Soft networks for bridging the gap between research and practice: illuminative evaluation of CHAIN

Objectives To explore the process of knowledge exchange in an informal email network for evidence based health care, to illuminate the value of the service and its critical success factors, and to identify areas for improvement.Design Illuminative evaluationSetting Targeted email and networking service for UK healthcare practitioners and researchers.Participants 2800 members of a networking service.Main outcome measures Tracking of email messages, interviews with core staff, and a qualitative analysis of messages, postings from focus groups, and invited and unsolicited feedback to the service.Results The informal email network helped to bridge the gap between research and practice by serving as a rich source of information, providing access to members' experiences, suggestions, and ideas, facilitating cross boundary collaboration, and enabling participation in networking at a variety of levels. Ad hoc groupings and communities of practice emerged spontaneously as members discovered common areas of interest.Conclusion This study illuminated how knowledge for evidence based health care can be targeted, personalised, and made meaningful through informal social processes. Critical success factors include a broad based membership from both the research and service communities; a loose and fluid network structure; fight targeting of messages based on members' interests; the presence of a strong network identity and culture of reciprocity; and the opportunity for new members to learn through passive participation

An Analysis of Node/Peer Discovery Approach and Routing Algorithms in Mobile & Traditional Peer-to-Peer Networks

Mobile devices are becoming an increasingly indispensable part of people’s everyday life, in the form of mobile phones, PDAs and laptop computers to communicate or share data between them. Centralized client-server networks are being transformed to distributed peer-to-peer networks. Lessons learned from fixed networks have been applied in cellular network. So, there are many challenges faced by traditional and mobile peer-to-peer networks therefore, in this study we examine a comparative analysis of node/peer discovery approach and routing algorithms employed in both traditional and mobile peer-to-peer networks. A qualitative methodology approach was used for data sources. Documents related to node/peer discovery approach and routing algorithms were studied. A comparative method and content analysis were used to analyze the data collected. Findings of the study indicated that there are two clear differences in the aspects of neighboring node/peer discovery approach beside the similarities. The study also showed another differences and similarities in the aspect of routing algorithms. This thesis hopes to offer all necessary useful tips of the divergence on these two aspects and thus to make a contribution allowing researchers to know such divergence

Rethinking lurking

No abstract available

Rethinking lurking

No abstract available

Informal Knowledge Networks: Toward a Community-Engineering Framework

The problems knowledge workers face today are dynamic, unstructured, highly complex, and often cannot be fully explicated. Such moving targets require different problem solving capabilities. Because abstract information is less valuable in this type of environment, knowledge workers have to utilize channels other than handbooks. Hence, corporate knowledge networks again are at the top of the research agenda. For a knowledge worker, access to knowledgeable colleagues, rather than access to large databases, becomes the important factor. In such networks, the question of which managerial actions are appropriate for successful community development ( i.e., supporting the actors) arises. Unfortunately, today’s community engineering practices are often characterized by a gross simplification and strong technological focus rather than modeling the impact of managerial actions before taking them. As part of a larger research project, this paper addresses topological structures as an action variable of community engineering. A computer-based simulation model is introduced and applied to real-life data from over 800 students and staff of the Economics and Business Administration Department at Frankfurt University, Germany

Silent Travlers: Barriers to Providing eWOM

As consumers, travelers play an important role in helping others decide where to spend their valuable vacation dollars or business travel budget before they embark on a journey. One venue where these pre-travelers where glean especially insightful information is on user-generated content (UGC) sites were eWOM (electronic word of mouth) is freely provided by travelers to other travelers. As gathering information is a key component in making consumer decisions, one aspect that has not received much attention are the barriers that hinder travelers to relate their travel experiences. Even when some travelers have accessed eWOM in making travel and hospitality decisions, they may remain silent on UGC sites. This research seeks to evaluate three different UGC sites and attempts to discover why some travelers remain silent regarding their travel and hospitality experiences

Three Lenses on Lurking: Making Sense of Digital Silence

In this chapter, the authors provide a critical exploration of the concept of lurking in online learning spaces through a phenomenological inquiry. The authors begin from a position that lurking is often misunderstood – or perhaps not understood – in education, and that the term itself is quite problematic, as it is typically applied to a disparate range of behaviors by those who perceive them as problematic. The authors then propose three heuristic lenses to make sense of lurking behaviors: lurking as troublesome, lurking as ordinary, and lurking as political. These lenses demonstrate that lurking behaviors not only stem from a range of different motivations but are also situated in a variety of contexts, that is, lurking is personal and contextual. The authors’ aim is not to define or redefine lurking for readers but to provide a critical analysis of what digital silence might mean for their students based on their contextual experience and in the light of critical literature. The authors invite readers to be part of the reflexive analysis by considering what lurking might mean in their own teaching contexts

Communication Between Process and Structure: Modelling and Simulating Message Reference Networks with COM/TE

Focusing on observable message signs and referencing structures, communication processes can be described and analysed as message reference networks which are characterized by dynamic pattern evolution. Computational simulation provides a way of obtaining insights into the factors driving such processes. Our paper describes a theoretical framework for communication-oriented modelling — the COM approach — that is centred around the notion of social visibility as a reputation mechanism. The approach contrasts with agent-based social networks on the one hand, and with bibliometric document networks on the other. In introducing our simulation environment COM/TE, typical properties of message reference networks are discussed in terms of a case study which deals with the impact of different media and styles of communication on emergent patterns of social visibility.Communication, Communication-Oriented Modelling, Message Sign, Dynamic Networks, Bottom-up Approach, Temporality, Social Visibility, Reputation, Socionics