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

[Peter Timusk]

I just want to add a couple of incomplete thoughts. I advocate and  
study "participatory democracy" via green party activism, grassroots  
organising ( any poly scientists here?) The green party was I believe  
and we claim the first Canadian party on-line.

also in academic terms I have recently completed a number of courses  
where either usenet or other on-line participation allowed me a  
better grade by my being an internet junkie. I know some feel that  
active participation is full of half baked ideas and unfounded  
statements but I argue that this is only a piece in an active  
learning process. And why the teacher must also participate with  
guidance as too good scholarship.

I sure that when school requires doing "group work" in the social  
sciences, that the convergence of work place software for group work  
with school work results in productivity. Perhaps lurkers would  
differ in opinion but I agree in the union sense of undemocratic  
these are free riders.

Peter Timusk,
B.Math statistics (2002), B.A. legal studies (2006) Carleton University
Systems Science Graduate student, University of Ottawa (2006-2008).
just trying to stay linear.
Read by hundreds of lurkers every week.




On 7-May-07, at 6:59 PM, Kurt Luther wrote:

> A few relevant readings on the topic, mostly echoing Barry's  
> observations:
>
> Blair Nonnecke and Jenny Preece describe lurker practices and discuss
> some of the problems with defining "lurker." "It is unfortunate  
> that the
> term lurker, with all its negative conntation, has gained
> acceptance...Rather than being free-riders, lurkers should be called
> participants..."
> http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/332040.332409
>
> Brad Horowitz gives his theory of the relationship between what he  
> calls
> creators, synthesizers, and producers. "...we don’t need to convert  
> 100%
> of the audience into 'active' participants to have a thriving product
> that benefits tens of millions of users. In fact, there are many  
> reasons
> why you wouldn’t want to do this. The hurdles that users cross as they
> transition from lurkers to synthesizers to creators are also filters
> that can eliminate noise from signal. "
> http://www.elatable.com/blog/?p=5
>
> Kurt
>
>
> Barry Wellman wrote:
>> John Veitch gave us a useful post that showed that most people Lurk.
>> Altho John didn't explicitly say so, the general implication is that
>> Lurking Is a Bad Thing.
>> But imagine if everybody was actively contributing all the time.  
>> We'd be
>> filled with noise. (As it is, I wonder about some of the posts on  
>> this
>> list, including mine;-))
>> I absolutely don't want my 13-year old cousin (whom I love dearly) to
>> contribute to the Social Networks article, or probably anything  
>> else. Nor,
>> in fact, do I want some ignorant person to contribute.
>> I am not for credentialism, but I am for knowledge and expertise.
>>
>> Indeed, 99% of the time, I am a Reader only of Wikipedia articles.  
>> I try
>> only to contribute when I actually know something, like Social  
>> Network,
>> Bronx High School of Science, and Barbra Streisand.
>>
>> YMMV
>>
>>  Barry Wellman
>>   
>> _____________________________________________________________________
>>
>>   Barry Wellman   S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology   NetLab Director
>>   Centre for Urban & Community Studies          University of Toronto
>>   455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8    fax:+1-416-978-7162
>>   wellman at chass.utoronto.ca  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
>>         for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
>>   
>> _____________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
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