Participation:

  • The size of the OC showed no direct influence on the communication activity of the participants. However, in reaction to the increasing information load, communication strategies changed and herewith influenced the communication activity. The heterogeneity of the participant's activity was growing over time, and a small minority of participants wrote more and more of the postings.
    • Exploring Communication Activities in Online Communities: A Longitudinal Analysis in the Financial Services Industry Authors: Thomas Schoberth; Armin Heinzl; Jenny Preece. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Volume 16, Issue 3 & 4 2006 , pages 247 - 265

Determinants and measures of community health

Determinants and measures related to purpose from: Preece, J. (2001) Sociability and usability: Twenty years of chatting online. Behavior and Information Technology Journal, 20, 5, 347-356.

  • Determining and measuring success by purpose.
    • Number of contributions (in paper "messages") measures engagement.

Determinants and measures of Community health from Preece, Jennifer and Shneiderman, Ben (2009) "The Reader-to-Leader Framework: Motivating Technology-Mediated Social Participation," AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction (1) 1, pp. 13-32.

  • Usability factors and Sociability factors. (p. 21)
    • Low threshold interfaces for easily making small contributions, e.g., no login
    • Support for legitimate peripheral participation so that readers can gradually edge into contributing
    • High ceiling interfaces that allow large and frequent contributions a chance to build their reputation over time while performing satisfying tasks
    • Visibility for users’ contributions and frequency of views; aggregated over time
    • Recognition for the highest quality and quantity of contributions
    • Visibility of ratings and comments by community members
    • Recognition of a person’s specific expertise
    • Tools to undo vandalism, limit malicious users, control pornography and libel
    • Policies and norms for appropriate contributions