The purpose of this study was to describe participation in a new context in which niche journalism is combined with online communities. The majority of past research regarding participation in journalism is focused on traditional journalism and the definition of the term needs to be updated. The aim of the study was to describe participation amongst niche pure players. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, a survey study and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The two empirical aspects resulted in a perspective of participation amongst five pure players, sharing a similar niche. The results of the study showed that niche pure players create user participation by combining journalistic participation with participation in online communities. Empirical data showed a correlation between user participation in the two different sections of the sites. Users with higher participation in one of the sections also partook more in the other. Furthermore, another correlation found was that users who considered it important to be able to partake in a discussion of the journalistic content, also considered the online community to be of great importance to the site. Additionally, the study showed that there is an exchange of information and knowledge, being regarded by the users as something of high value. By providing a platform for horizontal communication between users in the form of a forum, in which users are able to freely create and share content, a participatory culture is created. This participatory culture further increases the degree of user participation in the journalistic content.

My foray into location based gaming started because as a web designer, I felt that I wanted to expand my practice from one that consisted of straightforward interface design, to one that encompassed a wider variety of skills by improving on my knowledge and expertise in the burgeoning field of interaction design. This allowed me at the same time, to incorporate other aspects of design that include the usercentred design of tools for collaboration, content creation and community creation. I take a particular interest in the opportunities afforded by the convergence of web and game based technologies, especially when mobile interaction is afforded by such convergences. This exegesis describes the theoretical underpinnings that have informed the creation of a series of graphical interfaces that serve to bridge the gap between system capabilities as envisaged by the developers and a user's experience facilitated by an interface. The actual research into creation of the interface was preceded by an exploration of the field of location based gaming from which the initial area of interest was derived. Due to the fact that location based gaming is still an emerging field, it required the creation of a custom taxonomy for the works to be systematically separated into their various elements for analysis. The taxonomy to be created involved the combination of three smaller individual taxonomies in a way that has not been attempted previously and in a way that would give a balanced account of what makes up a location based game. The area of interested identified was how location based games might be made more readily available for a wider audience. Cipher Cities, which was a system in development at the time, was one that was already designed for such an application, but now required an interface that would appropriately represent what it aimed to achieve. I joined the team as their interface designer and it became clear that due to the location centric nature of the game, the only feasible way to go about democratising the participation in such games was to make it easy for people to build their own. The issue that arose was how an interface could encourage the creation of as well as participation in location based games. This required reference from current Web 2.0 applications that use members as creators of content as well as research into the theories behind community building, content creation and distribution in support of such an interface. These theories were put into practice and implemented before being evaluated and verified through a series of user testing sessions that served to refine the system in terms of user interface design and system functions. The result of the research is the first interface ever created that works to support a system for the creation of location based games by the public. More importantly, it is a robust, interface that is attractive as well as usable.

With the growing popularity of online communities on social media, non-profit organizations have the possibility to easily reach and communicate with the public. Furthermore, small non-profit organizations with few resources are able to use online communities, not only to market their activities but also to build a closer bond with its members. However, non-profit organizations also need community members to engage in the online communities for them to function efficiently. Many small non-profit organizations struggle with engaging their community members in their online communities. This study, therefore, aims to compare how two small non-profit organizations communicate with their community members to create member engagement. The study is a qualitative, comparative case study and is based mainly on theories concerning organizational communication, online communities, and engagement. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives from the non-profit organizations and through observations of their online communities. The study showed that non-profit organizations communicate their values by using storytelling and displaying emotions in their posts to create engagement. The study further shows that non-profit organizations communicate newsworthy and qualitative information which is of societal value to engage community members.

abstract: This document builds a model, the Resilience Engine, of how a given sociotechnical innovation contributes to the resilience of its society, where the failure points of that process might be, and what outcomes, resilient or entropic, can be generated by the uptake of a particular innovation. Closed systems, which tend towards stagnation and collapse, are distinguished from open systems, which through ongoing encounters with external novelty, tend towards enduring resilience. Heterotopia, a space bounded from the dominant order in which novelty is generated and defended, is put forth as the locus of innovation for systemic resilience, defined as the capacity to adapt to environmental changes. The generative aspect of the Resilience Engine lies in a dialectic between a heterotopia and the dominant system across a membrane which permits interaction while maintaining the autonomy of the new space. With a model of how innovation, taken up by agents seeking power outside the dominant order, leads to resilience, and of what generates failures of the Resilience Engine as well as successes, the model is tested against cases drawn from two key virtual worlds of the mid-2000s. The cases presented largely validate the model, but generate a crucial surprise. Within those worlds, 2008-2010 saw an abrupt cultural transformation as the dialectic stage of the Resilience Engine's operation generated victories for the dominant order over promising emergent attributes of virtual heterotopia. At least one emergent practice has been assimilated, generating systemic resilience, that of the conference backchannel. A surprise, however, comes from extensive evidence that one element never problematized in thinking about innovation, the discontent agent, was largely absent from virtual worlds. Rather, what users sought was not greater agency but the comfort of submission over the burdens of self-governance. Thus, aside from minor cases, the outcome of the operation of the Resilience Engine within the virtual worlds studied was the colonization of the heterotopic space for the metropolis along with attempts by agents both external and internal to generate maximum order. Pursuant to the Resilience Engine model, this outcome is a recipe for entropic collapse and for preventing new heterotopias from arising under the current dominant means of production. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology 2013

Notre objet est une communauté de 300 à 400 passionnés-collectionneurs de vieux ordinateurs et de vieux jeux vidéo des années 1970-90, autrement appelés « vieilles machines », dispersés dans toute la France ainsi qu’en Belgique et en Suisse. Cette communauté est organisée en premier lieu par des forums sur internet bien qu’émanant d’associations locales. Ces forums servent à l’échange d’informations et de matériel de collection entre passionnés. Un système de valeur riche et complexe organise les relations sociales autours de l’amour et de l’utilisation des vieilles machines, d’une volonté de partage du savoir et du rejet de la spéculation. Le partage est au cœur de l’imaginaire et des pratiques de cette communauté. Il n’est pourtant pas la règle dans les économies qui l’entourent (eBay, brocantes, sites d’enchères divers). Or à l’époque des fondateurs de la communauté vers 1998, les passionnés pouvaient alors s’approvisionner gratuitement ou presque. Ils ont donc ressenti la mise en place d’un marché extérieur comme une forme d’expropriation. Ils ont donc réorganisé les règles de vie et d’échange au sein de la communauté pour contrecarrer la hausse des prix interne que générait la hausse sur le marché extérieur. Ils ont à la fois promu la notion d’échange mutuellement profitable contre l’idée de profit, organisé un système de tabou sur les prix réel des objets, tirant parti du statut de prescripteurs. Ils ont ainsi réussi à créer une niche économique, un marché à bas prix, à l’accès fermement contrôlé mais au sein duquel, une fois intégré, après avoir construit une situation par une « carrière » chacun peut profiter d’un système d’entraide généralisée. / This work is about a community of 300 to 400 hobbyist-collectors of micro-computers and video-games from the 70’s to the 90’s which they call “vieilles machines”. They are scattered all over France, Belgium and Switzerland. This community communicates through online forums although they belong to local offline associations. These forums are mainly used to exchange objects and information among collectors. A rich and complex system of value and representations organizes the social relationships. The main points are: the love of the “vieilles machines”, the will to use them, sharing knowledge and rejection of speculation. Sharing is the very basis of the social imaginary of the community. Sharing isn’t however the rule in neighboring economic systems (eBay, garage sales other online auction websites). Yet, during the first time of the community around 1998, when these objects were only obsolescent technical rubbishes, the community members could collect for free or very few money. Thus they felt as if they have been stolen when an outside market developed and prices increased. As a reaction, they changed social norms and exchange rules inside the community in order to temper the internal increase of the prices caused by outside market’s increase. They both promoted the idea of mutually satisfactory exchange and organized a taboo on the object’s real price using the position of major online opinion leaders on their subjects. They managed to create a niche economy, a low price market in which one cannot integrate easily but in which when fully integrated, after building one’s position through a “career” one can beneficiate from an extend system of generosity and mutual aid.

Triggered by globalisation and the increasing media convergence enabled by digital communication technologies, fansubbing has become one of the most observable aspects of Chinese participatory culture, both domestically and internationally. Informed by concepts drawn from the science of complexity and drawing on social self-organisation theory (Fuchs 2002), this study adopts a systems perspective and the method of netnography (Kozinets 2010) to bring to light the dynamics of collective identity formation in The Last Fantasy (TLF) fansubbing group, one of the most influential fansubbing networks in China. In particular, this study aims to reveal how TLF’s fansubbers deploy digital technologies to facilitate their daily subtitling activities, build and maintain their relationships, and express a collective voice in relation to the specific media context in China. Findings from this study are used to evaluate the role played by amateur translation, as exemplified by fansubbing activities carried out by TLF’s fansubbers, in China’s participatory culture. It is hoped that this study will enrich our understanding of the phenomenon of amateur translation in an increasingly networked society.

La recherche s’est très peu intéressée aux groupes de soutien (Moisio et Beruchashvili, 2010), et notamment aux communautés en ligne dédiées à la santé et à leur impact sur le comportement des consommateurs (Ma, Chen et Xiao, 2010). Ce travail doctoral a pour but d’étudier les effets positifs et négatifs de la participation à une communauté en ligne de soutien à la perte de poids (degré de participation et soutien social) sur les comportements alimentaires (restriction, diversification et auto-efficacité alimentaires). Ce lien est testé au travers d’une double médiation : l’identification aux membres de la communauté et la sensibilité à l’influence de la communauté (ou sensibilité à l’influence sociale). En effet, l’influence sociale a été étudiée dans le contexte de l’alimentation mais principalement dans le cadre de la prise d’un repas en compagnie d’autres personnes (De Castro et De Castro, 1989 ; McFerran et al., 2010 ; Vartanian, Herman et Wansink, 2008). Cette recherche vient également compléter les travaux sur l’influence sociale négative qui sont peu nombreux et concernent les réseaux sociaux tels que Facebook (Wilcox et Stephen, 2013). Ainsi, deux phases qualitatives exploratoires ont été menées auprès de 23 experts en nutrition, puis auprès de 25 utilisateurs de ce type de communautés. Ces entretiens ont permis de mieux comprendre les mécanismes de la sensibilité à l’influence de la communauté ainsi que son lien avec la comparaison sociale, l’homophilie (combinaison de la similitude et de la proximité perçues), les normes de la communauté et l’estime de soi. Par ailleurs, la restriction alimentaire est apparue comme une conséquence négative de l’influence de la communauté. Une phase quantitative a ensuite été conduite auprès de 335 utilisateurs de communautés en ligne de soutien à la perte de poids. Les résultats montrent que la participation active et le soutien social ont un effet positif sur la restriction et la diversification alimentaires, par l’intermédiaire de l’identification à la communauté et de certaines variables liées à la sensibilité à l’influence de la communauté. Ces relations n’avaient pas été mises en lumière dans la littérature. Cette recherche doctorale est également la première à montrer que la sensibilité à l’influence informationnelle a un effet positif sur la diversification alimentaire, alors que la sensibilité à l’influence normative a une influence positive sur la restriction. De plus, la comparaison sociale a un effet sur certaines variables liées à l’influence sociale dans la lignée des travaux de Polivy et Pliner (2015) qui n’avaient pas établi ce lien empiriquement. De nouveaux standards et critères de comparaison ont aussi été mis en évidence. L’homophilie liée à la perte de poids, les normes de la communauté et l’estime de soi ont également un lien avec la sensibilité à l’influence de la communauté. La thèse permet de conclure qu’il est nécessaire de sensibiliser les individus souffrant de surpoids ou d’obésité sur les dangers de la restriction et sur l’importance de la diversification de différentes manières : par les professionnels de santé, par les pouvoirs publics et par les modérateurs de communautés. / Research has shown little interest in support groups (Moisio & Beruchashvili, 2010), and especially in online health support communities and their impact on consumers’ behavior (Ma, Chen & Xiao, 2010). This doctoral research aims at studying the positive and negative effects of participating in an online dieting support community (participation level and social support) on eating behaviors (restrained eating, food variety and eating self-efficacy). A double mediation is assumed to occur: identification to community’s members and susceptibility to community influence (or susceptibility to social influence). Indeed, the effect of social influence on eating behavior was only studied when sharing a meal with other people (De Castro & De Castro, 1989; McFerran et al., 2010; Vartanian, Herman & Wansink, 2008), but not in an online context. In addition, this study extends the very few works on negative social influence which are related to online social networks like Facebook (Wilcox & Stephen, 2013). To address this issue, two exploratory qualitative studies were carried out by interviewing 23 nutrition experts, and then 25 communities’ users. Interviews enable to better understand the mechanisms of susceptibility to community influence and its link with social comparison, homophily (to feel both similar and close with others), community norms and self-esteem. A quantitative study was then conducted by questioning 335 online dieting support communities’ users. Results show that active participation and social support has a positive effect on restrained eating, food variety and eating self-efficacy, through community identification and some aspects of susceptibility to community influence. These relations were not highlighted in existing literature. So, this doctoral research is the first work to point out that susceptibility to informational influence has a positive effect on food variety whereas susceptibility to normative influence has a positive influence on restrained eating. Social comparison appears to be linked with some aspects of social influence, in line with Polivy and Pliner (2015) that dit not precisely addressed this link. New comparison standards and criteria are extracted. Homophily related to weight loss, community norms and self-esteem are also related to susceptibility to community influence. The conclusion of this work is that awareness of overweight and obese people have to be raised by health professionals, public authorities and communities’ moderators in order to avoid restraint behaviors and to promote food variety.

Distance learning has provided solutions for students for more than a century. Students access distance learning due to issues with access, credit recovery need, or need for flexibility in location, time, pace, or duration of instruction. Recent advances in technology and instructional designs allow more interactive and synchronous instruction. Researchers suggest that designs using collaborative-constructivist approaches result in deeper learning and increased student satisfaction. Such courses implement theories based on interactions, creation of communities, and learner-centered design. The increase in online curriculum offered and, in some cases, required for K-12 students indicates a need to consider learning characteristics of adolescent learners. Adolescent learners are not as self-regulated, metacognitive, and technologically capable as adult learners. Communities and interactions require the involvement of parents or other involved adults to encourage learner engagement. New theories are emerging concerning learning engagement by adolescents including the adolescent community of engagement (ACE) framework. This dissertation reports two studies of K-12 online students enrolled in independent study courses. The researcher applied the elements of the ACE framework as a lens to study independent study students' experiences with a local community of support. Could students benefit from the curation and support of a proximate community of engagement (PCE)? The first study found that students perceive that a PCE would be helpful to learning when they enroll. The second study found that students completing a course organically accessed a PCE during their course experience, even without coaching and curation activities. Credit recovery students were more likely to perceive value in a PCE but actually created and used such a community at the same level as other learners. Parents and teachers were most often identified as the local support students would, and did engage. Future research was suggested to identify ways to encourage PCE curation, the most effective and supportive PCE interactions, and best practices to train and support members of the PCE.

This study examines two Facebook groups with the explicit purpose of creating a resistance against the nationalist and right-wing political party the Sweden Democrats. Through qualitative interviews with administrators of these groups, three main themes have been identified and analyzed: the motivation behind the resistance, the role these groups play for their members and the path to an active political engagement online. The theoretical basis for the analysis consists of Becker’s theory on deviant groups, Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective and Bauman’s description of the age of nostalgia.  The study finds that the members of the groups mainly protest against the outlook on people expressed by the Sweden Democrats through their view on immigrants. While an increasing number of people in Sweden express negative views on immigrants, the members of these groups turn to each other online to find a community where their views are shared. The Facebook groups act as places of support, but also as sources of fact-based information where arguments to use in life offline can be found. Anyone who doesn’t sympathize with the Sweden Democrats, and who agrees to the group terms of preserving a friendly debate climate, is welcome in these groups, creating a relatively heterogenous group composition.  The start of an active engagement in these groups seems to have been triggered by a specific event, but the social process leading there appears to consist of a development of a sense of justice through upbringing and earlier experiences. A current life situation permitting time for engagement as well as a feeling of deviating from the views of others in their social proximity, seem to be other important factors resulting in an active political engagement online.

<p>With the popularity of the gaming industry, game streaming appeared and became a global phenomenon with high participation in recent years. Game streaming platforms such as Twitch had millions of active users participated in the community by watching and chatting. Yet there was lack of investigation about how chat behaviors connected with the overall participation in game streaming community. This study aims to describe and analyze the roles taken on by viewers as they engaged in chat while watching game streaming and identify how these roles influenced participation. I designed a qualitative study with online observations on several Twitch channels streaming Overwatch. By analyzing the chatlogs collected, I identified four social roles among chatters: Lurker, Troll, Collaborator, and Moderator. A discourse analysis was applied to further investigate the interactions among these roles and how they shape the conversation in chatrooms. With these findings, I generated a four-role model that specific for chatters in Twitch personal channels. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research were also provided.</p>