On lurking: Multiple perspectives on lurking within an educational community

Bozkurt, Aras; Koutropoulos, Apostolos; Singh, Lenandlar; Honeychurch, Sarah

doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2019.100709

Cited by 45 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, because Redditors do not list their location in their profiles, we could not comment here on which countries contribute most often to teaching‐related subreddits. A self‐report study could also target educators who read subreddit content but never contribute, the lurkers who are a common, but little understood, social media phenomenon (Bozkurt, Koutropoulos, Singh, & Honeychurch, 2020; Nonnecke & Preece, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tale of two subreddits: Change and continuity in teaching‐related online spaces

Willet¹,

Carpenter²

2020

Brit J Educational Tech

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite social media’s ubiquity in modern life, research on some topics related to educators’ use of social media for professional purposes remains underdeveloped, such as how use may change over time. This study explores educators’ self‐directed learning through social media by comparing change and continuity in how users contribute, interact and converse in two teaching‐related subreddits, r/Teachers and r/education. More than a million Reddit contributions spanning three‐and‐a‐half years comprise the dataset: 696 660 contributions to r/Teachers from 55 148 users and 339 618 contributions to r/education from 43 711 users. Learning ecology and affinity space concepts frame multiple methods of analysis, including quantitative measures of individual contributions, content interactions and social interactions, as well as qualitative content analysis of top posts and responses. Findings are discussed in light of the literature as change and continuity in Redditors’ participation patterns in the two subreddits suggest distinct spaces for distinct purposes. This study offers a starting point for further work to understand the opportunities and challenges of self‐directed learning in open and complex social media spaces. What is already known about this topic Educators use social media to reach outside their local contexts for self‐directed learning. Teaching‐related subreddits vary in how users contribute and interact. What this paper adds Different online spaces host distinct kinds of discussion. Educators’ participation in online spaces is not static. Social media research methods should account for the possibilities of change and continuity in contributions, interactions and conversations. Implications for practice and/or policy Teaching‐related subreddits continue to grow and may offer helpful content and interactions to users; however, self‐directed learning through social media also necessitates increased digital literacy. r/Teachers appeared to be a conversational space primarily for teachers. r/education seemed to be a bulletin board space for posting about broader educational topics.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tale of two subreddits: Change and continuity in teaching‐related online spaces

Willet¹,

Carpenter²

2020

Brit J Educational Tech

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Research explains lurker as someone who only browses content without disclosing personal information [23], does not send messages [24], and stops contributing [25]. Such users can also be called Legitimate Peripheral Participants ( [12], [26]).…”

Section: Passive Users Vs Lurkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One reason is their demand for information. For example, the lurkers in the learning community pay more attention to their interaction with the content, that is, information acquisition needs [12]. Moreover, the employee does not have any new or important things to post, but it does not exclude the possibility that he/she can pass the information of the ESM outside the scope of the software as a beneficial output [29].…”

Section: Lurker0mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"Online parasites" are often strategic while participating in online activities, which makes them spend a lot of time searching until they obtain the information they need. In other words, to satisfy the primary needs (such as raising their awareness, improving professional skills, or solving the problems at hand), they will utilize the information obtained in a flexible way like "active lurker as practitioner" [12].…”

Section: Online Parasitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Users who produce little or no content and perform other activities (e.g., reading) quietly are called "lurkers" and their behavior is called "lurking" [8,9]. As the phenomenon of users lurking on the internet has become universal, research has been conducted regarding personal characteristics [10], information privacy [9], role perspective [11], transactional distance, and interaction types [12]. A study on social media established that the lurking degree of lurkers in the network is different [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Are Online Parasites Really Different from Lurkers?

Bu¹,

Lou²,

Koh

2021

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With the development of digital technology, the internet environment has dramatically changed the way people share information, which has been changed by different types of sources, making it convenient to obtain information. The lurking phenomenon in the network is becoming increasingly common, and previous studies have been conducted on lurkers on the internet with shifting focus from active users to passive users. Under these circumstances, this tries to conceptualize a new type of passive users, titled as "online parasites" who focus on obtaining information by utilizing the internet or their host to achieve their other purposes. The aim is to deeply understand these users and clearly distinguish them from other types of users such as lurkers.

show abstract

#Anatomynotes: A temporal content analysis of anatomy education posts on Instagram

Hussain,

Dsouza,

Yip

et al. 2023

Anatomical Sciences Ed

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social media platforms such as Instagram are becoming increasingly popular sources for students to access anatomy educational resources. This review used content analysis to examine posts under the hashtag #anatomynotes and is the first to map the characteristics of anatomy education posts on Instagram and determine any temporal changes. Sample posts were gathered from April 2019 and April 2021 and categorized according to the technical format, purpose and author credentials. Engagement was recorded in the form of likes and comments. Overall, posts depicting illustrations remained the most popular format within both time periods. Three‐dimensional models saw an increase in popularity with a 62.5% rise. Students remained the most common author type throughout and increased further in 2021 by 25%. Clinician authors and posts focusing on clinical education also increased in 2021 by 17.9% and 227%, respectively. Humor‐based posts saw the greatest increase among the post purposes, with 1000% more recorded in 2021. Engagement overall saw a decline with notably significant reductions in average likes per post among all text‐based posts (−72%, p < 0.0001), all illustrative posts (−51%, p = 0.0013), and a decline in the presence of comments among all text‐based posts (−65.1%, p = 0.0158). These findings highlight that Instagram is a popular platform for facilitating near‐peer teaching while increasingly providing a space where students and clinicians can interact. Additionally, it highlights the benefits of the platform for visually focused learners. However, future research should seek to determine whether Instagram can facilitate deeper learning and have an impact on academic and clinical performance.

show abstract

On lurking: Multiple perspectives on lurking within an educational community

Abstract: The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher and is for private use only.There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it.

Cited by 45 publications

References 34 publications

A tale of two subreddits: Change and continuity in teaching‐related online spaces

A tale of two subreddits: Change and continuity in teaching‐related online spaces

Are Online Parasites Really Different from Lurkers?

#Anatomynotes: A temporal content analysis of anatomy education posts on Instagram

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About