DocumentCode :
3145952
Title :
Community portals and collective goods: conversation archives as an information resource
Author :
Millen, David R.
Author_Institution :
AT&T Bell Labs.-Res., USA
fYear :
2000
fDate :
4-7 Jan. 2000
Abstract :
Prior research investigating online communities has revealed several different types of communities, including those that are formed to support members with shared professional interests. One characteristic of these online communities is the creation and stewardship of collective goods. One particularly interesting example of such a collective good is the archive that is created out of the online conversation among the group members. In this paper, an online community of news reporters is examined in order to understand the use and general awareness of the archived conversation as a valuable information resource. A content analysis of a sample of the archived messages was completed and revealed considerable awareness and use of the archive among the community members. In addition, there was evidence of developing social norms that included searching the conversation archive for information before posting a new question. As the value of the archived conversation increases for a community, so does the need for better ways to browse and search the contents. A new data display, called a conversation map, was developed and is presented as a means to better grasp the rhythms and patterns of the archived discourse. These conversation maps illustrate temporal patterns of the group as a whole, as well as the message patterns of individual participants.
Keywords :
information resources; professional communication; archived discourse; collective goods; community portals; content analysis; conversation archives; conversation map; data display; information resource; online communities; shared professional interests; Biomedical engineering; Cities and towns; Displays; Educational institutions; History; Information resources; Medical conditions; Medical services; Portals;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
System Sciences, 2000. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-0493-0
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/HICSS.2000.926713
Filename :
926713
Link To Document :
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