whole happening using video playing events and even artistically modifying
capture. The sheer amount of dancing, music, them may be an integral part of the activities of
and simultaneous communication feeds from a community. Naturally, there are many questions
various channels was so overwhelming that I felt regarding the copyright and ethical use of such
videos, but as a potential source of data concern-
Figure 1, Birthday celebrations in Anarchy On- ing computer-mediated social interaction it has
line (screenshot by Marko Siitonen, printed with remained largely untapped.
permission from Funcom)
CONCLUSION
Participant observation has been widely used in

studies of social life online, including the social
aggregates operating within and around online
multiplayer games. In order to understand the ever-
developing world of online multiplayer games
and the communities within, research can benefit
from methods that are both open-ended and offer
the researcher good possibilities for reflectivity.
As a method of data collection, participant
observation is not without its limitations. It is
relatively time consuming and requires exten-
564
sive material and temporal resources from the in all research involving human subjects there is
researcher. There are also legal and economic the potential for harm. (Reid, 1996.)
issues related to using data in publications, i.e. There might still be hidden potential in par-
with respect to images, video and sound. Finally, ticipant observation. For example, most of the
participant observation can lead to difficult ques- ethnographic accounts of social life within online
tions regarding the ethical responsibilities of the multiplayer games still follow fairly traditional
researcher. models of ethnography rather than fully embrac-
Social interaction in communication networks ing the visuality of the media. Mason and Dicks
can be collected and examined in ways that have suggested already in 1999 that hypermedia could
not been possible before. Screen captures, video offer a different kind of interpretative space than
recording, log files, and lurking (following social book technology when conducting and reporting
interaction without actually taking part in it) offer ethnographic research. In their vision, it was the
temptingly easy ways to collect large amounts of mixed-media features of hypermedia that were
data without the participants knowledge. Still, as exciting, opening up new avenues of interpre-
Reid (1996: 170) states: it does not follow that tation both for the makers and the readers of
easy access to material implies that it lies within virtual ethnographies. (Mason & Dicks, 1999.)
the public domain. The ease of data collection While time has shown that the traditional form of
or the difficulties involved in obtaining written academic publishing is fairly resistant to change,
permission from participants should not be taken there is still charm in the idea that the visually rich
to mean that ethical standards are less important context of video games could benefit from more
than in research where the human subjects are experimental and creative forms of conducting
more tangibly present. and reporting research.
From a deontological viewpoint, I claim that Certainly, many more questions remain that
people, whether they appear to the researcher as need attention regarding the use of participant
words on the screen or flesh and blood beings on observation as a method of data collection in
the street corner, should have the right to know the study of multiplayer communities. At best,
when they are being studied. I see this requirement it is a flexible tool for gathering information that
as being stronger than any fear of endangering the would otherwise be difficult to obtain due to the
natural flow of social interaction by intervening. multi-faceted and ever-changing nature of social
After all, the risk of actually damaging the very interaction online.
phenomena of cyberspace interpersonal dynamics
that we are studying is constantly present (King,
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568
Chapter 34
Proposed Techniques for Data
Collection and Analysis in
the Study of News-Oriented
Virtual Communities
William J. Gibbs
Duquesne University, USA
Joseph E. McKendrick
McKendrick and Associates, USA
ABSTRACT
News providers today offer interactive sources that engage people, enable them to build community, and
to participate in the news. At the same time, the digital interfaces through which people access the news
are continuingly evolving, diverse, and oftentimes visually complex. How these factors shape human
information seeking in news-oriented virtual communities is a relatively new area of study and therefore
greater understanding of their influence on human behavior is of much practical value. In this chapter,
the authors explore trends and developments in news-oriented virtual communities. They review several
data collection and analysis techniques such as content analysis, usability testing and eye-tracking and
propose that these techniques and associated tools can aid the study of news communities. They examine
the implications these techniques have for better understanding human behavior in virtual communities
as well as for improving the design of these environments.
BACKGROUND Increasingly, traditional news organizations are

finding they are being outpaced in coverage of
There has been no shortage of excitement lately world events by cadres of citizen journalists
around the growing array of virtual communities reporting in real time via social network sites such
available from the web. Global online communities as Twitter and Facebook. For instance, no one
now include hundreds of millions of members who expected the popular uprising that erupted in the
are able to communicate almost instantaneously. wake of the Iranian presidential election results,
which purportedly showed Mahmoud Ahmadine-
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch034
Proposed Techniques for Data Collection and Analysis in the Study of News-Oriented Virtual Communities
jad as the landslide winner. Tens of thousands of (DHertefelt, 2000). Such an understanding will
tweets -- or short messages not exceeding 140 benefit investigators as well as the organizations
characters -- began originating out of Iran, paint- that sponsor communities (Ridings & Gefen,
ing a vivid picture of the groundswell of popular 2004). It is particularly vital for news organiza-
discontent with the regime. Ostrow (2009) noted tions that deliver continuously changing content to
that major networks like CNN were no match for millions of people who engage with it. In addition,
Twitter and Facebook, which were out in front. because the digital interfaces with which people
A convergence of newspaper, television, and commune are continuingly evolving, diverse, and
interactive media is occurring on major news sites. oftentimes visually complex, there is also need to
The interface through which people get news is no better understand how the design of such spaces
longer dominated by newspaper, television, and influence social relations and communications.
radio. While they remain primary news outlets, In this chapter, the authors explore trends and
people access news though web pages, news developments in news-oriented virtual communi-
feeds, newsgroups, and podcasts using personal ties. They provide an overview of several data
computers, mobile devices, and a host of other collection and analysis techniques and propose
electronic technologies. Moreover, despite valid that these techniques can be useful in the study
concerns about the credibility of information being of news communities; specifically in explicating
posted, proliferations of social network websites the human behavior (e.g., communicative, interac-
help deliver news faster and more interactively, tional, and relational) occurring within communi-
rather than being filtered and processed by ties as well as in analyzing the influence of digital
editors. Twitter -- and other social network sites-- environments or interfaces on community. The
offer a value that some traditional media outlets authors outline four data collection techniques:
cannot offer, and that is the ability of citizens to
participate in the reporting of events in real time. 1. Content analysis and precepts of social
In essence, everyone has access to the newsroom network theory
with breaking news, which has distinct implica- 2. Visualization, Mapping Temporal Relations
tions for how people engage with the news and, in of Discussions Software
the process, commune with others. Social network 3. Usability testing techniques
sites along with emergent technologies and the 4. Eye-tracking and visual attention metrics
ensuing media convergence contribute to making
news access instantaneous and interactive. They They review each technique with examples. In
afford the potential for news-oriented social rela- some cases, ZDNet, an online news provider for
tions and virtual communities to evolve. the technology industry, is discussed to explain
Understanding the complexity of social rela- the method.
tions and interactions occurring within communi-
ties is an arduous scientific endeavor but one of
much importance, given their pervasiveness and VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
worldwide use. While the amount of research AND SOCIAL NETWORKS
relevant to virtual communities has grown, it is
still lacking (Blanchard, 2004; Wellman & Gulia, Virtual Communities
1999). Building a community is a sociological
endeavor that requires developers and research- Virtual communities are communities of like-
ers to understand human behaviors such as why minded or interested parties that subscribe to
do people join and how do they participate social networks, blogs, and other online media
569
for information relevant to their topics of interest. news stories, which may be links to emerging
People meet to deliberate on a diversity of topics, stories, or even first-hand accounts of events.
to engage with others, and to acquire and dis-
seminate information. This was clearly evident as ZDNet, an Online News Provider
the world sought news about the uprising in Iran. and Virtual Community
The notion of a virtual community is interrelated
with the formation of social gatherings through One of the authors is a contributor to ZDNet, an
computer-mediated communication (CMC) sys- online news provider for the technology industry
tems across temporal and geographic boundaries owned by CBS Interactive. ZDNet exemplifies a
(Soukup, 2004). Researchers characterize them as news organization that has moved toward promot-
having (a) groups of people with similar interests ing online community. As the ZDNet community
or needs, or some geographic attachments, which has grown, it evolved from a site which was seen
serve as the primary impetus for belonging to the as a one-way provider of news and opinions to a
community, (b) regular and organized interaction more interactive community with regular super
occurring primarily through a common electronic users that help set the tone and engage other
communication mechanism (Ridings & Gefen, members.
2004; Dennis, Pootheri, & Natarajan, 1998), (c) ZDNet began life as a news and information
mutual or cooperative interchange of information portal. In 2004, the sites incorporated a series of
or support with shared social conventions and blogs written by specialists in various disciplines,
language (Wang, Yu, & Fesenmaier, 2002; Preece, including open source software, mobile technolo-
2000), and (d) interaction sustained long enough gies, security, and service oriented architecture.
for personal relationships or a sense of commu- Editors at ZDNet also author a blogsite on general
nity to form (Rheingold, 1993; Blanchard, 2004). news items.
Porter (2004, Defining Virtual Communities, 2) The content of this site includes news reports
while noting that there is no single accepted clas- from press releases and wire services, as well as
sification of virtual communities, defined them opinion pieces and perspectives on developments,
as an aggregation of individuals or business interviews with industry experts, and summaries
partners who interact around a shared interest, and links to other blogsites. Bloggers are given
where the interaction is at least partially supported complete autonomy, and are not required to use
and/or mediated by technology and guided by ZDNet, CNET, or CBS material for content. Blog-
some protocols or norms. gers are encouraged, however, to link to other
News providers today offer interactive news bloggers on the site to encourage cross-linking
sources that engage people, enable them to build between members of the community.
community, and to participate in the news. Many The goal of ZDNet blogging initiative was to
major providers present stories on web pages and develop online communities around each of the
allow readers to discuss them. News organizations topic areas. Members may view and interact with
not only think about providing newsworthy stories all content and postings across the site. Currently,
but also about building dynamic communities the blogging community has expanded from six
by establishing social connections and exploring areas to a total of 47. More significantly, ZDNet
the interchange among sets of information and a has blended its news and blogging content into a
diversity of people (Riley, Keough, Meilich, & single, seamless presentation. Viewers clicking
Pierson, 1998). Some offer targeted news of inter- on a link to a story are often not aware if they
est to members. Members post updates to different are being taken to a blogger site or to a straight
news report.
570
SOCIAL NETWORKS social network sites and virtual communities in

their business strategies to improve sales, enhance
Whereas an online community might be an on- product support and services, and to build and
line community of interest in which members maintain a customer base (Porter, 2004).
are drawn to the network by mutual interests or
needs, a social network may be more neutral,
more of a mechanism that enables interaction DATA COLLECTION AND
versus a shared interest. In addition, in an online ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES
community, members can see and communicate
with each other, whereas such across-the-board Investigators who study virtual communities em-
visibility may be restricted across a social network. ploy various methodologies including ethnogra-
A social network, however, may be an umbrella phy, content analysis, and visualization techniques
mechanism for many online communities. For to examine behaviors such as modes of expression,
example, there are countless Facebook groups motivation, the governing of communities, com-
-- these could be considered online communities munication processes, and interactional patterns
within a social network. Boyd and Ellison (2007) (Preece & Maloney-Krichmar, 2005). At the same
characterize social network sites as web-based time, developers who build these spaces have
services that enable a person to create a public practical concerns about whether the interface is
profile within the system, to compile the profiles consistent, easy to learn and use, and whether it
of other people with whom the individual has supports how people want to interact. Hence, a
made connections, to view and navigate their communitys ability to support social interaction as
connections as well as those compiled by others, well as usability can help the community flourish
and to publically broadcast their social networks. (Preece, 2000). Moreover, by better understand-
As Boyd and Ellison (2007, Social Network Sites: ing human behaviors, developers can effectively
A Definition, 2) note, While networking is pos- accommodate user needs and socialization tasks,
sible on these sites, it is not the primary practice help them achieve their goals more efficiently,
on many of them, nor is it what differentiates and improve the designs and services of com-
them from other forms of computer-mediated munity spaces. This is especially important for
communication (CMC). news communities that draw millions of people
In recent years the popularity of social networks worldwide. In the following sections, the authors
and their potential to support social relations and outline four data collection methods:
community has been extraordinary, with some net-
worked communities having millions of members 1. Content analysis and precepts of social
around the world (Cachia, Compa, & Da Costa, network theory
2007). According to Lenhart (2009), the number 2. Visualization, Mapping Temporal Relations
of adults who use social network sites more than of Discussions Software
quadrupled from 2005 to 2009 and roughly three 3. Usability testing techniques
in ten adult Internet users have a profile on social 4. Eye-tracking and visual attention metrics
network sites such as Facebook. Corresponding
to the pervasiveness of social networks (and the Precepts of Social Network Theory
virtual communities within them) for personal
use is the fact they also support many utilitarian Before discussing the aforementioned methods, it
and economic purposes (Wind & Mahajan, 2002). is important to examine characteristics of social
For instance, for-profit organizations incorporate networks that are germane to the study of virtual
571
communities as well as the methods proposed see the people she contacted. The columns depict
in this chapter. A social network refers to the the individuals who were contacted. Reading the
people with whom one or both members of a dyad columns, one sees that Annette received the most
have relational contact (Ridley & Avery, 1979). contacts. Examining data in this way provides
Relations among network members, external a view of how individuals are positioned in the
contexts (i.e., environment), temporal structures network. For example, Annette initiated the fewest
(i.e., timing and extent of communication), group contacts but was contacted most often, suggesting
intent, and individual and group characteristics that she is an important or central contact. Addi-
affect group norms and the social dynamics in tionally, a network analyst might examine these
virtual communities (Baym, 1995; Blanchard, data holistically, observing patterns or relations
2004). As members interact, a multitude of fac- across subjects. For example, in Table 1 there are
tors such as a person expressing a life experience, more 1s than 0s indicating a high density of con-
the functionality (or lack of) of the system that tacting or a tendency for members to contact one
supports communication, the amount and timing another. Moreover, an analyst may want to know
of interactions, among other things, contribute to the extent to which contacts get reciprocated; if
defining community dynamics. a person initiated a high number of contacts, did
A network analysis has two major emphases, he/she receive more contacts.
first, observing how individuals are positioned in Because of its emphases on how individuals
a social network and, secondly, how individual are situated in a network and the overall rela-
patterns of behavior beget more holistic patterns tional patterns occurring among network members,
(Hanneman & Riddle, 2005). These emphases a social network analysis seems germane to the
have important implications for how social net- study of virtual communities. From the authors
work analysts structure data sets. Conventional perspective, it serves as an overall framework to
data sets emphasize cases or subjects and some implement the other methods presented in the
attribute (e.g., age) or variable (e.g., score) whereas chapter. For example, as discussed in the follow-
network analysis focuses on subjects and their ing sections, social networks are characterized by
relation to others. Relations are as important as interactional (e.g., content exchanged between
the subjects themselves in the network. Data sets individuals) and structural criteria (e.g., size of
developed by a network analyst, as a rule, look network, network density). The frequency of
different from traditional rectangular data sets that exchange content and network density provide
a researcher might compile in survey research, for information about individuals as well their rela-
example (Hanneman & Riddle, 2005). Conven-
tional data sets consist of an array of rows and
columns wherein each row represents a case and Table 1. Example of social network data set array
each column contains a score associated with some
Contacts made in network
attribute or variable. Conversely, social network
data are often arranged so that rows represent Person contacted
cases and the columns represent that same set of Initiated

Annette Lauren Liam Fran Helen
contact
cases (see Table 1). The example data in Table 1
Annette -- 1 0 0 0
represent individuals who initiated contacts in a
Lauren 1 -- 1 1 1
network. The rows depict the individuals who are
Liam 1 1 -- 0 1
similar in terms of making contacts (e.g., number
Fran 1 1 0 -- 0
of contacts initiated, persons they contacted).
Helen 1 0 1 0 --
Lauren initiated the most contacts. One can also
572
tions with others. Thus, as implemented by the flaming) and collaborative, with collaborative be-
authors, all of the proposed methods afford data haviors further segmented into non-informational
about individual behaviors (i.e., communicative, (e.g., greetings, gossip, humor) and informational
interactional, and relational) within a network as (e.g., announcements, questions, information re-
well as a view of these behaviors in relation to quests). The investigator defines an appropriate
other network members. unit of meaning, which can range from an entire
message to a sentence or short phase. Using a
transcript of the dialogue exchanged in the com-
CONTENT ANALYSIS AND munity, observers independently review it and
SOCIAL NETWORKS code units of meaning according to the predefined
behaviors/typology. Observer codes are then com-
Social networks are characterized by interactional pared to ascertain observer reliability, which
(e.g., content exchanged between individuals) and gauges how accurate a measure is, how close it
structural criteria (e.g., size of network, network comes to the truth (Bakeman & Gottman, 1997,
density), which influence communication. These p. 59). These methods help assure that observ-
criteria along with content analysis can guide ers coded accurately and that the procedures are
investigators when observing social relations and replicable. For example, suppose investigators at
communications patterns in virtual communities ZDNet suspect that when women take part in topic
(Fahy, Crawford & Ally, 2001; Zhu, 2006). discussions, the amount of interaction among all
community members increases and that the tenor
Interactional Criteria of the conversations is generally more expressive
and supportive compared to male-only discus-
In this section, two interaction criteria are de- sions. Presumably ZDNet would be interested in
scribed, 1) exchange content and 2) frequency a high volume of interaction among its members,
and duration of interaction. Additionally, Map- which could help engender community and keep
ping Temporal Relations of Discussions Software people on its site. Hickson et al. (2004) point out
(MTRDS), a tool for visualizing the temporal that conversations of women are often character-
characteristics of communications, is reviewed as ized by expressiveness and support. Moreover, in
it relates to observing the frequency and duration CMC women adopt an epistolary form of com-
of communications. munication characterized by, among other things,
an opening or introduction, a link to previous
Exchange Content message, and a closing or signature (Herring,
1996) and these elements may promote relations.
Exchange content is an interactional measure that Thus, the investigators could derive a typology
examines the nature of the content exchanged (e.g., Burnetts classification) to systematically
within a community. When the content is CMC, determine if gender differences in communica-
the investigator defines (or adopts) a typology of tion behaviors (e.g., expressions) impact level of
behaviors, from which he/she creates behavioral interaction. Using predefined behavioral codes,
codes. For instance, Burnetts (2000) classification they might ask observers to code message units
of information exchange in virtual communities obtained from transcripts of male and female
provides a context for examining behavior. The dialogue in both high and low volume community
topology defines non-interactive behaviors (e.g., discussions. Assuming adequate observer reli-
lurking) and interactive behaviors. Interactive ability, the investigator could then tally the codes
behaviors are further classified as hostile (e.g.,
573
by gender and discussion to ascertain if and how Frequency and Duration

gender affects interaction. of Interaction
With greater insight about the exchanged
content, ZDNet, for example, could possibly Chronemic cues permeate communications in
build tools and interfaces to more aptly support virtual communities. The timing and frequency
the kind of communication that fosters commu- of messages and the duration until a response is
nity interactions. For instance, the communica- made can influence the judgments one ascribes to
tion system that serves the community could let a message and the message sender (Gibbs, Olexa,
message posters select an opening/introduction & Bernas, 2006). When one ignores the temporal
and a recipients name from a list. For a given norms established for virtual communications,
topic, the system might allow a poster to easily it likely results in user aggravation and misat-
highlight specific elements in his/her message to tribution (Walther & Tidwell, 1995). Timing of
direct the recipients attention. Currently, ZDNet interactions serves as nonverbal communication
recommends that bloggers link to other blogs that influences dialogue and may contribute to
to promote cross-linking between community creating a sense of place or a co-presence among
members. The system could identify related key members (Blanchard, 2004). This is particularly
phases in multiple other messages for that topic true for sites such as ZDNet where information
and enable a poster or blogger to link directly is timely. While members can discuss informa-
to other messages or blogs. The system might tion for an unspecified duration, many move
also provide a schematic depicting relationships on to converse about new topics when they are
between the current message and other messages presented by bloggers.
and blogs, the strength (based on key words and Frequently the tools and interfaces meant to
phrases) of those relationships, and any commu- support online communication are unable to reveal
nication patterns (Hara, Bonk & Angeli, 2000). important characteristics of dialogue or relational
In addition, in text-based CMC it is difficult for among members. Typically, communications are
most people to accurately know the expression or represented as hierarchically arranged text lists
attitude of the poster. For instance, at ZDNet there of subject headings (see Figure 1). When users
are no visual or verbal clues present, and textual click a subject heading, the message displays. The
comments are frequently taken out of context. hierarchical arrangement conveys a parent and
Some posters resort to capitalizing all letters to child relationship among messages. For example,
emphasize points and express displeasure; how- if message B is indented below message A in the
ever, these types of behaviors are considered to be list, then B is a child of A or a reply to A. While
rude and inappropriate by the community. When this message arrangement is commonplace and
posters add emoticons, recipients perceptions of has utility, it may obscure information about
messages change (Lo, 2008). The system could threads temporal patterns, population, and struc-
include tools for embedding emoticons or other ture, and particularly the development of paral-
expressive forms in messages. Loom (Boyd, et lel branches of conversations (Smith & Fiore,
al., 2002), an application that uses visualization 2001, p.139). Tools that enable the observation
techniques to make the social relations of online of temporal patterns may prove useful in helping
groups salient, depicts the mood of the group as discussants more effectively moderate and effect
well as conversational patterns such as individual social relations.
postings, vocal members, and regular and irregular MTRDS is a web application that visually
participants. represents patterns of responding based on time
(Gibbs, Olexa, & Bernas, 2006). Figure 2 is a
574
Figure 1. Hierarchically arranged text lists of subject headings
drawing of a display rendered by MTRDS. The A tool such as MTRDS could be built into the
X and Y axes denote day/date and time, respec- communication system so that community mem-
tively. MTRDS presents message postings as bers might readily observe:
color-coded circles (nodes) with lines (links) that
connect a response (child) node to the originating Temporal patterns of the groups partici-
(Parent) message. To signify the pattern of re- pation (i.e., frequency and sequence of
sponding, it denotes the connection between communications).
parent and child with a line and arrow pointing Spatial dimensions of discussions, the
backward. For example, in Figure 2 the volume proximity of members posting.
of messages increased steadily each day and many General time and date of discussion
of the nodes link to the original message posted activity.
on day 1. Each node displays the posters name. Members who are not participating or who
When a user moves the cursor onto a node, it participate infrequently.
highlights and displays the post time. If the user Centrality, message clustering, and mem-
clicks a node, it expands and presents the message, bers who dominate conversations or who
posters name, and post time. have many connections.
Figure 2. MTRDS rendering of CMC
575
Members who are isolated, those who do centrality indicates that a member is struc-
not receive responses. turally at the center of a discussion and
may have the greatest likelihood of being
It could also be used by developers and inves- heard.
tigators to study the temporal characteristics of Isolated messages. An isolated message is
individual and group communications in virtual one that does not get a reply. Many or few
communities. isolated messages may reflect the commu-
nitys intensity. They can also be a form of
Structural Criteria censure.
Thread Development. Many CMC envi-
The following structural measures are used for ronments organize information hierarchi-
observing characteristics of CMC in virtual com- cally (see Figure 1). Thread development
munities. can be obtained by counting the levels to
Network size and potential interactions: Size which a topic persists. A deeper message
correlates to the number of individuals in a com- hierarchy implies persistent conversation
munity. Potential interactions (communications) and intensity.
can be obtained by multiplying the total number
of participants (N) by total participants minus 1 One could envision the aforementioned mea-
and dividing by 2, expressed as N(N-1)/2 (Ridley sures being built into the communication system
& Avery, 1979. For instance, if a community has as gauges that reflect community dynamics. For
10 people the potential person-to-person interac- instance, moderators (and members) could easily
tions would be: 10*(10-1)/2 = 45. check density and intensity indicators that reflect
Network Density. Network density is the extent the level of interactions, centrality, and the amount
to which members are connected to one another. of isolated messages for particular users, to ensure
For instance, higher density reflects that commu- that no one is dominating or being excluded.
nity members are interacting with many people
whereas a low density indicates that members are Usability Testing
interacting with a select few people. Density can
be expressed as: Density (D) = 2a/N(N-1) where According to the Usability Professionals Asso-
a represents the actual number of links or contacts ciation, usability is an approach to product
(on a person-to-person basis) in the network and development that incorporates direct user feed-
n refers to the total number of possible contacts back throughout the development cycle in order
in the network (Berkowitze, 1982). to reduce costs and create products and tools that
Intensity. Network intensity is the extent to meet user needs (UPA, 2009). Typically during
which members respond to one another (Ridley & testing, users perform tasks while thinking aloud
Avery, 1979). It reveals persistence of social inter- and they are recorded while doing so. When tasks
actions and suggests the extent to which members are computer-based, software programs (e.g.,
are engaged. Several measures of intensity can be TechSmith Morae) are available that record all user
obtained: (a) centrality, (b) isolated messages, (c) behaviors as well as their verbal and nonverbal
and thread development. reactions. Usability testing techniques, combined
with a think-aloud protocol and recording software
Centrality. Centrality relates to the connec- (Morae), are discussed as a means of collecting
tions a single member of a community has user data related to the following:
with other members (Zhu, 2006). Greater
576
Information seeking trails identifying the (S), 5) browse forward (B), and 6) browse back
path users traverse in the online space. (b). The trail can be expressed in the following
Interaction variance using character character string: BSbSSBb.
strings to represent information seeking Using pairs of character strings, the Levensh-
events and then comparing the information tein Distance (LD) is computed. The LD is the
seeking trails to provide an estimate of in- smallest number of insertions, deletions, and
teraction variance. substitutions required to change one string into
another (National Institute of Standards and
These measures provide information about Technology, 2007). For instance, two information
human behavior (content selections, interactions, trails might be represented as:
information search, etc.) during system use, within
and across users. Trail 1: BSSB
When participating in virtual communities Trail 2: BSbB
members frequently browse materials available
through a corresponding website. When doing The smallest number of substitutions needed to
so, they generally browse or search. Analyzing change one string into the other is 1, so the LD is
information seeking trails can provide a unique 1. The LD can be calculated for multiple individu-
view of how individuals and the group as a whole als or search events. Smaller distances represent
navigate virtual spaces. The manner in which the less variance in information seeking behaviors.
authors performed this technique involves review- For information seeking, the fewer interactions
ing recordings made from usability testing and then an individual has to perform to locate a target,
labeling information seeking events as Browse (B) the better. Assuming a person has performed
or Search (S) and the transitions between them as several tasks, the search event (e.g., BSSB) with
forward (f) and back (b). The compilation of these the smallest average distance from all events can
events constitutes a trail that can be illustrated in be used as representative (representative event)
web behavior graphs (Card et al., 2001) similar of an individuals pattern of information seeking
to Figure 3. For example, Figure 3 depicts: 1) (White & Drucker, 2007). The averaged distance
browse forward (B) - rectangle, 2) search (S) of this representative event can then signify inter-
rounded rectangle, 3) browse back or revisiting action variance so that if the representative event
a page on the trail (b), 4) two additional searches had a high-average distance from all other events
Figure 3. Web behavior graph
577
for a person, then high variance (in information seeking (Rayner, 1998) as well as reveal where
seeking) is assumed. Conversely, a low-average he/she directs visual attention (Pieters, Rosbergen,
distance denotes a low variance for that person, & Wedel, 1999).
suggesting that the individual exhibited consistent During eye-tracking, a tracking device moni-
information seeking behaviors across events. For tors eye movements as the individual views visual
example, suppose developers (ZDNet) are testing stimuli. Eye-tracking systems typically collect
several community design layouts. They want to data on, among other things, eye fixations and
know which layout affords users the most efficient saccades. They employ various methods to graphi-
and consistent access to various communication cally represent eye data, such as heatmaps or by
tools. Information seeking trails might inform superimposing visual traces over the stimulus
them about how consistently or inconsistently materials (see Figure 4 for an example).
people browse the layouts as well as how design In recent years, eye-tracking has become in-
differences influence variations in information tegral to usability testing of computer interfaces.
seeking. In addition, trails illustrate the direc- The diversity of interfaces, tools, media, and
tionality of individuals behaviors, forward and functionality found in virtual communities
backward moves. greatly impacts user behavior. Eye-tracking can
help to better understand: (a) how virtual com-
Eye-Tracking and Visual munity interfaces affect what users see and do not
Attention Metrics see, (b) what attracts and detracts users visual
attention, (c) how users read CMC within various
How people attend to a plethora of media on community environments, (d) the elements of an
news virtual spaces is not yet fully understood. interface that users find visually complex, and (e)
Performing eye-tracking studies on virtual com- the path visual attention follows over a display
munities can provide useful information about a and the elements that influence visual scans. In
persons cognitive processing during information addition, eye-tracking data may be used with data
Figure 4. Example of eye-path traces (black lines) over stimulus material
578
obtained with the other methods to explore such saccades per second, can be a measure of cognitive
factors as how visual scans affect community demand. The rate of saccades is inversely related
relations. For instance, does the way one visu- to the task difficulty. People engaged in cognitively
ally scans (e.g., scanning versus in-depth reading) demanding tasks will have lower saccade rates
the community space and it communications compared to those performing less demanding
impact the amount and quality of postings. Su- tasks (Nakayama, Takahashi, & Shimizu 2002).
perficial visual scans and information processing
may lead to deficient communications.
In this sections the authors review several SCAN PATH ANALYSIS
eye-tracking metrics that, in their view, can help
investigators and developers monitor visual at- Investigators can use a string-edit method and
tention so they may optimally design community aspects of Optimal Matching Analysis (OMA)
spaces. (Josephson & Holmes, 2008) to observe varia-
tions in scan paths, a repetitive succession of eye
Eye Fixations fixations (Brandt & Stark, 1997). The investigator
conducting the eye-tracking analysis reviews the
Eye fixations are relatively motionless gazes layout and content of the virtual space to define
during which a person takes in and processes common regions of the interface and assigned
information (Josephson & Holmes, 2008; Jacob each region an identifier (i.e., letter). A grid is
& Karn, 2003). Two metrics related to fixation constructed that delineates the target areas over
are number of fixations and fixation duration. which fixation patterns are superimposed. For
example, Figure 5 represents a grid layout of the
Number of fixations: The number of fixa- ZDNet blog space page (see Figure 6). The letter
tions in a display area indicates how impor- A denotes the browsers command and address
tant that area is to the viewer. However, a bars. Areas B, C, and D represent the ZDNet logo
higher number of fixations overall implies area, site navigation bar, and the website section
inefficient information search possibly due title, respectively. Areas E, F, and G correspond
to a badly designed interface (Jacob & to three columns at the bottom of the page (see
Karn, 2003). Gaze time is a related mea- Figure 6). The grid and fixations are normalized
sure and represents the percent of time relative to the X- and Y-axes so that coordinates
spent fixating instead of saccade time. Like 0.0, 0.0 specify a position of gaze at the top-left
fixations, it may indicate the importance a corner whereas 1.0, 1.0 specifies a position at the
person associates to a display element. bottom-right corner of the display.
Fixation duration: Long fixation durations The investigator obtains X and Y display co-
can indicate information complexity or ordinates for each fixation from the eye-tracking
a persons difficulty making sense of the system and identifies the grid region where the
display. fixation occurred. For instance, if a fixation had
coordinates of X- 0.10 and Y- 0.05, then it occurred
Saccades in region A and that fixation is labeled as A. If the
person then fixated in areas B, followed by areas
Saccades are rapid eye movements that direct F, and E each fixation is assigned the correspond-
attention to a visual target. During saccades the ing identifier. In this way, the investigator con-
individual does not take in information (Pan et al., structs a scan path sequence, which in this ex-
2004; Rayner, 1998). Saccade rate, the number of ample would be ABFE.
579
Figure 5. Grid layout
The investigator can then compare pairs of transformations by the length of the longer of the
scan path sequences. A numerical index of the two sequence pairs (Josephson & Holmes, 2008).
variations between scan paths is obtained us- Scan path variations can be compared across
ing the Levenshtein distance (LD). Because the and within users for any given interface providing
length of scan paths may vary, an investigator can an investigator such insights as whether a users
adjust for length by dividing the resulting cost of eye movements remain consistent over different
Figure 6. ZDNET blog space
580
displays and/or whether different users have vary- about individuals as well as their relations to the
ing eye movements over a display. Additionally, community as a whole. Interactional and structural
this method yields valuable information about criteria explicate characteristic of communica-
where users fixated and the sequence of fixations. tion and social relations. Moreover, these criteria
This is important when designing interfaces for could be represented in community environments
virtual communities. The extent to which an to illuminate attributes such as network density,
interface supports or impedes social relations or centrality, thread development, and isolated mes-
members ability to participate can be influenced sages. Graphically representing this information
greatly by the arrangements of the visual display. as was done with MTRDS could aid members
Knowing the fixated areas and the sequence of eye as they engage in dialogue. It would help them
movements may provide an accurate representa- better understand the social relations of their
tion of how users allocate their attention in these community, possibly fostering improved and/or
environments. The authors feel this is particularly sustained communication.
important for news-oriented communities in which Usability testing and eye-tracking provide
users are often highly directed, seeking specific information about individual cognitive processes,
information as efficiently as possible or a variety visual attention, and behaviors when engaged with
of devices (e.g., mobile device, person computer). digital interfaces. These data may be analyzed
for an individual and across many individuals.
In addition, they can be used in conjunction with
CONCLUSION the other methods. For example, researchers can
readily observe how network members traverse or
Today news organizations use various media and examine a community space. They could ascertain
technologies to distribute news. Many use the not only the efficiency with which individuals
web in an attempt to engender social relations accomplish their goals but also the extent to
and community. At the same time, citizens have which their interactions in and visual scans of the
increasingly become news providers employing, community space impacted or were impacted by
among other things, social networks to report and communication or relations with others (e.g., do
commune about news worthy topics. The plethora persons with high centrality have unique interac-
of distribution channels and the increasing effort tions or visual scans). Such analyses could offer
of citizens to engage with the news add much new insights about the role human-computer
complexity to understanding human behavior in interactions play in communication and social
these environments. The authors outlined several relations in virtual communities.
data collection methods that they believe can While the proposed methods offer distinct
be useful in the study of news-oriented virtual advantages, they also present some challenges for
communities. In their view, these methods en- investigators. First, analysis of observational data
able researchers to perform detailed analyses to such as those describe here can be time consum-
help them more thoroughly understand human ing because typically large amounts of data must
information seeking behavior, visual attention, be reviewed, especially in usability testing and
and communication in communities. content analysis. An investigation can become
A social network analysis with its emphases overwhelming without clearly defined objectives
on an individuals position in a network as well to ensure focused data collection and analysis. Sec-
as the holistic patterns occurring in the network ond, the creation of software for the visualization
is advantageous to investigations of virtual com- of communication data as presented in MRTDS
munities. All of the proposed methods yield data requires specialized development expertise and
581
processes. Third, some of the methods (usabil- Boyd, D. Lee, H-Y, Ramage, D., & Donath, J.
ity testing and eye-tracking) require specialized (2002). Developing legible visualizations for
hardware and software that may not be available online social spaces. In Proceedings of the Thirty-
to some investigators. Fifth Annual Hawaii International Conference
The proliferation of digital technologies af- on System Sciences. January, 2002. Computer
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to access the news. News providers have moved
Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social net-
from solely disseminating news to providing
work sites: Definition, history, and scholarship.
interactive sources that enable people to become
engaged and to build community. Moreover, the
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ellison.html
sites, mobile devices, and podcasts, to name a
few. These factors help shape human information Brandt, S. A., & Stark, L. W. (1997). Spontaneous
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thus greater understanding of such behavior is of content of the visual scene. Journal of Cogni-
much practical importance. It is the authors view tive Neuroscience, 9(1), 2738. doi:10.1162/
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Burnett, G. (2000). Information exchange in virtual
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585
Chapter 35
Challenges of Analyzing
Informal Virtual Communities
Nancy Poon
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Ben Kei Daniel

ABSTRACT
Drawing from previous research, this chapter presents major challenges associated with the analysis of
interaction patterns in informal virtual communities. Using social network as well as content analysis to
understand the structure and nature of interaction in such virtual communities, the goal was understand
the physical structure of the community as well as the nature of the themes discussed by community
members in an attempt to build a theoretical model of interactions.
INTRODUCTION of virtual communities; interacting with people

they have never met, and exchanging all sorts of
A virtual community emerges from a particular information.
need (to find or share information about a particu- In a previous project we were interested in
lar topic, find love, friendship, recognition, etc.). understanding the sense of community in informal
Usually initiated by one or several people, these virtual communities where people connected using
initiators will often try to control how community video technology and were engaged in exchanges
members interact. In the inception period of any on various topics. To investigate, we employed
virtual community, the rites and rules of engage- social network techniques to examine relation-
ment are still undefined. Leaders enrol the first ships between individuals and content analysis
members, who tend to follow the natural author- to examine the nature of themes discussed in this
ity of the communitys creator(s). Interactions community. The intent was to develop a theoretical
can be both formal and informal. Today people model of the interactions. This chapter describes
spend a great deal of time in many different kinds the findings from that project and discusses some of
the challenges associated with analyzing informal
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch035 virtual communities.
Challenges of Analyzing Informal Virtual Communities
RELATED WORK variables of objects representing connections

among network members. The network is pre-
Many methods have been employed for studying sented as a graph with a number of nodes repre-
virtual communities and range from empirically senting individuals and the connections between
based methods to those which are more theoretical. them represent relationships (see Figure 1 below,
Similar to work conducted by De Laat (2002), we for example). If a connection is present between
used social network analysis (SNA) to analyze node A and B, then a 1 is recorded in the cells (A,
interaction patterns in virtual communities. SNA B) and (B, A); and as 0 if there is no connection.
seeks to understand community member networks, Further if the relation is directional from A to B,
and to ascertain members relative social locations an arc (flow) from source A to sink B, it is re-
in the network or community. corded as 1 in cell (A, B), and a 0 in cell (B, A).
A social network is a set of individuals who are This is also referred to as adjacency. Adjacency
connected to one another through socially mean- is the graph theoretic expression of the fact that
ingful relationships (Hanneman, & Mark, 2005; two individuals are directly related, or tied to one
Freemen, 2004). Before moving onto a discussion another (Robinson & Foulds, 1980). Formally, it
of social network analysis nomenclature that is is presented as:
relevant to this chapter, a tabular comparison of
formal and informal virtual communities can be Letni,njN denote agents i and j in a set of N
found in Table 1. agents. Let aij denote the existence of a relation
In social network analysis, nodes represent (arc) from agent i to agent j. Agents i and j are
members and the links between represent relation- adjacent if there exist either of the two arcs, aij or
ships between members. In order to visualize aji. Given a graphD=(N,A), its adjacency matrix
interaction patterns, interactions were codified A(D) is defined by A(D)=aij, whereaij=1 if either
into a four dimensional matrix. A matrix of a aij or aji, and 0 otherwise.
network of size n is a square matrix (n x n) with
Table 1. Characteristics of informal and formal virtual communities
Characteristics Formal virtual communities Informal virtual communities

Membership Stable Some variation
Goals Explicit May be implicit
Supporting technologies Asynchronous and synchronous Mainly synchronous but some asynchronous
technologies may apply
Social protocols Explicitly defined Implied or might not exist
Growth Planned and stable growth Unplanned growth, may die without warning
Type of Awareness Professional, demographic, tasks, and social Might vary
awareness
Trust level Tends to be high Might be difficult to determine
Discourse directions Moderated Might not be moderated
Ownership Institutional Open
Nature of data Cleaned Noisy
Social networking Strong May be weakened due to anonymity
Privacy Safe May be threatened
586
Figure 1. The network structure
The number of conversations initiated by a or isolated if both its indegree and outdegree are
member (or node) is called the outdegree. In a zero (Wasserman and Faust, 1994). A member is
dichotomous matrix, the number of conversations deemed connected when there is at least one arc
or outdegree is the row sum of the dichotomous that relates that member with another member
matrix. Conversations received are called the in- (Wasserman & Faust, 1994). Members may be
degree of the node and is the column sum of the directly or indirectly related and is indicated by
dichotomous matrix.. The initiation and reception a one-step or two-step arc respectively.
of engagement can be summed up as the level of
participation in the community.
Other measures such as intensity of engage- RESEARCH METHODS
ment can also be measured using certain statisti- AND CONTEXT
cal indices. A member can be a transmitter (if
the direction of the arc is away from the node), a The data reported here are drawn from one
receiver (if the direction of the arc is toward the one-half hour visit to a video-mediated virtual
node), a carrier (if there are at least two arcs, one community called Caf Americano, that was
toward and one away), or isolated (if there no arcs primarily social. Members of this community
relating a particular member with any other mem- interacted regularly sometimes on a 24 hour basis
ber in the network). In other words, a member or with members checking in and out, we are assum-
node is a transmitter if its indegree is zero and its ing, in accordance to their needs. Social network
outdegree are non-zero, a receiver if its indegree analysis enabled us to ascertain relationships
is non-zero and its outdegree is zero, a carrier among members, the quality (i.e. frequency) of
if both its indegree and outdegree are non-zero, the relationships, and members relative social
587
locations. From these findings we were able to the connectedness of community members and
ascertain information flow (Wellman & Gulia, the higher the degree of connection, the higher
1999). the possibility of community. Our calculations
We also coded the interactions for content to revealed a density ratio of.67, suggesting that
determine emerging themes using a grounded 67% of all possible connections were made, i.e.
theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). This Density = 2(35)/23(22) = 0.67 with fragmentation
process was used as a guide in the identification of 0.324. Although there is no baseline data to
of themes so as to build a categorization scheme. ascertain the existence of community, the density
We were particularly interested in establishing a level suggests strong connection between com-
research framework to compare what was observed munity members. The overall reciprocity value
with what existed in the literature (Taylor, & is the same as in a dyad-based model (assuming
Bogdan, 1998). Themes, sentences, paragraphs, relationships exist between objects), i.e., Num
messages, and propositions were all treated as (Xij>0 and Xji>0)/Num (Xij>0 or Xji>0) where
semantic units of analyses (Daniel, Schwier, & reciprocity equals 0.4545 indicating a fair number
Ross, 2005). of links. This suggests a certain level of interaction
in this community overall.
Also, present were individuals with a high
RESULTS number of reciprocal relationships. For instance,
Badboy had the highest level of reciprocal rela-
According to SNA theory, social relationships are tionships in the community with 6, followed by
viewed as nodes and linksnodes referring to in- Terresita (5) and Hi (5) respectively. It follows
dividual community members within the network, that Badboy holds one of the most strategic posi-
and links referring to the flow of relationships tions in the community connecting with disparate
between members. In its simplest form, a network others such as Limpbizkit, Alan and Gring06. On
graph represents a map of the links between the the other hand, Hi and Segetel are both connected
nodes. Using UCINET 6 software (Borgatti, & to two important individuals in the community,
Freeman, 2002) to generate the network, we ascer- namely Nikopol and Tomnjerry. Though Nikopol
tained that there were 23 members/nodes (N=23) and Tomnjerry have few connections, they occupy
with links indicating interaction flow. These nodes critical positions in the social network in that they
and links subsequently determined patterns of are hubs by which new information can flow to
discourse as well as community structure. The red and from other communities. Moreover, Nikopol
coloured links indicate reciprocal relationships and Tomnjerry also help to convey that new in-
while blue coloured links indicate one-way flow formation to community members. There are also
of information (see Figure 1). outlier community members. Outliers members
To ascertain whether a community formed are not directly connected to others are sometimes
out of the interactions, group density was deter- referred to as lurkers in virtual communities.
mined. Density was calculated using the following These include Treo, Mugga, Guago and Charly,
formula: Density = 2a/N (N-1), where a is the though it is possible that they are lurking because
number of observed interactions between partici- they were absent during much of the community
pants, and N is the total number of participants interaction as this was an open virtual community
(Fahy, 2001). Fahy (2001) cautions however, that with anonymous members who possibly changed
density is sensitive to network size, so larger aliases over time.
networks will likely exhibit lower density ratios
than smaller ones. Thus density is a measure of
588
CONTENT ANALYSIS The following procedures are often used when

doing conceptual analysis:
Content analysis, which is increasingly employed
in many domains, is often used to determine the 1. Deciding how many concepts to code for
presence of words, concepts, and patterns within 2. Deciding whether to code for the existence
larger bodies of text (Stemler, 2001). Researchers or frequency of a concept
have used content analysis to understand social 3. Deciding how to distinguish between
issues, especially those critical to collaborative concepts
learning (Rourke, Andersen & Archer, 2001; 4. Developing rules for coding
Soller, 2001; Soller & Lesgold, 2003). Content 5. Deciding what to do with irrelevant
analysis involves the application of systematic and information
replicable techniques for compressing large bodies 6. Coding the sample of text data
of text into a few categories based on explicit rules 7. Inferring meaning from text data
of coding (Krippendorff, 1980; Rourke, Andersen 8. Using graphs or tables to present results
and Archer, 2001). Although researchers might
take different steps when doing content analysis, Relational content analysis, on the other hand,
critical steps commonly involve: begins with the identification of concepts present
in a given sample transcript. Unlike conceptual
1. Defining the kinds of data sought for analysis content analysis, relational content analysis, also
2. Determining the population from which known as semantic analysis (Palmquist, Carley,
sample data is to be drawn & Dale, 1997), goes beyond the ascertaining the
3. Defining data boundaries mere presence of concepts to explore relationships
4. Identifying and defining concepts to be between concepts identified. In other words, stand-
analyzed alone concepts in themselves do not make sense
5. Describing the context in which the data is until they are placed into an appropriate context,
to be analyzed. and meaning is a product of the relationships
6. Deciding beforehand on the level, breadth among concepts within a body of text.
and depth of the inferences to be made Recently, computer programs have been used
7. Drawing semantic and contextual inferences to automate the process of content analysis (Orio-
gun, 2003; Pilkington, 1999). However, computer
Coding is normally done manually and is ac- programs are only efficient when coding for ex-
complished through the reading and re-reading of plicit concepts and where there are minimal or no
a sample of chosen transcripts noting occurrences language errors. Further, automating this process
of variables, concepts, words, or other units of can potentially hamper researchers ability to not
analysis. Doing content analysis manually is rel- only make deep inferences about context, but also
evant in many situations, especially when coding hampers the identification and avoidance of logi-
for implicit information. It enables researchers to cal fallacies. Using both humans and machines to
draw both semantic and contextual inferences. code data may circumvent such problems. This
Conceptual content analysis, sometimes re- latter approach first looks for the occurrence of
ferred to as thematic analysis, is where a concept words or concepts. The results from this process
is quantified by looking for the frequency of its are then further manipulated for deeper infer-
occurrence. The concept or theme can be either ences. Since different researchers use content
implicit or explicitly stated. analysis differently, various coding schemes with
different levels of analysis have been proposed
589
(Daniel, Poon & Sarkar, 2005). Variations in By comparison, in pre-determined coding:

coding schemes and levels of analysis pose many
problems. These include: 1. Code categories are established prior to
the analysis based upon a well-established
Manual coding is cumbersome theory.
Issues of reliability including coder and 2. Researchers then consult with other research-
inter-coder consistency and reproducibility ers on the code categories.
Issues of internal validity 3. Coding is applied to the sample of text or
Issues of comparability or the extent to discourse.
which the classification of a text corre- 4. Revisions are made as necessary, and the code
sponds to a standard norm statistically categories are tightened to ensure that code
(Busch, De Maret, Flynn, Kellum, Le, categories are mutually exclusive (Stemler,
Meyers, Saunders, White & Palmquist, 2001).
2005). 5. No reliability check is necessary as code
categories are already established and which
Emergent vs. Pre-Determined are based on theory.
Coding Schemes
Regardless of which scheme is used, code
In an emergent scheme, which is one of two categories are neither entirely independent nor
main types of coding schemes, code categories separately describable. They may overlap and
are established following a preliminary examina- contain many units of analysis. However, context
tion of the data and are usually based upon the specific limits should be imposed on the mean-
following logic: ing of data.
The research discussed here employed a pre-
1. Two or more researchers independently determined coding scheme, and took into account
review the material and come up with a set different levels of analysis (sentence, paragraph,
of features arising from the data and present and message). Thematic and conceptual content
the features in checklist form. analysis provided a framework where themes were
2. These researchers then compare notes compared. Inferences about meaning were made
reconciling any differences in their initial whenever concepts seemed to occur or cluster
checklists. together. Figure 2 shows our coding scheme and
3. The checklists are combined and the data units of analysis.
is coded by each researcher independently In-depth thematic content analysis of the
using the combined checklist. sample of transcripts was performed using Atlas.
4. Coder reliability is measured (a 95% agree- ti (www.atlasti.com) a qualitative data manage-
ment is suggested;.8 value for Cohens ment tool that is capable of managing vast amounts
kappa) (Stemler, 2001). If the level of reli- of textual, graphical, audio and video data. Each
ability is not achieved, researchers normally sample transcript was analyzed by assigning codes
repeat the previous steps until it is. indicative of pre-determined categories. Employ-
5. When the acceptable level of reliability is ing thematic content analysis techniques in tandem
achieved, coding is applied to a larger sample with Atlas-ti, themes were discovered, categorized
of text or discourse. and are summarized in Figure 3.
6. A periodic check-and-balance is normally The results reveal a variation in themes, perhaps
performed. reflecting the nature of the individuals in the
590
Figure 2. Our coding scheme and units of analysis
community, who also tend to vary over time. munication. It also seemed that some community
Clearly there are a number of emergent themes members freely shared information about where
in this community which exhibit interesting pat- they lived while still maintaining a certain level
terns. While every community has unique language of anonymity.
and specific ways members tend to express them-
selves, members in this community used a lot
similes and informal language, which might sound SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
offensive to outsiders but still appeared to be ac-
cepted in this community. The growing tendency to join virtual communities
Members also displayed a certain level of for purely social purposes has created vast quanti-
hospitality towards each other. Visual cues were ties of semi-structured data such as web pages,
also used as powerful reinforcements to com- e-mail list archives, blog postings, and forum
Figure 3. Emergent discourse themes
591
logs. These computer-mediated interactions leave communities trickle down into a private corporate
a digital record that opens up new opportunities database which make access a challenge.
to systematically capture relational data. There Further, context seems to be an important
are several challenges associated with studying aspect of data analysis, especially textual (qualita-
informal virtual communities. Some of these tive) data. Since the researchers might not have
challenges are generally attributed to the fact that participated in the context in which such data was
virtual communities are emergent social entities generated, this makes interpretation of meaning
where adequate methods for examining these difficult.
communities are still lacking. A major problem As there are an increasing number of informal
of analyzing informal virtual communities is the communities on the internet, understanding the
paucity of relational data. Up until recently, social nature of community interaction and goals is criti-
scientists could do little more than speculate about cal. However, researchers still need to overcome
the dynamics of informal virtual communities. challenges associated with developing a set of
A major issue is understanding inconsistency of methods and tools beyond ethnographical and
interaction patterns in these communities. In ad- participant observation methods.
dition, social interactions are fleeting and mostly
private in most of these communities, making them
difficult to capture and arduous to hand-code and REFERENCES
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593
594
Chapter 36
Research Methods for Studying
Virtual Communities
Nana Adu-Pipim Boaduo
University of the Free State, South Africa
ABSTRACT
Very often virtual community student researchers find it difficult to decide on methodological paradigms,
the choice for methods and their application to use in a given research study. They may stay thousands
of kilometres from their study supervisors. Some of them might not have had the opportunity to acquire
basic research knowledge and skills while other must have trained in advance research methods. This
chapter caters for both these group of virtual community readers. In many instances the possible means
of contact may either be by phone or by the Internet. The problems of distance and non-physical con-
tact with their supervisors may deter virtual community researchers from engaging in regular research
activities. To complicate the problem of virtual community students are the provisions of authors who
write research books who rarely discuss:
The philosophical underpinnings of both qualitative and quantitative methods,

How qualitative and quantitative methods can be applied in a research study,
Where they can be applied in the study,
When to apply them in the study, and
What to do to enable the virtual researcher make informed professional decision about the choice
of methodology.
Coupled with these dilemmas are the virtual community researchers choices of framework for data
collection, treatment, analysis and interpretation to make the study report a professional masterpiece.
This chapter discusses basic research methodologies to place the virtual community researchers in a
comfortable position and clarifies the dilemma inherent in the virtual community research fraternity.
Later in the chapter advanced discussion of systematic methodological application where data collected
for a research study can be conveniently treated, analysed and interpreted to be able to write a profes-
sional masterpiece of a research report as a contribution to the knowledge data base.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch036
Research Methods for Studying Virtual Communities
INTRODUCTION question and the development of a meaningful

research proposal. There is need to decide on the
Practically, any research textbook will advise on focus of the study and the provision of a statement
the concept of research: what it is and what it is of purpose after which critical research questions
not (Bryman, 2004; Vos, et all, 2005; Leedy, 1980; should be considered, which will further focus
Tuckman, 1988; Ary & Razavieh, 1972; Gay, on the research problem and help to refine the
1976; Nachmias & Nachmias 1981; Barzun & statement of purpose. The rationale is required
Graff, 1977; Bell, 2004; Anderson, Herr, Nihlen, for the reader to see the need for the study. This
1994; Bless & Higson-Smith, 2004; Baker, 1999; is followed by an elaborate literature review that
Miles & Huberman, 1994). Some may provide a will focus on what has been done previously in
list of criteria with which to comply. Others may the selected area chosen for the study and what
give some tentative guide as to how to approach a has not been done usually referred to as gap
research study. At the beginning of a research study lapse that would be filled by the present study.
the following are required: research topic, state- A theoretical framework, which is a well-
ment of the main research problem, sub-problems, developed and articulated comprehensive expla-
rationale, and literature review, methodological nation on which the entire research study will
choice that will guide the study, limitation and depend on for the events to follow, is identified.
delimitation of the chosen topic, chapter outline, From this point, the need for data collection tech-
appendices and list of references. niques comes to focus. In this respect, the general
Furthermore, it will be important to be familiar methodological orientation pertaining to the study
with the following to be able to situate the study is required. There is need to pay particular atten-
professionally: tion to the research parameters within which the
required data for the study will be collected as
Sketch of the need for the research topic well as the instruments that would be used for
which the researcher feels comfortable and this purpose. Elaborate explanation as to how
knowledgeable to undertake. the collected data will be treated, analysed and
Discussion of the need to know and clearly interpreted comes to attention for consideration at
understand the philosophical underpin- this stage. A general tentative outline of chapters
nings of both qualitative and quantitative will be required. Time frame should be providing
methods so as to be able to select and apply to indicate the beginning and the end of the study.
them professionally. Finally, if the study is financed by an agency where
Elaboration of the need for the choice of you have to account for the money given for the
applicable methods and relevant instru- study then there will be need to provide a budget
ments and techniques for the collection, where a table detailing all possible expenses that
treatment, analysis and interpretation of would be incurred is provided.
data; and
Identification of how it is necessary to in-
terweave the processes listed to expose the PUTTING A RESEARCH STUDY
relevance of knowing what to do, how to INTO PERSPECTIVE
do it and why to be able to address a re-
search problem professionally. Again, a study of research textbooks reveal
that after introducing the reader to the research
Generally, the first step of a research design proposal may touch on research types (Myles &
is the need for the identification of a research Huberman, 1994; Bless & Higson-Smith, 2004;
595
Anderson, Herr, Nihlen, 1994). Unfortunately, on explanation, prediction and proof are the hall-
as Maykut and Morehouse (2003) observe, most marks of positivism.
research textbooks say practically nothing about Qualitative research focuses on the underpin-
the philosophical underpinnings of qualitative ning of the meaning events have for the group
and quantitative paradigms. What follows is a being studied. Even though phenomenological
discussion of what these two authors consider approach to enquiry includes quantitative research,
as significant knowledge base for researchers it has under its umbrella such areas in enquiry as
if appropriate and relevant methodology can be ethno-methodology, symbolic interactionism, and
understood before choosing and applying them hermeneutic enquiry, grounded theory, naturalis-
in a research study. tic enquiry and ethnography (Patton, 1991). The
Both authors argue that quantitative research phenomenological position sees the individual and
is traditionally based on observations that are its world as co-constituted. That is, the individual
converted into discrete units that can be compared is viewed as having no existence apart from the
with other units by using statistical analysis. To world and the world as having no existence apart
them they may be modifications and variations from the individual (Vale & King, 1978; Maykut
on this general picture of quantitative research. & Morehouse, 2003).
Statistical analysis is an essential part of quan- To give a clear picture about the differences
titative research. In principle, their argument is in methodological paradigms, the following four
that quantitative research is based on a positiv- philosophical concepts need discussion: ontol-
ist position. On the other hand, their argument ogy, epistemology, logic and teleology. All the
continues with qualitative research and indicates four concepts fall in the realm of assumptions
that in general terms it examines peoples words (Hoy & Miskel, 2001). Ontological assumptions
and actions in narrative and/or descriptive ways deal with the nature of being and pose questions
more closely representing the situation as expe- about the nature of reality. One known question
rienced by the participants. To them qualitative in this category is What is the nature of reality?
research is based on a phenomenological position. Epistemological assumptions concern the origins
In brief, these enface differences between quan- of knowledge and the most important questions
titative and qualitative are further distinguished usually asked are What is the relationship be-
by their philosophic underpinnings (Maykut & tween the knower and the known? What role do
Morehouse, 2003). values play in understanding? Logical assump-
tions on the other hand, deal principally with
the principles of demonstration or verification.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE Some of the important questions about the logic
RESEARCH METHODS of enquiry are Are causal linkages between bits
of information possible? What is the possibility
According to Stromberg (1986) positivism is of generalization? Teleological assumptions
synonymous with science or observable facts. In deal with interpretation in terms of purpose. Te-
simple terms, positivism has come to mean ob- leological questions include What does research
servable enquiry based on measurable variables contribute to knowledge? What is the purpose of
and provide propositions. The positivist research research? (Maykut & Morehouse, 2003:3-4).
orientation holds that science is primarily con- The questions raised by the four philosophical
cerned with the explanation and the prediction of concepts need answers and these are referred to as
observable events (Kincheloe, 1991). Insistence postulates of the research paradigm. Paradigm is
a set of overarching and interconnected assump-
596
tions about the nature of reality. In other words, circumstances. At the level of a research study
assumptions are keys to unravel events. One has where the researcher has to make a choice con-
to make assumptions about the nature of reality cerning methods for the study, the researcher has
because anything that a researcher might do to to encounter both the actual applicable methods
test what reality is, of necessity, must be based and techniques and the underlying philosophy
on some understanding of that reality. regarding their use in the study. In this respect
On the other hand, philosophic assumptions the philosophy will include a theory of when and
cannot be proved but can be stipulated. These why to apply, for instance qualitative rather than
stipulations are postulates. Therefore, an assump- quantitative method and the awareness of the limi-
tion positively stated becomes postulate and a set tations of equally applicable and relevant various
of postulates make a paradigm. Paradigms, like methods. The distinction between the three levels
the postulates on which they are based cannot be in the methodological paradigmatic dimension is
tested (Maykut & Morehouse, 2003). However, represented diagrammatically in Figure 1. The
the paradigm provides the largest reliable and emphases in this respect are that:
verifiable framework within which every research
takes place. Furthermore, paradigm is the world- 1. All Research methods and techniques are
view within which all researchers (be they virtual task-specific and the task is often defined
or traditional) work. Postulates are the individual by the research goal.
assumptions that are stipulated to be true. 2. Different research studies use different
Pertinently, a tradition in research consists of research methods and techniques because
more or less like-minded researchers who accept they have different objectives.
the postulates within the paradigm as working 3. Research methods and techniques must be
assumptions. However, research methods are appropriate and relevant for the task at hand.
task-specific, many and varied within that tradi- 4. These should also apply to all the aspects
tion. While the research methods are distinct, they of the research study sampling, question-
share some specific points and general orienta- naire and interview schedule design, data
tions within the tradition. In this case, the two treatment, analysis and interpretation.
competing traditions are the positivist and the
phenomenological traditions.
DATA SOURCES FOR A
CHOSEN STUDY
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
METHODOLOGICAL PARADIGMS The purpose of collecting data for a chosen re-
search study using the most relevant and applicable
In any research study there is need to identify methods and techniques is to be able to address
the most relevant and applicable methodologi- the research problem scientifically and appropri-
cal paradigms that will enable the researcher to ately and to achieve the research goal (Tuckman,
successfully conduct the study. Mouton (1996) 1988; Dey, 1993; Strauss, 1993; Mason, 1994;
believes that methodological paradigms - for Ritchie & Spencer, 1994). It has been indicated
instance those related to qualitative, quantitative that quantitative data deals principally with sta-
and participatory action - are not merely collec- tistical or numerical specifications while that of
tions of research methods with their applicable qualitative data deals with interpretations and
techniques. They rather include certain assump- meaning (Dey, 1993). To Carspecken (1996) these
tions and values regarding their use under specific meanings are expressed through action language
597
Figure 1. Levels of methodogical dimensions
and like meanings and interpretations, numbers practice. Whatever way this is looked at, social
are important at all levels of measurements in phenomena are concept dependent and are not
research. However, numbers must be based on impervious to the meaning ascribed to them (Sayer,
meaningful conceptualizations. Furthermore, 1992). Therefore, it can be specifically implied that
qualitative and quantitative methods, certainly, qualitative data convey meaningful information
complement each other for meaningful research in a form more precise and understandable other
report documentation (Giarelli, 1988). The ap- than numbers (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; Maykut &
plication of more than one research method in a Morehouse, 1994). Complementarily, at different
single study is termed triangulation. levels of measurement, numbers [that is quantita-
Concepts used in a research study are con- tive data] and meanings [that is qualitative data]
structed in terms of inter-subjective language, are related to give a clearer picture than otherwise
which allows for intelligible communication would be if a single method is applied (Dey, 1993).
and effective interaction among researchers who Another important aspect of a research study
may have access to the research report (Sayer, is the ability to categorize. Categorising brings
1992). However, meaning is a matter of making together a number of observations, which could
distinctive distinctions. This is further bound up be considered similar or different in some respect
with the contrasts between what is asserted and by implied contrast with other observations and
what is implied not to be the case (Tuckman, data obtained from the questionnaire or interview
1988:389). Meaning, therefore, resides in social schedules. Such classification helps to differenti-
598
ate between observations and adds to information Denzin, 1978: 33; Delamont, 1992: 150). The
about the data collected (Merton, 1968; Conrad thin descriptions merely state facts while the
& Reinhartz, 1984; Dey, 1993; Delmont, 1992; thick descriptions include information about the
Bryman & Burgess, 1994). This enables the context of the act, the intentions and the mean-
researcher to give accurate analysis and interpre- ings that organise the action and its subsequent
tation depending on the classified groupings of evolution (Charles, 1995; Soltis, 1990). In most
questionnaire and the interview responses. circumstance in a research study, qualitative
analysis aims to provide thorough descriptions of
the collected data to make them meaningful (Dey,
INTERPRETATION OF 1993). Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation
ANALYSED DATA of the three aspects of description in qualitative
analysis that is context, intention and process.
Yin (1994) stresses that to interpret data collected From this perspective the analysis becomes
for a research study; it is important to use mean- intertwined and moves into an iterative spiral from
ingful categories to organise the data in order to data to classifying describing and connecting
get precise measure of the variables concerned. to an account of what the data revealed. This is
Generally, problems of analysis and interpretation represented diagrammatically in Figure 3. By
are pervasive in any research study which data in doing this the context of the data, intention and
any category is considered. In any research, study process of the research study and the complete
numbers [statistical records] are not enough. To classification of the data have been given the at-
make these numbers reasonable and useful, they tention needed in the study.
have to refer to concepts established through
qualitative analysis (Bryman & Burgess, 1994). Context
While quantities are powerful because of the
complex mathematical operations they permit, The need to take account of context in a research
they mean nothing or mean very little if at all, in study is a recurrent theme in qualitative analysis.
themselves unless they are based on meaningful In qualitative analysis, contexts are important
conceptualization. In other words, social or sci- as a means of situating action and of grasping
entific research without qualitative data would its wider social, economic, political, scientific
not connect with the world in which we live and and historical import. This may further require
interact. Therefore, data obtained through the detailed descriptions of their social setting within
instruments selected for a research study can be which action occurs: the relevant social context
grouped [or categorized], analysed and interpreted may be a group, organization, culture, society
in a generally or specifically acceptable manner or a system; the period within which the action
making the findings and recommendations appli- takes place; the spatial context and the network
cable and relevant to practitioners and the public. of social relationships (Dey, 1993).
Intention
STEPS IN QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION As already indicated in this discussion qualitative
analysis aims at describing the world as differ-
In the analyses of data collected for a qualitative ent observers perceive it. The analysis is usually
research study two kinds of descriptions are used, concerned with how actors define situations and
these are thin and thick (Geerz, 1973:30; explain the motives, which govern their actions.
599
Figure 2. The three aspects of description in qualitative analysis
It must therefore, be ensured that this relates to Process

intentions of the actors involved in the research
study and this must be spelt out clearly in the Qualitative research often seeks to illuminate the
study report (Dey, 1993; Stake, 1994; Carspecken, ways individuals or objects interact to sustain or
1996). change social situations. Qualitative data there-
fore, is descriptive of social relationships and
interchange, which unfold in the succession of
Figure 3. Qualitative analysis as an iterative spiral
600
action and events in which the actors are engaged. Furthermore, classification involves break-
Data collected can themselves be conceived as ing up collected data and then bringing the parts
interactive process through which the researcher logically together again into related sequence.
struggles to elicit meaningful interpretation of The data then form the conceptual foundation
social action that the data may reveal. for a specific analysis. Classification therefore,
In all research studies analysis follows data col- becomes a familiar process of practical reason-
lection. The result of the analysis depends on and ing. Categorising and retrieving data provide the
is modified by the collection and the investigation basis for comparison. Redefining categories can
of further data. In this way the researchers become produce more rigorous conceptualization. Clas-
participants in their research project, for their own sification, in all cases, is guided by the research
interpretations and actions become legitimate ob- objectives and once data have been classified
ject of subsequent analysis by other researchers. and categorised; they lead to finding answers to
Furthermore, information on the researchers own the research problem or creating more confusing
behaviour and thinking in the form of field notes, problems for further investigation (Dey, 1993).
memos and diary can become a vital source of data
for the overall analysis. In this way, the process
shifts attention from context and intention to ac- DATA NEEDED FOR A
tion and consequences (Sayer, 1992). In putting RESEARCH STUDY
together and relating the central characteristics
through a reasoned account, description acquires Two basic data sources required for research stud-
its unity and force. Description, according to Dey ies have been secondary and primary. Secondary
(1993: 39) tells of a story about the data and data collection helps the researcher to provide
uses a range of techniques such as - summarising relevant background to the study and are, in
events, focusing on key episodes, delineating roles most cases, available for retrieval from recorded
and characters, setting out chronological sequence sources. Primary data collection requires the re-
to construct an illuminating narrative. searcher to venture into the field where the study is
to take place; armed with the relevant instruments
Classification - questionnaire, interview schedules or arranged
meetings with the selected population - to solicit
Interpretation and explanation of data are the key the necessary information. Data collected assist
responsibilities of the researcher. In all research the researcher to answer the research questions
studies, it is necessary to develop a meaningful and address the research problem. The collection,
and adequate account of what has been researched. treatment, analysis and interpretation of both
The data collected provide the basis of analysis secondary and primary data combine to make the
(Burgess, 1982; Tuckman, 1988). The collected researcher produce a report. This chapter proposes
data require the development of a conceptual to present a systematic methodological application
framework through which the actions or events where data collected for a research study can be
researched can be rendered intelligible (Yin, 1994). conveniently treated, analysed and interpreted.
To explain is to account for an action. Interpreta- Attempt to present the collected primary data in
tion requires the development of conceptual tools both quantitative and qualitative spheres will be
through which to comprehend the significance made so that researchers who use either method
of social action and how actions interrelate. In- or both are able to apply them confidently.
terpretation therefore, makes the analysed data In any kind of research study researchers col-
meaningful to practitioners and users. lect a large amount of disjointed data by using
601
the most appropriate data collection methods Research methods and techniques are task
and techniques (Fitz-Gibbon & Morris, 1987; specific and the task is often defined by the
Morris, Fitz-Gibbon & Freeman, 1987; Patton, research goal.
1987). Qualitative and quantitative approaches Different research studies use different re-
lend themselves for application (Bryman, 2004). search paradigms, methods and techniques
The choice of a methodology or a multiplicity because they have different objectives.
of methods for a research study has also been The research paradigms, methods and
a major problem, especially, to beginning re- techniques must be appropriate, relevant
searchers (Boaduo, 2005; Boaduo, 2006). Some and applicable for the task under study.
researchers prefer to use either a single method The research paradigms, methods and
or a multiplicity of them, usually referred to as techniques should apply to all the aspects
triangulation. Data can be statistically treated, of the research study, which are sampling,
analysed and interpreted. However, most analysis questionnaire, interview schedule design,
and interpretation apply the qualitative approach data treatment, analysis and interpretation.
because it does not demand elaborate mathemati-
cal treatment and analysis.
It is very important to consider the levels of DATA AND DATA SOURCES
methodological dimensions in a research study.
These enable the researcher to identify the most Data, according to many authors are series of
relevant and applicable methodological paradigms observations, measurements, facts and informa-
that will lead to the successfully completion of the tion that are required to be collected, systemati-
study. Mouton (1999) believes that methodological cally organised, treated, analysed and interpreted
paradigms for instance those related to qualita- to provide the research report (Neuman, 2000;
tive, quantitative and participatory action are Fits-Gibbon & Morris, 1987; Wiersma, 2000;
not merely collections of research methods with Gay & Airasian, 2000; Bryman, 2004; Baker,
their applicable techniques. They include certain 1999; Miles & Huberman, 1994). The term can
assumptions and values regarding their choice and be used as a singular or plural (Collins English
use under specific circumstances. According to Dictionary, 2004). Data can be numerical or non-
Boaduo (2005, 2006), at the level of a research numerical forms of information and evidence that
where the researcher has to make a choice con- have been carefully gathered according to rules
cerning methods for the study, the researcher has or established procedures (Neuman, 2000). Data
to encounter both the actual applicable methods can be grouped into qualitative and quantitative.
and techniques and the underlying philosophy Technique, method or strategy, applicable to par-
regarding their use in the study. The philosophy ticular data collection is always used in a research
will include theory of when and why to choose study. However, it is possible that a multiplicity of
and apply, for instance, qualitative rather than techniques, methods or strategies can be used in
quantitative method; and the awareness of the the collection of data. In all research studies the
limitations of equally applicable and relevant data that are to be collected should be relevant and
various methods. The distinction between the contribute towards finding answers to the research
three levels in the methodological paradigmatic questions that help to solve the research problem.
dimension is represented in Figure 1. It is important to indicate that the technique,
According to Boaduo (2005, 2006), the rel- method or strategy for data collection can be
evance of methodological paradigms pertains to grouped into two categories. These are quanti-
the emphasis placed, with respect to the fact that: tative (collecting data in the form of numbers,
602
especially statistical data) and qualitative (col- intrinsic properties (Miles & Huberman, 1994;
lecting data in the form of words or pictures). Bless & Higson-Smith, 2004).
What needs to be taken into account is that some Researchers collect their own data in the field
techniques, methods and strategies are more effec- for the purpose of a particular study. It is called
tive and efficient when addressing specific kind primary data. Data collected in this way should be
of research questions or topics. However, it takes appropriate to the aims of the research and must
knowledge and skill, practice and creativity to always be directed towards answering precisely the
match a research question to an appropriate data questions raised by the researcher in the research
collection technique, method or strategy (Patton, proposal which later form the basis of the ques-
1987; Fitz-Gibbon & Morris, 1987). tionnaires prepared to gather additional primary
data (Fitz-Gibbon & Morris, 1987).
Researchers also use data collected by other
DATA AND MEASUREMENT researchers in relation to other research problems
as part of the usual gathering of secondary sources
A research report stands on the quality of the facts as in the case of population census, or the reports
and data on which it is based. It is important to of other researchers or even in published and un-
indicate that an excellent research design and a very published documented sources. Such data broadly
representative sample are not sufficient to ensure constitute secondary data. Generally, the need for
good results if the analysis rests on incorrect data. secondary data through the activity of literature
The importance of constructing an appropriate and review is to search and identify information that
accurate instrument for measuring and collecting would enable the researcher find out about what
data is absolute necessity. The different scales other researchers have done, and they did not do
of measurement depend on the type of research in order to establish a gap lapse; to augment the
and the type of data being collected. Through study under investigation without repeating a
data collection, the researcher comes into direct study that has been already conducted (Boaduo,
contact with other human beings. It is of prime 2005, 2006; Bryman, 2004; Bell, 2004; Miles &
importance, therefore, that attention is drawn to Huberman, 1994).
some ethical considerations concerning the rights
of the participants (Bless & Higson-Smith, 2004).
Facts are empirically verifiable observations. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Data consists of measurements collected as a result AND QUALITATIVE DATA
of scientific observations. Furthermore, data are
facts expressed in the language of measurement Generally, all data collected for any research
(Henerson, Morris & Fitz-Gibbon, 1987). In this study are either quantitative or qualitative. They
sense, measurement is used in a general sense. may refer to essences of the researched people,
One can measure the intensity of an attitude, objects and situations (Berg, 1989). Miles and
perception or feeling. For instance, a persons Huberman (1994) hold the view that qualitative
view on an educational reform could be positive, research is conducted through an intense and pro-
negative or neutral. The fact that this person takes longed contact with the field or real life situation.
a definite position towards an issue in education According to them these situations are typically
becomes data once it is expressed in a measure- normal ones, reflective of the everyday life of
ment (Herman, Morris & Fitz-Gibbon, 1987). individuals, groups, societies and organizations.
Data therefore, can be classified according to the They further indicate that the researchers role is
way in which it was collected or in terms of its to gain holistic (systematic, encompassing and
603
integrated) overview of the context under study; tion, interviews or documents and according to
its logic, its arrangements, its explicit and implicit Atkinson (1991 & 1992) are texts constructed by
rules. In this way, the researcher attempts to capture the field worker on the basis of observation and
data on the perceptions of local actors from the participation. Wolcott (1992) is of the opinion that
inside, through a process of deep attentiveness, watching, asking and examining, as the collection
of empathetic understanding and of suspending of the data proceeds, influence, to some extent,
preconceptions about the topic under study. The the interpretation given by the researcher because
onus of this exposition is that reading through the data collection activities are carried out in
these materials, the researcher may, under special close proximity to a local setting for a sustained
circumstances, isolate certain themes and expres- period of time, usually the duration of the data
sions that can be reviewed with informants during collection period.
data collection but that should be maintained in
their original forms throughout the study.
Jacob (1987), in his research taxonomy, lists APPROACHES TO QUANTITATIVE
five major qualitative research traditions. These AND QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSES
are ecological psychology, holistic ethnography,
ethnography of communication, cognitive an- Fitz-Gibbon and Morris (1987) state clearly that
thropology and symbolic interactionism. He uses there are three ways in which quantitative statisti-
dimensions including assumptions about human cal techniques can be used in quantitative study.
nature and society, the focus (that examines the These applications are to:
content at social level) and the methodology
(which attend to the research design, data col- describe data,
lection and analysis) (Miles & Huberman, 1994). generate hypotheses and
According to Tesch (1990) the main task of test hypotheses.
qualitative research is to explicate the ways people
in particular settings come to understand, account In the description of quantitative data there
for, take action and otherwise manage their day- is need to summarize the scores in the collected
to-day situations. Tesch holds the view that many data, describe them economically and accurately.
interpretations can be accorded to the data col- Statistics used to describe data in this format are
lected which are more compelling for theoretical descriptive statistics.
reasons or on grounds of internal inconsistency. In the generation of hypotheses, a large amount
The contention to this view is that relatively, of information like responses from many different
little standardized instrumentation is used at the kinds of respondents to some questionnaire may
outset. In this way, the researcher is essentially be collected. It is ideal to use statistics to identify
the main measurement device in the study to if there are any patterns in the data to be able to
provide appropriate interpretation. This leads to generate hypotheses. Searching through the data
the view that most analysis is done with words. for relationships is sometimes tedious but can
These words can be assembled, sub-clustered also mean a successful exploratory data analysis
and broken into semiotic segments. They can be (Tukey, 1977). It is always necessary to recog-
organized to permit the researcher to compare and nize the generation of hypotheses and the testing
contrast, analyze and bestow patterns upon them of hypotheses. It is important to realize that the
making the data intelligible for use and application same procedures used to search a set of data for
(Miles & Huberman, 1994). The words chosen relationships can also be used to test hypotheses
for the description are usually based on observa-
604
to see if there is strong evidence that a relation- to get precise measure of the variables concerned.
ship is just more than a chance pattern in the data. Generally, problems of analysis and interpretation
The need for hypothesis testing arises in a re- are pervasive in any research study which data in
search study from the fact that we almost always any category is considered (Mason, 1994; Strauss,
work with limited data especially population 1993). Again in any research study numbers [sta-
sampled for the study; and hope to be able to tistical data] are not enough (Boaduo, 2006). To
generalize from our own small samples to larger make these quantitative numbers reasonable and
samples. This we usually do by drawing infer- useful, they have to refer to concepts established
ences from small samples and the statistics used through qualitative analysis (Bryman & Burgess
to do this are referred to as inferential statistics. 1994). While quantities are powerful because
Statistics gives us some reassurance in quantitative of the complex mathematical operations they
data analysis; there may not be proof or certainty permit, they mean nothing or mean very little
in their application (Fitz-Gibbon & Morris, 1987). if at all, in themselves unless they are based on
Miles and Huberman (1994: 8) view the line meaningful conceptualization. In other words,
of enquiry in qualitative study as human activ- social or scientific research based on quantitative
ity or text as a collection of symbols expressing data without qualitative data would not connect
layers of meaning. For Dilthey (1911 & 1977) well with the world in which we live and interact.
and the phenomenologist (Maykut & Morehouse, Therefore, data obtained through the instruments
1994) the way to qualitative enquiry leads to deep selected for a research study must be grouped
understanding of the subjects of the enquiry. There [or categorized], analysed and interpreted in
is practical understanding of meanings and ac- a generally or specifically acceptable manner
tions. To the social interactionists, interpretation making the findings revealed by the data and the
comes via the understanding of group actions and recommendations made, based on the findings
interactions (Dey, 1993). They argue that they have are applicable and relevant to practitioners and
their own understandings, convictions, conceptual the public for articulation. In the analyses of data
orientations and are members of a particular culture collected for a qualitative research study two
at a specific historical moment. More importantly, kinds of descriptions are used: these are thin
they are affected by what they hear and observe in and thick (Geerz 1973:30; Denzin 1978: 33;
the field unnoticed. However, in both cases there Delamont 1992: 150). The thin descriptions
is an inevitable interpretation of meanings for the merely state facts while the thick descriptions
social actors and the researcher. It is important include information about the context of the act,
to note that in deciding what to leave, what to the intentions and the meanings that organise the
highlight, what to report first and last, what to action and its subsequent evolution (Boaduo, 2006;
interconnect, and what main ideas are important Charles 1995; Soltis 1990). In most circumstance
in collected data for a study; analytic choices are in a research study, qualitative analysis aims to
made continuously (Yin, 1994). provide thorough descriptions of the collected
data to make them meaningful to readers and
practitioners (Dey 1993). Figure 2 represents the
GENERAL STEPS IN DATA three aspects of description in qualitative analysis
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION namely context, intention and process.
From this perspective the analysis becomes
Yin (1994) stresses that to interpret data col- intertwined and moves into an iterative spiral
lected for a research study it is important to use from data to classifying describing and con-
meaningful categories to organise them in order necting to an account of what the data revealed.
605
This is represented in Figure 3. By doing this the project. The interpretations and actions become
context of the data, intention and process of the legitimate object of subsequent analysis by other
research study and the complete classification of researchers. Furthermore, information on the
the data have been given the attention they need researchers own behaviour and thinking in the
for the explicit interpretation of the collected data form of field notes, memos and diary can become
(Boaduo, 2006). a vital source of data for the overall analysis to
The need to take account of context in a research augment the final report for the study (Miles &
study is a recurrent theme in qualitative analysis. Huberman, 1994). In this way, the process shifts
Context is important in qualitative analysis be- attention from context and intention to action and
cause it serves as a means of situating action and consequences (Sayer 1992). In putting together
of grasping its wider social, economic, political, and relating the central characteristics through a
scientific and historical import. This may further reasoned account, description acquires its unity
require detailed descriptions of their social setting and force. Description, according to Dey (1993:
within which action occurs: the relevant social 39) tells of a story about the data and uses a
context may be a group, organization, culture, range of techniques such as - summarising events,
society or a system; the period within which focusing on key episodes, delineating roles and
the action takes place; the spatial context and characters, setting out chronological sequence to
the network of social relationships (Dey 1993; construct an illuminating narrative. According to
Boaduo, 2006). Miles and Huberman (1994: 9) a fairly classic set
It has been indicated in this discussion that of analytic sequential move follows this pattern:
qualitative analysis aims at describing the world
as different observers (researchers) perceive it. Affixing codes to a set of field notes
The analysis is usually concerned with how actors drawn from observation or interviews
define situations and explain the motives, which Noting reflections or other remarks in the
govern their actions. It must therefore, be ensured margins of the field notes
that this relates to intentions of the actors involved Sorting and sifting through these materials
in the final research study report (Dey 1993; to identify similar phrases, relationships
Boaduo, 2006; Stake 1994; Carspecken 1996). between variables, patterns, themes, dis-
Qualitative research often seeks to illuminate tinct differences between subgroups, and
the ways individuals or objects interact to sus- common sequences.
tain or change social situations. Qualitative data Isolating these patterns ad processes, com-
therefore, is descriptive of social relationships and monalities and differences and taking them
interchange, which unfold in the succession of out of the field in the next wave of data col-
action and events in which the actors are engaged lection if required.
(Dey, 1993). Data collected can themselves be Gradually elaborating a small set of gener-
conceived as interactive process through which alizations that cover the consistencies dis-
the researcher struggles to elicit meaningful in- cerned in the database, and finally
terpretation of social action and even becomes Confronting those generalizations with a
participant observer. formalized body of knowledge in the form
In all research studies analysis follows data of constructs or theories.
collection. The result of the analysis depends on
and is modified by the collection and the investi- Interpretation and explanation of data are
gation of further data if required. In this way the the key responsibilities of the researcher. In all
researcher becomes a participant in the research research studies, it is necessary to develop a
606
meaningful and adequate account of what has concepts is the analytic equivalent of putting
been researched. The data collected provide the mortar between the building blocks (Yin 1994).
basis of analysis (Burgess 1982; Tuckman 1988). Generally, classification lays the foundation for
The collected data require the development of a identifying substantive connections. In this way
conceptual framework upon which the actions associations between different variables are identi-
or events researched can be rendered intelligible fied and once the data are classified, regularities,
for use or replication (Yin 1994). To explain is variations and singularities can be isolated and
to account for an action. Interpretation requires specifically defined (See Figures 2 & 3).
the development of conceptual tools through
which to comprehend the significance of social
action and how actions interrelate. Interpretation CONCLUSION
therefore, makes the analysed data meaningful to
practitioners and users. A research of any kind is endlessly creative and
Classification involves breaking up collected interpretive. In the research process there is need
data and then bringing the parts logically together for problem identification, statement of purpose
again into related sequence. The data then form with the most adequate and relevant critical ques-
the conceptual foundation for a specific analy- tions that have to be answered clearly listed. Vari-
sis. Classification therefore, becomes a familiar ous sources of literature have to be consulted to
process of practical reasoning. Categorising and be able to identify the gap lapse that has to be
retrieving data provide the basis for comparison. filled by the study being undertaken. A rationale
Redefining categories can produce more rigorous for the study has to be stated as well as the pro-
conceptualization. Classification, in all cases, is vision of the theoretical framework upon which
guided by the research objectives and once data the comprehensive explanation for the whole
have been classified and categorised; they lead research event is dependent. The study should be
to finding answers to the research problem or put in a relevant and applicable methodological
creating more confusing problems for further perspective philosophically. The data collection
investigation by other researchers who may find methods and techniques should be provided by
solace in them (Dey 1993). considering the research parameters within which
the data required for the study will be collected.
A field text has to be created which will comprise
MAKING CONNECTIONS field notes, questionnaire and interview schedules,
AND ESTABLISHING observation and document review. This indexing is
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG DATA the basis for the final report of the study (Boaduo,
2006; Sanjek 1990; Plath 1990; Denzin & Lincoln
It is very important to know and understand 1994; Delamont 1992; Stouthamer-Loeber & Van
precisely that data collected for a research study Kammer 1995). The notes are based on the field
cannot be left as the last resort of what have been text and recreated as a working interpretation
found in the field by the researcher. In effect, clas- document containing all the initial and subsequent
sification helps to produce an account of analysis attempts to make sense of what has been learned
that can be adequately interpreted. In all forms of and found in the field (Boaduo, 2006; Carspecken
research, concepts are the most significant building 1996). The final research report is produced from
blocks of analysis. In this case, the first major task the field text (notes, observations, questionnaires,
is to make these building blocks and then put them interview and documents) through classification
together (Dey 1993; Boaduo, 2006). Connecting and categorization. The analysis and interpretation
607
should focus on context, intention and process to Bless, C., & Higson-Smith, C. (2004). Funda-
be able to give a valid interpretation of the data mentals of social research methods (3rd ed.).
obtained in the field and literature review for the Lusaka: Juta.
study. The findings listed, the conclusions drawn
Boaduo, N. A.-P. (2005). Methodological Choice
and the recommendations that the researcher will
and Application in a Research Study: A Frame-
provide should be based on what the collected
work for Practitioners. African Symposium, 5(3),
data for the study revealed. In a nutshell, this is
88-101.
the essence of making sense of quantitative and
qualitative data collected for a research study Boaduo, N. A.-P. (2006). Methodological Choice
through the most practical, systematic, relevant and Application in a Research Study: A Framework
and applicable methodological choice and ap- for Practitioners. In Lonaka: Bulletin of the Centre
plication to produce a professional master piece for Academic Development Quality Assurance
of a research report. in Higher Education (pp. 38-50).
Bryman, A. (2004). Social Research Methods (2nd
ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Chapter 37
Methodological Considerations
for Quantitative Content
Analysis of Online Interactions
Seng-Chee Tan
Hyo-Jeong So
Ching-Sing Chai
ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on quantitative content analysis of online interactions, in particular, asynchronous
online discussion. It clarifies the definitions of quantitative content analysis and provides a summary
of 23 existing coding schemes, broadly categorized by the theoretical constructs under investigation:
(1) (Meta) cognition, (2) knowledge construction, and (3) presence. To help interested researchers har-
vest the rich source of data in online communities, guidelines for using quantitative content analysis
of online interactions were provided. In addition, important methodological considerations and issues
were discussed, including the issues of validity, reliability, choice of unit of analysis, and latent versus
manifested content.
INTRODUCTION Collaborative Learning (CSCL) technologies,

we see new applications of content analysis for
Content analysis as a research method has been virtual communities, particularly through the
reported since 1950s (e.g., Berelson, 1952). Begin- use of asynchronous online discussions, which
ning with journalistic and communication studies, can function as a collaborative learning space
it has penetrated into various fields of study. With where collaborative meaning-making is mediated
recent development in virtual communities and through interactional dialogues and computer sup-
proliferation of tools like Computer-Supported ports. Content analysis methods have been used
in several research settings to examine different
levels and structures of participation. Such content
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch037
Methodological Considerations for Quantitative Content Analysis of Online Interactions
analysis research has provided useful insights as Just like in many fields of research, the key
to how to better design online learning environ- players in content analysis have different defini-
ments as well as to reveal the complex nature of tions of content analysis. The main contention lies
online interaction. Yet, despite the long history in the debate about whether it is a quantitative or
of content analysis, its application for online dis- a qualitative method (or both). Researchers us-
cussion is fraud with methodological issues like ing or advocating quantitative content analysis
validity (Rourke & Anderson, 2004), reliability method described the method as objective,
(Strijbos, Martens, Prins, & Jochems, 2006) and systematic, and scientific (Berelson, 1952;
lack of theoretical and empirical bases (De Wever, Neuendorf, 2002; Riffe, Lacy & Fico, 1998).
Schellens, Valcke, & Van Keer, 2006). Specifically, Neuendorf (2002, p.10), for example, offers the
Quantitative Content Analysis (QCA), a research following definition: Content analysis is a sum-
method of quantitatively describing the content marizing, quantitative analysis of messages that
of communication in a systematic objective way, relies on the scientific method (including attention
has been criticized due to its lack of situated or to objectivity-intersubjectivity, a priori design,
contextual considerations, described as an at- reliability validity, generalizability, replicability,
tempt to apply overly reductionist strategies to and hypothesis testing). To Neuendorf (2002),
the study of a rather complex communication qualitative methods like discourse analysis or
channel (Naidu & Jrvel, 2006, p.98). It is thus conversational analysis should not be called con-
timely to review content analysis as a method for tent analysis because content analysis has as its
analyzing online interactions. goal a numerically based summary of a chosen
In this chapter, we focus on quantitative con- message set. It is neither a gestalt impression nor
tent analysis of interactions using text transcripts a fully detailed description of a message or mes-
commonly found in asynchronous online forums. sage act (p. 14).
The rationale of analyzing these text transcripts On the other hand, Krippendorff (2004) takes
lie in the fact that the transcripts are legitimate an interpretive stance and regards content not as
source of data that offer a window to the cognitive an inherent objective property in text, but subject
processes involved in collaborative learning and to researchers interpretation with reference to a
that they are obtained through unobtrusive means particular context. He defines content analysis in
(Chi, 1997; Weber, 1990). To help researchers less absolute scientific terms: Content analysis
harvest this rich source of data that are readily is a research technique for making replicable and
available in many virtual communities, we will valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful
provide some guidelines when using this method matter) to the contexts of their use. (p. 18) Note
and highlight some methodological considerations that Krippendorff did not reject the use of quan-
and issues. In addition, we review and summarize titative data arising out of the coding; in fact, he
some reported analysis schemes that might be included analytic techniques like factor analysis
useful to the researchers. and multivariate analysis in his book. Rather, he
emphasizes the epistemological nature of text
interpretation that requires meaning making by
BACKGROUND the researcher, who needs to take into account
the particular context, discourse and purpose of
In this section, we first review content analysis the communication. In this chapter, we concur
literature to clarify some fundamental concepts with Krippendorffs (2004) view that in content
before describing some recent applications in analysis, researchers need to interpret the meaning
asynchronous online discussion. of texts and draw inferences to their chosen con-
612
text. The term quantitative is used because there 2001) and comparative analysis of some of these
is a measurement process of assigning numbers protocols (Marra, Moore, & Klimczak, 2004).
to properties of text based on a set of rules (an
analysis or a coding scheme). The numbers can Summary of Existing
be used for further statistical analysis if they meet Analysis Schemes
the statistical requirements.
Although the use of content analysis has been To provide interested researchers with a quick ref-
reported more than five decades ago, the applica- erence for identifying appropriate coding schemes,
tion of content analysis in asynchronous online in this section, we examine and summarize re-
discussion is a recent phenomenon. In early 90s, ported analysis schemes on online interaction us-
Mason (1991) lamented about the limitations of ing the following criteria: constructs investigated,
analyzing computer-mediated communications unit of analysis, and reliability information (See
(CMC) based on surface features like number Table 1). The coding schemes are grouped under
of message sent, the depth of thread, and word three major categories: (a) (Meta) cognition, (b)
counts, which fail to reveal the process and qual- knowledge construction, and (c) presence. The first
ity of learning. He suggested the use of content category is for researchers who are interested in
analysis to examine knowledge construction and investigating the types of thinking and metacogni-
social negotiation through CMCs. Since then, tion that users exhibit in the online community.
numerous studies using content analysis appeared, The second category focuses on the processes that
sufficient for review of some analysis schemes users engage in when they co-construct knowledge
(e.g., De Wever, Schellens, Valcke, & Van Keer, through computer-mediated communications. The
2006; Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, third category examines how teaching, cognition
Table 1. Summary of coding schemes
Instrument Constructs Unit of Analysis Reliability Note

Investigated
(Meta)Cognition
Henri (1992) (Meta)Cognitive skills, Thematic unit Not reported
interaction
Hara et al. (2000) (Meta)Cognitive skills, Paragraph Percent agreement Adapted from Henri
interaction, social cues (1992)
Guan et al. (2006) (Meta)Cognitive skills, Thematic unit Not reported Adapted from Henri
interaction, social cues (1992)
Newman et al. Critical thinking Thematic unit Not reported
(1995)
Jeong (2003) Critical thinking; Thematic unit Cohens Kappa Developed Discus-
Interaction sequence sion Analysis Tool
(DAT)
Thomas (2002) Cognitive engagement Not reported Not reported Based on SOLO
taxonomy (Biggs &
Collis, 1982)
Zhu (2006) Cognitive engage- Message Intra-reliability
ment; interaction (after 12 months)
Knowledge Construction
613
Table 1. continued
Instrument Constructs Unit of Analysis Reliability Note

Investigated
Gunawardena et al. Interaction Message Not reported
(1997)
Moore & Marra Interaction Posting Krippendorffs Adapted from
(2005) alpha, Cohens Gunawardena et al.
Kappa (1997)
Hull & Saxon Interaction Utterance Cohens Kappa Adapted from
(2009) Gunawardena et al.
(1997)
Zhu (1996) Participation, Interac- Message Not reported
tion, note-meaning
Fahy et al. (2001) Interaction Sentence Percent agreement, Adapted from Zhu
Cohens Kappa (1996), developed
Transcript Analysis
Tool (TAT)
Pena-Shaff et al. Interaction Message Not reported
(2001)
Pena-Shaff & Nich- Knowledge Construc- Sentence Not reported Based on Henri
olls (2004) tion (1992), Newman
et al. (1996), Zhu
(1996), Pena-Shaff
et al. (2001)
Lin et al. (2009) Genres of online Not reported Not reported Adapted from Pena-
interaction Shaffet & Nicholls
(2004)
Curtis & Lawson Collaboration Utterance Not reported Based on Johnson &
(2001) Johnson (1996)
Murphy (2004) Collaboration Message Not reported
Beuchot & Bullen Interaction, Interper- Sentence Cohens Kappa
(2005) sonality
van der Pol et al. Peer Feedback Thematic unit Cohens Kappa
(2008)
Presence
Garrison et al. Cognitive presence Message Cohens Kappa,
(2001) Holstis CR
Kanuka et a. (2007) Cognitive presence Message Cohens Kappa, Adapted from Garri-
son et al. (2001)
Anderson et al. Teaching presence Message Cohens Kappa
(2001)
Rourke et al. (1999) Social presence Thematic unit Holstis CR
and social aspects of the online community are munication in that it lacks nonverbal cues (Gar-
manifested given the learning designs. rison et al., 2001). As cues that aid interpretation
The construct of online interaction, as a form are confined to text, participants have to compose
of discourse, is a complex and discursive phe- clear messages and be more organized in manag-
nomenon that is different from face-to-face coming the messages. Captured in the servers, these
614
records provide valuable data for research. It is interaction clearly. The study also revealed the
therefore not surprising to encounter many dif- difficulty in achieving high inter-rater reliability
ferent schemes of content analysis for asynchro- for the metacognitive dimension. Guan, Tsai,
nous online discussion. De Wever, Schellens, and Hang (2006) also applied the coding scheme
Valcke, and Van Keer (2006), for example, readapted from the Henris model to a Taiwanese
viewed 15 of these schemes. As a form of data, context, and detailed process of modification and
the text transcripts yield multidimensional infor- elaboration is reported in their study.
mation which can help researchers and educators Critical thinking is another construct often
in their understanding about users participation; measured related to meta-cognitive processes (see
cognition and metacognition; content knowledge Table 3). For instance, Newman, Webb and Co-
and its representation; process/pattern of knowl- chrane (1996) designed a coding scheme to
edge construction; social/discourse practices; and measure critical thinking. They developed about
linguistic features of different types of talks. 40 coding categories of critical thinking such as
Several coding schemes under the category of relevance, justification, novelty, and ambiguities,
(meta)cognition is based on the model proposed each with a plus or minus appended to show
by Henri (1992) that includes five dimensions whether the coded message contributes or detracts
and their categories as shown in Table 2. Henri from critical thinking development. Marra, Moore
believed her model would help educators under- and Klimczak(2004) applied this schemes to a set
stand the learning processes that occur online of online interactions and they were able to infer
comprehensively. The dimensions are participa- that the users were exhibiting some forms of
tion, social, interactivity, cognitive skills, and critical thinking in their online interactions. Jeong
metacognitive skills respectively. Although the (2003) developed the Discussion Analysis Tool
model is lacking in clear criteria and detailed (DAT) which analyzes patterns of critical thinking
descriptions (Howell-Richardson & Mellar, 1996), in online discussion forums. For the measure of
it is a useful in terms of laying the groundwork. cognitive engagement, coding schemes developed
Hara et al. (2000) adapted this model for a study by Thomas (2002) and Zhu (2006) can be used.
of 20 graduate students online discussions. The Another key category of coding schemes is
results indicated that although students participa- developed for knowledge construction which
tion was limited to one post per week, the posts focuses on identifying interaction patterns for
were cognitively deep. The findings provide some collaborative knowledge building. For instance,
justification for the use of asynchronous forum noticing the gaps in Henris model, Gunawar-
in education. For the dimension on interactivity, dena et al. (1997) developed an Interaction
they devised message maps that depicted students Analysis Model (IAM) to examine meaning ne-
Table 2. Henris (1992) Model of content analysis
Dimension Categories
Participation Levels of participation; Types of participation
Social Statement or part of statement not related to subject matter
Interactivity Explicit interaction: Direct response, Direct commentary
Implicit interaction: Indirect response, Indirect commentary
Independent statement
Cognitive Skills Elementary clarification; In-depth clarification; Inference; Judgment; Application of strategies
Metacognitive Knowledge and Skills Personal; Task; Strategies; Evaluation; Planning; Regulation; Self awareness
615
Table 3. Newman, Webb and Cochranes (1995) Model. Adapted from Marra, Moore & Klimczak (2004)
Category Indicator
Relevance Relevant states or diversions
Importance Important points and issues or unimportant points and trivial issues
Novelty, new info, ideas, solutions New problem related information or repeating what has been said
Bringing outside knowledge or experience to Drawing on personal experience or sticking to prejudice or assumptions
bear on problem
Ambiguities; clarified or confused Clear statements or confused statements
Linking ideas, interpretation Linking facts, ideas and notions or repeating information without making inferences or
offering an interpretation
Justification Providing proof or examples or irrelevant or obscuring questions or examples
Critical assessment Critical assessment or evaluation of own or others contribution or uncritical accep-
tance or unreasoned rejection
Practical utility (grounding) Relate possible solutions to familiar situation or discuss in a vacuum
Width of understanding (complete picture) Widen discussion or narrow discussion
gotiation and co-construction of knowledge. The & Marra, 2005; Paulus, 2007 for replicated stud-
model describes co-construction of knowledge as ies). Using this scheme, researchers generally
five progressive phases as shown in Table 4. Each reported that most interactions are confined to
phase consists of other sub-phases such as asking Phase 1, which are geared towards knowledge
questions and proposing solutions for problems. sharing rather than knowledge construction (see
As the IAM was developed in the context of an Chai & Tan, 2009; Gunawardena et al. (1997),
online debate using a grounded theory approach, Marra et al., 2004). This is an important finding
the usefulness of the model in explicating the as it points to the need to spur learners to go be-
knowledge building processes that are not in the yond sharing of information.
format of debate needs further research. For ex- The third category of coding schemes focus
ample, it is not difficult to imagine a facilitator on various types of presence: cognitive presence,
of an online discussion starting a knowledge teaching presence, and social presence (see Table
building discourse by identifying an area of dis- 5). Garrison et al. (2001) created a model for
sonance or gaps in understanding (Phase 2) or analyzing online interactions based on their con-
even with a negotiation of the meanings of terms ceptualization of online learning as practical in-
(Phase 3). Nonetheless, the IAM remains to be quiry for higher education. The model has four
one of the most cited coding schemes for analyz- progressive phases, starting from a triggering
ing the process of knowledge construction in event where the problems are presented, the in-
online settings (see Hull & Saxon, 2009; Moore teractions among learners could move through
Table 4. The five phases of interaction analysis model (IAM)
Phase 1: Sharing/Comparing of Information

Phase 2: Discovering dissonance, gaps in understanding or areas for improvements among ideas or concepts
Phase 3: Negotiation of meaning/ co-construction of knowledge
Phase 4: Testing and modification of proposed synthesis or co-construction
Phase 5: Agreement statements/ application of newly-constructed knowledge
616
exploration, integration and resolution phases. In summary, content analysis models devel-
They claimed that their model was not inconsis- oped to date have tried to understand the rich data
tent with that of IAM. Although the general captured in online forum in different aspects. It is
progressions of knowledge construction for both not uncommon to find that in a single study, the
models were parallel, there were some differ- researchers may analyze several dimensions of
ences in terms of the sub-phases. As the model the transcript before they draw inferences about
was only tested on three sets of online messages the case they studied (for examples, see Chai &
which amounted to only 95 messages, it was less Tan, 2009; Henri, 1992; So, 2009; Weinberger &
descriptive than the IAM. In addition, Garrison Fischer, 2006). In fact, researchers in this field
and his colleagues argue that to improve the qual- generally agree that mixed method multidimen-
ity of cognitive presence, appropriate teaching sional analysis is necessary to provide in-depth
and social presence have to be in place. understanding (Hmelo-Silver, 2003; Wegerif &
While most coding schemes focus on learner- Mercer, 1997).
learner interactions, the coding scheme for teach-
ing presence includes specific categories for
teachers roles and activities (Anderson et al., PROCEDURES FOR CONTENT
2001). The coding scheme includes three major ANALYSIS OF ASYNCHRONOUS
categories (design and organization, facilitating ONLINE DISCUSSION
discourse, and direct instruction), which could
reveal teachers facilitation and interaction pat- From a review of generic content analysis methods
terns. For the construct of social presence, Rourke and studies specific to online discussion forums,
et al. (1999) developed the coding scheme for we summarize the typical procedures for content
three behavioral categories: (a) affective, (b) in- analysis of asynchronous online discussion. These
teractive, and (c) cohesive. The affective behav- procedures are meant to serve as a guide rather
iors include the expression of emotion, humor, than prescription, so as to facilitate interested
and self-closure while the interactive behaviors researchers in implementing the method before
refer to a willingness to initiate or maintain inter- we delve into deeper methodological issues. We
action with encouragement and acceptance (e.g., divide the procedures into four broad phases with
replying or quoting texts). The cohesive category sub-processes within each phase (Table 6). To bet-
includes indicators of building or sustaining the ter illustrate the process, the procedures adopted
sense of a community by sharing personal infor- by Zhu (2006) were reported as an example.
mation, addressing each other by names, and The above general procedures involve the use
using inclusive pronouns (e.g., we, us, or our of existing content analysis schemes. In cases
group). when the psychometric properties of the scheme
is not reported (e.g. reliability and validity) or if
the researcher is developing a coding scheme,
protocols for developing new coding schemes
Table 5. Community of inquiry model
could be consulted. For example, Rourke and
Cognitive Presence Teaching Presence Social Anderson (2004) argued that quantitative content
Presence analysis could be conceived of as a form of test-
Phase I: Triggering Design and organiza- Affective ing and measurement and suggested procedures
event tion Interactive
Phase II: Exploration Facilitating discourse Cohesive
to enhance the theoretical validity of the coding
Phase III: Integration Direct instruction scheme (p.8):
Phase IV: Resolution
617
Table 6. Procedures for content analysis of asynchronous online discussion
Broad phases Sub-processes Example (Zhu, 2006)

1. Clarify theoretical base and 1a. Clarify the theoretical base of the Social cultural and collaborative learning through the use of
constructs to be investigated study. computer-mediated communication.
1b. Identify the theoretical constructs to Cognitive engagement and online interactions.
be investigated.
2. Identify/construct the cod- 2a. Identify/construct the coding Analytical Framework for Cognitive Engagement in Discus-
ing scheme scheme for the construct. sion by Zhu (1998); content analysis was complemented by
analysis of network properties like network size, centrality
and density.
2b. Check/establish the reliability and Not reported.
validity information of the coding
scheme.
3. Implement coding 3a. Identify sample from the data Two discussion transcripts from each of the four classes (71
source. students), avoided transcripts from the first and last week of
discussion.
3b. Prepare the transcripts. The transcripts were downloaded.
3c. Decide on the unit of analysis. Entire note (Message).
3d. Train coders and pilot reliability. A student assistant was engaged.
3e. Code the transcript. The research and student assistant read each message three
times to code the notes.
3f. Establish the reliability index. The two coders had to discuss 8% of messages and reas-
signed categories.
After 6 months, the researcher re-coded the messages and
adjusted 1.2% of the coding.
4. Analyze, interpret and 4a. Perform further data analysis. Comparison among 4 classes in terms of % of message in
report findings each category.
Compare content analysis findings with network properties
of discussion forums.
4b. Present findings. Cross tabulation of % of message in each category across
4 classes (Network size, interactions and density were pre-
sented in tables and graphs).
4c. Discuss findings. Level of cognitive engagement by students in the 4 classes
was discussed in relationship to the network properties of
their interactions in the asynchronous online discussion.
Identifying the purpose of the coding data of content analysis with other similar measures
Identifying behaviours that represent the of the same constructs; (2) to check whether the
construct coding scheme could differentiate existing group
Reviewing the categories and indicators differences; and (3) to check whether the coding
Holding preliminary tryouts scheme is sensitive to detect group differences
Developing guidelines for administration, due to intentional experimental interventions.
scoring and interpretation of the coding Incidentally, Rourke and Anderson (2004) also
scheme lamented the lack of rigor of research reports on
educational technology using quantitative con-
In addition, Rourke and Anderson (2004) sug- tent analysis, a sentiment that is echoed by other
gested three empirical methods to establish the va- researchers (e.g., De Wever et. al, 2006; Strijbos
lidity of the coding scheme: (1) to correlate results et. al, 2006). In the next section, we will present
618
some key methodological issues concerning the extend the suggestions by Rourke and Anderson
use of quantitative content analysis for asynchro- further by stressing the importance of validity
nous online discussion. when using an existing coding scheme. In the
section on procedures for content analysis, we
recommend clarifying theoretical bases and
METHODOLOGICAL constructs of interest to be the first step. Unless
CONSIDERATIONS the theoretical base and constructs of a research
is congruent with that of a coding scheme, it
This section is devoted to discussion on meth- is difficult to make appropriate inferences. For
odological issues concerning the use of content example, Gunawardena, Lowe, and Anderson
analysis for asynchronous online discussion. Our (1997) provided an extensive discussion on why
literature review shows that some of the method- Henris model (1992) was not suitable for analysis
ological issues related to coding schemes like the of social construction of knowledge in computer
importance of reliability information were already conferencing. One of their key arguments is that
discussed in books on content analysis in general Henris model appears to be based on a teacher-
(e.g., Krippendorff, 2004; Neuendorf, 2002). We centered instructional paradigm (p.405) whereas
hope this section will point a way for research- they needed a coding scheme that reveals a social
ers who need to develop better understanding or collaborative learning process among participants
sensitivity to these issues. with roughly equal stature coming together to
contribute their knowledge (p.402). In addi-
Validity tion, they decided not to use the social content
suggested by Henri because according to Henri,
In quantitative content analysis, we need to assign the social content refers to social interaction not
numbers to indicate properties of a unit of text in related to formal content of subject matter. Such
a transcript, this necessarily involves the adher- social interactions are not appropriate in their
ence to psychometric measurement theories and study which involves structured debate.
principles, of which two key concepts are valid- We further suggest that beyond the theoretical
ity and reliability. It is a common saying that the base, we need to clarify the theoretical construct
validity of an instrument is the extent to which to be investigated. For example, we noted that the
the instrument measures what it intends to mea- Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) by Gunawar-
sure; this clich definition of validity was widely dena, Lowe, and Anderson (1997) and the Degree
cited and adopted until Messick (1989) provides of Cognitive Engagement (Zhu, 2006) were both
a comprehensive definition of validity (p. 13): rooted in social constructivist learning theories.
However, Zhus model focuses on the construct
Validity is an integrated evaluative judgment level of cognitive engagement that is exhibited
of the degree to which empirical evidence and through the online interactions, with the implicit
theoretical rationales support the adequacy and assumption that scaffolding and mentoring be-
appropriateness of inferences and actions based haviors are higher level of cognitive engagement
on test scores and other modes of assessment. compared to information seeking (questioning);
whereas the IAM focuses on the construct level
In the previous section, the recommendations of social construction of knowledge with the
by Rourke and Anderson (2004) on the protocol assumption that application of newly constructed
for developing a coding scheme is based on the meaning is higher level than merely sharing of
above definition of validity. We would like to information. It is also a good practice to use
619
other empirical results that provide corroborat- Krippendorff (2004) suggests checking for
ing evidence for the construct we are measuring. coder stability before establishing intercoder reli-
For example, in the earlier section (Table 6),we ability. He further specified three conditions for
presented an example of Zhus study (2006) that generating reliability data: provide specific cod-
correlated network properties with the results ing instructions, set criteria for selecting coders,
from content analysis. and ensure that the coders work independently.
Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, and Archer (2001)
Reliability suggest that beyond intracoder reliability and
intercoder reliability, the reliability of coding
Besides validity, another key concept of measure- schemes could be established through replicability
ment is reliability of scores. Following the classical across research studies. However, most research
test theory or measurement theory, reliability is the studies report only intercoder reliability, which
extent of closeness of observed scores to the true indicates the degree of agreement or correspon-
scores. Although operationally it is not possible to dence between two or among more coders. There
know the true scores, but we know that reliability are two main methods of deriving intercoder
is inversely related to the errors of measurements. reliability: agreement or covariation. In essence,
Operationally, when we make several measure- agreement method determines whether the coders
ments (e.g., repeated measurements), the higher agree to the values assigned to a variable whereas
the consistency among the scores, the lower is the covariation method determines whether there is
error. Thus, reliability coefficients are often used correspondence between the scores assigned by
to quantify the consistency (or inconsistency) the coders (that is, whether the scores go up or
among several error-prone measurements (Feldt go down correspondingly). Table 7 summarizes
& Brennan, p. 105). the applications of various intercoder reliability
Table 7. Intercoder reliability indices
Reliability index Data / range Strengths Limitations Criteria

Agreement
Percent agreement nominal data Easy to compute Crude agreement Above 70% agreement
range from.00 to Measures the agreement to is reliable
1.00 the exact assigned values. Source: Frey, Botan,
Fail to account for chance and Kreps, 2000
agreement
Agreement, corrected for chance agreement
Cohens kappa nominal data Same as Scotts An improvement over Above.75, excellent
range from.00 to Scotts by taking into .40 to.75, fair
1.00 account how the coders dis- Below.40, poor
tribute scores across coding Source: Banerjee et al.,
categories 1999
Too conservative
Two coders
Covariation
Pearson correlation Interval or ratio data Does not require precise Inherently standardizes the Not available
coefficient, r -1.00 to 1.00 agreement as for the above scores
indices. Over-estimate reliability
Works for interval or ratio
data
620
indices (Lombard, Snyder-Duch, & Bracken, or single idea may be distributed across several
2008; Neuendorf, 2002): units. Semantic units, identified based on the
There is no general agreement on the criteria meaning or idea, are more meaningful and have
for reliability coefficients as shown in Table 7, discriminant capability, but they are harder to
most researchers would state the cut-off values identify. Table 8 summarizes the strengths and
as rules of thumb. In general, Riffe, Lacy and Fico limitations of each method:
(1998) suggest accepting coefficients above.80
and reports with value below.70 are hard to du- Latent vs. Manifest Content
plicate. Lombard, Snyder-Duch and Bracken
(2008) suggest even higher standards that coef- Besides unit of analysis, another challenge that
ficients of.90 or greater are nearly always accept- could affect the validity of interpretation and
able,.80 or greater is acceptable in most situations, reliability of scores in content analysis lies in the
and.70 may be appropriate in some exploratory identification of evidence for underlying theoreti-
studies. (Section, para. 5) though they qualified cal constructs being investigated. Researchers who
that lower criteria can be applied to more conser- argue for scientific objectivity of content analysis
vative measures like Cohens . restrict themselves to manifest features of the text
The difficulty of having valid and replicable that can be objectively counted (Hoslti, 1969;
interpretations using content analysis can be at- Riffe, Lacy, & Fico, 1998), for example, the num-
tributed to the challenging coding processes, in ber of messages posted, the number of messages
particular, the choice of unit of analysis, and the read or the number of words in each message.
difficulty of text interpretation by the researchers However, in the analysis of online interactions,
(Krippendorff, 2004). researchers have been focusing on deeper cogni-
tive (e.g., Marttunen, 1997; Newman et. al, 1995)
Choice of Unit of Analysis or social collaborative process (e.g., Gunawardena
et. al, 1997; Kanuka & Anderson, 1998), rather
In analyzing asynchronous online discussions, than overt products. Take for example, when using
there are two main methods of choosing the unit the Interaction Analysis model by Gunawardena,
of analysis: syntactic unit (sentence, paragraph, Lowe, and Anderson (1997), we need to assess the
or message) or semantic unit (thematic unit or underlying cognitive level of the message so as to
illocutionary unit). Several factors need to be assign it to one of the five phases of knowledge
considered when deciding on the unit of analysis construction. Thus, qualitative judgment comes
because it affects whether multiple coders can into play when a researcher needs to go beyond
identify the units (identifiability), which affects the the surface characteristics of written transcript to
feasibility, productivity or efficiency of the coding assess the underlying cognitive level of process-
process, and more importantly, the reliability of the ing, motives or intent of the writer.
scores (Murphy, Ciszewskar-Carr, & Rodrguez Krippendorff (2004) provided an extensive
Manzanares, 2006). Another important factor is the discussion on why interpretation is necessary in
meaningfulness (Krippendorff, 1980) of the unit content analysis because of the linguistic features
because it will affect whether coders can identify of text. Krippendorff argues that texts have no
the constructs under investigation (validity) that inherent objective qualities because the meanings
are distinct in each unit (discriminant capability). of the texts are dependent on the interpretation of
In general, syntactic units, detectable based the readers. This means texts could have multiple
on linguistic features, are more identifiable, but meanings because readers can often interpret the
they may contain more than one idea in each unit texts in many ways and from many perspectives.
621
Table 8. Choice of unit of analysis
Unit of analysis Strengths Limitations Examples

Syntactic unit
Sentence Identification by syntactical Difficult to identify unit if style of Fahy, Crawford, & Ally, 2001;
criteria communication is very informal Hillman (1999)
Large number of units can be gener-
ated, could lead to lower efficiency.
Paragraph Smaller number of units com- May include multiple variables in Hara et. al., (2000)
pared to sentence each unit or one variable in multiple
paragraphs
Subject to participants idiosyncrasy
in breaking message into paragraphs
Message unit Can be identified objectively. May include multiple variables in Marttunen (1998);
Smaller number of units com- each message Garrison, Anderson, & Archer,
pared to sentence or paragraphs. (2000);
Gunawardena, Lowe, & Ander-
son, (1997)
Semantic unit
Thematic unit Represent a single thought Difficult to agree on the units by Henri (1991)
or idea multiple coders, thus lowering inter-
coder reliability
Illocutionary unit An improvement over the- Difficult to agree on the units by Howell-Richardson and Mellar
matic unit by focusing on the multiple coders, thus lowering inter- (1996)
linguistic properties of the mes- coder reliability
sage and the audience to whom
it is directed
Some of these meanings are unique to certain coder to interpret and making inference beyond
readers because of the readers experience and the manifest characteristics (e.g., the rhetorical
schema. In addition, there are often hidden or styles of a speaker).
projective meanings in the texts, which can only be
inferred by taking into consideration the contexts, Other Analytical Challenges
discourses or purposes. Thus, the nature of the
text demands that content analysts draw specific An online or virtual community inevitably in-
inferences from a body of texts to their chosen volves social interactions among individuals,
context (p. 24). Potter and Levine-Donnerstein and often sub-groups, therein lies the challenge
(1999) suggest that there are three types of content: of analyzing the data at individual level and at
manifest, latent pattern and projective. They pro- group level (Strijbos & Fischer, 2007). In the
vided an excellent comparison among these three past, content analysis is frequently done with the
types of content in terms of locus of meaning, role entire group or sub-groups, ignoring the nested
of theory, tasks for coders, and ways to enhance effects. Learning outcomes are often measured
validity and reliability. In essence, manifest through survey items and counting the number of
content can be objectively identified by surface postings at an individual level, thus missing out
characteristics with simple coding schemes; on learning at group and community levels. Stahl
latent pattern requires the coder to put together (2006) criticized that the richness of the interactive
several manifest features to form a pattern (e.g., learning process through the mediation of technol-
infer dressing styles by looking at combinations ogy is often lost when researchers try to reduce
of clothing); and projective content requires the process data and treat interaction as a quantifiable
622
entity as seen in quantity-oriented content analysis Chernobilsky, & Jordan, 2008) can be used to
methods. He further argues that many of current analyze multiple processes plotted on a timeline.
analysis practices in CSCL research fail to capture For the artistically inclined, Donath and Vigas
knowledge building processes as a function of (2002) have developed creative ways of using
group cognition. graphical representations to create users identity,
If we accept that through the mediation of visualizing social activities and depicting expres-
technological tools members in virtual com- sive communication of online conversation. Next,
munities can engage in shared-meaning making advanced statistical techniques presented new op-
processes and collectively build knowledge which portunities to reveal the effects of interactions on
is greater than the sum of individual knowledge, individuals and on groups. Cress (2008) presents
then this theoretical view necessitates methods how multilevel modeling (MLM) tests interaction-
considering the importance of multiple units or al effects of multiple within and between groups.
levels of analysis. Another methodological chal- Event-based modeling (e.g., stochastic modeling)
lenge in quantitative content analysis methods is is another statistical approach that takes into ac-
related to time and sequence: how can we ana- count time and sequence factors (Reiman, 2009).
lyze interaction in online or virtual communities
unfolding over long time scales, for example,
over a few months(Reiman, 2009)? Interaction FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
in virtual communities is often unpredictable and
new participation structure may emerge through Despite the long history of content analysis as
the dynamics of community members interaction. a method, its application for analysis of online
In this case, employing a coding and counting ap- interactions is relatively new. As discussed earlier,
proach based on a scheme with fixed categories many researchers are struggling with method-
is not likely to unpack such non-linear complex ological issues like validity, reliability and lack
nature of interactions. of theoretical and empirical bases. It could be due
To overcome these methodological issues, to lack of understanding of the method or simply
some alternative or complementary methods can lack of sensitization to these issues. As such,
be considered. Mixed methods can be used to discussion on relevant methodological issues is
examine multiple levels of knowledge building likely to continue. While part of the discussion
processes. For instance, Schrire (2006) suggests would concern the methodological practices
that researchers can identify thread patterns to map among research reports, studies that examine
out interaction among learners or groups at the relatively unexplored methods of analysis might
macro level, and then conduct discourse or content emerge. For example, establishing reliability
analysis to examine interaction at the micro level. of coding schemes through replicability across
Hara et al. (2000) and Lipponen, Rahikainen, Lal- research studies (Anderson et. al, 2001) has not
limo, and Hakkarainen (2003) also used a visual been fully explored. Even though the method has
mapping method as well as quantitative content been labeled quantitative content analysis, for most
analysis to identify overall interaction patterns coding schemes, qualitative interpretation of the
(e.g., instructor-centered vs. synergistic). More meaning of texts remains a key process. Due to
related to the issue of progress-oriented analy- the context-sensitive nature of online interaction,
sis over long time scales, visual representation using existing coding schemes still necessitates
programs such as the Chronologically-Ordered re-contextualization of coding categories. As such,
Representations of Discourse and Tool-Related there is a need to continue discussion on ways to
Activity (CORDTRA) system (Hmelo-Silver, enhance validity of the method, especially issues
623
related to the use of contextual information. To on manual coding, thus requiring an extensive
facilitate replicability of existing coding schemes, amount of time to analyze and interpret a large
researchers need to carefully document a process corpus of data. Recently, some researchers have
of adapting, re-defining or even re-categorizing reported automatic coding techniques based on
coding, and report the process in published computational linguistics. Examples of automatic
work. Beyond methodological issues, the use of coding programs include the Linguistics Inquiry
advanced statistical techniques like multi-level and Word Count (LIWC) (Pennebaker, Booth,
analysis to examine the data at group and individual & Francis, 2007), Virtual Intelligent Content
level could reveal new insights into the nature, Analyzer (VINCA) (Law, Yuen, Huang, Li, &
process or outcomes of online interactions. Pan, 2007), and Dialogue Act Coding (DAC)
Within a relatively short span of time since system (Erkens & Janssen, 2008). While such
content analysis has been applied to online inter- automatic coding techniques are often criticized
actions, review papers on content analysis coding as a shallow mechanical approach, researchers
schemes (e.g., De Wever et. al, 2006) or studies can use automatic coding programs as a starting
comparing these schemes (e.g., Marra et. al., 2004) point to understand overall interaction patterns
have been reported. On one hand, it speaks volume and identify segments of interaction worth for
about the potential of this method for analyzing more in-depth analysis.
online interactions. On the other hand, it shows
that there is a need to take stock of such applica-
tions. Studies that summarize, review or compare CONCLUSION
coding schemes, especially those that measure
similar constructs, will be critical in enhancing Analysis of online interactions in virtual com-
reported coding schemes or developing new cod- munities is a fertile ground of research and there
ing schemes. For example, among coding schemes remain potentials for the application of quantitative
that focus on knowledge construction, it will be content analysis as a tool to harvest rich content
useful to review the theoretical underpinning or data hidden in these online interactions. Quanti-
assumptions about knowledge construction. A tative content analysis, an established research
relevant question to ask is, Does the scheme adopt method, can provide insights into the nature and
a cognitivist view about knowledge construction quality of interactions along the metacognitive,
or a social constructivist approach of knowledge cognitive and social dimensions. To achieve that,
building? Further, for coding schemes that researchers need to sharpen their tools by paying
are based on similar theoretical underpinnings, attention to the related methodological issues. In
theoretical analysis and empirical comparison this chapter, we examined and summarized some
studies could be conducted to enhance the coding reported coding schemes for asynchronous online
schemes. In addition, coding schemes that focus interaction under three major categories: (a) (meta)
on unexplored theoretical constructs could also cognition, (b) knowledge construction, and (c)
be developed, for example, coding schemes that presence. We summarized these extant coding
reveal epistemological or ontological views of schemes based on the following characteristics:
the participants. constructs investigated, unit of analysis, and reli-
Finally, we emphasize more development of ability information. In addition, some guidelines
analysis tools and techniques that researchers on the procedures for using quantitative content
or even instructors can easily use to understand analysis were presented, not as a prescription, but
interaction in online communities. Current prac- as an aid for interested researchers. We adopted
tices of quantitative content analysis heavily rely an interpretive stance towards content analysis
624
with the view that content analysis entails the Cress, U. (2008). The need for considering mul-
interpretation of the meaning of texts in a chosen tilevel analysis in CSCL research An appeal
context. Consequently, to produce reliable and for the use of more advanced statistical methods.
valid interpretations and use of the data, it is International Journal of Computer-Supported
important for researchers to be cognizant of the Collaborative Learning, 3(1), 6984. doi:10.1007/
various methodological considerations, including s11412-007-9032-2
the choice or development of coding schemes,
Curtis, D. D., & Lawson, M. J. (2001). Explor-
ways of reporting reliability information, the
ing collaborative online learning. Journal of
choice of unit of analysis, and interpretation of
Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(1), 2134.
manifest versus latent content.
De Wever, B., Schellens, T., Valcke, M., & Van
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629
KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS for example, the number of messages posted, the
number of messages read or the number of words
Asynchronous Online Discussion: A com- in each message.
puter-mediated communication that can support Quantitative Content Analysis: Content
interactions among participants separated by time analysis that includes a measurement process of
and space. assigning numbers to properties of text based on
Content Analysis: A research technique for a set of rules (an analysis or a coding scheme).
making valid and reliable inferences from the Reliability: A measure of how close the
content of communication or interaction, usually observed scores are to the true scores, usually
in the form of texts. It requires interpretation of indicated by the consistencies among several
the meaning of the texts, taking into consideration measurements of the same construct.
the context of the interactions. Unit of Analysis: smallest parts that the content
Inter-Coder Reliability: The degree of agree- of interactions (text) can be divided for analysis
ment or co-variation (whether the scores go up based on syntactic features (linguistic features
or go down correspondingly) of scores given by like paragraph) or semantic features (meaning
two or more coders. of the text).
Latent Content: Characteristics of content Validity: an integrated evaluative judgment
(text) that requires the coder to put together several of the degree to which empirical evidence and
manifest features to form a pattern or to make theoretical rationales support the adequacy and
inferences beyond the manifested characteristics. appropriateness of inferences and actions based
Manifest Content: Surface characteristics on test scores and other modes of assessment.
of content (text) that can be objectively counted, (Messick, 1989, p.13)
630
631
Chapter 38
Measuring Brand
Community Strength
Hikaru Yamamoto
Seikei University, Japan
Yutaka Matsuo
University of Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT
The emphasis of this chapter is brand community. A brand community is a virtual community where
consumers who share a set of social relations based upon usage or interest in a product gather into a
group and mutually interact. The consumers purchase decision-making is often influenced by word-of-
mouth communications with the other consumers; who to trust among them is often determined by their
similarity of product purchase behavior. This bidirectional effect between trust and product preference
explains the emergence and the strength of brand community. This chapter presents a theoretical model
of this phenomenon along with analyses of an actual virtual community. We designate the bidirectional
effect as community gravity because it represents the power to induce users to join the community. This
analysis provides insights for understanding consumer behavior in an online environment.
INTRODUCTION firm-initiated communications (Arndt 1967;

Bickart & Schindler, 2001).
Consumers often seek out others who share similar Recent developments on the internet enable
interests in products or services. Their decisions consumers to share their consumption experiences
are often influenced by word-of-mouth (WOM), with others in online environments more easily.
which is marketing-relevant information trans- Users reviews and ratings of product exert effects
mitted by individuals to individuals. Because the on other consumers purchase behavior. Whether
sender of WOM is independent of the market, a user refers to other users ratings depends on the
consumers perceive such a persons opinions to trust accorded by a user to the reviewer. The trust
be more reliable, credible, and trustworthy than felt by a user for another user correlates with the
similarity of the two users ratings.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch038
Measuring Brand Community Strength
Figure 1 depicts an illustration of bidirectional Notable characteristics of @cosme are that a

effects. In the first step, a user buys a product user can register other users who can be trusted;
(shown as a music note) and another user trusts she can also post product reviews. The trusted users
her. She will adopt the product (in step 2), which are bookmarked as favorite user, by a user, which
will increase the homophily effect (in step 3). signifies a feeling of both favor and trust. An earlier
Then, the new product can easily diffuse between survey of @cosme (Yamamoto, 2005) elicited an
the two users. The objective of this chapter is to interesting comment from an actual user:
present a theoretical model along with analyses First, I used @cosme simply as a product
of an actual virtual community. database. Then, I began to devote attention to
In this chapter, we describe analyses of a other users who post reviews and use the social
knowledge-sharing site called @cosme (www. bookmark function. My bookmarks include per-
cosme.net). It is the largest virtual community in sons whom I nicknamed master of soap, master
Japan targeting women. It provides information of fragrance, master of pack and serum, and
and reviews related to cosmetic products. Cos- so on. I frequently check their reviews. I think I
metic products are a typical experience good, became able to use @cosme more when I started
where product quality is ascertained only after to focus on people.
consumption. This uncertainty related to the This comment provides a good insight into how
product quality is apparent in various experience a user has come to devote attention to other re-
goods such as movies and books, but the cos- viewers, and how reviewers influence others. Data
metic product is unique because of the presence of more than 670 thousand users gathered over
of physical risk. A physical risk is a risk that five years enables us to analyze the bidirectional
jeopardizes physical vigor, health, and vitality. interaction of trust and opinions: (i) How does a
Drugs and medical treatments are most sensitive user put trust in others based on the similarity of
to this risk, but cosmetic products are also highly ratings? (ii) What effects does that trust have on
sensitive to it. The type of good and the presence users purchase behavior and ratings? We desig-
of perceived risk make the product review useful nate the bidirectional effect as community gravity
and valuable for consumers. because it represents the power to induce users
Figure 1. Sequential model of the trust effect and the homophily effect
632
to the community. We believe that this analysis WOM on relative sales of online bookstores. Liu
provides important insights that are useful for (2006) has explained the impact of WOM on box
understanding various online social media. office revenues.
The contributions of the chapter can be sum- Several studies have used social network
marized as follows: (1) the bidirectional effects of analysis to capture the social structure and diffu-
trust and opinions are analyzed both theoretically sion process of WOM. For example, Reingen and
and empirically in a virtual community where Kernan (1986) documented the relation between
other consumers opinions are useful for deci- the flow of information and the tie strength. Brown
sion making. (2) We propose a potentially useful and Reingen (1987) used the relational properties
measure, CG, to characterize a community. We of tie strength and homophily to examine referral
identify a situation in which the virtual community behavior. These researchers conclude that social
becomes more clustered: trust and opinion have ties serve as a pipeline for transferring product-
strong mutual effects. related information. Because the early marketing
The chapter is organized as follows. First, literature analyzed social relations in the offline
we describe related studies and motivations. environment, the sample sizes were small, the data
Then, we provide an overview of the @cosme were qualitative, and the networks were analyzed
site and propose our model of trust and rating. as a static snapshot (Dwyer, 2007). However,
Next, experimental results are presented, where the emergence of the internet has changed the
two classification problems are addressed. After research environment and provided large amounts
contrasting the results with those of the theoretical of consumer behavioral data (Montgomery 2001).
model, we propose a new measure for the strength Online social systems and knowledge-sharing
of community, community gravity (CG). The net- sites have received much attention from research-
work characteristics are described to underscore ers. In the field of computer science, many studies
the effectiveness of that new measure. Finally, have undertaken analyses of opinions in the blogo-
before concluding the chapter, we present future sphere (Adar, Zhang, Adamic, & Lukose, 2004;
research directions and implications. Marlow, 2006). Regarding knowledge-sharing
sites, relations among customers are analyzed in
various ways. Richardson and Domingos (2002)
BACKGROUND provide a method to calculate a network value of
online customers. The network value of a customer
In this section, we provide an overview of past is high when the customer is expected to influ-
research in marketing and computer science. A ence other users probabilities of purchasing the
consumers purchase decision-making is often product both strongly and positively. Actually,
influenced by word-of-mouth (WOM). Investi- Kempe, Kleinberg, and Tardos (2003) follow this
gations by Arndt (1967), Engel, Blackwell, and problem using several widely studied models in
Kegerreis (1969), and Day (1971) are some ex- social network analysis. The optimization prob-
amples of early studies in the field of marketing, lem of selecting the most influential customer is
suggesting the role of WOM as a driver of buyer NP-hard. They provide a provable approximation
behavior. More recently, WOM on the internet for efficient algorithms. A recent report describes
and its impact on marketing performance have techniques that decompose the reviews into seg-
been heavily researched. For example, Godes and ments that evaluate individual characteristics of
Mayzlin (2004) investigated the relation between a product, such as image quality and battery life
TV ratings and WOM in Usenet forums. Cheva- for a digital camera (Archak, Ghose, & Ipeirotis,
lier and Mayzlin (2006) examined the effect of 2007). Revenue maximization (instead of influ-
633
ence maximization) is proposed; optimal pricing beneficial event or harmful event is contingent
strategies in social networks are discussed (Har- on the behavior of another person; and (c) she
tline, Mirrokni, & Sundararajan, 2008). perceives the negative impact of the harmful
Information about customer experiences flows event to be greater than the positive impact of a
through social relations. Users share their expe- beneficial event. She makes a trusting choice if
riences with their friends and colleagues. They she chooses to take an ambiguous path with such
might exchange that information with their friends properties. More recently, Golbeck and Hendler
online (Subramani & Rajagopalan, 2003). There- (2005) define that trust in a person is a commit-
fore, it is important to understand social relations ment to an action based on a belief that the future
among users using social network techniques. actions of that person will lead to a good outcome.
For example, Song, Chi, Hino, and Tseng (2007) In this chapter, we follow their definition of trust
analyzed the online diffusion process and proposed and use it for our analysis.
an algorithm called DiffusionRank to predict who As described above, to trust someone is to be
is likely to receive information during a limited vulnerable to the other person in a certain context.
time in a social network. Then, the question is how do we decide whom
Leskovec, Adamic, and Huberman (2006) to trust? Results of past studies suggest that it is
analyze recommendations among Amazon.com often determined by similarity. Like individuals
users. Their analysis of a person-to-person recom- are attracted and create relationships. Golbeck
mendation network consisting of 4 million people (2006) and Ziegler and Golbeck (2006) describe
who made 16 million recommendations on half a that the similarity of profile attributes (such as
million products show how the recommendation ratings of movies) induces trust among people.
network grows over time. Moreover, they describe They analyzed data from FilmTrust, finding that
its effectiveness from the viewpoints of the sender several profile features beyond overall similarity
and the receiver of the recommendations. affect the degree to which subjects trust other
The basis of past research is that personal in- users. Another characteristic of trust is transitiv-
fluence does affect consumer behavior. However, ity: If A trusts B, and B trusts C, then A can be
all WOM are not created equal. There are people inferred to trust C to some degree. The calculation
who have more influence, who are more listened is validated through experimental studies. Guha,
to, and who are more trusted for shopping advice. Kumar, Raghavan, and Tomkins (2004) develop a
Users might trust some people more than others, framework of a trust propagation scheme, and with
and might therefore be more influenced by them it evaluate a large trust network using Epinions
(Forman, Ghose, & Wiesenfeld, 2008; Matsumura, data. Their results show how trust and distrust
Yamamoto & Tomozawa 2008). Even if a certain exert considerable effects on trust propagation.
user might make many recommendations, such a Considering those studies of the degree to
persons influence is limited: users neither trust, which trust is formed, bidirectional effects on
nor are they influenced by, such a person (Lesk- users trust and ratings are readily apparent.
ovec, Adamic, & Huberman, 2006).
Before we argue further on trust, we clarify Rating to trust: Users put trust in other
the definition of trust in this chapter. A frequently members because their ratings match an-
quoted definition by Deutsch (1962) states that other users ratings.
trusting behavior occurs when (a) the individual is Trust to rating: The rating of a user is in-
confronted with an ambiguous patha path that fluenced by the opinions of trusted others.
can engender a beneficial event or to a harmful
event; (b) she perceives that the occurrence of a
634
This bidirectional interaction of trust and opin- Users of @cosme can post their reviews of
ion can be considered to be ubiquitous in the real cosmetic products (100,500 items of 11,000
world. People in similar cultures flock together: brands) on the system. A review consists of some
they are influenced by each other; moreover, they text describing the experience and the rating
strive actively to make the culture unique. This (from 1 (bad) to 7 (good)) of the product. We do
phenomenon by which similar people gather is not use text messages for this study; instead, we
understood as homophily in the context of social use a review and a rating interchangeably in this
network analysis (Wasserman & Faust, 1994). chapter (when not confusing).
Homophily in the sociology literature is defined as A visitor can search for a product and read re-
a principle that contact between similar people oc- views about it. She can also browse other products
curs at a higher rate than among dissimilar people using the hierarchical classification of products
(McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Cook, 2001). So- or clicking reviewers other reviews. Once a user
cial scientists and computer scientists have done registers to the site, she becomes able to log in to
extensive research on this phenomenon. For ex- the system. She is directed to a personalized page
ample, Hogg, Wilkinson, Szabo, and Brzozowski called MyPage. News related to favorite brands
(2008) examined homophily between Essembly and latest reviews announced by her favorite users
users. Leskovec and Horvitz (2008) constructed a are shown. A user can bookmark the reviewer as
communication graph with 180 million nodes and a favorite user if she finds someones reviews
found strong homophily among users. Singla and trustworthy and useful. We use this social book-
Richardson (2008) found that people who mutu- mark as a (directional) trust relation. The reviewer
ally chat are more likely to share other personal is notified that she has acquired a new user who
characteristics, such as age and location. Crandall, has registered her as a favorite user; in other
Cosley, Huttenlocher, Kleinberg, and Suri (2008) words, she has acquired a new fan. The system
examined the interplay between interaction and ranks users according to their respective quanti-
similarity through empirical analysis of Wikipedia ties of fans. Apparently, some users are extremely
data. Online social media readily induce people to motivated to accumulate more fans.
flock together. Consequently, the characteristics Figure 2(a) portrays the newly added reviews,
of this phenomenon are necessary for mining and new social bookmarks, and new users for each
analyzing online social communities. In the next month since the sites opening. The number of
section, we provide an overview of the @cosme users has grown steadily, as have the quantities
site, a virtual community we use to conduct the of trust relations and reviews.
empirical analysis. Figure 3 and 4 are networks consisting of
bookmark relations for the most-popular or most-
active 100 reviewers. Although the number of
OVERVIEW OF @COSME nodes is the same in both networks, these two
networks reveal very different structure. We can
Viral Marketing Site find that active reviewers are not connected
densely, whereas the popular reviewers are more
Since its opening in December 1999, @cosme densely connected.
has acquired a growing number of users: as of
spring 2007, it had 825 thousand registered users,
generating 175 million page-views per month. Ac-
cording to the operator (istyle Inc.), it is intended
to be a viral marketing site related to cosmetics.
635
Figure 2. Overview of the network data on @cosme. (a): Numbers of new users, new bookmarks, and
new reviews per month, (b): Numbers of reviews by users and their counts, (c): Outdegree distribution
of bookmarks, (d): Indegree distribution of bookmarks
Figure 3. Popular reviewer network
Data Overview Product reviews 4,310,346 records with user

id, product id, date, and rating (1 (bad) 7
We were provided official user log data for more (good)).
than five years: December 1999 April 2006. The Trust relation 530,598 records with user id, (her
data consist of the following three tables. favorite users) user id, and date.
636
Figure 4. Active reviewer network
User profile 670,040 unique users with user id, Product Reviews
registration and birth date, type of skin (six
choices), and profession (ten choices). We introduce some additional information related
to the data. Among 4,310,346 reviews in all, 72,522
The distributions of type of skin are: combi- products have at least one review. Therefore, one
nation skin (40.0%), dry skin (19.2%), normal product has, on average, 59.4 reviewsquite a
skin (15.8%), oily skin (12.2%), sensitive skin large numberreflecting high activity among
(10.1%), and atopic skin (2.7%). The cosmetic users in the community. About one-third of users
product can be considered as an experience good, have written at least one review. On average, a
where the product quality is ascertained only after user posts 6.43 reviews. A user who posts at least
consumption. The type of good and the presence once writes 20.47 reviews, on average. Table 1
of perceived risk make the profile information shows the most-reviewed products. Low-priced
useful and valuable for consumers, especially for and commonly used products are listed higher,
consumers with sensitive or atopic skin. such as nail polish, cleansing oil, eye shadow,
The distributions of profession are: full-time and lotion. The most active user (i.e. the user with
employee (38.3%), full-time homemaker (13.5%), the largest number of reviews) has posted 2,179
university/graduate student (12.3%), part-time reviews during the four years since 2002, approxi-
worker (11.4%), high school student (9.0%), ju- mately 1.5 reviews per day. The distribution of
nior/career college (3.4%), junior-high/elementary the number of reviews apparently conforms to a
school student (2.2%), employee in cosmetics/ power law, as depicted in Figure 2(b). A strange
beauty business (1.2%), and employee in sur- gap separates x = 9 and x = 10, probably because
vey/media company (0.3%), other (8.3%).These of the fact that a user with 10 or more reviews can
personal profiles are visible to others. All users use a personalized recommendation function by
have their personal profiles, which are available the system. This minimum requirement motivates
for use in our analyses. users to post 10 or more reviews.
637
Table 1. Most reviewed products

Figure 5 portrays a community with strong gravity
Rank # of reviews Product if we examine phenomena on a community scale.
1 18,717 eyelash curler
A product is diffused through the trust network,
2 16,599 nail polish
which will give rise to a more tightly connected
3 15,126 deep cleansing oil
community. This can be understood as the emer-
gence of strong brand community. The new product
4 12,287 hair oil
can easily diffuse within the community, which
5 10,877 cleansing oil
will strengthen the community further. A user will
6 10,508 eye shadow
be induced to join the community if she is con-
7 10,238 eyelash curler
nected to the community. This effect resembles
8 10,086 liquid foundation
gravitational force. For that reason, we designate
9 9,808 petroleum jelly
it as community gravity in this chapter.
10 9,570 skin conditioner
The interaction is simpler if no bidirectional
effects hold in the community. In Figure 5, the
interaction of a trust effective community is shown:
Trust Relation a product can be diffused well through the trust
network. Another product might be diffused
The entire set of 530,598 trust relations comprises similarly, but no cumulative effect occurs. On the
49,685 users targeting 61,556 users. In other other hand, in the homophily effective commu-
words, 7.4% of users use the bookmark function nity, similar users will share mutual trust, but
at least once; 9.2% of users are trusted by oth- unless a trust relation affects the product diffusion,
ers. On average, 10.7 trust relations are made by a product neither diffuses through the network,
single users who have used the trust function at nor does the community strengthen. Therefore,
least once. to understand the community dynamics, it is
It is particularly interesting that correlation important to consider effects from trust to rating
between a users number of fans and the number and vice versa.
of her trusted users is not high: the Spearman First, to show how a community grows with
correlation between the number of fans and the strong community gravity, we model the interac-
number of reviews is as high as 0.658, but that tion between rating of a product and trust rela-
between the number of fans and the number of her tion. The rating of user x of product i at time t,
trusted users is only 0.067. Figures 2(c) and 2(d) denoted as sx,i(t) (0 sx,i(t) 1), is fundamentally
portray the degree distributions when considering determined by the preference of user x to product
a trust relation as a directed edge. Each exhibits i. It is also influenced by the rating of other users
a linear relation on a loglog plot. that user x trusts. Therefore, we model the rating
as the summation of her original evaluation sx,i(0)
and the ratings of users she trusts. We denote the
THEORY users who are trusted by user x as Nx.
The bidirectional interaction of trust and rating 1

can be understood as follows: In the first step, a sx ,i (t + 1) = l0sx ,i (t ) + l1
N x (t )
tx ,y (t )sy ,i (t )
y N x (t )
user buys a cosmetic product and another user
trusts her. She will adopt the product, which will (1)
increase the homophily effect. Then, the new
product can easily diffuse between the two users.
638
Figure 5. Strong gravity community vs. other communities
In the equation presented above, tx,y(t) repre- we use no explicit formulation of transitive trust.
sents the trust value [0,1] of user x assigned to As described later, cosine similarity functions
user y at time t; 0 and 1 are constants. We divide well as a similarity measure. The inner product
the rating of trusted users by the number of her corresponds to cosine similarity if we assume that
trusted users |Nx(t)|, thereby taking the average of vector s is normalized so that the vector length
ratings. (Otherwise, if a user trusts more users, her would be 1.
original evaluation is less weighted, which seems Equation 1 and Equation 2 are mutually depen-
unreasonable). Second, we model the trust relation dent. If we assume that tx,y(0)=0 and sx,i(0)=0 and
of a user to another user based on the similarity solve the two equations(at an equilibrium point),
of ratings. As described in Golbeck and Parsia then we can obtain the following expression
(2006), trust is induced by the similarity of ratings
between two users.
sx ,i ' (t )sy ,i ' (t ) sy,i (t )
1 11
sx ,y (t + 1) =
K xy (t ) N x (t )

y N x (t ) i 'I ,i 'i
tx,y(t + 1) = 0tx,y(t) + 1sim(sx,I (t), sy,I (t)) (2)
Therein, tx,y(0) is the original trust from user where the following holds.
x to user y. A set of items is denoted as I, and sx,I
(t) is the vector of rating sx,i(t) (i I). A function 11
sim() is used to calculate the similarity between K xy (t ) = 1
| N x (t ) |
s y ,i
(t )2
i I
two vectors (e.g., cosine similarity and inner
product), and 0 and 1 are constants. Trust can
also be induced in a transitive manner using the This equation is complex, but we can under-
trust values of more distantly related users, as stand it intuitively as follows: we assume that user
described in previous reports. However, because x increases her rating of product i with sx,i. Then
similarity measures usually have some transitivity, tx,y increases by 1sx,isy,i; if user y has a high rat-
639
ing of product i, the increase on sx,i increases the problem resolutions yield a prediction based on
similarity, resulting in the increase of trust tx,y. It the data before the time point. Models to predict
does not bring much of an increase (sometimes trust and ratings are learned using classification
even a decrease) of tx,y if user y has a low (or zero) algorithms.
rating of product i. Eventually, sx,i(t) is increased
by the following expression. Trust Prediction
11 Features
Dsx ,isy ,i (t )2 (3)
N x (t )
To predict the trust assigned by user x to user y,
we use features of three kinds: each corresponds
Therefore, an increase of rating sx,i again to a table in @cosme data. The overall features
brings the increase of rating sx,i itself by order of are presented in Table 2. The first type of feature
11(sy,i)2/ |Nx(t)| through neighboring user y. The is based on a profile table; we use the properties
user eventually obtains a higher increase on sx,i(t) of user x and user y, along with the properties
if user x has many neighbors with a high rating of difference and correspondence.
product i. In this way, the ratings of users become All features are continuous (except some pro-
similar if they are closely connected. They profile features). We will not explain all the features,
duce a cluster of users with similar preferences. but we shall explain some: The skin-same is 1
Depending on product and user characteristics, 1 when the skin types of two users are the same.
and 1 differ. The opinions of users on a particular The age-dif is the difference of ages (days after
product tend to be similar locally, which produces the birthday) of two users. The good-product-
denser clusters than those for other products. matching means the matching coefficient of re-
views with good rating (6 or more score). The
review-n-x means the number of reviews posted
DATA ANALYSIS by user x. The over6-y is the number of good rat-
ings (score of 6 or more) posted by user y. The
For the discussion presented in this section, we trusted-n-x is the number of users whom user x
take a practical approach to analyze bidirectional trusts, i.e. outgoing trust of x. The trusting-n-y is
interaction between trust and rating. By examining the number of users who trust user y, i.e. incom-
each interaction empirically, we can support the ing trust of y. The AdamicAdar-directional means
model of the previous section. the similarity within the directional trust network
We build two prediction problems: prediction measured using the AdamicAdar index.
for trust and prediction for rating of the product. The second type of feature uses the product-
The trust prediction is, given two users x and y, to review table. The features are invented to measure
predict whether a trust relation from x to y exists. the similarities of ratings of user x and user y on
It can be considered as a link prediction problem various products. For example, if user x announces
(Getoor & Diehl, 2005). We use the features based ratings on five products, then {(P1, 6), (P2, 4), (P3,
on two users profiles, product ratings, and other 5), (P4, 2), (P5, 7)}, where Pi represents product
trust relations. i annotated using a rating of an integer (Adamic,
Rating prediction is complementary: given a Zhang, Bakshy, & Ackerman, 2008; Getoor &
user and a product, we seek to predict the rating. Diehl, 2005). Assume that user y posts ratings of
Features are generated using her profile, her ratings four products: {(P1, 5), (P2, 5), (P5, 7), (P6, 3)}.
of the other product, and her trusted users. Both Consequently, we can calculate the similarity us-
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Table 2. Features for trust prediction (from user x to user y)
Group Type Features

Profile skin skin-same (binary), skin-x (category), skin-y (category)
profession profession-same (binary), profession-x (category), profession-y (category)
age age-x, age-y, age-dif
history history-x, history-y, history-dif
Rating good rating good-product-matching, good-product-product, good-product-cos, good-product-Jaccard, good-brand-
matching good-brand-product, good-brand-cos, good-brand-Jaccard, good-manufacturer-matching,
good-manufacturer-product, good-manufacturer-cos, good-manufacturer-Jaccard
bad rating bad-product-matching, bad-product-product, bad-product-cos, bad-product-Jaccard,
bad-brand-matching, bad-brand-product, bad-brand-cos, bad-brand-Jaccard,
bad-manufacturer-matching, bad-manufacturer-product, bad-manufacturer-cos,
bad-manufacturer-Jaccard
all rating all-product-matching, all-product-product, all-product-cos, all-product-Jaccard, all-brand-matching, all-
brand-product, all-brand-cos, all-brand-Jaccard, all-manufacturer-matching, all-manufacturer-product,
all-manufacturer-cos, all-manufacturer-Jaccard
stats review-n-x, rating-ave-x, rating-std-x, review-n-year-x, popularity-x, over6-x, under2-x, review-n-y,
rating-ave-y, rating-std-y, review-n-year-y, popularity-y, over6-y, under2-y
Trust stats trusted-n-x, trusting-n-x, trusted-n-y, trusting-n-y
graph distance
similarity common-neighbors-directional, common-neighbors-reverse, common-neighbors-undirectional, Jaccard-
directional, Jaccard-reverse, Jaccard-both, AdamicAdar-directional, AdamicAdar-reverse, Adamic
Adar-undirectional, preferential-directional, preferential-reverse, preferential-undirectional
ing various measures. In this case, P1, P2, and P5 to P5. Then, we can define the overlap of Igood(x)
are rated by both users. Therefore, the matching and Igood(y), or Ibad(x) and Ibad(y) as well.
coefficient is three. The value is 3/45 = 0.67 if Users might not be familiar with a product.
we perform calculations using cosine similarity, However, sometimes they make a purchase deci-
denoting a set of items rated by user x as Ix. The sion based on a brand or manufacturer. Users often
three measures we use are the following. have several preferred brands or manufacturers.
Therefore, we can calculate the overlap of rated
(i) Matching coefficient: |I(x) I(y)| items as categorized by brands, or as categorized
(ii) Cosine similarity: |I(x) I(y)|/(|I(x)||I(y)|) by manufacturers. Overall, we have 4 (measures)
(iii) Jaccard coefficient: |I(x) I(y)|/|I(x) I(y)| 3 (sets) 3 (product/brand/manufacturer) =
36 features.
We also use (iv), a product for which I(x) is The third type of feature is derived from trust
considered as a vector, and calculate I(x)I(y). Us- relations (except the very relation from x to y,
ers might refer to reviews with good ratings more which we seek to predict). Following the link
often, or reviews with a bad rating more often. prediction study (Liben-Nowell & Kleinberg,
Therefore, we define a set of items with good/ 2003), we build the following attributes: (i) the
bad reviews as Igood(x) and Ibad(x) correspondingly. number of neighbors for users x and y, (ii) distance
We define a good rating as one with a score of 6 on the network, (iii) common neighbors of user x
points or more; a bad rating has 2 points or less. and user y, (iv) Jaccard coefficient of neighbors
In the example, user x assigns a good rating of of users x and y, (v) AdamicAdar, which is de-
P1 and P5, whereas user y assigns a good rating fined as zNxNy1/log|N(z)|, and (vi) preferential
641
attachment, defined as |Nx||Ny|. The trust network Rating Prediction

comprises trust relations of both directions (where
we regard the trust relation from x to y as identical Next, we build the rating prediction problem.
to the trust relation from y to x), single relations The features we used, as presented in Table 5,
(where we distinguish the relation from x to y and are categorized into profile, rating, and trust, as
the relation from y to x), and reciprocal relations well as trust prediction. Considering the rating by
(where we put a link from x to y if a trust relation user x of product i, the profile features are simply
from user y to user x exists). Therefore, we have the properties of user x. The rating features are
three networks associated with respective features. the number of ratings by user x, the average of
ratings by user x, the standard deviation of the
Results ratings by user x, the number of good ratings,
and the number of bad ratings. We also calculate
We randomly chose 1000 pairs of users with trust these values for brands and manufacturers. Then
relations and another 1000 pairs of unrelated users we produce summations of ratings on product i:
without relations; they correspond respectively to the number of reviews, the average and standard
positive and negative sets. We used a support vec- deviation of ratings, and so on.
tor machine (SVM) with a linear kernel (Vapnik, We explain some features hereinafter. The
1995) as a classifier. We compared the resultant user-total-n is the number of reviews by user x.
performance with results obtained using several The user-total-ave and user-total-std respec-
other classifiers including J4.8 and Naive Bayes. tively signify the average and standard deviation
They produce similar results overall; the results of the ratings by user x. The user-latest-review is
worsen by a few points. the number of days after the latest review is
Table 3 presents the performances of clas- posted by user x. The user-manufacturer-n is the
sifying trust relations by SVM. Each group of number of reviews by user x of products made by
attributes contributes to the classification. Trust the same manufacturer of product A. The product-
features and ratings features contribute greatly review-under2 is the number of ratings with a
to the performance compared to profile features. score of 2 or less on product A. The brand review-
The F1 value is 82.46% if we use all three groups. ave is the average rating of products with the same
Table 4 presents features with the highest weights brand as product A. The trusted-review-n is the
in the obtained model by the SVM classifier. It number of reviews posted by users who are
is apparent that the number of users who trust y trusted by user A. The trusted-brand-ave is the
and the number of users trusted by x are the two
highest features, which might be readily apparent.
Highly trusted users are likely to be trusted by a
particular user; a user who trusts many others is Table 3. Performance of trust prediction
likely to trust another. Attributes Precision Recall F1
Some features in the table are of particular
profile only 54.89 53.17 54.02
interest: Jaccard-directional is the overlap of user
review only 77.38 35.29 70.82
xs trusted users and trusted users by user y, which
trust only 90.04 71.33 79.60
implies the transitivity of trust relations. The all-
profile+review 77.55 67.41 72.17
product-cos is the similarity of all rated items by
profile+trust 89.78 72.30 80.10
user x and those by user y. This can be understood
review+trust 88.73 75.52 81.60
that the similarity can be measured well using the
all 88.10 77.51 82.46
cosine of the rated product.
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Table 4. Highly weighted features in trust prediction
Feature Description Weight

Trusting-n-y # of users who bookmarks user y 5.61
Trusted-n-x # of users whom user x bookmarks 5.33
Jaccard-undirectional Jaccard coefficient of neighbors of user x and user y 3.82
Jaccard-directional Jaccard coefficient within directional trust network 3.70
All-product-cos Cosine similarity of product preference 2.83
Jaccard-reverse Jaccard coefficient-reverse 2.69
AdamicAdar-directional Similarity within the directional trust network measured using the 1.74
AdamicAdar
Common-neighbor-directional Common-neighbors within directional trust network 1.52
All-product-Jaccard Jaccard coefficient of product preference 1.49
Review-n-y # of reviews posted by user y 1.19
Common-neighbor-undirectional Common-neighbors within undirectional trust network 1.19
Bad-product-cos Cosine similarity of negative product preference -1.17
Over6-x # of positive rating (6+) by user x -1.07
Bad-product-Jaccard Jaccard similarity of negative product preference -1.03
Popularity-x Incoming trust for x -1.01
average rating of the brand of product A by users number of ratings, the average of ratings, and the
who are trusted by user x. standard deviation are calculated to the product,
As for the trust relation, we aggregate the the brand, and the manufacturer.
ratings by users who are trusted by user x. The
Table 5. Features for rating prediction (by user x for product A)
Group Type Features

Profile skin-x (category), profession-x (category), age-x, history-x
Rating user stat user-total-n, user-total-ave, user-total-std, user-total-over6, user-total-under2, user-oldest-review,
user-latest-review
user user-brand-n, user-brand-ave, user-brand-std, user-brand-over6, user-brandunder2,
user-manufacturer-n, user-manufacturer-ave, user-manufacturer-std,
user-manufacturer-over6, user-manufacturer-under2
product product-review-n, product-review-ave, product-review-std, product-review-over6,
product-review-under2, product-oldest-review, product-latest-review
brand brand-review-n, brand-review-ave, brand-review-std, brand-review-over6,
brand-review-under2
manufacturer manufacturer-review-n, manufacturer-review-ave, manufacturer-review-std,
manufacturer-review-over6, manufacturer-review-under2
Trust product trusted-review-n, trusted-rate-ave, trusted-rate-std, trusted-over6, trusted-under2
brand trusted-brand-review-n, trusted-brand-rate-ave, trusted-brand-rate-std,
trusted-brand-over6, trusted-brand-under2
manufacturer trusted-manufacturer-review-n, trusted-manufacturer-rate-ave,
trusted-manufacturer-rate-std, trusted-manufacturer-over6, trusted-manufacturerunder2
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Table 6. Performance of rating prediction

features include user-brand-ave and trusted-rate-
Attributes Precision Recall F1 ave. User-brand-ave is user xs average rating of
profile only 53.14 64.36 58.21
brand B, and it indicates the umbrella effect of
review only 89.34 79.34 84.26
brand on products. The average of ratings of users
trust only 83.27 46.39 59.59
whom the user trusts is also a good feature, jus-
tifying the effect of trusted users in Equation 1.
profile+review 89.32 79.62 84.19
This is the evidence of personal influence by her
profile+trust 81.77 46.86 59.58
favorite users.
review+trust 90.01 83.76 86.77
All 89.85 81.85 85.66
Estimating Parameters
To investigate the correspondence between the

The rating prediction is reduced to classifica-
practical classifiers and the evolution model in the
tion. The task is to classify a review into a good
previous section, we select a few highly weighted
review class (with 6 points or more) and a non-good
features that represent respective terms in the
review class (with 5 points or less). The results
theoretical equations. Subsequently, we apply
are presented in Table 6. It is apparent that ratings
regression using SVM with features to estimate
of features and trust features have comparable
parameters 1 and 1.
performance. In addition, F1 is 85.66% using
For trust prediction, by selecting four highly
SVM if we use all the features.
weighted features and applying regression, we
The highly weighted features are presented in
can obtain the following equation.
Table 7. It is apparent that the number of reviews
of products and the number of reviews by the user tx,y(t + 1) = 0tx,y(t) + 1sim(sx,I (t), sy,I (t))
are important features. Particularly interesting
Table 7. Highly weighted features for preference prediction
Feature Description Weight

product-review-n # of reviews for product A 4.51
product-review-over 6 # of positive ratings (6+) on product A 3.88
user-total-n # of reviews by user x 2.56
product-latest-review Product As latest rating -2.08
product-review-under2 # of negative rating (2-) on product A 1.90
user-brand-ave User xs average rating of brand B 1.71
trusted-rate-ave Average rating of product A among user xs bookmarked users 1.69
trusted-under2 # of negative rating (2-) on product A among user xs bookmarked users 1.59
trusted-brand-review-n # of reviews for brand B among user xs bookmarked users -1.47
user-manufacturer-ave Average rating of manufacturer M 1.45
user-total-over 6 # of positive ratings (6+) by user x 1.22
user-manufacturer-n # of reviews on manufacturer M by user x 1.05
brand-review-std Standard deviation of rating of brand B -1.04
trusted-manufacturer-review-n # of reviews on manufacturer M by user xs bookmarked users -1.02
trusted-review-n # of reviews by user xs bookmarked users 1.01
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~ 0.34trusting-n-y+0.31trusting-n- Parameters 1 and 1 can be estimated for each

x+0.25Jaccard-directional+0.09all-product- brand. In Equation 4, the variable all-product-cos
cos (4) is calculated for all products of the target brand.
Regarding Equation 5, the variables product-
The first three terms can be attributed to tx,y(t). review-n, user-brand-ave, and trusted-rate-ave
We can estimate 1 as 0.09 if we infer all-product- are calculated using all products of the brand. In
cos as a similarity measure. Regarding rating this manner, we can estimate 1 and 1 for each
prediction, by selecting four highly weighted brand b, denoted as 1(b) and 1(b).
features, we can construct the following model. To measure the strength of a brand based on
the bidirectional interaction model, we propose
1 a new index, called community gravity (CG).
sx ,i (t + 1) = l0sx ,i (t ) + l1
Nx
tx ,y (t )sy ,i (t )
The index is defined for a set of items, which in
y Truxtedx
this case corresponds to a brand. It incorporates

effects from trust to rating, and from rating to
~ 0.27user-total-n+0.42 product-review- trust, as follows.
n+0.16 user-brand-ave+0.14trusted-rate-
ave (5) CG (b) = 1(b) 1(b)
Similarly, the first three terms are attributed Because the users rating increases in a reflec-
to sx,i(t). By selecting trusted-rate-ave as a rating tive manner in direct relation to 11, as shown
measure, we can estimate 1 as 0.14. in Equation 3, this measure represents a funda-
mental value of the brand characteristics. Some
brands manage to attract many loyal customers.
COMMUNITY GRAVITY These admirers of the brand form a brand com-
munity. Subsequently, their communications
Measuring Bidirectional Effect strengthen their mutual brand loyalty. In these
cases, consumers are drawn into communities
For the analysis described above, it can be inferred with powerful attraction, like a gravitational force.
that 1 = 0.09 and 1 = 0.14 for overall users and Their interaction strengthens the network in the
products in @cosme. However, this value var- community. We designate the gravitational force
ies depending on the product. Some products, of a community as community gravity. Table 8
brands, and manufacturers might have a large 1 presents a list of products with high CG values.
and 1, i.e. strong community gravity. Especially It is apparent that some major brands have high
from a marketing perspective, when a brand has CG values. For example, Majolica Majorca is
a large bidirectional effect, it generates a strong Shiseidos make-up brand for young consumers
community: users become more connected, and with a strong personality. Users of Lush and Anna
a new product prevails easily in the community. Sui cosmetics are known to have extremely high
Each cosmetics manufacturer strives to establish brand loyalty. Consequently, high CG implies that
and strengthen its own brands. Therefore, it is the brand is strong because it can create strong
reasonable to consider a brand as an important user communities.
medium of the bidirectional effects. Below, we
present analyses of the bidirectional effect, par-
ticularly addressing cosmetics brands.
645
Table 8. List of brands with the highest CG measure
CG Brand Manufacturer
0.142 Majolica Majorca Shiseido
0.131 Chanel Chanel
0.122 Yves Saint Laurent Yves Saint Laurent Parfums
0.100 Anna Sui Cosmetics Anna Sui Cosmetics
0.096 Kate Kanebo
0.075 Esfield Esfield
0.074 Lush Lush
0.073 Baby Pink Bison
0.073 Guerlain Guerlain
0.071 Canmake Ida Laboratories
Product Propagation Network nodes are users and the (directed) edges are the
success propagations between two users. A core
To clarify the characteristics of the CG measure group of users who are mutually connected by
further, we attempt to investigate the differences of dense relations is readily apparent. These users
user behavior depending on different CG values. diffuse the product to more peripheral users. In
We can build a propagation network resembling contrast, Figure 7 displays the network for a lotion
Leskovecs recommendation network (Leskovec, of DHC, which is a popular brand that attracts
Adamic, & Huberman, 2006) using product re- numerous product reviews, but which has a low
views and trust relations. We regard a review by CG value (83rd place). Most of the relations in
trusted persons as a recommendation. If Alice this network are dyads, and this structure makes
registers Betty as trusted, and Betty puts a good it difficult for product propagation.
rating of product i at time t, then we regard it as Although networks in Figure 6 and Figure 7
a recommendation from Betty to Alice on prod- have almost equal quantities of nodes and edges,
uct i that occurred at time t. Because @cosme DHC lotion propagation network is flatter than
permits a review only after a user purchases or that of Majolica Majorca. Success rates of the
tries a product, we can regard a review as proof propagations are 1.82% and 0.47% for these two
of purchase: in other words, we can confidently networks.
infer that Alice bought i some time before time t We present a scatter plot of the recommenda-
if Alice has a review on product i at time t. tion success rate and the CG value for popular
Consequently, we can define the success of brands in Figure 8. Using the plot, we can assess
propagation as follows: If Alice receives a rec- the correlation of these two values.
ommendation on product i from Betty at time t1, In summary, the CG measure is a good index
and if Alice writes a (first) review on product i at to represent a users bidirectional effects on trust
time t2, where t1<t2<t1+T, then we consider that and rating. A high CG value implies the power of
the recommendation is successful. We set T as the brand to produce strong user communities.
180 days. We can draw a propagation network Numerous attempts have been made to investi-
for various products. Figure 6 portrays the (suc- gate brand communities in the marketing science
cess) propagation network of a Majolica Majorca field. For example, Brown, Tilton, and Woodside
eyelash expander, which has the highest CG. The (2002) compare members and non-members of
646
Figure 6. Propagation network for an eyelash expander with the highest CG brand. (n = 630, e = 858,
where n is the number of nodes and e is the number of edges.)
Figure 7. Propagation network for a lotion with the most popular brand (but with low CG). (n = 581,
e =496)
virtual communities and report that the commu- that the brand community is a powerful tool to
nity members are more likely to engage in online strengthen brand loyalty. McAlexander, Schouten,
shopping and have a higher propensity to revisit and Koenig (2002) also describe the impact of
the website. Muniz and OGuinn (2001) expand brand community. They show that customers
the traditional model of customerbrand relation who purchase a branded product often do so
to a customerbrandcustomer triad. The results with the support of other users, which engenders
of field research and in-depth interviews reflect the possibility of brand-focused interpersonal
647
Figure 8. Plot of CG and the recommendation success rate>
bonds. Forman, Ghose, and Wiesenfeld (2008) of similarity and the other supporting the power
report a relation between reviews and sales from of heterophily. The results of earlier studies that
the identity disclosure perspective. Our study is emphasize the power of similarity in social influ-
inspired by these findings, which have provided ence were discussed in the preceding section. What
a general model to explain the emergence and we have not analyzed is the power of heterophily.
strength of brand communities. The result indicates Rogers (2003) states that heterophilous commu-
that a strong brand community accelerates product nication has a special informational potential,
diffusion. This confirms the importance of brand even though it might rarely be realized. Gatignon
community and brand blogs. This chapter contrib- and Robertson (1985) argued that heterophilous
utes to brand community research by providing influences beyond the boundaries of the social
the impact of dense social network among brand system are common among innovators. The opin-
communities for successful product propagation. ion leadership literature also places emphasis on
heterophilous influences because opinion leaders
are special consumers who are heterophilous;
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS that is, they differ from ordinary people (Katz &
Lazarsfeld, 1955; King & Summers, 1970).
In this section, we discuss future and emerging Results of earlier research suggest that both
trends in the related research. Our future works heterophily and similarity drive WOM commu-
include improvement of the model of trust and nication. When a WOM sender and a receiver
preference. We assumed and validated that the are similar, the sender is unlikely to have more
trust relation is developed between users based on knowledge than the receiver. Consequently, a
their mutual similarity. However, similarity might WOM receiver is more likely to be exposed to
not be the only reason for building a trust relation. new ideas when interacting with a WOM sender
There might be various reasons for social who is dissimilar, but at some point the difference
bookmarking: friendship, admiration, reward, becomes so great that communication suffers. This
etc. Earlier research on personal influence that suggests the possibility of optimal heterophily
has examined the relational context includes two (Yamamoto & Matsumura, 2009).
contradictory arguments: one supporting the power
648
This chapter also presents specific examination and empirically, and introduced CG as a useful
of CG, a new measure characterizing the emer- measure to elucidate the strength of brand com-
gence and the strength of brand community. Re- munity. Results show that in a brand with a high
cently, evolution models of social networks have CG value, products can be diffused easily through
received much attention: Leskovec, Backstrom, brand community. Depending on the product, this
Kumar, & Tomkins (2008) develop a model of bidirectional effect can be large, resulting in highly
network evolution using four large datasets: Flickr, clustered user groups. It can be considered as
Delicious, Yahoo! Answers, and LinkedIn. Anag- brand strength from a user-interaction perspective.
nostopoulos, Kumar, and Mahdian (2008) define Although our model is evaluated using only a
the general models of social correlation. Causes single dataset, the bidirectional interaction is ap-
of correlation in social networks are categorizable parently an essential model for many other online
into influence, homophily, and environment. They social communities. By identifying communities
used the Flickr dataset and analyzed the effects. with high community gravity, future investigations
Our research shares a similar motivation with those are expected to reveal means to cultivate strong
studies: we also seek a model of the interaction communities on the Web and how system design
and evolvement of social networks. and interaction design should be done.
More advanced analysis is also possible
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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS lead to a good outcome.
Viral Marketing: The strategy of getting
Brand Community: A community in which
consumers to recommend a product or a service
consumers who share a set of social relationships
on behalf of the company that offers it.
based upon usage or interest in a product gather
Word-of-Mouth: Marketing-relevant infor-
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653
654
Chapter 39
An Approach for Analysing
Interactions within Virtual
Learning Communities
Manuela Repetto
Institute for Educational Technology, National Research Council, Italy
ABSTRACT
The aim of the contribution is to present a novel systematic model of interaction analysis which was
designed and successfully experimented with a wide sample of adult learners in order to enhance and
understand cognitive, socio-organizational and emotional-affective processes of virtual learning com-
munities (VLCs). Starting from strengths and weaknesses of the present models and methodologies on
interaction analysis, the mixed methodological approach adopted to develop this novel interaction
analysis model is illustrated.
The model is organised in five categories and about thirty indicators and it can be applied through the
development of a coding scheme, a self-assessment questionnaire for learners, and an assessment grid
for tutors. Triangulation of data obtained from these tools and integration of them with ethnographic
analysis make this approach for analysing interactions a reliable means to allow assessment and self-
regulation of learners, while exploring the nature of learning within virtual learning environments (VLEs).
INTRODUCTION as socially grounded, participants learn performing

collaborative activities aimed at the realisation
Dynamics of Virtual Learning Communities of common tasks such as problem solving, case
(VLCs) have gained the attention of several studies or project development. There is evidence
researchers belonging to the educational field that this kind of learning strategies is crucial to
in the last two decades. According to the social promote knowledge building. Nevertheless, the
constructivist approach, which considers learning proliferation of online courses has made impelling
for the scientific community the development of
theoretical models and methodologies devoted to
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch039
An Approach for Analysing Interactions within Virtual Learning Communities
detect those online dynamics leading to successful emotional level and jointly, according to an
learning outcomes. holistic approach and adopting a constructivist
Among the several research trends, interaction perspective, in order to detect how these are re-
analysis, meant as textual analysis of the contents lated in generating relevant learning experiences.
of messages circulated within online groups among The methodological approach applied to de-
learners or between learners and tutors, is one of velop the interaction analysis model is mixed. Part
the most widespread methods. of the research was carried out on an empirical
The interaction analysis model illustrated in level according to an experimental perspective,
this chapter was developed starting from the most through techniques gathering structured data or-
common interaction analysis models and methods ganized in matrices, and elaborated with statistical
based on collaborative learning within VLCs. The techniques; another part of the research was real-
examination on studies lead on this topic was ized through a hermeneutic approach, by means
run adopting a critical approach that provided of qualitative techniques capturing aspects not
the evidence of convergences and variations formalized. Firstly, categories and indicators for
within each strand of inquiry and clearly helped analyzing the conferencing transcripts have been
the various perspectives of research to come to identified through a recursive process, combining
light. These studies commonly derive from the a data-driven approach inspired to grounded theory
constructivist paradigm in its interactionist and with a theory-driven approach. The resulting
cultural-situational derivations, according to the model was organized in five categories and about
participants of a VLC build new knowledge not thirty indicators. The next step was the application
only on the basis of those mastered, but even of this model with a sample of about 320 persons
through negotiation and sharing of meanings. through the development of a coding scheme, a
Independently from the constructivist perspec- self-assessment questionnaire for learners, and
tive, shared in the present work, the purpose of an assessment grid for tutors. Data obtained with
the analysis of previous models was to detect these tools were triangulated and integrated with
to what extent these studies diverge in terms of results coming from the hermeneutic approach.
underlying approaches and theoretical references. The interaction analysis model developed
The exploratory nature characterising the present and experimented within this research allows
studies on this topic is probably due to the lack understanding cognitive, organizational and
of reliability of the coding systems elaborated emotional-affective processes of the VLCs, even
so far, that make difficult to replicate them. The with incursions in disciplinary areas different
majority of the models are descriptive and one- from Education. Starting from the investigated
dimensional, detecting mainly participation. Even phenomena, the main tendencies and configura-
in so called multidimensional models the main tions assumed by VLCs can be detected to better
dimension investigated is social presence, while understand which elements and conditions make
other relevant dimensions like the cognitive or the these situations virtuous or critical for individual
affective ones are not deeply analysed. and collective learning. At an individual level, dy-
The main epistemological assumption of this namics triggered from the assumption of specific
research was that learning derives from the in- roles can be analyzed; at collective level, typical
teraction of three core components: the cognitive phases (organizational, affective and cognitive)
dimension, the socio-organisational dimension crossed by groups during a series of collaborative
and the affective dimension. These dimensions activities can be identified.
have been investigated both separately trying Moreover, overcoming the individual and inter-
to understand dynamics at cognitive, social and rater logic to catch the specific peculiarities of the
655
group building knowledge online, interpretation laborative learning, may contribute to the positive
of data gathered through the submission of the outcome of learning processes.
developed tools can detect to what extent the three The Canadians Gunawardena, Lowe and An-
dimensions concur in triggering relevant learning derson (1997) investigate transitions among the
within computer mediated environments. phases of critical thinking to describe the social
process of knowledge building. Their approach
considers the messages flow through a sequen-
THE BACKGROUND tial model comprising twenty-one categories
hierarchically organized in five phases, basing
An investigation of studies on the present inter- upon the assumption that supporting positions
action analysis models and methods inform on and argumentations come before discussion of
researchers position within each inquiry strand different points of view or disagreement.
and on modalities by which the reference approach, Jeong (2003, 2005) has developed a tool for
even within the same socio-constructivist matrix, sequential analysis of interactions and critical
is declined in the interpretation of everyone. thinking, named DAT, to identify among the inter-
On the basis of the kind of dimensions on action patterns those promoting critical thinking.
which analysis models place evidence, three main Through the method of sequential analysis, he has
research trends can be identified: identified twelve events and calculated the transi-
tional probabilities among these events. His model
inquiries mainly focusing the social considers the relation of a message with the rest of
dimension; messages linked with it, rather than the message
those privileging the cognitive aspects; in itself. Developing this tools Jeong was inspired
orientations adopting bidimensional ap- by the dialogic theory of Bakhtin, according to
proaches or propending for a more exten- language is seen as a part of a social context in
sive investigation, aimed at detecting a which all the possible meanings of world interact,
number of aspects even superior. conflict and may affect future meanings, since
the conflict stimulates and increases inquiries,
Its necessary to come back to the end of reflection and the expression of points of view.
60s and mention one of the first studies lead by The Pratical Inquiry Model developed by Gar-
Flanders, to understand the evolution of subse- rison, Anderson and Archer (2000; 2001; 2003a;
quent studies. The Flanders model (1967), that 2003b; 2006) identifies three dimensions: the
was readapted and is still used within traditional cognitive presence, indicating the skill to build
face to face contexts from teachers, empathizes meanings through collaboration and mediated
interactions student/teacher and codifies behaviors communication; the social presence, the ability of
through rigid and prescriptive categories, reflect- participants to project their personal characteristics
ing in a static way the interactions. into community appearing as real persons; the
Henri (1992) can be considered the precursor teaching presence, including learning contents
of online interaction analysis. Shes one of the development and process facilitation.
first researchers to comprehend that Computer To complete this synthetic overview on interac-
Mediated Communication constitutes a mine of tion analysis models, the TAT model (Transcript
information in respect to psycho-social dynamics Analysis Tool) developed by Fahy (2002; 2005)
of online work between learners, and to recognize should be mentioned. This model comprises eight
that the reduction of social pressure, together with coding categories: horizontal and vertical ques-
the feelings of group belonging ensured from col- tions, referential and no-referential declarations,
656
reflections, scaffolding comments, paraphrases prehension level of complexity, even if this mix
and citations. of approaches is not always rigorously managed
Undoubtedly, interaction analysis aimed at from a scientific point of view.
collaborative building of knowledge is a strand Some models of analysis are not totally sys-
of growing interest within research on VLCs. tematic, since researchers often dont develop
The interest towards this topic has lead, from a them starting from a specific epistemological
methodological point of view, to the review of perspective. They rather combine into an unique
techniques and procedures of interaction analysis model paradigms contrasting or reciprocally
affirmed in recent years and to the creation of unsubstantial. Some avail themselves, in the
new methodologies, thus starting up innovative majority of cases, of descriptive approaches,
inquiries, even still limited and circumscribed for while the experimental ones are seldom; the use
their exploratory nature due to the immaturity of of phenomenological methods appears to grow.
research in this field or to the reliability lack of code Some models are uni- or bidimensional; in the
systems developed till now. The pioneristic work multidimensional models the main dimension
of Henri, as underlined by Rourke et al (2001), investigated is usually the social one, while other
has generated several studies, but anybody has relevant dimensions like the cognitive and the
replicated that model or its subsequent version, emotional ones are not deeply analyzed.
neither the alternative models developed from The most known multidimensional models of
other researchers in the following years. interaction analysis differ for the paradigm which
Perspectives on how to use automatic tools adhere. The Henris model is permeated by a
for qualitative analysis are not unambiguous and cognitivist vision of learning which emphasizes
nor how these can be combined with traditional the individual aspects of knowledge. The multi-
methods. Techniques used to analyze interactions dimensional model by Garrison and colleagues,
are not totally reliable, being subjected to subjec- underlying the value of VLCs for the promotion
tive biases during data coding and interpretation. of critical thinking, or the model of Gunawar-
Moreover, during coding there come also the denas group, who realized a five phases-tool to
issue of inter-rater reliability and the problem of analyze knowledge building, follow the theories
investigation of latent contents, that is not directly of social constructivism and consider learning as
observable if analysis is limited to evident contents social rooted.
of messages. A problem of multidimensional models is the
For these reasons, in many cases coding is overlapping of dimensions due to the fallacious
achieved directly from learners through learning attribution of categories to them. In Garrisons
management systems enhancing classification model the allocation of categories quite similar
of messages; otherwise in-depth interviews are make difficult to individuate to which extent each
carried out to integrate information yet available. dimension is linked to the others, being them not
Independently from the undertaken strand of reciprocally exclusive. Teaching presence, for
enquiry, researchers are converging on the shift instance, is with difficulty detachable from cogni-
of attention from interaction analysis between tive presence and partially from social presence as
learner and teacher to that privileging interaction well; furthermore, it is not totally appropriate for
among peers, with more emphasis on processes of an online learning community in which collabora-
knowledge building rather than on final products tion and new knowledge building is performed
cooperatively performed. Moreover, integration among peers. In collaborative learning theres no
between qualitative and quantitative aspects ap- direct instruction and the whole group concurs to
pears necessary to reach a more elevated com- meaning creation; the online tutor, rather, facili-
657
tates the reach of comprehension of the meaning components on which it is assumed collaborative
and of the assigned task-at-hand. In Fahys model, learning relies on.
scaffolding is a very wide category wrapping not If learning is conceived as a complex pro-
only cognitive elements, but even affective. cess generated from the ensemble of cognitive,
A further problem concerns sequential models. metacognitive and socio-relational dynamics, the
The critical thinking model by Gunawardena, emotive-affective sphere could be considered as
for instance, is excessively strict in prescribing a hypothetical third axis strictly related to the
succession of the five phases. It doesnt exist a other two, but with such relevance that it cant
predetermined rule for which a specific phase be assimilated to any of them. A path to reach a
should necessarily follow another phase. The more complete vision, not disregarding aspects
disapproval or the negotiation of a concept can significant for learning, could be the exploration of
follow the exposure of a point of view, but a the vectorial field resulting from the encounter
further point of view, appeared at accomplished among these three dimensions.
negotiation, can make reconsider everything. The To build this model it was necessary to in-
sequential model by Jeong, instead, errs on the dividuate an epistemic connotation both of the
side of an excessive analyticism, since considers a topic and of the methodological approach, to
message in a relation one-to-many and loses sight identify the various aspects to investigate and the
of the whole messages which enhance to identify specific points of view from which the enquiry
phases, or at least some tendencies. would start up.
It is to be hopefully expected that enquiries At first, the concept of interaction on which
much wide as intensive will orientate future this novel model is based, should be defined, as
research towards the exploration of a whole of well as the concept of person and group.
phenomena which couldnt be caught by examin- Online interaction is not merely a sequence
ing only some aspects, or considering dimensions of two events, as defined by Jeong (2003; 2005),
as independent; rather these can be understood rather is to be considered in a wider meaning, as
adopting a perspective that recovers the evalu- the totality of interrelated messages, the gestalt
ation aspect and is moreover able to overcome resulting from the global communication taking
it, wondering also on nature and on generative place among learners. They cannot be considered
processes of learning within VLEs. as separate individuals and not affected by the
presence of others; instead, they act and express
themselves in a way that reflects the presence of
THE METHODOLOGICAL other persons (Gunawardena et al., 1997). Among
APPROACH the individual and the group to which it belongs
there is a strong interdependence; the knowledge
Basic Assumptions built by a group is unique and generates original
products derived from this functional interde-
The main hypothesis formulated on the basis of pendence (Elias e Scotson, 1994). This concept
reflections arisen from the investigation of the derives from the symbolic interactionism, that
most widespread interaction analysis models is defines interaction as a social negotiation process,
that, in order to reach a better comprehension of a continuous evaluation of the conception that each
the nature of learning generative processes within possesses of the other role, whose results is the
VLEs, there is the need of a model of analysis shared definition of situation and the establish-
that gives the opportunity to integrate the various ment or transformation of rules implied in it.
658
Ideas, argumentations, thoughts within the borrowing the main concepts promoted by these
VLE dont originate from the self, but are enacted in a unique integrated vision:
or thought in respect to the other persons of the
group, according to Cooleys theory of mirrored the affective and emotional dimension
self, because interaction presupposes the capac- on which the psychodynamic perspective
ity of foreseeing the meaning that ones conduct focus;
represents for the interlocutor (Burr, 2004) and the orientation towards the shared objective
to act coherently with this forecast and with the assumed by the functionalist perspective;
concept that one owns of the self. The context of the group development and evolution over
interaction is the background for the processes of the time of the diachronic perspective;
knowledge building and negotiation of group par- social construction and meaning that group
ticipants identities, which are frail and dynamic. assume for its members according to the
The actions of individuals dont depend so symbolic-interpretative perspective;
much from psychological attributes and from the sense of belonging to the group and of
internal processes like personality traits, character identification according to the social iden-
or attitudes, intended as established properties tity perspective.
of a person; rather these depend from the social
context, from the single situation, the specific The Theoretical Model
interaction, to the definition of which the same
individuals concur, giving a meaning to their ac- The basic assumptions formulated in the previous
tions. Although the role assumption is performed at paragraph can be considered as the epistemologi-
levels ascribable to the individual dimension that cal ground layer sustaining the development of
is at a cognitive, behavioral and emotional levels the interaction analysis model presented in this
role is a concept operating at collective level and chapter. One of the main conceptions for this model
is linked to the context (ibid., p.84). is that of collaborative learning, seen as result-
Among the theories on which is based this ing from interaction of three main dimensions:
conception of person socially rooted the critical the cognitive, the socio-organizational and the
theory, the social constructivism, the symbolic emotional-affective one. The first one is related to
interactionism and the present European theory comprehension and organization of concepts; the
of social psychology whose major representatives second one concerns collaborative and operational
are Moscovici and Tajfel should be mentioned. abilities related to the coordination of activities
Social sciences have focused on group studies for the fulfillment of the shared task; the third
for over fifty years through several disciplines from dimension involves attitudes, motivations and
psychology to management, from communication emotions mobilized by learners in the attribution
to pedagogy, till policy sciences. Although the nu- of meaning and value to the processes experienced
merous studies carried out within each discipline, within the VLC to which they belong.
research on groups appears as revealed by Poole et These dimensions are investigated both
al (2004) too fragmented and linked to the single separately, trying to understand dynamics at a
disciplines. In order to link different research cognitive, social and emotional level, and jointly,
sectors through the promotion of integrative posi- according to a holistic approach, with the aim of
tions on group theories, an interdisciplinary group identifying the possible relationships (Repetto,
lead by Poole has carried out and evaluation on 2007). Analysis is carried out at a individual level,
the present state of knowledge on small groups, at a group level and at general level (Figure 1).
identifying seven theoretical perspectives and
659
Figure 1. The theoretical model
At an individual level, profiles assumed by The Context

learners relative to the assumption of some roles
(where tasks envisage subdivision of roles as i.e. The methodological approach adopted to build and
in role playing) can be mapped; at a group level to apply this model was defined and experimented
typical phases (organizational, affective and cog- in the context of two editions of an online course
nitive) crossed by groups during a series of col- on Educational Technology for pre-service teach-
laborative tasks can be detected. At a further ers, run by the University of Venice. The sample
level, reciprocal relations among the three dimen- was made of 327 participants subdivided into 45
sions of models can be detected. small groups.
To map these information it is necessary to Participants were students with a masters de-
take also into account interactions between tutor gree, attending a two-year programme of study to
and learners, in order to identify those situations obtain the upper secondary teacher certification.
in which the former has affected cognitive, social All the participants were informed of the research
and affective dynamics of the latter. Starting from purposes and contributed with their feedback to
investigated phenomena, the main tendencies the refinement of the tools developed.
and configurations may be detected to better The online course structure was designed and
understand which elements and conditions have tested at the Institute for Educational Technology
made learning situations virtuous or critical for of the Italian Research Council: three modules
individual and collective learning. lasting about two weeks; each module comprises
The investigation of these three dimensions a collaborative task managed by an online tutor
require the building of an integrated multidimen- and performed by small virtual groups of six-eight
sional model for the analysis of messages, aimed persons. The tutors, who are trained to lead this
at capturing how these components concur to the course, have a role both of expert of contents and
generation of relevant learning in VLEs. of facilitator of group dynamics. The collaborative
task, performed within an asynchronous discus-
sion environment, is aimed at the achievement of
660
various types of joint enterprise: a collective case selective coding, where categories are
study (first module), a report produced through grouped into different hierarchic levels on
a role playing activity (second module) and the the basis of relations identified in the pre-
development of an interdisciplinary project (third vious phase and its ensured that these are
module). relevant and mutually exclusive.
A Mixed Approach The grounded theory approach was slightly

modified during this process. To define categories
The methodological approach adopted to build and indicators, not only textual analysis data were
and to apply this model is mixed and is articulated considered, but even indicators readapted from
into two distinct phases. interaction analysis models established in the
In the former, an approach inspired to grounded scholarship on this topic. Proceeding inductively
theory was adopted, that was integrated and in the reading of messages to catch and define
melted with an interpretative analysis method; categories and indicators, elements and situations
in the latter the two methods have been cleaved which couldnt be captured just through the mere
and autonomously applied, and successively the definition of indicators was detected. Identified
obtained results have been put into relation and situations were captured noting observations and
reinterpreted. judgments to be postponed for a further analysis in
Thus, part of the study conducted for the the following phase. These reflections were also
creation of the interaction analysis model was very useful to tune and refine the list of indicators.
carried out at empirical level according to a quasi- The plot of these two procedures, the approach
experimental design, adopting techniques which inspired to grounded theory and the ethnographic
gather highly structured data; another part of the one, has lead to the creation of the multidimen-
study was realized according to a hermeneutic sional interaction analysis model (named TAM).
approach, through qualitative techniques as dis- In the second phase, starting from the multidi-
course and conversational analysis, capturing not mensional model built in the first phase, a series
formalized aspects. of investigation tools based on that model were
In the first phase the multidimensional interac- developed.
tion analysis model was built, that was organized The first tool defines procedures for coding and
into dimensions, categories and indicators. The segmenting the messages through which the analy-
spiral process defined in the grounded theory sis model becomes operative. The analysis model
(Glaser, 2003; Glaser and Strauss, 1997) was is applied through the classification of messages
combined with an ethnographic approach based and of segments of them, affixing categories and
on the thorough reading of messages, to identify indicators as codes through the software analysis
categories and indicators. tool. This task was at first performed on a portion
The spiral process, executed through a content of online conferences by two independent coders,
analysis software (Atlas-ti), envisaged three steps: adequately trained, to validate the model. Then
the codified segments of messages were submit-
open coding, in which a series of classifi- ted to statistical elaboration with SPSS software.
cation categories are defined through tex- These codified parts of discussion were in parallel
tual analysis; subjected to a further hermeneutic analysis car-
axial coding, in which relations among cat- ried out according to the ethnographic method.
egories are identified; Taking into account observations and judgments
noted in the previous phase, this analysis allowed
661
understanding how individual and groups build indicators and the three investigation tools thanks
their own reality detecting, for each indicator, to the direct feedbacks offered by the actors who
tendencies, regularities and specific situations, tested and validated it.
and trying to maintain a whole view transcending
the single indicator.
The application of the two other detection THE INTERACTION ANALYSIS
tools derived from the model, the self-assessment MODEL: TAM
questionnaire of learners and the assessment
tool for tutors, allowed gathering further data The Structure
that were integrated with those obtained with the
coding procedure and elaborated with statistical As underlined in the previous paragraph, catego-
techniques. Elaboration results were interpreted ries and indicators for the analysis of messages
in the light of the analysis carried out through the were identified through a recursive process com-
ethnographic approach. bining an approach based on data with an approach
The reference paradigm adopted in the second leaded by theory. In a first time indicators were
phase is that of participative research: all actors derived or readapted from those used in literature
involved in a course, tutors and learners, are in- on interaction analysis. Then, indicators were
formed of the aims of the model and participate unified, assigned to wider categories and their
intentionally to investigations. Thus, they become relevance ascertained.
more aware and the involvement in online col- In the next phase the model was tested carry-
laborative tasks is perhaps different, and most ing out the analysis through the adoption of the
probably greater, than that demonstrated in other coding scheme. The unit of analysis was made
editions where evaluation criteria are more elusive. of phrases, paragraphs and units of meaning
This approach allowed to systemically gather data intended as the minimal segments of a message
originating from the various involved actors and conveying a relevant concept. Messages were
to progressively refine the analysis model, its imported in the software Atlas.ti, a tool enhanc-
Figure 2. The methodological approach
662
ing the segmentation and coding processes, and The cognitive dimension developed in this
analyzed independently from two coders to esti- research is structured into three categories:
mate inter-rater reliability. Where reliability was individual learning, knowledge building and
too low, categories and indicators were redefined. metareflection.
The model (three-dimensional analysis model Individual learning is that expressed in his
TAM) includes three components: the cogni- own messages by a learner through exposition
tive, the socio-organizational and the emotional- of argumentations without explicit references to
affective one, organized in five categories and what claimed by other group members. Sentences
thirty-three indicators. Two categories correspond are typically introduced by expressions like In
to social and emotional-affective dimensions; the my opinion or I would like to present my
other three are the articulation of the cognitive personal point of view The learner expresses
dimension into three sub-dimensions (individual and arguments his own point of view referring to
learning, meta-cognition, and knowledge build- his personal experiences, to his previous education,
ing). Indicators describe specific expressions of or quoting learning material studied in the previous
cognitive-behavioral processes and attitudes of activity individually performed. Unlike the other
learners inferable from textual analysis of mes- two cognitive categories, knowledge building in
sages. cases categorized as individual learning is lim-
ited to the single person and there is no trace in
The Cognitive Dimension his/her messages of considerations expressed by
other learners of the community within the VLE,
VLCs act in a collaborative, contextualized and even if the personal point of view was influenced
negotiated environment, and the single learners by opinions expressed by the others.
have a creative, active and constructive role, be- Instead, when a point of view individually
ing in charge, as cognitive apprentices and shared expressed is recovered and taken into account
meaning builders (Wenger, 1998) to collaborate making direct references to it, i.e. through quota-
in the processes of integration and construction of tions - from one or more learners of the commu-
the digital artefact they have to create. Through nity, these contribute to new knowledge building.
meaning negotiation, new knowledge building, This category takes into account of messages in
renegotiation of proved beliefs, the community which there are signals of attention towards other
has the opportunity of living relevant educational peoples opinions yet expressed and from which
experiences. Collaboration is essential for cogni- a negotiation and meaning sharing process can be
tive development, that isnt taken out of social visibly inferred. In messages and segments of them
context. The educational process implies both classifiable in this category, learners integrate their
the aspects, the social and the cognitive ones, and own point of view with that expressed from other
none of them can be subordinate to the other, as through the connection of ideas, the proposal of
affirmed by Dewey (1938). new solutions, the expression of convergence or
The task assigned by the tutor to the group divergence regarding shared positions.
launches a process of critical enquiry which Metareflection can be defined as reflection on
doesnt unwrap as an internal process in the mind ones own cognitive processes, including a phase
of the individual, rather envisages an iterative and of consciousness raising of cognitive processes
dynamic relation between the individual and the under way and self-regulation of them, which
social sphere, a synergy between reflection and imply possession of a set of strategies (How to
action that results in the production of the shared reach a shared position? I suggest proceeding in
artefact (Garrison et al., 2003). this way; the environment within us is col-
663
laborating has helped us to focus on this topic achievement, as they are functional for the subdi-
because). vision of work among the group learners, further
than to create order and to make dynamics more
The Socio-Organizational Dimension predictable being based on shared expectations.
The socio-organizational dimension concerns the The Emotional-Affective Dimension

collaborative aspect related to the realization of a
task. In courses analyzed in this study, a tutor as- The emotional-affective component is related to
signs to the learning community an enterprise that the concepts of cohesion, empathy, sense of be-
participants must collaborative achieve. The joint longing to a learning community. The context of an
enterprise consists on the realization of a shared online course, that for many participants can be a
task like a problem solving activity, a case study learning environment in which they access the first
analysis, or the collaborative development of a time, provokes the most various emotions. One of
project. Each collaborative activity has a different these, very frequent, is anxiety ought to the duty of
objective but, independently from its nature, its meeting and discussing although virtually- with
commonly a complex task that to be accomplished unknown people. Emotions are not necessarily
requires that the group is able to organize itself, private events linked to the characteristics of a
to make decisions and to take responsibility to person (Burr, 2004, p.83); these can be considered
finalize the task. even as social phenomena generated from the
Information sharing, negotiation and decision specific situation. Emotions cannot be considered
make flow among the single entities which share innate phenomena, these are rather manifestation
the belonging to a group and a joint enterprise, expressing an evaluation or through which social
especially if the tutor is not too directive. The acts are performed. And within an environment
learning group become progressively indepen- apparently cold as an online course, devoid of
dent through reciprocal adjustments that bring verbal and paraverbal components, its necessary
each learner to take her own responsibility given that learners express their emotions and mobilize
from necessity of reaching the joint enterprise, to them in a social direction, sharing them with other
postpone his personal interests and to make them people; not only to be understood, but also to avoid
congruous with the group shared objectives. At misunderstandings and to develop that sense of
first, with tutors support and then autonomously, belonging and cohesion which enhance them to
the group must organize itself, negotiate and adopt serenely experience their learning path together
norms and procedures to reach the common task. with the other learners, and to be motivated and
The negotiation of shared norms facilitates the favourably disposed for the collaborative realiza-
advance toward the common goal and the building tion of the assigned task.
of a social reality, which is essential in a particular A VLC, being temporally limited, doesnt share
context like a VLE, which subdues people to easy beliefs or values, but the existence of a common
misunderstandings. goal and the actions performed to reach it facili-
In addition to norms and rules, the group negoti- tate the development of a sense of belonging and
ates some roles that are acknowledged by the tutor make learners more sensitive to fluctuations of
or informal if these are assumed unconsciously the affective climate, giving major meaning to
or deliberately assigned by the group. Roles such new knowledge collaboratively built. The affec-
that of editor, moderator, or those envisaged in a tive dimension has a constitutive role in respect
role playing task, are figures necessary for task to thought and intentionality (Connolly, 2002).
organization. Roles facilitate the joint enterprise The creative potentialities of cognitive processes
664
cannot be appreciated without taking into account leading him in the analysis. This scheme should
the function achieved by this dimension. ensure mutual exclusion of indicators, which
have to be simplified and exhaustive at the same
time, to facilitate the discrimination among them
THE APPLICATION OF THE and the attribution of indicators to the constructs.
INTERACTION ANALYSIS MODEL Indicators must be consistent and specific enough
to be considered relevant, but also enough wide
As described in the methodological approach, to be applicable for analysis (Rourke et al, 2001).
TAM can be applied through the integrated use of The scheme elaborated in this work was tested
a series of investigation tools: the coding scheme, by two coders. On the basis of the segmentation
the assessment model, and the self-assessment system arranged in this scheme, for each message
questionnaire. of the discussion threads some parts are selected
and quoted. A quotation can be made of words,
The Coding Scheme fragments of sentences, or entire paragraphs; each
quoted portion of text is coded with one or more
To perform content analysis of messages, research- indicators (those listed in Table 1), provided that
er should utilize coding tools and build a reliable codes belong to different dimensions. Coders
and coherent scheme based on a set of indicators are also equipped with grids with descriptions
Table 1. The TAM structure
Cognitive dimension Socio-organizational Emotional-affective

dimension dimension
Individual learning Knowledge building Metareflection Collaboration Affective Climate
A1- exposure of correct A6 information and A15 reflection on B1 awareness and fa- C1 maintenance and
contents ideas exchange cognitive processes cilitation of participation promotion of relation-
A2 acknowledgement of a A7 - brainstorming under way B2 operational render- ships
problem A8 reciprocal shar- A16 self-regulation ing of a task in a work C2 promotion of
A3 expression of perplex- ing of cognitive processes plan motivation
ity A9 expression of under way B3 optimization of C3 incentive to
A4 - exposure and argumen- divergence work phases succession acknowledge oneself
tation of ones own point A10 - expression of B4 impulse to the as part of the group
of view convergence analysis of the parts of a process
A5 review of ones own A11 - suggestions problem C4 minimizing
point of view A12 making B5 incentive for the conflicts
available ones own analysis of positive/criti- C5 reactivating stasis
competencies cal aspects C6 emotional in-
A13 connection of B6 focus on priority volvement
ideas and synthesis aspects C7 demonstration of
A14 contribution to B7 periodical definition group belonging
the creation of new of task progress
shared meaning B8 activation of deci-
sional moments
B9 exploitation of the
analysis process and
systematization of argu-
mentations
B10 updating of
provisional versions of a
shared work
B11 improvement of
the final version of a
shared work
665
and abbreviations which exemplify and clarify efficacy; for the third dimension, attitudes for the
the meaning of each indicator (i.e. B9 - exploita- promotion of a positive affective climate in the
tion of the analysis process and systematization group are evaluated.
of argumentations is specified with descriptions The value judgments can be inferred from
like repeating decisions undertaken, asking analysis of messages performed through the ap-
confirmation to formalize the decision, tracking plication of the coding scheme. Thus the tutor
what is confirmed as final version). takes into account the indicators describing each
The scheme was validated through the estima- dimension to formulate a general value judgment
tion of inter-rater reliability, stating the level of for each category. The five value judgments, ex-
concordance or homogeneity in the codes attribu- pressed in a four levels scale varying from null to
tion. Among the analysis models described in the excellent, concur to provide a global framework
background, Jeongs model obtain 84.6% of for each learner and, on the basis of it; the tutor
concordance and.766 with Cohens kappa; the PI can assign the scores referred to each learning
model oscillates between 0.45 and 0.84 (CR), and module. She should try to calibrate the final score
between 0.35 and 0.74 (kappa). For TAM, CR estimating how the judgments are distributed along
resulted.76, thus very positive. the three dimensions, and assign a better score
for learners presenting an overall situation well-
The Assessment Tool balanced along them. A learner who has reached
excellent results under the cognitive dimension,
The model to assess learners is inspired to an but has obtained paltry grades under the other
approach on evaluation developed by Cardinet, two dimensions, should be more penalized than
Stake, Parlett and Hamilton in the 70s. These another learner with grades lower but equally
researchers underline the necessity of steeping in distributed along the three dimensions.
the relational environment that should be evalu-
ated, of taking into account judgments of learners The Self-Assessment Questionnaire
and of drawing attention on processes and not
only on results or final products, according to a This questionnaire was conceived as a tool to
formative approach. make arise the perception of the socio-cognitive-
Thus the final assessments are expressed from affective processes both of the self and of ones
a person who has taken part to the learning process own group. It is organize in several items expressed
from the beginning of a course (i.e. the tutor), in three five point-scales (one for each dimension)
instead of an external observatory who could not and is aimed at detect the indicators of TAM. If
fully capture dynamics of a VLC in their com- administered at the end of each learning module,
plexity. For each learner and each single learning it stimulates metareflection and promotes self-
module, the tutor formulates a subjective value regulation of learning. If results of this question-
judgment using an assessment grid and taking naire are triangulated with those obtained through
into account the three main components of TAM the application of the coding scheme and with the
(cognitive, socio-organizational and emotional- assessment results, it provides further information
affective dimensions). With respect to the first on more latent and implicit aspects.
dimension, the tutor expresses a value judgment The questionnaire was tested with a sample
for individual learning, for the contribution to of 327 learners in 45 groups and, according to
new knowledge building and for metareflection Cronbachs alfa; its reliability resulted very high
process, the second dimension is assessed estimat- for each dimension (.862 for the cognitive,.873
ing collaboration level in terms of organizational
666
for the socio-organizational and.885 for the At a group level, typical phases crossed by
emotional-affective). learning communities over the time can be detected
for each dimension of TAM:
Further Considerations
the cognitive processes implied in the solu-
How TAM could be applied and why it could tion of a problem (i.e. applying the method
be useful? The application of the three detection of transitional probabilities);
tools derived from the interaction analysis model the organization modalities for the achieve-
(the coding procedure, the evaluation tool and the ment of a task (if these are recursive and if
self-assessment questionnaire) allow to gather a affect the other dimensions);
huge amount of data that can be put into recipro- how the climate changes, in terms of quan-
cal relation. tity and quality, levels of communications
To better capture dynamics and configurations with an emotional-affective imprint (i.e.
assumed by VLCs, it is necessary considering three does cohesion improves over time?).
levels: the level of the individual in relation with
the group to which belongs, the group level not At a global level, data concerning single indi-
as an abstract entity but as linked to the persons viduals and groups can be aggregated to ascertain
which are part of it, and the general level, adopting at a more abstract level to what extent the TAM
a perspective which transcends both the person dimensions are correlated in the generation of
in its singularity and uniqueness and the group in relevant learning; furthermore, self perceptions
its specificity and abstractness. can be compared with perception of ones own
Elaborating data obtained from the application group (i.e. among which categories correlations are
of TAM, its possible to explore these three levels stronger? In which situations? Is there a relation
and obtain precious information to understand between the tutor value judgment, the self-per-
learning within VLEs. ception of ones own value along the dimensions
At an individual level, it can be verified if a and perception of the group performances level?).
relation exists between a transitory role assumed Furthermore, quantitative data obtained from
by learners and the three TAM tools can be interpreted on the light
of the observations emerged from ethnographic
self-assessments of learners expressed in analyses which, in a virtuous circle, enrich of
respect to the three dimensions of TAM meaning what demonstrated through statistical
(i.e. does a leader formulate a better self- investigations.
assessment in the socio-organizational
dimension?);
final judgments/scores formulated by tu- CONCLUSION
tors (i.e. does the editor receive a better
score than people with other roles?); The main troubles noticed from the analyses of
other characteristics not related to contin- the present models for interaction analyses of
gent aspects of the course (i.e. stable attri- VLCs are:
butes like gender, age, education, profes-
sion, origin). the lack of reliable and effective techniques
to perform analyses;
the absence of a united theoretical and
methodological framework useful to lead
667
the building of adequate technical analyses The TAM methodology has defined ways and
and to arrange interpretation of results. procedures for facing investigated phenomena
and made operational the concepts founding the
The coding system and procedures adopted for developed analysis model, positioning them in a
messages analysis should, on the one hand allow research space which can be defined both qualita-
contents classification according to relevant and tive and quantitative. As a matter of fact, VLEs
mutually exclusive categories; on the other hand are hybrids whose characteristics on one side
these should ensure reliability in terms of agree- assimilate them to an experimental reality, on the
ment between different researchers. To satisfy other are imputable to real and social contexts; thus
these requirements the coding system and the lending themselves both to experimental investi-
categories structure shouldnt be too complex, gations, and to observational field research. For
while the analysis unit should be clear and un- this reason the methodological approach adopted
ambiguous. for TAM is mixed.
Studies on these topic have ideally followed In a first phase the model was created, adopt-
two axes, one cognitive and the other social, ing an approach inspired to grounded theory
leaving unexplored further possible dimensions; integrated with a hermeneutic method to define
furthermore, spaces in which axes encounter are the indicators. In the second phase, functional to
partially investigated, or mixing elements of both. apply TAM, the two methods are separated and
The methodology adopted to study interactions independently applied, although results of the two
should not be limited to support a generic analysis parallel analyses are put into relation. Investiga-
of communication; rather this should allow an in- tions on the field can be carried out using TAM
depth analysis of socio-cognitive dynamics and tools at the three levels reflecting the structure
of contextual factors affecting these processes. of the theoretical model: individual, collective
Educators are often not completely aware of these and general.
complex dynamics and this affects their capacity The integration of results obtained from TAM
to provide adequate scaffolding and to equally tools is useful for research purposes; nevertheless,
assess learners. even the separate use of each tool is functional to
The use of TAM could give a contribution to a specific target:
the comprehension of learning processes within
VLCs. The study that leaded to this interaction the assessment grids based on the evalua-
analysis model entailed reflection on concepts, tion model can support tutor in monitoring
theories and hypotheses which inspired the de- and assessing learners;
velopment of it; this model has in turn generated the self-assessment questionnaire, if ad-
methods and tools which have validated it and ministered at the end of each online learn-
allow: ing activity or module, is useful for learn-
ers to promote self-regulation of learning
to verify many hypotheses emerging dur- processes;
ing a research carried out on VLCs; the coding procedure applied from tutors
to better comprehend the analyzed or researchers to analyze content of mes-
phenomena; sages, may supply cues for reflection use-
to enhance assessment and self-regulation ful to comprehend the group emotional-af-
of learners while exploring the nature of fective climate, collaborative and cognitive
learning within VLEs. processes.
668
TAM was created and tested in the context of Elias, N., & Scotson, J. L. (1994). The established
traditional computer conference environments; and the outsiders. A sociological enquiry into
nevertheless, the model and related investigation community problems. London: Sage. Fahy, P. J.
tools could be experimented to analyze interactions (2002). Use of linguistic qualifiers and intensifiers
in whatever VLE type (wiki, blog and other web in a computer conference. American Journal of
2.0 environments) and to verify its applicability Distance Education, 16(1), 522.
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Section 6
Online Phenomena and
Case Studies
Research into virtual communities is an evolving area and there are open opportunities to explore new phenomena in-
herent in virtual communities. Section 6 of the book presents case studies and emergent phenomena in virtual communities.
Chapter 40 reports on operational activities in a collaborative e-learning virtual community with goals to observe,
analyse and support e-learning participants. Measures such as a sense of community among participants as well as levels
of participation in the community are presented.
Chapter 41 introduces a tracer study methodology, a cost-effective, capacity building tool for evaluating the operations
and effectiveness of Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs). The chapters observes that a virtual community of practice
(VCoP) is a dynamic, continually evolving entity, whose characteristics distinguish it in important ways from naturally oc-
curring or purposively planned communities of practice operating in the face-to-face world.
Chapter 42 presents an overview of the field of digital museums and describes the current framework of content manage-
ment systems feasibly integrated in the museums in 3D virtual environment for assisting visitors to deal with information
overload and providing personalized recommendations, content, and services to them. The chapter describes prior clas-
sification of visiting styles essential to personalize the museum context and content.
Chapter 43 discusses the concept of awareness in massively multiplayer online games and reports on results of several
experiments and observations carried in massively multiplayer online game communities.
Chapter 44 describes a multi-method research strategy that allows the study of the social capital in hybrid communities.
672
Chapter 40
The Sense of e-Learning
Community Index
(SeLCI) for Computer
Supported Collaborative
e-Learning (CSCeL)
Niki Lambropoulos
London South Bank University, UK
ABSTRACT
The aim of this research is to shed light in collaborative e-learning communities in order to observe, analyse
and support the e-learning participants. The research context is the Greek teachers e-learning community,
started in 2003 as part of a project for online teachers training and aimed at enabling teachers to acquire
new competencies. However, these aims were not met because of passive participation; therefore this study
aimed to enhance the Greek teachers social engagement to achieve the new skills acquisition. Therefore,
the initial sense of community identification was based on empathy; however, because it was inadequate
to fully describe the context, a Sense of E-Learning Community Index (SeLCI) was developed. The new
SeLCI attributes were: community evolution; sense of belonging; empathy; trust; intensity characterised
by e-learners levels of participation and persistence on posting; collaborative e-learning quality measured
by the quality in Computer Supported Collaborative eLearning (CSCeL) dialogical sequences, partici-
pants reflections on own learning; and social network analysis based on: global cohesion anchored in
density, reciprocity, cliques and structural equivalence, global centrality derived from in- and out-degree
centrality and closeness; and local nodes and centrality in real time. Forty Greek teachers participated
in the study for 30 days using Moodle and enhanced Moodle with to measure participation, local Social
network Analysis and critical thinking levels in CSCeL. Quantitative, qualitative, Social Network Analysis
and measurements produced by the tools were used for data analysis. The findings indicated that each
of the SeLCI is essential to enhance participation, collaboration, internalisation and externalisation of
knowledge to ensure the e-learning quality and new skills acquisition. Affective factors in CSCeL (sense of
belonging, empathy and trust) were also essential to increase reciprocity and promote active participation.
Community management, e-learning activities and lastly, the technology appear to affect CSCeL.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch040
The Sense of e-Learning Community Index (SeLCI)
INTRODUCTION education has been severely criticized on the

grounds of both quantity and quality (Thomp-
This chapter introduces the sense of community son & Schmidt, 2007). To support this life-long
in Computer Supported Collaborative e-Learning learning context, Learning Management Systems
(CSCeL). In this chapter, a community is a group (LMS) have been used for online teachers train-
of people who consciously share a sense of belonging. A number of projects have addressed it using
ing anchored in common interests and enhanced LMS successfully, for example, the international
by social interactions facilitated by information project Tapped In on a voluntary basis (Schlager
and communication technologies. E-Learning & Fusco, 2004), the Australian National Quality
describes learning via the Internet, intranet, and Schooling Framework (NQSF) (Hartnell-Young,
extranet (WR Hambrecht and Co, 2000:8). In et al, 2006), or the European projects Implement-
order to facilitate research and analysis, Teasley ing Standards for European e-Tutor Training
and Roschelle proposed a distinction between (2006-2007) and E-Learning Fundamentals
cooperation and collaboration clearly suggesting (started in May 2007). However, not all projects
the importance of roles as division of labour in are successful; an example that failed to engage
such distinction (1993): teachers in an e-learning community is the Eu-
ropean Minerva Project Star Science aimed at
Collaboration is a coordinated, synchronous collaboration between science teachers from Ire-
activity that is the result of a continued attempt land, UK, and Bulgaria (Harvey, 2003). In short,
to construct and maintain a shared conception of e-learning outcomes seem to be unpredictable.
a problem Cooperative work is accomplished In Greece, teachers training is mainly onsite
by the division of labour among participants, and organised by the Greek Pedagogical Insti-
as an activity where each person is responsible tute in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of
for a portion of the problem solving. Teasley & Education and Religious Affairs. There are also
Roschelle, 1993:235 courses provided by Greek teachers associations
(e.g. GAPMET in music) as well as the Greek
UNESCOs definition suggests that collabora- School Network (GSN), the main governmental
tive learning takes place: educational ICT provider. GSN uses Moodle;
however, Moodle@GSN appears not to have
when learners work in groups on the same task worked in that there has been a high level of
simultaneously, thinking together over demands passive participation, which is absence of post-
and tackling complexities. Collaboration is ing, for more than three years (1077 days on
here seen as the act of shared creation and/or the 13/10/2006 according to the log files). This
discovery. Within the context of electronic com- absence of collaborative learning was the initial
munication, collaborative learning can take place motivation to increase participation and influence
without members being physically in the same e-learning quality. Therefore the hypothesis was:
location.Technology & Learning definitions, If the Greek teachers participation in e-learning
UNESCO (n.d.) was increased then participants can experience
collaborative learning and sense of community
The freedom that e-learning offers and the which will lead to e-learning quality. The proposed
increasing number of online courses provided by Sense of e-Learning Community Index (SeLCI)
educational organisations offer new opportunities incorporates the previous concepts aiming to pro-
for personal and professional development in a vide in-depth insights in CSCeL and a roadmap
life-long learning course. Nevertheless, teachers to ensure e-learning quality.
673
The first part of this chapter explores the im- channels, trust, support, and a sense of belonging
portance of social interactions and the community seemed to be significant to help a community to
building in e-Learning by proposing a framework emerge. Lazlo and Lazlo (2000) described the
for measuring the sense of community. Then, the community as a group of two or more individuals
associated research design and methodologies with a shared identity and a common purpose,
are presented leading to a test of the framework committed to the joint creation of meaning. The
by two case studies. Lastly, the conclusions and authors echoed Lave and Wenger in Communities
future trends are derived and presented anchored of Practice (CoP) (1991); CoP members shared the
in the results and the discussion. characteristics of joint enterprise, mutual engage-
ment and shared repertoire to clarify, define, and
evolve practices (Wenger, 1998). One implication
BACKGROUND of the social reproduction of CoP was that the
sustained participation of newcomers, as they
Sense of Belonging & Active become old-timers, must involve conflict between
participation in CSCeL the forces that support processes of learning and
those that work against them. This was because
Participation in Computer Supported Collabora- learning, transformation, and change were always
tive e-Learning (CSCL) activities appears to be mutually present. Thus, CoPs were engaged in
crucial for successful groupwork and commu- the generative processes of producing their own
nity knowledge building. In fact, participation future. Learning in communities was configured
in discussion and sharing experience has been through the process of becoming a full participant
identified as two of the most effective means by in practice and being able to get involved in new
which adults learn (Brookfield, 1990; Brown & activities, perform new tasks and functions, and
Duguid, 2000). So, if the pedagogical target is to master new understandings. As for the online
enhance community-knowledge building, then community: An online community is a group of
CSCeL is one of the most suitable pedagogical people who interact in a virtual environment. They
approaches. However, measuring the sense of have a purpose, are supported by technology, and
community is a challenge. are guided by norms and policies (Preece, 2000).
The sense of belonging in a community has The question that derives based on the Greek
been investigated by several researchers initially teachers inactivity is whether these passive par-
in psychology and anthropology. The two most ticipants (also found as lurkers) develop such sense
widely used definitions are the following: the of belonging. Nonnecke and Preece (2000:127)
Sense of Community is the perception of similar- brought to light that some lurkers felt a sense
ity to others, an acknowledged interdependence of community, especially when the dialogue
with others, a willingness to maintain this inter- engenders a sense of trust and care; this was
dependence by giving to or doing for others what an indirect way to become active contributors.
one expects from them, and the feeling that one is Lambropoulos found that the members who
part of a larger dependable and stable structure developed empathy became active participants
(Sarason,1974, p. 157); a feeling that members (2005a). Ramachandran suggested that empathy
have of belonging, a feeling that members matter is a cognitive activity triggered by the mirror
to one another and to the group, and a shared faith neurons (2000) and appeared to be a key in human
that members needs will be met through their communication regardless of the medium used.
commitment to be together. McMillan & Cha- Based on the empathy framework suggested by
vis, 1986). The development of communication Levenson and Ruef (1992:234) as an initial sense
674
of community indicator, the participants had to process. Trying to build a more coherent approach
answer questions on: (a) knowing what another for analysis, Lonchamp (2009) created 3 levels of
person was feeling when reading the message; analysis based on Morris (1938) communication
(b) feeling what another person was feeling when levels of syntax (structure), semantics (meaning)
reading the message; (c) whether they took any and pragmatics (use within context). Lonchamp
action; and (d) whether the tools helped. There- proposed the dialog, the knowledge and the ac-
fore, measuring passive and active participation tion level. A task-independent dialogical model
can be an indicator for the sense of community. analyses communication/action traces produced
by the collaborative environment as generalized
Measuring the Sense of conversations. Tool actions are generally ac-
Community in CSCeL companied by textual messages in which learners
explain their initiatives (human-computer and
The measurement based on empathy was found human-human interaction) identified and struc-
inadequate to evaluate the sense of community; tured into generalized adjacency pairs. Even small
the only tangible outcome was that the members details revealed at this fine-grained analysis level
who were found to develop empathy were the ones often play an important role for elaborating higher
who were very active in the community (Lambro- level interpretations. Secondly, by adopting a col-
poulos, 2005b). This result does not describe the laborative knowledge-building perspective, it is
sense of belonging and its interrelated attributes possible to define a typology of task independent
in a coherent way. It appeared that different lev- episode types that can occur during generalized
els and dimensions of analysis were needed also conversations. Thirdly, there are task-dependent
evident in the literature. interpretations of why the collaborative learning
Koschmann (2001:19) suggested that ...study- process unfolds as observed. Lastly, in their recent
ing learning in settings in which learning is observ- review Dillenbourg and colleagues (2009) refer to
ably and accountably embedded in collaborative the total absence of the affective factors in CSCL
activity and that learning within these settings is research despite their importance in influencing
to be conceptualized as an unfolding process of learning behaviour.
meaning making. This is because according to Consequently, there was an attempt to develop
Vygotsky (1978:57) the interpersonal process is a coherent Sense of e-Learning Community In-
transformed into an intrapersonal one. Every func- dex (SeLCI) based on human-human interaction
tion in the childs cultural development appears including factors that reveal and measure the e-
twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the learning community evolution in time, affective
individual level. Stahl (2006) also proposed that factors and socio-cognitive convergence factors
cognition convergence in a group is different than also incorporating Social Network Analysis to
individual learning and the difficulty to observe it capture the interaction communication network.
lies on that fact that is an unobservable process, Human-Computer Interaction was also studied
taking place in the mind/brain, a process we can but it is not part of this chapter. Thus, the SeLCI
observe only indirectly by measuring learning attributes were:
outcomes. Mercer (2006:56) also stressed that
analytical methods do not recognize or deal with 1. E-Learning Community Evolution: ini-
the temporal development of the learning talk, its tial opinions on the community evolution,
reflexivity, and its cohesive nature over longer shared interests and values, knowing about
timescales than one episode or lesson will inevi- the community, new members contribution,
tably fail to capture the essence of the educational and the collaborative tools
675
2. Affective Factors in CSCeL ances or actions (Schegloff, 2007) may facilitate

i. Sense of belonging to the e-learning knowledge, process, outcome, task, and therefore
community cognitive convergence. In addition, due to the
ii. Empathy as a representation of what fact that interface and pedagogical modifica-
co-learners know and feel tions (Delich, 2006) as well as methods and tasks
iii. Trust: knowledge exchange, help and (Draper, 1993) are interlinked, a decision was made
support to progress from an instructional (e-tutoring) to
3. Human-Human Interaction a student-centred (collaborative e-learning) ap-
4. Intensity: levels of passive and active par- proach. Initial instructions on collaboration can
ticipation, and persistence improve and sustain mutual understanding without
5. Global - Local Social Network Analysis interfering to the natural community evolution
i. Global cohesion: density, reciprocity, facilitating participants individual learning styles.
cliques and structural equivalence There were 2 case studies, one with the e-
ii. Global centrality: centrality degree, tutors and the second without. The participants
closeness and betweenness had to respond to 2 pre-post questionnaires. Forty
iii. Local Real-Time Nodes and questionnaires were suitable for analysis. One
Centrality: tools results participant was located between 20-30 years old
6. Collaborative e-learning: participants (n=1, 3%), 14 between 30-40 years old (n=14,
opinions and the number of collaborative 36%), and 24 more than 40 years old (n=24,
e-learning episodes 61%) (1 did not declare the age). The data for
quantitative analysis were inserted in the Statisti-
Because the new framework was multifaceted, cal Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 11.5)
the research design and methodologies had to and Microsoft Excel. Thematic analysis (Boyatzis,
address its nature. 1998) was conducted for the open questions; lastly
the collaborative e-learning episodes provided
the framework of the analysis on collaborative
RESEARCH DESIGN learning quality. Finally, social network analysis
was aided by UCINET (Borgatti et al., 2002) as
Research Methodology well as a real-time Visualisation Interaction Tools
built specifically for this study.
Computer-Supported Collaborative eLearn- This research has several limitations: the
ing (CSCeL) has a complex nature. In order to e-research nature as such; the sample was not
observe and analyse activities within CSCeL representative and relatively small; and limited
measurements are needed on both individual research in the field of measuring the sense of
and social basis to capture the internalisation and community did not allow extended comparison
externalisation processes required for learning to of the results. There are also considerations about
occur. Consequently, quantitative, thematic and the Hawthorn effect. Lastly, the propositions need
social network analyses were employed. Also a to be further tested and developed in different
specific pedagogical macro script was used (e.g. contexts to ensure their validity and reliability. In
Dillenbourg & Hong, 2008); this is because ef- the next section only the most important results
fective collaboration must be learned and requires will be presented, analysed and discussed.
guidance, instruction, and training (Slavin, 1992).
Such sequential organisation as organization
which concerns the relative positioning of utter-
676
RESULTS & DISCUSSION ON interests is the most important indicator to identify

THE SELCI ATTRIBUTES whether a community existed or not. In this study
these results were more than 80% which means
SeLCI-01: Community Evolution that there was a strong common ground from the
participants viewpoint, an essential element for
The first SeLCI attribute is related to understand- collaborative e-learning.
ing the community development, shared interests Knowing the community: The respondents
and values, knowing about the community, new liked working together (n=33, 82.5%) and were
members contribution, and the community roles. expressing themselves freely (n=29, 72.5). The
Community Development: Almost all partici- LMS provided the platform for the community to
pants (n=38, 95%) thought that the community exist (n=35, 87.5) and the new tools significantly
was developing; 2 responses were N/A (not ap- helped in this process (n=33, 82.5%). Most of
plicable) so there was not an opposing opinion. As the participants thought that they knew about
regards the time needed for community evolution, the netiquette (n=31, 77.5%) as well as the com-
most of them said it needs some time to develop munity (n=25, 62.5%). On freedom of expression
(n=17, 42.5%): 2 weeks, 13 (32.5%) 1 week, 10 the results were lower (n=11, 27.5%) as well as
about 4-5 days (10%) and the rest 6 (15%) 1-3 active participation (n=7, 17.5%). Also, half of
days. The first week the participants explore and the participants knew nobody before the course
familiarise themselves with the system and the and the other half knew a few; 28 (70%) said they
other learners and make decisions upon passive developed online relationships, 10 (25%) did not
or active participation. (2 were N/A).
The most important community evolution Although the majority of the participants did
elements were the increasing participation based not have experience in e-learning communities
on mutual help (n=12, 19%) as well as increasing and online collaboration, they were positive on
communication outside and after the course (e.g. collaboration and the only thing that they were
phone, SKYPE, blog, Facebook; n=8, 13%); then not happy about was lack of time. Using tools
shared goals and interests (n=7, 11%) communica- in e-learning was important to them; knowing
tion during the course (n=6, 10%); affective ele- what the community was about and developing
ments such as trust and support (n=6,10%). When relationships was a strong determinant in SeLCI.
they were asked whether they would continue New members contributions: The results
their collaboration outside the course, 24 said yes were in favour of the new members: 34 (85%)
(60%), nobody said no; however, there were 16 supported their contribution, 6 (15%) were N/A
N/A and missing responses (40%). Willingness and nobody opposed. Thematic analysis on the
to keep the community going was also evident open question also revealed that the respondents
on their demand for a blog, a Facebook group be believed that the new members can regenerate the
notified if a new course will start. community by bringing new ideas (n=16, 24%)
Shared Interests & Values: Shared interest to share with the older members (n=9, 14%) via
was found to be the third community evolution active interaction and participation in the com-
element. Most participants replied they had munity (n=6, 9%). The most important element
common interests (n=35, 87.5%), 2 denied (5%) is their enthusiasm (n=5, 8%).
and 2 were N/A (5%). Most also said they had Roles: The participants said that there were
shared values (n=32, 80%), although 1 denied roles naturally assigned to the members. According
(2.5%) and 7 were N/A (17.5%). Following the to the closed question, 23 (57.5%) thought there
literature (e.g. Preece, 2000), shared values and
677
Figure 1. Roles in the e-learning community

the e-learning community together (n=22, 30%);
then curiosity for new knowledge (n=12, 16%);
and equally e-tutors (n=5, 7%) and collaborative
tools (n=5, 7%). Some participants believed that
active participation and willingness to collaborate
outside and beyond the course are cues for the
sense of community. Overall, it seems that the
same factors that defined the sense of belonging
are the factors that contribute to the e-learning
community evolution, namely shared interests
and values.
SeLCI-03: Empathy
On the question Know what the Other was feeling

when reading a message, 17 participants (42.5%)
were roles, 6 (15%) there were not, and 11 (27.5%) replied that they more or less knew what the other
thought there were no specific roles (Figure 1). person was feeling when reading a message; 13
Participants responses were on community (32.5%) to a great extent; 8 (20%) to a small extent,
management, e-learning, and participation. The 1 very small (2.5%), and one response (2.5%) was
moderators role was found important (n=7, 18%) N/A. On Feel what the Other was feeling when
along with motivators (n=5, 14%) and leaders reading a message, the responses were equally
(n=4, 11%). There were also teachers (n=5, 14%), distributed between neither great or small and
students (n=6, 17%), and technical support (n=2, great extent (n=15, 37.5%); 6 (15%) said they
6%); active participants (n=2, 6%) and observers could feel others feeling to a small extent, and
(n=1, 3%) were also included. Based on the as- equally 2 (5%) were on the very small and very
signed role of the moderator and motivator, it great extent scale. As for whether they took any
appears that organisation of the community and action, 11 respondents (27.5%) equally said to a
e-learning were of equal importance. As for the very small and great extent; 7 (17.5%) to a small
extent of provision of help that can define roles extent and 2 (5%) took action to a very great
between community members, 21 (52.5%) said extent. Overall, 22 participants said they took
that was neither great nor small, 13 (32.5%) very action based on what they read.
great, 4 great (10%) and 2 (5%) to a small extent. The results appeared to reach a peak in Know
what the other was feeling, are more distributed
SeLCI-02: Sense of Belonging on Feel what Other was feeling, and reach a
down peak in action taking. A scatter plot in
On the question of bonding or togetherness 16 Figure 2 provided an overview.
respondents said it was strong (47.5%); 18 said it The strength of association between the three
was neither strong nor weak (45%); 1 said it was variables is positive but it does not suggest a very
not strong (2.5%); and 2 were N/A (5%). In the strong linear relationship. A moderate association
question on the factors that kept the community (r=0.527) is between Feel what the Other was
together they said (N=40). More than half of the feeling when reading a message and Action
participants (n=22) said that sharing the same taken with correlation coefficient p0.01; Feel
goals and interests was the main reason for holding Other when reading a message and Action
678
Figure 2. Scatter plot for empathy
taken association was the weakest (r=0.347) with that the majority (n=32, 80%) could trust other
correlation coefficient p<0.05. Cronbachs alpha, people. Lastly, all but 1 participants reported that
as a coefficient of reliability and consistency the level of trust had risen (n=39, 97.5%).
between the variables was =0.698, which is on
the limit of acceptance in social research (0.70). SeLCI-05: Intensity
SeLCI-04: Trust Intensity refers to the participation levels and per-

sistence; the latter is the level to which participants
The contradictory closed questions on trust sug- pursue topics. Participation Levels: Online pas-
gest high level of participants reliability; the sive participation is absence of activity in online
majority (over 90%) responded that they could interaction. The online participant either registers
trust the other learners as most were trying to without further action or only observes others
help. So trust was evident to a significant extent. interactions without participating themselves.
It appears that most of the participants could trust Passive participation has four levels, zero, and
other e-learners with a similar specialisation to a low, medium and high. Zero passive participation
great (n=16, 40%) and very great extent (n=12, indicates that the participant only registers without
30%) whereas 11 (27.5%) could trust them more any further participation; low that they register
or less; as for individuals who had similar writing and visit the environment rarely; medium that
skills, the results indicate trust to a great (n=16, they register and visit the platform occasionally;
40%) and very great extent (n=12, 30%) whereas and high that they register and visit the platform
12 (30%) could trust them more or less. The results regularly. The medium and high passive participa-
on trusting the e-tutors were the most positive with tion levels are measured by the average number
39 (97.5%) to trust them on a great or very great of visits as revealed in the logs per day. This is
extend and 1 neither a small nor a great extent calculated by the number of days they visited
(2.5%). As for trusting the experienced individuals divided by the time the online group/community
the results were: 16 (40%) to a great extend, 15 to exists. E.g. in this study the course lasted 31 days;
a very great extent (37.5%) and 9 (22.5) neither this means an average of 10 viewing days for each
small or great extent. The question to ensure that level (Table 1).
the participants did not respond randomly revealed
679
Table 1. Active participation levels

activity users were e-tutors whereas there were
Zero Low Medium High no e-tutors in the research pool. Line B corresponds
(0 days) (1-10 days) (11-20 days) (21-31 days) to the research pool and seems more broadly
distributed showing higher activity than Line A.
In other words, from an activity viewpoint, inten-
sity in the research pool seemed to be in greater
balance. Lastly, it is evident that participation
Online active participation is presence of increased from passive to active levels on a social
activity in online interaction. The online partici- and temporal level.
pant registers and posts. Active participation has Persistence: The intensity element of per-
three levels, low, medium and high. Low active sistence is the level to which participants pursue
participation indicates that the individual registers topics in order to evaluate the emergence of a
and posts rarely; medium that they register and clear focus. Persistence was located on two lev-
post occasionally; and high that they register and els, discussion topic and thread. (Note that the
post regularly. These levels are measured by the e-tutors used the split forum facility to facilitate
total number of posts sent by the highest poster the flow of the conversation and intervened in the
as follows: 1-25 low active participation; 26-75% persistence ratio in a positive manner.) Both the
medium active participation; and 76-100% high number of initiations and replies with more than
active participation. two messages were calculated. It appears that 59
Active and passive participation levels were out of 81 forums and 347 out of 522 messages
found to vary in the two environments. Seeing were following the subject of discussion in the
these levels as a process from low passive to high introductory section; in the project all messages
active provides a different overview for intensity were on topic these are 1 out of 1 forums and 6
(Figure 3). out of six messages; in blogs, persistence was
Line A corresponds to Moodle@GSN and is strong as 46 out of 47 forums and 199 out of 211
interrupted; the participants were located in zero messages were on topic; in wikis the persistence
and low passive participation, high low active depth was 17 out of 20 in forums and 78 out of
participation and one e-learner in medium and 92 for messages; as in videoconferencing persis-
active participation. As described in the previous tence was 100%, 2 in 2 forums and 28 out of 28
sections, this may be because medium and high
Figure 3. Passive & active participation process
680
messages; the same rate appeared in the internet the discussion on re-using videos in a project in
caf with 3 in 3 forums and 9 out of 9 messages. the videoconferencing forum produced 21 replies;
The forums overall percentage was 83.1% with however, after the 13th reply the focus changed
128 out of 154 forums persistence depth which to how the Ministry of Education supports the
meant that the forums were relevant to the forum teachers on the projects and what happens when
topics. Slightly lower was the messages overall the project finishes. Then the focus shifted to the
percentage (76.8%) with 667 out of 868 mes- Greek education system and teachers training,
sages to follow the discussion topic. The overall and the last two messages partly brought the focus
persistence depth in Moodle@GSN was 80%. back to the use of tools in projects.
More persistence was observed in messages More intensity found in the research pool:
with 2-3 replies. As for the rest of the messages, the process of participation was more stable and
there were a small number of them irrelevant coherent, and there was an overall persistence of
to the topic, sometimes coming from the same 95.3% comparing to 80% in Moodle@GSN even
e-learner; for example, 5 out of 6 irrelevant mes- though the number of messages was low.
sages in the Problems forum came from P48;
there were events announcements. (Note that SeLCI-06: Social Network Analysis
there was no members announcements area in the
online course.) Both forums on wiki design were Social Network Analysis (SNA) focuses on global
irrelevant; this perhaps was because of the title (found also as complete or group) and local.
forum: What are the main characteristics in wiki Global cohesion and centrality were investigated
design? the goal to match, to serve the audience, using UCINET (Borgatti et al., 2002); cohesion
both or something else? As for levels of persis- can represent the interactions weight (density),
tence in replies, the persistence depth was found participants preferences (reciprocity), any small
to be relevant to the thread depth; in other words, groups (cliques), and similar behaviour (structural
the more the replies the more the probability of equivalence); centrality can depict interaction
lack of persistence. Some times there was a reason direction (in-out degree centrality), speed (close-
for shifting the discussion focus; for example, in ness), and control (betweenness). Local SNA
Wiki topic, the focus was shifted in the practical- was investigated by 2 tools especially developed
ity discussion when one of the members found for this study; these were for Local Interaction
to have posted in another persons wiki without Network and Centrality.
realising it. Two similar changes of focus occurred
in the blog/blogs discussion when a problem on
the suggested url appeared and 5 messages were GLOBAL SOCIAL
on finding the correct url. Lastly, a large number NETWORK ANALYSIS
of forums indicated a small number of replies so
the level of persistence was maximum for these Global Cohesion: The level of global cohesion
forums. Overall, shift of focus was justified. was measured by assessing network density,
Similar results on persistence appear in the reciprocity, cliques, and structural equivalence.
research pool. The forums had 100% persistence; Density is the proportion of possible links in
with 10 out of 10 messages following the topic. network as it is the ratio of the number of links
As for the messages, there were 68 out of 75 present in the network, to the maximum possible
messages exhibiting persistence, with 90.6% links. Density was evaluated by the adjacency
percentage. The overall persistence in the research connection reports in UCINET. E-learners den-
pool was 95.3%. In depth analysis revealed that sity is rather low, 0.0256 in Moodle@GSN and
681
rather stable in the research pool (0.0418). This esting to note that the top scorers had inter-clique
means that 2.6% in Moodle@GSN and 4.7% in connections. When the cliques increase, the social
the research pool of all possible links were pres- network remains active and thriving, especially
ent; however, there was an increase in density. if e-learners interact with other e-learners who
Reciprocity in SNA is the number of ties that did not appear in a clique before; these are the
are involved in reciprocal relations relative to the activated lurkers. In other words, the absence of
total number of actual ties (Hanneman & Riddle, cliques could have indicated a lack of cluster-
2005). Reciprocity appears higher within the e- ing that would have reflected the prevalence of
learners (Figure 4). weak ties.
There were 4 reciprocal ties in GSN (28.6%) Structural equivalence describes the actors
and 10 (71.4%) in the research pool. The increase who have similar patterns of relations to others in
of reciprocal ties may be an indication of evolu- the network and exhibit similar communication
tion in discussion from monological to dialogical behaviour. It presents a different clustering view
sequences as in CeLEs. Strong and weak recipro- within a human network. Equivalence is impor-
cal ties can also define strong or weak relationships tant for generalizations about social behavior and
within an e-learning community. social structure; actors must not be thought about
A clique is a subgroup, a set of actors with as unique persons, but as examples of categories
each being connected to each other as a maximal (sets of actors) that are in some way, equivalent
complete subgraph of three or more nodes (mem- (Hanneman, 2001).
bers) adjacent to each other and there are no other Structural equivalence, patterns of ties between
nodes in the network that are also adjacent to all of actors and positions, is suggested as an indicator of
the members of the clique. Cliques may overlap, similar structural positions. Actors are not thought
that is a forum member (node) can be a member of as individuals, but as examples of categories of
of more than one clique (Bock & Husain, 1950). actors who are in some way equivalent, as they
The results presented in the following table are have comparable behaviour and to some degree
cumulative and refer to cliques created by 3, 4, 5 are substitutable. In this study identical behaviour
and 6. Most cliques were created by 3 participants is related to the existence as well as the absence of
in both environments. The e-tutors dominated the sent and received messages (presence and absence
cliques gathering up to 6 participants. The cliques of participation). Interpretation of dendrograms
were developed without any intervention by any for network clustering is as follows: the labels of
of the participants, e-tutors or myself. It is inter- the actors are given on the left in UCINET; the
Figure 4. Reciprocal ties in GSN (a) & the research pool (b)
682
network positions appear as lines; the numbers this means that there are no major differences in
at the top are the clustering levels, indicating positions and thus roles between them. This graph
the number of clusters at the level of sharing at reveals 5 first and 2 second level multi-actor
least 3 ties; the column in the middle is the row positions with one solo-actor position.
number in the UCINET matrix for the network. Global Centrality investigates the communi-
(Dividing clusters of 3 or less individuals is not cation nodes between the members of a network,
preferable as correlations get very unstable). Using is characterised by direction and strength, and
the CONCOR technique (CONvergence of iter- refers to out-degree centrality (replies made),
ated CORrelations; White et al., 1976). Self-links in-degree centrality (received messages) as well
were ignored as the scope of this study is social as group in and out closeness and betweenness.
awareness related to social constructivist learning Centrality is measured by the portion of nodes that
within dialogues. are adjacent to each node, the sum of each row in
In Figures 5a-b the hierarchical clusters are the adjacency matrix representing the network.
represented. Figure 5a depicts the clusters from the Degree centrality refers to a directed network
first case study without the tools omitting the data (where the direction of the communication is
from the e-tutors. Figure 5b depicts the clusters important); the in-degree centrality is the portion
from the e-learners in the second case study with of nodes that are adjacent to each node, and out-
the tools. On the dendrograms, the two columns degree centrality is the portion of nodes that are
on the left identify the participants. The row of adjacent from each node (Freeman, 1979). Even
numbers at the top shows the clustering levels. though Borgatti (2005:70) suggests that Freemans
Solo actors are clusters by themselves. In Figure centrality has been misapplied, it is widely used
5a there are 8 fifth level clusters, 6 fourth level, 4 because there are no other suggestions for coher-
third level and 2 second level, with 1 fourth level ent results on global centrality. The nodes with
solo actor and 1 first level. In Figure 5b there are the highest degree scores are the ones which are
8 fifth level clusters, 4 fourth level, 4 third levels more central (powerful) in the network. Degree
and 3 second level. The numbers of actors within centrality was preferred rather than eigenvector
the cluster groups are similar: one major cluster centrality as a measure of immediate influence - the
group and 7 smaller cluster groups, with 3 and 5 ability to influence others directly or in one time
solo actors respectively. period (Borgatti, 2005:70). This was because the
The numbers of the actors within the major subject of investigation was the levels of activity
clusters as well as the smaller clusters are similar,
Figure 5. Structural equivalence dendrograms
683
and thus the centrality and peripherality degree the research pool the results are more equally
of the members. distributed and distance of communication was
In this study, the e-tutors role was apparent reduced: with the e-tutors the in-closeness score
in Moodle@GSN. For the e-tutors the scores was 49.49% (SD=5.147) and the out-closeness
were: out-degree=13.852% (SD=20.321), in- score 42.74% (SD=5.088); without the e-tutors
degree=73.97% (SD=13.99). For the e-learners the in-closeness score was 49.83% (SD=4.919)
the scores were very limited: out-degree=10.826% and the out-closeness score 42.53% (SD=4.626).
(SD=2.154), in-degree=5.425 (SD=1.459). The Betweennes measures the nodes prominence
e-learners had more stable scores in the research according to its position in the network as an
pool; with the e-tutors the scores were: out- intermediary measuring the volume of traffic
degree=8.606% (SD=2.316), in-degree=49.49% moving from each node to every other node that
(SD=2.089); without the e-tutors the scores would pass through a given node. Some active
were: out-degree=9.372% (SD=2250), in-de- participants act as brokers or gatekeepers
gree=6.671% (SD=1.983). between groups of nodes, therefore playing an
Closeness: Nodes with low closeness scores important role in the network. As for between-
have short distances from the others. In other ness, e-learners stayed significantly behind me
words, a node has high closeness centrality if it (32.71) and the e-tutor 52 (18.7) in Moodle@
has very short communication paths to the oth- GSN; P24 scored 5 and others 2 (P32), 1.7 (P24)
ers. In-closeness centrality is measured as a and 0.9 (P37). As before, this might be affected by
function of the minimum geodesic distance from how long they were on-line. The scores remained
all other nodes to the selected node; while out- on the same level in the research pool with and
closeness centrality is measured as a function without the e-tutors: 16.2 from P52, 11 and 11.8
of the minimum geodesic distance linking that from P18, and 6.7 and 7.3 (P24). It was evident
node to the other nodes. While degree centrality that the highest values came from the e-tutors in
measures use only direct and local connectivity Moodle@GSN and the e-learners in the research
information, closeness centrality measures also pool. There was a significant difference between
use indirect connectivity information (Braha & the information gatekeepers as regulators of the
Bar-Yam, 2004:25). (An example for its use is information flow in the network within the two
the following (Borgatti, 2005:59): organizations environments despite the fact that the participants
with low closeness in an R&D technology-sharing did not see any particular roles or, to a small extent,
network can develop products sooner than others; e-tutors and e-learners. The participants with the
a virus can sooner infect the members with low lowest betweenness values could be considered
closeness.) outsiders in the conversation, or with no mediation
As with degree centrality, with regard to in- power (Willging, 2005:51). These can be located
and out- closeness, there were major differences in the low active participation level; they can be
between the e-tutors and e-learners in the two classified as low active participants or, in SNA,
environments. This was indicated by the close- isolates. Lastly, there was no active participant
ness score, the means and standard deviation. For who could control the information flow in both
example, including the e-tutors in Moodle@GSN environments.
the in-closeness score was 73.97% (SD=10.762) Local Interaction Analysis and Centrality
and the out-closeness score 78.30% (SD=11.387); in Real-Time was conducted by the Visualisation
without the e-tutors in Moodle@GSN, the in- Interaction Network (VIT-N, Figure 6.5.7.3-1) and
closeness score was 32.68% (SD=1.859) and Centrality (VIT-C, Figure 6.5.7.3-2). These two
the out-closeness score 55.04% (SD=2.532). In tools were integrated in Moodle in the research
684
pool. A different abstract representation was given P37 was the information broker in this CeLE.
with regard to interaction density (weight), reci- The reciprocal tie with O2 was an argument. She
procity (preferences) as well as in- and out-degree also responded to her own message a couple of
centrality (direction). Closeness as the interac- hours later after the argument with O2. Most
tion speed was represented on both graphs as the participants were replying to P37 and two of them
geodesic distances indicate the temporal distance talked to each other. It is interesting that this CeLE
between the messages. Information control (be- was developed by different individuals with only
tweenness) could also be observed. The results of two interlocutors exchanging 2 messages. In
these tools were compared to a collaborative e- other words, the discussion was a collaborative
learning argumentation model. Based on the CSCL activity between 7 individuals. VIT-Centrality
research on argumentation, the Collaborative e- provided a different viewpoint (Figure 7).
Learning Episodes (CeLE, Lambropoulos, 2008) In VIT-C P37 is clearly located in the middle
provided a qualitative view in online discussions, of the e-learning social network. VIT centrality
aiming to assess quality in e-learning interactions. also indicates the response time space related to
A CeLE is a communicative discussion episode geodesic distances between the participants. As
in the form of a non-linear dialogical sequence a central connector and information broker she
with a starting point, a transition and an end point moved the knowledge around leading to a new
that indicates a collaborative e-learning cycle. A proposition by taking into account her co-learners
CeLE is a communicative discussion episode in responses even though they appeared as low activ-
the form of a non-linear dialogical sequence with ity e-learners (i.e. only O2 was an e-tutor).
a starting point, a transition and an end point that E-learning quality was also measured by the
indicates a collaborative e-learning cycle. There MessageTag tool based on CeLEs argumentation
were 13 Collaborative e-Learning Episodes, 6 in levels in the research pool. The results indicated
Moodle@GSN and 7 in the research pool. In one that (a) the participants did not use the tool; 20
CeLE, the individuals in VIT-N represented as out of 70 messages were tagged (28.6%); and (b)
circles (nodes), the direction of the messages is tagging was mostly concentrated on the initial ar-
indicated by an arrow and the number represents gumentation levels: Inform 7 messages, Question
the number of messages (Figure 6). 3, Explain 3, Explore 2, Agree 2, Evaluate 2, Sum-
marise 0, and Other 1 message. It appears that mere
information was essential to trigger collaboration
but it was the collaborative techniques and the use
Figure 6. VIT-network in CeLE IX of tools that facilitate knowledge co-construction
by supporting different learning styles. This result
indicates that progressive discourse can be the
outcome of increasing participation in collabora-
tive e-learning communities.
SeLCI-06: Collaborative E-Learning
As for learning as such, the respondents said that

they asked help from the e-tutors (n=37, 92.5%)
and less from their co-learners (n=3, 7.5%). The
majority replied that they actually learned ways
for collaborative learning (n=37, 92.5%), 1 did
685
Figure 7. VIT centrality in CeLE IX
not (2.5%), and 2 N/A (5%). More specifically, P21 also said that she was watching how other
they suggested ways to achieve collaborative e- people were working. This result is in agreement
learning (N=41; one participant provided more with the centrality scores and the responses on
than one suggestion) passive participants.
Information and knowledge exchange were the Overall, thematic analysis pointed at three
most important factors for CSCeL (37%); then col- themes, community management, e-learning and
laborative activities (27%), dialogue development technology (Figure 8).
(17%), and mobility of ideas (7%). One suggestion The importance attached to the factors on col-
each (3%) referred to learning to communicate, laborative e-learning quality is in favour of com-
vicarious learning, new skills acquisition, and the munity management, then e-learning and finally,
number of created projects. Only 5 responses were technology is the last one. These results stress the
on tools, 4 on the new collaborative tools (80%) importance of the CSCeL social aspect.
and 1 on profiles (20%). It appears that mere in-
formation was essential to trigger collaboration
but it was the collaborative techniques and the use DISCUSSION
of tools that facilitate knowledge co-construction
by supporting different learning styles. This result E-Learning Community
indicates that progressive discourse can be the Evolution: participation,
outcome of increasing participation in collabora- common ground and roles
tive e-learning communities.
The participants learnt from the e-tutors (n=30, In this study the e-learning community develop-
56%), other learners (n=17, 32%) and equally more ment and evolution was evident in the increasing
experienced learners (n=3, 6%) and on their own interactivity and participation which indicated
(n=3, 6%). It appears that passive participation and that the community was an evolving organic
vicarious learning was one of the learning styles; entity. This means that community evolution can
686
Figure 8. Correlations between codes on collaborative e-learning quality
be moderated by supporting communication and sharing conception of collaborative learning in two

participation in collaborative activities by helping ways: it can be about sharing interpretations as
e-learners becoming passive and then active par- well as information, and these interpretations can
ticipants. For example, the use of profiles and the be jointly created through interaction, in addition to
initial social interactions to enhance trust and em- being formed by individuals before they are offered
pathy supported e-learners quick familiarisation to the group. Establishing common ground was
with each other as well as with the LMS. Having feasible because the participants already belong
common targets and discovering similar inter- in a Community of Practice, which means they
ests creates a tendency known as self-disclosure already knew about the community and shared
reciprocity as the participants exchange personal interests and associated values. Some participants
information and experience (Wallace, 1999). The said that this is feasible by acknowledging new
use of other communications means (e.g. phone, members questions by the most experienced
SKYPE, blogs, and Facebook) other than the members in order to re-adjust the e-learning
tools inside the e-learning system has been found targets and transfer them across the community.
crucial for the community maintenance (Boase Sarmiento-Klapper (2009) suggest that supports
et al, 2006), and indicates a healthy practice in group interaction and the shared understanding
this study. This may also suggest that different not only grounds the content of the teams dis-
people have different desires when it comes to course and work, but also ties together the social
communication modes which in turn indicate fabric of the relations among the team members
the importance of personalisation in e-learning as actors constructing a joint problem space has a
environments. third essential dimension: time or sequence. The
Although common knowledge is regarded as construction of the joint problem space constitutes
a rather tacit and an essential element for peer a shared temporality through bridging moves that
knowledge sharing and diffusion (Fields & kafai, span and thereby order discontinuous events as
2009), the participants explicitly indicated that past, present, and future.
strong common ground was built. Common ground Community management, e-learning and
as in Clarks contribution theory (Clark & Bren- participation were themes for roles which can
nan, 1991) is related to intersubjective learning be initially assigned. Equality in participation
(Suthers, 2005) and goes beyond an information was also indicated by the fact that e-tutoring and
687
moderating was evident in Moodle@GSN and pabilities and skills in performing specific tasks
did not exist in the research pool. In other words, (Daniel, 2007:124). Trust is also related to the
the assignment of roles was initially important mental models people develop when they first
but faded in the experimental pool indicating a meet as well as the content of their conversation
balance of tutoring and self-efficacy (Nelson & and tend to develop very quickly (Norman, 1988).
Ketelhut, 2008). This practice has been identified However, these suggestions were not explicitly
as useful for ontology development (e.g. Isotani investigated in this study; here, trust was linked
et al., 2009) and is also evident in scripts studies to reciprocity and levels of participation to al-
(e.g. Dillenbourg & Jermann, 2007). The use of low participants to work freely together, perhaps
scripts brings together the two fields of CSCL and evident in the response on freedom of expression
cooperative learning; one major description scripts to a great extent (n=29, 72.5%).
require is the roles distribution and thus, division
of labour. Teasley and Roschelle (1993:235) Human-Human Interaction: Intensity
provided a clear distinction anchored in the idea
that tasks are divided between participants: each Intensity refers to levels of passive and active
person is responsible for a portion of the problem participation, and persistence. Because the par-
solving. However, such division is not deliber- ticipation increased from passive to active and
ately required from the participants, although was sustainable in the research pool it may be
roles exist naturally as a spontaneous division of suggested that one e-learning good practice may
labour. Approaches such as the Group Investiga- be anchored to encouraging the passive partici-
tion Model (Sharan & Sharan, 1992), the Jigsaw pants to slowly pass through observation and one
model (Aronson et al., 1978) or team goals and way participation to interaction. In other words,
team rewards that were central to Student Team tutors may support them to reach their interaction
Learning Approach Model (Slavin, 1995) may potential in a long term. Intensity appeared to be
be revisited to facilitate knowledge convergence. higher in the research pool: the participation levels
were more coherent and stable in the research pool
Affective Factors: Sense of having all levels from low passive to high active
Belonging, Empathy & Trust participation; and persistence was found 90.6%. It
appears that initial online dialogical argumentation
It appears that the same factors that defined the lacked depth and was redundant as participants
sense of belonging were the factors that contribute failed to sustain interaction, also found to be
to the e-learning community evolution, namely evident in the research by Khine and colleagues
shared interests and values. Although empathy (2003). As the participants gained knowledge
found to be an important element to facilitate the and experience of collaborative techniques based
transcendence from passive to active participation, on information provision and observation of the
more research is needed to verify the result that e-tutors, their behaviour changed in the research
empathy may be the bridge between knowing and pool. It is interesting to note that for 3 years there
feeling the other poster, in other words, between were 19 messages with 1 one reply, whereas 1
presence and co-presence in social awareness. message produced 27 replies. Intensity also pro-
Almost all participants felt that they could trust vides evidence for establishing common ground.
the e-tutors and their co-learners. Trust has been This is done by checking whether a conversation
reported to be related to different forms of aware- partner has heard and correctly understood what is
ness, such as personal information, presence on being said (Preece & Maloney-Krichmar, 2003).
the community, demographic backgrounds, ca- Lastly, it is evident that intensity can depict any
688
imbalance or equilibrium between passive and information flow in GSN and the e-learners in the
active participation and a level of persistence as research pool in a more distributed manner. As for
a SeLCI determinant. the received messages (in-degree centrality), the
same participants appear to have incoming mes-
Human-Human Interaction: Global & sages posted specifically for them; this is more
local Social Network Analysis (SNA) apparent in the research pool where exactly the
same e-learners were in the top 10 as there were
In this study attributes for both global and local central students controlling in-coming and out-
SNA were investigated. Reciprocal ties appeared coming connections. In addition, the increase of
to maintain a strong social network; thus, they in-degree centrality indicates that they were more
are important for knowledge exchange and com- communicative and received more messages; the
munity knowledge building as it means members simultaneous slight decrease in the out-degree
constant by give and take within a community messages indicates that they lost some of their
(Preece, 2004). It is interesting to note that the power and this power was distributed to the other
top scorers had inter-clique connections. When e-learners. In other words, the responses were
the cliques increase, the social network remains originated from a group of members that was
active and thriving, especially if e-learners interact larger than the group that received the messages.
with other e-learners who did not appear in a clique In a way, it indicated a movement from a power-
before; these are the activated lurkers. In other ful group of e-tutors to a group that was working
words, the absence of cliques could have indicated more and more collaboratively to increase their
a lack of clustering that would have reflected the learning; the active participants became more
prevalence of weak ties. As most the participants democratic in their communication instead of
did not know each other before the study and were maintaining their status.
more skilled in the research environment, it can In-closeness centrality represents the speed
be assumed that the cliques were the glue of the of interaction from all other nodes to the selected
forums. However, what fostered the cliques was node; so in Moodle@GSN this speed was high
not investigated in this study. when the e-tutors were included; the standard
The SeLCI SNA attributes indicated that deviation was high as well. Out-closeness central-
the interactions weight (density) was doubled ity represents the speed of interaction from one
in the research pool; participants preferences node to the other nodes; this score and standard
(reciprocity) were rather increased; more similar deviation was also high in Moodle@GSN. These
behaviours (structural equivalence) were observed scores indicated that the e-tutors were control-
in Moodle@GSN rather than the research pool; ling the speed of information flow. However, the
and there were some small groups (cliques) that scores without the e-tutors and in the research pool
remained almost the same throughout the study. were more equally distributed and the standard
The out- and indegree centrality appear to have deviation was very low, indicating a more stable
great differences depicted mostly in the standard interaction speed between the e-learners. A reason
deviation rather than centrality itself. Standard may be that e-tutors were connected more times
deviation dropped in the e-learners centrality than the e-learners and this affected their interac-
scores in the research pool which means that tion speed. In-degree centrality increase and the
the differences between the e-learners were di- out-degree centrality decrease indicated that the
minishing. There was an increase in in-degree e-tutors had the power in the information flow in
centrality and a decrease in out-degree centrality. Moodle@GSN and the e-learners in the research
This means that the e-tutors had the power in the pool in a more distributed manner. This was also
689
evident in the interaction speed (closeness) and Overall, The Sense of e-Learning Community
control (betweenness) that showed that the e- Index (SeLCI) provided a different viewpoint to
tutors hold the network power in Moodle@GSN describe the e-learning community and processes
whereas this power was quite evenly distributed in depth. SeLCI was found to be successful in
in the research pool and the discussions have not describing, evaluating and triangulating the re-
been monopolised. Moreover, there was no single search context. Sharing their interests and values,
participant who ranked high in all the centrality the participants responded in a positive manner
measures in both environments including the e- about community evolution, sense of belong-
tutors and myself. ing, empathy and trust. Intensity was above the
Other than global Social Network Analysis average level and more coherent in the research
(SNA), local SNA describes the human and in- pool. Establishing common focus, sociability and
formation network in a particular situation. The common ground were the initial steps towards a
Visualisation Interaction Tools Nodes and Cen- progressive course for sustainable collaborative
trality (VIT Nodes and VIT Centrality) supported e-learning quality. According to Suthers (2005),
local SNA nodes and centrality in real time. this is what Scardamalia and Bereiter (1991)
originally suggested the term phrase intentional
Collaborative E-Learning learning. For Suthers, the essential difference
between knowledge building and other forms of
Collaborative e-learning was measured by par- learning is that knowledge builders are deliberately
ticipants responses in the questionnaires as well and through their own collective agency pushing
as the number and analysis of the Collaborative the boundaries of their knowledge (i.e., are learn-
e-Learning Episodes (CeLE). An appropriate col- ing intentionally).
laborative e-learning argumentation model can be As on the use of tools, revealing internal think-
a SeLCI attribute as it provides a clear indication ing structures may tackle passive participation (e.g.
of e-learning quality and knowledge convergence Jeong & Davidson-Shivers, 2006). As Dillenbourg
in textual online interaction by the number of col- and colleagues had predicted in 1996, Jeong has
laborative e-learning episodes. This is feasible by found that the visibility of such structures helped
revealing participants reflections on their learning learners reflection as more replies were elaborated
(metacognition). Such meta-cognitive reflections on previous ideas and there were greater gains in
were crucial to maintain focus throughout the knowledge acquisition.
process. Consequently, three distinct learning
styles, namely instructional, collaborative and Comparison with Recent Studies
vicarious learning were revealed.
Because the MessageTag tool failed to capture In a study on online social identity, knowledge
the argumentation levels, Lambropoulos and construction and passive participation for nurses
Kampylis (2009) developed a new analytical participating in an online course, Gulati (2006)
framework to foster collaborative e-learning and found that there were different forms of learning
co-creativity in e-learning environments. Based and different types of e-learners depending on how
on two pre-existing frameworks, Collaborative e- sociable they were. (Note that there are no page
Learning (Lambropoulos, 2008) and Six Thinking numbers as the thesis was not on a PDF format
Hats (de Bono, 1986) a new analytical framework and there were differences on the page numbers
was created, the Hybrid Synergy (Lambropoulos in the chapters.) Her investigation was mainly
et. al., 2008; Daskolia, Lambropoulos & Kam- qualitative and the similarities to this study were:
pylis, 2009).
690
The participants enjoyed learning together. Most participants did not know each other
They felt part of the group. before the course (56% said they knew no-
They exhibited desire to be connected. body, p.124-125).
They shared same interests and E-learners knowledge awareness bred
responsibilities. trust to the community.
Online communication skills were crucial People discovered they had similar prob-
to enable participation. lems and interests.
Time was limited.
There were access problems. CONCLUSION AND
FUTURE TRENDS
In his recent research, Daniel in his PhD
Thesis (2007) tested 11 dimensions to sense of Over the past decade the number of technologies
community within 15 undergraduate students that enable people to learn collaboratively have
using an e-learning environment. There were increased considerably. These technologies help
differences in the number, age, profession and learners to identify, observe and assess their own
experience of the participants; additionally, as actions (mirroring) and facilitate the tutors to
he used a questionnaire and message analysis to support them (guiding) (Soller et al., 2005). The
obtain his results there were several differences Sense of e-Learning Community Index (SeLCI)
and similarities (p.111-126). For example, he was developed and successfully tested based on
measured reciprocity by assessing participants collaborative e-learning community sociody-
frequency of sharing class related resources; he namics and Computer Supported Collaborative
related trust to the levels of awareness and co- e-Learning (CSCeL). SeLCI can describe, explore,
presence. He also measured learning as knowledge explain and support participants behaviour in
awareness depending on information about other e-learning; it consists of indicators to understand
e-learners activities, that was what individual how a community functions as well as being de-
knew (competence awareness) and what they could terminants for its success. These attributes were:
do (capability awareness) (p.126-127). (Note that community evolution; sense of belonging; empa-
Daniel did not always describe his findings using thy; trust; intensity characterised by e-learners
numeric representation.) The similarities were: levels of participation and persistence on posting;
collaborative e-learning quality measured by the
Participants continued their networking number of quality dialogical sequences identified
outside and beyond the time frame of the as Collaborative eLearning Episodes (CeLEs) and
class (p.111). participants reflections; and social network analy-
The feeling of belonging to the community sis based on: global cohesion anchored in density,
was high (p.113). reciprocity, cliques and structural equivalence,
There was a high ratio of shared goals and global centrality derived from in- and out-degree
values (p.116). centrality and closeness; and local nodes and
On participation and social protocols 67% centrality in real time. These determinants were
of the participants said they were aware of analysed on a temporal basis towards the evolu-
them. tion of the collaborative e-learning community.
Peer support was evident and reinforced Implications from this study suggest that in-
members sense of belonging (p.120). teractivity has to be increased prior to e-learning
There were high rates of social networking. activities as an interaction potential and facili-
tated by reciprocity, empathy and trust. Sharing
691
personal information and experiences through the From a community management viewpoint,
profiles and developing a sense of identification time and activities management was anchored
and co-presence between the e-learners can foster in the passive and active participation levels, as
community building. Observing other e-learners well as the sleeper effect, the gap between the
behaviour and develop reciprocity empathy and previous two levels. It appeared that the first days
trust are interpersonal and intrapersonal skills allowed the sleeper effect to be developed; this
with an impact on participants motivation, in- is action after a lapse of time. If collaborative e-
volvement, and learning. They are related to the learning started developing after the first week,
participants idiosyncratic character and influence this means that the first days on an online course
participation. In fact, Squires (1999) suggested need to be dedicated to community development.
the need to design for freedom and flexibility Increasing participation from passive to active
so that educational software can adapt to their fostered interaction flow and continuity and thus,
idiosyncratic needs and styles. these levels confirmed the concept of learning as
Tutors-learners and learners-learners interac- participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Kanes &
tions were investigated using social network analy- Lerman, 2008).
sis on a macro level across the network and on a An implication is that in such favourable
micro level within small groups. The interaction circumstances, passive participants are highly
speed was high when the e-tutors were involved, likely to get engaged. These implications stress
indicating control of the speed of the information the impact of e-learners control in their own
flow. An implication is to delegate control in process of engagement as learners are usually not
interactions to e-learners in order to stabilise the knowledgeable enough to make effective decisions
interaction speed. This is because the differences (Dron, 2007). Community development was built
between the participants are minimised. In social on shared background, experiences, goals, and
networks, information flow is relevant to issues visions. This was to enhance interactivity, as a
of productivity, innovation and the classification key component in assessing the effectiveness of e-
of useful ideas (Wu et al., 2004). Controlling and learning (e.g. Zhao et al., 2005; Thurmond, 2003).
delegating interactions can be connected to con- Social awareness and the development of the
trolling or delegating e-learning (Dron, 2007:63). sense of belonging to a community were only re-
Decentralising the power in a network increases cently related to social intelligence. The latter has
the possibilities for co-creativity and innovation been accepted as an important soft skill (Goleman,
within an e-learning community. In addition, 2007) even though it was mentioned in Thorndike
since interaction density was directly linked to (1920) as knowledge to manage social situations
text richness, richness is a measure of the interac- and act wisely in human relations. An implica-
tive learning process (Stahl, 2002). Lastly, as the tion is linked to the collaborative learning strong
e-tutors created groups with similar behaviour socio-cultural nature, thus social intelligence can
around them, an implication refers to simulat- be a significant factor for successful e-learning
ing (cloning) e-tutoring via vicarious learning. communities. For example, social emotions re-
The e-tutors should adopt different learning and quire self-consciousness (Goleman, 2007:131)
interaction levels and styles based on e-learners that can be with the creation of profiles, avatars
idiosyncratic character aiming for all learners to and other tools aiming to enhance presence and
achieve their goals. Therefore, technologies need co-presence. Another implication is related to the
to be able to adapt to individuals changing needs new model for distributed leadership implemented
and situations. as public consultancy from governmental organi-
sations and business; anyone can participate in
692
decision making by sharing, voting and discuss- To conclude, the Sense of e-Learning Com-
ing ideas. The importance attached to the factors munity Index (SeLCI) has the potential for
on collaborative e-learning quality is in favour explanatory and community building power
of community management, then e-learning and in investigating and developing collaborative
finally, technology is the last one. These results e-learning communities and simultaneously to
stress the importance of the CSCeL social aspect. facilitate new knowledge and skills acquisition.
Laurillard (2009) suggested that ensuring that However, further research is needed to explore
pedagogy exploits and challenges technology. its effectiveness in different contexts as well as
An implication for research was connected to providing the foundation towards an associated
triangulating the data via quantitative, qualitative tool also incorporating human-computer inter-
and social network analysis; 3 different research action attributes for personalised and affective
perspectives can open possibilities beyond initial collaborative e-learning. Knowledge convergence
propositions and hypotheses. Overall, there is in CSCeL is feasible if there are suitable methods
room for research on usable, useful and reliable and techniques to observe, analyse, facilitate and
tools and evaluation techniques to assess differ- support it. The development of a sense of com-
ent levels and types of participation and critical munity within the learners is of crucial importance
thinking in collaborative e-learning. for CSCeL effectiveness.
Several challenges for future studies are iden-
tified such as the definition of the boundaries,
failure and success for group and community col- ACKNOWLEDGMENT
laborative e-learning. This challenge is anchored
in Stahls (2006) statement that CSCL interactions This chapter is based on Niki Lambropoulos PhD
should be analyzed at the group level of descrip- research conducted at the Centre for Interactive
tion, not just at the individual or the community Systems Engineering, London South Bank Uni-
levels, as is done in other theoretical approaches versity under the guidance of Dr Xristine Faulkner
influential in CSCL research. Isotani an colleagues and Professor Fintan Culwin. Our special thanks
(2009) suggest the development of an CSCL on- to the e-tutors and technical support from GSN,
tology for group formation aiming to represent Michael Paraskevas and Vangelis Grigoropoulos,
the knowledge of intelligent educational systems the Dream-e-Team and the Greek teachers for their
that support CL, while playing a central role in continuous support and inspiration.
the decision making about how, when, and why
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Idea Group Publishing.
& Hong, 2008).
Lambropoulos, N., & Romero, M. (2010). Educa- Sense of e-Learning Community Index
tional Social Software. Hershey, PA: IGI Global (SeLCI): The index to measure the sense of be-
Publishing. longing in an e-learning community.
Social Network Analysis (SNA): The map-
Lambropoulos, N., & Zaphiris, P. (2006). User-
ping and measuring of relationships and flows be-
Centred Design of Online Learning Communities.
tween people, groups, organizations, computers or
other information/knowledge processing entities.
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Chapter 41
Tracer Studies:
A Concrete Approach to a
Virtual Challenge
Nancy Brigham
Rosenblum Brigham Associates, USA
ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Tracer Study methodology, a cost-effective, capacity building tool for evaluating
the operations and effectiveness of Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs). We make the argument
that a VCoP is a dynamic, continually evolving entity, whose characteristics distinguish it in important
ways from naturally occurring or purposively planned communities of practice operating in the face-to-
face world. As a result, VCoPs lend themselves to evaluation by means of Tracer Studies, a methodol-
ogy that originated in the field of knowledge utilization, and has been adapted to assess how a VCoP
operates and the extent to which it is successful in promoting knowledge use and dissemination. The
chapter provides historical background on VCoPs, defines Tracer Studies and demonstrates the types
of information that may be derived from a Tracer Study evaluation. We also discuss the application of
Tracer Study methodology to the evaluation of VCoPs sponsored by a private education organization.
INTRODUCTION used it, and with what effect. We will illustrate

the utility of Tracer Studies in the evaluation of
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce an virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) and
evaluation methodology called Tracer Studies, a demonstrate how Tracer Studies can address the
relatively straightforward qualitative technique three most important questions of funders and
that can be used to follow (or trace) the spread of sponsors of such communities:
information from its original source through its
full spectrum of impact, determining at every step What knowledge do VCoP members gain
of the way who used the information, how they from their participation?
In what ways do members use their
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch041 knowledge?
Tracer Studies
How and with whom do they share knowl- Key to understanding Tracer Studies is the
edge beyond the VCOP? notion of a knowledge exchange event. Accord-
ing to Louis et al., (1984), such an event occurs
The chapter contains two historical discus- when a set of purposively prepared information
sions. The first follows the evolution and previous is communicated to a set of recipients. A knowl-
use of Tracer Studies. Then, in order to situate edge exchange event includes the message (the
Tracer Studies appropriately, we examine the information itself), a sender, a receiver, a strategy
nature of the VCoP phenomenon. Based on our or channel for communicating (e.g. workshops,
review of the literature, we make the argument written products, phone meetings), and a social
that a VCoP is a dynamic, continuously evolving context for processing the information. All of these
entity that requires an evaluation approach that are important to the outcome of the knowledge
focuses on process and outcomes rather than exchange process, which is use. Translating this
characteristics and structure. The specific goals framework into an evaluation plan involves, de-
of the chapter are to: termining the message or knowledge to be traced,
selecting one or a number of dissemination events,
Define Tracer Study methodology and and conducting interviews with a sample of pri-
show how the Tracer Study framework mary and secondary recipients of the information.
translates into an evaluation plan; Ideally, the flow of information is traced from
Explicate the unique nature of VCoPs; and original recipients of information to others with
Demonstrate the application of Tracer whom information is shared. A Tracer Study fol-
Studies to a specific VCoP evaluation and lows the message through as many levels within
the value of the results. and beyond the original recipients as possible.
The use of snowball sampling is particularly
appropriate in Tracer Studies. Snowball sampling
BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS involves the initial sampling of respondents by
USE OF TRACER STUDIES the probability method but the next level of re-
spondents is obtained from information provided
Tracer Studies were developed at Abt Associates by initial respondents (Heckathorn, 2002). Thus,
(Cambridge, MA) as part of a federally funded the first level interviews are conducted with those
study of the dissemination and use of research who originally received the information; these
findings in education (Louis et al. 1985). Tracer are called Level 1 respondents, but subsequent
Studies were intended to accomplish several goals: interviews are conducted with people nominated
by the respondents themselves and are called Level
To understand how knowledge is ex- 2, Level 3 and so on as far as the chain goes. At
changed and used; each level, the interview protocol focuses on the
To explore the degree to which different extent to which the respondent received the mes-
strategies result in more or less dissemi- sage, the perceived value of the information, the
nation of knowledge beyond the direct use the respondent has made of it and the extent
recipients; to which the respondent has shared information.
To understand the outcomes and use of At each level, the interview protocol contains two
knowledge exchange events; and, tracer questions:1
To determine the factors that affect how
knowledge is exchanged and used. Have you shared information with others? If yes:
what did you share? Was this a formal or infor-
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Tracer Studies
mal event? What was the purpose of sharing the particularly those involved in marketing, were
information? the most effective disseminators of the message
within their home organizations.
We would like to talk to some people you shared The Tracer Study that demonstrated the great-
information with. Would you be willing to give est extent of dissemination was commissioned by
us email or telephone information so that we can the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades
schedule an interview? (They may need to check Reform in 2003 to determine the extent to which
with potential respondents before they feel free their published vision and criteria for excellence
to do this. If so, schedule a time and/or a method in middle grades education were reaching a na-
for obtaining the information) tional audience. In this case, the tracing continued
to an unprecedented seventh level. This means
Tracer Studies lend themselves to telephone that the Forums message went from Level 1 (a
interviews. While Level 1 interviews may be 30 to Forum member) to Level 2 to Level 3 and so
45 minutes in length, interviews at each level tend on to level 7. The level 7 respondents were two
to become shorter, averaging about ten minutes. middle school principals who were familiar with
Also, the respondents, particularly beyond Level the Forums criteria, but did not know (or know
1, are often geographically dispersed. of) any respondents up the chain of dissemination
Since 1986, Rosenblum Brigham Associates beyond Level 6. The overall conclusion of the
(RBA) has employed Tracer Studies to follow report of this Tracer Study was:
the knowledge use and dissemination process
for a variety of clients. Several federally funded The responses at all levels show an almost uni-
regional education laboratories, whose mission versal respect for the quality of the message and
is the effective dissemination of information and a high degree of use by the respondents in their
products, have commissioned Tracer Studies own work. While the message has stand-alone
as a means of proving their success. The W.K. value, the findings in terms of perceived quality
Kellogg Foundation funded a Tracer Study of and use, reflect the strength of the sender-receiver
the effects of a partnership between agricultural network in enhancing the value of the message.
extension agents and the Homemakers of America (Brigham et al, 2003)
intended to develop leadership skills in women.
The Center for Applied Special Technology This summary of major Tracer Studies con-
(CAST) in Wakefield, MA funded a study to trace ducted by RBA demonstrates the continuum of
the effectiveness of a presentation to publishers findings that may result from the evaluation pro-
of new federal National Instructional Materials cess. In the case of the Kellogg evaluation, the
Accessibility Standards (NIMAS) standards for most important finding concerned the dissemina-
learners with disabilities. tion strategy; in the CAST evaluation it was the
In the Kellogg Tracer Study, we found that initial receivers of the message that determined
opportunities for prolonged interaction between success and in the Forum Tracer Study it was the
the homemakers and the extension agents, such characteristics of both senders and receivers as
as retreats, overcame initial diffidence and was a well as the credibility of the message itself that
more effective tool for furthering the message of led to the immense success of the dissemination
leadership than one-shot meetings and workshops. process. In the next section, we look at the evolu-
The CAST Tracer Study found that certain types of tion of the VCoP movement and the characteristics
individuals who attended the NIMAS presentation, of VCoPs that create unique evaluation needs.
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Tracer Studies
BACKGROUND OF THE To understand naturally occurring CoPs, we

VCoP MOVEMENT begin with the early work of Lave and Wenger
(1991). Their anthropological study uses ap-
This section contains a pragmatic history of prenticeship practices of midwives in Yucatan,
communities of practice, showing how these tailors in Goa, naval quartermasters and others to
spontaneous groups became part of the modern explicate a theory of social learning. The contri-
world and then moved into cyberspace. Previous bution of this work for our purposes is two-fold:
efforts around definition have led to a prolifera- that learning is social and experiential and that a
tion of typologies that create an endless loop; it primary purpose of a community of practice is to
is difficult to evaluate a VCoP without first introduce novices to the full knowledge of their
identifying all its characteristics, and difficult to chosen field of endeavor. Lave and Wenger did
identify its characteristics without first evaluat- not actually define CoP in their early work. Later,
ing it. Dube et al. (2006) developed a typology to Wenger defined a CoP as a group of people who
classify virtual communities of practice into four share a concern, a set of problems an expertise
categories, which contain a total of 21 structural or a passion about something they do and learn
characteristics. The authors state that previous how to do it more effectively through regular
literature tends to treat the phenomena of CoPs interaction (Wenger 2007, Wenger and Snyder
and VCoPs as one-dimensional constructs, with 2000). Wenger identified three elements that, in.
undistinguishing features and undifferentiated his view, differentiate a CoP from other network-
identities (p. 71) and they point to the need for ing groups. These are:
a typology that recognizes the diversity of VCoPs
and provides tools for facing the evaluation chal- The community is based on a shared do-
lenges they present. The authors state that, a main of competence;
finer understanding of VCoPs rests on a detailed Community members create relationships
comprehension of what they are (p. 71). and learn from each other;
In another work, the same authors (Dube & Community members develop a joint rep-
Jacob, 2005) provide a typology of 11 community ertoire of experiences and resources.
roles in four domains to assess the contributions
of VCoP leadership, adapting this typology from Members of naturally occurring CoPs share an
Fontaine (2001). These articles equate under- important bond that brings them together sponta-
standing VCoPs with identifying their structural neously. Through the CoP, they share knowledge
elements at various points in time, losing sight between more experienced members and novices
of the power of the evolving, dynamic nature of and they develop a new repertoire of joint or com-
the process. We argue that a VCoP is more like munal experience.
a movie than a series of snapshots and illustrate It is not a great leap from Wengers work to the
this hypothesis with a brief historical account. notion that public and private organizations would
The VCoP appears to have evolved through view the formation of communities of practice
three identifiable iterations, which are overlapping as beneficial to their interests in improving prac-
but separate phenomena. These are: tice and performance. These are the purposively
planned CoPs, which are organizationally spon-
Naturally occurring CoPs; sored and results-oriented. Lesser (2001) asserts
Purposively planned face-to-face (FTF) that a community of practice is an engine for
CoPs; and, the development of social capital and that the
Virtual CoPs (VCoPs). social capital then becomes a driver for behavioral
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Tracer Studies
change. Based on his research into seven business and led organizations to form cross-discipline
organizations, Lesser concludes that participation meeting opportunities to encourage collabora-
in a CoP can improve organizational performance tion and knowledge sharing (Sobrero 2008). At
by building connections and relationships that first, it seems quaint to think of distance in terms
create trust among members. An important, but of measured space, but second thought reveals
not always explicitly stated element, is that when that we actually know less now than we did then
organizations sponsor communities of practice, about the influence of distance on isolation, what
they have a vested interest in a return on their it takes for people to feel connected when they
investment. (Millen et al, 2002). are in widely dispersed locations communicating
A purposively planned CoP may entail an through a virtual medium.
expectation that members not only use the infor- Since the original concept of a community of
mation personally, but also disseminate it beyond practice was of a group that arose spontaneously
their original group. The Strength of Weak Ties from mutual interests (Wenger and Snyder, 2000)
(Granovetter, 1973), the work that became the the issue of leadership was less complicated than
basis for the book The Tipping Point (Gladwell, it became later. As organizations began to take an
2000), makes the case that social networks consist interest in creating CoPs for their own purposes,
of both closely linked ties (such as family and close Fontaine (2001) identified 11 roles critical to CoP
friends) and other more distant relationships, such implementation; Bourhis et al (2005) built on this
as colleagues, lapsed friendships and the like. The work to separate leadership roles into knowledge
importance of these weak ties is that each of them intermediary roles and community support roles
is connected to a strong network of his/her own (p. 26). Particularly valuable is the idea that spon-
and thus becomes a valuable connection node sors, those who nurture and support a CoP, play
among networks and a potential channel for dis- one important role while facilitators, who are
semination beyond the original CoP participants. responsible for maintaining and convening the
The development of VCoPs is a manifestation CoP, play another.
of the era of global technology where people work Membership is another concept that became
online, play online, meet online and routinely more complex in the purposively planned CoPs
depend on communicating online. Networks such and especially in VCoPs. Dube et al (2006) clas-
as Facebook, My Space, and Twitter make it com- sify VCoP membership as open or closed and
mon for relationships or networks to form and as note that in the more common open membership
quickly dissolve in cyberspace. Online meetings VCoP anyone who has access to a computer and
and online conferencing have replaced many an Internet connection can become a member and
face-to-face or telephone conversations in order participate (p. 78). This leads to fluctuation
to save money and time. Distance is no barrier in membership from one event to another with
to such communication and networking or is it? people leaving and returning based on personal
In 1977, Tom Allen of the Massachusetts In- need or interest and creates a situation in which
stitute of Technology was conducting workplace participation in any given VCoP event equates
architecture research and found that the further more with audience than the deeper attachment
from each other people were located, the less implied by membership.
they communicated. This was hardly surpris- It can be argued that the CoP road has split into
ing even in 1977, but his conclusion that any two virtual highways. One is an outgrowth of the
distance greater than the width of a football field naturally occurring CoP; this is represented by so-
(160 feet) negatively affected the frequency of cial online networks, such as Facebook, My Space
communication surprised many (Lipnack, 2001) and the like. The other stems from the purposively
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Tracer Studies
planned CoP in which sponsoring organizations the common goal of improving practice in Jewish
create online communities of practice intended day schools across the country. Founded in 1997,
to accomplish specific outcomes. Table 1 is the PEJE is a collaborative venture of Jewish phi-
culmination of the discussion in this section. It lanthropists, devoted to advocacy, collaboration,
shows key dimensions of the original spontaneous convening, management support, and research.
CoPs, planned CoPs and virtual CoPs. Their decision to invest in VCoPs was based on
This brief and selective history sets the stage a belief that attracting enrollment to Jewish day
for the next section, which demonstrates how schools is contingent upon the schools capac-
Tracer Studies, with some minor adaptation from ity to sustain a quality educational product with
previous uses, became the approach for evaluat- sufficient financial resources, to provide a vibrant
ing two VCoPs and provided information that social and religious community for families and
validated the clients investment of resources in children, and to engage qualified volunteer and
supporting such communities. The evaluation was professional leaders. (PEJE RFP, p. 2)
conducted from September 2008 to September PEJE sponsors seven VCoPs, a mix of opera-
2009. tional interests and instructional topics that reflect
the breadth and depth of support PEJE provides
The Use of Tracer Studies to Jewish education. Each VCoP operates inde-
in a VCoP Evaluation pendently and has its own facilitator, who is a
paid PEJE staff member or consultant. When the
In 2008 the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish initiative began, the major activity was a set of
Education (PEJE) asked RBA to conduct an evalu- seven to ten phone meetings per year featuring
ation of their VCoP initiative, which at that time guest speakers on topics of interest. Now, under the
consisted of seven communities of practice with management of a director who is both a technology
Table 1. Dimensions of natural, planned and virtual communities of practice
Dimension In a Naturally Occurring CoP In a Purposively Planned FTF In a typical VCoP

CoP
Origin Spontaneous, arising from mutual Likely to be planned and often Likely to be planned and often
interest in a domain of knowledge sponsored by organizations with a sponsored by organizations with a
or experience. vested interest in success. vested interest in success.
Purpose Socialize new members to a May or may not serve to socialize May or may not serve to socialize
community through shared and new members, emphasis is on new members or improve perfor-
experiential knowledge, creating shared knowledge to improve mance, shared experiences are
shared experience. performance. virtual, not actual.
Membership Likely to be stable. May or may not be stable. Likely to be variable.
Outcomes Informally assessed. Likely to be formally stated and Likely to be formally stated. May
assessed. be assessed.
Leadership & Facilitation Likely to be internal and emer- Roles likely to be differentiated; Roles likely to be differentiated;
gent; two roles are unlikely to be facilitators designated and often facilitators designated and often
differentiated. paid. paid.
Distance & Consists of co-located individu- Individuals may or may not be Consists of widely dispersed
Isolation als. co-located, individuals.
Dissemination of infor- Likely to be within group. Within the group. May or may not Within the group. May or may
mation be beyond group. not entail dissemination beyond
immediate participant group.
Technology Not a necessary component. Not a necessary component. Vital to operations.
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Tracer Studies
and professional development expert, the technol- Table 1; the others show how these dimensions
ogy aspect has come to the fore and the calls translate to PEJE and then to specific evaluation
have become on-line and interactive. The VCoP questions.
Director has instituted a Meta-CoP, comprised of We completed Tracer Studies in two of the
the seven facilitators, who meet monthly either seven VCoPs. To select which two to focus on,
face-to-face or by phone to support each other and we conducted Level 1 interviews with members
to increase their technology skills. The Director of all seven VCoPs and then chose the most
has also introduced Google Groups to encourage promising two to pursue further. We began by
greater communication and enhance community. interviewing the seven facilitators, who are expert
The evaluation was commissioned as a way of informants on the operations of their own VCoPs
understanding how and how well the VCoPs are and also pointed us to a set of first level respon-
working and what they are accomplishing. dents for the Tracer Studies. We also asked the
While Tracer Studies are the centerpiece of the facilitator to nominate two events that he/she
PEJE evaluation, the first task was to understand considered particularly successful in the last year
the PEJE VCoPs in terms of the dimensions pre- and to nominate two active and involved VCoP
sented in Table 1 and to use these to create the participants as a first level sample. We then se-
Tracer Study framework and interview questions. lected an additional member at random (one who
In Table 2, the first two columns are repeated from might or might not be active) and conducted
Table 2. Typical VCoPs, PEJE CoPs and evaluation questions
Dimension In a Typical VCoP In the PEJE VCoPs Evaluation Questions

Origin Likely to be planned and often Planned with strong organization- What are the organizational con-
sponsored by organizations with a al sponsorship and support. text and history of the VCoPs?
vested interest in success.
Purpose May or may not serve to socialize Learn new ideas. Implement What is the message and how
new members or improve per- ideas and practices. Share ideas does it vary among the seven
formance. Shared knowledge & with others outside the immediate VCoPs?
experience are virtual, not actual. participants.
Membership Likely to be variable. Extensive variation across What are the characteristics of
VCoPs. Intermittent participation the receivers of the information?
within each VCoP. What is the social context for
processing information?
Outcomes Likely to be formally stated; may Specific expectations for knowl- What are the outcomes for partici-
be assessed. edge use to change practice and pants in terms of knowledge use
dissemination. and dissemination?
Leadership & Facilitation Roles likely to be differentiated; Seven paid facilitators with differ- What are the characteristics of
facilitators designated and often ent backgrounds and experience. the facilitators (senders of the
paid. information)?
Distance & Consists of widely dispersed Widely dispersed individuals, but To what extent does variation in
Isolation individuals. almost all directly linked to Jew- context affect use and dissemina-
ish day schools. tion?
Dissemination of infor- Within the group. May or may Intended to reach within and What is the path of dissemination
mation not entail dissemination beyond beyond the participant group. and what factors affect it?
immediate participant group
Technology Vital to operations Scheduled web-based, interac- What is the strategy for dissemi-
tive telephone meetings, use of nation and to what extent does it
Power Point and access to Google succeed?
Groups..
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Tracer Studies
telephone interviews with 21 members across the we had hoped but valuable in terms of understand-
seven VCoPs. These Level 1 interviews covered ing what the PEJE VCoPs are accomplishing, and
the following topics: the challenges of creating virtual communities.
Background experience, job responsibili- Challenges of a VCoP Tracer Study

ties and role of the respondent;
Motivation for participating in the VCoP; Since this is the first time we have applied Tracer
Overall assessment of the quality and rel- Study Methodology to the evaluation of a VCOP,
evance of the calls, including the role of it is difficult to differentiate between challenges
technology; that occurred because of the customization of the
Extent of participation in Google Groups methodology to a new venue and those that ac-
and email exchanges. crued because of the nature of the PEJE VCoPs
in particular. In this section, we present several
In order to jog the respondents memory, the challenges in the context of findings from the
interviewer introduced the two specific calls nomi- PEJE evaluation that differ from those of previous
nated by the facilitator and provided some details Tracer Studies. These include:
about each of them. The respondent selected one of
these calls (or another call if he/she thought there A message-driven vs. recipient-driven
was a more important one) to discuss in depth. approach;
About this call the interviewer asked: A pattern of general rather than specific
dissemination; and
What was the quality of the information An unusual amount of knowledge use.
compared to information on the same sub-
ject you may have received from other We also discuss the challenge of understand-
sources? ing the meaning and nature of community in
What was the importance of the informa- the context of these specific VCoPs.
tion to your work and did you use it in any A traditional Tracer Study is message-driven:
way? If so, how did you use it and what i.e. the first step is to select a message in the con-
was the result? text of a dissemination event (or events) and then
Did you share information from the call conduct interviews with a sample of first level
with others? If so, what are the names and recipients of the message. In this instance, the inter-
positions of people with whom you shared views became recipient-driven. While we always
information and under what circumstances began by inquiring about specific calls nominated
did the sharing take place? by the facilitators, we found that members often
wanted to discuss some other call entirely. This
The Level 1 interviews in all the VCoPs came about because PEJE VCoP members tend
offered some promise for follow up, so in con- to be selective about which of the calls they join.
junction with PEJE administrators we chose the Thus, we did not force the interviews toward one
Leadership VCoP and the Development VCoP message exclusively, but let respondents choose
for further study. The selection was based both on calls they wanted to discuss even if those had
PEJEs interest in the subject and the number of not been nominated. Our hypothesis is that this
nominations received for Level 2 respondents. We phenomenon is likely to be found in any VCoP
were subsequently able to complete seven Level 2 that holds multiple events from which participants
interviews and one Level 3 interview, fewer than
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Tracer Studies
may pick and choose depending on their needs The call on discipline was so helpful. I heard that
and interests. the most important group is the observersthat
We also found a different pattern of dissemi- week I dealt with an incident (of bullying), where
nation and use at both Level 1 and Level 2 than others kids did nothing about itI was able to
in previous Tracer Studies. PEJE respondents talk with the kids about the role of the observer
reported more instances of general dissemination found out that the kids were afraid to get involved.
(I brought it up to the Board at a meeting.) than
dissemination to specific individuals. Examples A component of any Tracer Study is to un-
such as the following show that this type of dis- derstand the context in which the information is
semination enhances and validates the knowledge processed or understood. This may range from a
base of recipients, although it does not provide single individual reading a brochure to a group
specific names to trace to the next level. participating in an interactive workshop. In the
PEJE VCoPs, the social context is a group of
I share information with board members on a people generally participating as individuals, but
regular basis. Any time theres a call that looks with the intention of becoming a community. It
germane to our situation, I e-mail the announce- was challenging for us to develop questions to
ment to the entire board, and encourage them to sit help us understand the extent to which community
in, although getting them to do so is a challenge, was created and challenging for the respondents to
because of time constraints. If real great gems come answer because we did not define community for
from a call, I may mention it at a board meeting. them. Instead, we asked, In your opinion, to what
extent does participation in the VCoP contribute
to a sense of community among the participants?
Information from PEJE provides credibility with Five of the 21 Level 1 respondents responded
the Board. I have used information when speaking positively, typically equating community with
with my associates and with the Board on how to overcoming isolation as in this instance.
do a wide range of things.
It is huge. It is good to see what others are doing
While dissemination was more general than around the country. It is helpful to realize that oth-
in past Tracer Studies, examples of use of the ers share the same struggles and stresses and to
information were more specific. When we asked see how they handle them. Without this, we would
respondents how they used information from the operate in isolation and wouldnt have access to
calls, they replied with many explicit instances, information about the broad scope of reality in
such as those in the following examples. the field. The contact information allows people
to follow up with each other.
Last year, there was a conversation about how to
teach Jewish values to kids, and how to provide However the most common responses were:
professional development in order to do that. One not yet, not very deep, slow in developing
school had done a study group on the book called or for some. For many respondents, the main
Educating for Character. Since teaching Jew- benefit of the VCoP is getting information or
ish values is an important piece of who we are, I answers to questions, and while they are happy
ordered the book for every staff person. For the to know there are others out there doing similar
last year, we have done a chapter a month during things, building community is not necessarily their
staff meetings, with one person assigned to lead. priority. Several thought that building community
requires face-to-face contact. For example:
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Tracer Studies
It does enhance community but only if youve a Tracer Study, the PEJE experience leads us to
had the benefit of interacting face-to-face at least rethink the results in terms of the differences be-
once. If I have seen someone at a conference, I tween a VCoP experience and a more traditional
immediately feel a greater sense of community dissemination process.
when I see that person has logged onto a call. First, the community is an ongoing experience
rather than a single event and the modification of
Its good to see the same people coming back and the Tracer Study process from a message focus
to know what people are doing. It does help me (What was your experience with Call A?) to a
reflect on what I am doing. I know how to find receiver focus, (If you dont remember call A or
them if I want to follow up, but I dont think there did not participate in it, what call was valuable to
is a real group doing things together. you and why?) actually provided PEJE with im-
portant information on which topics and speakers
It is more like a professional development webi- meet the needs of their audience. Similarly, when
nar system. Occasionally, something comes out PEJE administrators looked at the findings, they
of it and people talk, but it is more like they are were able to see patterns of use and dissemina-
recipients of information, more like a professional tion within and across groups and from one level
development group with a little bit of community to another. The narratives and graphics below
added. demonstrate this. The first example comes from
the Development CoP and shows the dissemina-
We identified some further constraints to de- tion of information from a first level respondent
veloping community as well. Respondents found (Lois2) to a second level respondent (Sharon) to
it strange that many people who signed into calls a third level respondent (Keith). Lois is the direc-
didnt speak at all; making them wonder if these tor of institutional advancement for a suburban
lurkers were multi-tasking and not really paying high school. Her purpose for participating in the
attention. It made them uncomfortable and less Development VCoP is to bring back new ideas
likely to participate actively themselves. Asked to our school community.
if they contacted (by phone or email) people Level 1. Although she said it is too soon to
they had met through mutual participation in say if this will lead to a positive change, Lois
the calls, several said they only felt comfortable has conveyed information to the steering and
doing so with people they had also met in person executive committees with regard to their roles
at some PEJE event. and how to be more effective in those roles. She
also shared information with the chair of the
Solutions and Recommendations fund-raising committee, with the president of the
board and passed it along to the head of school,
The long-term solution to the dilemmas noted both at a meeting and via a follow-up email. Lois
in the previous section is to conduct additional referred Level 2 respondent, Sharon, who heads
Tracer Studies of virtual communities to discover the Development Committee.
patterns and repetitions in order to develop gen- Level 2. Sharon shared information with the
eralizable standards for success. The short-term executive committee and with the rest of the board.
solution, which we used in the PEJE evaluation, Sharon nominated a third level respondent, the
is to present the findings and allow the sponsor to former co-chair of the development committee
assess their accomplishments. For example, while and present treasurer, Keith.
we previously looked at a lack of dissemination Level 3. Keith recalls the discussion with
beyond Level 2 as a less successful outcome of Sharon and notes it was a hot topic at the time.
708
Tracer Studies
Figure 1. Dissemination pattern for a development CoP member
He also shared information from the meeting VCoP in order to network with others and gain
with Board members, but could not provide a access to resources.
specific name. Level 1. She has done three webinars with
In the second example, which comes from the parents to inform them of financial issues at the
Leadership VCoP, the pattern is quite different, school, modeling these on the PEJE phone calls.
focusing on use rather than dissemination. Jane, This has impacted the entire school. Parents like
who is a head of school became involved in the it and have asked if we can do meetings that way.
Its a wonderful tool. She held a meeting with
Figure 2. Dissemination pattern for a leadership CoP member
709
Tracer Studies
staff, to discuss where the money goes, why we that it is more useful, especially to organiza-
charge what we do. She shared the information tions that sponsor online communities, to focus
about visioning and the long-range goals with the evaluation on process and outcomes. In this
the board and is rewriting the employee hand- chapter, we have provided background on the
book based on a model she received when she ways that a VCoP differs both from a naturally
requested help on the Google Group. Jane did occurring CoP and a purposively planned, face-
not provide information on any specific second to-face CoP. We have introduced Tracer Studies,
level respondent. a methodology that stems from research on the
use and dissemination of knowledge, as an evalu-
ation tool that provides valuable information on
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS the operations and the effectiveness of VCoPs.
Using a current example of the VCoPs sponsored
Tracer Studies offer an innovative approach to ex- by one organization, we have demonstrated how
amining the operations and effectiveness of virtual Tracer Studies can serve the needs of a client
communities of practice through understanding interested in understanding the extent to which
knowledge use and dissemination. Tracer Studies their resources are well invested to meet their
also delineate the role of the virtual community as overall goals. We have also suggested that Tracer
a context and strategy for enhancing the members Studies can serve the needs of organizations for
learning process. In todays economic context, formative evaluation information in an economi-
Tracer Studies offer an additional advantage. With cal, capacity-building fashion.
some initial assistance in designing the evaluation,
framing the message, sampling appropriately, and
composing interview questions, an organization REFERENCES
can perform a Tracer Study independently3. Us-
ing their own resources to conduct the interviews Brigham, N. (May 2003). Tracer Study of Prod-
and record the data, groups engaged in forming ucts of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle
and operating virtual communities can learn what Grades Reform. Unpublished Report.
results they are achieving and the extent to which Dube, L., Bourhis, A., & Jacob, R. (2006). Toward
their message is effectively reaching its intended a typology of virtual community of practice. Inter-
audience. This is a capacity building activity for disciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge
the organization and can be a valuable formative and Management, 1.
approach to improvements in operations, leader-
ship, focus, and specific avenues of dissemina- Dube, L., & Jacob, R. (2005). The Success of
tion. It can also provide information to prove to Virtual Communities of Practice: The Leadership
sponsors and funders that the VCoP approach is Factor. [Available online at www.ejkm.com].
a rewarding investment. Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management,
3(1), 2334.
Fontaine (2001) Keeping communities of practice
CONCLUSION afloat. Knowledge Management Review, 4(4),
16-21.
No one-size-fits-all approach to evaluation serves
the evaluation needs of all VCoPs. While typolo- Gladwell (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little
gies of dimensions of VCoPs are valuable to the Things Can Make a Big Difference. New York:
evaluation process in some instances, we contend Little Brown.
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Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ADDITIONAL READING

ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6).
doi:10.1086/225469 Farooq, U., Schank, P., Harris, A., Fusco, J., &
Schlager, M. (2008) Sustaining a community com-
Heckathorn, D. D. (2002). Respondent driven puter infrastructure for online teacher professional
sampling. Deriving valid estimates from hid- development: A case study of designing Tapped
den populations. Social Problems, 49, 1134. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative
doi:10.1525/sp.2002.49.1.11 Work. Retrieved from http://ctl.sir.com/publica-
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. C. (1991). Situated learn- toins/displayPublication.jwpID -670
ing: Legitimate peripheral participation. New Herrington, A., Herrington, J., Kervin, L., & Ferry,
York: Cambridge University Press. B. (2006). The design of an online community
Lesser, E. (2001). Communities of Practice and practice for beginning teachers. [Online serial].
Organizational Performance. IBM Systems Jour- Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher
nal, 40(4). Retrieved July 15, 2009, from http:// Education, 6(1). Retrieved from http://www.
www.getcited.org/pub/103383733 citejournal.org/vol6/iss1/general/article1.cfm.
Lipnack, J. (2001) Leading virtual teams: Man- Hildreth, P. J., & Kimble, C. (2002). The duality of
aging when people are at a distance. Netage. knowledge Information Research, 8(1), paper no.
Retrieved July 27, 2009 from www.netage.com 142. Retrieved from http://InformationR.net/ir/8-
Louis, K. S., Dentler, R. G., Corwin, R. G., & Jones, Q. (1997) Virtual-communities, virtual
Herriott, R. H. (1985). Exchanging ideas: A settlements & cyber archaeology: a theoretical
study of knowledge use in educational settings. outline. Retrieved July 22, 2009 from http://jcmc.
Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates. indiana.edu/vol3issue3/jonwa.html
Millen, D., R., Fontaine, M.A., & Muller, M. Paccagnella, L. (1997) Getting the seat of your
(2002) Understanding the benefits and costs of pants dirty: Strategies for ethnographic research
communities of practice. Communications of the on virtual communities. Journal of Computer
ACM, 45(4), 69-73. Retrieved February 7, 2003 mediated-Communistic. Retrieved July 19, 2009
from the ACM Digital Library database from http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol3issue1/
paccagnella.html
Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education.
(2008, May 22). Request for Proposal. Retrieved Porter, J. (2008). Designing for the Social Web.
from http://www.peje.org Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Sobrero, P. M. (2008). Social Learning Through Preece, J., & Maloney-Krichmar, D. (2005). On-
Virtual Teams and Communities. Journal of Ex- line communities; Design, theory and practice.
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A brief introduction. Communities of practice.
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Communities of practice: The organizational ence in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
frontier. Harvard Business Review, 130145.
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Smith, M. K. (2003-2009). Communities of Purposively Planned Community of Prac-

practice, the encyclopedia of informal education. tice: A face-to-face organizationally sponsored
Retrieved from www.infed.org/biblio/communi- community of practice with defined outcomes.
ties_of_practice.htm Snowball Sampling: A method of selecting
respondents in which the first level is selected by
the evaluator, but the sample at succeeding levels,
is nominated by the respondents themselves.
Tracer Studies: A methodology to assess
Knowledge Exchange Event: A phenomenon knowledge use and dissemination.
in which a set of purposively prepared informa- Virtual Community Of Practice: A purpo-
tion is communicated to a set of recipients. The sively planned or spontaneous network of people
event includes a message (the information itself), with similar interests who meet and interact pri-
a sender, a receiver, a strategy or channel for com- marily via the Internet.
municating (e.g. workshops, written products,
meetings), and a social context for processing
the information. ENDNOTES
Level 1 Respondents: People who receive the 1
The questions are stated generically here.
original information from knowledge exchange
In an actual interview, they are customized
events.
to the information being traced.
Naturally Occurring Community of Prac- 2
All the names are pseudonyms.
tice: Spontaneously formed networks of people 3
For assistance in designing and conduct-
around a domain of competence or interest.
ing a Tracer Study, see the RBA website at
RosenblumBrighamAssociates.com.
712
713
Chapter 42
Digital Museums in 3D
Virtual Environment
Kingkarn Sookhanaphibarn
Ruck Thawonmas
ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to present an overview of the field of digital museums and describes the current
framework of content management systems feasibly integrated in the museums in 3D virtual environment
for assisting visitors to deal with information overload and providing personalized recommendations,
content, and services to them. Digital museums in 3D virtual environment are an intriguing alternative
to let visitors experience them compared to thousands of existing digital museums that are similar to
digital archiving places published in the Internet. Exemplary characteristics of digital museums in Web
1.0, Web 2.0, and Second Life are also reviewed and discussed. Moreover, prior classification of visiting
styles essential to personalize the museum context and content is described in this chapter.
INTRODUCTION more about their new home country through art.

Another example worth mentioning is Smithson-
Nowadays, a hundred of emerging Web-based mu- ian Institution that is the worlds largest museum
seums has been proposed to improve preservation complex and research organization composed of
of and access to cultural heritage. Their examples 19 museums, 9 research centers, and the National
are Australian National Maritime Museum in Syd- Zoo. All museums under Smithsonian Institu-
ney that aims at dynamic and innovative managing tion found in http://www.si.edu/museums/ have
and exploring Australias maritime heritage via developed their digital museums where visitors
http://www.anmm.gov.au/, Art gallery of Ontario of National Portrait Gallery can search more than
that publishes the museum content on-line via 80,000 portrait records from the Catalog of Ameri-
http://www.ago.net/ to help new citizens learn can Portraits and new material is added regularly,
and automatically published to the Website after
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch042 being cataloged and validated.
Digital Museums in 3D Virtual Environment
Similar to other virtual organizations, the With advanced computer graphics and Internet
museum organizations can exploit the following technologies, the 3D virtual environments for digi-
on-line characteristics: tal museums have been found in diverse platforms
such as Second Life (SL) (Rothfarb & Doherty,
1. Operation with reliability and availability 2007; & Urban, Marty & Twidale, 2007; Carrillo,
2. Availability for anyone who can access 2007), 3D interactive virtual galleries in the Web
through the Internet site (Murg, Moritsch, Pensold & Derler, 2008;
3. Convenience for users who are willing to Amakawa, 2008; Cooper, 2006), 3D virtual reality
be collaborative (Caviedes, et al, 2008; Wilson & Weisbart, 2008),
4. Reduction of cost for housing and exhibiting and game engines such as Zoo (Schaller, 2009).
artefacts The 3D virtual environments fulfill the visitors
needs by enhancing the curatorial and architec-
Since Museums without Walls, one of distant tural design process, reducing exhibition planning
learning projects under the incorporation of costs and processes, improving the visualization
academic institutions was launched, the museum of exhibits, and enabling cross-departmental col-
context has become significant teaching tool, and laboration. With the rich multimedia spaces such
the museum itself has become a learning institute. as SL, learning capabilities and social networks
The mission of museums has been changing its for visitors in digital museums are enhanced.
major priority from care of collections to manage- Hence, SL will be explored and discussed in the
ment of Web-published content. Consequently, rest of this chapter, after the background section.
Content Management Systems (CMS) integrated
both concepts of user-generated content and
social media bursting with Web 2.0 is a key of BACKGROUND
achievement. The CMS can also engage with the
personalization issue to enable the museum con- This section begins with an introductory survey of
text more suitable to individual visitors ranging CMS within a scope of Web 1.0 that can achieve
from school users to senior people with varying the core mission of museums for collection record
preferences and knowledge backgrounds. management including acquiring, removing, and
For example, Bazley and Leftwich (2009) caring of collections. It has been integrated to
examined the use of on-line museum resource in services emerging in Web 2.0 to complete the es-
schools with a case study from the Museum of sential mission of museums by changing the way
London. They proposed the pedagogical integrated museums act and how they communicate with their
CMS through school-users that supports teachers visitors. Several researchers have proposed the
using digital assets and interactive in planning and way museums can provide visitors opportunities
instruction. Interestingly, some technical difficul- for the appreciation, enjoyment, and understand-
ties in the inaccessible material via the Internet ing of the collections and other museum holdings.
due to technology and security constraints, or Due to the rapid growth rate of users in 3D virtual
simply lack of awareness were transformed as the environments, SL is a recently attractive platform
supply chain problem. Therefore, some countries where hundreds of digital museums belonging
such as Australia and Canada funded the agencies to both individual and organizations have been
working with museum organizations to facilitate implemented.
the flow of content into classroom environments Prior to the CMS, let us explain an infrastruc-
as addressed by Peacock and Timpson (2009). ture of digital museums consisting of three major
714
systems. First, a Collection Information System and valuation information, rights information,
(CIS) is related to inventory control as well as and location as well as movement information.
catalog and accession of museum objects. Second, All records can be manipulated and queried by
a Digital Asset Management system (DAMS) gath- using a Web-based interface.
ers, arranges, and manipulates information about Unlike the collection management, the Web
analog and digital photographs of objects, books, CMS plays an important role to storing, con-
events, gallery installations, and staff. Third, a trolling, versioning, and publishing collection
storage system provides an interface to the other documentation such as news articles, events, and
two systems. Eventually, the CMS paradigm used exhibitions in the Web site. The content creation
widely in Web technologies was introduced for and edition are restricted to the authorized users
changing the museum systems from only collec- such as curators. New tendency in the CMS that
tion management to content delivery. However, will broaden the museums visitors, enable greater
the CMS for museums stands for Collection access to the collections, extend the visit and en-
Management System as found in some references, courage community involvement in the museum
which intentionally emphasizes functions related consists of three mechanisms as follows.
to the museum collection management. First, User-Generated Content (UGC) in the
There are many commercial CISs such as The context of museums aims to increase the percent-
Museum System (TMS) and Electronic Museum age of return visitors, and reduce the barriers to
(EMu), each of which aims to provide an efficient collaboration and knowledge discovery. UGC is
database management system for preserving data an integral part of the existing CMS open-sources
consistency and integrity, and an user friendly that facilitates visitors willing to publish their own
query interface to the collection databases. Re- content. For example, many digital museums were
cently, most DASM features such as ingesting; developed with Drupal CMS, which provides both
annotating, cataloguing, storing and retrieving of modules for the museum collection management
digital assets have been embedded in commercial and UGC. On the other hand, UGC mechanism
CISs such as TMS and Emu. Eight museums under can be implemented as the on-line maps in the
Smithsonian Institution implemented their Web museum context to trigger and expand visitors
content management system using the TMS are involvement with an exhibition and its content;
American Art Museum, Freer Gallery of Art, and for example, the visitor-created narratives of
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Hishhorn Museum the art collections at the Delaware Art Museum
and Sculpture Garden, National Air and Space persuade visitors to experience their collections
Museum, National Museum of African Art, Na- through the power of storytelling.
tional Portrait Gallery, National Postal Museum in The goal of UGC is to equalize participation
Washington, and Cooper-Hewitt National Design distribution as much as possible, for instance, wikis
Museum in New York. successfully increased the contribution portion
The collection management system is a system from 90:9:1 to 80:16:4 where 80% are lurkers,
that allows museums to manage data on their 16% contribute a little and 4% contribute the
collections and items they hold and to manage most. Not only wikis but also the other UGC ap-
and document collections. Primary records in the proaches such as blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, photo
collection management system are as follows: and video sharing, as well as tagging annotation
administrative information, transactional informa- offer visitors new opportunities to engage with
tion (such as accession, loan and de-accession), museum content processes through co-creation
descriptive information, information related to and interactive cultural experiences. Those UGC
significance/history, condition information, donor approaches are so-called social media.
715
Second, the social media, also known as social COMPARISONS OF 3D

networking approach, has been potentially en- VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
gaged in the museum context of which purpose is
to foster relationship within the museum commu- The use of 3D virtual environments has enor-
nity as successfully as wikis, Flickr, and Youtube, mous potential in museums, which allows a user
Blogger, and Myspace that incorporate Web 2.0. to interact with a 3D simulated environment of
Digital museums can merge those applications and either the physical world or an imaginary world.
services for emphasizing the community collabo- The first use was in 1994 when the past Dudley
ration and communication. Moreover, the venue of castle in England was displayed on a screen and
visitors experiences has shifted from exclusively navigated through from a superficial point of view
on site to inclusion of interactions taking place as the castle was in 1550 (Boland & Johnson,
elsewhere outside of the control of the museum 1997). This is the most common application of
as found in those social media sites as described museums in the virtual world. Then came the
in many researches (Alexander, Burnette, Dark, CAVE system and the virtual theatre that are bet-
Hart, Rossi & Minor, 2008; Baker, Hoover & ter than a screen as they can reproduce the actual
Sherman, 2009; Oates, 2008; Watrall & Siarto, atmosphere at given sites with a greater level of
2007; Caruth & Bernstein, 2007). realism such as the Dunhuang CAVEs (Weiden-
Third, personalization is a hot issue in many hausen & Stricker, 2000). However, the users in
applications that thousands of researches have the above environments only play a passive role
investigated. Also, digital museums face diverse as an observer. Alternatively, an environment
target groups, reaching from young to old, with where its users can have more active role is the
varying Internet usage levels, learning styles and Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE), that
preferences. The personalization feature is to serve has the social-community feature similar to that
these diverse needs efficiently so that the digital in the Web 2.0.
museums can maximize the visitors satisfactory MUVEs, sometimes called virtual worlds, pro-
as well as optimize the visiting total time. Three vide free interactions among the users. In MUVE,
projects are briefly explained herein. First, a Web- there are no strictly defined tasks, and its users, also
based personalized content of a museum includes called residents, have no pre-defined objectives.
two basic features: target group profiles and user Presently, major MUVEs include Second Life
customization (). Second, an adaptive museum gal- (SL), Active World, Blue Mars, Cobalt, Wonder
lery in SL is a prototype of how the virtual world world, Digital Spaces, and Modulla. Compared to
can be personalized to match the learning skill of the other virtual worlds, SL is the largest virtual
each individual visitor, ranging from the beginner world bursting with opportunities in areas such
to the professionals (Oberlander, Karakatsiotis & as collaborative learning, legal practice, and cor-
Isard, 2008). Third, an interactive mobile guide porate connections, and having the total number
is used in the physical museum space (Benelli, of residents more than nine millions as reported
Bianchi, Marti, Sennati & Not, 1999), for example, in its official website (August, 2009).
the visitors can search the information on artworks In addition, SL provides a wide spectrum of
they want to see and, then, the guide will show on-line activities, including arts, science, sports,
the way to reach them. and education. Within it, the residents can explore,
meet other residents, socialize, and participate in
many kinds of activities. Several organizations in
RL have opened their branches in SL that involve
716
various applications, for instance, education, re- that SL can support the following key learning
search, entertainment, business, and humanities features: interaction, collaboration, visualization,
because of the following reasons. First, SL plat- experience and reflection as examined by Luo
form has attracted incredibly the myriad number and Kemp (2008).
of communities and social networks with the same However, the following drawbacks of SL on
aim of the social media using in Web 2.0. Second, the education aspect exist:
SL also has a powerful 3D modeling tool for be-
ing used in combination with the Linden script 1. Technical problems of lag time, frequent
language, which allows its residents to create updating, and high-required hardware
the content according to their vivid imagination. specification.
Third, SL permits its users to retain copyright 2. Required experiences in SL navigation that
for any content they build. Besides the above prevent students from facing a steep learning
reasons, SL environment provides the following curve.
intriguing features. 3. Distractions in SL due to varying appeal-
ing non-academic activities such as avatar
1. Real-time communication enabling its resi- creation.
dents to communicate with each other using
instant messaging The aforementioned difficulties will be de-
2. Integrated authoring environment allow- creasing in the future as explained by Moores law
ing the residents to create and modify their that all digital electronic devices are improving at
objects exponential rates. Then, SL will be very familiar
3. Virtual land, ownership and rights manage- to everyone like websites. Distractions were not
ment giving its residents an opportunity to only reported in SL but also in other popular
own a land and define the rights of modifi- platforms. This trouble can be easily solved by
cation, copying and sale of the objects a teaching agreement in the virtual classroom.
4. Economy based on the currency exchange Digital museums in SL are the new frontier
system between Linden dollar (L$) used in in education and online learning, serving as the
SL and US dollar (US$) existed in RL cyberspace of digital humanities where people
from around the world can exchange and share
For educational purposes, SL is a new distance- knowledge and experiences in their common
learning platform encouraged by virtual classes interesting topics. Wieneke, Nzel, and Arnold
from at least 300 universities around the world (2007) proposed the framework of interweaving
(Patrick, 2008). Those universities exploit SL the real and the virtual museums. This framework
for teaching and learning, in general, and for can create a museum experience that extends
simulation-based training and experiment-based beyond the visit itself and also a means to iden-
testing, in particular (Chodos, Naeimi & Stroulia, tify interested visitors and foster their interest.
2009). Such universities includ University of Dela- Consequently, SL can exploit the framework of
ware, Florida Education University, Washington content management system (Sookhanaphibarn &
State University, North Calorina State University, Thawonmas, 2009a) in the SL environment, upon
Korea University, University of Kentucky, Stan- which the museum context can be established by
ford University, Princeton University, Harvard a third-party company or organization and then
Law School, and Royal Institute of Technology the context will be added and newly created by
Australia. A main reason for their use of SL is visitors similar to the UGC in Web technologies.
717
DIGITAL MUSEUMS IN SECOND LIFE he conducts now provides him with points and
virtual objects as rewards. Back home, Alex logs
Framework of Interweaving the in to Second Life and visits the virtual exhibition
Real and the Virtual Museums of the Museum of Science and Technology. Here
he collects his rewards: an astronaut suite that
Wieneke, Nzel, and Arnold (2007) designed an enables him to visit the zero-gravity chamber and
integral system between a real museum and its the first three parts of his own private satellite. A
presence in SL using a Web server. Visitors, to quick look at the scheduled virtual space flights
whom the museum staff gives a unique username shows him that there are three hours left before
with a default password before entering the real the next virtual rocket could take his satellite
museum, can be tracked by using RFID tags and into space. Alex decides to conduct some further
barcode with the network terminals as described quests in order to collect the missing parts for his
in various projects (Shiomi, Kanda, Ishiguro & satellite. One and a half hours later his satellite
Hagita, 2007). The role of the Web server is to is ready to be taken into virtual space and Alex
store all user profiles, their movement, and their gains the rank of a space ensign.
behavior in the real museum. The username and
password received from the real museum can be Framework of Content
used for logging in SL. Whenever the users have Management Systems
already logged in SL, they are automatically
logged in and accessible to all services on the Web Visitors motivation obviously supports that SL
server. Interaction log files of users who logged in museums must encourage visitors to return again
the virtual museum and visited the real museum and again by analyzing their preferences. Relevant
are also stored in the Web server. to the aforementioned personalization, are two
To increase the number of return visitors, important databases containing museum content
a game-inspired strategy can be adopted in SL and user profiles. Moreover, these databases need
for teenager and middle-aged users. The game- to be dynamic whose mechanism is described
inspired strategy consists of quests, rewards, and later. Sookhanaphibarn and Thawonmas (2009a)
levels. Quests resemble the use in a role-playing proposed CMS that integrates two sub-systems
game where the user must find a question himself/ and the following six modules:
herself before he/she can answer. Rewards are
given to the users for providing an incentive to Visiting Sub-System
visit the virtual environment. Levels, which are
changed either by solving quests or by publishing 1. Guide Avatar (GA) who gives a visitor his/her
content, are used as a vehicle to motivate users personalized information of each artefact as
to create mutual trust between the museum and addressed in Androutsopoulos, et al. (2008)
the users. For example, Wieneke et al. (2007) had by creating a new text for each visitor at each
the following scenario for users between 18 and time when he/she views an object and never
35 years of age. repeating information which it has already
Alex is visiting the Museum of Science expressed.
and Technology for the first time. In the Space 2. For example, if a visitor moves from one
exhibition Alex gets a set of printed cards that artefact to another artefact, both of which
challenge him with different quests in the context belong in the classical period; the guide
of space-flight. Alex engages with the real world avatar will not repeat the description on
exhibition in order to solve the quests. Every quest classical period at the latter location.
718
3. Personal Route Generation (PRG) module According to the participation inequality rule,
for a museum tour that assists visitors in mak- the way users contribute in the virtual museum
ing a decision where they should stopover leads to separation of all six modules into two
and how long they should take. Because sub-systems, called visiting and participation
visitors in the virtual museums can teleport sub-systems. Figure 1 shows three modules, GA,
to any place with a constantly short time, the PRG, and CRM residing in the visiting sub-system
PRG module for a museum tour is a novel and two modules, MCA and UPA supporting the
navigator concept. participation sub-system. The other module, VSE,
4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is used for assessing visitor satisfaction based
module that plays a key role to encourage on visitor types defined by the Web Analytics
visitors to re-visit the museum. The CRM Association (Web Analytics Association, 2009).
module sends newsletters to the target cus- The visiting sub-system provides a personaliza-
tomers based on their preferences. tion museum route and exhibits description for
5. Visitor Satisfactory Evaluation (VSE) mod- a new coming visitor, called a first-time visitor.
ule that enables verifying of the visitor profile This sub-system aims to maximize the visitors
as well as adjusting of the cost function in satisfactory and optimize their visit time for
the CRM module. both first-time visiting users and return users. To
increase the portion of return users, the visiting
Participating Sub-System sub-system has a specific module, CRM, to keep
track of each individual visitor who has been in
6. Museum Content Adjustment (MCA) mod- the museum and send them newsletters of new
ule that enables adjusting of the databases coming events as well as exhibits based on their
of the museum by analyzing the comment personal profiles.
log. The GA and PRG modules select and filter the
7. User Profile Adjustment (UPA) module that museum content matching the visitor preferences.
enables adjusting of the databases of the user To analyze the visitor preferences, patterns of
profiles by analyzing the comment log. visitor movements in the general information hall
are detected and interpreted. Input data into GA
and PRG are museum content such as the types
At the main entrance, a general information hall, of collections, the room locations, etc. Then, the
which displays masterpieces of each exhibition information on visitor behaviors after they have
hall, is placed to investigate the visitors behav- received the personal route and guide whether or
iors from their movements. An exhibition hall is not they follow the provided service strictly will
defined as an art gallery or a hall displaying a col- be fed to the VSE module for adjusting the data-
lection of artefacts in the same era. For example, base of registered user profile. In case of the
a museum of Japanese history can be divided into personalization system for the registered users,
the following halls based on Japanese era: (A) the CRM module distributes newsletters to those
Post-Occupation Japan 1952-1990, (B) Occupied who are the target visitors by analyzing the mu-
Japan, (C) Second Sino-Japanese war and World seum content database and the registered user
War II, (D) Militarism in Taish and Shwa eras, profile. The information on visitor responses after
(E) Anglo-Japanese Alliance, (F) Wars with China they have received the newsletters whether or not
and Russian in Meiji Restoration, (G) Edo period, they attend the events or the new exhibitions will
(H) Azuchi-Momoyama period, (I) Muromachi be fed to the VSE module for adjusting the data-
period, and (J) Kamakura period. base of registered user profile.
719
Figure 1. Diagram of content management system
The aim of the second sub-system is to adjust The participation sub-system contains two
the museum content and user profiles based on integrated modules related to both databases: the
user comments. The user comments are collected museum content and the registered user profiles.
from any social communities such as cafes, night The modules are similar to those of many previ-
clubs, and discussion rooms. The participation ous researches on the visualization and discovery
supporting environment must be well-designed for of user comments based on Web log (blog). Rel-
compelling users to join the museum activities. An evant to the participation sub-system implemen-
example of a museum cafe is shown in Figure 2. tation are recommender techniques as discussed
Figure 2. Cafe in the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum (LVM)
720
in (Herlocker et al, 2004) and techniques for vi- is greater than the time considered necessary
sualization of discussions from user comments in but this is a theoretical case. The closer it is
(Tsuda and R. Thawonmas, 2005). to 1, the greater the ability of the element to
The Museum Content Adaptation (MCA) hold the visitors attention will be.
module discovers which objects in the museum 3. Returning index: It measures the perfor-
content should be added, adjusted, or removed. mance of CRM module. It is calculated by the
Three input data consist of the comment log, number of visitors repeating the museum by
registered user profile and museum content. An the number of first-time visitors. The index
output can be a list of added, adjusted, and removed varies from 0 to 1, and the closer it is to 1
content of the SL museum. Similar to MCA, the greater is the power of the participating
the User Profile Adaptation (UPA) module can module.
update the knowledge background of registered
users. Two inputs are fed into the UPA module Exemplars in Second Life
and an output is a list of updated information for
the corresponding users. The challenges for the traditional museum model
of working with virtual environments are presented
Evaluation Indexes in SL. Museums in SL vary tremendously in terms
of size and scale, ranging from single installation
The following indexes are an evaluation tool to extended complexes where exhibits are arranged
for the framework performance mentioned in over an entire island. Unlike RL, museums in
(Sookhanaphibarn & Thawonmas, 2009b) and SL can display artefacts and maximize vertical
are used as an indicator of the first time visitors space as well as horizontal. It is possible to show
satisfactory. artefacts in the open air or even have them float in
mid-air without any worry on theft or deterioration
1. Attraction index: It indicates the perfor- over time. For example, Spoland, associated with
mance of PRG module. Attraction index of The Exploratorium - the museum of science, art
a personal route is calculated by the number and human perception in San Francisco, exhibits
of exhibits that the visitor stops over by spacecrafts in open air as shown in Figure 3 (a)
the total number of exhibits in the route. and the big bang simulation expanding universe as
The indicator provides an initial idea of the shown in Figure 3 (b). Figures 3 (c) and 3 (d) show
power of attraction or attention exerted by the traditional costumes on the wall in Ritsumeikan
proposed framework. The index varies from university Digital Archive Pavilion (RDAP) and
0 to 1, and the closer it is to 1 the greater is the largest museum in SL named Paris 1900,
the power of the visiting module. respectively.
2. Holding power index: It indicates the Another challenge is that of identifying and
performance of GA and measures the aver- targeting specific visitors in SL because the nature
age time the visitor spends in front of an of interacting with individuals in SL, combined
information or communication element such with the typical SL citizen reluctance to give out
as a video, a sound and a slide while he or information about their RL identities, makes it
she is assisted by GA. The holding power very difficult for museum professionals to admin-
index is calculated by dividing the average ister surveys or conduct needs assessments in SL.
spent time of the route by the expectation Beyond counting the number of visitors who come
time of the route. The index ranges from 0 through the door and encouraging visitors to leave
to 1. It may be greater than 1 if the average comments in a guest book, there is little at this
721
Figure 3. Varying characteristics of digital museums in SL
point that museum professionals can do to learn in four styles as proposed by Veron and Levas-
more about their visitors in SL. It results from seur (1983). These four visiting styles based
human behaviors following a participation in- on an animals behavior metaphor are ant, fish,
equality rule (Neilson, 2006). grasshopper, and butterfly styles. The ant visitors
As researched in the Web and MMORPG spend quite a long time to observe all exhibits and
(Web Analytics Association, 2009; Yee, 2006), walk close to exhibits, but avoid empty spaces
analyzing user types has been required in SL. as shown in Figure 4 (a). The fish visitors prefer
EPN (Nood and Attema, 2006) discovers that to move to and stop over at empty spaces, but
the motivation to participate in SL is diverse and avoid areas near exhibits as shown in Figure 4
shown here in descending order as follows: (1) fun (b). The grasshopper visitors spend a long time
(2) doing things that cannot do in RL (3) making to see selected exhibits, but ignore the rest of
friend (4) learning and (5) part-time. Residents exhibits as shown in Figure 4 (c). The butterfly
motivation obviously supports that SL museums visitors observe almost all exhibits, but spend
must encourage visitors to return again and again varied times to observe each exhibit as shown in
by analyzing visitors in their personal styles just Figure 4 (d). Identifying their visiting styles can
like many museums trying to do personalization take advantage of recommender systems in virtual
guidance in RL. Classification and identification museums as mentioned in (Bianchi & Zancanaro,
of visitors activities in SL museums by analyzing 1999; Gabrielli, et al., 1999; Zancanaro, et al.,
log files of their movements are practical and are 2007; Hatala & Wakkary, 2005).
described later. Visitors behaviors in artistic environments
have received attention since Veron and Levasseur
Analysis and Classification (1983) conducted their researches based on eth-
of Visitors Behaviors nographic studies in 1983. Their findings about
four visiting styles have been cited in a mobile
Visitors in a museum or an art gallery have their museum guide (Bianchi & Zancanaro, 1999;
stereotypical movement, which is categorized Gabrielli, et al., 1999; Zancanaro, et al., 2007), a
722
Figure 4. Four visitor styles
nomadic information system (Oppermann & and ignores the rest of them as shown in
Specht, 2000), a visualization tool (Chittaro & Figure 5 (c).
Ieronutti, 2004), a museum audiovisual narration 4. Butterfly: The areas near some exhibits are
(Sparacino, 2002). Bianchi et al. (1999), Gabri- colored with highly variable shades of gray
elli et al. (1999), Zancanaro et al. (2007), and due to the fact that this visitor spends a vari-
Hatala et al. (2005) analyzed and developed a able time to observe different exhibits and
museum guide system via Personal Digital As- ignores the rest of them as shown in Figure
sistants (PDA) technologies. Oppermann and 5 (c).
Specht (2002) proposed a prototype of a context
sensitive nomadic information system, of which The aforementioned researches (Veron &
the information can be adapted to users knowledge Levasseur, 1983; gabrielli, et al., 1999; Chittaro
and preferences. & Ieronutti, 2004) described these four visiting
Chittaro and Ieronutti (2004) described four styles are beneficial to a physical environment
visiting styles based on results from their visual- design in museums as the following described.
ization tool, where black highlights areas more
traveled, white identifies areas less traveled 1. Ant: They need to be guided by a powerful
and different shades of gray are used to identify rationale and this is the reason why they
intermediate of the previous two situations as usually follow the path proposed by the
shown below. museum curator.
2. Fish: They prefer a holistic observation area,
1. Ant: The center of most space on the map such as the center of the room.
is colored in black, and there are no large 3. Grasshopper: They move directly to their
differences in the time different exhibits selective exhibits.
have been seen as shown in Figure 5 (a). 4. Butterfly: They refuse to follow the given
2. Fish: The areas near all exhibits on the map path designed by other people and prefer
are colored in black as shown in Figure 5 their own route.
(b).
3. Grasshopper: The areas near some exhibits Note that Figure 5 shows the visualization of
are colored with highly variable shades of a visitor in an art gallery, where all exhibits are
gray due to the fact that this visitor spends placed on the wall, based on synthetic data with
a variable time to observe different exhibits 12 exhibits hanging three sides of the room cor-
723
Figure 5. Visualization of synthetic visitor styles

2008), low cost systems based on cloud comput-
ing and open source softwares (Davidow, 2009;
Moad, Bachta & Stein, 2009; Walk, 2009), and
multimedia retrieval systems (Marlow, Clough,
Ireson, Recuero, Artiles & Debole, 2008). These
three main research topics have been a growing
trend presented and published in Museums and the
Web 2008-2009 although they might not be vital
components of digital museums. By contrast, the
incorporation of them can be particularly valuable
for cultural heritage collections as a result of (1)
photos becoming valuable in providing historic
records of specific places, (2) a dramatically in-
creasing growth of computing power and storage
of collections, and (3) a meaningful search tool
of still images, sounds, and videos.
For example, GIS and GPS can be adopted
responding to the top, right, and bottom sides of in an ordinary CIS, UGC, and personalization
the window. issues. For the CIS, public users of the system
Classification of the aforementioned visiting could search the collection based on an address,
styles plays a key role in the visiting sub-system a neighborhood, keywords, and dates. However,
of CMS. Beginning with the first-time visitor, the all searches using an address must use a reference
PRG and GA modules can make the first good to the map, by which users find difficultly the
impression for the museum tour in SL and RL collections by using city and street names prob-
where the sensor script and RFID technology are ably different between the past and the present.
implemented, respectively. In case of the first-time As adopted in UGC, users, who are willing to
visitors, the museum has none of their profiles so show their pictures and tell their stories related
their movement in the general information hall is to a particular place, can easily use their mobiles
monitored and recorded. Conventional clustering with GPS to upload them in the system. Lastly,
methods such as the nearest neighboring, fuzzy GIS and GPS can be employed in the framework
c-mean and self-organizing mapping can be ap- of interweaving the real and virtual museums and,
plied in this issue. Obviously, the average and then, applied to the framework of CMS for the
variance of visit times stopping over each ex- navigator and recommender systems.
hibit are different between ant, fish, grasshopper, As mentioned in the previous section, edutain-
and butterfly visitors. ment (Di Blas, Hazan & Paolini, 2003; Di Blas,
Gobbo & Paolini, 2005; Di Blas & Poggi, 2006;
Prasolova-Frland, Sourin & Sourina, 2005),
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS social media and recommender systems have
been emphasized as the future of virtual muse-
There are other research fields related to virtual ums. Delivering museum context and re-using
museums such as applications of Geographic In- content for school users have been investigated
formation Systems (GIS) and Global Position Sys- and examined. How to smoothly integrate the
tem (GPS) (Heckert, 2009; Tarasoff, Hutcheson social media in the virtual universities and schools
& Rhin, 2009; Liberge & Gerlings, 2008; Chan,
724
equipped with the smart recommender systems more items than ant visitors. Fish visitors are
is an intriguing topic. enlightened to spend much time in the middle
Recommendation systems have three types of the room.
of classification, i.e., user-based, item-based and Second, the amount of information varies from
hybrid of the former two (Adomavicius & Tu- ant visitors who need the completed information to
zhilin, 2005). There are a thousand of researches fish visitors who prefer the summary or overview
in commercial products and e-commerce aiming of information. ButteHYPERLINK visitorsy
at an intelligent website as a good seller who themselves but almost all of them are shortened
can recommend a good product best matched to comparing with those of ant visitors. Grasshopper
a particular customer. The digital museum can visitors need a lot of information in the selected
establish a recommender system in the framework items and ignore the rest.
of CMS in order to provide an impressed museum Considering personalization, a number of
tour in the virtual world. factors must be focused related to a visitors
context at a present time. First, a type of items
matches a visitors interest that the collaborative
CONCLUSION and content-based system can be applied. Second,
the sequence of next items is possibly constructed
This chapter provides a chronicle background of by using the statistics methodologies such as
the digital museums and an inspiration of mov- Gaussian-mixture models as addressed in Bohnert
ing to 3D virtual worlds. The main concept of & Zukerman (2009). Third, the expected time-
this chapter about digital museums is an integral spent at each particular item can be calculated.
CMS with personalization. The first use of com- Last, a constraint of continuity and coherence
puter utilization and information technology in must take into account such as spatial layout and
museums aimed at the collection management information dependencies between items.
systems focusing on the care of collections. After After identifying the visitors type and using the
connecting the museum system to the Internet, collaborative system, the personal recommenda-
the CMS was integrated a vital component of tion is promptly sent via the head-mounted display
the digital museum for publishing interesting to an individual visitor. The head-mounted display
museum content. Following the participation rule, was also implemented in the physical museums as
UGC and social media must be a good strategy described in Sparacino (2002). In the virtual world,
for persuading visitors to the digital museums. such equipment is a programming technique with
Besides, personalization can play a key role for no additional cost and simply implementation.
increasing the number of return visitors. Without loss of generality, SL, which is pres-
The visitors behaviors in the museums and art ently the most popular virtual world, was chosen
galleries are classified into four styles: ant, fish, as a platform of our virtual museums. The CMS
grasshopper, and butterfly. The characteristics of with personalization add-on features in the virtual
four visiting styles are described in both words museums can make an achievement of museums
and figures in the chapter. The number of items mission to be a learning institution. A guidance
and the amount of information presented to the of personalization in the digital museums by
visitor depend on the visiting style. combining visiting and participating sub-systems
First, the number of items is obviously distin- was described for the future implementation. Real
guished among four visiting styles. Ant visitors museums are not replaced by the digital museums
solely skip an item whereas grasshopper visitors as the chapter indicated how to closely connect
select only a few items. Butterfly visitors skip
725
both museums for maximizing visitors benefits Bohnert, F., & Zukerman, I. (2009). Non-Intrusive
and promoting both of them. Personalisation of the Museum Experience. In
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference
on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personaliza-
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Chapter 43
Weaving the Social Fabrics:
Recognizing Social Signals to
Support Awareness and Group
Interaction in Online Games
Tiffany Y. Tang
Konkuk University, South Korea
Pinata Winoto
Konkuk University, South Korea
ABSTRACT
Users in rich social media environments such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) ac-
complish various kinds of tasks through maintaining a constant high degree of awareness and social
awareness. Generally, being aware of each others presence provides a clue for ones own action in a
situated environment. It guides ones own actions accordingly; and serves as virtual traces to coordi-
nate and collaborate with partners. The ability to appropriately incorporate social spaces in the design
of MMOGs socially-oriented game elements is critical. In other words, do MMOGs games and their
designs facilitate social interactions from players perspective? In order to shed light on this issue, we
conducted a series of usability studies through the typical ethnographic evaluation on the SIMs Online
(TSO) and two other MMOGs. Our findings are mixed and they revealed that while players admitted
tools and group-oriented tasks exist in the game, their usability are inadequately satisfactory; that is they
are not well utilized by the players, and in some cases, there are too many which makes them difficult
to decide which one(s) to notice. In addition, some of these tools are not readily accessible to players
to unfold some critical information before/during their interactions with others. Similar findings were
obtained from our study on a number of other MMOGs.
This chapter describes our evaluation which shed light on the impact of appropriate technology and its
design elements in promoting and supporting social awareness and seamless group interactions.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch043
Weaving the Social Fabrics
INTRODUCTION & Moore, 2004; Gutwin & Greenberg, 1998a, b;

Gutwin et al., 2004; Liechti, 2000).
One of the most foremost goals of the emergent Social awareness encompasses all the basic
popular Massively Multiplayer Online Games awareness elements, but is set in a social context
(MMOGs) is a rich social platform for players where all users involved in a group and/or com-
to interact and socialize (Ducheneaut & Moore, munity in a shared environment. It is known that
2004; Ducheneaut et al., 2006; Tang et al., 2008), awareness has been regarded as one of the most
as Will Wright, creator of the blockbuster game discriminating factors contributing to the success
The SIMS put it In some sense, what were re- of the social environments. Generally, being aware
ally building with these games are communities. of each others presence (including the workspace
Thats our primary thing (Wright, 2003). This environment, their actions, and the manipulating
social platform is regarded as a virtual third-place artifacts) provide a clue for a users own action in
for millions of people to socialize at anytime and the situated environment, guide their own actions
anywhere. As originally coined by Oldenburg, accordingly (Gutwin & Greenberg, 1998a; Nova,
these third places (in addition to work and home) 2002) and serve as virtual traces to coordinate and
should provide a great variety of public places corporate with their partners.
that host the regular, voluntary, informal and hap- Careful incorporation of awareness tools
pily anticipated gatherings of individual s beyond in these online spaces thus becomes more and
the realms of home and work (Oldenburg, 1989, more imperative to foster both collaboration and
p.16). In other words, these third places construct competition. As such, in social spaces such as
a contemporary rich platform for people to be MMOGs, the fundamental issue is whether or
together and interact freely (Rao, 2008). not players can exploit the various elements in
As such, in the rich social media places such the social space to make the most out to engage
as MMOGs, in order to accomplish various kinds in seamless collaboration and social interaction,
of tasks, players need to constantly maintain a which motivates our study documented here. Spe-
high degree of awareness and social awareness cifically, we conducted a series of usability studies
(Prasolova-Forland et al., 2007). The former, first through the typical ethnographic evaluation on
defined in (Dourish & Bellotti, 1992), outlines the SIMs Online (TSO) and two other MMOGs,
awareness in a broader way; that is, it is the knowl- to probe into the issue of whether or not players
edge of the presence of other people, including have make the most out of these tools to facilitate
their interactions and other activities. Generally, the in-group and inter-personal interactions. We
being aware of each others presence (including are also interested in comparing different players
the workspace environment, their actions, and the point of views on these awareness tools and their
manipulating artifacts) provides a clue for a users patterns of interaction.
own action in the situated environment, guides In MMOGs, in order to construct an effective
their own actions accordingly (Galston, 2000) social third places, various innovative socially
and serves as virtual traces to coordinate and col- intelligent game elements have been implemented,
laborate with partners. In the literature, a number ranging from in-game chatting tools to encourage
of writers are devoted to study awareness, espe- players textual communications, directorial maps
cially in a socially intelligent environment where to prevent players from lost in the cyber-game-
users collaborate and socialize, including how to world and let them be aware of the environments,
make various awareness tools in a wide variety special places designed specifically for players to
of applications (Cadiz et al., 2002; Ducheneaut regain their energies (such as the cantinas in SWG
where players can have a rest, and find others to
732
cure themselves (Ducheneaut et al., 2007)), to elements should be readily accessible, easy to
group-oriented tasks, etc. interpret, and rich in conveying knowledge and
Although there are numerous studies inves- reduce players cognitive information overload
tigating the various socialization and interaction (Ang et al., 2000). Hence, it is especially true
patterns in games, very few further focus on in real-time multi-user virtual environment like
whether these socially intelligent game elements MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Game),
have been fully understood and utilized by players where players rely heavily on the information
(a recent one does cover this topic (Tang et al. 2008; to explore, and there might be overcrowded in-
Ducheneaut & Moore, 2004), which motivates formation available on the screen. For instance,
our study here. In particular, we are interested imagine a group of players collaboratively engage
in players perception of utilizing these elements in a fighting mission at a remote island, valuable
to socialize. In other words, being aware of the information related to it include individual play-
existence and functions of these socially intelligent ers skills, energies left, location and identify of
game elements is very important. the approaching enemies etc. Hence, when the
information becomes overloaded, players have to
Motivation of Our Work quickly identify those valuable or in some cases,
they even need to choose from among the vari-
In a Massively Multiplayer Online Game ous awareness sources, in order to gather these
(MMOG), being aware of each users status (on- information and make a quick assessment on the
line, offline, or away), position, degree or level environment and situations. One extreme is that
of participation (such as skill, role in the game, the information might be too coarse, thus, cannot
etc) can facilitate player in-game decision mak- be used instantly to assist players. Take another
ing ranging from planning their own activities, example, some players are only interested in earn-
coordinating with other players, to socializing ing more virtual cash and increase their skills to
with others to improve their in-game social sta- get upgraded, therefore they will avoid interacting
tus. A variety of awareness tools are designed with others as much as possible: dont talk unless
to allow players to formulate general as well as it is really necessary.
specific information about their group-mates, or Hence, even if there are rich tools or other
even counterparts in an attempt to execute their elements in the game which encourage players
actions accordingly. For instance, maps can help interaction, the utility of these elements still
players know where they and others are; group- remains to be surprisingly low. Furthermore, in
oriented tasks such as fighting in a team with a the game blogs or discussion forums, as players
monster can help players upgrade their skills and reports during the after-game interviews, they
increase their social status in the community etc. are pretty much aware that some tasks do require
Generally, awareness and social awareness in par- them cooperating either via talking or forming
ticular are studied mostly in the human computer a team and only under these strict circumstances
interaction community. Galson (2000) summarize will they consider collaboration. These situations
the workspace awareness elements and pointed can greatly affect players perceptions of the
out that no matter where awareness elements are environments, and therefore greatly reduce the
implemented, they can facilitate players op- attractiveness of these virtual third places as a
portunities interactions; therefore can facilitate socially intelligent platform.
players to formulate their next move. Our previous study looked into LastWorld on
Naturally, in order to ensure the game with high this issue, and found out that while players are
awareness-related usability, awareness support generally happy with the awareness tool, they are
733
less impressed with the group-oriented tools which that the majority of visitors have clear purposes
largely focus on fighting (Tang et al., 2008). In this to socialize in the cantinas, which is in contrast
chapter, we intend to extend our understanding on to the pure social interactions that go beyond the
studying different games including strategy game contexts of purpose, duty or role (Simmel, 1971);
The Sims Online (TSO) and Mabinogi which are some of their encounters are mostly characterized
also attractive to female players. by short instrumental interactions (Ducheneaut
Before we proceed to present our findings, et al. 2007, p.159); others are more socially stable.
a discussion on related work is necessary and To summarize, (Ducheneaut & Moore 2004, 2005;
hence will be presented in the next sections.We Ducheneaut et al. 2006, 2007) examine a variety of
will show how MMOGs are great potential to social activities players carried out during game-
act as a social-sphere. Then in section three we playing to, in some degree, investigate the design
present a brief introduction to TSO, including how rationale that MMOGs should encourage and
it intends to support social awareness. We then support social interactions. Nova (2002) reviews
report the ethnographic study results on TSO, as the awareness tools in a video game, Quake, to
well as pointing out some design implications. investigate how these tools can support team-play
In section five, we will point out our evaluations and team collaboration. However, the study did
with two other MMOGs: Mabinogi and JY On- not reveal players perceptions on these tools,
line. We conclude this chapter by pointing out which is one of the major differences between
our future work. their study and ours.
In general, existing research have been focus-
ing on the patterns of players social interactions
MMORPGS AS A SOCIAL-SPHERE in MMOGs; we are, on the other hand, interested
in how sufficient existing awareness tools and
MMORPGs are designed to encourage players to in-game tasks have been designed to foster social
socialize through a wide variety of channels, from interactions among players, and whether or not
combating, gesturing, chatting, doing business players tend to make the most out of these tools to
etc; a collected place where we called a social- participate in the social interactions. In our study,
sphere. Although the game and other genres of we will perform in-game ethnographic studies as
MMOGs have taken the game-playing world well as interviews similar to those in (Ducheneaut
by storm, Ducheneaut et al. (2007) pointed out & Moore 2004, 2005; Ducheneaut et al. 2006,
that there is still a lack of a sociological study in 2007; Tang et al., 2008).
the research community. Fortunately, recently,
there are some studies attempting to examine
the interactions and their patterns in MMOGs. THE SIMS ONLINE (TSO) AND
Among them, one of the most notable studies HOW IT INTENDS TO SUPPORT
was conducted by Ducheneaut & Moore (2004), SOCIAL AWARENESS
where the researches immersed themselves in
Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), one of the most TSO: Some Background
popular MMORPGs to investigate the interac-
tion patterns to support CSCW. Ducheneaut and The Sims Online (TSO), one of the most popular
Moore (2004) and most recently Ducheneaut et MMOGs, was launched in 2002. Many reviewers
al. (2007) further investigate the degree of social described TSO as the worlds largest chat room
activities as supported and exhibited in the third instead of a MMOG since TSO emphasized the
places of SWG. Their studies generally revealed communication and interactions between players
734
instead of deploying in-game surviving strate- Social Interactions and Awareness In

gies that is different from many other MMOGs. TSO
In TSO players need to create a Sim and play as
themselves on their alternate Sim persona, explore Social Interactions in TSO
the neighborhoods, make friends, host events or
run a business (as shown in Figure 1 left). Players TSO provides a number of interaction patterns
can interact with other players by simply clicking and communication channels to encourage and
on other Sims to interact with them or clicking facilitate players to socialize with other game
on different items to fulfill their Sims needs, like players. We divide the interactions into two types,
hunger and hygiene and social need. TSO provides one-to-one interactions and group interactions.
a universal control panel (Figure 2) to give players Players can chat privately through the Sim pages
some shortcuts to view their buddies, email inbox, (Figure 2 left), bookmark list on UCP and mail
etc. It also gives players information about their box; or through the over 20 interacting options
Sims needs. The universal control panel (UCP) as shown in Figure 2 (right). Examples of the
is one of a handful tools in the game to encourage interactions include having romance with others
socialization in game (Figure 1 right). which is group-oriented in nature. That is, this
action requires the player to find another partner.
Interestingly, from here, we can immediately real-
Figure 1. (left) One moment in the game; (right) Universal control panel
Figure 2. (left) Sim page; (right) The interaction pie menu
735
ize designers efforts in incorporating these rich People Awareness

interaction ways to encourage players socialize.
To further encourage group interactions, TSO To support people awareness, one of the easiest
categorize ten properties, each of which is dif- way is to click on the name of the player in the
ferent in nature to facilitate different interactions Bookmark (Figure 4 left), to obtain the players
in each property (Figure 3 right). For instance, in information such as state, position, skills, occupa-
disco, players can dance in pairs, or in groups. To tion and friendship web. All the information of
promote awareness, both property owners and that player will be shown clearly on the Sim page.
visitors can leave messages on the sign board In property view, photos of players who are in the
outside the property, which, providing ways of property are shown in the Visitor List (Figure 4
both feed-back and feed-through to enhance the right). When new players go into the property, an
groupware (Figure 3 left). In addition, players can audible awareness indicator will be played and a
also work together to achieve some goals. message will be shown to notify players in the
public chatting box.
Social Awareness in TSO
Location Awareness
In this chapter, we will focus on two types of aware-
ness, people awareness and location awareness. To locate a player, pet, NPC (Non-Player Charac-
ter) in TSO, a player can open a function on the
Figure 3. (left) Sign box in property view; (right). Property category system
Figure 4. (left) Buddy list; (right) Visitor list
736
Sim page of each player called Where Am I, and Firstly, we created six characters in two cit-
the system will pop up a property page (Figure 5 ies, and in order to be blended in the community,
left) showing the active players in it. Also, in the each of the characters had played over 25 hours
property view, players can simply right click the a week for one month and made over 20 friends
photo of other players in the visitor list to locate in the city. Also, in order to study the nature of
them. Furthermore, players can search and locate the jobs to encourage group interactions, all of
players by the search engine provided by TSO our characters have worked for all the jobs in the
inside the city view. In TSO, players always need game and make comparisons accordingly. One of
to find a property to socialize with other players us even bought a lot and built up a house in the
in the property filer (Figure 5 right) by simply city. Every seven days, we changed our property
clicking on the propertys category they want to category to study the differences of interaction
visit. Then, the system will indicate the locations patterns in each category. We also went to other
of each popular property in the city, which helps players properties to study the awareness and
users to locate the properties efficiently. interaction patterns in the game. In this project, we
also set up a questionnaire to study the awareness
and the interaction patterns in TSO.
STUDY ONE: THE SOCIAL INTER- Figure 6 captures a moment of our in-game
ACTIONS AND AWARENESS IN TSO interview where players were invited to a skill
house we created.
Study Methodology The study methodology adopted here is simi-
lar to those in (Ducheneaut & Moore 2004, 2005;
Study Protocol Ducheneaut et al. 2006, 2007; Tang et al., 2008)
which share the same goal as ours in studying the
To understand the nature of the virtual awareness usability of game, though, our focus is on the
tools and the interaction patterns in TSO, we usability regarding the design of those social tools
adopted the ethnographic study and conducted in TSO to allow and encourage players to social-
in-game interviews with other players (these ize in the game world.
are the commonly adopted study methodologies
in this area (Ducheneaut & Moore 2004, 2005; Participants
Ducheneaut et al. 2006, 2007; Tang et al., 2008),
which proceeded as follows. We interviewed 20 players in the game. In total,
we collected 26 questionnaires from 26 players;
Figure 5. (left) Property page; (right) Property filer
737
Figure 6. A moment of our in-game interviews

(96%). In the city view of TSO, the system notifies
players that their friends online only by changing
the color of their friends name in the bookmark
list as shown in (Figure 4 left). Therefore, in city
view, players aware their friends are online only
by keeping an eye on the bookmark list which is
not usually opened in the game.
Issue Two: Is It Difficult to Obtain the

Information on a Player?
Nearly all expert and moderate players agreed that

it was easy for them to get all the information of
among them, 16 of them self-identified themselves other players by simply clicking on the names on
as core players who have been playing TSO for their bookmark to open the SIM pages (Figure 8
more than one year, 5 as casual players with ex- left). However, new players have difficulty using
periences in TSO for less than one year and the the right tool to obtain the information on other
rest as new players who have played the game for players, due to their unfamiliarity with the game.
less than a month. We believe that in terms of this issue, the game
has made the most efficient way to help players
Supporting Awareness? obtain the information.
People Awareness: Are In Property View Issue One

You Aware of Me?
Are You Aware That Other Player Had Logged
We examined how effectively and efficiently the Into Your Property?
game has provided people awareness both in All players (100%) agreed that the game has pro-
the city (Figure 7 left) and property view (Figure vided sufficient ways to help players be aware of
7 right). In City View Issue one. Is it easy to be it, among them both visual and audible indicators.
aware that your friend is online? Surprisingly, al- Besides, players can easily check out the informa-
most all players provided us with negative answer
Figure 7. (left) City view of TSO; (right) Property view of TSO
738
Figure 8. (left) Information of a player; (right) Visitor list in property view
tion by simply looking at the visitor list (Figure clicking on the name on the photos of visitor list.
8 right) in the Universal Control Panel. They could also get the name of other players by
moving their cursor on other players characters
Issue Two: Are You Aware That Your Friend is (Figure 9 right).
Online in Another Property Other Than Yours?
When asked about whether or not players an easily Location Awareness: Where are you?
know that their friends are in another property,
almost all players answered no (96%). In TSO, Since TSO is a large virtual space, in order to
players have to keep an eye on the bookmark prevent players from lost in the cyber-game,
list (Figure 9 left) if their friends are not in their some tools were designed to facilitate information
properties. feed on location awareness.
Issue Three: Is It Difficult to get the Issue One: Is It Difficult to Locate a Property?
Information of a Player? All interviewees (100%) have no difficulty to
26(100%) said no. All players said it was easy locate a property. They can easily search the
for them to get the information of other players property they want to go by the propertys name
via Sim page in property view. Even new players or part of its name. Then the search engine will
said that it was easy for them to access the Sim locate the property in the city view. Also, TSO
page to get the information of other players by provides players a property category system (Fig-
Figure 9. (left) Access bookmark list in city view; (right) Name of a player
739
Figure 10. (left) Property category system; (right) The Where am I function
ure 10 left) which helps players to select which Issue Three: Is It Difficult to Locate a Player
type of property they wanted to go. Choices will in Property View?
be provided for players to choose. Therefore, all 23 out of 26 (88%) players interviewed said no. All
players agreed that locate a property in TSO is expert and moderate players answered no while
not a difficult task. 3 of the new players (60%) answered yes. Some
of the expert and moderate players said that this
Issue Two: Is It Difficult to Locate a Player in right click function is very useful for them to locate
City View? players in the property (Figure 11 left). However,
Half of the players, including expert players admit- when we asked whether the 3 new players who
ted that it was difficult for them to locate a player answered yes in this question, all of them didnt
in city view due to the fact that the useful tools know TSO has provided this function for them.
are not easily accessible and must go through a
series of actions: to locate a player in city view, Discussions
players need to first open the bookmark, and open
the Sim page of a player. After that, click on the Our findings reveal two very essential issues
Where am I function in the Sim page (Figure related to the design of awareness-related tools.
10 right). Then, the system will show the property Firstly, these tools aiming at providing information
page where the player is. related to both people and location awareness are
not sufficiently well designed to facilitate easy and
Figure 11. (left) Right click the photo; (right) Interactions among players
740
quick access, which in turn affects their usability. In one main group interaction: working, and how
particular, they should be easy to access, be placed important working in groups can facilitate the
on the screen edge, etc. Secondly, both visual and socialization in the games, especially in terms of
audio indicators are equally important to facilitate player social status and fun. In particular, we
quick and cheap information feedback on location are wondering whether players tend to socialize
and people awareness. It is especially essential during their relaxing time too.
for MMOGs when players are extremely busy
(as told by the interviewed players) with other Working Freelance
activities, which requires them to focus on the
on-going activities, while spotting the incoming The working system of TSO is one of the many
information on themselves, their friends, and their interaction patterns that aim to encourage the
locations etc. interactivity among players. It provides different
jobs for players to earn money and improve skills
Engagement via Social to improve players social status. Also, players
Interactions in TSO can work freelance in the houses built up by other
players in the city. According to our study, almost
Broadly speaking, engagement measures the all players have collaborated with other players at
degree of involvement a person is in the current work thanks to the nature of the tasks.
interaction (Pentland, 2005). In a social media like
TSO, players engaged in various types of interac- Issue One: Why and How Players Interact
tions across locations in the game. The majority through Working System?
of existing studies have focused on qualitifying In order to find out why and how players interact
the influence each participant has on the other with each other through the working system, we
(Choudhury, 2003;Eagle & Pentland, 2004;Madan describe our major findings in terms of doing
et al. 2004; Pentland, 2005) assuming that users freelance job and going to work. In order to find
are fully aware of and efficient in making use of out the benefit of working collaboratively with
the various tools embedded in the media. We at- other players, we perform an in-game experi-
tempt to study how the players make use of the ment: two of us of same skill level went to do
interactions provided by the game to enrich their freelance in a money house (Figure 12 left). One
social life. Although players can interact with of our members, A, joined a group of seven and
others both in one-to-one (Figure 11 right) and collaborated with other players to do freelance
group ways, in this chapter, we focus on study on while another member, B, didnt join any group
Figure 12. (left) Screenshot of our experiment (right) Working in restaurant
741
Table 1. A comparison of two players freelancing

Working while Socializing
in a group and alone for 3 hours respectively
Player Skill Level No. of players in earning In order to understand the way players socialize
group during working, we worked in both restaurant
A 4 7 $1400 and a robot factory, and report our findings here.
B 4 1 $700
Working in Restaurant
and only do on his own. After three game hours, One of us worked as a waiter, and collaborated
we obtained the following result (Table 1). with 5 other players at work: 3 would take order,
This experiment explains why players were 2 would carry food and 1 would present check.
willing to collaborate with other players. The more From our in-game observation, we found that
players in a freelance group, the much more the two players who taking orders have to talk
money they can earn, which in turn, encourage to each other regarding the food and the custom-
players to join a large group when they do free- ers to whom the food will be brought. However,
lances. Also, some freelances require a group of the one who present check did not involve in
players of different skills to work together. Play- the conversation at all (Figure 12 right). That is,
ers in it need to communicate with each other in players would tend to communicate with each
order to obtain helps. As such, it is convenient to other when necessary.
attribute the success of encouraging group inter-
actions to the socially intelligent game elements: Working in Robot Factory
the design of the freelance job.
If the player realizes that in order to increase Another job is working in a robot factory with eight
his/her earnings, doing freelance jobs in a larger machines. Two of us join another two players in
group are essential, he/she will give it a try. This the factory. Each of us agrees to be responsible
finding again further strengthens our discussion for two machines. When a machine is out of order,
in previous sections that the game element per the player responsible for it has to repair it before
se is the key to the success of the virtual world. other players can start again (Figure 13 left). Dur-
ing our observations, we found out that all players
working here have to interact and communicate
with each other, which lead us to believe again
Figure 13. (left) Working in robot factory; (right) Improving skills in a group
742
that the key to encourage players to socialize is Again, our findings demonstrated that the
through the, what we called socially intelligent larger group the player chooses, the faster he/she
game elements. can improve his/her skills, which in turn encour-
The working system of TSO provides an ages players to be immmersed in a group if they
ideal platform of players to meet and collaborate aims at improving their skills.
with each other. Players needed to utilize the
conversation box to communicate with each Issue Two: How Often do Players Talk During
other in order to complete tasks at work just like the Process of Improving their Skills?
what they did in real life. In addition, having fun, In our interview, 77% of the players talk with oth-
and increasing skill levels are the two major goals ers during the skill improving process. In order to
to stimulate group interactions, which will be study the frequency of players talk with others
reported in the next section. during the process, we built up a skill house in the
game, where 12 out of 15 players chat frequently.
Perceptions on Other We also tried to talk to the 3 people who didnt
Interactions in TSO involve in the public conservations, but only 1 of
them gave us some response.
Skills Improvement
Fun Enhancement
In TSO, the more skills and friends you have,
the more one-to-one interacting options you can In TSO, players can also relax such as dancing
choose to interact with others. in Disco, enjoying TV, etc. However, we are not
sure whether there will be interactions when
Issue One: Did Players Improve their Skills players are relaxing. To understand it, we visited
with Other Players? Are They Willing to do So? an entertainment house for 3 game hours, which
All of the players we interviewed did improve contained disco, television room and a chess room
their skills with other players (Figure 13 right). (Figure 14 left, right). We found out that players
To further our understanding, two of us went to seldom talked to each other when having fun
different skills house to improve their skills: A, mainly due to the nature of these activities. For
joined a group of twelve and improved cooking instance, players can enjoy themselves watching
skill while another B, didnt join any group and TV alone. In other words, lack of group-oriented
intended to train on her own. Table 2 compares tasks reduces the social interactions.
the speed of skill acquisitions for A, B and C who
join a group of 15. Discussions and Suggestions
In general, TSO provides an ideal platform of

players to meet and collaborate with each other
Table 2. A comparison of 2 players who improve thanks to its many socially intelligent game ele-
skill in a group and alone ments, for instance, group-oriented tasks in which
participated players have to chat. However, players
Player No. of people in Speed of improving should also be able to find out information related
group skill
to one another in order to chat. As such, those tools
A 1 30%
that can support awareness become essential. Our
B 5 85%
study showed that while visual indicators such as
C 13 118%
maps, colors effective in facilitating awareness,
743
Figure 14. (left) A moment in disco; (right) A moment in chess room
and some audible indicators are also important to such as Scrabble could be added when players
instantly let players be aware. are relaxing, since these tasks could inherently
One very interesting observation is that some encourage player interactions. Only through these
players are reluctant to socialize when they dont inherently social tasks can the game as a social
need to, as in our skill-building experiences. sphere manifests. In other words, these socially
The result highlights the degree of importance intelligent game elements strengthen the game as
of these third place as a public place to host the a virtual third place. However, excessive use of
voluntary and informal gatherings (Oldenburg, these elements can prevent players from enjoy-
1989, p. 16). These players are only interested ing the freedom the game bring into, since we
in earn more virtual points and cash, therefore learned that some players dont want to socialize
they will avoid interacting with others as much in the games, since they revealed to us during the
as possible: dont talk unless it is really neces- interviews that they dont feel safe socializing in
sary. Hence, even if there are rich tools or other an unreal world where players encounters are
elements in the game which encourage interac- not long-lasting as face-to-face interactions do.
tions and provide rich awareness information, the The virtual identities of players can change from
utility of these elements still remains to be low, one time to another which worsens the situations.
which in turn greatly affect players perceptions As such, these complicated factors, among many
of the environments, and therefore reduce the others, derived from the over-proliferations of
attractiveness of these virtual third places as internet world can contribute significantly to
a socially intelligent platform. Furthermore, in the negative feelings players have. Therefore, we
the game blogs or discussion forums, as players cannot blame the reluctance of players to social-
reported during the after-game interviews, they ize in MMOGs for the insufficiently designed
are pretty much aware that some tasks do require game elements.
them cooperating either via talking or forming In summary, TSO has strategically included
a team. Only under these strict circumstances many socially intelligent game elements which
will they consider collaboration. Hence, we point are well designed and accepted by players, thus
out that it is not always the case that players are provides a platform for players to socialize.
reluctant to communicate during the games. The In fact, we performed another usability stud-
key is the design of in-game group-oriented tasks ies on the LastWorld, an action-packed MMOGs
that could strengthen social interactions. For popular in the Hong Kong and Taiwan areas
instance, we pointed out that more group tasks (Tang et al., 2008). Our findings are relatively
744
similar to those reported here that highlights the flour, cooking dishes, to playing and composing
necessity to raise the usability awareness of game music (Figure 15 left). In addition, the traditional
designers. In particular, while it is important to Combat System preserves. Accordingly, Players
equip the game with various tools/mechanisms, can gain various skills (called Life Skills and Battle
it is equally essential to conduct various usability Skills respectively) by involving in these tasks,
studies in order to come to understand what the either individually or collaboratively.
players want the most. JY Online2 is a popular martial art themed
game created based on Louis Chas (or Jin Yong)
well-known series of Chinese martial arts chiv-
STUDY TWO: MORE COMPARATIVE alry novels Natural to the game is a number of
STUDY OF TWO MMOGS combats in which normally demand players to
form groups and engage in large-scale battles
In addition to TSO, we also performed similar (Figure 15 right).
usability analysis on several more games to ex- We performed a number of studies on the
tend our understanding. In this section, we will games, similar to those documented on TSO,
document two studies which focus on two of the however, in this section, we will highlight the
most popular online games in among players in most important observations, which we believe
Hong Kong and Taiwan, JY Online and Mabinogi. is sufficient for us to draw a general picture on
social interactions in MMOGs.
Brief Background on JY
Online and Mabinogi Social Interactions
Mabinogi1 is a fantasy online Role-Playing Game As we pointed out in previous section that in JY
(RPG) released by Nexon, a South Korean game Online, there are a number of large-scale complex
developing company. The game is very popular at- battles that require players to cooperate in more
tracting both male and female players due mainly to than one day. Therefore, we observed that more
its superb new concept Dream Life in Mabinogi. players stayed together as a group for more than
Besides the traditional fighting, there contain a one day (Figure 16).
number of everyday activities for players to lead Engaging in a wide variety of Music compos-
a dream life characterized by its Fantasy Life ing and performance activities is pioneered by
Module. Particularly, in Fantasy Life, players can Mabinogi and was very well received among
engage in a wide rage or activities from making players. Almost 90% of players reported a strong
Figure 15. (left) A musical moment in Mabinogi; (right) A fight in JY Online
745
Figure 16. The average number of days players tend to group together for fighting in JY Online
feeling on it, where they can buy various musical Our studies revealed that among the social
instruments, compose music, share knowledge interaction facilities, Family System is the most
with others, orchestrate a band with different favourable one, due to its inherent similarity to
themes etc. Whats more special about the col- the family system in our daily life, though the
laboratively musical performance is the emotion bonding entities are those players encountered
attached to a piece of music. in the game. Despite it, players reported that
As for trading, our findings are similar to those they naturally felt a bond with each other even
in TSO that players engage in chatting only when after exiting the game. The social ties are then
necessary (around 60% of players in both). reinforced by more after-game relationships. The
Mixed results were obtained if we compared the second popular one is the Musical Module due to
games support to encourage player interactions. its freshness, especially among female players.
Our findings revealed that players in Mabinogi can
only engage in private chat within an organization Awareness Support
(or a group); in other words, there lacks of addi-
tional organization-wide activities to further bond As for the awareness support on people and
members. There is a duel scheme in Mabinogi location, we obtained mixed results. When we
though, which allow players to command their compared people awareness, say, to whether or
pet, instead of with another character. Overall, the not players know the status of others, Mabinogi
players in our study were not satisfied with the did a better job in allowing players to set status
scheme. Most of them engage more in the Music other than online and offline; players can also
and Combat Systems. set two other status busy and away, which
In JY Online, though, the results are different. is similar to those in an instant messenger (say,
There are a number of group-oriented activities Windows Live Messenger). Table 3 shows the
which especially encourage players to engage in comparison. Players are happy with this design
a long-term relationship. For example, during in greatly reducing the learning curve especially
Christmas in 2006, it held a pile snowman compe- for novice players.
tition. In fact, players reported that in JY Online, Like many other online games, player can
they tend more to play with their group members. easily see some key information on another
player by looking at the textual descriptions above
746
Table 3. A comparison of people awareness

specify where they are by listening to the back-
Online Offline Busy Away ground music.
Mabinogi
Players in Mabinogi were less satisfied with
Jing Yong Online 2.0
the awareness support within an organization: they
can only see the online status of the chair and vice
chair person of the organization, but not the status
of other fellow players in the organization. This
the players avartar (as shown in a fighting scene poor awareness support inside an organization
in JY Online,Figure 17 left). The same awareness further discourages players to engage in more
information, though, is richer in Mabinogi (Figure team tasks and long-term relationships.
17 right). The information contains not only the Different results were obtained in our study
player name, but also their profession, skills etc, in JY Online where players are happy with the
which can be set by players and easily seen by awareness information within an organization. For
others. instance, players can not only easily obtain status
In addition to using colors, light audible indi- information regarding others in the organization;
cators are also used to make players aware each they can also be notified of the events associated
others status. For instance, in Mabinogi, different with the organization. These events include the
music can be used to construct different atmo- welcome note of a new member, the donation
sphere to reflect players emotions. Figure 15 of a member, and an incoming competition etc,
(left) shows a warm atmosphere in the band. This which make them more willing to stay in a group.
rich design in making socialization more enjoy- In other words, a careful awareness design can in
able among players and recognizable for potential turn facilitate socialization and nurture long-term
comers has made the Music System one of the relationship.
most well-received among our players (almost
90% of players).
To support location awareness, the two games LESSONS LEARNED: RAISING
made use of similar designs in other games, maps, PLAYER SOCIAL AWARENESS
coordinate etc (the map in Figure 17 right). Simi- IS THE FIRST STEOP
lar to our study in TSO, generally, all players do
not have any difficulty locating other players in In social spaces such as MMOGs, the fundamental
both games. Core players in Mabinogi can even issue is whether or not players can exploit the
Figure 17 (left) People awareness in JY Online (right) People and location awareness in Mabinogi
747
various elements in the social space to make the only last for one time (14 out of 16 interviewed
most out to engage in seamless collaboration players in Jolene), which in turn explains the ob-
and social interaction. Specifically, raising play- servations that they engage in chats, face-to-face
ers social awareness is essential. Our results are communications only when necessary.
mixed, which lead us to further ponder two key We speculate that the major reason is that
issues: the cohesiveness of interaction/community players prefer more to live in some social network-
and whether or not critical mass can be reach to ing sites instead of construct a social net inside
ground any social activities. games, even if some players like to call for their
usual virtual partners to engage in collaborative
Cohesiveness of Community: Do problem-solving endeavours. These social net-
Player Interactions Last in MMOGs? working sites, the most notably Second Life, offer
a much appealing and blended way for players to
In the socially intelligent spaces, user interac- structure a third place and form deeper bonded
tion is not one-shot game, that is, ideally, social relationships.
interaction is long-lasting which depends on the To make matters worse, some players reported
cohesiveness of the interaction and/or community. during our interviews that there are several excel-
While some researches focus on study social lent pieces of external software that can be used to
norms, commitment and reciprocity (Galston, automatically help players perform various tasks
2000; Jakobsson&Taylor, 2003; Wellman, 1997), and thus increase their skills and upgrade them
we focus on the design elements including task without much human interventions. To achieve
design in MMOGs, application availability and it, players only need to make a few sections on
usability in Facebook that can naturally stick the tasks they want these automatic human-like
users together. players to do, and specify their preferences by
Among our studies, the most notable observa- indicating, say, the duration, starting time, etc.
tion came from the fact that players do not inher- Obviously, these away-from-keyboard like
ently seek to socialize when playing MMOGs. (AFK) capabilities reduce the chance of player
Enjoying a sense of accomplishment is their first interactions, and engagements; therefore, they
priority in playing (which we do not deny since greatly compromise the social abilities of these
it makes a game fun in the first place), which ex- MMOGs.
plains our observations that players only engage Therefore, to usability engineers, we offered
in communications when necessary. We found out two general guidelines in designing socially intel-
that there is a very low usage of in-game chats in ligent game elements:
almost all the games we tested. And for tasks that
were designed to encourage player interactions, Implement more team-oriented tasks which
player encounters are maintained to a lowest de- force players to engage in long-term col-
gree, which means that their interactions are short, laborative problem-solving efforts;
unstable and ephemeral. In this, we disagree with For example, our study showed that play-
some previous studies supporting the importance ers feel very comfortable with Fairylands
of MMOGs as a social platform for players to Family System which is similar in the
engage in long-term social activities (Ducheneaut nature to our Family System (Tang et al.,
& Moore, 2004; Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006). 2008) and do encourage players to engage
Moreover, players reported that most of the friends in more long-term relationships both in
in games are not real ones outside the game world; and out of the game. As another example,
and the relationships formed inside game might some game designers incorporate
748
Design simple-to-use game user interface discussion, we focus on player group with more
elements to reduce player information than 4 members). In MMOGs, especially those
overload; we studied, it is easy for players to socialize due
to the large number of active players (as shown
To ease player information processing, game in Figure 18 in which quite a number of players
elements should be simple and yet rich in con- get together, but not necessarily as a group, in
veying the most notable contextual information town in Mabinogi).
to help players engage either individual or group As another example, one of the players in our
activities. For example, our studies found out study in TSO has made friends with 23 other
that while maps and coordinates can help players players and in total meet 72 during the time the
obtain location information, they are somewhat data was collected (Figure 19 shows her web of
too abstract and high-level for them to capture encounters).
the most important information contextually. Therefore, the issue of studying social interac-
Therefore, players need to further manipulate it. tions in these games becomes whether or not the
In summary, despite the semantics of the term, game elements have been fully utilized by players
the weak ties among player communities are still to engage in interactions, as we reported and
necessary and essential for community nurturing documented in this chapter.
and opportunities. Players shall be encouraged Things are more different when we look at
to be involved in a wider range of team activi- Second Life (SL)3, a high profile social network-
ties. And MMOGs should continue to stand as a ing site. Our preliminary study on SL revealed
socially rich and ascetically appealing platform that even though the number of subscribed users
for players all around the world. are extremely high in SL (as boosted by Linden
Lab as 3 million users), the number of active us-
Is It Easy to Reach a Critical ers online at a given moment is low (projected at
Mass for Players to Socialize? around 10%); that is, critical mass is not reached
yet (Sungsoo, 2007). As such, it is difficult for
Obviously, in order for players to socialize, there users to land in a place where the social hubs
must reach a critical mass in order to engage in are. In our study, almost 70 percent of the users
meaningful group activities (note that in this we interviewed and monitored (mostly college
students) reported that they normally ended up
Figure 18. Personal Stalls in town (Mabinogi)
Figure 19. One players web of encounters in TSO
749
being alone in SL, which made user interaction and Our evaluation shed light on the impact of
socialization almost accidental, especially in the appropriate technology and its element design in
beginning, when users have not gathered enough promoting and supporting social awareness and
information on events, places, and people in SL. seamless group interactions.
CONCLUDING REMARKS ACKNOWLEDGMENT

AND FUTURE WORK
The research was conducted when the first author
In rich social media places such as Massively was with Department of Computing at Hong Kong
Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), in order to Polytechnic University. We would like to thank a
accomplish various kinds of tasks, users need to group of undergraduate students for their time and
constantly maintain a high degree of awareness and efforts in the studies: So Pui Yee, Li Wing Ling,
social awareness. Generally, being aware of each Ng Pei Po, Li Tung Ho, Shum Hung Wing and
others presence provides a clue for a users own Ng Chung Ki, Cheng Ka Chiu, Chow Ka Wing
action in the situated environment guides their own and Tsang Yin Ting.
actions accordingly; and serves as virtual traces to
coordinate and collaborate with their partners. As
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753
Chapter 44
Studying Social Capital in the
New Communitarian Horizon:
A Multi-Method Research Strategy
Jos Luis Lpez Aguirre
Universidad Panamericana, Mxico
ABSTRACT
Characterized by the virtualization vs. materialization of the social interaction spaces, current com-
munitarian scenarios set a series of doubts about how new technologies are transforming the ability
of humans to associate with others over space and time. This uncertain atmosphere takes our method-
ological approaches for studying virtual communities to the study of the communitarian environment
through the analysis of essential attributes that determine the existence of a community: social capital.
This chapter presents a multi-method research strategy that allows the study of the social capital in these
hybrid communities, in which the only stable element to perform the analysis is the person, understood
as the central node where different social groups converge in physical and virtual interaction nets and
where ultimately communitarian feelings are cherished.
INTRODUCTION still in process of configuration, we set out a pro-

posal to study the phenomenon of physical-virtual
The new communitarian landscape, characterized commentary hybridation through the analysis of an
by ongoing convergence between physical and vir- essential attribute which determines the existence
tual communities, lays out a whole set of restless- of a community: the social capital.
ness and challenges that build up the uncertainty According to sociologist Coleman (1988), an
about how new information and communication important part of the human capital is the abil-
technologies are transforming the ability of human ity of individuals to gather and reach a common
association. When faced by the anxiety generated goal. For political analyst Fukuyama (1996),
by the transition toward a model of society that is social capital is critical not only to an economic
life of a community, but also to other aspects of
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch044 its social existence. Currently, the natural skill
Studying Social Capital in the New Communitarian Horizon
of cooperation is experiencing a rebirth with the landscape. For Howard Rheingold (1996), the
development of virtual communities. Therefore, search for collective goods of a group is a way to
it is interesting to study the relation among social look for elements that link the isolated individuals
capital and communitary and individual well- in a community. In this sense, we consider that
being, in the current communitarian environment. social capital is the collective good that, in first
In this chapter we will share a methodological place, determines the existence of the community
approach that systematically study ability of in- whether physical or virtual and that it will allow
dividuals to interact with each other in physical us to establish a relationship between its nature
and virtual communities to attain a common and (trust) and its purpose (common good).
personal good.
Our approach is based on two essential com- The Nature of Social Capital is Trust
ponents that form the concept of social capital:
trust (understood as an intrinsic property) and According to Galdn (2002), the essential ele-
common good (goal, the ultimate what for). ments that conform a concept are: nature, object
With these variables we will analyze what Yus and purpose. Based on this scheme, the concept
(2007) referred to as the era of physical-virtual of social capital is comprised of the nature or
communitary hybridation, in which physical main attribute that encourages individuals to join
communities experience a process of increasing to the accomplishment of common objectives is
virtualization; whereas virtual communities are trust (Coleman, 1988). When presenting social
materializing through encounters in the physical capital as a conceptual tool that will help to create
environment. It is worth noting that in this process a theoretical orientation to explain social action,
of communitarian convergence, the person is lo- Coleman suggested the role of trust as the joint
cated as the central node, where different forms element for persons that turns actions to become
of social grouping live together within different easier and promotes the common goals. He un-
interaction nets. Further, to study this phenomenon derlines that in a social system trusting links help
we designed a multi-method research strategy in- to promote reciprocal environment, where the
volving three qualitative and quantitative research members will fulfill obligations and compromises
techniques: non participant direct observation, in- previously acquired (1988, p. 102). Fukuyama
depth interview and content analysis. The purpose (1996) underlined the transcendence of trust in
is to gain a comprehensive understanding of this building democratic societies when establishing
phenomenon and to reinforce the validity of the a close relationship with the common good. For
obtained results when applying our proposal. example, he emphasized that one of the most im-
portant lessons from the analysis of economical
life is that the well being of a nation, as well as
TRUST AND COMMON GOOD, its ability to compete, is conditioned by a sole and
ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS penetrating cultural characteristic, i.e. the inherent
OF THE SOCIAL CAPITAL level of trust in that society (p. 25).
Fukuyama reached this conclusion out of the
Out of three collective goods to study the interac- examination of several histories in which different
tion of human groups: social capital, knowledge economical actors supported each other as part of
capital and communion (Rheingold, 1996, pp. a trust-based community. Reasoning along this
29-30), we have chosen social capital to study the line, the community was not formed by explicit
phenomenon of communitarian physical-virtual rules and norms, but from a series of distinctive
convergence that shapes the current communitary characteristics of that society and from reciprocal
754
moral obligations internalized by each member courages individuals to unite, to share values, to
of the group. respect norms and to work together. For example,
Habits and rules gave the community members for the sociologist Coleman (1988) the value of
the necessary reasons for mutual trust. social capital lies in the acquisition of a good.
On the other hand, Fukuyama also offered other While for the philosopher MacIntyre (1987) the
examples where lack of trust inhibits the ability exercise of virtues naturally derives in obtaining
of communitary integration. The problem consists of the common good, and for the political analyst
of a deficit of what Coleman referred to as social Fukuyama (1996), the outcome of the art of human
capital. Hence, for Fukuyama social capital is the association is the social well-being.
ability born from the predominance of trust in a Drawing from these trends of thoughts, it is
society (1996, p. 45). In this sense, social capital appropriate to discuss the essence, property and
depends in great measure on the degree in which components of the common good. Hence, we
the members of a community share certain rules will use Eudaldo Forment study La filosofa del
and values. Thus, through trust we understand bien comn [The philosophy of common good]
that the rise of expectations within a community, (1994) about the doctrine of the common good by
comes from honest and cooperative (actions, the Spanish philosopher Antonio Milln-Puelles,
behaviour) and is based on usual norms shared who in his social context defined the common
by all members of community. good as the good that can be enjoyed by each and
As we can infer, in order for trust to flourish, every one of the members of a human community
people must share common ethical values, imply- (Gran Enciclopedia Rialp [GER], 1989, 4, p. 225).
ing a virtuous community is needed. Philosopher Regarding such difference between the com-
MacIntyre (1987) confirmed that the exercise of mon and the private good, Milln-Puelles un-
virtues requires a specific class of social structure. derlined that the common good is a good of the
He stated that moral was always linked in certain society since it brings advantage and benefits to
degree to the unique and local social aspect and each and every one of its members (GER, 1989,
that virtue cannot be possessed except as a part 4, p. 228). In this respect, common good demands
of an inherited tradition (pp.161-162). Fukuyama no prejudice about others, while the private
(1996) pointed out that the generation of social good only benefits an individual or a group of
capital demands the habituation to certain moral individuals that form part of a community. With
norms of a community and the acquisition of respect to the essential properties of the common
social virtues, identified such as loyalty, honesty, good, Forment (1994) distinguished three: first,
reliability, cooperation and accountability for one the common good does not exclude the private
another. good. Second, the common good demands each
of its individuals to have its own goods. The last
The Purpose of Social property of the common good is its supremacy
Capital is Common Good over private goods, which are subordinated to it.
Milln-Puelles (1984) explained that the supe-
Based on what has been exposed, it is not difficult riority of the common good with respect to the
to conclude that the purpose of social capital is private good is intensive and only because of this,
the search of the common good, and therefore, of it is also extensive. The common good is better,
the personal good. Coleman, MacIntyre but most more intense, than the private good, and therefore
of all Fukuyama set out that attaining common it extends to a greater number of beneficiaries or
goals (where the three authors refer to as a good), participants (p. 377).
is essentially and infact it is the purpose that en-
755
After stating that the subordination of private 811). Milln-Puelles emphasized the importance
goods is not the subordination of individuals to of the order concept. Such order signifies the
society, Milln-Puelles argued that society is a natural and free convenience of individuals wills,
mean and not a goal to obtain the common good. not the consensus imposed by fear. True peace,
This conception about the fact that people living which is preserved in an order convenient for
in society do not exist only for its own good, humanity implies social justice, and its object is
but on the contrary: society exists for the good common good. (GER, 1989, 4, p. 227)
of humanity, reinforces our idea that the person In a greater proportion than the material
is the center of the interaction of different social well-being, peace turns out to be indispensible
groups (physical and virtual) which are means to for all people to participate in the higher values
attain the common and private good. of life: cultural values, the last component of the
common good. For Milln-Puelles is about the
Ingredients of the Common Good essential values for the quest of perfection of
the person and for the attainment of happiness
Milln-Puelles philosophical analysis of the (GER, 1989, 13, p. 695). Among these there are
common good revealed three components that those who are concerned about the sense of the
structure such good where each and every one of personal existence of man and the significance of
the members of the community can participate in. the human community. After exposing that trust
Such elements, which are complemented mutually and common good are essential components of
are: material well being, peace and cultural values. social capital, now we will offer the view of the
These ingredients of the common good present a new communitary environment.
hierarchical order, without disregarding the fact
that the three of them are equally indispensable. Convergent Communities: A
Material well-being, which is not the same as New Communitary Landscape
material goods, is understood as the satisfaction
resulting from the participation of these goods One of the phenomena that strongly take our at-
by every citizen (GER, 1989, 4, p. 226). That is tention is the convergence between physical and
material well-being is a situation shared by all virtual communities. In this confluence of social
the members of the community, while material scenarios, physical communities experience an
goods are things, instruments or indispensable ever growing virtualization process; while virtual
means distributed among the members to obtain communities are materializing in the physical en-
satisfaction. vironment. It is important to point out that in such
The second ingredient of common good is environment of physical-virtual communitary
peace, which for Milln-Puelles is the axis of the hybridation, the person is located in the center of
common good structure. Without peace, society continuous interactions from various social groups
would be more apparent than effective, since its (physical and virtual), which by complementing
moral core would be internally torn (GER, 1989, each other become a powerful means to achieve
4, p. 226). According to Saint Augustine, peace is the common good.
the tranquility is harmony and agreement on what is To start, we cannot deny that new information
the best for everybody (as cited in Forment, 1994, and communication technologies are transforming
p. 810). From what have been exposed, Forment human association abilitiesnetworks, people
(1994) underlines that harmony is a product of use them to look, find and exchange information
friendship that is qualified by excellence as a social to communicate with each other and to create a
virtue and directly as a cause for social peace (p. network. As Rheingold (1996); Smith and Kol-
756
lock (2003) remarkedcyberspace has become a com), Twitter (http://twitter.com) of blog readers
breeding ground that promote the forthcoming of and members of my virtual professional net.
a multicolour landscape of social organisms. Such There are also frontier-free communities that
unsettling landscape, sets out an intense debate leap from the physical to the virtual space and vice
on how our society is changing, considering the versa searching for complementarily, as the school
possibilities that new technologies offer. This is community which has a group in some popular
not only an era of computer connection, but an social net as Myspace (http://www.myspace.com)
era of human inventiveness and interconnection or hi5 (http://hi5.com), or the researchers net
(as cited in Cebrin, 1998, p. 20). Moreover, that was born and developed in cyberspace, but
he is convinced that the most powerful force to that gathers once a year in a physical location to
efficiently exploit the net and to transform our consolidate virtual relationships. Examples like
economical institutions so that they can operate the previous ones and others have emerged from
better, is the new generation of children. a wide combination of the current spectrum of
human associations, that form part of the great
Young People, Protagonist of social bundle which Castells (1999) referred
the Communitarian Scenario to as The Net Society. According to Castells,
historical trends show that the dominant functions
Today young people are leading the characteristics and processes in the information era, are increas-
of the digital revolution. Not only due to their ingly organized around the net. (Castells, 1999,
high demographic percentage1 that make them an p. 505). About this, the Net constitutes the new
unprecedented force in the history of humankind, social morphology of our societies.
but most of all, because the domain of the digital
world grants them a wide generational advantage Era of Physical-Virtual
and a new vision of the world. In fact, young Communitary Hybridation
people are the actors and designers of the new
communitarian scenario. Interactive computer networks are creating new
Currently, millions of young people all over the forms of social organization and sketching out
world interact in a simultaneous way with different new social structures. Indeed we are experienc-
communities located both in the physical plane ing the development of communities that come
and in the cyberspace. Some of these communities together in time and space with all the essential
extend their links literally as ivy leaves in their dimensions of human life. This is also witnessed
own atmosphere, either physically or virtually, by the birth of a society where in a synchronous
to make their relationships closer. For example, and asynchronous ways are binding the physical
the school community exist to extend some links and the virtual planes in one single point: the hu-
with its neighbors community, with its personal man being. It is worth noting that in this complex
net of social interaction and with the group that environment of communitary convergence, there
shares similar likes in music; that means some of is an interesting evolutionary phenomenon Yus
the members of these communities deeply rooted (2007) described as means, on the communities
in the physical plane are likely to participate in in physical environments experience a process of
more than one of the communities. The same case growing virtualization (of the interactive physical
happens in the virtual environment: some friends space). Further, it is about a process developed in
from Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) are the XXth century with the progressive mobility of
also contacts in Linkedin (http://www.linkedin. the western civilization and the consequent alien-
ation of the delimited physical community, that
757
has been definitely settled in the new millennium to analyze the current communitary environment
with the aid of new information and communica- is the person, understood as a body anchor in
tion technologies, which have further de-locate the intersection of the bundle of personal nets of
individuals from their physical anchorage within social interaction, since it is not a physical nor a
a clearly delimited environment. The outcome of virtual space, but the body in movement the refer-
the process is that physical communities have de ent where a whole variety of communitary feelings
facto become real virtualities. (Yus, 2007, p. 13). converge and are cherished and so; the subject
Whereas virtual communities considered is the center, the local, the close point. (2007, p.
as a complement of physical communities are 168). In a synchronous and asynchronous manner,
experiencing a materialization process (from the the person (the central node) ultimately deter-
virtual interaction context) and where virtual mines its own particular communitary landscape.
interactions have acquired a clearly local con- The communitarian scenario is shaped by the
notation, as it happens, for example, with young frequency and intensity of its social interactions.
people who meet by chat in the Internet and then As such each one of us delimit and shape based
set a (physical) place to meet personally (the well on imposition and will, its own social scenario,
known meetings in Internet). In this way, virtual which would also transform our communities and
communities have become virtual realities, with the members of the community. In The Different
a clear emphasis in the real world. (Yus, 2007, Drum: Community Making and Peace, M. Scott
p. 14). For Yus, the progressive convergence Peck noted that we are forced to make relations
of these two phenomena is generating a social with each other to survive. However we are still
discomfort, evident by a crash of tectonic so- not making relationships with the commitment,
cial plaques which have generated a real social honesty, liberty, equality and love of an authentic
tsunami within societies, which is also wipping community. He remarks that is our mission to
out many of the concepts that provided stability transform ourselves from mere social beings into
to them. One of these referents wiped out by communitary creatures. This is the only way in
this tsunami is the term community and what it which human evolution can follow its course (as
represents for current citizens especially of large cited in Rheingold, 1996, p.10).
cities(2007, p. 14).
Methodological Proposal: Multi-
The Person, Point of Meeting Method Research Strategy
the Interaction Net
After describing the fundamental elements which
As pointed out in previous discussion, in the era characterize the study object, we will present our
of physical-virtual communitary hybridation, the methodological approach which intends to answer
person is placed as the main node where different the question: How to study the social capital in the
forms of social grouping live together in interac- new communitarian horizon? In order to do this,
tion nets. Yus stated these personal nets can form a we will use two of the key elements conforming
tight bundle of communitary contexts that overlap the social capital concept: trust and common good;
and form intersections in the individual as the only which necessitate the employment of research
personal anchor within this ever growing range of techniques of the multi-method strategy which are
net grouping possibilities (2007, pp. 14-15). Thus, proposed in this chapter. The purpose is to offer
the individual rises, now more than ever, as the the possibility of making an integral study and to
only stable point within its different social interac- reinforce the validity of the results obtained when
tions. According to Yus, the only stable element applying our methodological approach.
758
Study Variables Apart from these three indicators, there are

study of norms and values shared by a group of
As stated earlier, to study the complex communi- people in the current communitarian landscape.
tarian scenario that we have described we chose According to Fukuyama (1996, p. 45), trust or
social capital. The analysis of this collective good social virtues starts with an understanding of
will allow us to evaluate the relation between the shared norms and values. The social virtues are
trust and the levels of well-being promoted by the loyalty, honesty, reliability, cooperation and being
current communitarian landscape, whose outcome accountable towards one another. Of these five
is experienced by the personwhere different virtues of the communitarian being, we will only
forms of social gathering live together in social add the social virtue par excellence: friendship.
interaction nets. Trust and common good are the With respect to the common good, we propose
main variables of interest in this respect and young the indicators that will allow us the analysis of
people who interact in different forms of social this second and significant variable:
gathering within physical and virtual interaction
nets are the universe of universe, especially young 1. Communitarian goodan asset enjoyed for
people, specifically college students who are con- the benefit of all the members of the new
sidered to be the main characters of the revolution communitarian scenario.
we are living as well as the leading actors and the 2. Communitarian well-beingsatisfaction
authors of the communitarian melodrama which level resulting from the participation from
is still being written. It is fairly safe to state that the common good.
college students are truly representative model 3. Respectcondition that includes and pre-
of the digital native of the net society. Moreover, suppose the protection of a persons dignity.
to examine trust and common good we need to 4. Peacecondition that encourages tranquility
establish the parameters that will allow us to in order. In this case, order is understood as
confirm or deny the validity of our hypothesis: the natural and free agreement of individuals
Social capital is the common good that promotes wills, not in a consensus imposed by fear.
the existence and development of the current (GER, 1989, 4, p. 227)
communitarian environment.
Table 1 shows the proposed variables and indi-
Indicators of Trust and cators which we will use to analyze social capital
the Common Good in the new communitarian landscape.
Based on what has been presented, we propose Research Period

the following indicators in attempts to answer the
practical requirements of the research. First, we list To study the social capital in the new communitar-
the indicators that will help the analysis of trust. ian landscape we propose three phases:
1. Communionability to achieve a common 1. Immersion phasefirst stage of the study.

goal. It is a period of trial, adjustments and cor-
2. Effectivenessability to facilitate actions rections of the methodological proposal.
to achieve a common goal. 2. Starting and development phasesecond
3. Cooperationability to act with others to phase of the study. With the methodologi-
achieve a common goal. cal proposal revised and adjusted, the study
starts and is developed.
759
Table 1. Variables and indicators to analyze social capital
Social Capital
Trust Common Good
Indicators Indicators
Communion Communitarian virtues Communitarian good
Effectiveness Loyalty Communitarian well-being
Cooperation Honesty Respect
Reliability Peace
Being accountable towards one another
Friendship
3. Follow-up phase. Third study phaseo nice proposal. Moreover, the proposal delimits the field
the methodological proposal is validated, the of study and to focus the research on the phenom-
development of a five-year research period ena that are shaping the new social morphology.
is proposed to evaluate the evolution of the Scenario 1: Selection of a mixed physical-
phenomenon. virtual community. Example: specific school
community and its virtual complement, that can
Research Scenarios be a group in any popular social net (such as
Facebook) or a social net intentionally created
Faced with a wide and complex communitarian for the study. (See Figure 1).
landscape, we propose four scenarios to carry out Scenario 2: Election of a physical community
in the study these respond to the distinctive features experiencing the virtualization process (of the
of the current communitarian environment, and physical interactive space). Example: family
to the research techniques of our methodological community, taken as the members related to each
Figure 1. Social net created for the virtual community seminar. Course given at the Universidad Pana-
mericana in Mexico City
760
other that live together in a common physical student, digital native from the social net. The
space. Figure 3 shows the relation among the four sce-
Scenario 3: Election of a virtual community narios proposed for the study, their overlapping
experiencing the materialization process (of the areas show the current physical-virtual commu-
virtual interaction context). Example: virtual nitarian hybridation environment, where the
community that periodically organizes meetings person is located at the center of the continuous
in the physical environment to strengthen virtual interactions of different (physical and virtual)
relationships (well known Internet meetings). social groups.
In this case it can be any of the communities
formed around Twitter (http://twitter.com), the Multi-Method Research Strategy
micro-blogging phenomenon, which normally
gathers in physical spaces determined by the local In order to examine the four described scenarios
proximity. See Figure 2. within the current communitarian landscape we
Scenario 4: The person, only stable element designed a multi-method strategy, where three
to analyze the current communitarian environ- research methods are involved: non participant
ment, and therefore, the most important study direct observation, interview in depth and content
scenario. In this case, we selected as we have analysis. Each one of these techniques serves a
justified, a specific type of person: the college particular purpose and is complementary to the
Figura 2. Poster of a Mexican twitters meeting living in the city of Culiacn, Sonora, in the north of
Mexico. Courtesy of: eL_Zaya (http://twitter.com/eL_ZaYa)
761
Figure 3. Diagram of the main scenarios that form the current communitarian landscape. (Authors design)
study. According to Bericat (1998), the conver- ideas from study object scenarios such as mixed
gence of qualitative and quantitative methods is physical-virtual communities and virtual commu-
used to appreciate, respect and take advantage of nity in process of materialization. Observation is
the possibilities of each methodology (pp. 28-29). qualified as direct since it is the investigator who
The integration of the three methods is oriented finds him/herself immersed in the study scenario
toward the fulfillment of a same purpose in the and his/her presence is known to all of the observed
study. It is to capture the same object of the social individuals. Likewise, it is called non participant
reality. With this strategy we intend, first and since the researcher sets him/herself in the role
foremost, to reinforce the validity of the results. of invited witness; that is, his/her participation
As stated in previous sections, our methodological is limited to being an eye witness of the activity
approach seeks a comprehensive understanding and the routines produced in the examined sce-
of the relation between the levels of trust and narios. According to Wimmer and Josep Dominick
well-being within the current communitarian en- (1996), among the advantages of this technique
vironment, with outcome ultimately experienced are that the study is developed within the natural
by the person. The proceeding sections provide environment of the activity being analyzed, and
descriptions of the methods employed in the study. therefore the information obtained is rich in details
and nuances (p. 149).
Non Participant Direct Observation Moreover, to have the opportunity to perform
the study in the same time and space (whether
Non participant direct observation is qualitative physical or virtual) where researched phenomena
technique that a us to directly observe, gather developed will allow us to obtain a kind of infor-
and analyze data, impressions, conversations and mation that no other methodological technique
762
provides. However, we must consider some of the Content Analysis

disadvantages of this qualitative technique such as
limited degree of representativeness and possible Quantitative technique particularly used for the
introduction of the investigators bias in his/her study of the messages in the new emergent me-
intuition or perceptions. Thus, direct observation dia. In our case, it will be used to help analyze
must be triangulated with other methodological the evident messages in two of our scenarios:
techniques. Taylor and Bogdan (1987) stated that mixed physical-virtual community and virtual
triangulation is a way to protect oneself from the community in process of materialization. Ac-
investigators tendencies and to confront and cording to Berelson (1952), content analysis is a
submit to reciprocal control the stories from dif- research technique for the objective, systematic
ferent informers (1987, p. 92). and quantitative description of evident content
in communication (p.18). In this sense, to close
In-Depth Interview our multi-method design we will analyze the
conversations held among the members of the
This is one of the most recurrent qualitative virtual communities, with the advantage that
techniques to triangulate non-participant direct these messages are registered and available for
observation. In our case, it is considered as an es- possible analysis.
sential technique, because with it we will examine We must point out that one of the qualities of
the leading character of the new communitarian content analysis is its versatility to mold itself to
landscape; the person, who is the center of con- any kind of content, whether text, sound, audio-
tinuous interactions of different (physical and visual or digital, as is our case. Moreover, this
virtual) social groups. In this sense, the interview technique favors getting enlightening informa-
in depth is a very adequate technique, because tion for the researcher, who becomes aware of
it is not about rigidly structured interviews; on the observed message, since he/she analyzes it
the contrary, it allows adapting to the profile and in detail to look for the keys that will later help
singularity of each of the interviewees, resulting him/her to interpret and establish interferences.
to different and unique interviews. In the light of this discussion, it critical to note
Further more in-depth interviews will help us that the objective of our study is to evaluate the
complement, precise and enrich the analysis of all relation between the level of trust and well-being
the scenarios involved in the study such as mixed promoted by the current communitarian environ-
physical-virtual community, virtual community in ment. Content analysis also has some disadvan-
process of materialization and physical community tages that will be controlled to prevent bias in the
in process of virtualization. According to Wim- investigation. For example, in its intention of not
mer and Dominick (1996), the main advantage leaving any significant detail out, such technique
of the in-depth interview lies on the richness of can lead to an excessive fragmentation of the study.
the details it provides; thereby achieving an in- Berelson (1952) warned that although quantitative
comparable precision compared to other survey techniques are differentiated by their objectiveness
methods when dealing with sensitive matters (p. against the subjectivity of qualitative methods, the
158). However, such qualitative technique also analysts personal involvement is inevitable, since
has a downside: typical in-depth interviews are he/she is the one, who in the end, is in charge of
carried out with non-representative samples, and examining and pondering such contents.
generally the interviewees answer with relatively Finally, we must underline that applying
different versions to each of the questions. together all these three methodologies will be
carried out taking into account their contribu-
763
tions and limitations, but also considering that strategy to understand the cyberspace etnography
triangulation of non-participant direct observa- using a coherent conceptual framework. In this
tion, in-depth interviews and content analysis will sense, social capital is the collective good that
help us fully gain an understanding of the vision configures the personal communitarian enviro-
of the social capital in the new communitarian ment; throught trust and quest of common good
landscape. Although, we insist, being aware of (nature and purpose of the social capital). These
the representativeness limits implied by the factors determine the frequency and intensity of
qualitative techniques and the inevitable bias of the social interactions.
any kind of analyst, whether using quantitative Moreover, the methodological strategy must in-
or qualitative methods. In spite of all that, we are tegrate both qualitative and quantitative techniques
confident that our methodological proposal can to find the complete and appropriate approach to
offer a comprehensive and systematic analysis and fundamental principle of the object of study.
of a phenomenon as complex as the emerging The aim is precisely to enrich and to round off the
communitarian scenario. analysis of the diverse communitarian scenarios
where the person interacts with others and objects
of interest.
CONCLUSION Finally, we can see that hope is a fundamental
engine that moves different people to trust each
The study of complex communitarian environment other and that they will attaing a common good.
sets forth new implications.The actual commu- Young people (actors and designers of the com-
nitarian landscape is amongst two phenomena; munitarian scenario) driven by an encouraging
the communitarian convergencea phenomenon vision of life will promote a civilization formed
where social groups converge in time and place by communitarian way of live.
(physical and virtual) in synchronous and asyn-
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1
About the Contributors
Ben Kei Daniel is a Research and Innovation Analyst, with the Joint Office of Health Research and
Innovation at the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Health RegionSaskatchewan, Canada.
He is also a Lecturer, with the Department of Language and Linguistics, College of Arts and Scienc-
esUniversity of Saskatchewan, where he lectures on Research Methods and Applied Statistics. Dr.
Daniel obtained his joint PhD in Computer Science and Educational and Communication Technologies
at the University of Saskatchewan. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed conference papers, over
8 international and national journal articles, and more than 11 book chapters all in various areas of
Advanced Learning Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Education. Dr. Daniel is the author of
the book: Social Capital Modeling in Virtual Communities: Bayesian Belief Network Approaches. His
current research focus on e-health and virtual communities and the process and nature of learning in
virtual communities.
***
Demosthenes Akoumianakis is Professor at the Department of Applied Information Technology

& Multimedia, Technological Education Institution of Crete. He is also the founder and Director of
the interactive Software and Systems Engineering Laboratory (iSTLab, http://www.istl.teiher.gr/). He
received a BA (Hons) in Computing in Business from The University of Huddersfield (1990) and MSc
and PhD degrees in Human Computer Interaction from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK in
1995 and 1999 respectively. His work in his final year dissertation was awarded the 1st IBM prize from
the Department of Computing & Mathematics of the University of Huddersfield. He is actively involved
in various national and European collaborative research and development projects, with emphasis on
tools for scenario-based requirements engineering, on-line communities, multiple user interfaces and
the development of collaborative technologies and toolkits. Prof Akoumianakis has published widely
in referred archival scientific journals, international conferences and workshops and is the author / co-
author of several books. He also serves as a member of the scientific committee for various established
archival journals, international conferences and national / international standards bodies.
Susanna Annese is a researcher in Social Psychology at University of Bari since 2001. She graduated
in Psychology of Mass Communication in 1993 at University of Bari; she was a research student at the
Department of Social Psychology Area Media and Communications London School of Economics
and Political Science in 1996; she obtained PhD in Psychology of Communication in 1998 at University
of Bari and she had a research contract in Psychology of Computer Mediated Communication since
1999 to 2001 at University of Bari. She currently teaches Group Psychology and Social Communica-
tion Psychology courses at University of Bari. Her research interests are in participation and identity
dynamics in real, virtual and blended communities and the innovative methodological approaches to
study them. Further, her involvement in various interdisciplinary research projects aims at deepen these
research interests.
Jean-Paul Barths obtained his engineering degree from Ecole Centrale de Paris (France) and his
PhD from Stanford University. Currently, he is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at
the University of Technology of Compigne (UTC) in France. His main research interests are related to
knowledge representation and mixed societies of cognitive artificial and human agents.
Jim Bizzocchi (www.dadaprocessing.com) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Interactive Arts

and Technology at Simon Fraser University. He is also the Director of Vancouver's multi-institutional
Masters of Digital Media professional masters program for leadership in the digital cultural industries
<http://mdm.gnwc.ca/>. Jim's research interests include interactive narrative, the future of the moving
image, and the design and experience of digital games. He has published extensively in these areas, with
a variety of journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly conference papers. He teaches undergraduate
and graduate courses in New Media, Narrative, Video Production, and Interactive Video, and is a recipi-
ent of the University Award for Excellence in Teaching. Jim is a practicing video artist, and his prize-
winning works in the emergent genre of Ambient Video have been widely exhibited internationally.
Anita Blanchard is an associate professor of Psychology and Organization Science at the Univer-
sity of North Carolina Charlotte. Dr. Blanchard studies the effects of information and communication
technology on the behavior and cognition of individuals in online groups. In particular, she examines
individuals identity with and attachment to each other including the development of a sense of virtual
community, the technological and social factors in increase feelings of groupiness, how participant in
online groups affects organizations and face-to-face communities. She is interested in both professional
and social virtual communities and the differences in their participation and functioning.
Nana Adu-Pipim Boaduo was born and bred in Ghana. After graduating in 1973 as a professional
certificated teacher he taught at Methodist Primary School at Eduadin. From October 1974 to August
1976 he studied at the University of Cape Coast at Winneba Advanced Teacher Training College campus.
From September 1976 1980 he worked for the Ghana Ministry of Education at Agogo State Secondary
School. From September 1980 to December 1983 he taught at Government Girls Secondary School,
Kaduna State and Uavande Girls School near Aliade in Benue State of Nigeria. While in southern Af-
rica he taught in secondary and high schools in Lesotho, the former and the homelands of Venda and
Gazankulu. He studied with the College of Preceptors in the UK (1986-1988) and obtained the ACP and
LCP qualifications. From 1993 to 2001 Dr. Boaduo studied with Vista University for the M.Ed. (1995)
and PhD (1998) and the University of the Free State for Master in Development Studies (MDS [2001]).
From March 1992 up till December 1997 Dr. Boaduo served in different capacities at Lemana College
of Education as lecturer, senior lecturer and head of department. From 1998 to 2001 he was appointed
Geography subject advisor in the Soutpansberg District of the Limpopo province of South Africa. He
joined the University of Botswana from August 2004 till February 2008. He has written and published
2
numerous articles in hard print and on line as well as presented seminar, and conference papers and
organised workshops for professional teacher development. He is appointed Affiliated Researcher: Fac-
ulty of Economics and Management Sciences, Centre for Development Support (Bloemfontein Campus
since 2008) and as Lecturer: Faculty of Education, Department of Curriculum Studies (Qwaqwa Campus
in 2009) of the University of the Free State: South Africa. Currently, Dr. Boaduo is a Senior Lecturer:
Faculty of Education, Department of Continuing Professional Teacher Development, Walter Sisulu
University, Mthatha Campus, South Africa.
Uldis Bojars has been active developer, researcher and consultant in information technology for 15
years. In 2009 he completed PhD studies in the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at the National
University of Ireland, Galway. Uldis is the author of a number of Semantic Web tools and a co-counder
of the SIOC Project which aims to use Semantic Web technologies to interlink Social Web sites. He has
presented Semantic Web and Social Media related topics to various academic and business audiences,
and is an organizer of the Social Network Portability WebCamp and the Social Data on the Web (SDoW)
workshop series at the International Semantic Web Conference.
John G. Breslin is currently a lecturer in the School of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Gal-
way. He is also co-leader of the Social Software Unit at DERI, NUI Galway, where he is researching
semantically-enabled social networks and community portals. He is the founder of the SIOC project,
which aims to interlink online communities with semantic technologies. He was previously a postdoc-
toral researcher at DERI from 2004 to 2008, and a lecturer at the University from 2000 to 2004. He has
received a number of awards for website design, including a Golden Spider for the Irish community
website boards.ie, which he co-founded in 2000. The Irish Internet Association presented him with Net
Visionary awards in 2005 and 2006. Dr. Breslin is a member of Engineers Ireland, the Institution of
Engineering and Technology and of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Patrick Brzillon defended his thesis d'Etat (a 6-year duration) in 1983 on Mathematical Modeling
of Self-Oscillating Nonlinear Systemsapplication in Biology to Serotonin and Calcium Metabolisms.
The Since 1992 Dr Brezillon focuses on the study of Intelligent Assistant Systems, and particularly the
modeling of context. He has a leadership in the community interested in exploring and understanding
contextual issues in user and usage modelling. Currently, Dr. Brzillon is exploring the relationships
between collaborative decision making and context. He has published papers in international confer-
ence and international journals (e.g., IEEE Expert, AI Magazine, The Knowledge Engineering Review,
the International Journal on Human-Computer Studies, etc.). More information can be obtained from
http://www-poleia.lip6.fr/~brezil.
Nancy Brigham is a partner in Rosenblum Brigham Associates, a woman-owned policy research

and program evaluation firm founded in 1986. Ms Brigham spent the last 30 years in the field, focusing
primarily on studies of issues of national significance in education, such as Title 1, vocational educa-
tion, adult basic education, mathematics and science programs, and special education. Her research
includes: a national study of exemplary urban high schools; the identification of alternative means of
identifying gifted and talented students who are limited English proficient; studies of the coordination
of federal services to children; a study of intergenerational literacy programs; and the documentation
of exemplary programs serving disadvantaged students. Throughout her career, a major area of interest
3
for Ms Brigham has been the dissemination and use of information and knowledge. She was involved
in the development of tracer studies at Abt Associates and has since engaged in tracer studies for a vari-
ety of clients, including the Kellogg Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, Education Development Center
(Newton, MA) and several federally funded regional laboratories. For all these studies, she has been
instrumental in the study design, the development of interview protocols, the training of interviewers
and the analysis and reporting of the results.
Michel Buffa is an Associate Professor at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. He is also a re-
searcher in the Kewi group of the I3S/CNRS laboratory and conducts his research work on the semantic
web and social networks now. He is one of the authors of the SweetWiki software, a semantic wiki that
is used by several communities of practice. He published his work in the main web conferences like
ISWC, Web Intelligence, Web Science and many others.
John M. Carroll is Edward Frymoyer Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at the
Pennsylvania State University. Research interests include methods and theory in human-computer
interaction, particularly as applied to networking tools for collaborative learning and problem solving,
and design of interactive information systems. Books include Making Use (MIT, 2000), HCI in the New
Millennium (Addison-Wesley, 2001), Usability Engineering (Morgan-Kaufmann, 2002, with M.B. Ros-
son) and HCI Models, Theories, and Frameworks (Morgan-Kaufmann, 2003), Rationale-Based Software
Engineering (Springer, 2008, with J. Burge, R. McCall and I. Mistrik), and Learning in Communities
(Springer, 2009). Carroll serves on several editorial boards for journals, handbooks, and series. He is
Editor of the Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics. He received the Rigo Award and the
CHI Lifetime Achievement Award from ACM, the Silver Core Award from IFIP, the Goldsmith Award
from IEEE. He is a fellow of ACM, IEEE, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Ching-Sing Chai was a secondary school teacher for seven years. He completed his doctoral study
at the University of Leicester. He is currently an assistant professor at the National Institute of Educa-
tion, Nanyang Technological University. His research interest is in the field of teachers' beliefs and
computer-supported collaborative learning.
Hui Siu Cheung is an Associate Professor in the Division of Information Systems, School of
Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He received his B.Sc. degree in
Mathematics in 1983 and D. Phil in 1987 from the University of Sussex, UK. He worked in IBM China/
Hong Kong Corporation as a system engineer from 1987 to 1990. His current research interests include
data mining, Web mining, Semantic Web, intelligent systems, information retrieval, intelligent tutoring
systems, timetabling and scheduling.
Olivier Corby holds a PhD in Computer Science; he is Senior Research Scientist at INRIA, leader
of the Edelweiss team-project. He is (co)author of more than 110 publications. Olivier Corby is the
designer of the Corese Semantic Web Factory which is an implementation of RDF/S, RDF Rules &
SPARQL within the CG formalism. Corese was used in more than 20 applications and is in use in several
projects. He is also the designer of the KGRAM Graph Match Abstract Machine. He is member of the
SPARQL 1.1 W3C Working Group.
4
Mindy Crain-Dorough holds a Ph.D. in Educational research from Louisiana State University.
She specializes in qualitative research and previously worked with the State Department. She currently
teaches graduate students and mentors doctoral candidates at Southeastern.
Hilton J. de Azevedo obtained his engineering degree from Federal University of Technology -
Paran (UTFPR - Brazil) and his PhD from University of Technology of Compigne (UTC-France).
Currently, he is an associate professor in the Departments of Electronics and in the Doctorate Program
on Technology at UTFPR. His main research interests are related to the role of technology in the rep-
resentation and share of knowledge inside social human networks.
Stefan Decker is a professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and director of the Digital
Enterprise Research Institute.Previously he worked at ISI, University of Southern California (2 years,
Research Assistent Professor and Computer Scientist), Stanford University, Computer Science Depart-
ment (Database Group) (3 Years, PostDoc and Research Associate), and Institute AIFB, University of
Karlsruhe (4 years, PhD Student and Junior Researcher). He is one of the most widely cited Semantic
Web scientists, and his current research interests include semantics in collaborative systems, Web 2.0,
and distributed systems.
Vanessa P. Dennen is an Associate Professor of Instructional Systems in the Department of Educa-

tional Psychology and Learning Systems at Florida State University. Her primary teaching areas include
research methods and instructional design for interactive and collaborative technologies. Prior to joining
the faculty at Florida State University she was an Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at San
Diego State University and earned a PhD in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University.
Her research, broadly described, investigates the nexus of cognitive, motivational, and social elements
in computer-mediated communication. Within this larger area, her work has concentrated on two major
problems: the study of learner participation in computer-supported collaborative learning activities;
and, more recently, the study of interactions, norm development, and support networks within online
communities of practice including blogs. Additionally, Vanessa is a blogger.
Rebecca English is a lecturer in Business Education at the Faculty of Education at the Queensland
University of Technology (QUT). Her research is focused on both the secondary school and university
sector. She has undertaken a series of research studies focused on Web 2.0 technologies, the integration
of social networking in teacher education, marketisation and performativity of schooling and interna-
tionalisation of schooling. Her theoretical work is concerned with Bourdieu, Bernstein and Critical
Discourse Analysis (CDA). She has been involved in education for 11 years in Australia teaching in a
number of secondary schools and in teacher education courses. She has also worked on the development
of syllabus documents for Queensland.
Guillaume Erto is a Ph.D. student at Orange Labs and INRIA Sophia Antipolis. He has a master
degree in Computer Science from the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis. He worked on social net-
work analysis, semantic web and social web applications. He published more than 8 articles in journals,
books, conferences and workshops."
5
Sergio Fernndez holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Oviedo (2006). His
degree dissertation, SWAML, is a software project which uses the SIOC ontology to generate semantic
representations of mailing lists. SWAML received the First Spanish University Free Software Award.
Sergio co-authored the SIOC specifications and related documents, currently a W3C Member Submis-
sion. He works as research assistant in the Semantic Technologies Unit at the CTIC Foundation R&D
Department, whereby he takes part in several national and European R&D projects and initiatives. After
an internship in DERI NUI Galway, he continues studying his Master Degree on Web Engineering at
the University of Oviedo. He published more than a dozen publications on the topics of Social Seman-
tic Web and Linked Data. Also, he has experience in the development of free software communities
projects, and has chaired workshops in the area.
Silvino Fernndez is a Researcher in the ArcelorMittal R&D Centre of Asturias (CDT) since 2005,
where he works for its Business Area (KiN). He previously used to work for the Engineering Project Area
section of the University of Oviedo as a researcher. He obtained his Computer Science Engineer Master
Degree in the Gijon Polytechnic Engineering School (University of Oviedo) in 2006. Since then, he has
participated in several research projects for the steel industry regarding Optimization (Raw Materials
Supply Chain, Logistics, Yard Management and Scheduling), Data Mining, Decision Support Systems
and Knowledge Management, publishing some research papers in these areas. He is a PhD candidate
in Engineering Project Management.
Shinobu Fujita is a User Interface architect / engineer at Team Lab Inc. He had served as a web
designer / engineer in Spiceworks Corporation until 2006. He received his M.S. degree from University
of Tsukuba. His area of expertise is development of interactive, creative, animated and dynamic web
site with use of the Flash technology.
Fabien Gandon is a research scientist at INRIA Sophia Antipolis. He has PhD and an HDR (Ha-
bilitation to Direct Research) in Computer Science from the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis. He
worked on Knowledge engineering, Ontologies, Semantic Web, Multi- Agents Systems, Mobile devices,
Context-Awareness and Privacy. He previously worked for the Mobile Commerce Laboratory of Carnegie
Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA. He published more than 34 articles in journals, books or conferences and has
been reviewer of more than 23 journals, conferences or workshops. His professional interests include:
Knowledge engineering, Ontologies, Semantic Web, Multi-Agents Systems, Context-Awareness and
Privacy. He is involved in the W3C, in working groups like GRDDL and RDFa.
Darren Gergle (Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department
of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His research is broadly defined by the
field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and focuses on applying cognitive and social psychological
theories of communication to the design, development and evaluation of novel collaboration technologies.
His current research develops computational models of communication processes that can be used in
interactive applications. In addition, he explores coordination and communication processes in large-
scale technological environments, interpersonal trust development in computer-mediated environments,
and, more recently, the development of culturally-aware technologies.
6
William J. Gibbs is an Associate Professor in the Journalism and Multimedia Arts Department at
Duquesne University where he teaches courses in multimedia, digital media design, and human-computer
interaction. He received his Ph.D. in Instructional Systems from The Pennsylvania State University. His
research interests include knowledge acquisition, interface design, computer-mediated communication,
and human-computer interaction.
Anatoliy Gruzd is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Management at Dalhousie

University in Canada. He earned his PhD in Library and Information Science at the University of Il-
linois at Urbana-Champaign and also holds a MS in Library and Information Science from Syracuse
University as well as BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from Dnipropetrovsk National University
in Ukraine. Dr. Gruzd's current research includes the development of various automated text mining
techniques and visualization tools for uncovering social networks between online participants based
on their digital footprints alone. Dr. Gruzds work has been presented and published in several peer-
reviewed journals and conferences, including Information Processing & Management, the American
Society for Information Science and Technology, Digital Libraries, GROUP and Networked Learn-
ing. Recently, Dr. Gruzds paper "Studying collaborative learning using name networks" received the
ALISE 2009 Best Paper Award and has been published in the Journal of Education for Library and
Information Science. Most recently, in 2010 Dr. Gruzd has been awarded a $161,000 Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant to study how online social media and online social
networks are changing the ways scholars disseminate knowledge and information. Dr. Gruzd is also
participating in a $23.2 million NCE collaborative research initiative called the GRAND (Graphics,
Animation and New meDia) network which goal is to develop Canada's position as a global leader in
new media, animation and games.
David Gurzick is an Instructor of Management at Hood College, where he teaches courses in the
management of information systems, analytical methods, and socially responsible management. In his
research, he explores the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the social lives
of individuals and communities. With a background in the design and evaluation of online communi-
ties, social media, and other computer-mediated communication systems, he is specifically interested
in understanding how ICT can be designed to enable new forms of expression and build new venues for
interaction and collaboration. Prior to teaching, Dr. Gurzick served in various industry capacities, most
recently as the Director of Research at Sonum Technologies, a software development company special-
izing in the area of natural language processing. He has a B.S. in computer science from Frostburg State
University, an M.S. in Computer Science from Hood College, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems from
the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Robert Hancock has over 15 years of experience in Educational Technology and Administration.
He received the 2007 best research paper award from the International Society of Technology in Edu-
cation (ISTE) for his work on linking technology to achievement. Dr. Hancock was named 2007-2008
Educational Technology professor of the Year by Louisiana Computer Using Educators (LaCUE), the
Louisiana ISTE affiliate organization. Prior to becoming a professor, he was a Technology Director for
a North Dallas area school district and the Founder/Coordinator of the Rhodes Technology Academy
which was a magnet school for technology grades 6th through 8th in the San Antonio Independent
School District.
7
Brent Hecht is a Ph.D. student in the Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Department
at Northwestern University. He has a Masters Degree in geography from the University of California,
Santa Barbara and holds undergraduate degrees in both geography and computer science from Macalester
College. His research broadly focuses on cultural and geographic human computer interaction (HCI).
He is particularly interested in mining cultural diversity from user-generated content, and applying this
information in novel culturally-aware technologies.
Bernie Hogan is a Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. Dr.
Hogan's research focuses on the processes of managing and maintaining social relationships through
multiple media. His recent work focuses on the issue of maintaining personal contact and social identity
on general social network spaces as well issues of network visualization for end-users rather than experts.
His dissertation, at the University of Toronto, focused on the issues of maintaining social accessibility
through the use of email, instant messenger, telephone and in person contact. It won the Dordick Award
for best dissertation from the Communication and Technology section of the International Communica-
tion Association.
Tad Hogg is a researcher, whose work includes experimental economics for developing reputation in
e-commerce, modeling web communities, phase transitions in combinatorial search, medical applications
for microscopic robots built from molecular electronics, and applications of quantum computing. He has
worked at HP Labs and Xerox PARC, where his research included an early market-based distributed
computer system. Tad holds a PhD from Stanford and BS from Caltech, both in physics.
Jennifer Howell is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies and Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) in the Faculty of Education at The Australian Catholic University. Her research
focuses on online communities, continuing teacher professional development, e-learning, m-learning,
Web 2.0 technologies, building teacher capacity, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math-
ematics) Education and electronic research methodology. During her 17 year career as an educator she
has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Philippines and India. She has developed
several online initiatives, the eMerge Community, for pre-service teachers and The Teachers Capacity
Network (TCN), an online professional development community. She is currently involved in curriculum
and syllabus development in Queensland, as part of the new Australian National Curriculum roll-out.
Jan Isakovi has a degree in Economics and Computer Science and has been a fan of virtual com-
munities since 1991, when he dialled his first Bulletin board system. Throughout his career he has worked
with different business communities in companies of different sizes. As a co-founder of Artesia he has
combined years of practical experience and theoretical knowledge of the field in a methodology that
is helping companies understand online communities and make the commitment of supporting a long
term relationship with their communities in the online world.
Hiroshi Kato is a professor at Center of ICT and Distance Education, The Open University of Japan,
where he has served since 2009. Prior to that, he was working for NEC Corporation (1983-2000) and Na-
tional Institute of Multimedia Education (2000-2009). He received his Ph. D. degree in engineering from
Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1999. His research interest includes computer supported collaborative
learning and its assessment from socio-cultural approach. He received several Outstanding Research
8
Paper Awards from Japan Society for Science Education (2009), from Association for Advancement of
Computing in Education (at the international conference ED-MEDIA 2008), and from the Japan Society
of Educational Technology (2006, 2005,1998).
Sheila Kinsella is a Ph.D. student at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, National University
of Ireland, Galway. Her research activities focus on applying Semantic Web technologies to study user-
generated content. During her graduate studies she has at been a visiting researcher at Yahoo! Research
Barcelona and at the cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne and an associate researcher with IBM's
Centre for Advanced Studies in Dublin. She previously received a BE degree with 1st class honours in
Electronic and Computer Engineering from the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Chris Kimble is an associate professor at Euromed Management, Marseille, France. Previously he

lectured in Information Systems and Management at the University of York (UK), Information Technology
at the University of Newcastle (UK) and was a researcher with the Business School and Department of
Informatics at the University of Northumbria (UK). His broad research interests are how to manage the
fit between technology and the social world. He is best known for his work on Communities of Practice
and Knowledge Management although he has also published articles on Information Systems, Strategy
and technological support for geographically distributed work. He has over 20 years of experience as
an academic in France and the UK and he has published more than 80 articles in books and journals.
He is the Senior Academic editor for the journal Global Business and Organizational Excellence, and
on the editorial boards of the journals Information Research and e-Minds.
Piet Kommers is Associate Professor at the University of Twente. His specialties are advanced
learning tools such as concept mapping, virtual reality and mobile learning. His research and teaching
stretch from teacher education via the European Joint Research Projects to international projects under
the auspices of UNESCO. His recent publications are on learners' preconceptions and representations
that express pre-intuitive ideas before the actual learning may start: Cognitive Support for Learning
and Imagining the Unknown. He is the Editor of several research journals and organizes conferences
in mobile learning, e-society and web-based communities.
Niki Lambropoulo is an experienced researcher, consultant, e-learning expert, HCI designer, and
online communities manager. Her interest fall in the field of Collective Intelligence, translated into
Collaborative E-Learning in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning; Idea and Group Management
in Distributed Leadership; and User Innovation Networks in Innovation and Open Innovation. She was
born in Ancient Olympia, Greece. She holds two BAs and a Diploma in Education from the University of
Athens, Greece and an MA in ICT in Education from the Institute of Education, University of London.
She finished her PhD at London South Bank University, UK. Since 1989 she has worked as a Greek
language and ICT teacher, ICT coordinator, researcher, consultant and Project Manager mostly over the
Net. She has published widely in her fields of interest. She currenlty works as a Human-Computer Inter-
action Education research fellow for the EU funded project EuroCAT in London South Bank University.
Outside her office she likes Yogic Arts and Budokon, reading, music, arts and design, swimming, and
cloud watching. She enjoys working collaboratively over the Net.
9
Reneta D. Lansiquot is an Assistant Professor of English at New York City College of Technology
(City Tech) of the City University of New York (CUNY), where she earned an AAS Degree in Com-
puter Information Systems and a Bachelor of Technology Degree in Computer Systems Technology.
She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Communication and Technology from New York University after
completing her Master of Science Degree in Integrated Digital Media at Polytechnic University. She
currently specializes in Technical Writing. Reneta is a native of St. Lucia with extensive international
experience. She has presented her research at many regional, national, and international conferences.
Renetas educational approach emphasizes the importance of facilitating student self-regulation, in-
terdisciplinary studies, and technology-based learning. Her mixed-methodology research focuses on
culture, interactive iconography, computer-mediated communication, and virtual worlds. Reneta is an
avid gamer who enjoys exploring real and virtual worlds. She can be found in Second Life as her avatar,
Reneta Writer.
Mylne Leitzelman holds a PhD in Information & Communication Technologies. Dr. Leitzelman
is at present a contractual researcher at University of Nice. She mainly her current research interests
focus on the creation and animation of online communities and how they collectively exchange raw data,
compiled information and knowledge through a proven set of methodologies and practices, facilitating
the synergy of scattered knowledge to create a collective intelligence.
Freddy Limpens graduated from the University of Technology of Compigne, France and then
obtained a master of science from the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, in
Applied Information Technology. At Chalmers Dr. Limpens studied the use of science and technology
in new media arts and focus on the problem of knowledge access and video indexing for his masters
thesis. He then started a Ph.D program at INRIA, Sophia Antipolis, France, in the Edelweiss team and
under the supervision of Dr. Fabien Gandon and Dr. Michel Buffa. His Ph.D research focuses on bring-
ing the benefits of Semantic Web technologies to the social web, and he proposed several contributions
on bridging ontologies and folksonomies published in international conferences.
Rocci Luppicini is an assistant professor in the communication department at the University of Ot-
tawa and serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Technoethics. Dr. Luppicini is an
interdisciplinary scholar with an extensive publication record in communication and related fields. He
has authored/ edited several books including: Technoethics and the Evolving Knowledge Society (Idea
Group Publishing, 2010), Cases on Digital Technologies in Higher Education: Issues and Challenges
(Idea Group Publishing, 2010), Trends in Educational Technology and Distance Education in Canada
(VSM Publishing, 2008), the Handbook of Research on Technoethics Volume I and II (Idea Group
Publishing, 2009), the Handbook of Conversation Design for Instructional Applications (Idea Group
Publishing, 2008), and Online Learning Communities (Information Age Publishing, 2007).
Jos Luis Lpez Aguirre holds a PhD in Information Sciences from Universidad Complutense
de Madrid. Currently, he is a researcher professor in the School of Communication at the Universidad
Panamericana (Mexico). Director of Research Unit on Social Networks and Director of Research Group
Cibercom, as well as a professor of Seminary of Virtual Communities (Universidad Panamericana). Re-
search lines in progress: virtual communities and social networks, digital media and cyberdocumentation.
10
Yutaka Matsuo is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Engineering Innovation, the University
of Tokyo. Prior to this, he was a Researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology (20022007) and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Infor-
mation, Stanford University (20052007). He received his Ph.D. in Information and Communication
Engineering (2002), MS in Electrical Engineering (1999), and BA in Information and Communication
Engineering (1997) from The University of Tokyo. His major is web mining (especially social network
mining), text processing, and semantic web in the context of artificial intelligence research. He has won
numerous awards including the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI) Best Paper Award in
2002, JSAI Anniversary Project Award in 2006, and Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ)
Nagao Special Researcher Award in 2008.
Gord McCalla is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatch-
ewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. His research interests are in applied artificial intelligence,
focussed particularly on user modelling and artificial intelligence in education (AIED). Working with
colleagues and students in the ARIES Laboratory at the U. of S. over many years, Gord has explored
many issues, including granularity in learning and reasoning, educational diagnosis, learner modelling,
tutorial dialogue, instructional planning, peer help, learning object repositories. A current AIED focus is
a data-centric approach to e-learning called the ecological approach, where information is automatically
collected about learners as they interact with learning material and then mined for relevant patterns that
could inform an e-learning system. A related user modelling research project is active learner model-
ling, a procedural approach to just-in-time capture of contextually relevant information about learn-
ers. Gord has served both the AIED and user modelling research communities in a multitude of ways,
including service as program chair of major conferences, memberships on journal editorial boards, and
other organizational activities (he is a former President of the International AIED Society). Currently
he serves the Canadian Association for Computer Science/Association informatique canadienne, the
Canadian academic computer science organization, as its immediate Past-President.
Janet McCracken is an Assistant Professor in the TechOne program at Simon Fraser University.
Her research interests focus on articulating design methodologies for technology-mediated environ-
ments that support people to learn, to perform their work and to engage in meaningful activities in their
lives. She applies a range of qualitative approaches to analysis of learner and user needs and concep-
tions, models of evaluation, and theories and models of instructional design. Recent research projects
include a SSHRC standard grant to explore how designers and faculty conceptualise, use and modify
a learner-centred analysis method she has under development in their own context, and to explore how
designers and faculty conceptualise and eventually select technologies for blended learning environ-
ments in post-secondary contexts. Current work focuses on learning design and curriculum design for
undergraduate programs and courses.
Joseph E. McKendrick is an author and independent analyst who tracks the impact of informa-
tion technology on management and markets, and a graduate of Temple University. His work appears
regularly in the highly regarded CBS Interactive blogsites "Business Brains" on SmartPlanet.com and
"Service Oriented" on ZDNet.com. Joe speaks frequently on Enterprise 2.0 and information technol-
ogy topics at industry events and Webcasts. Joe also writes a regular column for Database Trends &
Applications, and has designed and authored numerous research reports in partnership with Unisphere
11
Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. for companies including Oracle, IBM, and VMware, in
conjunction with user groups including SHARE, Oracle Applications Users Group, and International
DB2 Users Group. He also served as director of the Administrative Management Society (AMS), an
international professional association dedicated to advancing knowledge within the IT and business
management fields.
Ivn Mnguez holds a Master Degree in Web Engineering by the University of Oviedo (2009). His
Master thesis was focused on recomendation algorithms using semantic web technologies. He has long
experience in Web development issues and applications of semantic web technology to the domains of
e-tourism and mobile services. Since January 2007, he develops his professional career as a member of
the R&D Department in CTIC Foundation.
Toshio Mochizuki is an assistant professor (full time and tenured) at School of Network and Informa-
tion, Senshu University. Prior to joining the Senshu faculty, he was a research fellow of the Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science (2003-2004), an assistant professor of Kobe University (2004-2006), and
a visiting associate professor at Microsoft chair of Educational Environment and Technology (MEET),
the University of Tokyo (2006-2008). He earned his Ph.D. degree in Educational Technology from the
Graduate University of Advanced Studies in 2004. His major is Educational Technology and Learning
Sciences (especially in Computer Support for Collaborative Learning). His current research focuses on
the development of higher order thinking through collaborative learning with supports of visualiza-
tion and knowledge manipulation utilizing information communication technology. He received the
Outstanding Young Researcher Award from the Japan Society of Educational Technology (2003), and
several Outstanding Paper Awards from Japan Society of Educational Technology (2004), Japan So-
ciety for Science Education (2008), and Association for Advancement of Computing in Education (at
the international conference ED-MEDIA 2008). He also received the Outstanding Poster Award at the
ED-MEDIA2008 conference and the Best Technology Design Paper Award at the CSCL2009 confer-
ence of International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Diego Berrueta Muoz holds an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Oviedo. He was
awarded two intermediate and two final awards on the best qualifications. He is now pursuing a PhD
degree. Diego has experience on the development of logical languages and compilers. Within CTIC
Foundation, he coordinates the Semantic Technologies Unit at the R&D department, and he is involved
in national and European research projects. He has advised five successful degree projects at the Uni-
versity. As part of his participation in the Semantic Web Deployment Working Group at W3C, he has
edited a W3C Technical Report and reviewed the RDFa specifications. He has also participated in two
W3C Member Submissions.
Enrique Murillo is a graduate of Bradford University School of Management, where he obtained a

Ph.D. (2006) and a Master of Research Methods for the Social Sciences (2003). In addition, he holds a
Master in Information Technology Management (2000) from ITESM, Mexico City Campus. Currently
he serves as Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Instituto Tecnolgico Autnomo
de Mxico - ITAM in Mexico City. Enriques research focuses on communities of practice and Usenet
communities, and has been published in Information Research: An International Electronic Journal.
12
Jennifer Baucom Myers is a Ph.D. candidate at Florida State University in the Instructional Systems
program. Prior to being a part of this program, Jennifer worked as a middle school teacher in Cabarrus
County, North Carolina and earned her Masters degree in Instructional Systems at the University of
North Carolina at Charlotte. Currently, she is working on dissertation examining self-regulated learning
within an informal online community of practice. More broadly, her research interests surround infor-
mal learning, social learning, and online communities of practice. Additionally, Jennifer is a blogger.
Yusuke Nagamori is an assistant professor of Synthetic Design in Faculty of Industrial Technology

at Tsukuba University of Technology, Japan, where he has served since 2009. He received his Ph.D. in
Kansei science from University of Tsukuba, in 2009. His recent interest is developing learning support
system for deaf students.
Toshihisa Nishimori is an associate professor of educational technology in Graduate School of Human

Sciences at Osaka University, Japan, where he has served since 2010. He received his Ph.D. in human
sciences from Osaka University, in 2007. He served as an assistant professor at the National Institute
of Multimedia Education, from 2002 to 2006, and as a visiting associate professor at The University of
Tokyo, from 2006 to 2010. His recent interest is pedagogical approach for design of new active learn-
ing environments including information and communication technology. He received the Outstanding
Research Paper Award from the Japan Society of Educational Technology in 2003.
Jeff Oescher holds a Ph.D. in Educational research from the University of South Carolina. His
career has spanned over 20 years working as a Psychometrician, researcher, and evaluator. His current
research interests include issues related to Classroom Assessment, Research Methods, Evaluation, and
the Integration of Technology into Classrooms.
Gale Parchoma is a lecturer in the Educational Research Department at Lancaster University. She
teaches in the e-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and Educational Research doctoral
programs, as well as in the Masters of Arts in Education and Master of Science in Advanced Learn-
ing Technology programs. Gale is a member of the Lancaster University research Centre for Studies
in Advanced Learning Technology (CSALT). She is also a member of the Networked Learning (NL)
community and the Association for Advancement of Computing in Education (ACCE). Gale is currently
supervising doctoral theses on identities, voice and text, teaching and learning, and conflict in TEL
and NL environments, as well as TEL adoption in the higher education and health sectors, and profes-
sional education policy in the health sector. In collaboration with Maria Zenios (CSALT) and Armineh
Shahoumain (postgraduate research student), Gale has recently completed an e-learning strategy study
for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.
Becky Parton has a PhD in Educational Computing and a Masters in Deaf education. Her research
is focused on the use of technology with bilingual Deaf students. She has published multiple journal
articles and presented at more than 40 International Conferences on the topic. Recently, she and Dr.
Hancock were awarded a Steppingstones of Technology federal grant from the Department of Educa-
tion. Currently, she teaches graduate level courses in technology at South-eastern Louisiana University.
13
Alexandre Passant is a postdoctoral researcher and adjunct lecturer at the Digital Enterprise Re-
search Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, where he leads the Social Software Unit. His
research activities focus around the Semantic Web and Social Software: in particular, how these fields
can interact with and benefit from each other in order to provide a socially-enabled machine-readable
Web, leading to new services and paradigms for end-users. Prior to joining DERI, he was a PhD student
at Universit Paris-Sorbonne and carried out applied research work on "Semantic Web technologies for
Enterprise 2.0" at Electricit De France. He is the co-author of SIOC, a model to represent the activities
of online communities on the Semantic Web, the author of MOAT, a framework to let people tag their
content using Semantic Web technologies, and is also involved in various related applications as well
as standardization activities.
Kai Pata is the senior researcher of educational technology in the Institute of Informatics of the
Tallinn University, Estonia. Her main research has covered user interactions and learning in various
social learning environments - scaffolding decision-making role-plays in virtual chat rooms, model-
based reasoning in chat, learning with complex problem-solving simulations, learning in distributed
social learning environments, and informal learning in hybrid spaces. Currently, she is investigating
the principles of learning in hybrid ecosystems and appropriate learning designs and design principles
for user-centred approach.
Luis Polo holds a Master Degree in Linguistics from the University of Oviedo. He has also received
an Advanced Studies Diploma in the Philosophy Faculty at the University of Oviedo and is pursuing his
PhD degree. Since March 2005, he develops his professional career as a member of the R&D Depart-
ment, in CTIC Foundation (Spain), where he coordinates the Semantic Technologies Unit. He is also
involved in several national and European research projects.
Nancy Poon received her doctorate in Sociology in 2009, concentrating on Criminology; Nancy
Poon fell into this area quite by accident. Interested in the implications of social network analysis for
criminology, more particularly, how real world deviant communities came to exist, evolve, and persist,
and how community members developed a sense of community; research into interactions in informal
virtual communities seemed like a logical extension.
Anabel Quan-Haase is an Associate Professor and holds a joint appointment at the Faculty of In-
formation and Media Studies and the Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, Canada.
She obtained her Diplom (M.Sc.) in Psychology at the Humboldt University in Berlin and her Ph.D.
at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. Her research investigates how information and
communication technologies transform organizations, communities, and educational settings. She cur-
rently holds a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant to study how young
people have integrated communication technologies into their everyday life and the effect it has on their
social networks, ability to obtain information, and social support. Her articles have been published in
American Behavioral Scientist, Analyse und Kritik, Information, Communication, & Society, Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication, and The Information Society. The title of her recent book is
Information brokering in the high-tech industry: Online social networks at work.
14
Manuela Repetto is a research fellow at the Institute for Educational Technology of the Italian Na-
tional Research Council (ITD-CNR). Working on multiple projects at a national and European level, she
is interested in exploring strategies to enhance the learning process through the emerging web-related
technologies.
Howard Rheingold is the author of Tools for Thought http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/, The

Virtual Community http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/ and Smart Mobs http://www.smartmobs.com.
He was the editor of Whole Earth Review http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Review and The
Millennium Whole Earth Catalog http://www.well.com/user/hlr/mwecintro.html. Mr. Rheingold is the
founding executive editor of Hotwired http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HotWired and founder of Electric
Minds http:// www.rheingold.com/electricminds/. He is a Non-resident Fellow, Annenberg Center for
Communication, USC, 2007 http://www.annenberg.edu/info/rheingold.php and a visiting Professor, De
Montfort University, UK. He has taught at UC Berkeley, and Stanford University. His current project
include: Social Media Classroom http://socialmediaclassroom.com; the Cooperation Project http://www.
cooperationcommons.org; Participatory Media Literacy (https://www.socialtext.net/medialiteracy/); and
HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation grantee http://tinyurl.com/yqjsmr.
Cline Robardet has been an associate professor at INSA Lyon (national institute of applied sciences
of Lyon) since 2003. She is a member of the Liris Laboratory affiliated to the French research institution
CNRS. Dr. Robardet is also in the scientific board of IXXI: Complex Systems Institute. She received
her PhD degree in Computer Science in 2002 from University Lyon 1 and her research focused on co-
clustering. Currently, Dr. Robardet's main research interests include several aspects of data mining and
combinatorial optimization. She is particularly interested in the following: clustering analysis, pattern
extraction under constraints and complex dynamic network analysis.
Brent Robertson will tell you one of the best things about his career is the opportunities he has had
to apply knowledge management for lasting solutions to recurring issues. As Program Quality Manager,
In Situ Projects for Suncor Energy, Brent believes that understanding the importance of lessons learned
and building dynamic systems to manage knowledge is critical to future growth in the oil industry.
His experience in heavy industrial project management has given him the opportunity to develop and
implement systems for managing knowledge, quality and risk in both field and corporate settings. Brent
has seen the value, firsthand, in his work as construction manager, risk manager, quality manager and
lessons learned manager in uranium and oil/gas industries. He earned undergraduate degrees in eco-
nomics and civil engineering from the University of SaskatchewanCanada and a graduate degree in
systems and engineering management from Texas Tech University, USA. He is a professional engineer
and a certified project management professional. Brent is a member of several professional associations
and has lectured numerous times at different universities. His work has been published both regionally
and internationally.
Devan Rosen (Ph.D., Cornell University) is an Assistant Professor of New Media at Ithaca College,
and has published on topics including social network analysis, self-organizing systems, computer-
mediated communication, and organizational communication. His research focuses on decentralized
communication networks, communication and information technology, and distributed socio-technical
systems. He has also developed network analytic methods for the structural and content analysis of
online communities and virtual worlds.
15
Emilio Rubiera holds a Master Degree in Hispanic and French Philology from the University of
Oviedo. His masters thesis was titled Lexicographical resources and new technologies, and covered
controlled vocabularies, folksonomies and lexicons in the Web. He is pursuing a PhD at the same Uni-
versity. Since 2005, he has been applying his linguistic skills to the Semantic Web research in CTIC
Foundation.
Peter Sander is a professor in the School of Engineering of the University of Nice - Sophia-Antipolis.
His research interests include collaborative work environments, e-learning, web frameworks, semantics
and presentation of mathematical content on the web. He has participated in European and French na-
tional projects in these domains. Current interests include detecting, analyzing and modeling emotions
within the context of social networks, serious games, and health care for the elderly.
Gilson Yukio Sato is a lecturer at Federal University of Technology - Paran (UTFPR - Brazil). He
received his electronic engineering degree and his MSc from UTFPR. He obtained his PhD from the
University of Technology of Compigne (UTC - France). His current research involves agents to support
and study communities of practice and social networks.
Richard. A. Schwier is a Professor of Educational Technology and Design at the University of Sas-
katchewan. He is the principal investigator in the Virtual Learning Communities Research Laboratory,
which is currently studying the characteristics of formal and non-formal online learning communities.
Professor Schwiers other research interests include instructional design and social change agency and
the influences and implications of culture on instructional design.
Lian Shi is a PhD candidate at the College of Computer Science and Technology of Jilin University,
China, under the supervision of Prof. Dantong Ouyang. She received her Master degree in Computer
Science in 2006 from College of Computer Science and Technology of Jilin University, China. From
the beginning of 2008, she jointed CTIC Foundation, Spain and worked as a researcher in R&D De-
partment. Her current research interests include: knowledge representation and reasoning, description
logics, logic programming, semantic web technologies and their application.
Marko Siitonen graduated from the University of Jyvskyl, Finland, where he achieved his masters
degree in Speech Communication in 2002 and PhD in 2007. The title of his doctoral thesis was Social
Interaction in Multiplayer Online Computer Games. He is currently working as a senior researcher at
the Department of Communication, University of Jyvskyl. He is the chairman of the Finnish National
Association of Speech Communication. His research interests include technologically mediated com-
munication in all its forms, online games (especially from a communication viewpoint), and issues of
leadership in distributed settings.
Alex D. Singleton is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and Centre for
Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London. His research interests lie within Urban Ge-
ography and Geographic Information Science, with applications focusing on the multiple dimensions of
social, spatial and temporal processes that shape inequalities in the UK. Dr. Singleton's work develops
an important geographic tradition of area classification and includes a wide- ranging critique of the
ways in which geodemographic methods can be adapted for safe and ethical use by the public sector.
16
Jrgen Skgeby is a research fellow at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at
Stockholm University, where he is conducting studies on digital culture, new media and gifting technolo-
gies. His work has been published in several distinguished journals including Journal of Information
Technology, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies and The Information Society.
Hyo-Jeong So is an assistant professor in the Learning Sciences & Technologies Academic Group
and the Learning Sciences Lab at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University
(NTU). She obtained a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Her recent research focuses on teachers epistemological beliefs about learning and technology, mobile
learning for in-situ knowledge building, and using video annotation programs for teachers meaning
making. She has published and presented in the fields of distance education, teacher education, and
computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL).
Kingkarn Sookhanaphibarn received the MS degree in computational science and the PhD in
computer science from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow
in the Global COE program in "Digital Humanities for Japanese Arts and Cultures" at Ritsumeikan
University, Japan. Prior to coming to RU, she was a lecturer in Imaging Technology at Chulalongkorn
University for three years. Her research interests include various topics in data mining, visualization,
and image processing.
Christie Suggs is a PhD student in Instructional Systems at Florida State University. Prior to begin-
ning work on her PhD she taught online classes at a community college and then went on to instructional
design and administration in the distance learning department. Her research practice and interests are
broad and varied but include blogs as communities of practice and the examination of interactions within
blogs for informal learning. She is also interested in the design of education and training programs for
the international audience and how computer mediated discussions can impact and be impacted by
international attendees.
Alja Suli has always been a passionate member of online communities and become professionally
interested in online communities through her work as an online tutor in different e-learning courses.
As a Media Communications graduate, she started to explore the dynamics of supporting online com-
munities, which has led her to co-found Artesia, a company dedicated to providing consulting in the
fields of social media, online communities and virtual worlds.
Gabor Szabo is a research scientist at HP Labs, and was earlier a Postdoc at the University of Notre
Dame and Harvard Medical School. He also worked with a mobile operator analyzing the social network
of its subscribers. He holds a PhD in statistical physics from the Budapest University of Technology.
Gabor's recent research has been centered on networks in various natural systems, whose connections
appear random at first but share intrinsically similar statistical properties. He has been interested in social
systems (online communities and interpersonal communication networks) where he applies stochastic
modeling and computational tools to predict future behavior.
Seng-Chee TAN joined the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore, upon graduation with a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems from the Pennsylvania State Univer-
17
sity in 2000. He has been contributing to education in Singapore as a high school science teacher from
1991 to 1997 and later as a teacher educator in the National Institute of Education. In 2005, he received
the Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry Education Award for his contribution to the Education in
Singapore. He is currently an associate professor heading the Learning Sciences and Technologies aca-
demic group in the National Institute of Education. His research interests include fostering knowledge
building among K-12 students and teachers and research related to technology-based pedagogies. Cur-
rently, he is leading a nationwide study evaluating the impact of the third IT Masterplan in Singapore.
Aik-Ling Tan graduated from Nanyang Technological University and is an academic staff of the
Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group in the same university. Her research inter-
ests include interaction in the science classrooms and science laboratories, and teacher professional
development.
Tiffany Y. Tang received her PhD in computer science from University of Saskatchewan, Canada
in 2008. Her PhD thesis is in the area of recommendation systems for e-learning. She is an assistant
professor at Konkuk University, Korea. Her research interests include recommendation systems, artificial
intelligence in education, usability engineering and user modeling.
Ruck Thawonmas received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from Chulalongkorn Uni-
versity, Thailand, in Mar. 1987; the M.Eng. Degree in Information Science from Ibaraki University,
Japan, in Mar. 1990; and the D.Eng. Degree in Information Engineering from Tohoku University, Japan,
in Jan. 1994. Dr. Thawonmas has been a professor in the Department of Human and Computer Intel-
ligence, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Japan, since Apr. 2004. Prior
to this, he worked at the following institutions in Japan: Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.;
Brain Science Institute, Riken; Department of Computer Hardware, University of Aizu; Department
of Information Systems Engineering, Kochi University of Technology. His research interests include
data mining, information visualization, artificial intelligence, and their applications to computer games
or entertainment computing.
Quan Thanh Tho is a lecturer in the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Hochiminh City
University of Technology (HCMUT), Vietnam. He received his B.Eng. degree in Information Technol-
ogy from HCMUT in 1998 and received Ph.D degree in 2006 from Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore. He was also invited as research scholar at NUS (Singapore) and EPFL (Switzerland). His
current research interests include program analysis/verification, the Semantic Web, machine learning/
data mining and intelligent tutoring systems. His papers have been published in IEEE TKDE and IEEE
TII. Currently, he heads the Department of Computer Science of the Faculty.
Le Van Tien was born in 1985 in Quang Tri province, Vietnam. He received his bachelor degree in
2008 from Hochiminh City University of Technology. After graduating, he has worked on some other
research projects from 2008 to 2010. He is currently pursuing his master degree in computer science at
Hochiminh City University of Technology. Apart from academic work, Tien is very interested in open
source technologies and has worked on this field for over 5 years. He also possesses good experience in
software development process building based on iterative and incremental methods, Agile methodology.
18
He currently works as a technical manager in YouNet Solution, one of the leading companies in hotel
booking and social networking solutions in the world.
Marta Traetta obtained her PhD in Psychology. She is interested in psychosocial processes in
communities of practices, especially of blended learning communities. Dr. Traetta collaborates at
Group Psychology and Social Communication Psychology at University of Bari and she contributes to
research projects about psychological processes involved in technological innovation in contexts such as
professional and university learning ones. She is member of Collaborative Knowledge Building Group
Association (CKBG) and of Association of Italian Psychologists (AIP). Furthermore she is registered
with the psychology profession since 2008.
Jeremy O. Turner is a Masters of Arts candidate at the School of Interactive Arts and Technol-
ogy (SIAT), Simon Fraser University, Surrey, B.C., Canada. Turner's current academic focus includes
avatar design, end-user experience and artistic praxis in Second Life. Turner has performed as an art-
ist in various networked environments since 1996. In addition, Turner has been featured as a writer
and critic in academic New-Media publications such as C-Theory and Intelligent Agent. As the avatar
"Wirxli Flimflam" in Second Life, he co-founded the performance art troupe Second Front (est. 2006)
and composed for the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (est. 2007).
Maomi Ueno received Doctor of Engineering degrees from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1994.
Dr. Ueno received outstanding paper awards from AACE E-Learn2004, 2005, 2007 and ED-Media
2008, as well as best paper award from the 20th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial
Intelligence (ICTAI 2008).
Pinata Winoto received his PhD in Computer Science from University of Saskatchewan, Canada in
2007. He is currently an assistant professor at Konkuk University, Korea. His research interests include
Web intelligence, multi-agent systems and usability engineering.
Kazaru Yaegashi is an associate professor at College of Business Administration, Ritsumeikan Uni-

versity, Japan, where he has served since 2007. Prior to that, he was a research associate at Musashino
Art University (1999-2003), a freelance design director (2003-2005), and an assistant professor at Fu-
kuyama University (2005-2007). He received his BA degree from Musashino Art University in 1997
and his MA degree in interdisciplinary information studies from The University of Tokyo in 2005. His
major is Design Management, especially for media design and production in learning environment. His
current research is design of a learning support system for web and cellular phone that adopts features
of design thinking.
Hikaru Yamamoto is an Associate Professor of the Faculty of Economics, Seikei University. Prior to
this, she was a Research Associate at the Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo. She received
Ph.D. (2007) and MA (2001) degrees in Economics from The University of Tokyo and a BA in Politics
(1996) from Keio University. Her research specifically examines internet marketing, especially personal
influence and word-of-mouth. She has been active in international conferences in the field of marketing
and information technology, and has received awards from Japan Institute of Marketing Science and
Japan Association of Consumer Studies. She has work experience as an Assistant Account Executive at
19
Leo Burnett-Kyodo and she currently serves as marketing and business strategy consultant for various
firms including a major advertising agency, a mobile service provider, an internet service provider, a
theme park, and a fast food chain.
Alyson Young is a Ph.D. student in Human-Centered Computing at the University of Maryland,

Baltimore County. She has a Masters Degree from the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the
University of Western Ontario and an undergraduate degree in communication studies from Wilfrid
Laurier University. Her research interests include social media, online social networks, Web usability
and information architecture.
Diego Zapata-Rivera is a research scientist in the Research & Development Division at Educational
Testing Service in Princeton, NJ. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science (with a focus on artificial in-
telligence in education) from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. His current research interests
include the design, development, and evaluation of adaptive, assessment-based gaming and learning
environments, evidence-centered design and evaluation, virtual communities, English language learn-
ing, Bayesian student modeling, open student models and the design and evaluation of innovative score
reports that clearly communicate assessment information to educational stakeholders. Dr. Zapata-Rivera
has produced over 85 publications including journal articles, book chapters, and technical papers. He has
also served as a reviewer for several international conferences and journals. He has been a committee
member and organizer of international conferences and workshops in his research areas.
20
21
Index
Symbols augmenting path 399

authoritative blogs 208
3D online learning environment 229, 231 avatar 224, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473,
3D simulated environment 716 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480,
3D virtual environment 713, 714, 716 481, 530, 533, 535
3D virtual reality 714 avatar design 469, 471, 472, 473, 474,
3D virtual world 224 475, 476
awareness 731, 732, 733, 734, 736, 737,
A
738, 739, 740, 741, 743, 744, 745,
Actor Network Theory (ANT) 75, 76, 79 746, 747, 748, 750, 751, 752
actualisation 4
adult education (AE) B
62, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 76, 82 basic awareness 732
adult learners 69 Basic Logic Dialect (BLD) 144
Advanced Research on Virtual Environments Bayesian Belief 318, 320, 330
for Learning (ARVEL) 464 Bayesian Belief computational model 318
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network Bayesian Belief Network graph 320
(ARPANET) 1 Bayesian network 320, 323, 329, 330
agent 303, 304, 305, 308, 309, 310, 312, behavior rules 25
313, 314, 315 bidirectional interaction 632, 635, 638, 640,
Agent Culture 460, 468 645, 649, 653
alternating path 399 blended communities 103, 104, 105, 106,
analytical dimension 420, 421 107, 110, 111, 112, 114, 116, 117
Anarchy Online 556, 561, 564, 565 blended learning (BL)
ancestor node 310, 311 76, 78, 79, 86, 103, 108, 118
application programming interfaces (APIs) blended methodology 105, 107, 117
334, 335, 336, 337, 341 blog 509, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515,
artifacts 471, 472, 474, 476, 477, 478, 479 516, 517, 518, 520, 521, 522, 523,
Artificial Intelligence 285, 301 524, 526, 527, 528, 529
asynchronous 3, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, blog-based community
253, 263, 414, 416 509, 510, 513, 515, 520, 528
asynchronous communication technology 414 blog-connectors 208
asynchronous discussion 189 blogger 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516,
asynchronous online discussion 611, 612, 518, 524, 528, 529
613, 615, 617, 618, 619, 621, 628, blogging community 570
629, 630
Volume I pp. 1-428; Volume II pp. 429-842
Index
blogging interactions 510 Collaborative e-Learning Communities (CeLC)

blog interactions 509, 511, 513, 514, 515, 672, 685, 686, 693, 696, 698
521, 522, 523, 524, 528 Collaborative E-Learning Episode (CeLE)
blogosphere 511, 517, 519, 522, 523, 524, 685, 686, 690, 698
527, 528 collaborative environment 675
blog post 516, 523, 528 collaborative learning 64, 67, 76, 77, 78,
blogs 715 79, 86, 107, 611, 612, 618, 619, 626,
body anchor 758 627, 628, 629, 655, 656, 657, 658,
brand community 631, 638, 645, 647, 648, 659, 669, 673, 675, 676, 685, 687,
649, 651, 653 692, 694, 696, 697, 716
building methodology 359, 364 collaborative venture 704
bulletin-board system (BBS) 360 Collection Information System (CIS) 715, 724
business-based virtual communities collective learning 655, 660
348, 349, 351 comment 511, 512, 513, 516, 528, 529
business community 348 committed message 184, 186
business environment 348, 349, 351, 357 communication patterns 207
business-oriented virtual communities 351 communicative interaction
business processes 530, 532, 533, 536, 537
348, 349, 351, 352, 353, 357 communitarian environment 753, 754, 759,
760, 761, 762, 763, 764
C communitarian feelings 753
Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) communitarian hybridation environment 761
701 communitarian landscape 753, 759, 760,
centrality analysis 109, 110, 111, 112, 114 761, 762, 763, 764
centrality index 111, 112, 115 communitarian scenario
chain network 212, 213, 214 753, 757, 758, 759, 764
chat data 532 communitary convergence 757
chat interaction 530, 533 communitary creatures 758
child nodes 320 communitary environment 756, 758
citizen journalists 568 communitary feelings 758
civil society 37 communitary hybridation 754, 756, 758
cliques 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, communitary landscape 754, 758
100, 101, 102 communities extraction 88
clusters 398, 400, 403, 404, 406 community 631, 632, 633, 635, 637, 638,
co-engagement 34, 35, 38, 39, 41, 43, 48, 639, 645, 647, 648, 649, 651, 652,
49, 50, 51, 53, 54 653
cognitive mapping 178 Community Agent (CA) 192, 193, 195, 196,
cognitive presence 616, 617, 626 197, 198, 199, 200, 201
cohesion analysis 109, 110 community artifact density 333
collaboration scripts 698 community behavior 268, 270
collaborative answer 286 community detection algorithms 138
collaborative behaviors 573 community discussion 176, 181, 188, 189
collaborative building 657 community evolution 672, 675, 676, 677,
collaborative e-learning 672, 676, 677, 685, 678, 686, 688, 690, 691
686, 687, 690, 691, 692, 693, 698 community gravity (CG) 631, 632, 633, 638,
645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 653
22
Index
community-knowledge 674 contextual elements 285, 289, 290, 293, 295,

community models 365 298, 299, 300
community networks 268 contextual graph
community of practice (CoP) 103, 104, 106, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298
124, 154, 158, 163, 166, 192, 193, contextual knowledge 288, 289, 290, 291,
194, 195, 196, 199, 200, 201, 202, 292, 293, 299, 300
320, 324, 326, 327, 329, 674, 695 Conversation Analysis (CA) 176, 177, 178,
community parameters 361, 366, 367, 368 179, 185, 188, 190, 191, 248, 249,
community rituals 361 250, 251, 262, 263, 264, 265, 509,
com-prac 199 521, 523
computer-aided educational softwares 394 created reality 459, 468
computer games 555, 559, 562, 563 critical theory 69, 74, 79
computer-mediated communication (CMC) 35, critical thinking 672, 693
206, 207, 209, 212, 214, 570, 571, cross-blog interactions 509, 513, 514, 515,
573, 574, 575, 576, 578, 583 521, 522, 523, 524, 528
computer-mediated environment 561 cultural artifacts 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41,
computer-mediated interaction 532 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 543
Computer Supported Collaborative eLearning cultural capital 235, 236, 237, 238, 242,
(CSCeL) 672, 673, 674, 675, 676, 244, 245
686, 691, 693 cultural dispersion 558
computer-supported collaborative learning cultural experiences 715
(CSCL) 76, 77, 78, 79, 84, 86, 611, culturally neutral 468
623, 625, 627, 628, 629 cyber-archaeology 35, 38, 40
computer support for collaborative work cyber-bulling 544
(CSCW) 382 cyberspace etnography 764
computing network 534 cyberspaces 372, 374, 375, 377
conceptual content analysis 589, 590
conditional probability tables (CPTs) 321, 330 D
Conflict of Interest (COI) 12 data analysis 672
constraints 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 99 data collection 555, 556, 557, 558, 560,
Construct Culture 459, 468 561, 562, 564, 565
constructivist 303, 317 data collection methods 411, 414
consumer behavior 631, 634, 653 data consolidation 23
content analysis 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, data mining 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 315,
109, 112, 113, 117, 509, 513, 515, 316, 544, 545, 551
516, 517, 519, 521, 523, 525, 526, data mining system (DMS) 305
527, 585, 589, 590, 592, 611, 612, data recollection 13, 22, 25, 28
613, 615, 617, 618, 619, 620, 621, data smushing 14, 15, 17
622, 623, 624, 625, 626, 627, 628, DBLP 12
629, 630 decision tree 303, 304, 307, 308, 309, 310,
content knowledge 615 311, 312, 313, 315, 316
Content Management Systems (CMS) Defence Advanced Projects Research Agency
713, 714, 715, 718, 724, 725 (DARPA) 1
contents database (CD) 305 deficient communications 579
contents presentation system (CPS) 305 degree centrality
context-based formalism 286, 289, 300 146, 531, 534, 535, 536, 537
23
Index
degree distribution 277, 279 economic capital 235, 237, 238

descendant node 310 educational environments 533
Description Logic (DL) 12, 16, 17, 18, 30 educational functions 63
diagnostic algorithms 177 educational technologies
dialogical self 103, 118, 119 65, 66, 67, 71, 74, 78, 80
dialog model 295 e-infrastructures 377
dichotomous matrix 587 e-learning 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70,
Digital Asset Management system (DAMS) 72, 73, 74, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82,
715 83, 85, 86, 115, 119, 303, 304, 305,
digital capital 233, 236, 237, 238, 240, 306, 307, 310, 311, 313, 314, 315,
242, 243, 245 316, 672, 673, 675, 676, 677, 678,
digital communities 237 682, 685, 686, 687, 688, 690, 691,
digital cultural artifacts 543 692, 693, 696, 698
digital cultures 40 e-learning activities 672, 691
digital data 205 e-learning community 63, 672, 673, 675,
digital divide 235, 236 676, 677, 678, 682, 685, 686, 688,
Digital Fieldwork 458, 461, 468 690, 691, 692, 693, 698
digital humanities 717 e-learning initiatives 62, 63
digitally-abled students 233 e-learning singularity paradigm
digital museums 713, 714, 715, 716, 722, 61, 63, 80, 86
724, 725 e-learning system 62, 67, 74, 81, 307, 310
digital native 759, 761 e-learning technologies
digital representations 178 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 73, 78, 83
digital story 229 electronic communication 177, 178, 349, 350
discourse analysis 509, 516, 517, 521, 523, electronic conversations 177, 178
525, 527, 528 electronic discussions 176, 177, 179, 185,
Discussion Analysis Tool (DAT) 188, 189, 190
248, 250, 613, 615 electronic message 176, 177, 188, 189, 191
discussion board (DB) 305, 306 Electronic Museum (EMu) 715
discussion forums 414, 418 electronic text 177, 189
discussion list 195, 199, 201 ellipsoid 340
discussion pattern 188 emergent division of labor (EDL) 382, 384
discussion threads 176, 177, 179, 185, 186, emic 457, 458, 460, 461, 468
187, 188, 189 Emic Perspective 468
distance education 64, 84, 85 empathy 672, 674, 675, 679, 687, 688,
distributed communities 37 690, 691, 692
distributed community of practice (DCoP) epistemic fluency 70, 76, 85
4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 192, 349, 350 epistemology 596
DOAP 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 29, 32 Essembly 269, 270, 271, 272, 274, 275,
dynamic graphs 276, 277, 278, 280, 281, 282
89, 90, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 102 Essembly online community 269
dynamic mobility network 88, 95 ethical boundaries 469, 478
dynamic networks 88, 95, 99 ethnographical methods 410, 425
ethnographic analysis 158, 166
E ethnographic evaluation 457
e-collaboration 285, 288 ethnographic study 415, 420, 422, 423, 479
24
Index
ethnography 410, 411, 414, 415, 416, 420, generalized conversations 675
423, 424, 457, 458, 459, 461, 462, Generation C 234, 237, 238, 245, 247
463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 509, Generation X 236
519, 523, 528, 556, 557, 565, 596, Generation Y 236, 237
604, 608 geocoded online content 376
ethno-methodology 596 geocoding 335, 336, 337
etic 457, 458, 460, 462, 468 geodemographic classification
Etic Perspective 468 371, 373, 375, 376
evaluation 731, 732, 750 geodemographics 370, 371, 372, 374, 375,
evocative message 184, 186, 187, 188, 189 376, 377
ExpertFinder 12, 13, 26, 29, 33 Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR)
expertise inference 11, 18, 24, 25, 29, 30 341
expert systems 286, 287, 302 geographic ambiguity 336
external knowledge 289, 291 geographic information 333, 334, 335, 336,
337, 338, 341, 342, 343
F Geographic Information Science (GIScience)
Facebook 543, 544, 545, 548, 549, 550, 334, 345, 346, 347
551, 552, 553, 554 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 334,
face-to-face 238, 239, 241, 249, 250, 251, 338, 339, 340, 343, 344, 345
252, 253, 262, 263, 264, 285, 300, geo-location 372, 373
417 geo/non-geo ambiguity 336
face-to-face collaboration 285, 300 geotagging 336, 337
face-to-face communication 225 Geoweb Scale Problem (GSP) 337, 343
face-to-face interaction 532 Gestalt of e-Learning 86
Fieldwork 458, 461, 468 global communication 658
focal events 468 gnome-hackers 24
focus group 108 Google Earth datum 341
folksonomies 122, 124, 125, 128, 129, GPS 338, 340
130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, graphical mapping 176, 177, 178, 190
137, 143, 148, 149, 151, 153, 154 grounded theory 596, 616
Friend Of A Friend (FOAF) 10, 12, 13, 14, group interactions 731, 735, 736, 737, 742,
15, 16, 18, 23, 29, 31, 32, 127, 128, 743, 750
139, 151, 152, 154, 155, 437, 438, groupware 381, 383, 384, 385, 387, 391,
439, 440, 443, 444, 445, 446, 448, 392
451, 454, 456 groupware database 381, 391
Functional Properties (FP) 17
H
functional units 351
health of virtual communities 348, 351, 353,
G 354, 355, 356, 357
game-connected rules 558 hermeneutic enquiry 596
game engines 714 hidden communities 54
gap lapse 595, 603, 607 higher education (HE) 61, 62, 63, 64, 65,
Garrisons model 657 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 76, 78, 79,
Gathering Enterprise Expertise Knowledge 80, 81, 381, 382, 616, 626, 628
(GEEK) 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, Home Culture 460, 468
19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31 homophily 632, 633, 635, 638, 649, 653
25
Index
Human-Computer Interaction 675, 695, 696 inter-personal interactions 732

human-human interaction 675 inverse document frequency 397
human learning 1 Inverse Functional Properties (IFPs)
hybrid communities 753, 764 15, 16, 17, 30
hybrid ecosystem 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, IP geolocation 335, 336, 337
487, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, IT integration 11
496, 497, 498, 500, 501, 502, 503,
504, 505, 507, 508 K
hybrid space 482, 487, 490, 493, 496, 500 karma rules 25
hybrid virtual storytelling playground 482 karma score 3
hypertext 177, 189 Key Events 461, 468
Key Informants 458, 461, 468
I
Kinesics 463, 466, 468
ICT-enabled learning 392 Knowledge Awareness 321
ICT-mediated teaching 64 knowledge-based systems 286, 287
identity theft 544 knowledge building 615, 616, 623, 624,
indegree 534, 587 654, 656, 657, 659, 663, 666
individual contexts 292, 299 knowledge capital 754
individual learning 663, 666 knowledge construction 611, 613, 615, 616,
information communication technology (ICT) 617, 621, 624, 626, 629
235, 238, 371, 392 knowledge exchange 700, 712
Information Retrieval (IR) knowledge exchange event 700, 712
394, 396, 406, 408 Knowledge Management (KM) 193, 203, 286
information retrieval system (IR system) 396 knowledge sharing 1, 3, 4, 6
information systems 34, 106, 117
inquisitive messages 182, 183 L
instant messaging (IM) 234, 243, 244, 247, latent content 625, 630
416, 417, 532 learner-learner interactions 617
intelligent system 286 learner model 303, 304, 306, 308, 315
Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) learning community
615, 616, 617, 619 303, 304, 315, 389, 392, 382
interaction context 291, 292 learning context 673
interaction patterns 585, 586, 592 learning history database (LHD) 305
interactive community 570 learning log data 303
interactive whiteboards 183, 188 Learning Management System (LMS) 233,
inter-coder reliability 630 234, 240, 244, 303, 304, 305, 306,
interestingness 274, 275, 276, 277, 279, 281 308, 311, 312, 314, 315, 673, 677,
International Society of Technology in Educa- 687
tion (ISTE) 464 learning processes 303, 304, 305, 315
Internet-based communities 158 learning situations 660
Internet Community Text Analyzer (ICTA) 205, Level 1 interviews 701, 705, 706
206, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, Level 1 respondents 700, 707
215, 216, 217 Levenshtein Distance (LD) 577, 580
Internet relay chat (IRC) 431, 448, 530, 532, life-long learning 673
533, 534, 535, 539, 540 LinkedIn 543
interpersonal communications 161 location awareness 736, 739, 740, 747
26
Index
logic 596, 604 mining algorithms 90, 91, 93, 95

lurker 528 Minitel 2
mobile technologies 570
M mobility networks 95, 101
Mabinogi 734, 745, 746, 747, 749 Moodle 672, 673, 680, 681, 682, 684,
macro-concepts 685, 688, 689, 690
195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200 Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS) 197, 198
macro-scripts 694, 698 multi-method design 547
manifest content 622, 630 multi-method research 753, 754
Mapping Temporal Relations of Dis- multiplayer community 555, 556, 557, 558,
cussions Software (MTRDS) 559, 560, 563, 565
569, 571, 573, 574, 575, 581 multiplayer computer games 559
mashups 123 multiplayer games 555, 556, 559, 564, 565
Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) multiplicative mechanism 276
556, 559, 562, 566, 567, 731, 732, Multi User Dungeon/Domains (MUD) 373
733, 734, 735, 741, 744, 745, 747, multi-user video games 535
748, 749, 750, 752 Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE)
Massively Multiplayer Online Learn- 533, 716
ing Environment (MMOLE) multi-user virtual worlds (MUVWs) 530, 531,
458, 459, 464, 465, 468 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 539
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)
Game (MMORPG) 457, 458, 459, 460, 389
462, 463, 464, 465, 468 mutual trust 755
Matching Problem 398, 408 MUVW interaction 534
materiality 35, 40, 48, 52 MySpace 543, 552, 553
materialization 753, 758, 761, 762, 763, 764
N
mathematical expressions 394, 395, 398, 404
mathematical ranking 394 name network 206, 212, 213, 214, 217, 218
mathematical retrieval 394, 395, 396, 397, narrative analysis
399, 400, 406, 407, 408 509, 514, 519, 522, 523, 526
math-retrieving system module 394 National Instructional Materials Accessibility
maximal matching 398 Standards (NIMAS) 701
maximum matching 398 naturalistic enquiry 596
MBO matrix 354, 355, 357 naturalistic inquiry 556
Meaning Of A Tag (MOAT) 128 Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Measurement By Objectives (MBO) 336, 433, 434, 437, 448
353, 354, 355, 356, 357 naturally occurring community of practice 712
media sharing 410 neighbour analysis 109, 110, 114
Message-ID 162, 171 netdoms 75, 76, 81
metacognition 613, 615 network analysis
metacognitive dimension 615 531, 532, 533, 534, 538, 539
metareflection 663, 666 Network Density 576
micro-blogging 208 networked communities 370
microblogs 482, 483, 492, 500 networked learning (NL) 76, 79, 83, 86
micro-negotiations 44, 46, 50, 54 networking sites 274, 277
micro-scripts 698 networking tools 125
27
Index
Network intensity 576 online learning environment

network neighbors 269, 274, 278, 279 249, 251, 252, 263
niche 483, 484, 489, 493, 495, 507 online media 569
node discovery 214, 217 online multi-contextual analysis (OMCA) 542,
nodes 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94, 97, 109, 543, 546, 547, 548, 550, 551
110, 112, 114, 206, 212, 215 online multiplayer computer games 559
non-anthropomorphic avatars 473 online multiplayer games
Non-Player Character (NPC) 736 555, 556, 559, 564, 565
online multiplayer gaming 555
O online networks 372
one-to-one interactions 735 online social communities 635, 649
on-line activities 716 online social network 278
online communication 574 online social order 248
online community 2, 10, 11, 14, 22, 25, 33, online social technologies 359
35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 89, 100, 125, ontocoordinate 495, 508
134, 157, 158, 280, 281, 283, 360, ontodimension 495, 508
362, 363, 365, 367, 368, 429, 430, ontology 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130,
433, 436, 437, 441, 442, 443, 444, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 139,
449, 450, 452, 532, 533, 539, 540, 140, 141, 147, 148, 153, 596
543, 547, 548, 550, 555, 557, 558, ontospace 492, 495, 496, 508
568, 570, 571, 611, 624, 674 open community 363
online computer games 555, 559, 562, 563 Open Multi-Agent System (OMAS) 196, 202
online conversational dynamics 176, 177, 189 open source software 570
online course 660, 664 Optimal Matching Analysis (OMA) 579
online discussion 176, 177, 180, 185, 189, outdegree 534, 587
248, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 256, OWL 15, 16, 17, 18, 30, 32, 126, 143
259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 383 OWL schema 143
online discussion forums 615, 617, 625, 628
P
online environment 108, 249, 251, 252,
253, 256, 259, 262, 263, 360, 411, participant-influencer 470, 471, 472, 479
457, 458, 459, 467, 533 participant-observation 469, 470, 471, 472,
online ethnographical process 410 473, 474, 475, 478, 479
online ethnography 410, 411, 414, 416, participant-observer methodology 469
418, 420, 423, 424 participation ladder 363
online forum 108, 111, 114, 115, 617 Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education
online games 555, 560, 561, 564 (PEJE) 704, 705, 706, 707, 708, 709,
online gaming 533 711
online identity 546 pattern mining under constraints 88
online interactions 248, 251, 262, 263, 611, people awareness 736, 738, 741, 746, 747
612, 615, 616, 618, 619, 621, 623, perfect matching 398
624 personal names extraction 205
online interviews perspective 484, 487, 492, 497, 498, 500,
410, 414, 416, 417, 424, 426 503, 506, 508
online learning 249, 250, 251, 252, 254, Phenomenology 468
262, 263, 612, 616, 625, 717 philosophies-in-practice 61, 62, 65, 67, 68,
69, 71, 74, 76, 80, 81, 83, 86
28
Index
Philosophies of Teaching 86 qualitative data

Philosophies of Technology 70, 86 597, 598, 599, 605, 608, 609
physical anchorage 758 qualitative research 596, 599, 603, 604, 605,
physical community 754, 756, 757, 758, 760, 609, 610
763, 764 quantitative analysis 533
physical environments 757 Quantitative Content Analysis (QCA) 611,
physical-virtual communitarian hybridation 612, 617, 618, 619, 623, 624, 628,
environment 761 630
physical-virtual communitary hybridation quantitative data 597, 598, 604, 605, 609
754, 756, 758 quantitative research 596
physical-virtual community 760, 763
physical-virtual convergence 754 R
podcasts 715 real geographies 376
Point-In-Polygon (PIP) 343 Real Life (RL) 470
Poisson 270, 272, 275, 277 Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
Police Discussion Net (PDN) 194 518, 522, 529
political discussion community 268 real-world 225, 226, 229
Positioning Network Analysis (PNA) 103, real world community 360
105, 107, 108, 112, 113, 114, 117, real world spatial autocorrelation 372
120 reciprocal relationships 588
post 511, 512, 513, 516, 517, 518, 522, reference chain 213, 216, 217
523, 528, 529 reference paradigm 662
potential interactions 576 relational content analysis 589
practice lens 34, 37, 38, 49, 53, 55, 60 reliability 611, 612, 613, 615, 617, 618,
practice toolkit 50, 52, 56 619, 620, 621, 622, 623, 624, 625,
ProBoPortable 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 627, 628, 629
386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392 resolve age 275
ProBo (Project Board) 383, 384, 385, 387, Retrieval Ranking 408
388, 389, 390, 391 revisionism 69
proceduralization process 290, 292 role-play 469, 473, 478, 479
proceduralized context 289, 290, 291, 292, Rosenblum Brigham Associates (RBA)
293, 295, 298, 299 699, 701, 704, 712
Production Rule Dialect (PRD) 144 RuleML 12, 17, 31, 32
project-based learning (PBL) 381, 382, 383,
385, 387, 389, 390, 392 S
Proxemics 463, 468
SciCentr program 531
pseudo cliques 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97,
science, technology, engineering, and math-
100, 102
ematics (STEM) 230, 535
public domain 350
scientific community 8
purposively planned community of practice
Second Life (SL) 224, 226, 227, 228, 229,
712
230, 231, 232, 373, 374, 375, 380,
Q 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475,
477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 713, 714,
Quake 734, 751 716, 717, 718, 721, 722, 724, 725,
qualitative analysis 599, 600, 605, 606, 610 727, 728, 729, 730
29
Index
SEEMP 12, 13 social consequences 542, 544, 547

Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities social context 700, 705, 707, 712, 732
(SIOC) 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, social data 124, 125, 126, 128, 129, 132,
29, 31, 437, 441, 442, 443, 444, 134, 136, 139, 140, 141, 143, 144,
446, 447, 448, 449, 453, 455, 456 145, 147, 148
semantic analysis 589 social determinism 65, 66, 67
semantic network 533 social discomfort 758
semantic network analysis 533 social engagement 672
semantic social network analysis social environment 531, 732
125, 132, 136, 437, 446, 454 social expectancy 545
Semantic Web 429, 430, 431, 433, 434, social gathering 759
435, 436, 437, 438, 440, 441, 445, social groups 74, 753, 756, 761, 763, 764
446, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, social identity 360, 362
455, 456 social interaction 248, 262, 533, 539, 544,
Semantic Web technologies 429, 430, 431, 555, 556, 558, 559, 560, 561, 562,
433, 437, 438, 440, 441, 446, 449, 563, 564, 565, 571, 592, 731, 732,
454 746, 748, 751, 753, 757, 758, 759,
sense of belonging 672, 673, 674, 675, 764
678, 688, 690, 691, 692, 698 social knowledge 124
sense of community 672, 673, 674, 675, social learning 702
676, 678, 691, 693 social links 122
Sense of e-Learning Community Index (SeLCI) social media 359, 364, 633, 635, 714, 715,
672, 673, 675, 677, 678, 679, 681, 716, 717, 724, 725
685, 689, 690, 691, 693, 698 social morphology 757, 760
shared content 280 social net 757, 760, 761
silo 351, 352, 357 social network 12, 14, 122, 123, 124, 125,
simulated environment 716 127, 130, 131, 132, 136, 137, 138,
singularity paradigm 61, 63, 64, 65, 79, 80 139, 140, 210, 212, 214, 217, 219,
SIOC ontology 442, 456 238, 242, 268, 269, 277, 278, 333,
SKOS 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 29, 33 334, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 438,
smusher 15, 16, 17, 23 439, 440, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447,
smushing 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 29, 448, 450, 530, 531, 532, 533, 535,
30, 31 539, 540, 541, 558, 568, 569, 571,
smushing rules 17 572, 581, 582, 583, 585, 586, 588,
snowball sampling 700, 712 593, 633, 634, 635, 648, 649, 650,
social awareness 652, 653
731, 732, 733, 734, 748, 750 social network analysis (SNA) 75, 79, 88,
social bookmarking 130, 134, 135, 150 89, 103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 112,
social capital (SC) 235, 236, 237, 238, 241, 113, 117, 119, 120, 207, 209, 212,
242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 318, 319, 214, 268, 432, 433, 441, 509, 514,
320, 321, 322, 323, 325, 326, 327, 515, 519, 522, 523, 524, 586, 588,
328, 329, 753, 754, 755, 756, 758, 593, 651, 652, 653, 672, 675, 676,
759, 760, 764 681, 682, 684, 689, 690, 694, 698
social change 543 Social Network Application Platform (SNAP)
social community 635, 649, 716 444
social connectedness 239 social network data 205, 217
30
Index
social networking 37, 54, 205, 233, 234, spam 161

243, 244, 429, 431, 432, 438, 443, SPARQL 127, 136, 139, 141, 142, 143,
444, 445, 446, 449, 450 144, 145, 146, 150, 151, 153, 155
social networking communities 233 spatial autocorrelation 341, 371, 372
social networking tools 233, 243 spheroid 340
Social network portability 443 Star Science 673
social networks 37, 39, 40, 88, 89, 100, Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) 732, 734
101, 102, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, static social structure 532
127, 128, 129, 130, 137, 138, 139, step-by-step community building 360
141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 151, storytelling playground 482
152, 194, 363, 367, 370, 372, 374, sub-communities 196
510, 514, 527, 528 subgraphs 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 97,
social network site (SNS) 431, 432, 433, 99, 100
444, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 547, substantivism 73, 74, 78, 79
548, 549, 550, 551, 553, 554, 568, support vector machine (SVM) 305, 311, 312
569, 571 swarm 482, 486, 488, 489, 491, 492, 494,
social network theory 569, 571 495, 498, 500, 503, 504, 505, 508
social organization 757 swarming activity 482, 490, 504, 505
social presence 382, 392, 616, 617, 628, 629 symbolic interactionism 596, 604
social reality 557, 559, 560 synchronous 3, 43, 45, 46, 53, 414, 416,
social relations 533, 569, 571, 573, 574, 581 418
social relationships 543, 588 system behavior dissonance 549
social repositories 482, 483, 487
social reproduction 674 T
social scenario 758 taggings 128, 136
social sciences 545, 550 tags 122, 125, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132,
social software 482, 484, 485, 486, 487, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 148, 152,
490, 493, 494, 496, 497, 507 153
social space 159, 732, 748 teaching presence 616, 617, 625
social structure 532, 539, 540, 757 technical communications 227
social system 531, 532, 533 technical writing 224, 231
social tagging 125, 128, 131, 152, 154 technological capital 235, 238, 240, 245
social technologies 359 technological determinism 66, 71
social tsunami 758 technology enhanced learning (TEL)
social virtues 755, 759 76, 77, 78, 79, 82, 86
Social Web 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 436, teleology 596
437, 440, 442, 443, 447, 448, 451, tentative messages 183, 184, 186, 187
452, 454, 456 term frequency 397
social Web 2.0 482 Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency
Social Web data 429, 430, 437, 443 (TF-IDF) 197
Society of Technology and Teacher Education text mining 205, 217
(SITE) 464 thematic analysis 106, 118
socioeconomic status 333, 337 thematic content analysis 590
socio-organizational The Museum System (TMS) 715
654, 659, 663, 664, 666, 667 theoretical models 268
sociotechnical vacuum 415 theoretical sampling 157, 158, 160
31
Index
The Sims Online (TSO) 731, 732, 734, 735, vector-space-model (VSM) 406, 407, 408
736, 737, 738, 739, 740, 741, 743, video game 734
744, 745, 746, 747, 749, 750 video sharing 715
thread 160, 161, 162, 163, 165, 166, 169 viral marketing 635, 651, 653
thread pattern 185, 186, 187, 188, 189 virtual age 458
thread starter 213 virtual alliance 45, 46, 47, 50, 55
three-dimensional analysis model (TAM) 661, virtual avatars 224
662, 663, 665, 666, 667, 668, 669 virtual awareness 737
tie discovery 214, 217 virtual cash 733
tracer questions 700 virtual classroom 717
Tracer Study 699, 700, 701, 704, 705, 706, virtual communications 574
707, 708, 710, 712 Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs) 699,
Tracer Study evaluation 699 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 705, 706,
Tracer Study methodology 699, 700 707, 708, 709, 710, 712
traditional storytelling 482, 483, 501, 505 virtual community 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9,
Transcript Analysis Tool (TAT) 248, 250, 656 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45,
Tree-Matching 404, 405 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57,
triangulation 543, 547, 548, 550 58, 89, 157, 158, 325, 328, 329, 333,
troll 109 334, 335, 337, 338, 341, 342, 343,
trust 631, 632, 633, 634, 635, 638, 639, 344, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353,
640, 641, 642, 643, 644, 645, 646, 354, 355, 356, 357, 370, 410, 411,
648, 649, 650, 652, 653, 672, 674, 415, 422, 423, 424, 425, 428, 430,
677, 679, 687, 688, 690, 691, 692 431, 452, 538, 539, 544, 550, 551,
Twitter 544 558, 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573,
574, 576, 577, 578, 581, 582, 583,
U 585, 586, 587, 588, 591, 592, 611,
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) 126, 435, 612, 623, 624, 629, 631, 632, 633,
436, 438, 439, 440, 448, 453 635, 649, 753, 754, 756, 758, 760,
unit of analysis 611, 613, 618, 621, 622, 761, 762, 763, 764, 765
624, 625, 630 virtual context 457, 458
universal control panel (UCP) 735 virtual educational environments 457, 458
usage modeling 268 virtual environment 192, 194, 248, 262,
user actions 270, 271, 272 457, 458, 463, 464, 465, 471, 475,
user-centered design 543, 547, 550 533, 674, 713, 714, 716, 718, 721,
user-centered formalism 293 727, 757
user diversity 274 virtual ethnographer 459, 460, 461, 462,
User-Generated Content (UGC) 463, 464, 468
715, 717, 724, 725 virtual ethnography 48, 457, 458, 459, 461,
user-generated virtual worlds 469, 478, 479 462, 463, 464, 465, 467, 468
user participation 274 virtual geographies 370
uses determinism 65, 66, 67 virtual groups 48, 51, 55
virtual identities 14, 24
V virtual interaction 753, 758, 759, 761, 764
virtualisation 4
validity 611, 612, 617, 618, 619, 620, 621,
virtualities 35, 37
622, 623, 628, 630
virtuality 35
vector space model 395, 396
32
Index
virtualization 753, 754, 756, 757, 760, visibility 274, 275, 276, 278, 279, 280,
763, 764 281
virtual learning 63, 64, 70, 74, 75, 76, 78, visualization 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210,
81, 82, 84, 85, 86 211, 212, 217
Virtual Learning Communities (VLCs) 5, 7, vodcasts 715
224, 225, 226, 228, 229, 320, 323, Voice over IP (VoIP) 530, 558
325, 482, 654, 655, 657, 659, 663,
664, 666, 667, 668 W
virtual learning environments (VLEs) 654, Web 1.0 713, 714
658, 659, 660, 663, 664, 667, 668, Web 2.0 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 130, 134,
669 138, 139, 145, 147, 148, 149, 150,
virtual medium 703 151, 153, 154, 233, 234, 237, 240,
virtual money 374 243, 245, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433,
virtual museums 717, 719, 722, 724, 725 437, 438, 443, 452, 453, 455, 713,
virtual neighbors 509 714, 716, 717, 730
virtual online discussions 250 web-based groupware
virtual organizations 714 381, 383, 384, 385, 387, 391
virtual planes 757 Web-based Information System 430
virtual private network (VPN) 336 web communities 14, 359, 360, 361, 362,
virtual reality 714, 758 363, 364, 365, 367, 368
virtual relationships 757, 761 Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) 452
virtual settings 34, 36, 38, 42, 49, 55, 56 Web technologies 429, 430, 431, 433, 437,
virtual settlements 35 438, 440, 441, 446, 449, 454
virtual space 35, 42, 46, 50, 54, 757, 758 Whole Earth Lectronic Link (WELL) 2
virtual spaces 370, 371, 532, 535 wisdom of crowds 268
virtual storytelling 482 word-of-mouth (WOM)
virtual storytelling playground 482 631, 633, 634, 648, 650, 653
virtual team 54 workspace awareness 383, 392
virtual theatre 716 Worlds for Internet Technology and Science
virtual traces 731, 732, 750 (WITS) 535, 539
virtual world 224, 225, 227, 228, 229, 230, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
231, 232, 373, 374, 414, 457, 458, 435, 446, 453, 454, 456
459, 463, 465, 468, 469, 470, 471,
472, 475, 477, 478, 479, 480, 530, Z
531, 532, 535, 540, 716, 725, 727
ZDNet 569, 570, 573, 574, 578, 579
virtual world communities 469
33

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Handbook of Research on

Methods and Techniques

INFORMATION SCIENCE REFERENCE

Published in the United States of America by

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Handbook of research on methods and techniques for studying virtual

British Cataloguing in Publication Data

Akoumianakis, Demosthenes / Technological Education Institution of Crete, Greece..................... 34

Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 766

Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 766

PURPOSE OF THE BOOK

BENEFITS AND SCHOLARLY VALUE

ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK

Ben Kei Daniel

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF of defence against the possibility of nuclear war.

Figure 1. Historical development of virtual communities

Figure 2. Core components of virtual community

simple model of these communities is described Distributed Communities of Practice

Figure 3. Two type of virtual communities

Figure 4. A proof-of-a concept of a distributed community of practice: governance example

information sharing among people, organizations, Shared Interests: Membership is orga-

Awareness of Membership: Members in In addition, its life cycle of a distributed com-

Table 1. Virtual learning communities and distributed communities of practice

Virtual learning communities Distributed communities of practice

Figure 5. Distribution of Chapters by Country (N=45)

in an interdisciplinary research, it normally takes The diversity in representation as well as the

Main Themes Illera, J. L. R. (2007). How virtual communities of

GEEK: ANALYSING ONLINE in order to plan training activities; (iii) building

RELATED WORK vocabularies, rule extensions (e.g., for FOAF,

Figure 2. IFP smushing rule implemented as

Executing a simple, light-weight rule is

Smushing, Correctness Combination of Ontologies

Figure 3. Graphical representation of geek: Participation-profile

Figure 4. Graphical representation of geek: Expertise-profile

Figure 5. Graphical representation of geek: Expertise

GEEK, AN EXPERTFINDER can arise some scalability problems concerning

The data recollection components are in charge of

GNOME Desktop Mailings Lists: all the

ed to RDF using SWAML (Fernndez et expected to have a significant number of people

Source foaf:Person Data Consolidation

has a high-karma (Figure 8). These rules

(geek:expert) = 1.0 their weights. Alternatively, it is possible to split

INTRODUCTION (i.e., spiritual / mental or physical), (b) they are

available for analyzing virtual communities and BACKGROUND

Figure 1. Digital cultures, technological trajectories and cultural artifacts

Figure 2. Critical technology trajectories and constituting quality structures

RESEARCH AIMS, are the technology constituting structures that

Table 1. Cross-case conditions and criteria

Community setting Shared practice Local settings

Music Notation Lessons sic performance. Synchronization of participants

Figure 3. Music room management by moderators

Figure 4. The distributed music notation lesson toolkit

in Figure 4. As shown, the toolkit implements a Vacation Package Assembly

Figure 5. Examples of music score manipulation practices by the floor holder

Figure 6. Vacation packages assembled and published

Figure 7. Vacation package in negotiation

Table 2. Interviewing strategy for data collection

Music lessons Vacation package assembly

Table 3. Interview topics

Community management Practice engagement

community through elements of the practice in Cultural Artifacts as

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Cultural Artifacts: Computer-mediated arti-

INTRODUCTION by generalist approaches, which tend to condense