Designing Online Communities: How Designers, Developers, Community Managers, and Software Structure Discourse and Knowledge Production on the Web (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies)

Cover Contents Foreword: Social Sciences of the Artificial Acknowledgments Introduction Contribution to Understanding Learning Online Records of Online Communities as Primary Sources Structure of the Book Chapter 1. Learning and Collective Intelligence on the Web Locating Power, Control, and Autonomy in Collective Intelligence Chapter 2. A Framework for Studying Online Community Software Theorizing Online Community Software Theorizing Software from Technology Studies Cognitive Systems and Cognitive Niches Collective Intelligence in Action Chapter 3. Research Questions and Methods Values and Ideology Tactics Looking for Difference Research Method and Design Analyzing Texts as Discourse Book Selection Analytic Focus Analytic Process Consideration of Validity Threats Relationship to Actual Online Communities The Stories in the Books Are Rehearsed Authors of Books Aren’t Normal Designers/Developers Representing Distinct Authors’ Perspectives Respecting the Diversity of Divergent Perspectives Why Should I Trust Your Interpretations of These Authors’ Ideas? Writing Up Results and Analysis Note on Technical Jargon and Vocabulary Chapter 4. Community and Values: A Worked Example of Analysis Chapter 5. Rhetorics of Online Community: A Brief History Chapter 6. Enacting Control, Granting Permissions Chapter 7. Studying the Records of Online Communities Control, Empowerment, and Its Limits Theories of Users as Generalized Others in Design Applied Implications of Understanding Online Communities Conclusion: Further Disaggregating the Internet Appendix. Example Data Collection Sheet References Index Discussion on the Web is mediated through layers of software and protocols. As scholars increasingly study communication and learning on the Internet, it is essential to consider how site administrators, programmers, and designers create interfaces and enable functionality. The managers, administrators, and designers of online communities can turn to more than 20 years of technical books for guidance on how to design online communities toward particular objectives. Through analysis of this «how-to» literature, Designing Online Communities explores the discourse of design and configuration that partially structures online communities and later social networks. Tracking the history of notions of community in these books suggests the emergence of a logic of permission and control. Online community defies many conventional notions of community. Participants are increasingly treated as «users», or even as commodities themselves to be used. Through consideration of the particular tactics of these administrators, this book suggests how researchers should approach the study and analysis of the records of online communities. Discussion on the Web is mediated through layers of software and protocols. As scholars increasingly study communication and learning on the Internet, it is essential to consider how site administrators, programmers, and designers create interfaces and enable functionality. The managers, administrators, and designers of online communities can turn to more than 20 years of technical books for guidance on how to design online communities toward particular objectives. Through analysis of this ±how-to» literature, 'Designing online communities' explores the discourse of design and configuration that partially structures online communities and later social networks. Tracking the history of notions of community in these books suggests the emergence of a logic of permission and control. Online community defies many conventional notions of community. Participants are increasingly treated as ±users», or even as commodities themselves to be used. Through consideration of the particular tactics of these administrators, this book suggests how researchers should approach the study and analysis of the records of online communities.0