7/31/2019 The Construction of Knowledge Across Online
Communities of Interest
1/2
The Construction of Knowledge Across OnlineCommunities of
Interest
Warren Allen
The iSchool at Drexel University
Philadelphia, [email protected]
Dr. Susan Gasson
The iSchool at Drexel University
Philadelphia, [email protected]
ABSTRACTIncreasingly, the online identity established in web
2.0
alliances affords the potential for domain experts to act as
thought-leaders across multiple social networking websites.
We
can no longer simply examine how members of a single social
network interact, to reveal how specific views of the world
become accepted by a community. We must examine interactions
across multiple online social networks. To understand
communities-of-interest, we need to follow their proponents
around in order to understand the processes by whichknowledge
and expertise is generated.
This paper describes the expected and preliminary findings
of participant observations of four online communities.
1. INTRODUCTIONSocial networks are the basis of web 2.0 forums,
where
individuals interact to share knowledge and to build
communities-
of-interest. It is assumed that accepted knowledge in such
communities is constructed through the interchange of insights
by
domain-experts. But what we consider knowledge or
expertise on web 2.0 sites are the inscriptions left by
heterogeneous processes and interactions between
participants.
Internet social networks are mediated by specific
affordances: the action possibilities latent in the socio
-technicalenvironment and dependent on an individuals
capabilities(Gibson, 1977). In addition, as Latour (1987) reminds
us in his
work on Actor-Network Theory, knowledge and facts are
constructed through the alignment of interests and their
contingent inscription in immutable mobiles, rather than
objectively-perceived criteria for acceptance. So web 2.0
social
networks inscribe knowledge in a form that is difficult to
challenge simply because it becomes accepted as fact by the
community-of-interest.
2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVEThe study investigates patterns of
engagement with online
discussion boards and other forms of knowledge exchange
forum
on a variety of web 2.0 sites. It examines affordances that
supportcore and peripheral participation in the
community-of-interest and
also affordances that permit various types of inscription,
to
understand the mechanisms by which knowledge and expertise
become immutable in such exchanges.
The study employs qualitative methods, participant
observation, and Grounded Theory to investigate four online
communities: (1) The user/developer community for the Joomla
open-source content management system; (2) The
user/developer
community for the OpenSIM virtual world platform; (3) The
PhilaPhans.com fan-community for Philadelphia-area sports
teams; and (4) Veggieboards.com, an online community for
vegetarians. Our expected findings include the following:
1. Thought leaders from each of the communities consolidated
their knowledge-sharing practices within acore information
space. There are variations and similarities in technology
platforms used as a basis of those spaces , including
non-Web
2.0 technologies and real-time ICTboth OpenSIM and Joomla
users relied heavily on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) which
leave
ephemeral knowledge inscriptions in the information space.
2. Community-formed spaces across Web 2.0 social network
sites are common. However, theseperipheral information
spaces
contain far less knowledge inscriptions and have little
activity
compared to core information spaces.
3. Communities prescribe what information space(s) are
acceptable for core and peripheral activities. However, core
and
peripheral activities occur across core and peripheral
spaces.
3. FINDINGS AND UPDATED THEORYLittle empirical research exists
on social network technology in
formal knowledge-sharing organizations despite industrys
embracing of Web 2.0 and social network sites becoming a
hyped topic in Enterprise 2.0. The overarching logic of
Enterprise 2.0 is based in part on the assumption that
affordances of Web 2.0 technologies will be effective in
Enterprise 2.0 but this is based largely on the popularity of
theformer, not the benefits .
By updating this model of knowledge construction across
online
communities-of-interest, further findings will reveal the
interactive effect of socio-technical systems design and
thought-
leader behaviors across forms of participation in various types
of
community-of-interest. These findings will provide an
empirically-based and grounded understanding of the
affordances
of those technologies adopted by virtual organizations as well
as
traditional firms embracing Enterprise 2.0.
1. Patterns of engagement for knowledge-sharing across Web
2.0 are not uniform. Understanding the interactions of
thoughtleaders across Web 2.0 spaces requires a model that is
flexible
enough to accommodate the variety of technology and
practices.
2. Not all mobiles are equally immutable. The use of real-
time ICT (e.g., IRC) for knowledge-sharing results in
ephemeral
knowledge inscriptions. The result is a problematic imbalance
of
quasi-permanent and ephemeral knowledge inscriptions.
3. Social network sites are rarely used for
knowledge-sharing
yet the role oftraditional social networks in knowledge-sharing
is
