Reputation -Trust

1. The article "The Value of Reputation on Ebay: a Controlled Experiment" holds that eBay’s public reputation scores play a significant role in
the marketplace, and that virtually all significant sellers have strong reputations.
In statistics, if the mean is too high, it will be very difficult to analyze the true effects. Is it necessary to refine scoring system? If yes, what factors in the new system we need to consider?

2. Six degrees of reputation: The use and abuse of online review and recommendation systems by Shay David and Trevor Pinch
It has both advantages and disadvantages due to openness of online review and recommendation systems. As a buyer, I might need to be trained somewhat to be more cautious about the abuse of online review. It reminds me of the credibility of websites. When we think about whether to use information or not on a specific website, we also need to verify the credibility of this website. Could we say that they are the same issues?

Community,Networks&Participation

Gray- Informal learning in an online community of practice
As for research design, the study used CoP as a theoretical framework. I noticed that there are also some other studies which used social constructivist theory. Are there any difference between them? Since many participants in community are adults. I took a course "Adult Education" before. There is a theory called Andragogy. Is it possible to have more than one theoretical framework in one research paper?

McDonald & Lilia- legitimate peripheral participation
I am a lurker most of the time in a community. When I was applying for oversea study, I followed two websites regularly. Participants are the people who are the same with me or students who have been already in the USA. Lurking is a form of cognitive apprenticeship. Efimova(2004)said "Listening and reading is learning. It is getting to know community norms and language, picking up trends and staying updated, learning about others and their conversations. All this leads to an awareness of context that makes it much easier to become an active participant when the right moment comes." Unfortunately, the right moment hasn't come for me yet. I seldom go to these websites now. Basically, it means I never become an active participant. So how do you think about this time phrase "the right moment"?

Friendships&Relationships 2Qs

Self-disclosures with on-line acquaintances are similar to the “strangers on a train” phenomenon, in which people sometimes share quite intimate information with their anonymous seatmates (Mckenna,2002)
Relationships sustained primarily over the Internet are not as close as those sustained by other means such as face-to-face meet, or phone(Cummings,2002).
Two researchers’perspectives are different. The first one focuses on information intimacy. The last one focuses on people’s perceptions about relationship. Understanding parameters that shape the quality of interpersonal experience is crucial to compare different means of communication. What are some of the parameters?

I think maybe because human beings are so complicated that have a multitude of aspects and needs. As Tyler (2002) said “Change in technology, with its resulting changes in the way people live their lives, has not led to changes in well-being or the quality of people’s social relationships. I agree that “While the modalities of life rapidly evolve, the fundamental issues of life that people are seeking to address remain more constant, with people seeking tools to better live their lives” (Tyler, 2002).

Do you think being a digital native or a digital immigrant will play a different role in online social relationship? If yes, in which way?

Internet is changing the nature of work, government, and social relationships. One good example is to go green with paperless. Would you like to share some internet-generated benefits?

Summary of Learning Styles Instruments

Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) P
Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) P
Learning Style Profile (LSP) C M I
Author’s Instrument L
Individual Learning Preference (ILP) P
Learning Style Inventory (LSI) C
Secondary Learning Style Inventory (SLSI) C

P = Personality, C = Cognitive, M = Modality, I = Instructional Preference, L = Learning Strategies

Technology Behavior 2Qs

1.Golder’s Collaborative tagging systems(2006) remind me of knowledge management as an approach to data mining process for socially constructed intelligence. Data mining refers to the process of discovering meaningful new correlations, patterns, and trends by sifting through large amounts of data stored in repositories and by using pattern recognition technologies as well as statistical and mathematical techniques. Therefore, there could be some applications in analyzing community of practice such as frequently shared knowledge, sustainability, and emerging patterns. What other applications do you think of?

2.Suler’s online disinhibition effect(2004) is really interesting. I am wondering what personality variables’ role in influencing the extent of this disinhibition? There are both benign and toxic disinhibitions. When a person becomes a member in a community, should this community verify his or her identity in reality? If not, will it hurt the reliability of the community?