Automedicación con uso recreativo: análisis de discusiones en foros de una comunidad virtual

El objetivo de la presente investigación fue caracterizar las discusiones de foros de una comunidad virtual en la que los miembros abordaban temas relacionados con drogas con fines lúdicos y recreativos. A través de un abordaje de netnografía se estudió una comunidad virtual en español en la que los usuarios compartían contenido referente al uso de sustancias psicoactivas. La recolección de datos se realizó con base en 12 foros cuyo tema principal era el reporte de experiencias de consumo. Los datos fueron recopilados en bases de datos de Excel y se llevó a cabo un análisis de datos temático con apoyo del software Nvivo. Los resultados evidenciaron que las discusiones se caracterizaron por dinámicas en las cuales los usuarios intercambian una amplia cantidad de conocimientos sobre drogas, su usos, síntomas y efectos fisiológicos, así como la experiencia psicológica. A su vez, la dinámica de los foros brinda recursos a los usuarios para promover la construcción de un sentido de comunidad. Los hallazgos mostraron el interés de las comunidades por promover entornos de cuidado, de prevención del riesgo y disminución del daño. Este tipo de estudios corroboran la relevancia de los foros como escenarios potenciales y útiles para la investigación sobre drogasThe objective of this research was to characterize the discussion forum of a virtual community in which the mem bers addressed drug-related issues for ludic and recreational purposes. Through a netnography approach, a virtual community in Spanish was studied in which users shared content regarding the use of psychoactive substances. Data collection was carried out based on 12 forums whose main topic was the report of consumer experiences. The data were compiled in Excel databases, and thematic data analysis was carried out with the support of the Nvivo software. The results showed that the discussions were characterized by dynamics in which users exchange a wide amount of knowledge about drugs, their uses, symptoms and physiological effects, as well as psychological experience. At the same time, the dynamics of the forums provide resources to users to promote the construction of a sense of community. The findings showed the interest of the communities in promoting care environments, risk prevention, and harm reduction. These types of studies corroborate the relevance of forums as potential and useful scenarios for drug research.O objetivo desta pesquisa foi caracterizar os fóruns de discussão de uma comunidade virtual em que os membros abordaram questões relacionadas às drogas para fins lúdicos e recreativos. Por meio de uma abordagem netnográfi ca, foi estudada uma comunidade virtual em espanhol na qual os usuários compartilhavam conteúdos relacionados ao uso de substâncias psicoativas. A coleta de dados foi realizada a partir de 12 fóruns cujo tema principal foi o relato de experiências de consumo. Os dados foram coletados em bancos de dados Excel e a análise temática dos dados foi realizada com o apoio do software Nvivo. Os resultados mostraram que as discussões se caracterizaram por uma dinâmica em que os usuários trocam conhecimentos sobre as drogas, seus usos, sintomas e efeitos fisiológicos, bem como experiências psicológicas. Por sua vez, a dinâmica dos fóruns fornece recursos aos usuários para promover a construção de um senso de comunidade. Os resultados mostraram o interesse das comunidades em promover am bientes de cuidado, prevenção de riscos e redução de danos. Esse tipo de estudo corrobora a relevância dos fóruns como cenários potenciais e úteis para a pesquisa de medicamentos

Intelligent support for knowledge sharing in virtual communities

Virtual communities where people with common interests and goals communicate, share resources, and construct knowledge, are currently one of the fastest growing web environments. A common misconception is to believe that a virtual community will be effective when people and technology are present. Appropriate support for the effective functioning of online communities is paramount. In this line, personalisation and adaptation can play a crucial role, as illustrated by recent user modelling approaches that support social web-groups. However, personalisation research has mainly focused on adapting to the needs of individual members, as opposed to supporting communities to function as a whole. In this research, we argue that effective support tailored to virtual communities requires considering the wholeness of the community and facilitating the processes that influence the success of knowledge sharing and collaboration. We are focusing on closely knit communities that operate in the boundaries of organisations or in the educational sector. Following research in organisational psychology, we have identified several processes important for effective team functioning which can be applied to virtual communities and can be examined or facilitated by analysing community log data. Based on the above processes we defined a computational framework that consists of two major parts. The first deals with the extraction of a community model that represents the whole community and the second deals with the application of the model in order to identify what adaptive support is needed and when. The validation of this framework has been done using real virtual community data and the advantages of the adaptive support have been examined based on the changes happened after the interventions in the community combined with user feedback. With this thesis we contribute to the user modelling and adaptive systems research communities with: (a) a novel framework for holistic adaptive support in virtual communities, (b) a mechanism for extracting and maintaining a semantic community model based on the processes identified, and (c) deployment of the community model to identify problems and provide holistic support to a virtual community. We also contribute to the CSCW community with a novel approach in providing semantically enriched community awareness and to the area of social networks with a semantically enriched approach for modeling change patterns in a closely-knit VC.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo