Proposed Techniques for Data Collection and Analysis in the Study of News-Oriented Virtual Communities

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Author(s): William J. Gibbs (Duquesne University, USA)and Joseph E. McKendrick (McKendrick and Associates, USA)
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 17
Source title: Handbook of Research on Methods and Techniques for Studying Virtual Communities: Paradigms and Phenomena
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Ben Kei Daniel (University of Saskatchewan, Canada)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-040-2.ch034

Keywords: Information Science Reference / Media & Communications / Social Computing / Virtual Communities & Virtual Reality

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Abstract

News providers today offer interactive sources that engage people, enable them to build community, and to participate in the news. At the same time, the digital interfaces through which people access the news are continuingly evolving, diverse, and oftentimes visually complex. How these factors shape human information seeking in news-oriented virtual communities is a relatively new area of study and therefore greater understanding of their influence on human behavior is of much practical value. In this chapter, the authors explore trends and developments in news-oriented virtual communities. They review several data collection and analysis techniques such as content analysis, usability testing and eye-tracking and propose that these techniques and associated tools can aid the study of news communities. They examine the implications these techniques have for better understanding human behavior in virtual communities as well as for improving the design of these environments.

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Proposed Techniques for Data Collection and Analysis in the Study of News-Oriented Virtual Communities

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