Knowledge Sharing Network in a Community of Illicit Practice: A Cybermarket Subreddit Case

dc.contributor.author Kwon, K. Hazel
dc.contributor.author Yu, Weiwen
dc.contributor.author Kilar, Stephen
dc.contributor.author Shao, Chun
dc.contributor.author Broussard, Kailey
dc.contributor.author Lutes, Thomas
dc.date.accessioned 2020-01-04T07:43:11Z
dc.date.available 2020-01-04T07:43:11Z
dc.date.issued 2020-01-07
dc.description.abstract Often neglected in the literature about communities of practice is the fact that online knowledge-sharing communities thrive among illicit collectives whose activities are stigmatized or outlawed. This paper focuses on a knowledge-sharing community of users who engage in illegal practices by examining the ways in which the community’s network structure changes when a high-stakes, uncertain event—the July 2017 shutdown of the dark web market Alphabay—occurs. This study compares the discussion network structures in the subreddit r/AlphaBay during pre-shutdown days (the “routine” period) and shutdown days (the “market defect” period) and offers a content analysis of the knowledge and resources shared by users during these periods. Several differences were observed: (a) the network structure changed such that the network size grew while becoming more centralized; (b) new crisis-specific players emerged; (c) types of knowledge shared during the market defect period was qualitatively different from the routine period.
dc.format.extent 10 pages
dc.identifier.doi 10.24251/HICSS.2020.334
dc.identifier.isbn 978-0-9981331-3-3
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10125/64076
dc.language.iso eng
dc.relation.ispartof Proceedings of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
dc.rights Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.uri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subject Mediated Conversation
dc.subject community of illicit practice
dc.subject cryptomarket
dc.subject dark web
dc.subject hidden online community
dc.subject knowledge sharing network
dc.title Knowledge Sharing Network in a Community of Illicit Practice: A Cybermarket Subreddit Case
dc.type Conference Paper
dc.type.dcmi Text
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