Sharing information in web communities

The paper investigates information sharing communities. The environment is characterized by the anonymity of the contributors and users, as on the Web. It is argued that a community may be worth forming because it facilitates the interpretation and understanding of the posted information. The admission within a community and the stability of multiple communities are examined when individuals differ in their tastes.value of information ; communities ; anonymity ; preference diversity

Sharing information in web communities

The paper investigates information sharing communities. The environment is characterized by the anonymity of the contributors and users, as on the Web. It is argued that a community may be worth forming because it facilitates the interpretation and understanding of the posted information. The admission within a community and the stability of multiple communities are examined when individuals differ in their tastes.Le papier étudie la formation de communautés partageant des informations dans un environnement qui est caractérisé par l'anonymat des utilisateurs et contributeurs à l'instar du Web. L'analyse est basée sur la valeur de l'information au sens de Blackwell (1953). Nous examinons le choix des critères d'admission dans une communauté et la stabilité des communautés dans un modèle de divergence de goûts

Statistical Modelling of Information Sharing: Community, Membership and Content

File-sharing systems, like many online and traditional information sharing communities (e.g. newsgroups, BBS, forums, interest clubs), are dynamical systems in nature. As peers get in and out of the system, the information content made available by the prevailing membership varies continually in amount as well as composition, which in turn affects all peers' join/leave decisions. As a result, the dynamics of membership and information content are strongly coupled, suggesting interesting issues about growth, sustenance and stability. In this paper, we propose to study such communities with a simple statistical model of an information sharing club. Carrying their private payloads of information goods as potential supply to the club, peers join or leave on the basis of whether the information they demand is currently available. Information goods are chunked and typed, as in a file sharing system where peers contribute different files, or a forum where messages are grouped by topics or threads. Peers' demand and supply are then characterized by statistical distributions over the type domain. This model reveals interesting critical behaviour with multiple equilibria. A sharp growth threshold is derived: the club may grow towards a sustainable equilibrium only if the value of an order parameter is above the threshold, or shrink to emptiness otherwise. The order parameter is composite and comprises the peer population size, the level of their contributed supply, the club's efficiency in information search, the spread of supply and demand over the type domain, as well as the goodness of match between them.Comment: accepted in International Symposium on Computer Performance, Modeling, Measurements and Evaluation, Juan-les-Pins, France, October-200

Information values, sharing, and cultural memory: interactions with ICT use in an online immigrant community

Information-centric online communities have become popular sources for users, including for information sharing among immigrants that provides both informational and social support. Such communities encourage greater information sharing when users share the same judgment on what information is of value, sharing that often leads to the creation or invocation of cultural memories. There has been little research on immigrants’ negotiation of information values, creation and invocation of cultural memory, and information sharing within and across the boundaries of online communities, with particular emphasis needed on their use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in information sharing. This poster presents qualitative, multi-method research in its early stages that will examine how the ICTs used by members of Expat Forum, an online immigrant community, interact with the information values and information sharing of community members and the cultural memory established by the community

Interaction, feedback, reinforcement and collective identity: the role of zine making in the formation and sustaining of informal communities

This paper will explore the roles played in the formation and operation of zine communities. Utilising data from thirty-two interviews with zine makers in three continents, information sharing roles within informal networks, as discussed by Cross and Prusak (2002), are used to codify the roles within zine communities. The paper identifies that within zine communities there are two additional information sharing roles (emancipator and change agent) suggesting an emerging approach to information interaction. Further, I argue that knowledge transfer and experience sharing processes, which are fundamental to innovation and creativity within a community are potentially compromised within zine communities,leading to a further disaggregation of membership, and ultimately to an increasing and difficult to breach gap between these disparate zine communities

Knowledge Sharing: Key To Bridging Quality Library And Information Science Services Delivery In Rural Areas

Knowledge sharing and its delivery is one of the major aspect of human existence in academic especially in library and information science service delivery. Therefore, the role librarians have in sharing knowledge are enormous given the task ahead of them. This paper focuses on knowledge sharing as key to bridging quality library and information science services delivery in rural areas. The paper discussed the concept of knowledge sharing, rural communities, impact of knowledge sharing by library and information science to rural communities, its constraints and the way forward. After which recommendations and conclusion were made

Assessing spatial information access, use and sharing for catchment management in Australia

Spatial data plays an important role in many social, environmental, economic and political decisions and is increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for sustainable development. One of the potential areas where spatial data can make a positive impact is for improved decision making to support catchment management. Reliable spatial data infrastructure (SDI) is needed to record the environmental, social and economic dimensions of catchment management. By building an appropriate SDI, disparate spatial data can be accessed and utilised to facilitate the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders across catchment communities. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors/variables contributing to spatial information access, sharing and use across catchment management areas and evaluate the current status of spatial information access, sharing and use among Australian states from a catchment management authority perspective. A survey method was used to collect primary data from 56 regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies responsible for catchment management in Australia. Descriptive statistics method was used to show the similarities and differences among Australian states. The key factors which influence sharing and access to spatial information are also explored. We found there is significant for spatial information access, use and sharing to contribute to SDI development