Communities of Interest - Case Studies

As the first two weeks of case studies are (mostly) published, I just though I'd share all the relevant links so you can have a look at the enormous variety of studies that are online and awaiting comments. I've taken the liberty if mixing internal and external Curtin students with those studying through Open learning Australia so you can all benefit from each others work and contributions. The following studies have been up all this previous week:

Chai Yen Lin
Taking the position that for some making friends is an interest, Lin examines Freindster, Fakester and trust issues within social software. Lin's blog is open for comments.

Cho Chun Neng
Does aggressive and abusive argument constitute Rhiengold's 'sufficient human feeling'? A closer look at a newsgroup discussing English football team, Manchester United. Chun Neng is calling for feedback at Team Ochre's blog

Samantha O Hare
Samantha examines the individuals perspective of community at the rec.arts.theatre.musicals newsgroup. She is taking comments on the site and conducting a survey of responses to be published on Team Ochre's Blog.

The following case studies are now up for this week and are all awaiting comments.

Danny Burke
Danny Burke undertakes a debate with himself about the merits of newsgroup communities focusing on the use of the Macromedia animation tool Flash. This is in the form of a blog, so you can comment directly.

Nurhidayaty (Ida)
Ida looks at a bulletin board community focused on babies and parenting. You can comment on her presentation on the Team Scarlet blog here

Lynne Harding
Find out about the 'Great Spelling Wars' which led to the emergence of a community on the Cybermind discussion list. Lynne is open for comments.

Marius Johannessen
A study of the web-based community deviantArt, "a central location for artists to display their creations for feedback and public exposure. " There's even a flash summary Comments here at the team Aqua blog.

Shan-Chun Bella Chou (Bella)
Bella looks at The Thing! Comments on the Team Aqua Blog.

Roshan Weddikkara
Roshan explains and analyses Metafilter - a fascinating example of community blogging. Comments on the site.

Nicola Wright
Nicola has taken the unique approach of building a discussion forum about discussion forums. You can contribute just about anywhere in her presentation!

Elizabeth Spiegel
A broader look at communities of practice with an invite to mail any comments to Elizabeth.

Mohammed Chowdhury (Arif)
Again with a broader approach, Arif looks at the elements which go to make up communities of interest. Comments can be submitted to the Team Blue blog


Whoah! With a few more to be posted, there are already a huge variety of studies in only the first two weeks. I have to say that so far I'm very impressed with the academic and technical effort that has gone into the presentations. Thanks folks, the variety has made this assignment a pleasure to be assessing. I'd encourage everyone to explore these varied links over the next week and contribute wherever you can.


Have fun,

Stew