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Social Roles in an Online Support Community for Older People

Pfeil, Ulrike, Svangstu, Knut, Ang, Chee Siang, Zaphiris, Panayiotis (2011) Social Roles in an Online Support Community for Older People. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 27 (4). pp. 323-347. ISSN 1044-7318. (doi:10.1080/10447318.2011.540490) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:35706)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2011.540490

Abstract

In this article, an online support community for older people is studied, with the aim

of developing a taxonomy of social roles based on content analysis and social network

analysis. Four hundred messages (posted between August 9, 2007, and February 5,

2008) in an online support community for older people (http://www.seniornet.org)

were investigated. The data were analyzed to identify and shed light on patterns

of the online functional behavior as well as the social structure of active members.

Drawing on the findings, a set of six social roles were identified, defined, and

described in depth. The findings showed that the structural positions of online community

members were associated with the kind of content these members tended

to post. For example, it was found that central members were very likely to give

support, whereas members not very well connected were more inclined to post

self-disclosing messages.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/10447318.2011.540490
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics (inc Computing science) > QA 76 Software, computer programming, > QA76.9.H85 Human computer interaction
T Technology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Engineering and Digital Arts
Depositing User: Tina Thompson
Date Deposited: 28 Oct 2013 13:23 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:12 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/35706 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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