Forums

Many advocates of deliberative democracy see in the Internet a new opportunity for the development of public spaces, public spheres, and places where deliberation can take place. An important element of the notion of the public sphere in general and of deliberation specifically, is the quality of the debate. In the past decade, many studies have been conducted to evaluate online discussions in light of the ideal notion of the public sphere. However, a wide gap exists between theoretical approaches and the actual operationalization of such theories for empirical research. In an attempt to bridge this gap we develop a method for examining the extent to which Internet forums meet the normative requirements of rational-critical debate, reciprocity, and reflexivity. The methodological approach consists of a textual analysis of the contributions made to an online forum. The coding scheme presented in this article is based on a case study (UK Online) and guided by the theoretical notions of deliberative democracy.

Within internet forums, members of certain (online) communities discuss matters of concern to the respective groups with comparatively few social restraints. For radical, extremist, and other ideologically ‘sensitive’ groups and organizations in particular, internet forums are a very efficient and widely used tool to connect members, inform about the group’s agenda, and attract new members. Whereas members of such groups may be reluctant to express their opinions in interviews or surveys, we argue that internet forums can yield an abundance of useful ‘natural’ discursive data for social scientific research. Based on two ‘exemplary studies’, we present a practical guide for the analysis of such data including data sampling strategies, the refinement of the data for computer assisted qualitative and quantitative analysis, and strategies for in-depth analysis. Advantages and potential issues with analyzing internet forums are discussed.

Nicola Guerra’s essay deals with the recent Italian migration to Finland. The author examines why a growing number of young people has moved to Finland in the last ten years and many young Italians look to the Scandinavian country with a desire to settle there soon. The investigation of the driving forces behind
the flow is accomplished through the semantic analysis of the migrants’ narratives. The study places the reasons for the exodus within the social and economic settings that characterize the two European nations. Guerra identifies the quality of life, rather than the opportunity to get a job matching one’s
educational qualification, as the reason for the decision to migrate.

The Italian community in Finland is relatively small
compared to other larger Italian communities abroad.
Despite the quantitatively restricted dimensions,
there are multiple reasons to study the phenomenon.
First of all, the two countries represent the geographical
extremes of the European Union as well as two
very diff erent realities in terms of historical, cultural
and social background. These two member states
of the EU in fact are very diff erent in terms of multiculturalism
/ multiethnicity and for their role in the
European unifi cation process. Studying the migration
fl ows between the two countries is therefore important
not only to understand the bilateral relationship
between Finland and Italy but it can also off er a more
general perspective on how the European integration
process is actually proceeding. This essay examines
the decision-making process of Italians planning to
move to Finland through a semantic analysis of the
posts (or web messages) sent to the message board
of web newsmagazine La Rondine by Italians looking
for a relocation in Finland. The collection and analysis
of the semantic universe provide the list of motivators
at the basis of Finland as chosen destination and an
outlook on how Finland is perceived by Italians. As
a conclusion of the semantic analysis on the source
material, a map on the opportunities and threats that
Italians attribute to Finland, will be drawn.

Key Words: emigration, immigration, Italy, Finland,
expectations.

Talking politics online is not exclusively reserved for politically-orientated discussion forums, particularly the everyday political talk crucial to the public sphere. People talk politics just about anywhere online from reality TV discussion forums to numerous other forum genres. Thus, the need to tap into those discussions is important if our aim is to provide a more comprehensive overview of the online discursive landscape. However, widening our scope of analysis presents us with a new set of difficulties, namely, how do we identify political talk within the vast pool of threads and postings, and how do we assess such talk in light of the public sphere, while at the same time, taking into account its informal nature. The aim of this article is to tackle these questions by presenting a methodological approach, which attempts to detect, describe, and assess political talk in non-political discussion forums.

This article describes a study investigating narratives obtained from 45 participants about their watching of the television program, EastEnders. The first aim was to understand why people watch this program. The second aim was to identify the kinds of social object dominating their accounts as a way of revealing the forms of cultural debate catalyzed by the show. Material was generated via an open-ended email questionnaire and analyzed qualitatively using grounded theory. Two major themes constituting social objects were identified - female desire and community. These themes were made up of seven categories, each of which helped explain why participants watched EastEnders: reduced troubles, gender, relaxation, social activity, community, realism and Britishness. These results are discussed in relation to past research but the authors also argue that, as the findings suggest some participants gained a therapeutic effect from watching EastEnders, there is a fruitful and little-explored link between such comfort viewing and research on psychotherapy.

We present Anagora, a graphic tool tracing discussion threads along a time axis. Anagora displays overlapping discussion threads over time on a single screen. Its special feature is to calculate the best resolution for a forum to fit on a screen by choosing the most appropriate time scale. Anagora is used to generate views of fora or forum thumbnails. Several discussion fora coming from e-learning platforms illustrate how Anagora is used by tutors and moderators to monitor students’ collaborative work.

Este trabajo forma parte de una investigación mayor que quiere medir el progreso de la competencia comunicativa de 83 estudiantes de Grado a través de las TIC y, en concreto, del
foro académico de su asignatura. En esta fase del estudio se analiza cuantitativamente la existencia de relaciones entre el uso que los estudiantes hacen de las TIC y sus percepciones
de utilidad y aprendizaje, recogidas a través de un cuestionario al finalizar el último foro. De acuerdo con los resultados, no puede generalizarse que deseen incorporar las TIC como instrumentos de aprendizaje, ni que sus habilidades tecnológicas beneficien ese proceso de
aprendizaje.
Palabras clave: TIC, foro, aprendizaje colaborativo, lengua extranjera.

This paper forms part of a broader research that aims to measure the communication skill
development skills of 83 undergraduates by using ICT and, particularly learning forums, for this subject. In this stage of the research, we did a quantitative analysis of the relationship among ICT, expected usefulness and learning processes. To collect the data, we used a questionnaire which was distributed at the end of the last forum. According to the results, it cannot be generalized that students look forward to incorporating ICT as a learning tool or the fact that their technological skills benefit from this learning process.
Keywords: ICT, learning forum, collaborative learning, foreign language.

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Networked Learning 2010, Edited by: Dirckinck-Holmfeld L, Hodgson V, Jones C, de Laat M, McConnell D & Ryberg T ... Blogs and Forums as Communication and Learning Tools ... Sui Fai John Mak, Roy Williams, Jenny ...

Esta pesquisa faz parte de um projeto de doutorado iniciado em 2006, no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção da COPPE-UFRJ. O projeto consiste em aplicar o Modelo de Hieraquia Fuzzy COPPE-Cosenza na avaliação de desempenho de um grupo que utiliza o Fórum de Discussão para atingir determinada tarefa educacional, no curso PGTIAE-Pós-Graduação em Tecnologias de Informática Aplicada na Educação, que faz parte do PPGI-Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática, no Instituto de Matemática- ...

Esta pesquisa faz parte de um projeto de doutorado iniciado em 2006, no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção da COPPE-UFRJ. O projeto consiste em aplicar o Modelo de Hieraquia Fuzzy COPPE-Cosenza na avaliação de desempenho de um grupo que utiliza o Fórum de Discussão para atingir determinada tarefa educacional, no curso PGTIAE-Pós-Graduação em Tecnologias de Informática Aplicada na Educação, que faz parte do PPGI-Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática, no Instituto de Matemática- ...

Addressing the need to investigate how to embed learning theories into the interface, information architecture and content design of e-learning courseware, this research creates a method to develop “design for pedagogy patterns”, a language of design which helps designers place teaching and learning theories at the heart of e-learning design. It does this by developing a pattern-making  tool – the “pattern pack” – which aids writers in the task of creating a design for pedagogy pattern. This paper illustrates a case study on the application of the pattern pack to develop a design for pedagogy pattern for an e-learning online forum. An evaluation of the patterns by an expert is included to discuss the quality of the patterns that can be created using this methodology.

This paper presents the findings of research carried out into the use of blogs and forums as communication and learning tools in Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (CCK08), a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that was run between September and December 2008. The course was unique in many ways: it included a small credit-bearing course within a network; it was completely open and very large, and it included a unique aggregated network of blogs, which was one of the reasons why an unusually large number of online interactions took place in blogs rather than just in forums. The research used a survey and email interviews to explore a number of themes identified in the postings in the course which included: the importance of conceptual connections, personal connections, personal autonomy, media affordances and approaches to learning. The research identified three distinct clusters of respondents, with the following preferred modes of interaction: (1) blogging, (2) using the forums, (3) using both blogging and forums. A number of other modes of interaction were also used by the respondents. Many respondents used both blogs and forums for at least some of the time in the course.

To a large extent, blogging and forum use correlated with specific individual learning styles and media affordances: the use of blogs was associated with the ability to create personal space for personal learning, quiet reflection and developing personal relationships with bloggers and others. The use of forums was associated with fast paced challenging interaction, relationships based on sharing of ideas, more open discussion and more links to the discussed themes and bigger picture. However, the research also identified three dimensions (home> <bazaar, long-loop> < short-loop, and engagement> < reflection) within which the new media provided different and new opportunities for participating in learning networks. Respondents used these to explore and develop their own affordances for learning in varied and even surprising and novel ways, sometimes using blogs or forums for particular purposes, but sometimes using them almost interchangeably. The research points to a maturing of media users in online learning. These users are developing their own personal learning networks, and using the new media in innovative and nuanced ways.

Esta pesquisa faz parte de um projeto de doutorado iniciado em 2006, no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção da COPPE-UFRJ. O projeto consiste em aplicar o Modelo de Hieraquia Fuzzy COPPE-Cosenza na avaliação de desempenho de um grupo que utiliza o Fórum de Discussão para atingir determinada tarefa educacional, no curso PGTIAE-Pós-Graduação em Tecnologias de Informática Aplicada na Educação, que faz parte do PPGI-Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática, no Instituto de Matemática- ...