Consequences of Content Diversity for Online Public Spaces for Local Communities

While there is significant potential for social technologies to strengthen local communities, creating viable online spaces for them remains difficult. Maintaining a reliable content stream is challenging for local communities with their bounded emphases and limited population of potential contributors. Some systems focus on specific information types (e.g. restaurant, events). Others allow many different information types. This paper reports our findings about the consequences of content diversity from a study of neighborhood-oriented Facebook groups. The findings raise questions about the viability of designs for local online communities that focus narrowly on single topics, goals, and audiences

The Dynamics of Cyberspace: Examining and Modelling Online Social Structure

It has been proposed that online social structures represent new forms of organizing which are fundamentally different from traditional social structures. However, while there is a growing body of empirical research that considers behavioral aspects of online activity, research on online social structure structural remains largely anecdotal. This work consists of three papers that combine previous studies of traditional social structures, empirical analysis of longitudinal data from a sample of Internet listservs, and computational modeling to examine the dynamics of social structure development in networked environments. The first paper (Title: When is a Group not a Group: An Empirical Examination of Metaphors for Online Social Structure) empirically examines the appropriateness of metaphors which have been used in popular and academic discussions of online social structure. The structural features implied by the metaphors are compared with data from a random sample of e-mail based Internet listservs. The results indicate that the most commonly applied metaphor (\u27small group\u27) does not accurately represent the membership and communication features observed in these online social structures. Furthermore, there is evidence that the characterization of online structures in these terms has significantly biased the selection of cases and stories in the current literature. The empirical results also suggest that the metaphor of\u27 voluntary associations\u27 is more accurate and hence is better foundation for theorizing about online social structure. In the second paper (Title: Membership Size, Communication Activity, and Sustainability: The Internal Dynamics of Networked Social Structures) presents a resource-based theory of social structures. This model implies that structural features, such as size and communication activity, play both positive and negative roles in the sustainability of a social structure. Prior work has argued that networked communication technologies will significantly reduce the negative impact of size and communication activity, resulting in fundamentally different social structures. However, analysis of the longitudinal data from the e-mail based Internet listservs indicates that size and communication activity continue to have both positive and negative effects. This suggests that while the use of networked communication technologies may alter the form of communication, balancing the positive and negative impacts of membership size and communication activity remains a fundamental problem underlying the development of sustainable social structures. The third paper (Title: Communication Cost, Attitude Change and Membership Maintenance: A Model of Technology and Social Structure Development) integrates processes of individual belief change and member movement in a dynamic model of online social structure development. Contributed messages create a composite signal, providing members with information about the benefits of membership. This information changes members\u27 beliefs about the structure and affects their willingness to remain members. The processes of communication, individual belief change, and membership maintenance form a cycle that underlies the development of the collective. Communication costs, a feature of the communication infrastructure, affect a social structure\u27s development by moderating the process of member belief change. A dynamic, multi-agent computational model of social structure development was implemented, calibrated, and validated using the listserv data. Analysis of the model implies that reduced communication costs, as are expected in networked environments, slow down the development process, resulting in online social structures which have more (and more diverse) members while being less stable than traditional face-to-face associations

VIRTUAL TEACHING CASES?AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

This research, when complete, will represent a prototype of the development of a virtual teaching case and the use and assessment of the initial versions of research instruments whose aim is the assessment of this new form of teaching case, or any type of teaching case, with regards to learning efficacy, gains, satisfaction, and environment. The purpose of this virtual teaching case (that is, a teaching case, embedded within a virtual world) is to leverage the rich heritage of casebased teaching while helping today’s students to learn by providing a more engaging environment where these students (experienced with multiplayer computer games and the Internet) can collaboratively practice project management skills such as planning scopes of work, schedules, and budgets—skills they have already learnt in class. In a virtual teaching case, students can experience the challenges of discovering problems; collaboratively creating, judging, and transforming resolutions; and reacting to changing circumstances

Teaching and Learning Collaboratively and Virtually

In this paper we describe five knowledge areas for IS educational activities called for in the MSIS 2006 Model Curriculum. The knowledge areas are business processes, emerging technologies, globalization, human–computer interactions, and the impacts of digitization. We then describe two graduate-level courses which pursue these activities — each from a different perspective. One perspective focuses on students learning concepts about virtual teams and collaboration technologies. Another perspective centers on students finding, implementing, and evaluating virtual team and collaboration technologies. We describe the results of educational activities we embedded within these courses that purportedly helped students learn about the five knowledge areas. Next, we share feedback from students. We close the paper by encapsulating our lessons learned

Selecting a Virtual World Platform for Learning

Like any infrastructure technology, Virtual World (VW) platforms provide affordances that facilitate some activities and hinder others. Although it is theoretically possible for a VW platform to support all types of activities, designers make choices that lead technologies to be more or less suited for different learning objectives. Virtual World platforms’ capabilities can be characterized in terms of the extent to which they are multiple or special purpose and the degree to which they support incorporation of few or many knowledge resources. Matching these capabilities with a framework for characterizing instructional approach and learning objectives provides a basis for selecting, piloting, and advocating use of particular VW platforms in specific educational contexts

Values and Knowledge about Computer Mediated Communications: Testing a Model of Social and Broadcast Media Effects

Many knowledge-intensive organizations, such as educational institutions, technology developers, or professional services firms, depend on the ability of individuals to obtain information and ideas. Use of computer mediated communication (CMC) systems, including electronic mail, commercial on-line services, and the Internet, has the potential to vastly improve information flow. Thus, for many organizations, individuals\u27 ability to obtain knowledge about CMC technology will remain an important issue as new services become available. Attitudes and knowledge can both play a role in adoption of innovations. Therefore it is important to understand how values regarding new technologies develop within organizations. In this paper, we apply existing theories of social influence and learning to these issues. We propose and test a model of the impact of social interaction, department structures, and broadcast media on the spread of knowledge and values regarding CMC system

Open badges for education: what are the implications at the intersection of open systems and badging?

Badges have garnered great interest among scholars of digital media and learning. In addition, widespread initiatives such as Mozilla’s Open Badge Framework expand the potential of badging into the realm of open education. In this paper, we explicate the concept of open badges. We highlight some of the ways that researchers have examined badges as part of educational practice and also highlight the different definitions of open-ness that are employed in popular and scholarly thought. By considering badges from three different perspectives (motivation, pedagogy, and credential) and the concept of openness from three different perspectives (production, access and appropriation) we develop a framework to consider the tensions where these competing conceptions meet. This explication illuminates how the ideas of open and badges intersect, and clarifies situations where these concepts come into direct conflict or mutually enhance each other. Our analysis pinpoints and elucidates particular areas where research is needed to better understand the complex phenomenon of open badges, and also offers design considerations for developers, educators, and organizations that are actively involved in open badges

Just-in-time Knowledge: Knowledge Mobilization in a Public Health Network

One question of great importance to Information Systems (IS) researchers is how to effectively and efficiently move expertknowledge from researchers to practitioners. This paper identifies a novel knowledge use process – knowledge mobilization– which focuses on the process of organizing knowledge and making it ready for active service within a community. Aliterature review of knowledge management concepts including knowledge transfer, reuse, sharing, sourcing, and informationseeking suggests that knowledge mobilization is a distinct concept, distinguishable from the other concepts in the existing ISliterature. A case study of a public health-oriented network (Supercourse) provides an example of a knowledge mobilizationsystem that delivers just-in-time knowledge

Growing Local Food Systems: Information Technology Use and Impacts in Geographically-Embedded Markets

Over recent decades, reliance on global food systems involving highly distributed supply chains has increased. However, as awareness of environmental, social, and health consequences of these arrangements has developed, so has interest in local food systems (LFSs) in which consumers are served by nearby producers and intermediaries. Yet, in spite of the purported benefits of LFSs, there are challenges which limit their impact. There is an opportunity for IS scholars to contribute by examining how technology is and could be used in geographically-embedded markets like LFSs. We draw on prior studies of IT use and impacts in markets to generate exploratory propositions regarding ways that IT might be used to in LFSs. The results have the potential to build a bridge between IS research and the study and development of LFSs and, thus, create opportunities for IS scholars to contribute directly to the economic health and quality of life of communities

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO: THE ROLE OF REFERRALS ON ONLINE COMMUNITY MEMBER TURNOVER AND TENURE

Communities are often faced with challenges associated with attracting and maintaining a membership base, which affects their ability to develop a pool of resources and ultimately impacts their sustainability. A potential resolution to this challenge lies in the members of the community referring non-members to the community – member referrals. While community joining has been acknowledged as important stage in the life cycle of community members; however, the way in which a member becomes aware of a community and its resulting influence on their engagement with the community has not been examined. This research-in-progress paper outlines the examination of the role of referrals on member turnover and tenure. Drawing upon theories of referrals from organizational behavior and marketing, the paper theorizes that referrals have the potential to facilitate the awareness of, and interest in, a community, which ultimately influences new members to return to, and stay, in a community