Visualisierung in Online-Communities - Konzeption, Implementierung und Evaluation eines Visualisierungsinstruments

Abstract

Online Communities allow individuals to interact, get to know and exchange with similar others. Studies show that active involvement leads to higher benefits, e.g. in learning or support communities. Yet, many online communities report very low participation rates. Finding and studying strategies to foster participation in online communities is therefore a growing field of research. Different approaches for strengthening participation in online communities exist - among them social visualization. While many social visualization tools have been developed, not much empirical evidence about their effectiveness exists. To find out more about the influence of social visualization on the participation rate of online community members, a social visualization tool was designed, implemented and introduced to a virtual community for high school girls interested in science and technology. In order to evaluate the effects of the introduction of the tool, a pre-post and follow-up study was conducted. Due to practical and theoretical problems one encounters when it comes to evaluating manipulations in online communities, an evaluation model (ENDIT) was developed and implemented. The ENDIT model comprises five minimal standards necessary for a convincing evaluation in online communities: 1) effect establishment, 2) novelty effect, 3) discriminant validation, 4) implicit control group, and 5) time-delayed control group. The results of the study suggest that integrating a social visualization tool in an online community platform leads to an increase of participation, especially among those members who interact with the tool regularly. Members who did not interact with the tool were not affected. Significant difference among several participation criteria appeared between the members who used the platform with the tool compared to members who used the same platform (at a later point of time) without the tool.