The establishment of online discussion forums and their application to higher education have encouraged the use of online discussion within tertiary teaching. Recent studies related to online discussions have provided different ways of understanding the effect of online discussions on teaching and learning. This study investigates how personal learning is facilitated through various ways of engagement in an online discussion environment. The rationale behind this effort has been the concern that online discussions may be being used only because of the availability and technological opportunities the method provides. Personal learning is generally viewed in the literature as an individual's cognitive and knowledge construction and endeavour to make meaning through involvement and interaction in a community and context. There are, however, great variations in the way individuals engaged in their own learning within a community of learners. Motivation and strategies are also seen as factors that influence to individual level of engagement in online discussions. The findings reveal different types of interactions and highlight different levels of individual participation and engagement in the online discussions. From the findings, the Types of Online Interaction Model is developed to show the different roles that individual might adopt in the online discussion environment. The adopted roles are the individual approaches and actions that contribute to personal learning during the online discussion. The roles are flexible and individuals are likely to move from one role to another when there are reasons to do so. This study also shows the importance of the interactions that enable learning within the community. Two case studies discussed in this thesis illustrate the individual strategies of a provocateur and an eventual participant, which show how different ways of engaging in an online discussion community of learners contribute to individual learning.

This thesis is on the basis of searching EWOM actively and attempt to treat the motivation of using discussion board, and how these motivations explain the influence of discussion board. Reviewing literatures, the thesis generalize the motivations of searching WOM actively and use product involvement to be situational variable in order to explore that the motivation and the consequence of using different discussion board. The thesis adopted bulletin board systems to be the research field, and distributed questionnaires. The research found that though consumers had different motivations of using discussion boards while facing products with diverse level of involvement, in fact, they normally take ¡§information searching¡¨ and ¡§recognition seeking¡¨ as the main motivations. Further, the explanatory power of these motivation factors on the consumers¡¦ behaviors changed by the discussion boards will differ with the product involvement.

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.

The thesis has its origins in a concern that teacher librarians in schools throughout Australia were disadvantaged in the development of their professional learning due to their professional and often geographical isolation in schools. A listserv (online discussion network) called OZTL_NET was developed to facilitate the enhancement of teacher professional learning for this group of teachers. OZTL_NET has been available to teacher librarians and others interested in teacher librarianship for over nine years. The study sought to determine whether usage of OZTL_NET was associated with the enhancement of teacher librarians’ professional learning. The study also explored the characteristics of teacher professional learning from the literature and sought to determine which characteristics of online communities may contribute to teacher professional learning. A case study design for the research was adopted using a mixed methods approach. The methods of data collection were a web survey and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed and a detailed description of the object of study, OZTL_NET, was provided. A major finding of this study was that usage of OZTL_NET was significantly related to the enhancement of teacher professional learning. It was concluded that online learning communities may provide appropriate contexts for teacher professional learning and that, in relation to the case of OZTL_NET, various aspects of the concept of online learning communities and, to a lesser extent, communities of practice, are portrayed in the listserv. The findings supported the assertion that online learning communities have the potential to enhance the professional learning of teachers and provide opportunities for teachers to learn online. The study also revealed that community building online is a complex and demanding activity. Usability and sociability factors must be carefully considered and developed over the lifetime of the community. This process should include input from the community, the leadership of which should be broad-based and inclusive. Two broad principles emerged from the research that provide guidance for the management of listservs for teacher professional learning online. First, the study revealed that involvement and collaboration were critical ingredients in teacher professional learning online. Involvement was portrayed not only in the learning that ensued from the interactivity that necessarily underpins the sharing of tacit knowledge through information exchange and professional discussion between and among subscribers online but also by individuals through less obvious means such as lurking, archive searches and off-list communications. In terms of collaboration, this study found that in addition to high levels of trust, subscribers experienced a strong sense of collegiality and support as members of OZTL_NET. Second, the major finding above confirms that involvement and collaboration are strongly related to individual and collective orientations of teacher professional learning. The broad concept of individual or collective orientation recognises that teacher professional learning occurs in both orientations online as it does offline. Teachers have long recognised their colleagues as their major source of professional information. The difficulty in the past has been in the identification of a means by which teachers can readily access a wider pool of colleagues with whom they can discuss important issues, seek advice and so on. This is particularly important for teachers who are professionally isolated as a consequence of their teaching speciality (such as teacher librarians) and those who are geographically isolated making real time meetings with colleagues expensive and/or impracticable. In this context listservs such as OZTL_NET can play a critical role in providing the infrastructure to support distributed models of teacher professional learning online.

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Denna uppsats behandlar interaktioner i ett diskussionsforum på Familjeliv.se, där deltagarna är föräldrar eller blivande föräldrar till barn eller foster med ett medfött hjärtfel. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur detta forum kan fungera som en kunskapsresurs och en plats där deltagarna förhandlar sig fram till gemensamma förståelser om till exempel hjärtfelsdiagnosen och livet med ett medfött hjärtfel. Genom analyser av dels de inledande presentationerna från deltagare som positionerar sig som nya, dels av de diskussioner som följer på dessa presentationer fokuserar studien legitimitet i två bemärkelser: legitimiteten i medlemskapet och legitimeringar i interaktionerna som ingår i kunskapsförhandlingen och bygger upp gemensamma förståelser. Resultaten från studien visar inledningsvis att det finns tydligt återkommande drag i presentationerna, något som tyder på att det finns sociala normer och överenskommelser för vilka forumet är till för, hur deltagandet är uppbyggt och vad som utgör ett legitimt medlemskap. Därefter visar analyserna av de efterföljande diskussionerna bland annat hur deltagarna tydligt orienterar sig kring vad som är legitimt att säga och på vilka grunder, där exempelvis det egna barnets diagnos och erfarenheterna från denna verkar vara avgörande. Detta skisserar ut en bild av forumets funktion och visar på en medvetenhet hos deltagarna vad gäller vad de kan bidra med i förhållande till vården. Analyserna visar även hur interaktionerna är uppenbart flerröstade och rymmer såväl professionell expertis, i form av rekontextualiserade samtal med vårdpersonal, som rekontextualiseringar av deltagarnas egna erfarenheter av hjärtfelen. Genomgående innebär forumet också ett jämförelsematerial där deltagarnas rekontextualiseringar tillsammans bygger en bild av hur saker och ting förhåller sig, som sedan kan appliceras på enskilda deltagares situation. Studien indikerar därmed att forumet kan fungera som en intern kunskapsbank. / This thesis investigates the interaction on an online discussion forum, where the participants are parents or expectant parents of children with congenital heart defects. The aim of the study is to shed light on how this forum can function as a source of knowledge and a place where joint understandings about for example the diagnosis and the life with this medical condition are negotiated in interaction. Analyzing both the initial presentations written by newcomers in the forum, and the discussions following these presentations, the study draws on the concept of legitimacy in two ways: the legitimacy in relation to the forum membership and the legitimations that are used to construct a shared understanding between the participants. The results from the study indicate that there are recurring patterns in the presentations written by new members when introducing themselves in the forum threads. This in turn suggests that there are social norms regarding which participants the forum is directed towards, how the participation is organized and what constitutes a legitimate membership in the community. In addition, a key result from the analysis of the interactions following these presentations is the participants’ navigation of what information is legitimate in which situation, where the own child’s diagnosis and type of heart defect is of great importance. This shows awareness among the participants regarding the nature of the forum’s contribution in relation to healthcare professionals. Furthermore, the analysis also shows how the interactions are strikingly multi-voiced, in that the participants through the discursive process of recontextualization make use of both previous conversations with doctors and other medical professionals, as well as their own experience of the children’s heart defects. The forum then serves as a comparison where these recontextualizations are used to negotiate a joint understanding, which subsequently can be applied to the participants’ individual storylines. The study therefore indicates that the forum can function as a resource of knowledge.

Online Communities of Practices (CoPs) is emerging as a major form for knowledge sharing in this era of information revolution. Due to the advancement of technology and ease of internet access in every part of the world, people began to get more and more involved in online CoPs to share knowledge. The defining characteristic of a Community of Practice is the interaction between members in order to jointly determine and embrace goals, eventually resulting in shared practices. Crucial to the success of a Community of Practice is the engagement between community members. Without engagement, a Community of Practice can not share knowledge and achieve its negotiated goals. To that end, there is a need to examine, why do people engage in an online discussion, what role domain experts play to keep on-line discussion alive and how to develop a ''right intervention'' to maintain and stimulate participants for engagement in on-line community. This thesis studied eight Communities of Practices that are being deliberately formed to facilitate knowledge sharing in the online community and describes an exploratory study of knowledge sharing within Communities of Practices (CoPs) by investigating eight CoPs - Start up Nation, All nurses, Young Enterpener, Teneric, SCM Focus, Systems Dynamics, Mahjoob and Alnj3 CoPs. The CoPs under investigation shared the following characteristics: permanent life span, created by interested members (i.e. bottom-up rather than top-down management creation), have a high level of boundary crossing, have more than 700 members who come from disparate locations and organizations, have voluntary membership enrollment, high membership diversity, high topic's relevance to members, high degree of reliance on technology, and are moderated. Data were gathered on the eight CoPs through online observations and online questionnaire survey. Results show that in each of the case study the most common type of activity performed by members of each CoP was sharing knowledge, followed by socialsing. Regarding the types of knowledge shared, the most common one across all CoPs was practical and general knowledge. The types of practical knowledge, however, varied in each CoP. The study also discovered that storytelling extensively enhances knowledge transfer and participants' interpersonal communications in eight communities under investigation. What were also notable in this study were the stories discussed in a CoP remains in the archive, what are more likely to generate interest and curiosity on the topic among inactive members who ultimately facilitates knowledge transfer. In this study it is also evident that successful topics with successful conclusion (in terms that the original query was answered) will not necessary get high responses and vice versa. An analysis of selected topics in the eight case studies has shown that some successful topics have few replies and vice versa, where many topics ended with open conclusion or they were unsuccessful in terms that the original query was not answered satisfactory. Therefore, it is not necessary that successful topic will get high number of responses as there are some successful topics which have limited number of replies. Overall, it is found that, topic may play a major role in the success of online discussion. It is observed in the study that members normally use short messages rather long messages and usually discusses more than one topic within one thread. Practical implications for knowledge sharing in online communities of practice were discussed, along with some recommendations for future research.

This study examines how the taboo subject of suicide is communicated, perceived and experienced on the largest Swedish online discussion platform Flashback Forum. The aim is to describe and analyze how the subject is constructed and reconstructed in 2.484 suicide specific discussion posts initiated by suicidal individuals on the forum. The empirical material is based on 25 threads active during a one-year period. The sample was categorized by using an analytical tool designed by Malin Wreder (2007) based on concepts from Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. Two conflicting approaches to suicide were identified. The suicide tolerant discourse views suicide as an accepted way out of prolonged suffering. The other suicide critical discourse has an opposing view. Within these discourses four key concepts (suicide, freedom, responsibility and future) was identified as nodal points. Frank’s theory of illness narratives was used to place the stories of the discussion participants within a larger theoretical framework. One conclusion is that the cultural preferred idea about suicide as a temporary curable condition is challenged by the suicide tolerant discourse. For a suicidal individual suffering can be experienced as eternal hence a reception with one-sided focus on restitution may hinder rather than help.

This thesis uses our lived experience of speech online to analyse the most common justification for freedom of speech: the "marketplace of ideas" metaphor. It opens with an account of a conversation in the feminist blogosphere that explicitly addressed the operation of social power in discussion. The lessons of that conversation is compared to accounts of the marketplace of ideas metaphor offered by theorists like Sunstein, Fiss, and Boyd White, as well as more internet-oriented theorists like Lessig, Benkler and Balkin. From that, and building on the insights of critics like Fraser and Mansbridge, the thesis argues that we ought to reject the "liberal-economic" paradigm of the function of speech and deliberation in a democracy, and proposes that we replace the "marketplace of ideas" metaphor with that of a "critical democratic culture." The thesis concludes by illustrating the usefulness of that new metaphor through the example of hate speech.

This thesis uses our lived experience of speech online to analyse the most common justification for freedom of speech: the "marketplace of ideas" metaphor. It opens with an account of a conversation in the feminist blogosphere that explicitly addressed the operation of social power in discussion. The lessons of that conversation is compared to accounts of the marketplace of ideas metaphor offered by theorists like Sunstein, Fiss, and Boyd White, as well as more internet-oriented theorists like Lessig, Benkler and Balkin. From that, and building on the insights of critics like Fraser and Mansbridge, the thesis argues that we ought to reject the "liberal-economic" paradigm of the function of speech and deliberation in a democracy, and proposes that we replace the "marketplace of ideas" metaphor with that of a "critical democratic culture." The thesis concludes by illustrating the usefulness of that new metaphor through the example of hate speech.