Knowledge sharing, maintenance, and use in online support communities

ABSTRACT

Widespread adoption of collaborative authoring tools (such as Wikis) by online communities has fostered new ways of storing, sharing, maintaining, and using community knowledge. My dissertation research examines the effect and potential use of these shared knowledge repositories within online technical and medical support communities using short-term ethnography (including content analysis and interviews), surveys, and quantitative analysis of behavior traces. I characterize the key technological mechanisms, and the processes and social norms at play. I then use this knowledge to propose best practices and novel social and technical designs.

REFERENCES

• 1: css-discuss.org http://www.css-discuss.org.
• 2: Fischer, K. E., Erdelez, S., and McKechnie, L. E. F. Theories of Information Behavior. Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, USA, 2005.
• 3: Jenny Preece, Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Socialbilty, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 2000
• 4: Wenger, E. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1998.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Asynchronous interaction

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.3 Communications Applications
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Collaborative computing; Web-based interaction; Computer-supported cooperative work

Keywords:
FAQ, collaborative web authoring, conversation, email list, knowledge repository, online communities, social support, virtual communities, wiki