Week 10: Online Communities

Ok so this week I had my presentation (the link for which should be able to be found on Chloe’s blog) and the specific reading I did was on the Knowledge Boys and Girls and Organic Online Learning Communities (OOLC). I found this a really interesting topic as it demonstrates the alternative ways in which technology can be used as a learning tool outside of a specific learning institution. Basically an OOLC is an online community that occurs outside the formal framework of a learning institution, such as a university. This reading focussed on a case study of the Knowledge Boys and Girls (hopeful London cab drivers undertaking the extensive training course required to become a cab driver) and their specific OOLC that takes the form of CabbieCall, where they can come and ask questions of other Knowledge Boys and Girls. It speaks about the OOLC being a sort of ‘back region’ to their ‘frontstage’ performances (Goffman). They can come online and not be governed by the rules of conduct of the front region and not be worried that something they say will affect their life outside the OOLC.

In an article by Ho Kyoung Shin and Ho Kyung Kim looks at examining identity and organisational citizenship behaviour in computer mediated communication, like virtual communities (such as Cabbiecall). Shin and Kim state that participants interact to provide specific knowledge to each other that enables them to learn from each other and build up their collective knowledge. In the case of the Knowledge Boys and Girls this was the ‘Knowledge’ needed to become a London cab driver. The results from Shin and Kim’s paper found that people are more likely to contribute to this collective knowledge if their identity can be protected. Self-presentation is therefore an important key for contributing knowledge online.

References:

Ross, Drew. 2007. “Backstage with the Knowledge Boys and Girls: Goffman and Distributed Agency in an Organic Online Community.” Organizational Studies vol. 28. , no. 3, pp. 307-325.

Ho Kyoung Shin and Ho Kyung Kim. 2009. “Examining identity and organizational citizenship behaviour in computer-mediated communication”. Journal of Information Science vol. 36 no. 1, pp. 114-126.