StevenM

This paper examines participation in online forums, focusing on asynchronous text-based discussions within small groups of learners after a learning event or course. Through three case studies, the research highlights adult learners' experiences, revealing overall positive attitudes towards the forums but noting lower-than-desired participation levels. The study identifies three participation patterns: non-participation, quiet participation, and communicative participation. It emphasizes the communicative learner—those who participate regularly and positively engage with the group. A profile of the communicative learner underscores the importance of fluency, coherence, and informality. The paper discusses the issues related to online participation and their implications for fostering communicative participation.

This study examines the effectiveness of various feature representations and techniques for analyzing affective intensities in computer-mediated communication. It compares learned n-grams and different affect lexicons, and introduces the support vector regression correlation ensemble (SVRCE) method for enhanced affect intensity classification. SVRCE employs an ensemble of classifiers, each tailored to a specific affect class, and incorporates affect correlation information for improved predictions. Experiments on web forums, blogs, and online stories demonstrate that learned n-grams outperform lexicon-based representations and that SVRCE surpasses other techniques like Pace regression and WordNet models. Ablation testing confirms that SVRCE's success is due to its use of feature ensembles and affect correlation information. A case study highlights the utility of these features and techniques in analyzing large online discourse archives.

In early 2003, the Committee on Monitoring International Labor Standards (CMILS) of the National Research Council (NRC) held regional forums in Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. These forums included representatives from the International Labour Organization (ILO), national governments, workers' and employers' organizations, NGOs, and academia. The purpose was to gather diverse international perspectives on monitoring compliance with international labor standards, especially in developing countries. CMILS has also held similar forums in the United States and conducted workshops on data quality, legal frameworks, and the connection between human capital development and labor standards compliance.

Social Forums, inspired by the World Social Forums, are not traditional social movements but rather platforms that unite various social movements and facilitate coalition-building, often around urban issues. They significantly contribute to social change by fostering collaboration among diverse groups. While they have the potential to form the basis of an international social movement, this would likely require a specific political program. The article also offers concrete suggestions to enhance the effectiveness of Social Forums.

This article investigates student engagement and the role of instructors in asynchronous discussion forums within fully online courses, focusing on two large computing subjects over two consecutive semesters. Using a grounded theory approach, the research analyzes discussion forum activities to determine what constitutes quality interaction according to students and instructors. The study's findings lead to the proposal of two frameworks designed to enhance effective online interaction in fully online learning environments.

This study evaluated the publishing journals and forums considered important by management information systems (MIS) scholars, focusing on the influence of their education, role orientation, and academic lifestyle. The top three journals identified were MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, and Information Systems Research. The leading forums were the International Conference on Information Systems, the Decision Science Institute conference, and the Hawaii International Conference on System Science.

This paper explores the use of hybrid forums as participatory devices in Constitución, Chile, after the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, examining their role in the democratization of expertise. By detailing the genealogy, organization, and outcomes of these forums, the paper identifies three critical tensions: the concept versus the practical application of hybrid forums, the balance between emergent and procedural collaboration dynamics, and the constraints on what counts as political voice. The study highlights the limitations faced by these forums in addressing pre-existing controversies and incorporating diverse political voices, particularly those of local fishermen. It concludes that hybrid forums must not only respond to existing uncertainties but also engage in creating new uncertainties.

Alternative globalisation activists promote respect for diversity and oppose cultural uniformity, creating the Social Forums as an ideal convergence model characterized by inclusivity, "open spaces," and non-deliberative meetings. Despite these ideals, real-world implementation faces challenges due to participant behavior and structural limitations. The World Social Forums, rather than unifying all factions, serve as platforms for debate and coordination, respecting differences. However, their growth, organizational burden, institutionalization, and democratic shortcomings present potential threats.

This ideographic case study examines the use of large online discussion forums in a Level 2 undergraduate module at a large distance learning university, focusing on the forum's role in fostering a community of practice (COP), student identity, and motivation. With over 1,000 students participating, the study employs qualitative methodology to explore how participation impacts academic and social integration. Findings suggest that while forums can enhance academic integration and identity, they also pose barriers that negatively affect student motivation and online identity.

This study investigates the benefits and difficulties of using online discussion forums in Learning Management Systems from the instructors' perspective. It aims to provide strategies and improvements to create a more participatory forum environment. Using coding procedures to analyze data from semi-structured interviews, the study offers insights relevant to the distance learning community, including instructors, developers, and researchers, to enhance the quality of forum mediation and use.

Online mental health support forums, such as Big White Wall, are growing in popularity and provide valuable anonymous support and information. However, there are concerns about potential negative outcomes for users. Big White Wall addresses these risks with 24-hour professional moderation. A comparison between Big White Wall’s members and the population of a London borough reveals a diverse user group, with a higher likelihood of members being female, aged 25 to 34, or unemployed.

This study surveyed 364 information systems faculty to rate 51 journals and 13 conferences in the field. Faculty also indicated whether each journal primarily disseminates information systems research. The study determined relative rankings for each outlet and compared these findings to previous studies, noting overall stability in rankings. Some journals and conferences were rated for the first time, and there was a significant increase in the ratings of journals dedicated solely to information systems research.

This paper explores the effectiveness of discussion forums in massive open online courses (MOOCs), focusing on their role in promoting engagement and learning. Through a literature review and analysis of data from a MOOC at the University of Warwick, the study compares forum participation across two delivery modes. Findings reveal that overall forum use is low, tutor moderation can inhibit participant discussion, and peer-support forums often fail to provide sufficient support.

This study investigates the impact of structured and unstructured online discussion forums on student engagement in college classrooms. By analyzing responses related to feedback, modeling, and empowerment, the study finds that while students respond positively to both types of forums, structured forums are generally perceived as more engaging. The concept of "structure" in forums and its manipulation to enhance student engagement are discussed.

This article addresses the lack of interaction between mass media and their audiences, examining the potential for increased interactivity through the Internet. Despite the rise of online platforms, traditional mass media remain relevant and may even enhance their role as providers of a shared lifeworld. The article reviews theoretical implications from the perspectives of the Frankfurt School and public journalism, identifies settings and levels of interactivity in online journalism, and presents an exploratory study of New York Times journalists and forum participants to illustrate the opportunities and challenges of mass media online.

This study examines the quality of health information on online discussion forums, aiming to assess their value as peer-to-peer health information-sharing platforms. A total of 25 discussion threads on HIV, diabetes, and chickenpox were evaluated across Reddit, Mumsnet, and Patient. Assessors, including medical professionals and laypersons, rated the threads on accuracy, completeness, sensibility, potential influence on the questioner's actions, and usefulness. The results showed that the majority of the information was of high or reasonably high quality, with poor information being rare. The findings suggest that online discussion forums can provide acceptable quality health information.

This paper investigates the role of interaction in asynchronous discussion forums within an online post-graduate TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) education course, highlighting identity as a key theme. Identity emerges through students' dialogic choices as they project impressions, negotiate their positioning within the group, and establish valued norms. Without face-to-face cues, students' forum posts convey their intended meanings. Discourse analysis using systemic functional linguistics reveals how identity is constructed through interpersonal maneuvering, involving multiple identity constructions and the effects of perceived negative identity. The study also examines how different tasks impact identity formation.

In shared-power settings, planners may not significantly impact direct actions or foundational social structures. However, they can influence the ideas, rules, modes, media, and methods that connect actions and structures. These connections profoundly affect which decisions, issues, conflicts, and policies are discussed and resolved. Shared-power settings typically consist of forums for discussion, arenas for decisions, and courts for conflict management and norm enforcement. Policy planning, therefore, involves the intentional design and utilization of these elements to achieve desired policy outcomes.

This paper analyzes videotapes of five National Issues Forums to examine the nature of deliberative talk in small group settings, finding that storytelling is a predominant form of communication. Storytelling helps participants navigate barriers to deliberation, such as knowledge gaps and managing public image in conflict-prone environments. Additionally, storytelling aids groups in building a moral community around issues without engaging in explicit conflict or argument. The study concludes that understanding the role of storytelling can benefit both practitioners and researchers of deliberative democracy.

This paper addresses the Web forum crawling problem, a crucial step for search engines and Web data mining, complicated by in-depth link structures, duplicate pages, and invalid pages due to login issues. The authors propose iRobot, an intelligent forum crawler that understands forum content and structure to select optimal traversal paths. iRobot samples and analyzes page content layouts to reconstruct the forum's sitemap, identifying informative pages while avoiding invalid and duplicate ones. Experimental results show iRobot's effectiveness in reducing duplicate and invalid pages, efficiency in saving bandwidth and storage, and its ability to concatenate long threads into single archives for better indexing and data mining.

This paper examines the role of discussion forums in fully online courses for tertiary education, focusing on how student participation correlates with academic achievement. Discussion forums are often the primary interaction medium in online courses, yet simply setting them up does not guarantee active engagement. The study provides an overview of participation patterns among introductory information technology and programming students, highlighting the correlation between forum activity and grades. The findings reveal that many students do not engage with the forums, and there is a significant correlation between active participation and higher grades. The study offers insights and guidelines for improving online learning systems.

This paper emphasizes the significance of discussion forums in e-learning applications and the need for recommendations to help learners find relevant information within large or weakly structured forums. It presents a generic personalization framework and evaluates it using a recommender architecture for the e-learning-focused forum Comtella-D. The evaluation analyzes various sources of user feedback and the necessary level of user interaction to provide recommendations. The findings inform a personalization rule that selects the most suitable recommendation strategy based on user input data. The study concludes that collaborative filtering techniques can be effectively used in small data sets, such as e-learning discussion forums.

This article examines the impact of social dynamics on consumer online product ratings and their subsequent effects on rating behavior and product sales. The authors first model the arrival of product ratings, distinguishing social influences from baseline ratings behavior. They then analyze product sales as a function of posted ratings, breaking down ratings into baseline ratings, social influence contributions, and idiosyncratic errors. This approach quantifies the sales impact of social dynamics, considering both direct sales effects and indirect effects via future ratings and sales. The findings indicate that while previous ratings significantly influence subsequent ratings and can boost sales, these effects are relatively short-lived once indirect effects are accounted for.

This article proposes a theoretical framework suggesting a more optimistic view of current accountability mechanisms. It argues that by integrating various forums and functions of accountability in a multidimensional way, the capacity to hold power to account is greater than commonly believed. This is because functions are not reliant on a single forum's effectiveness, and each forum can serve multiple functions. The article underscores the necessity of a robust conceptual framework for a systematic study of accountability and aims to contribute to its development.

This paper explores how data mining can enhance the representation and analysis of data from asynchronous discussion forums, addressing the challenge instructors face in reviewing extensive forum transcripts. The study seeks to define "data from an online forum" and aims to align the information instructors need with the data that can be extracted through mining techniques. By using temporal participation indicators, the authors demonstrate how data and text mining can improve instructors' ability to evaluate discussion progress, providing a more comprehensive and useful view of forum interactions.