University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Communication

By making use of the virtual community, older netizens can accumulate and maintain their social capital in various ways: namely, improving their self-identities through online collective problem-solving; developing collective identification with the community through sharing collective memories with their peers online; exchanging intellectual capital for social resources offline during their social engagement; providing emotional support to their net friends; and increasing the density of their networks of social relationships through interacting with their net friends both online and offline. / Data collection is mainly based on ethnographic work, including online and offline participant observation between September 2008 and July 2009. The data collection was later supplemented with semi-structured in-depth interview (on 37 OldKids members) and textual analysis. When analyzing how the virtual community interacts with older netizens' social capital, the study introduces a theoretical framework that, illustrates the acquisition of social capital on its cognitive, behavioral, structural and relational dimensions. / Existing literature reveals that netizens augment their social capital upon joining social networking sites. But most studies focus on analyzing youth behaviors, neglecting older adults, who are often labeled as laggards in taking up new technologies. Because social capita is a resource which can be mobilized to provide network-mediated benefits beyond the immediate family; it is especially important for disadvantaged groups (i.e. older generation) who lack social support. In Chinese society, older adults' social capital shrinks dramatically after their retirement; therefore it is of practical significance for this study to explore how virtual communities provide older people with opportunities to regain and enhance social capital. / This study also reveals that the online roles and social status of the older netizens, together with the external social context of OldKids website, influence how the virtual community influence social capital. In other words, social capital does not distribute evenly among virtual community members. The netizen who takes on more active and responsible roles can accrue more social capital than other members. / This study reveals that OldKids virtual community and its offline communities (OldKids club and OldKids salons) act as platforms and at the same time are driving forces for the older netizens to develop their social capital: it provides them access to cyberspace through encouraging knowledge sharing online and designing offline computer training for the elderly; it encourages its members to shape collective memory through organizing ritual-like online and offline activities; it facilitates members' social engagements by obtaining resources from local government and traditional media; finally, it promotes the flow and exchange of members' social capital resources between online and offline communities. / Under the background of worldwide aged tendency of population, this thesis explores how virtual communities provide social resources to disadvantaged groups. Using the OldKids website (headquartered in Shanghai, China) as a case study, the research investigates how this virtual community assists its members to mobilize social capital, a valuable productive resource inheres in social relations. / 吳歡. / Adviser: Anthony Y. H. Fung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-01, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-301). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English, partial text includes English translation. / Wu Huan.

張時飛. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2001. / 參考文獻 (p. 338-366) / 中英文摘要. / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Zhang Shifei. / Lun wen (Zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2001. / Can kao wen xian (p. 338-366) / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.

張文紅. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2004. / 參考文獻 (p. 281-297). / 中英文摘要. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Zhang Wenhong. / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2004. / Can kao wen xian (p. 281-297).