Facilitating online communities: Assignment 1

An overview of the online community is provided, including the type of community and its purpose and/or focus

The online community that I have chosen to analyse is the Scivation forum that is a part of the Scivation website.  Scivation is a company that provides products and services that cater to physical training, nutrition and supplement programmes, coaching and general advice for people that are undertaking a physical transformation whether it is recreational or competitive bodybuilding (http://www.scivation.com/forums/index.php).

It is my estimation that many of the members of this community are familiar with the Scivation brand and therefore in some ways is a value added service for current, former or potential customers to share and/ or review product information and advice whilst also advancing their own knowledge or that of the community.

The cluster of individuals in this community align well to a simple, yet early definition provided by LeLever (2003) where he posits the internet as the enabling tool for people over time to converge and collaborate according to their desire.  Wenger (2006) advances this notion through his submission that building relationships is important for shared learning and interaction and there should be a commitment through membership to be a part of the community. 

Accessing this community is a fairly simple affair due to the open nature of the forum, however in order to engage actively an application is sent to the site administrator.  This is a fairly simple process that merely requires an email address and name to be submitted, authentication occurs via replying to a confirmation link and voila, your free membership is approved.  A range of identity creation options then becomes available enabling the user to provide information and statistics as they desire, the relevance and value of this will be discussed later although the more accurate the details provided means the members of the community are more able to converse, assist with and receive information. 

In terms of membership numbers, the site details a total of 7448 with 996 being active members.  As a member of this forum, there are a number of entitlements afforded such as the ability to post new threads, reply to posts, receive email notification, send private messages, create albums, add events to the forum calendar and establish contact lists.

Online tools used for communication and collaboration within the community are analysed

The online discussion site or forum is the main tool used for the community to communicate and collaborate, but within this is a range of other means to correspond, share and create knowledge. 

As a forum there are seven main categories that contain a multitude of more specific subjects or threads, whilst there are also a few sticky threads that remain at the top of some listings to ensure important information can always be seen and accessed.

Other tools available for the purposes of communicating and collaborating include blogs where online workout journals are created and maintained by owners.  Social network spaces provide opportunities for clusters to form and connect according to their particular interests and again are created and maintained by owners. An online storage application allows members to collaboratively create, share and archive files such as videos, workout and nutrition documents and photographs.  The final tool to be discussed here is the ability for peer-to-peer connectivity to occur where members can private message or PM each other where this is an opportunity to ask specific questions about workouts, nutrition, supplementation and/ or other social activities.

In terms of the impact of the forum on communication and collaboration, On purpose associates  (2008) suggest that learning is a social phenomenon where people organise their learning in their social communities; that these communities integrate knowledge through sharing values, beliefs and ways of doing and being; the process of learning is integrated with membership, belonging and identity which evolves as the member does along with their relationships; knowing is not possible without doing; and finally, belonging to a community empowers one’s ability to contribute  and engage which is described as having a powerful learning impact for the user and the community.

In my short experience of being a member of the Scivation community, the concepts raised above are very familiar and are witnessed within the organized categories on the main forum page.  There are also a number of postings I have perused that would suggest that members have advanced their knowledge through the practice they have undertaken as a result of the communicative activities.  In particular, the workout journals provide a trackable journal of a member and the status updates provide a snapshot of their membership duration, physical statistics that can be compared as well as their reputation that is assessed via the quality of their posts.

The ability for a new or inexperienced member to see this information is valuable because there is an expertise or ‘guru’ label that can be associated with those particular member’s, whilst psychologically it appeals to a level of safety as expressed by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Learning theories.com, 2008). 

A number of the other tools that are available for members to communicate and collaborate have a synergy with Bruner’s discovery learning theory where the organised social spaces or video categories for example, provide an opportunity for members to problem-solve particular areas of concern (Learning theories.com, 2008).  To illustrate this example, a member may be having difficulty with a technical aspect of their training, the video section enables that member to view more experienced members in action through visual and/ or aural means and therefore review their own routine.  If confidence was not an issue for the member seeking guidance, they are able to post their own video for feedback and in both cases they are autonomously in a position to experiment and find the appropriate solutions for their needs. 

Community rules or guidelines for members are analysed as well as the types of roles for community management and facilitation

Administrators organize and manage the forum such as the board style, the forums to create, the information required from members and who to appoint as moderators.  Moderators supervise specific forums and have the ability to edit and delete posts, move threads and perform other actions.  A moderator maybe granted to users who have proven to be helpful and knowledgeable in the subject of the forum they are moderating.  Along with these two formal roles, the community is somewhat self-moderated where members converse, debate, agree and disagree with respect.  I find this maturity aspect of the forum as integral to the knowledge and learning that is shared and dispersed.  There are similar forums that have been established by some of the more higher profile supplementation companies where debates can quickly turn into personal attacks and therefore the thread becomes dysfunctional.

Apart from areas of interest to peruse, threads maybe rated or searched quickly to provide busy users with more direct links to the information they require.  Reputation status is also available for members as a result of the quality of their posts.  This is a beneficial aspect to the posts generally or specifically provided, as the indicated status can connect with one or more of the aforementioned theories for the viewer. 

As well as undertaking forum management and supervision on behalf of Scivation and the community, the administrators and moderators also have an important function in recognizing file sizes that are uploaded that may have a negative impact on storage space, downloading and file quality for example.  In that instance there are maximum file sizes and quota limits to the number of attachments that can be posted.

A few of the more intimate details for members that are commented on here include personal restrictions where an ignore list can be created for particular members or posts a user may not want to see or receive.  Potential members under the age of 13 are required to have parental or guardian consent.

One of the more basic yet fundamental roles of the administrator is to ensure the forum is accessible and in particular, this may be through the provision of account information where users forget or incorrectly enter the wrong information.  The security aspect of this function, via encrypted passwords, should not be dismissed however due to the potential risks to the community and the company. 

Segwaying on from this aspect of security and feeling of safety is the capability of the administrator to set a tone of comfort for the community environment to exist and flourish for interaction and learning purposes.  Appointed moderators then take the lead and in my experience of the community, these facilitation enablers have constructed a valuable and comfortable network to guide members in communicating, collaborating, behaving, being, doing and learning.

The overall effectiveness of the online community is evaluated

The Scivation online community demonstrates a number of valuable benefits for individuals that are seeking to advance and adapt their knowledge to meet their goals, connect with like-minded individuals across a global context and engage and belong to a cluster with similar interests, desires etc.  Scivation’s forum contains purposeful content that is clearly categorised on the main page that enables viewers to quickly move to specific areas of interest.  The joining process is a simple affair, but even if the user is not a member they still have the ability to view threads and participate in the community from the periphery.

Although the main communication and collaboration tools are asynchronous, this is suitable for me and others possibly, due to daily commitments such as work where it is not possible to connect in a real-time capacity.

Some of the theories that underpin the application of the Scivation forum also add to its appeal such as community of practice or social communities, discovery learning theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as expressed earlier.

Aspects of community design and facilitation which contribute to its effectiveness are analysed

The administrator has played a vital role in providing the necessary tools for users to participate or actively engage in the community.  Navigation, text, buttons and links are user friendly, guidelines for forum use are easily accessed and the respectfulness with how this is languaged probably plays a significant part in the maturity of the forum.  For example, there is not a great need to list a number of do not’s as these are replaced by how to do’s.

This level of comfort is also supported and developed by the tone of the moderators in their assistance to members.  Significantly, this is carried on by members through interactions with each other.

Due to the level of confidence members can then draw from each other, this community is in a good position to construct meaning and knowledge as a result of their individual experiences or those of the group and is related to constructivist learning theory (Sargeant et al, 2006).  In this instance it is not necessary to rely on moderators to facilitate interaction and learning as the community takes care of that for themselves.  Where moderators do play a role however, can be related to satisfying higher order cognitive needs of members where greater analysis or expertise may be required and this is related to cognitive theory (ibid).

Bibliography

Sargeant J, Curran V, Jarvis-Selinger S, Allen M, Kendall H. Facilitating interpersonal interaction and learning online: Linking theory and practice. The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, Volume 26, pp. 128-136.

Learning-theories.com (2008).  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  Downloaded 3 April 2011 from

http://www.learning-theories.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs.html

Learning-theories.com (2008).  Discovery learning (Bruner). Downloaded 3 April 2011 from

http://www.learning-theories.com/discovery-learning-bruner.html

LeFever, L (2003). Common craft blog: What is an online community? Downloaded 2 April 2011 from

http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000208.html

On purpose associates (2008).  Communities of practice.  Downloaded 3 April 2011 from

http://www.funderstanding.com/content/communities-of-practice

Wenger, E (2006). Communities of practice: a brief introduction.  Downloaded 2 April 2011 from

http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm