A Tale of Two Virtual Communities: A comparative analysis of culture and discourse in two online programming communities
Files
Date
2021-01-05
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
34
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
Software programming is increasingly becoming a collaborative and community driven effort, with online discussions becoming vital resources for learning and knowledge sharing. This study explores the differences in the discourse patterns of two popular online programming communities and provides insights into the type of community practices and learning outcomes these collectives support and scaffold. A three step content analysis framework is presented that employs a mixture of automated text processing techniques and qualitative methods on a representative sample of 8639 and 6126 contributions from Stack Overflow and r/Askprogramming respectively. Results indicate differences between communities in the scope of topics and the nature of responses provided. While r/Askprogramming has a more community centric, interpersonal approach and provides a space for sharing and supporting needs beyond knowledge sharing and factual learning, Stack Overflow takes a more task focused, knowledge centric approach. These findings suggest key normative structures that regulate patterns of collaboration and deliberation, which may have long term design implications for structuring and sustaining informal learning initiatives that nurture and promote technical skill development and enhancement.
Description
Keywords
Innovations in Collaborative Environments and Learning Technologies, community culture, informal learning, mixed-method content analysis, online forums, software programming
Citation
Extent
10 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Proceedings of the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.