Reading “Becoming a Blogger: Trajectories, Norms, and Activities
in a Community of Practice” (Dennen, 2014) served as a guideline for
participating in my ‘new’ online community. The part that interests me the most
is below table:
I found this part useful in observing my community
interaction as well as keeping myself being an “ethical” member. I now
participate in two Indonesian communities. Some questions I have in mind: Are
the above norms applicable in other communities, particularly in a community
with different cultural background? Who will enforce the norms once it is
violated? I have yet reached conclusive findings, although I found that there
are similar reactions to violations as described above.
As a new member, I spent quite a while to observe other
members’ posts/blogs (format, storyline, photo use), how they interact, and the
language they are using. Although the community is mainly using Indonesian
language to communicate, there are specific words/abbreviations used that I am
not familiar with. It is amazing how am
I willing to change my communication style in order to fit in.
So far, I haven't got any negative reactions but I think I am having this post-lurker syndrome: afraid to speak up, afraid of what others think of me. Well, what’s the story with your community?
Reference: Dennen, V. P. (2014). Becoming a blogger:
Trajectories, norms, and activities in a community of practice. Computers in
Human Behavior, 36, 350-358.
Hi Nadia, Thank you for this enlightening post. I enjoyed reading your experience in your chosen communities.
ReplyDeleteI also found the section of this paper very interesting. As a peripheral member, I also think it is good for me to observe the community first before I can confidently engaged with its activities. I agree with you that we need time to adjust our communication style in order to fit into a specific community. I am also participating in two parenting online forums, I haven't participated in any of their discussions yet, just simply observe for now. (A passive lurker :-) ) I am planning to involve more when I feel I am ready for accepting all the norms in the communities :-)
These are certainly ideal reactions... whether or not violations are actually met with punishment is another story. There's such a density of material in many online communities that going after one infraction will result in missing one hundred others. Leadership in the community also plays a part; look at how Reddit shuddered to a halt after one moderator was fired and the rest of the board started a revolution.
ReplyDelete