participant experiences in an informal twitter.com sub-network jennifer maddrell doctoral student at...
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Participant Experiences in an Informal twitter.com Sub-network
Jennifer MaddrellDoctoral Student at Old Dominion University
AACE E-learn 2010 – Brief Paper PresentationOctober 18-22, 2010
Click for audio ->
Nice to meet you …
• Working on my dissertation
• Research interest in distance and online learning
• Live in Chicago and visit these places, too:– http://designedtoinspire.com– http://twitter.com/JenM– http://edtechtalk.com
Case Study Research Questions
• What is the nature of communication and interaction within a twitter sub-network?
• Why do users in the sub-network participate? • How do users represent themselves, including
the demographic information they chose to share within their profiles?
Qualitative Case Study
3,100in Reciprocal
Following Sub-network
Nature of Relationships
Data Collection
Observation Periods
ObservationPeriod Date of Observation Target Hours of Observation
Period of Day
1 Saturday 20091010 6:00 a.m. to noon Morning2 Sunday 20091011 6:00 p.m. to midnight Evening3 Monday 20091012 6:00 a.m. to noon Morning4 Tuesday 20091013 midnight to 5:59 a.m. Late Evening / Early
Morning5 Wednesday
20091014noon to 5:59 p.m. Afternoon
6 Thursday 20091015 6:00 p.m. to midnight Evening7 Friday 20091016 6:00 a.m. to noon Morning8 Saturday 20091017 midnight to 5:59 a.m. Late Evening / Early
Morning9 Sunday 20091018 noon to 5:59 p.m. Afternoon
10 Monday 20091019 6:00 p.m. to midnight Evening
Observation Checklist
Tweet Content(Cut and
Paste)
Time
30 minute Observation
Period(1-10)
Original Post or
Re-tweet(O/RT)
Broadcast or
Direct Response
(B / @)User
Name
# Tagged Content (Y / N)
Hyperlink Included
(Y / N)
Education or
Technology (Y / N)
Post Made on
Twitter.com (Y / N)
Profile Review
User Name Location Website Bio
# Following
# Followers
# Tweets
Picture(Default /
Self/Other)
Date Joined Twitter
Focus of Interview Questions
• Background information
• Twitter use
• Perceptions of twitter
• Communication on twitter
• Community and relationships on twitter
Nature of Communication
• Always on / always accessible– 75 different applications used to tweet– “live”, “transient”, “office buddy”, “glance”, “graze”,
“cocktail party”, “ambi-synchronous”• Broadcast messages and conversations– 1 in 3 tweets including @ symbol– Half of those were re-tweets RT@
• Shared interest communication– 1 in 5 tweets included # tag– Word clouds suggest shared interests
Wordle.net Word Cloud of Tweets
Wordle.net Word Cloud of Biographies
Nature of Interaction
• Network ties– Most not linked by geography or workplace– Shared interest and weak-tie relationships
• Transparency– Post specific details of personal & professional life– Central to relationship formation & maintenance
• Audience awareness– Pay attention to followed by / following lists– Care about post relevance and suitability to audience
Motivations to Participate
• Access– People– Information– Resources
• Reciprocity– Sharing of knowledge a condition of membership– Contributions are a form of network currency
Summary of Study
• Twitter serves as a virtual coffee machine• Sub-network bound by shared interest• Network ties:– Clusters of strong-tie relationships– Weak-tie acquaintances
• Transparency central to weak tie formation• Reciprocity is network currency and payment
for membership
Significance of Findings
• Sub-network formed organically over years
• Suggests drivers behind on-going participation
• Cannot generalize to other sub-networks
• Does not suggest results would be the same in sub-network created by teacher
Questions for Future Research
• Is the required level of user transparency and self-discloser feasible in most educational settings?
• Would an experienced professional be willing to interact with a novice and, if so, would the communication and interaction be at a meaningful level?
• To what extent do these network characteristics and participant motivators exist in other contexts and settings?
Please share your thoughts …
http://designedtoinspire.com/drupal/aace2010twitter
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