The purpose of this study is to explore the Swedish site Funbeat which is a space dedicated to people who share an interest in exercising in general, and running in particular. By applying a netnographic analysis, I will investigate if Funbeat matches the criteria of a participatory culture and how the members manage to establish a collective intelligence within the community. In order to achieve this, I will analyze the interactivity between the participants which occurs in discussion threads concerning injuries related to running, in the sites discussion forum. The results will then be discussed in relation to previous research within the field for participatory culture, collective intelligence and interactivity. The outcome of the study revealed that Funbeat can be regarded as very good example of a participatory culture. By each member sharing their individual knowledge in matters regarding injuries, a collective intelligence was established. This knowledge has been acquired by personal experience, by consulting a physiotherapist or by sharing information which intend to serve as self-help for other members.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-103248 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Bronow, Robin |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Avdelningen för historie-, turism- och medievetenskap, Linköpings universitet, Filosofiska fakulteten |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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