[Air-l] we need a better word than lurking

[Christopher Lueg]

On Thu, 10 May 2007, James Howison wrote:

> So the lurking, and the learning by lurking, is crucial to the
> 'critical mass' of the list.

'Learning by lurking' is why usenet communities used to encourage(!) 
'newbies' to lurk for a while before posting as it would help them they 
obtain a better understanding of the community, its topics and its 
discussion style.

This is why I would argue lurking can be interpreted (to some extent) as 
'peripheral participation' in the communities of practice sense.

c.



-- 
Dr. Christopher Lueg
Professor of Computing
University of Tasmania
Centenary Building R451
Hobart, TAS, Australia
christopher.lueg at utas.edu.au
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