Authors: Markus Rohde¹; Leonard Reinecke²; Bernd Pape³; Monique Janneck⁴

Source: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Volume 13, Numbers 5-6, December 2004 , pp. 471-499(29)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

This paper examines WiInf-Central, the ‘virtual homeplace’ of a student community (on Information Systems) at the University of Hamburg, and focuses on processes of social identity and community-building. Drawing on social-identity theory and communities of practice as our theoretical basis, we illustrate that the processes of identity-building and positive in-group evaluation triggered by WiInf-Central serve as a means for students of Information Systems to assert themselves against faculty members and students of other disciplines. While our study reveals strong mechanisms of social exclusion, inclusion mechanisms have to be assessed in a more differentiated way. In particular, our study shows the emergence of several ‘subgroups’, which appear largely closed to other community members. We ascribe this to both the self-organized and the hybrid – half virtual, half real – nature of the community based on WiInf-Central.

Keywords: CommSy; communities of practice (COP); e-community-building; hybrid and self-organized community of students; qualitative interviews; social identity theory (SIT)

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10606-004-5066-4

Affiliations: 1: International Institute for Socio-Informatics, Dorotheenstreet 76, Bonn, 53111, Email: rohde@iisi.de 2: Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg, Vogt-Kölln-Straße 30, Hamburg, 22527, Email: Leonard.Reinecke@public.uni-hamburg.de 3: Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg, Vogt-Kölln-Straße 30, Hamburg, 22527, Email: pape@informatik.uni-hamburg.de 4: Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg, Vogt-Kölln-Straße 30, Hamburg, 22527, Email: monique.janneck@informatik.uni-hamburg.de

Publication date: 2004-12-01

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