Uwe Matzat

Academic communication and Internet Discussion Groups: transfer of information or creation of social contacts?

This paper analyzes the role of Internet Discussion Groups (IDGs) in informal academic communication. It examines the claims in the literature that there are general benefits of academic mailing lists and newsgroups for researchers. Different hypotheses relating to potential contact and information benefits are tested with data of a random sample of English and Dutch university researchers within the humanities, the social and natural sciences. The outcomes support hypotheses about a few information effects and, more often, contact benefits of IDGs. Researchers build up weak contacts that make their research more visible and that make them more aware of other researchers’ work. These weak contacts are useful for the reception of new research papers. As a result, IDGs provide access to social capital. However, contrary to what is stated in the literature, the data shows no evidence for expectations about equalizing effects on the general structure of academic communication. IDGs do not reduce inequalities in the opportunities to use informal communication channels.

On-line Reputation Systems: The Effects of Feedback Comments and Reactions on Building and Rebuilding Trust in On-line Auctions

Previous research on reputation systems primarily focused on their trust-building function. The present research addresses their trust-rebuilding function-specifically, the role of the short text comments given in reaction to negative feedback. Rebuilding trust is often necessary because on-line markets are noisy environments. The results of two experimental studies of eBay users show that trustworthiness judgments are influenced by the text comments accompanying negative feedback and also by whether a trust violation is perceived as competence-based or morality-based. Plain apologies were more successful than denials in repairing trust. These effects were mediated by the perceived believability of the comments. Thus, to avoid the detrimental effect of noise on trust, operators of on-line marketplaces should encourage text feedback comments and reactions.

Reducing problems of sociability in online communities : integrating online communication with offline interaction

Social network researchers have claimed that relations offline affect relations online; however, it is unclear which characteristics of online interaction are affected by the existence of offline relations. This article examines whether a mixture of virtual and real-life interaction—in contrast to purely virtual interaction—among some members of knowledge-sharing online communities reduces the prevalence of problems that the whole community faces. Typical problems of sociability that increase risk of failure in knowledge sharing include a lack of trust between members, free rider behavior, and a lack of stable membership. This analysis uses survey data from 26 online communities that are part of a virtual organization that hosts communities for teachers. The findings provide evidence for the existence of more trust and less free riding in mixed communities but not for greater membership stability. Results contribute to knowledge of how offline networks influence online relations; namely, offline networks reduce problems of sociability, thereby facilitating online knowledge sharing. Moreover, the results modify earlier claims about the integration of online communication with offline interaction by showing that complete integration is unnecessary.

Does the online collection of ego-centered network data reduce data quality? An experimental comparison

We analyze whether differences in kind and quality of ego-centered network data are related to whether the data are collected online or offline. We report the results of two studies. In the first study respondents could choose between filling out ego-centered data through a web questionnaire and being probed about their network in a personalized interview. The second study used a design in which respondents were allocated at random to either online or offline data collection. Our results show that the data quality suffers from the online data collection and the findings indicate that this is the consequence of the respondents answering “mechanically”. We conclude that network researchers should avoid to simply copy traditional network items into a web questionnaire. More research is needed about how new design elements specific for web questionnaires can motivate respondents to fill out network questions properly.

The Social Embeddedness of Academic Online Groups in Offline Networks as a Norm Generating Structure: An Empirical Test of the Coleman Model on Norm Emergence

This paper analyzes two questions. First, under which conditions does a norm emerge in academic online groups that prescribes members to help others during group discussions? Second, what effects does such a norm, and other social conditions, have on the contributing behavior of researchers during online discussions? It is argued that the Coleman model (1990) on the emergence of norms points to an important condition that facilitates the realization of such a norm. According to the Coleman model (1990) a dense network among members of a group tends to strengthen a group norm. The paper makes a distinction between different kinds of academic online groups. The criterion of the distinction is the extent to which within the membership a highly integrated research community exists. An online group with a highly integrated research community is called to have a high degree of social embeddedness of its online communication in offline networks. It is hypothesized that a high degree of embeddedness has a number of effects. A higher degree of embeddedness leads to a stronger help-prescribing norm. The stronger the norm the more researchers send online answers to questions of their co-members during public online discussions. Furthermore, a high degree of embeddedness increases the answering behavior of researchers directly because it provides opportunities to gain reputation within the academic community through contributing to the discussion. The study makes use of data that consist of a combination of survey data and observed data of the communication behavior of researchers in about 50 international academic emailing lists. The results provide evidence for the expected effect of embeddedness on the strength of the norm and for the effect of embeddedness on the answering behavior of researchers. The strength of the help-prescribing norm indirectly influences the answering behavior.

Does the “Do-It-Yourself Approach” Reduce Digital Inequality? Evidence of Self-Learning of Digital Skills

The development of individuals’ digital skills has received much attention as a remedy for digital inequality. Although some researchers favor courses and guided learning for skills development, others propose learning by trial-and-error. Unfortunately, studies examining the value of the so-called “do-it-yourself approach” for the development of digital skills remain lacking. One difficulty lies in the vicious circle of lack of skill leading to infrequent Internet usage and vice versa, which limits the value of cross-sectional data for assessing the impact of this approach. We present longitudinal data on a random sample of Internet users in a Dutch city, which show that more frequent Internet use leads to more digital skills, but not the other way around. However, contrary to expectations about the potential of trial-and-error learning to reduce inequality, results also suggests that this approach is not always more beneficial to the “have-little” as compared to the “have-more.” The only inequality-reducing effect of this approach is that that older users profit more from it than younger users do.

Disciplinary differences in the use of internet discussion groups

This paper tests empirically the claim that the successful application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) depends on the social context of their use. There are striking differences in the prevalence of ICT use between researchers in different academic disciplines. Nevertheless it is unclear whether and how they depend on disciplinary differences of the academic communication system. This paper presents several existing and new hypotheses that specify how disciplinary differences in communication systems influence whether researchers make use of so-called internet discussion groups (IDGs). The hypotheses either argue that specific trust problems inhibit IDG subscription or that IDGs fulfil discipline-specific communication needs, which gives incentives for subscription. They are tested with data of a sample of university researchers in the natural and social sciences and the humanities. The trust hypotheses are not confirmed. The idea that IDGs have a distinct orientation function that diminishes deficiencies in the existing communication systems of some disciplines finds support. Scholars who work in research fields that are difficult to overview, that is fields with a high number of journals, have a special incentive to subscribe to IDGs.

Styles of moderation in online health and support communities

Scenario experiments with random sample of members of online health communities.Indirect control more accepted and effective than direct control.Rewarding moderation styles more effective than punishing styles.No difference between active versus passive members in acceptance and effectiveness. Medical and social support communities depend very much on the active participation of their members. An active nurturing and moderation of online community activities is often necessary to overcome typical problems of community interaction, such as a lack of trust and active engagement. However, it is unclear what types of moderation and social control members do accept and which are effective. We study the acceptance and effectiveness of different moderation styles in two experimental scenario studies. Our results demonstrate that direct forms of control that provide members with incentives are not accepted and are regarded as ineffective, whereas more indirect forms that rely on relational interests and normative obligations are regarded to be more acceptable and effective. Furthermore, positive (rewarding) moderation styles are more effective than negative (punishing) styles. Members regard negative moderation styles as more effective for the avoidance of unacceptable (rule-breaking) behavior than for the stimulation of desirable (e.g., engaging) behavior. Acceptance and effectiveness of different moderation styles do not differ between active versus passive members.

Predicting Student Performance from LMS Data: A Comparison of 17 Blended Courses Using Moodle LMS

With the adoption of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in educational institutions, a lot of data has become available describing students’ online behavior. Many researchers have used these data to predict student performance. This has led to a rather diverse set of findings, possibly related to the diversity in courses and predictor variables extracted from the LMS, which makes it hard to draw general conclusions about the mechanisms underlying student performance. We first provide an overview of the theoretical arguments used in learning analytics research and the typical predictors that have been used in recent studies. We then analyze 17 blended courses with 4,989 students in a single institution using Moodle LMS, in which we predict student performance from LMS predictor variables as used in the literature and from in-between assessment grades, using both multi-level and standard regressions. Our analyses show that the results of predictive modeling, notwithstanding the fact that they are collected within a single institution, strongly vary across courses. Thus, the portability of the prediction models across courses is low. In addition, we show that for the purpose of early intervention or when in-between assessment grades are taken into account, LMS data are of little (additional) value. We outline the implications of our findings and emphasize the need to include more specific theoretical argumentation and additional data sources other than just the LMS data.

The embeddedness of academic online groups in offline social networks : reputation gain as a stimulus for online discussion participation?

This article examines the conditions under which members of academic Internet discussion groups (IDGs) are motivated to provide help and answers to colleagues during group discussions on the Internet. It presents a simple microeconomic model that specifies mechanisms by which the embeddedness of IDGs in academic social networks provides incentives for active participation of members during group discussions. According to the reputation model, the sending of public email messages is a means for the researcher to gain reputation in the academic community. Hypotheses of the models are tested with the help of data on the observed communication behaviour of researchers in 49 academic IDGs. The results provide some support for the hypotheses of the model. Most important, they show that the embeddedness of academic IDGs in social networks stimulates the active participation in online discussions. The findings contribute to filling an important gap. They help understand how offline networks influence online communication by showing which characteristics of offline networks have what impact. Conclusions are drawn for the social design of online groups.