Community Evolution in the Digital Space and Creation of SocialInformation C...Saptarshi Ghosh
A social homogeneous group can be formed irrespective to geo-spatial contiguity and research reveals that interaction through online communication fosters social behaviours like teamwork, ties, bonding and trust building as well as community building.
Small Worlds of Ambridge: Power, Networks & Actants Nicola Headlam
Seeking to explore the ways in which multi-dimensional power may be deployed within a spatially defined place needs an interrogation of place-based statecraft. The paper presents some of the forms of capital in play in Ambridge mapped using Social Network Analysis (SNA) It argues that the extant matriarchal structure of Aldridges/Archers can be challenged by Kinship structures emphasising the weak ties, or hinges between the major cliques/clans and that within the knowledge economy Ed's multiple contractual connections make him 'King of Ambridge'
Community Evolution in the Digital Space and Creation of SocialInformation C...Saptarshi Ghosh
A social homogeneous group can be formed irrespective to geo-spatial contiguity and research reveals that interaction through online communication fosters social behaviours like teamwork, ties, bonding and trust building as well as community building.
Small Worlds of Ambridge: Power, Networks & Actants Nicola Headlam
Seeking to explore the ways in which multi-dimensional power may be deployed within a spatially defined place needs an interrogation of place-based statecraft. The paper presents some of the forms of capital in play in Ambridge mapped using Social Network Analysis (SNA) It argues that the extant matriarchal structure of Aldridges/Archers can be challenged by Kinship structures emphasising the weak ties, or hinges between the major cliques/clans and that within the knowledge economy Ed's multiple contractual connections make him 'King of Ambridge'
Notes in Psychology: The Digital MarketplaceAhmad Hamdan
Social interactions and the sociological dynamics of social networks have many contributions that lead to many developments to our daily lives, it shaped the ways we interact, share and achieve.
Icwsm10 S MateiVisible Effort: A Social Entropy Methodology for Managing Com...guest803e6d
A theoretically-grounded learning feedback tool suite, the Visible Effort (VE) Mediawiki extension, is proposed for optimizing online group learning activities by measuring the amount of equality and the emergence of social structure in groups that participate in Computer-Mediated Collaboration (CMC). Building on social entropy theory, drawn from Shannon’s Mathematical Theory of Communication, VE captures levels of CMC unevenness and group structure and visualizes them on wiki Web pages through background colors, charts, and tabular data. Visual information provides users entropic feedback on how balanced and equitable collaboration is within their online group are, while helping them to maintain it within optimal levels. Finally, we present the theoretical and practical implications of VE and the measures behind it, as well as illustrate VE’s capabilities by describing a quasi-experimental teaching activity (use scenario) in tandem with a detailed discussion of theoretical justification, methodological underpinning, and technological capabilities of the approach.
Networked Privacy Beyond the Individual: Four Perspectives to ‘Sharing’ / Ai...airilmpnn
Paper presentation at Critical Alternatives 2005, the fifth decennial Aarhus Conference.
Abstract below, the paper is available at: https://goo.gl/RtissL
My dissertation, Interpersonal Boundary Regulation in the Context of Social Network Services, includes a longer discussion of the topics of the paper: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/42272
For further publications, see: airilampinen.fi/publications
"Synthesizing prior work, this paper provides conceptual grounding for understanding the dialectic of challenges and opportunities that social network sites present to social life. With the help of the framework of interpersonal boundary regulation, this paper casts privacy as something people do, together, instead of depicting it as a characteristic or a possession. I illustrate interpersonal aspects of networked privacy by outlining four perspectives to ‘sharing’. These perspectives call for a rethink of networked privacy beyond an individual’s online endeavors."
We've written before about how you can view your community as a network. Here we use the 'network lense' to show how communities typically evolve and what specific actions you might want to take to get to the next level.
A high-level overview of social network analysis, providing background on how it came into the knowledge management field. Includes an example and core concepts pertinent to the audience, online community managers.
Power no longer resides exclusively (if at all) in states, institutions, or large corporations. It is located in the networks that structure society. Social network analysis seeks to understand networks and their participants and has two main focuses: the actors and the relationships between them in a specific social context.
Notes in Psychology: The Digital MarketplaceAhmad Hamdan
Social interactions and the sociological dynamics of social networks have many contributions that lead to many developments to our daily lives, it shaped the ways we interact, share and achieve.
Icwsm10 S MateiVisible Effort: A Social Entropy Methodology for Managing Com...guest803e6d
A theoretically-grounded learning feedback tool suite, the Visible Effort (VE) Mediawiki extension, is proposed for optimizing online group learning activities by measuring the amount of equality and the emergence of social structure in groups that participate in Computer-Mediated Collaboration (CMC). Building on social entropy theory, drawn from Shannon’s Mathematical Theory of Communication, VE captures levels of CMC unevenness and group structure and visualizes them on wiki Web pages through background colors, charts, and tabular data. Visual information provides users entropic feedback on how balanced and equitable collaboration is within their online group are, while helping them to maintain it within optimal levels. Finally, we present the theoretical and practical implications of VE and the measures behind it, as well as illustrate VE’s capabilities by describing a quasi-experimental teaching activity (use scenario) in tandem with a detailed discussion of theoretical justification, methodological underpinning, and technological capabilities of the approach.
Networked Privacy Beyond the Individual: Four Perspectives to ‘Sharing’ / Ai...airilmpnn
Paper presentation at Critical Alternatives 2005, the fifth decennial Aarhus Conference.
Abstract below, the paper is available at: https://goo.gl/RtissL
My dissertation, Interpersonal Boundary Regulation in the Context of Social Network Services, includes a longer discussion of the topics of the paper: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/42272
For further publications, see: airilampinen.fi/publications
"Synthesizing prior work, this paper provides conceptual grounding for understanding the dialectic of challenges and opportunities that social network sites present to social life. With the help of the framework of interpersonal boundary regulation, this paper casts privacy as something people do, together, instead of depicting it as a characteristic or a possession. I illustrate interpersonal aspects of networked privacy by outlining four perspectives to ‘sharing’. These perspectives call for a rethink of networked privacy beyond an individual’s online endeavors."
We've written before about how you can view your community as a network. Here we use the 'network lense' to show how communities typically evolve and what specific actions you might want to take to get to the next level.
A high-level overview of social network analysis, providing background on how it came into the knowledge management field. Includes an example and core concepts pertinent to the audience, online community managers.
Power no longer resides exclusively (if at all) in states, institutions, or large corporations. It is located in the networks that structure society. Social network analysis seeks to understand networks and their participants and has two main focuses: the actors and the relationships between them in a specific social context.
Presentation delivered to MBA students about the importance of social capital. What it is, how to measure it, case studies and applications. How it is different to other capitals and what is happening in the field.
Masses, Crowds, Communities, Movements. Collective Formations in the Digital ...University of Stuttgart
From prosumers to swarms, crowds, e-movements and e-communities, the Internet allows for new forms of collective behavior and action anywhere on the spectrum between individ- uals and organizations. In all of these cases, online technologies function as connectivity- enhancing tools and have prompted the search for novel or inherently different collective formations and actors on the web.
However, research to date on these new collective formations on the web lacks a sociologi- cally informed and theoretical focus. Instead, loosely defined terms such as “swarm”, “crowd” or “network” are readily used as a catch-all for any formation that cannot be charac- terized as a stable corporate actor. Such terms contribute little to an understanding of the vast range of collective activities on the Internet, namely because the various collective for- mations differ significantly from each other with regard to their size, internal structure, inter- action, institutional dynamics, stability and strategic capability.
In order to bridge this gap, this study investigates two questions: One, how might the very dif- ferently structured collectives on the Internet be classified and distinguished along actor- or action-centered theory? And two, what influence do the technological infrastructures in which they operate have on their formation, structure and activities? For this we distinguish between two main types of collectives: non-organized collectives, which exhibit loosely-coupled col- lective behavior, and collective actors with a separate identity and strategic capability. Further, we examine the newness, or distinctive traits, of online-based collectives, which we identify as being the strong and hitherto non-existent interplay between the technological infrastruc- tures that these collectives are embedded in and the social processes of coordination and insti- tutionalization they must engage in in order to maintain their viability over time. Convention- al patterns of social dynamics in the development and stabilization of collective action are now systematically intertwined with technology-induced processes of structuration.
Cosine similarity-based algorithm for social networking recommendationIJECEIAES
Social media have become a discussion platform for individuals and groups. Hence, users belonging to different groups can communicate together. Positive and negative messages as well as media are circulated between those users. Users can form special groups with people who they already know in real life or meet through social networking after being suggested by the system. In this article, we propose a framework for recommending communities to users based on their preferences; for example, a community for people who are interested in certain sports, art, hobbies, diseases, age, case, and so on. The framework is based on a feature extraction algorithm that utilizes user profiling and combines the cosine similarity measure with term frequency to recommend groups or communities. Once the data is received from the user, the system tracks their behavior, the relationships are identified, and then the system recommends one or more communities based on their preferences. Finally, experimental studies are conducted using a prototype developed to test the proposed framework, and results show the importance of our framework in recommending people to communities.
This paper intends to show a positive view on changes occurring in communities and social relationships in the age of the network society. With the emergence of new technologies, the meaning of “community” is changing from the traditional neighborhood community, to a group of people that are more tied together in terms of social networks, connected through various networks including computer networks. The hypothesis is that in such communities there are formations of weak ties that connect people with different social backgrounds or communities and thus bring in useful information and connections into one’s life. The effect of weak ties is also significant in process of innovations, which enables small contributions by a large number of people in order to complete a task or an event. Despite early criticism that network society would fragment social ties and families, this essay will explain the positive side of the changes.
metpde netnography dan cara melakukan analisis dengan metode analisis netnografi dan memprosesnya melalui internet serta mengakji apakah metpde ini bisa di uji dengan wawancara, forum grup diskusi dan peetanyaan kepada pelaku
The social network is a theoretical construct useful in the social sciences to study relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, or even entire societies.
Energy Awareness and the Role of “Critical Mass” In Smart Citiesirjes
A Smart City could be depicted as a place, logical and physical, in which a crowd of heterogeneous
entities is related in time and space through different types of interactions. Any type of entity, whether it is a
device or a person, clustered in communities, becomes a source of context-based data.
Energy awareness is able to drive the process of bringing our society to limit energy waste and to optimize
usage of available resources, causing a strong environmental and social impact. Then, following social network
analysis methodologies related to the dynamics of complex systems, it is possible to find out, emergent and
sometimes hidden new habits of electricity usage. Through an initial Critical Mass, involving a multitude of
consumers, each related to more contexts, we evaluate the triggering and spreading of a collective attitude. To
this aim, in this paper, we propose a novel analytical model defining a new concept of critical mass, which
includes centrality measures both in a single layer and in a multilayer social network.
The Impacts of Social Networking and Its AnalysisIJMER
International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER) is Peer reviewed, online Journal. It serves as an international archival forum of scholarly research related to engineering and science education.
International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER) covers all the fields of engineering and science: Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Thermodynamics, Structural Engineering, Control Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, Fluid Mechanics, Nanotechnology, Simulators, Web-based Learning, Remote Laboratories, Engineering Design Methods, Education Research, Students' Satisfaction and Motivation, Global Projects, and Assessment…. And many more.
Social influences within virtual consumer communitiesStephan ten Kate
This study investigates the social influence effects of social capital within virtual consumer communities on members’ attitudes towards the products that are being discussed within these communities. Since previous offline and online marketing studies primarily focused on consumer
attitude changes from an individual perspective, instead of integrating a view related to the social context, it examines the social influence processes of compliance, identification and internalization, and investigates how these influences emerge from the communities’ social system.
Data of 622 respondents gathered from five communities indicate that the communities’ social context can explain the development of these three social influences, and these interpersonal persuasion processes affect members’ product attitudes directly or indirectly in their turn. Internalization had the strongest effect on members’ product attitude changes, followed by compliance processes. Identification did not have a direct effect, but showed to have an indirect effect via compliance and internalization. Social capital proved to be a significant antecedent of all three influences. The community’s structural character only
influenced identification processes. The relations between the community members partly determined the emergence of identification and internalization processes, while a trusting relational setting negatively affected compliance processes. Cognitive social capital was an important antecedent for all three influence processes.
In order for the internet to play a greater role as an instrument for social and personal empowerment, we need to understand what the everyday life of an individual belonging to a minority or marginalized community encompasses. Such an approach calls for closer examination of the practices, system of relations and context of particular minority and marginalized users in order to figure out what is meaningful to them and how they use (or do not use) different forms of the internet for meeting their objectives. There is a need to acknowledge the multiple conceptualizations and forms of internet use as disadvantaged users apply these differently for meeting specific agendas.
This article presented three projects working with minority and marginalized users. In the context of future research on internet use, three broad sets of variables are closely connected and require careful attention:
• The type of marginalized group;
• The goals, expectations and identification of what particular marginalized users consider to be meaningful in their everyday life; and
• The selected method of research.
Lecture Slides for Internet and Society course at the University of Edinburgh on understanding the analysis of community and internet (amd mobile etc), using ideas from studies of CMC, social network studies, social capital etc https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/IandS/Internet+and+Society+Home
The social networks and the new social order between the individualized socia...INFOGAIN PUBLICATION
The new Social Networks (SN) evolved very quickly. They conquered of wide population as well in the cities as in the campaigns. They pushed aside values, attitudes, behavior…; In countries with strong social culture, they modified these values and modified the social rules formerly considered as unchanging.In this paper, an empirical study concerned the case of the Moroccans and their behavior with regard to the social networks in numerous domains as those of society, economy, consumption, social and societal relationships, information and communication, politics, etc. The traditional conventional social order is today in deep transformation. This paper contributes to the understanding of behavior change currently facing Moroccan society at all levels.The designers of software or applications bound to the social networks have to integrate these new behavior in their strategies.
Social Capital Building Toolkit Version 1.2 (Thomas Sander.docxMARRY7
Social Capital Building Toolkit Version 1.2 (Thomas Sander/Kathleen Lowney) Page 1
Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Social Capital∗ Building Toolkit
(Version 1.2)+
October, 2006
By Thomas H. Sander and Kathleen Lowney
Introductory note:
Although this toolkit emanates from Harvard, much of what is suggested here falls in the
“smart bets” category rather than the standard of certifiable truth that academic
institutions typically adhere to. The comments and framework in this document are
designed to help communities thinking about social capital and present them with
hypotheses that they can pressure test through field experimentation. For that reason, we
would appreciate any useful feedback concerning where your experience differs from our
framework and ways in which this Toolkit could be more effective. You can e-mail us
your thoughts to: [email protected]
∗ This toolkit is not mean to be a primer on Social Capital. For more information on what social is, see
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/primer.htm and for some general tools on community organizing see
the excellent Citizen's Handbook at [http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/] or HUD’s document on
becoming a community organizer (HUD – becoming a community organizer at
http://www.hud.gov/community/comorg1.cfm or). For general community skills see the Community Tool
Box (http://ctb.ku.edu/). For a statement about the importance of social capital building see “The
Importance of Social Infrastructure” by Cornelia Flora
(http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/newsletter/june97/build-soc-capital.html). Xav Briggs of MIT has
some excellent tools on the community problem-solving at: http://web.mit.edu/cpsproject/home.html.
+ Kathleen Lowney co-authored this document up to version 1.0 but bears no responsibility for changes
thereafter.
Social Capital Building Toolkit Version 1.2 (Thomas Sander/Kathleen Lowney) Page 2
Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Social Capital Building Toolkit
(Version 1.2)
October, 2006
Introduction
For the past decade, social capital has resonated strongly with communities across
America attempting to improve residents’ quality of life and overall well-being. Social
capital, defined as “ the social networks and the norms of trustworthiness and reciprocity
that arise from them,” is a powerful predictor of many social goods, including people’s
health and happiness, levels of economic development, well-working schools, safe
neighborhoods, and responsive government.1
Although the Social Capital Community Benchmark Study2 has enabled us to better
quantify and measure social capital, we are still exploring the most effective ways,
settings and activities to build social capital and increase civic engage ...
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# Internet Security: Safeguarding Your Digital World
In the contemporary digital age, the internet is a cornerstone of our daily lives. It connects us to vast amounts of information, provides platforms for communication, enables commerce, and offers endless entertainment. However, with these conveniences come significant security challenges. Internet security is essential to protect our digital identities, sensitive data, and overall online experience. This comprehensive guide explores the multifaceted world of internet security, providing insights into its importance, common threats, and effective strategies to safeguard your digital world.
## Understanding Internet Security
Internet security encompasses the measures and protocols used to protect information, devices, and networks from unauthorized access, attacks, and damage. It involves a wide range of practices designed to safeguard data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Effective internet security is crucial for individuals, businesses, and governments alike, as cyber threats continue to evolve in complexity and scale.
### Key Components of Internet Security
1. **Confidentiality**: Ensuring that information is accessible only to those authorized to access it.
2. **Integrity**: Protecting information from being altered or tampered with by unauthorized parties.
3. **Availability**: Ensuring that authorized users have reliable access to information and resources when needed.
## Common Internet Security Threats
Cyber threats are numerous and constantly evolving. Understanding these threats is the first step in protecting against them. Some of the most common internet security threats include:
### Malware
Malware, or malicious software, is designed to harm, exploit, or otherwise compromise a device, network, or service. Common types of malware include:
- **Viruses**: Programs that attach themselves to legitimate software and replicate, spreading to other programs and files.
- **Worms**: Standalone malware that replicates itself to spread to other computers.
- **Trojan Horses**: Malicious software disguised as legitimate software.
- **Ransomware**: Malware that encrypts a user's files and demands a ransom for the decryption key.
- **Spyware**: Software that secretly monitors and collects user information.
### Phishing
Phishing is a social engineering attack that aims to steal sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details. Attackers often masquerade as trusted entities in email or other communication channels, tricking victims into providing their information.
### Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks
MitM attacks occur when an attacker intercepts and potentially alters communication between two parties without their knowledge. This can lead to the unauthorized acquisition of sensitive information.
### Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks
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1. Current Mega Trends in Information Society
EUROPRIX Scholars Conference 2004
Tampere, 11-12 November
e-business solutions need non-tech champions
SOCIAL CAPITAL AND VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
M.Sc. (Econ.), Ph. D. student Miia Kosonen
Research Assistant
Lappeenranta University of Technology
Telecom Business Research Center
P.O.Box 20, FIN - 53851
miia.kosonen@lut.fi
Abstract
Interaction is one attractive function of information technology. So far a little is known about how technology –
combined to social mechanisms – could support sustainable interaction even to form communities. In this short
paper I present the concept of social capital (SC) as a tool to pinpoint the valuable resources of a virtual
community. The focus of the study will be in assessing the nature of social capital (trust, norms, networks,
information channels) in virtual communities, attaching theoretical background of SC and empirical data. My
objective is to find out how website features and social processes described by members could foster building
social capital. Preliminary results from two gaming communities and two interest-based communities are
discussed based on site observation and, at pilot level, also on member interviews. Results indicate that division to
subgroups, applicable norms, identity policies and recognition contribute to the development of successful
communities for on-topic social activity. Yet the strong common interest is the core of their social capital creation.
Keywords
Social capital, norms, subgroup, virtual community
Introduction
As technology is utilized more and more in everyday life, communication and interaction in
virtual settings is likely to increase as well. The significance of virtual communities has been
both overstated and suspected, but still, people form communities and are attracted by the
opportunity to extend their social relationships and networks towards virtual presence.
This paper is a part of a broader study on technology-mediated communities, sense of virtual
community and social capital. So far a little is known about how virtual community organizers
or administrators could support stronger commitment to the group with the help of both
technology and social processes. Yet all virtual communities require some “group spirit” to
succeed; otherwise, they will disappear or become forgotten ghost towns.
2. 2
My study is related to the AMPERS (AMbient and PERsonalized Society) project coordinated
by Lappeenranta University of Technology. It studies new forms of civic participation based on
e.g. the Web and wireless technologies, especially from young people’s point of view.
However, it is not clear how sustainable and creative technology-mediated interaction actually
is, and this is why more empirical research around community theme must be conducted. I will
begin my research process by doing user studies and letting young adults themselves describe
their experiences on participating in virtual communities, using the concept of social capital as
theoretical basis. In this paper, I ask “how to encourage the development of active virtual
communities of interest” [1] from socio-technical point of view.
Virtual communities
Social networks in cyberspace are often referred with the concept of “virtual community” or
“online community”. There is no accepted definition of community in social sciences, and thus
it is no surprise that the term virtual has mixed the discussion even more. Others see virtual
communities as a revolutionary form of civic participation, while others believe that they do
not actually exist (Harasim 1993, Baudrillard 1995). Instead, they are considered as imagined
pseudo-communities with no real people and real social interaction. This interpretation may
derive from the contradiction between real and virtual. Shields [2] yet reminds that the opposite
of virtual is more like concrete, not real. Virtual worlds are real in terms of existence, but they
are not presented in the form of a concrete object.
According to Rheingold, virtual communities are “social aggregations which emerge on the
Net, when people carry on public discussions long enough to form webs of personal
relationships in cyberspace” [3]. However, to become a community, it has to consist of more
than just relationships. Preece [4] identifies four components of an online community: people,
shared purpose, common policies and information systems. Fernback & Thompson [5]
consider virtual community as a set of social relationships built in cyberspace through repeated
contacts within a specified boundary. Three elements can be identified from these definitions:
virtual community is about repeated social interaction, it takes place in cyberspace and it must
have some platform or “place” where people are able to gather. Two types of virtual
communities can be identified: online originated, and offline originated [1]. The latter typically
is geographically located (similarly than so called community networks) or a grouping of
friends, colleagues or other peer groups.
Virtual communities have been considered important both from social and commercial
perspective, and their role has been emphasized in the success of e-commerce [6][7].
Communities can be based on common interests, relationships or making transactions [8], and
they may take various business-oriented forms, such as online shops, auctions and portal sites,
or so called communities of practice [9]. Commercial features can be embedded in virtual
communities e.g. in the form of advertising commissions, usage fees and member fees [10].
Social capital
The core of social capital (SC) concept is that social relations can be productive resources.
Bourdieu (1979, 1986) originally defined SC as “the ensemble of actual or potential resources
which are linked to possession of an enduring set of more or less institutionalised relationships
of acquaintanceship and mutual recognition” [11]. Coleman (1988) presents SC in the form of
obligations and expectations, norms and sanctions, and information channels [12]. Putnam
3. 3
(1995) considers SC as a set of features of social organizations such as networks, norms and
trust, which facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit. It is about valuable social resources, from
which agents can benefit by belonging to a certain network. [13]
SC resembles financial capital in such terms that it can be accumulated and members of the
network can profit from it. However, the volume of SC should be optimized rather than
maximized, and it fades away when not in use [14]. Maximizing social capital may lead to
negative consequences such as exclusion of outsiders and restrictions on individual freedoms
[15].
Ruuskanen [14] makes a distinction between the sources and the outcomes of social capital, of
which networks, community norms and group identity, among others, are recognized as
sources. Trust and communication facilitate the outcomes, such as reduced need for control and
more effective dissemination of information. According to Putnam, weak social ties
(Granovetter 1973) contribute more to SC than strong ties among intimates, as information
about an individual’s trustworthiness reaches a wider variety of people in networks of weak
ties [13].
In conclusion, social capital is about trust, networks, norms of reciprocity and exchange of
information. This framework enables us to assess the social value of a community to see,
which resources of virtual communities contribute to social capital and how its development
could be better supported.
Social capital research and virtual communities
Social capital fosters the togetherness of community members and may encourage
collaboration [13]. Prior research on SC in virtual environment is scarce, but there is no reason
to believe that these resources could not exist in online communities as well. Some interesting
research issues also arise from the characteristics of virtual communities. As it is relatively
easy to leave the community, no physical cues of other members are available and many
groups apply the principle of anonymity, expressing and developing trust may be more difficult
in virtual environment. On the other hand, the Net offers an opportunity for like-minded people
to gather, and joins friends separated by geographical distance or time. Either of these two
usually occurs when virtual communities evolve, and this in turn extends one’s personal
community to a new sphere. Wellman & Gulia [16] point out: “It is not that the world is a
global village, but as McLuhan originally said, one’s ‘village’ could span the globe.” Both
strong ties and weak ties can emerge on the Net. It is useful in maintaining existing
relationships, but wider networks of weak ties are supported as well, as information can be
spread easily to large groups.
Among studies on social capital in virtual communities are those by Blanchard & Horan [1]
and Ginsburg & Weisband [17]. Ginsburg & Weisband studied volunteerism and its effect on
social capital in the International Chess Community (ICC). There seemed to be several
volunteer types, including titled players, software contributors, helpers, administrators and
managers. Volunteers improved the network of relationships, provided information and gave
advice on how to access information. The role of volunteers proved crucial for the
community’s social capital, as they “encourage and enable intense interaction for the benefit of
all the membership subgroups”. Yet volunteerism is not always beneficial to the community or
to the volunteers themselves. They may feel exploited and their work may not be valued.
4. 4
Another extreme of social roles in virtual communities are lurkers (Nonnecke & Preece 1999,
2000), who are involved the community but do not participate in discussions or helping
systems themselves. While volunteers are active information providing actors, lurkers may be
considered as information demanding actors. Yet lurking may be more than simply taking free
rides of public goods: while others find lurking unapproved, others treat lurkers as “real”
community members. So far a little is known about their effect on virtual community and its
social processes.
Blanchard & Horan [1] ask how virtual communities may affect the elements of social capital:
networks, norms and trust. They recognize two types of virtual communities, geographically
dispersed and physically based. The key ideas are shortly summarized in the following.
Networks
As regards geographically dispersed communities, one’s networks may expand due to easier
access to other people who share similar interests. On the other hand, networks may become
less dense as they expand geographically. In physically based communities, technology also
offers easier access to previously unknown others. Moreover, denser networks may evolve, as
computer-mediated networks overlap with face-to-face ones. [1]
Norms
Two types of norms can be identified in virtual communities: general norms such as netiquette,
and norms of reciprocity. There are no major differences between geographically dispersed and
physically based communities. Both information and social support can be exchanged, and a
small act of helping maintains norms of reciprocity. In virtual settings, it is noteworthy that a
single act can be easily viewed by a large community. [1]
Trust
The relationship between anonymity and trust is double-edged. For many communities, it may
be beneficial and encourage discussion, but the lack of physical cues can also be exploited for
individual benefit. Thus, in geographically dispersed communities, there may be flaming and
deception. Flaming may occur in physically based communities as well, but deception is less
likely because of face-to-face networks. Yet, in both types, violations against other members
can be reported to administrators or community leaders. [1]
Designing and measuring support for social capital creation
Preece [18] suggests that the sociability in online community can be measured in the formof
purpose, people and policies. As regards purpose, determinants can be, for instance, number of
messages total or per member, messages per active member or amount of reciprocity. The
people dimension may be determined by number of participants, though the results could be
more informative when measuring the amount of members in different role categories, such as
active members or lurkers. Finally, policy measures may refer e.g. to flaming rates and the
trustworthiness of the community.
5. 5
While Blanchard & Horan discuss the effect of virtual communities to social capital in general,
Chewar et al. offer a view to the community platform itself and how it could support SC
creation in so called community networks. The term refers to geographically located groups of
people who interact both face-to-face and with the help of technology, but the main principles
seem applicable for other community types as well. Chewar et al. suggest that to build social
capital, the community network design should include
1) Activity notifications: informing what is going on in the community, supporting
awareness of current activities, news and important issues
2) Social translucence: showing who is online and enabling awareness of their activities
3) Collective efficacy: enabling feelings of inclusion and purpose, “how and to whom my
contribution will matter most”
4) Distributed community activities: implementing continuous mechanisms for
interaction, can be integrated with previous stages
5) Persistent virtual identity: establishing registration and logon policies, applying virtual
identity with the real one. [19]
Yet there is one difference between local community network and purely online community in
the Web. It is worth considering whether virtual identity can be authentically connected to real
identity without making the community technically unachievable for potential members, and
whether there is any sense to involve real identities. Persistent user name is more like a tool to
recognize other members being present, not a guarantee of a person’s “true self”, and active
virtual community enthusiasts apparently are well aware of this. Hiding real identities can
encourage participation as people may come along e.g. without having to “encounter
stereotypes based on their physical characteristics” [1].
Next, I will assess four online communities based on the voluntary roles approach from
Ginsburg & Weisband [17] and three design principles (notification, social translucence and
virtual identity) from Chewar et al. [19]. The third stage is discarded here, as it is more a result
of interaction than a design object: subjective view of a designer would not indicate how
members actually feel about the effects of their contributions.
Evaluation of community websites
Two gaming community sites and two interest community sites were evaluated. These were
• Hattrick.org, site of an international virtual football manager game (by Hattrick Ltd.)
• FumBBL.com, site of an international Blood Bowl game
• Hevostalli.net, site for Finnish enthusiasts of horses and horse riding (by Datadelfiini
Ltd.)
• Vuotis.net, site for Finnish fans of Harry Potter
Sociability of these communities was evaluated based on two basic measures [18]. Table 1
shows the number of participants and the number of messages per week in these communities,
to focus their social activity level. Number of messages was calculated during a randomly
selected one-week period in October 2004. As this was done manually for most communities,
only three domestic forums of hattrick.org were included to restrict the myriad of topics.
Trustworthiness, flaming and deception issues will be shortly discussed in this paper based on
notions of interviewed members. Interviewees were from 25 to 29 years of age and they had
participated in the community for at least two years each. Research method was theme
6. 6
interview, in which community membership, interaction, norms and trust issues were
discussed.
Table 1. Sociability measures
Registered members Forum messages per
week
Hattrick.org about 10 000 in
Finland
1275 in three Finnish
forums
FumBBL.com about 13 800 746
Vuotis.net about 3300 1994
Hevostalli.net no registration 79348
Communication
These communities have various communication channels in use. Hattrick.org offers the main
IRC channel #hattrick.org and includes many other IRC channels for national and local
subgroups as well. Moreover, there is the internal “Flash” message system of 500 characters,
discussion forums or “Conference areas”, the Clubhouse service, which includes e-mail
account and own homepage for each team who pays the club fee (9,50 €), the short message
service to other users’ mobile phones, and local face-to-face meetings being arranged.
FumBBL.com has applied discussion forums at the site and the IRC channel. Hevostalli.net has
discussion forums at the site.
Vuotis.net consists of discussion forums, but it also offers e-mail address information of
members, the private message system and IRC channels around the community topic as well.
Some face-to-face meetings and LARPs are arranged. Discussion categories are listed to
include number of topics, number of messages and link to the most recent message. One
interesting feature is the link to the list of unanswered messages. Vuotis.net has a separate list
of members, where username, e-mail address, location, homepage URL and time of registration
are available. Moreover, discussion forum includes links to member profiles, where e.g.
number of messages sent by the member per week is indicated.
Based on the design framework of Chewar et al., evaluation of community websites is shown
in table 2. Chewar et al. rate community features verbally as “none”, “low”, “some” and
“high”, but in this paper no ratings have been made, because these communities cannot be
considered equivalent and the needs of members are different. For one community, a simple
discussion forum will do perfectly fine, while another applies more diverse notification
channels. Moreover, virtual communities differ in terms of administration: some are organized
by one volunteer, while others have much more resources and large development teams.
7. 7
Table 2. Evaluation of community websites
Virtual identity Activity
notifications
Social
translucence
Volunteer roles
Hattrick.org registration, no
multiple
identities
allowed
notices and news
links at main
page, current
events listed
shows who is
online from each
geographical
area, according
to which one the
player has
selected for his
team
1) Gamemasters:
edit forums, deal
with deceptions
2) Moderators:
edit forums
3) LA’s:
translate the
community to
other languages
FumBBL.com registration, no
multiple
identities
allowed
recent forum
topics (3) at
main page
opportunity to
create “buddy
list” which
indicates who is
online, shows
the number on
people logged
on at main page
community
organizer (1),
administrators
Vuotis.net registration invitation link to
IRC channel
meeting (when
to come) at main
page
shows who is
online at the
bottom of the
main page
1) administrators
2) moderators
3) support
persons
Hevostalli.net no registration “what’s new” at
site maintenance
no indicators no volunteers
Networks
According to Putnam [13], networks of civic engagement “foster sturdy norms of generalized
reciprocity and encourage the emergence of social trust. Such networks facilitate coordination
and communication, amplify reputations, and thus allow dilemmas of collective action to be
resolved”. This is what virtual community volunteers aim at. Volunteerism is a representation
of selfless actions that promote sense of belonging and civic participation, although it may
have negative characteristics as well, such as undervaluation of volunteer work in the
community [17]. Typical volunteer role in evaluated communities is administrator, who has
both supportive and control tasks e.g. in making sure that members are able to access to
community and its rules are being followed. For instance, Gamemasters in Hattrick accept new
members, give guidance and keep watch in their own areas. Moderators concentrate on
following the discussion and behaviour on forums. The key idea is to make the community
more pleasant and safer for its members. Moreover, two other volunteer roles were found in
these communities, volunteers who translate the site into other languages, and support persons,
who assist new members to learn the practices of the community.
In every community being evaluated, smaller subgroups or “communities inside communities”
have evolved. They have been organized either top-down (e.g., forum categories) or bottom-up
(e.g., members create their own groups or channels and invite others there). For example, both
8. 8
gaming communities have divided into national and local subgroups, and the national group of
Hattrick.org has its own site with news, articles, guidelines, forums and IRC channel. In
addition, common events may create temporal subgroups around a specific topic such as in
Vuotis.net, where so called Activity Club organizes various contests and activities. These
events are announced in their own category at the forum. Moreover, members are awarded
“Oscars” for their role in the community, such as the blonde, the supporter, the sunshine, and
the newcomer of the year.
Rules, norms and sanctions
According to the interviewees, norms of reciprocity can be identified from the discussion: it
takes only a moment until someone answers and comments. Naturally, there are more silent
hours as well, but usually the delay is half a day at most. One of the interviewees described:
“Sometimes it feels quite scary, at the daytime it just takes five or ten minutes and there’s
always someone to answer your question.” Another interviewee pointed out that the time gap
depends on the discussion topic, but in most cases, authors get responses instantly.
A variety of behavioural norms and topical rules have been applied in these communities.
Hattrick.org has an extensive list of rules, which deal with the management of the teams,
players, matches, training, tactics, league systems and so on; it is forbidden to use general
forums to advertise players being for sale, to behave offensively, to try to cheat other players,
to send spam to forums, to try to steal the property of Hattrick Ltd. or to scan the site. One
player may have only one team and it should be in personal use only. Some rules also apply to
subgroups created by members: for instance, federations must have at least five members to
exist, and one player can belong to three federations at most. Gamemasters may ban users who
violate the rules of Hattrick. In FumBBL.com, one username per player is acceptable an each
player is responsible for his account. Only one game against certain player in a row is allowed.
Games must be played using the latest version of JavaBBowl client, cheating is forbidden and
Codes of conduct must be followed. Here, it is especially important that no one interrupts
games on purpose, which is considered as a very condemnable action and such players may
end up into personal blacklists.
Hevostalli.net has three rules: pertinent style of writing, relevant content and posting to
applicable category. Discussion forums are moderated by community organizers and
inappropriate messages can be reported to them directly from the forum. Vuotis.net is strict in
its policies and guidelines. The community has “the Ten Commandments”, which are shown in
the discussion forum at the section of announcements. They include notions about netiquette,
K-15 content, using search option before posting, spelling, avoiding unnecessary message
postings, avoiding or warning about spoiler messages, security and privacy, banning members,
and administration policies. Moreover, the community is not responsible for the content of the
linked sites. Violators of rules may be permanently banned, or they may be isolated from the
community for a qualifying period. New member can have a support person, who guides
newbies to follow the norms of the community. As new members learn, they become “trees”
who do not need support any more.
Trust
As regards trust and mistrust among the community, they were not considered such a critical
issue than in the real world. In gaming environments, possible cheating is related to the game
itself, and these incidents are strictly controlled. There may be people behaving badly as well,
9. 9
but they can be either ignored or reported to administrators. On the other hand, unwanted
behaviour is much more common in open forums. The lack of persistent identities and shared
norms seems to be at the reverse side of trust.
“There I have learned that you should not trust everyone. And I don’t, especially those with
fuzzy nicknames and no e-mail address presented. At times, there are libels, abuses,
propositions…”
“I visit another forum as well, where they have no such rules, and it is annoying when people
shout each other, and swear, I find it disturbing but others may not think so. Some people also
use such poor language I don’t get their point at all.”
Meetings in real life have been organized in Hattrick (e.g., closing the season in the pub),
FumBBL and Vuotis (e.g., live role-playing sessions). In the literature, face-to-face meetings
are regarded as a key component of interpersonal trust [20]. Two of the interviewees described
their notions:
“I think it is mostly these meetings which keep it afloat, as they meet each other quite a lot.”
“When we had this meeting, I found out that people are much the same than at the game. I
guess they get there as themselves.”
Both trust to people and trust to systems were discussed. According to the interviewees, both
forum-based communities were considered reliable. In gaming communities, there have been
technical problems every now and then due to increased amount of users. Yet this has not
exceeded the tolerance of players; they are still a part of the community. One interesting
practice is the opportunity to donate money for community maintenance (server, network
connections):
“I have given money to this, and quite many of us have, at least what they have told me. But if
he has proven that he has bought new stuff, so I guess many have donated some money. And
yet this is all free, so, I think giving money is a sign that one has committed to this.”
Conclusions
Community websites were observed using evaluation approach, but with some limitations.
First, there was only one person doing subjective evaluations, and only one member from each
community being interviewed to supplement the data. Thus much more empirical work must be
conducted before making conclusions on the entity of these communities. Second, all
significant features such as various types of activity notifications may not have been presented
at the site during the two-week period of study.
Yet the preliminary results indicate that there are several sources of social capital and sense of
belonging implemented in these arenas being evaluated. Two are common to all of them: a
shared interest which unites people with diverse backgrounds, and dividing the community into
smaller subgroups of peers, which is essential as communities become larger than a few dozens
of members and following the discussion would otherwise be laborious. Subgroups can evolve
top-down such as forum categories (e.g., seniors, teenagers) or bottom-up such as local online
and offline meetings, or a combination of these.
Other significant issues related to social capital are community norms, registration policies and
persistent identities, and personal recognition in the form of face-to-face meetings. Rules seem
to be far from “dead letters”; instead, they are strictly controlled by community volunteers,
even to cause discussion for and against these policies such as in the case of Vuotis.net.
10. 10
Another extreme of community implementation is Hevostalli.net, which is easily available for
everyone interested in the topic and no persistent identities or volunteer roles are involved.
Openness seems to be directly related to the number of postings in its 15 categories, which
exceeds 10 000 every day. This type of community encourages free discussion, but often at the
expense of structure; it is best suitable for “ad hoc” information delivery and exchanging
support.
The design framework of Chewar et al. offers a way to proceed for community researchers,
especially when combined to qualitative data, as it presents the fundamental needs for social
interaction support which the community should meet in any occasion. In this paper, I
combined the most concrete parts of the framework (identity, activity notifications, social
translucence) and volunteerism approach to evaluate whether they have been implemented in
virtual communities. Further research needs to be conducted to test this framework and its
appropriateness with more profound case studies on social capital, for which evaluated
communities provide excellent opportunities. One important question is how to assess the
effect of selected features on social capital in its entity.
Measuring community sociability (as suggested by Preece) internally would be a further step
towards social capital creation: when members are able to identify e.g. each other’s activity
level and personal preferences, creating functional subgroups is easier, and these features make
the community socially more visible. Such features could be easily implemented to community
applications. Measurement is not only for community organizers and owners; instead, it should
serve everyone involved.
11. 11
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