The study introduces an alternative analytic framework for the investigation of online discussion forums. It focuses on the social dynamics occurring in online discussion threads situated within a tertiary e-learning context, and advocated by social learning theories. Online discussion forums are perceived as conducive environments for the evolvement and support of collaborative and socio- constructivist learning. However, the literature reviewed, revealed a growing need for finding empiric frameworks for ascertaining the materialisation of these perceptions. Attempting to address the identified need, the study adopts ethnomethodological notions, complemented by Structural Analysis approach, to produce an alternative analytic frame called the Event Centre (EC) approach for the study of online discussion forums. The theoretical framework chosen in this study enables the investigation of online discussion forums as systems of relations rather than aggregations of individuals. The EC approach enables the visual representation of networks of people interacting with each other and at the same time presenting the content discussed in each interaction. Applying the EC approach to a set of 131online discussion threads, enabled the discovery of social dynamics occurring within the discussion threads. Preliminary investigations of these visually represented dynamics revealed two overarching patterns. One depicting uni directional interactions in which all participants referred to a single message and a second one depicting sequences of interactions organised in chain like patterns. The study suggests that these overarching patterns may imply different perceptions of knowledge as enacted by the participants, and hence possibly reveal different perceptions of teaching and learning through which it may be possible to detect collaborative and social constructivist processes. The study suggests that the visual patterns introduced should be perceived as abstractions of particular events, implying their generalisability and hence possible application to different data sets.

An electronic advice network provides employees opportunities to tap diverse experts within the organization at an unprecedented speed and scale. It is formed when an advice seeker initiates an online discussion thread joined by members of various communities, each specializing in a specific domain. This dissertation recognizes the substantial gap in our understanding of how to best harness the performance potential of expertise diversity provided through an electronic advice network within a firm. It thus investigates the process by and conditions under which expertise diversity in an electronic advice network promotes the advice seeker’s learning and performance. A field study was conducted via multi-methods including observation, interviews, and survey at a global company running discussion forums spanning internal virtual communities. The unit of analysis was at the discussion thread level. 190 discussion threads comprising 1,200 participants and associated outcomes (rated by their respective advice seekers) were analyzed. Findings suggest that, for the seeker to realize the performance potential of diverse inputs, discussion participants should facilitate the seeker’s learning by engaging in collective elaboration—articulating the differences and relevance of their diverse inputs. The seeker learned and performed the least when discussion participants were highly diverse but did not engage in collective elaboration. Discussion participants engaged in collective elaboration to the extent that they had previously established shared syntactic and semantic understanding of each other’s expertise domains through participation in each other’s communities. This dissertation contributes to the virtual communities literature by unearthing the relationships between expertise diversity and the advice seeker’s learning and performance and explaining when and how the seeker benefits from the diverse knowledge shared through an electronic advice network. The moderating role of collective elaboration explains why prior research may have found no or even a negative relationship between expertise diversity and discussion outcomes. It also contributes to the team literature by offering boundary conditions for the previous findings on expertise diversity and common ground. The collective elaboration construct can be also adopted by team diversity researchers to better understand where a disruption in the chain of group-level information processing may occur in some diverse teams. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:14:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4669.pdf: 11917089 bytes, checksum: 5b56f4f44be0b012c68ac253d08f3268 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-09 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / In this thesis we develop an analysis aiming to understand the new formatting of politics in the era of Web 2.0. The overall objective was to investigate "if" and "how" the Internet's potential for human interaction was used by the candidates and coalitions in recent presidential campaigns in the Southern Cone and "if" and "how far" the interactive tools on websites electoral were used to strengthen ties with the electorate during political campaigns and increase the quality of democratic processes. In this thesis we seek to allow two levels of analysis: the formal structure of the website and political action that it develops. We analyze the logic of the candidates' campaign coordination in the use of discussion forums for government proposals, the constraints and incentives to encourage participation of ordinary citizens and the level of control exercised, and on the other hand, the way they interacted with Internet campaigns, with candidates and each other from these tools, the form and content of discursive exchanges held there and the nature of the proposals that resulted from this interaction. We start from the assumption that the availability of online discussion forums create an opportunity structure that can increase the possibility of political action of ordinary citizens to communicate their preferences, perform inputs, participate in the construction of political projects, as well as compel the candidates to conceive with more clearly their political platforms. However, the type of product is the result of the design of the interface and how the Internet and using the candidate technology, rather than a pre-determined by it, ie, depends on how the rules are articulated objective, strategies election, the political interest and the ability of the actors involved. We tested six corollaries specific empirical contexts and concrete objects of our investigation were the platforms for discussion and collaborative construction of government programs of four presidential candidates from Argentina, Chile and Brazil during the 2007 elections, 2009 and 2010, respectively, and the corpus of empiricalresearch in 2727 totaled posts analyzed. For purposes of this study, we performed a composition techniques that resulted in a specific methodological apparatus, including observation of interactions mediated by the computer, data collection and content analysis. The model consists of a first effort to develop a methodological research strategy discussion forums established in the electoral environment of websites. The evaluation of the quality of the discussions was undertaken according to eight dimensions of analysis based on methodological parameters DQI - Discourse Quality Index (Constraints and incentives for participation, inclusiveness and diversity, reciprocity debate, mutual respect, Identification, Degree of heterogeneity, thematization and effectiveness of content and interactive interface), which were operationalized into indicators, qualitative and quantitative. / Nesta tese desenvolvemos uma análise visando compreender as novas formatações da política na era da Web 2.0. O objetivo geral foi investigar se e de que forma o potencial da Internet para interação humana foi empregado pelos candidatos e coligações nas recentes campanhas presidenciais no Cone Sul e se e em que medida as ferramentas interativas em websites eleitorais foram utilizadas para estreitar os laços com o eleitorado durante a campanha política e ampliar a qualidade dos processos democráticos. Nesta tese buscamos contemplar dois níveis de análise: a estrutura formal do website e a ação política que nele se desenvolveu. Analisamos a lógica da coordenação de campanha dos candidatos na utilização dos fóruns de debates de propostas de governo, os constrangimentos e incentivos à participação do cidadão comum e o nível de controle exercido; e por outro lado, a maneira como os internautas interagiram com as campanhas, com os candidatos e entre si a partir destas ferramentas, a forma e o teor das trocas discursivas ali realizadas e a natureza das propostas que resultaram desta interação. Partimos da hipótese de que a disponibilização de fóruns de debate online cria oportunidade estrutural que pode aumentar a possibilidade de ação política dos cidadãos comuns para comunicarem suas preferências, realizarem inputs, participarem da construção de projetos políticos, bem como compelirem os candidatos para que delineiem com mais clareza suas plataformas políticas. Não obstante, o tipo de resultado é fruto do desenho da interface e da maneira como os candidatos e internautas utilizam a tecnologia, e não um produto pré-determinado por ela, ou seja, depende da forma como se articulam as regras objetivas, as estratégias eleitorais, o interesse político e a capacidade dos atores envolvidos. Testamos seis corolários específicos em contextos empíricos concretos; nossos objetos de investigação foram as plataformas para discussão e construção colaborativa dos programas de governo de quatro presidenciáveis da Argentina, Chile e Brasil, durante os pleitos 2007, 2009 e 2010, respectivamente, e o corpus empírico desta pesquisa totalizou em 2.727 posts analisados. Para os propósitos deste estudo, foi realizada uma composição de técnicas que resultaram em um aparato metodológico específico, incluindo observação das interações mediadas pelo computador, coleta de dados e análise de conteúdo. O modelo apresentado consiste em um primeiro esforço metodológico para desenvolver uma estratégia de investigação de fóruns de discussão estabelecidos na ambiência de websites eleitorais. A avaliação da qualidade das discussões foi empreendida de acordo com oito dimensões de análise com base nos parâmetros metodológicos DQI - Discourse Quality Index (Constrangimentos e incentivos à participação, Inclusividade e Diversidade, Reciprocidade do debate, Respeito mútuo, Identificação, Grau de heterogeneidade, Tematização e conteúdo e Efetividade da interface interativa), que foram operacionalizadas com alguns indicadores, qualitativos e quantitativos.