Virtual Community

Auto-organisation des communautés virtuelles : hétérogénéité des contributions et …délité des agents

by Sylvain Dejean

A Virtual Community? SADF Veterans' Digital Memories and Dissenting Discourses

by Gary Baines

African Studies Centre (Leiden, Netherlands) Working Paper 98/2012

Learning In Cyberspace: An Educational View of the Virtual Community

by Jason Nolan

Consumer Roles in Brand Culture and Value Co-Creation in Virtual Communities

by Jason C. Healy

Co-authored with McDonagh, P., Journal of Business Research, forthcoming, in-press.

    Using a Netnographic Grounded Theory approach to an online fan forum, a Virtual Community (VC), this... more     Using a Netnographic Grounded Theory approach to an online fan forum, a Virtual Community (VC), this article considers brand culture and value co-creation. The research site is a VC containing football fans who are viewed as stakeholders of the organisation Liverpool Football Club. Following a service-dominant logic (SDL) and consumer culture theory (CCT) approaches, analysis is conducted on fan consumer behaviour leading to the submission of a Typology of Seven Consumer Community Cultural Co-creative Roles. The authors reflect on existing theoretical consumer responses to market offerings of exit, voice, loyalty, and twist, found in extant literature; adopting these as four co-creative roles. This study contributes three new consumer co-creative roles of entry, re-entry, and non-entry. Managerial implications of the typology are discussed.

Globalization, information revolution,and their relations to education: Emphasizing J. F. Lyotard's view

by Khosrow Bagheri Noaparast

JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS, 2008. vol 22: 145-158.

Globalization is regarded as a process or a project or a process/project which is most rapidly developing.... more Globalization is regarded as a process or a project or a process/project which is most rapidly developing. Globalization, in case of occurrence, will put its impacts on all dimensions of human life including knowledge and practice. Particularly, its impact on epistemology and education would be remarkable. Given that the appearance and development of informational revolution is the most important background for globalization, the first challenge of globalization relates to the nature of knowledge. According to the information revolution, the most important characteristic of knowledge is to be sought in this equation: knowledge = information. This involves reducing different facets of knowledge to quantitative information which leads to knowledge legitimacy crisis. In addition, having a communicational dimension, knowledge will be qualified by means of the shape and characteristics of community in the era of globalization. The viewpoint of virtual community calls us from another side to rethink on knowledge as well as on the problem of identity because in the consequence of virtual community, virtual identity of pupils is being claimed which involves identity fragmentation. To deal with these challenges, education needs: a) to resist the reduction of knowledge to information and equate knowledge with wisdom rather than information; b) to extend imaginative and creative procedures; c) to develop interdisciplinary studies as an important way of extending imagination; and finally, d) to provide relationship between virtual and real communities of the pupils.

W kreatywnym chaosie. O zróżnicowaniu starości na przykładzie prac społeczności deviantART.com (Inventive chaos. Art works of deviantART.com community as an example of ageing diversity)

by Andrzej Klimczuk

A. Klimczuk, W kreatywnym chaosie. O zróżnicowaniu starości na przykładzie prac społeczności deviantART.com (Inventive chaos. Art works of deviantART.com community as an example of ageing diversity), [in:] H. Jakubowska, A. Raciniewska, Ł. Rogowski (eds.), Patrząc na starość, UAM, Poznań 2009, p. 165-211.

Internet increasingly serves not only to communication between it's users. The emergence of Web 2.0 platforms which... more Internet increasingly serves not only to communication between it's users. The emergence of Web 2.0 platforms which are peculiar to publication of various content (including images, movies, music, links to interesting sites) allowed to release of activity and commitment of millions of people worldwide. Study contains sociological analysis of already existing visual materials dealing with old age, which were made by users of the deviantART.com. It's one of the longest established online community bringing together artists from around the world. Article draws attention to the multiplicity of contemporary forms of presentation of old age and difficulties and methodological guidelines related to the study of resources from new media.
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Sieć internet coraz częściej służy nie tylko komunikacji między jej użytkownikami. Pojawienie się serwisów Web 2.0 stanowiących swoiste platformy do publikacji najrozmaitszych treści (m.in. zdjęć, filmów, nagrań muzycznych, linków do ciekawych stron) pozwoliło na uwolnienie pokładów aktywności i zaangażowania milionów ludzi na świecie. Praca traktuje o próbie socjologicznej analizy wizualnych materiałów zastanych traktujących o starości, które zostały udostępnione publicznie przez osoby korzystające z witryny deviantART.com. Jest to jedna z najdłużej funkcjonujących społeczności internetowych zrzeszających artystów z całego świata. Artykuł zwraca uwagę na wielość współczesnych form prezentacji starości oraz trudności i wskazówki metodologiczne związane z badaniem zasobów nowych mediów.

The Effect of Social Support and Coping Style On Mental Health, Tedium (burnout), and Job Duration among Sydney Community Youth Support Scheme Project Officers.

by Adam Bogacki

In the study reported here, 65 Sydney Community Youth Support Scheme (CYSS) project officers (76% of the population)... more In the study reported here, 65 Sydney Community Youth Support Scheme (CYSS) project officers (76% of the population) were interviewed and completed questionnaires which assessed psychiatric symptoms (GHQ-60), Tedium (a measure of burnout), employment duration, social support, coping, personality factors (Eysenck Personality Inventory, Form A), and sociodemographics. Eleven of these subjects were re-interviewed after (approx.) 6 months.

Results were that 33.8% of respondents had GHQ above threshold at the time of interview, 60% having been employed at CYSS for less than 1.33 years. Content analysis of GHQ, Tedium, and Neuroticism (EPI) scales showed significant item content overlap. N was therefore excluded from further analysis. It was shown that reduced models of Adequacy of Social Integration, part-time trade or technical college education, and experience in other youth unemployment schemes had most predictive power on Log10(GHQ+1); of Age and previous experience in residential child care work on Tedium; and of Age, non-work emotion focused coping, and Adequacy of Attachment on Log10(DAP+1).

It was concluded that burnout may be conceptualised as occupational stress and related to psychiatric dysfunction, but that ‘Tedium’ is not an adequate measure of the construct. Evaluation of support function adequacy appears to be a significant factor influencing distress and staff retention. Lack of significant coping effects on distress appears to reflect conceptual confusion in this area. A model integrating personal and social resources seems promising but needs testing.

The pivotal role of community building in electronic commerce

by Petra Schubert

Virtual Speakers, Virtual Audiences: Agency, Audience and Constraint In An Online Chat Community

by Gazi Islam

Von Cyber-Identitäten, virtuellen Gemeinschaften und vernetzter Individualisierung – sozial-psychologische Überlegungen

by Andreas Metzner-Szigeth

in: Sic et Non – Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Kultur – im Netz, No. 9, 2008

Evolution of community structure in knowledge work: A case study in open source

by Beyza Oba

Contenidos digitales fiables y comunidades educativas virtuales para el aprendizaje.

by Janine Sprünker

Actas IV Congreso de Educared, organizado por Fundación Telefónica. Madrid, 29 – 31 de octubre 200731 de octubre de 2007

Las comunidades educativas virtuales se pueden establecer como comunidades de práctica, ya que sus miembros comparten... more Las comunidades educativas virtuales se pueden establecer como comunidades de práctica, ya que sus miembros comparten los mismos objetivos de aprendizaje o materia de interés común y buscan adquirir más conocimiento a través de experiencias compartidas. El término fue establecido para referirse a las comunidades que actúan como curriculums vivos para el aprendizaje. Las comunidades de práctica también se denominan networks de aprendizaje o grupos temáticos. Este tipo de comunidades se pueden establecer en entornos virtuales.

Las redes de comunicación o las redes de aprendizaje en entornos informáticos (CEI) introducen un factor interactivo que permite compartir información y la construcción de conocimiento en grupo. Google Groups es un CEI asincrónico que permite que los participantes trabajen a su ritmo individual y tomarse el tiempo necesario para leer, reflexionar y revisar antes de compartir preguntas, ideas o informaciones. Eso es el aprendizaje en colaboración.

Los recursos educativos con contenidos de patrimonio cultural en línea y en un marco de aprendizaje colaborativo son elementos relevantes de cohesión de grupo en cuanto refuerzan la expresión identitaria personal y colectiva de los miembros de una comunidad educativa virtual y ayudan a acercarse a aquellos miembros ajenos a una determinada realidad cultural. ¿Cómo se puede hacer de este potencial una realidad? Mostraremos los primeros pasos iniciados en la práctica y estableceremos caminos que animen a seguir adelante para establecer comunidades de práctica virtuales con nuevos recursos educativos.

Open Source Software Communities

by Chitu Okoli

Carillo, Kevin, and Chitu Okoli. 2005. Open Source Software Communities. In Encyclopedia of Virtual Communities and Technologies, ed. Subhasish Dasgupta, 363-367. Hershey, USA: Idea Group Reference.

Open source software (OSS) communities are an important type of virtual community today, where members convene online... more Open source software (OSS) communities are an important type of virtual community today, where members convene online with the common goal of producing software that is valuable both to developers and for the general public using the open source development methodology. Participants are mostly male software developers with an average age of 30; most have at least a bachelor's degree. OSS communities have distinctive cultural artifacts, including community norms, values, and beliefs. They exhibit a "gift culture" where "it is more blessed to give than to receive", or to possess. They value quality of work, modesty, sharing, and altruism. As the open source movement continues to grow both as a software development methodology and as a philosophical/social/political approach to intellectual property, OSS communities will have an increasingly important role in the software industry, and it is thus important to understand them.

The medium is the community (?). A pilot laboratorial activity at University of Bologna to tell and promote the city

by Pina Lalli

Co-authored with Valentina Bazzarin, published in Understanding Media, Today, McLuhan Galaxy Conference, Barcelona, May, 23rd-25th, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, edited by M. Ciastellardi, C. Miranda de Almeida, C. A. Scolari, Collection Sehen, Editorial Universidad Oberta de Catalunya, 2011, pp. 323-330
Project manager of the pilot laboratory: M. D'Alena.

2.0 media, such as social networks, the blogosphere, online communities, and so on, can show a shift such that the... more 2.0 media, such as social networks, the blogosphere, online communities, and so on, can show a shift such that the communities active in the medium are, in turn, influenced by it. The analysis of the TagBoLab project sought to explore the nature of this shift in two phases of study: a theoretical one reviewing experts’ views on various traditional media and their social impact, and an empirical observation of a pilot laboratory in which Master’s students explored the workings and ramifications of 2.0 media focusing on the City of Bologna. In this paper we focus in particular on the practical laboratory activity and we will describe participants’ acquisition of new skills and expertise, as well as the practices that emerged in the participant community.

Visions of Community: Community Informatics and the Contested Nature of a Polysemic Term for a Progressive Discipline

by Marcus Leaning

Averweg, U. and Leaning, M. (2011) 'Visions of Community: Community Informatics and the Contested Nature of a Polysemic Term for a Progressive Discipline', Journal of Information Technology and International Development, Volume 7, Number 2, Summer 2011, 17–30.

Community Informatics (CI) is an academic field of study that seeks to examine how information and communication... more Community Informatics (CI) is an academic field of study that seeks to examine how information and communication technologies (ICT) such as Web 2.0 social media and mobile technologies can be deployed for the beneªt of communities.
Community is, however, a problematic and polysemic term, meaning different things to different people, and it has inherently political overtones.
This article aims to bring to the attention of practitioners in the ªeld of CI the contested nature of the term community, and to examine the historical origin of the term and the multiple ways in which it has been and can be used. In
exploring this term, we make use of more literary, historical, and sociological approaches. Such approaches can offer new insights on the topic for audiences from more technical academic disciplines. With such discussion to assist
practitioners of CI of the problematic ways in which community has been and can be used, we offer the following recommendations: (1) Use of the term community remains largely unproblematized, and we ought to be more mindful
of its history; (2) community should be recognized as a locally contingent position; (3) as a term of reference, its use should be carefully considered within speciªc contexts; (4) a fuller exploration of the term in the CI discipline is needed; and (5) practitioners in the fieeld of CI will require greater reflection on the term community when addressing ICT practice issues. We hope that these recommendations may lead to more reflexive practice in the progressive
discipline of CI.

A Structural Solution to Communication Dilemmas In a Virtual Community

by Dongyoung Sohn

Social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among members of the professional distance education community

by Jari Laru

This is an electronic version of an article published in Laru, J. & Järvelä, S. (2008) social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among members of the professional distance education community. Educational Media International (EMI) Journal, 45(1),17-32. Educational Media International (EMI) is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0952-3987&volume=45&issue=1&spage=17

The aim of this study was to identify social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among distributed... more The aim of this study was to identify social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among distributed members of the professional distance education community. Ten participants worked for twelve weeks designing a master’s programme in Information Sciences. The participants’ mobile technology usage activity and interview data were first analyzed to get an overview of the density and distribution of collaboration at individual and community levels. Secondly, the results of the social network analyses were interpreted to explore how different social network patterns of relationships affect online and offline interactions. Thirdly, qualitative descriptions of participant teamwork were analyzed to provide practical examples and explanations. Overall, the analyses revealed nonparticipative behaviour within the online community. The social network analysis revealed structural holes and sparse collaboration among participants in the offline community. It was found that due to their separated practices in the offline community, they did not have a need for mobile collaboration tools in their practices.

Reality and Subjectivity: Digital Films As Cyborg Texts In a Post-Modern World

by Meng Yoe Tan