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<TITLE>RE: [Air-l] Abstract: Measure of Discussion Activity in Threaded Discussion Spaces</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: David Wiley [<A HREF="mailto:david@wiley.ed.usu.edu">mailto:david@wiley.ed.usu.edu</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 4:07 PM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: 'air-l@aoir.org'</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Cc: david.wiley@usu.edu</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: RE: [Air-l] Abstract: Measure of Discussion Activity in Threaded Discussion Spaces</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Thanks for your feedback! I'll try to address these issues all at once.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>First, as for the semantics of the d value, d is the average reply depth;</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>in other words, d simply tells you what level of reply the average message</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>is at. So, for the tiny thread:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>A (Reply depth of 0)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>-B (Reply depth of 1)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>--C (Reply depth of 2)</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>The unadjusted reply depth would be (0+1+2)/3 = 1. The paper presents some</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>adjustments to fine tune this value, which almost always lower it. So, the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>difference between d=13 and d=2 is that the d=13 thread would have to look</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>like this:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>A</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>-B</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>--C</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>---D</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2><snip></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>-----------L</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>------------M</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>-------------N</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>--------------O</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>--------------O</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>--------------O</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>with many more 14th level replies for the value to ever get over 13, while</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>a d=2 thread looks much more normal, something like:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>A</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>-B</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>--C</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>---D</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>---D</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>---D</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>---D</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>d=13 tells you that one group is discussing something to a much more</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>significant depth than the group whose d=2.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>As for the value seeming to grow in size as the number of messages grew,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>this should not happen as d is intended to be an average, and should</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>therefore be unaffected by the size of the archive. The discussion</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>in the paper is obviously not be clear enough (which is why I asked AoIR</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>for feedback!). I will try to fix this. Also, would you be willing to send</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>me the archive whose d=13 so that I could run it through our software</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>here? I would love to see it!</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Perhaps it is domain specific, but in newsgroups dedicate to humanities you'll find very deep threads. Two examples I digged: alt.culture.fyrom and alt.news.macedonia . I checked your thumbnail in Hebrew public newsgroups (philosophy, to that matter), therefore I can't send you that archive.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Have only just skimmed this but it looks excellent! Our goal was to create</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>a value that provides a thumbnail of the level of discussion activity</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>whose calculation is easily automated, so that it could be integrated into</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Course Management Systems and the like. It looks like this paper you've</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>referenced could help improve our calculation. Many thanks for this</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>pointer and your other feedback!</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Avner </FONT>
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