The Construction of Knowledge Across Online Communities of Interest

Warren Allen The iSchool at Drexel University Philadelphia, PA warren.allen@ischool.drexel.edu ABSTRACT

Increasingly, 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 which knowledge and expertise is generated. This paper describes the expected and preliminary findings of participant observations of four online communities.

Dr. Susan Gasson The iSchool at Drexel University Philadelphia, PA susan.gasson@ischool.drexel.edu

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 a core 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 ICT both 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, these peripheral 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.

1. INTRODUCTION
Social networks are the basis of web 2.0 forums, where individuals interact to share knowledge and to build communitiesof-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-technical environment 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.

3. FINDINGS AND UPDATED THEORY

Little 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 the former, 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 thoughtleader 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 thought leaders 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 realtime 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 of traditional social networks in knowledge-sharing is

2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
The 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 support core 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

clear (e.g., Brown & Duguid, 2002). The role of Internetmediated social networks and the effect on knowledge-sharing in organizational settings is an underdeveloped area of research.

1 Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. The Social Life of Information. . Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2002. 2 Gibson, J.J. The theory of affordances. Perceiving, acting and . knowing: toward an ecological psychology, (1977), 6782. 3 Latour, B. and Biezunski, M. Science in action. Harvard . University Press Cambridge, Mass, 1987.

4. REFERENCES