A Systematic Examination of Member Turnover and Online Community Health

A key characteristic of online communities is the fast turnover of their membership. Because online communities rely on voluntary member contribution to survive and succeed, member turnover can have important implications on the resource availability and the health of a community. However, empirical research on the effects of member turnover in online communities is rare. Most research assumes that slower turnover and higher retention are positively associated with community outcomes, without directly testing that assumption. A few studies have challenged this view and suggested that turnover can be beneficial in certain conditions. In this study, we contribute to the understanding of member turnover in online communities by systematically examining the relationship between member turnover and multiple dimensions of community health. The results will offer practical implications to online community managers on whether and when to retain member in their communities

Assessing Impacts of Rural Gentrification on an Appalachian Community in Watauga County, NC

Appalachia is a region of contradictions. While Appalachia resides in the wealthiest country in the world, it is characterized by a poor population that appears unable to keep up with the demands of modern American life. Explanations for this observation have traditionally been either a Culture of Poverty model or a view of Appalachia as a domestic colony of the United States. This research uses the domestic colony model to understand modern Appalachian experience in Watauga County, North Carolina. In particular, it examines the impact that newcomers have on old-timers’ ability to reproduce their native Appalachian culture. Previous work has identified two distinct drivers of rural gentrification, one being amenity or recreation based and the other being primarily an extension of suburban sprawl. Most research on rural gentrification has focused on housing areas in the mountain west where patterns have been characterized by very low density developments or hobby farms. On the surface, patterns emerging in rural western North Carolina’s Appalachian region appear to be similarly driven by natural amenities. However, rural landscape change in this region indicates more dense development patterns and stark land value contrasts. This research therefore uses mixed methods analysis to determine the nature of socioeconomic change to the primarily rural Watauga County. This research integrates Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis, quantitative assessment of housing density changes, and qualitative data gathered from interviews with six old-timers in the Triplett community, a relatively underdeveloped section of the county, and six newcomers to Watauga County. Comparison of interviews with old-timers and newcomers indicates differing perspectives on land ownership, land use, and the overall direction of development in Watauga County. Responses generally varied by the length of time the family has been established in Triplett. Triplett residents also voiced concern over land ownership as they describe newcomers as persons who value land ownership solely as an economic asset rather than a lifetime commitment. In addition, many residents report development in Triplett has occurred at a much slower pace, leaving residents of the area far behind others in the county in terms of income and access to more urban amenities. However, resentment and appreciation intertwine in this community as several residents have also reported benefiting financially directly from the region’s exurban growth. These interviews are placed within the context of countywide housing property value change and demographic transition. Results from this triangulation approach indicate the Triplett community residents’ perceptions of remaining underdeveloped and being left further behind economically to be strongly associated with quantitative evidence and GIS analysis of housing density changes and growth rates. This study provides a portrait of recent experiences in Watauga County that may be characterized as rural gentrification

Do as we do and not as we say: teacher educators supporting student teachers to learn on teaching practice

This paper reports data from a larger study into the ways in which Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students engaged in professional learning during teaching practice (TP) in Ireland. The study comprised one umbrella case study of Greendale University, schools and PETE students that consisted of five individual cases: tetrads of PETE student teacher, cooperating teacher (CT), University tutor (UT) and School Principal (SP). Each tetrad was defined as a unique community of practice located within the wider structures of school, education and university policies on teacher education. Data were collected over one academic year using qualitative research methods and grounded theory as a systematic data analysis tool. Findings indicate that in each of the five cases, support for PETE student learning was, to some degree, dysfunctional. In particular, it became evident that there were two conflicting teacher-learning curricula in operation. The official curriculum, expressed in policy and by SPs, UTs and CTs (also referred to as mentors), valued a PETE student who cared for pupils, had a rich pedagogical content knowledge, knew how to plan for and assess pupils’ learning, valued reflection, and was an active member of a community of practice. The unofficial but essentially more powerful enacted curriculum, encouraged PETE students to draw upon their own resources to learn pedagogical content knowledge in an isolated and unsupported manner. The data highlight the force of the unofficial curriculum and the ways in which PETE students were guided to the core of the dysfunctional community of practice by untrained CTs (mentors) and untrained UTs. PETE students in this study learned to survive in a largely unsupportive professional learning environment and, just as theories of social reproduction intimate, indicated that they would reproduce this practice with PETE students in their care in the future. The findings suggest that in cases similar to those studied, there is a need for teacher educators in Ireland, (in both universities and schools) to critically interrogate their personal practices and implicit theories of teacher education and to engage in training for their role. There is also evidence to suggest that PETE students in Ireland could benefit from the development of school–university partnerships that act as fundamental units of high quality professional learning. In the cases studied, this may have led to a stronger focus on the intended or official curriculum of TP, led by the revised maxim: ‘Do as we say and as we do’

Coming to Terms with Communities of Practice: A Definition and Operational Criteria

En: Pershing, James (Ed.) The Handbook of human performance technology: Principles, Practices and PotentialThe intent of this chapter is to ground the concept of a community in the literature related to social-psychological constructs, how people learn, and performance improvement, while explaining why a community may be important in the context of performance improvement and assessment. Furthermore, we draw on the earlier definition to advance six criteria with respect to analyzing to what extent and in what manner a CoP is present: (1) a common practice and shared enterprise; (2) opportunities for interaction and participation; (3) mutual interdependence; (4) overlapping histories, practices, and understandings among members; (5) mechanisms for reproduction; and (6) respect for diverse perspectives and minority views. Finally, we provide practical information regarding the evolution of such communities and suggestions for anyone wishing to promote communities of practice

The role of human actors in legitimising informal networked learning of academic digital practice

Ideas from phenomenography inform this study to investigate variation in staff experiences of a decision to introduce digitally shared academic supervision record keeping in a university-based School of Healthcare Sciences in the United Kingdom. At the time, the school's assessment and feedback strategy entitled students to individual formative supervision feedback on all draft essays before submitting them for summative assessment. Prior to the move to a shared digital record, records of supervisory events were stored in individual email inboxes or networked file-store, as well as on paper that was sometimes held in more than one location for the same student. A blogging platform within the university's virtual learning environment was used because, while it allowed students to only view their own records, the whole academic marking team could access any of the students' records. Lave and Wenger’s ‘Legitimate Peripheral Participation’ provides a theoretical lens for analysis of data collected in interviews with four staff who were selected to represent variations between and within the 'old-timers' and 'new-comers'. The phenomenographic 'outcome space' table is eschewed in favour of a narrative presentation of data that seeks to provide a 'direct encounter' with the phenomena of interest. As such, it represents a case study of informal networked learning, by those on the journey of 'newcomers' from the periphery to full participation and those who guide them. This analysis is challenged by the data, given the varied ways in which staff approached the change to digitally shared supervision record keeping and how the shared records were or were not taken up as a resource to help new staff learn the practice of academic supervision. Staff who had recently moved into academic roles from senior positions in clinical practice experienced dissonance when adjusting to a more permissive information security regime. The study offers insights into the cultural conceptual 'baggage' that can inhibit productive networked learning and the importance of human actors to encourage it and overcome these barriers. The role of students in challenging recalcitrant 'old-timers' into adopting the new digital practice is noted. These actors are held to speak back to theories within networked learning, actor-network theory and Lave and Wenger's communities of practice

Managed Networks of Competence in Distributed Organizations - The role of ICT and Identity Construction in Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge is seen as a main driving force for current public organizations to fulfill their mission in changing environments, and for some organizations the response is to design managed networks for knowledge sharing and learning. Distributed organizations, which this study examines, are particularly challenged to develop knowledge sharing and learning across distance to strengthen their operative units. Communities of practice have become a central notion for the management of knowledge in organizations. However, the elaboration of communities of practice seems to assume that the members regularly work together or at least meet during lunchtimes and at meetings in which they share their work experiences. Some, though, do not have the opportunity to work together or meet directly face-to-face, since they are spread around large geographical areas. The purpose of the present work is to elaborate on this issue. This dissertation addresses gaps in existing literature regarding the role of managed networks and communities for knowledge sharing in distributed organizations. In particular the role of collaborative ICT and identity construction is discussed. The overarching research question for this dissertation is: What are the main factors hampering and facilitating knowledge sharing through managed networks of competence? The two sub- questions are: 1) What is the role of the GoToMeeting™ tool, when sharing knowledge in managed networks of competence? 2) What is the role of identity construction for knowledge sharing in managed networks of competence? The overarching theoretical idea that this dissertation extends is structuration theory. ICTs are from this perspective seen as structural resources that shape the social practices of the participants using them while being influenced by this use. Through this duality of technology comes the shape of the community and the identities of those participating in it. This approach combines Giddens structuration theory with Wengers theory on communities of practice, and emphasizes the social, technological and contextual factors that contribute to the dynamics of networks and communities of practice. The empirical context includes the following networks: The Fishery Network in the Norwegian Taxation Authority and two accident networks, two networks for psychological well-being and the network for occupational hygiene in the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority (main research site). This research is aligned with the social constructivist approach to grounded theory where categories and concepts emerge from my interactions with the field and questions about the data. The strength of this approach is twofold: 1. The social constructionist view has the ability to uncover some of the complexity of human sense making. It views knowledge as socially constructed through interactions in particular contexts. This perspective goes beyond the deterministic perspectives of ICT and organizational structure (network structure), where both are thought to have embedded features influencing people. 2. Grounded theory analysis is particularly useful for the explorative nature of this research project. Data consist of interview data and observational data collected from 2008 to 2012. This thesis contains five papers, contributing to different perspectives and the perspectives are: Paper 1: Media use, social networking and knowledge sharing, Paper 2: Work role identities and their barriers to online knowledge sharing, Paper 3: The sharing of work practice across distance, Paper 4: The use narration to overcome learning barriers when sharing complex practices, and, finally, Paper 5: Focusing on how the construction of identity influences the transfer of knowledge in a managed and online context. This study offers deep insights into the role of the collaborative ICT tool GoToMeeting™ for knowledge sharing. Findings underline that the tool has limitations regarding knowledge sharing, in particular for communities with a more interpretative knowledge orientation. However, closeness to actual work practice is also accomplished by the participants’ use of actual documents, stories and pictures when sharing online. Yet, the participants find it hard to interact socially, to get to know each other and to discover who knows what, which is very important for knowledge sharing. Technology is not the only problem here. Other contextual factors – individualism, group size, mixed signals from management, managerial control and overload of top-down issues create problems for the networks. The main theoretical contribution of this work is the enlargement of structuration theory into knowledge sharing through online managed networks of competence. The dissertation develops a perspective that views technology (ICT) as a medium for identity construction. The findings underline that some work identities are more difficult to signify online than other identities, hence influencing the trajectories of the communities in the organization. There is an emphasis in this dissertation that knowledge sharing is hard to enact in traditional ways online. Though, to some extent the participants establish new ways to share knowledge by means of storytelling and the use of work documents and pictures from an inspected site. Grounded on this, the study contributes to the practice based idea that ICTs can facilitate knowledge sharing by facilitating the observation of the work practices of others. Furthermore, this study extended the emergent perspective on ICT use, and in particular the negative impact of ICT mediated multitasking from work activities to online networks of competence meetings. This study contributes to the communities of practice literature, by changing the focus from identity construction as a facilitator for knowledge sharing, as described in the literature on communities of practice, to the role of identity as a barrier which hamper knowledge sharing. The findings demonstrate that multiple and contradictory identities create barriers linked to knowledge interests and commitment. In particular, my study emphasizes the identity problems in the relationship between old-timers and the newcomers which may hamper the sharing of experiences from old-timers to newcomers. This dissertation contributes also to the study of organizational and social identity by extending the fragmented view of social identities and identity in organizations to managed networks of competence. Findings contributes to our understanding of the tensions between organizational knowledge and professional knowledge that is nurtured by the networks of competence, and the more tacit work-based knowledge which is usually constructed in a master–apprentice relationship during work, which creates unclear learning trajectories for the newcomers participating in the networks of competence. To nurture formal networks of competence, this study highlight that there is a need for managers to; 1) better understand the participants traditional ways of sharing knowledge to support interaction, 2) take on an leadership role to clarify the purpose of the formal networks, but not control what network members are discussing, and finally 3) give the networks concrete tasks to develop their competencies, social network and in particular the know-who. Finally, I suggest that it is necessary to look more deeply into how ICT mediated knowledge sharing, personnel turnover and organizational change in current organizations can change communities in organizations and how organizations add to the differences between the generations as important areas which should be prioritized in future knowledge management research

IDENTITY AND SOCIAL RELATIONS: A CASE OF CHINESE GRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE U.S.

This dissertation research separates out the social relations implied in identity theory and empirically shows the interaction of identity and social relations. I conducted 60 interviews and one online survey with respondents at two public universities in two cities with distinctive sociocultural characteristics. The respondents were graduate students from mainland China pursuing their master’s or doctoral degrees in the U.S. The students’ lengths of stay in the U.S. varied, but all experienced a major life transition from China to the U.S. The qualitative interview data show that the adoption of a religious identity in the two places, defined as different social environments, impact the interaction of identity and networks. Where the community is small and homogeneous, the Chinese graduate students are quickly thrown into strong religious dyadic relationships and primary groups, and soon thereafter acquire a religious identity. Where the community is large and sparsely connected, the identity pool is large and the adoption of the religious identity becomes less constrained by dyadic relationships and primary groups. The interview data also show that within-person time spanning (the time span between prior to the respondents’ arrival in the U.S. and after the respondents’ coming to the U.S.), and between-person time spanning (the “newcomers” who have lived in the U.S. for less than one year versus the “old-timers” who have lived in the U.S. for over one year) are important in the identity network process. The transfer from China to the U.S. fosters the emergence of the Chinese ethnic identity. The Chinese network composition of the newcomers and the old-timers granted them a similar list of important identities. The quantitative findings confirm that place, time, and personal network function together to impact identity importance. Also, the classification of ties into “important people” and “time bound people” are effective predictors of identity importance. In conclusion, this dissertation research demonstrates empirically how social relations and identity impact each other. This research also provides a case study for the population – Chinese graduate students in the U.S

Users’ Continued Usage of Online Healthcare Virtual Communities: An Empirical Investigation in the Context of HIV Support Communities

This study uses data from an online HIV/AIDS health support virtual community to examine whether users’ emotional states and the social support they receive influence their continued usage. We adopt grief theory to conceptualize the negative emotions that people living with HIV/AIDS could experience. Linguistic analysis is used to measure the emotional states of the users and the informational and emotional support that they receive. Results show that users showing a higher level of disbelief and yearning are more likely to leave the community while those with a high level of anger and depression are more likely to stay on. Users who receive more informational support are more likely to leave once they have obtained the information they sought, but those who receive more emotional support are more likely to stay on. The findings of this study can help us better understand users’ support seeking behavior in online support VCs