A multilevel analysis of sociability, usability, and community dynamics in an online health community Export

@article{citeulike:320258, abstract = {The aim of this research is to develop an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of online group interaction and the relationship between the participation in an online community and an individual's off-line life. The 2\½-year study of a thriving online health support community (Bob's ACL WWWBoard) used a broad fieldwork approach, guided by the ethnographic research techniques of observation, interviewing, and archival research in combination with analysis of the group's dynamics during a one-week period. Research tools from the social sciences were used to develop a thick, rich description of the group. The significant findings of this study include: dependable and reliable technology is more important than state-of-the-art technology in this community; strong community development exists despite little differentiation of the community space provided by the software; members reported that participation in the community positively influenced their offline lives; strong group norms of support and reciprocity made externally-driven governance unnecessary; tools used to assess group dynamics in face-to-face groups provide meaningful information about online group dynamics; and, membership patterns in the community and strong subgroups actively contributed to the community's stability and vitality.}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, author = {Krichmar, Diane M. and Preece, Jenny}, citeulike-article-id = {320258}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1067864}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1067860.1067864}, doi = {10.1145/1067860.1067864}, issn = {1073-0516}, journal = {ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact.}, keywords = {communities, motivation, online, sociology, user}, month = {June}, number = {2}, pages = {201--232}, posted-at = {2007-10-22 03:17:52}, priority = {3}, publisher = {ACM}, title = {A multilevel analysis of sociability, usability, and community dynamics in an online health community}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1067860.1067864}, volume = {12}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:320258 L3 - citeulike-article-id:320258 N2 - The aim of this research is to develop an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of online group interaction and the relationship between the participation in an online community and an individual's off-line life. The 2½-year study of a thriving online health support community (Bob's ACL WWWBoard) used a broad fieldwork approach, guided by the ethnographic research techniques of observation, interviewing, and archival research in combination with analysis of the group's dynamics during a one-week period. Research tools from the social sciences were used to develop a thick, rich description of the group. The significant findings of this study include: dependable and reliable technology is more important than state-of-the-art technology in this community; strong community development exists despite little differentiation of the community space provided by the software; members reported that participation in the community positively influenced their offline lives; strong group norms of support and reciprocity made externally-driven governance unnecessary; tools used to assess group dynamics in face-to-face groups provide meaningful information about online group dynamics; and, membership patterns in the community and strong subgroups actively contributed to the community's stability and vitality. IS - 2 JF - ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. SN - 1073-0516 AD - New York, NY, USA EP - 232 TI - A multilevel analysis of sociability, usability, and community dynamics in an online health community PB - ACM VL - 12 SP - 201 KW - communities KW - motivation KW - online KW - sociology KW - user AU - Krichmar, Diane AU - Preece, Jenny PY - 2005/06// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1067860.1067864 ER -