Chapter 4
Case Studies
CHAPTER FOUR: CASE STUDIES
4.1
Case studies Background
Creating a CoP has become a common phenomenon and is a growing culture in the
virtual world globally. However, there is no consensus of reasons why the members of a
CoP spend so much time and effort to contribute to the community without any visible
financial or materialistic gains. In order to investigate the rationale behind why people
engage in online CoP, eight CoP’s has been chosen and are being analyzed in detail.
These cases are selected very carefully to reflect all types of CoP. To facilitate this, the
author has searched the net for most active CoPs in different fields and a database called
“Big Boards” has been used that contains the list of most active CoP’s on the web. Big
Boards database contains 2204 active CoPs from a diverse field. These CoP’s are ranked
by post count, by members count, by post per member ratio, using only recent (previous
week) data, or by traffic for the boards which have included one of the big-boards
trackers.
Big Boards is updated daily by a script which visits all CoPs of the database and retrieves
the CoP status. This script only executes one http request on the main page of the board,
and at a time of typically low internet usage in order not to bother the forums' regular
users. The front end of the Bid Board website is shown are in Figure 4.1.
4-1
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Figure 4.1: Big board interface (http://www.big-boards.com/)
The CoPs were selected to cover different sectors, namely- academic, social, medical,
supply chain management, entrepreneurship, SME’s and multicultural. However, all the
analyses of the cases have been done following the same procedure. Tables 1& 2 provide
details for each community (origin, area of interest, language, general statistics, and
members’ nationalities).
4-2
Chapter 4
Case Studies
General statistics (until 20/08/08)
No
CoP’s name & URL
Origin
Language
1
Start up Nation forum
www.startupnation.com/
All nurses
http://All
nurses.com/forums/
Young entrepreneurs
in UK
www.youngentrepreneur
.com/forum/
Teneric Business
Forums
SCM FocusDiscussion Forum
USA
English
Entrepreneurship
USA
English
Medical
UK
English
UK
Systems Dynamics
www.ventanasystems.co
.uk/forum/
Mahjoob
www.mahjoob.com/ar/f
orums/index.php
Alnj3
www.Alnj3.com
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Area of interest
Justification
No. of
members
No. of posts
No. of
topics
Help for start up
companies.
No 1 in the field of
nursing
20,021
97,975
10,460
300,226
3,007,581
293,114
Entrepreneurship
Business for young
generation
39,612
182,633
26,602
English
SME’s
Business
15,909
36,437
8,112
Australia
English
Supply Chain
Management
Professional
5,288
1,855
395
UK
English
Academic
Professional
718
10,923
3,359
Jordan
Arabic,
English &
Spanish
Arabic
Multi-cultural
Social
29,218
1,593,840
65,511
Cultural
Social, voted as the
best Libyan CoP in
2005.
32,574
747,217
268,762
Libya
Table 4.1: Brief Description of the selected CoPs for case studies
4-3
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Start up
Nations
All nurses
Young
Entrepreneur
Teneric
SCM Focus
Systems
Dynamic
Society
Abumahjub
Alnj3
USA
UK
India
Canada
Australia
South Africa
Pakistan
Malaysia
Indonesia
Philippines
Germany
Saudi Arabia
United Arab
Emirates
Kuwait
71.2%
4.0%
4.0%
3.7%
1.7%
1.7%
-
73.1%
2.4%
4.3%
2.6%
1.3%
1.0%
1.3%
0.3
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
12.3%
39%
23.7%
2.3%
2.2%
1.6%
4.0%
0.3%
95%
-
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
7.1%
2.9%
1.0%
0.9%
1.5%
-
5.4%
-
0.4%
-
5.2%
0.5%
0.2%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
0.9%
0.6%
1.5%
-
-
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
0.7%
20.2%
6.3%
0.9%
-
0.9%
N/A
-
-
N/A
4.3%
-
Libya
Jordan
-
-
N/A
N/A
-
-
N/A
N/A
2.9%
14.3%
92.6%
-
Other
Countries
13.3%
6.9%
N/A
13.8%
5.0%
N/A
37.9%
1,1%
(Key: N/A: Not Available)
Table 4.2: Members’ nationalities in each case study
4-4
Chapter 4
4.2
Case Studies
Case Study I: Start up Nations (SuN) CoP
4.2.1 Case Study Background
The Start up Nation CoP went live on April 6, 2006. It has grown to become a valuable
resource for the entrepreneurial community. As of August 20, 2008, more than 20,021
members have joined this CoP for which they have discussed 10,622 topics through
98,625 posts. Start up Nation strives to provide a collected experience that will allow
members to gain value, learn from and mentor others in a positive and inspiring manner.
Jeff and Rich Sloan, the CEOs, speak frequently at entrepreneurial forums and act as
resources for top media venues nationwide. The Sloans have been featured in media such
as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune Small Business, Entrepreneur
Magazine, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and FOX News. The Sloans formed Start up Nation in
2002 to offer entrepreneurs resource for starting and growing a company. Through Start
up Nation’s broadcast, online, print, and event channels, entrepreneurs can access much
needed advice from a variety of experts and peers who’ve been through it before.
At Start up Nation, members can network with others through the community pages by
posting their profile, searching for, and connecting with other entrepreneurs. Members of
this CoP are those who dream of starting their own business, part-time/full-time
entrepreneurs, employees of a startup, college students, inventors, creative people who
are looking for an idea, those in transition and looking for work in all types of industries,
freelancers, mentors/coaches, potential investors, and those who want a flexible work
schedule. As one of the members endorsed the Cop saying-
4-5
Chapter 4
Case Studies
‘It’s a privilege to become a member of this knowledgeable community and I greatly
appreciate any guidance and direction from the seasoned members here to help me start
up my business and pursue my dreams.’
The front end of the website (as on 1 Aug 2008) is illustrated in Figure 4.2
Figure 4.2: Start up Nation CoP web interface (http://www.Start up Nation.com/)
4.2.2 Case Statistics
Start up Nation CoP interface has a list of categories and forums (see Table 4.3), with
basic statistics for each including the number of topics and posts, and which member
posted the most recent message. In other words, the CoP as a whole contains eleven
categories (broad subject areas), which themselves contain forums (more specific subject
areas) which contain topics (conversations on a topic) which are made up of individual
posts (a message send by the member).
4-6
2. Startup
Business Basics
Member can select a Business, choose a business model
(home-based, e-commerce, etc), learn what works, and
get opinions.
3. Money
Sub Forum
activity
index
Questions regarding the whole CoP can be sent into this
sub-forum. The latest news & updates are found here.
Replies
(messages)
1. Start up
Nation.com
Scoop
Topics
Description
Case Studies
Sub forum
Chapter 4
229
1792
7.8
1965
15725
8
Finding sources of money & how to get it. Members can
also practice their pitches and submit it for critique.
744
6196
8.3
4. Marketing,
Sales & Public
Relation
Public Relations ideas & marketing campaigns to
promote members businesses, (online, direct, and
advertising).
1862
16787
9
5. Doing
Business on the
Web
Members learn tools & tactics to make their website
shine, and search engine optimization & advertising.
Members can also submit their websites for critique.
1828
17458
9.5
6. Inventing &
Intellectual
Property
Members wishing to Protect their ideas, patents,
trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, developing their
Invention designers, prototypes.
460
3276
7.1
7. Running Your
Business
Members discuss businesses and discuss strategies for
record keeping.
1256
8635
6.8
8. Like-Minded
People
This subforum is for those who are 50+ and starting it
up, and discussing green business issues.
404
3360
8.3
9. Getting told
10. Inspired,
Sharing Wisdom
Members share lessons learned in their business.
Members share entrepreneurial journey and their
achievements, learning about books that help
entrepreneurs succeed.
570
320
8142
7123
1.4
22.2
11. New Member
Welcome
New Member Welcome New to the SuN community?
Introduce yourself and get tips on finding your way
around. Everything we missed with the other categories
822
8881
10.8
10460
97975
9.36
Overall Forum Activity Index
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.3: A summary of the Start up Nations (SuN) sub-forum
4.2.3 Analysis of selected topics
A total of twelve topics are selected for further analysis as illustrated in Table 4.4. The
analysis is once again based on “high”, “medium” and “low” number of “replies” to
4-7
Chapter 4
Case Studies
understand the “content and “context” of the discourse, and elicit the role of senior
member, domain expert and the moderators to assess the value of interventions (messages
posted by them) if it has made any difference to encourage further debate (engagement)
on the topic. Also topics with no replies are identified to assess any meaningful
conclusions can be drawn about the “content” and “context” of the query (first posting)
towards initiating a dialogue.
In the course of this thesis, in the various case studies domain expert is referred to people
who has very good knowledge about a specific subject area and are active in the
community. Since, it is very common to see in most of the cases that there are basic
statistics of the most active members in the community; the information about the domain
expert can be found by checking their profiles that show the total number of topics they
participated.
4-8
Case Studies
Topic
Engagement
Index
d
Discussion
ates
period
4.0.1.1.1.1.1.3
4.0.1.1.1.1.1.2
Discussion
dates
4.0.1.1.1.1.1.1
Topic
generator
No. of
replies
No. of
views
Topic
D
Chapter 4
*High Discussed Topics
1 How do I hire people?
5620
35
Chordial
23 Dec 06 to 28
Jan 07
35 Days
0.0062
2
How do I prove market demand for a
new product?
2894
29
biznessman
3 Feb 07 to 12
Mar 07
39 Days
0.01
3
Business Name
3123
28
Joan
16 Nov 07 to 27
Nov 07
11 Days
0.0089
376
10
housejerkey
22-27 Mar 08
6 Days
0.026
358
10
Cigarman
5July 08 to 8
Aug 08
33 Days
0.027
679
11
DaleKing
25 Jan 08 to 26
Feb. 08
30 Days
0.016
*Low Discussed Topics
1 Risks of a Car Rental Bussines
425
4
desisun
20 Nov. To 21
Nov. 07
2 days
0.0094
2
Is receiving/stocking /shipping
inventory a difficult task?
678
2
bronco
13 Mar07 to 20
Mar07
7 days
0.0029
3
Who Shops Amazon.com?
556
3
WAVHUGR
2 Jan 07
1 day
0.0053
* Topics with no replies
1 Did Virgin Mobile steal the idea??
903
0
matthewtyler
8 Apr 07
-
0
2
1840
0
Nolan Media
15 Mar 07
-
0
2410
0
Joal
28 Mar 06
-
0
*Medium Discussed Topics
1 Learning from other Sun
entrepreneurs
2 How to Use Text Messaging to Reach
Customers
3
3
How To Increase Your Sales
Overnight
How can I keep a growing epublishing company growing??
How does the member search work?
Overall Topic Engagement Index
0.012
Key: Topic Engagement Index= no. of replies for the topic/ no. of views for the topic
Table 4.4: A list of selected topics from Start up Nations CoP
4-9
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.2.3.1 High discussed topics
4.2.3.1.1 Topic 1: How do I hire people?
The topic initiator is not an active member of this CoP, however, he claims that he is a
very successful business person. He seeks advice on his financial difficulties due to lack
of cashflow to pay employees salaries (see the topic initiator’s brief below).
‘My new consulting business consists of myself and a partner. Our (currently one and
only) customer is asking for us to hire more talent so they can utilize us more. This
sounds great, but we do not have the cash in the bank to afford the temporary cash
outflow to hire and pay salaries. Once we can invoice and be paid for their work, we will
be fine, but there is about a 2 month gap we need to cover.’
This topic has attracted 21 members to participate and share their Experientials in the
community. The topic had generated a lot of interest, as over 5620 members had viewed
this topic. Based on the responses to the above topic a detailed analysis has been carried
Membershi
p Code
No. of
Messages
Message
Length
(in words)
Context of
Discourse
Content of
Discourse
Community
Members
Number of
participants
out and is shown in Table 4.5
1
2
3
4
Chordail
Raise Capital
Chordial
Laura Glynn
Smoots
A
B
C
D
1
1
1
1
S
VS
VS
VS
VS
Inquiry
Exp
Exp
Exp
Exp
Ac
Mixed (Exp.& ST)
Ac
Other
Mixed
5
6
7
8
Stuart Calgary
Money Lady
Letutor
Brand Alchemy
E
F
G
H
1
1
2
6
Sheby
I
1
Exp
Cont.
Mixed (Exp& Supp), Supp
Exp, Exp, Exp, Exp, Mixed,
Exp
Ack
Ac
Ac
Ac, Ac
Ac, Exp, Ac, Ac, ST, Ac
9
S
S
M, M
L, M, L, M, M,
VL
VS
10
Ihead
J
1
S
Exp
Exp
4-10
Other
Chapter 4
11
enlightDan
Case Studies
K
2
M, S
Exp, Inq
Exp, Ac
12
The Doc Diva
L
1
VS
Exp
Mixed (E&ST)
13
Small Business
M
1
S
Exp
Exp
14
Mister blubs
N
1
M
Exp
Mixed (Exp &ST)
15
Star pointe
O
1
S
Exp
Mixed (Exp &ST)
16
Pokie
P
1
S
Exp
ST
17
S Entrepreneur
Q
3
M, M, M
Exp, Exp, Exp
Ac, Ac, Mixed
18
Prof. Pete
R
3
L, M, M
Cont, Exp, Exp
Exp, ST, Exp
19
Bfleming
S
1
VS
Ack
Other
20
Toobizlady
T
1
M
Exp
ST
21
Background
U
1
VL
Exp
Mixed
22
CraigL
V
3
M, M, VL
Exp, Exp, Exp
Ac, Ac, Ac
Key:
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000
Very Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse:
Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack),
Mixed
Content of Discourse:
Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST);
Mixed, Other
Table 4.5: Discourse analysis of the Topic “How do I hire people?”
Table 4.5 illustrates that Brand Alchemy was the main contributor in the discussion. The
context of his discourse was ‘explanation (Exp)’ as he tried to explain a member of
‘inquiries (Inq)’ raised during the discourse. Most of the ‘intervention’ (messages) he
generated was ‘medium’ and large in length. The ‘content’ of discourse was ‘Academic
(Ac)’. Overall, the content of discourse was explanation that had academic (AC) contents.
The message length was predominantly medium (M).
Figure 4.3 illustrates the duration or ‘life cycle’ of the topic of 35 days. The Figure shows
that there were two peak days of discussion, where there exchange of 9 messages on the
3rd of January 2007 and 8 messages on the 17th of January 2007.
4-11
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic: How do I hire people?
10
9
8
8
5
6
4
2
0
1
0
0
0 0 0 0
0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
0 0 0
1
0 0 0 0
28-Jan
27-Jan
26-Jan
25-Jan
24-Jan
23-Jan
22-Jan
21-Jan
20-Jan
19-Jan
18-Jan
17-Jan
16-Jan
15-Jan
14-Jan
13-Jan
12-Jan
11-Jan
10-Jan
09-Jan
08-Jan
07-Jan
06-Jan
05-Jan
04-Jan
03-Jan
02-Jan
01-Jan
30-Dec
29-Dec
28-Dec
27-Dec
26-Dec
25-Dec
24-Dec
23-Dec
22-Dec
-2
4
3
4
Period: 35 Days
Figure 4.3: Discussion profile for the Topic: “How do I hire people?”
Figure 4.4 indicates the percentage contribution of different members during the
discourse. Member H (Brand Alchemy) was the main contributor with overall 17% of
input in discussion making 6 interventions (see Table 4.7).
Topic: How do I hire people?
A, 3%
V, 9%
C, 3%
B, 3%
U, 3%
D, 3%
E, 3%
T, 3%
F, 3%
S, 3%
G, 6%
R, 9%
Q, 9%
H, 17%
P, 3%
O, 3%
N, 3%
M, 3%
I, 3%
K, 6%
J, 3%
L, 3%
Figure 4.4: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “How do I hire people?”
4-12
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.2.3.1.2 Topic 2: How do I prove market demand for a new product?
This topic was initiated by a member “biznesman” who was setting up a business in the
technology sector and was in the process of writing a business plan to attract investors in
financing the development of software. The topic was targeted primarily towards the
professionals and consultants in the marketing field who can provide him with some
practical advise how to promote the concept of his proposed software and how to create
the demand for it, so that the investors would be interested in to invest in his business.
His brief to the topic below gives a picture of his desperation to get some expert advise
on this issue. His original message was about 2 pages in length, however, the core of the
message is summrised as follows-
“I am staring a (business in technology sector and am writing a business plan to find investors (or
bankers) to fund development of a software product. According to my findings from business plan
writing books and online resources, developing a new product/service, as part my marketing
analysis, I need to provide proof of strong market demand and customer acceptance for the
product in question to address the concerns of the investors or bankers with regards to this
important matter. Being a startup and dealing with tight budget before getting the loan, I need to
come up with an effective and affordable method to gather opinion from my target market
regarding my product.”
This topic has attracted 11 members with overall 29 messages posted and over 2894
members had viewed this topic. Most of the answers to the above question came from
one domain expert who summarized the available methods to answer the question asked
(eg. survey, advertising, etc). The debate led to three related sub topics, initiated by the
same member who raised the topic, which were all had successful conclusion (it gives
clear answer to the discussed topic). Full discussion profile, discourse analysis of the
topic, and authors’ relative contributions are shown in the Table 4.6 and Figures 4.5&
4.6).
4-13
A
B
3
12
3
CraigL
C
4
4
5
6
7
8
9
Jordanian
Tack
Wirehead
S Business
Burnin Green
Katt33
D
E
F
G
H
I
1
1
1
1
1
2
10
11
Busy Allie
Denise MM
J
K
1
2
Content of
Discourse
No. of
Messages
biznessman
Inactive
biznessman
Context of
Discourse
Membership
Code
1
2
Message
Length
(in words)
Community
Members
Case Studies
Number of
participants
Chapter 4
L
VS, S, VS
M, S, M, S, S, S,
S, M, S, S, M,
VS
L, M, M, M
Tech
Exp., Ac, Ac
Mixed, Mixed, Ac, Ac, Ac,
Mixed, Other, Other, Other,
Mixed, Ac, Other
Ac, Ac, Ac, Ac
VS
L
M
S
VL
M, S
Inquiry (topic generator)
Exp, Cont, Exp
Mixed (Exp& Inq), Exp, Inq,
Inq, Mixed, Exp, Ack, Ack,
Ack, Exp, Exp, Ack
Mixed (Supp& Exp), Mixed,
Exp, Exp
Exp
Exp
Mixed (Supp&Exp)
Exp
Mixed
Mixed, Exp
L
VL, L
Exp
Exp, Exp
Ac
Ac, Exp.
Exp.
Mixed
Mixed
Ac
Mixed
Exp., Ac
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000 Very Long
(VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse: Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.6: Discourse analysis of the Topic “How do I prove market demand for a new product?”
It is interesting to note that unlike topic 1, the orginator of the message “biznesman” was
the main contributer in the discourse. He made 12 interventions participants (mainly, “S”
to “M” sized) acknowledging various inputs and creating further inquiries that generated
further 3 sub topics. Intrestingly, content of discourse biznessman” generated crossed
over different categories as explained in Table 4.6, however produced 3 academic (Ac)
and four “Mixed” responses. Overall most of messeges were “very short” to “short” size
length. Also, overall context of discourse was Explaination,
4-14
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic: How do I prove market demand for a
product?
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
3
2
1
1
0
1
1 1
0 00 0
0
0
0
0
0
0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 00 00 0 0
0
0
0
13-Mar
12-Mar
11-Mar
10-Mar
09-Mar
08-Mar
07-Mar
06-Mar
05-Mar
04-Mar
03-Mar
02-Mar
01-Mar
28-Feb
27-Feb
26-Feb
25-Feb
24-Feb
23-Feb
22-Feb
21-Feb
20-Feb
19-Feb
18-Feb
17-Feb
16-Feb
15-Feb
14-Feb
13-Feb
12-Feb
11-Feb
10-Feb
09-Feb
08-Feb
07-Feb
06-Feb
05-Feb
04-Feb
03-Feb
02-Feb
-1
0
2
2
1
Period: 39 Days
Figure 4.5: Discussion profile for the Topic: “How do I prove market demand for a new product?”
Figure 4.5 shows that there were four active periods which lasts 5, 3, 2 and 2 days. Also,
there were cool off period of 23 days in total. Figure 4.4 shows the author’s relative
contribution in the discourse where it can be seen that member number “B” contributed
46% of the discussion.
How do I prove demand for new product
K, 7%
J, 3%
A, 11%
I, 7%
H, 3%
G, 3%
F, 3%
E, 3%
B, 46%
D, 3%
C, 11%
Figure 4.6: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “How do I prove market demand for a
new product?”
4-15
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.2.3.1.3 Topic 3: Business Name
The topic initiator here is looking for help in developing brand name for his/her business
so as to create maximum impact in the market and to achieve high brand awareness in a
short span of time. The topic generator has given a detailed description of his situation to
make his appeal to the community members as clear as possible, as follows:
I am stuck on naming my business. Briefly: It's a baking business (cookies) that is not brick and
mortar. I will be baking and selling to local stores, bed and breakfasts and online. I would like to
choose a name that carries over to the web. I know how to do a url search (which I've done). I am
more concerned with down the road if it got bigger. I know that lrg corporations can stop you if
you do anything that resembles what they do. I took a food business startup class and found out
you can be bitten down the road. (ie; if my last name was "Fields" or "Mcdonald"). In the class
they spoke of a woman who started an organic dog food business and got quite far with it. She
got the food onto shelves, etc. Her packaging had a cute little dog with a red and white checked
scarf on. Five years into her successful business she got a nice little letter from Purina's
lawyers....end of business. Do I hire a patent attorney? How do I protect myself and cover my
tracks? I've got a name that checks out as unused in my state and on the web. What is m y next
step?)
The topic initiator received several positive feedbacks from the members of the
community suggesting him with some apposite names in order to capture a big market
share of his services through online selling. To facilitate a better understanding of this
topic postings a detailed analysis of this topic is shown in the Tables 4.7 and Figures 7.8
No. of
Messages
A
5
2
3
4
5
6
John
Keycon
MNGrillGuy
Frndchip
IDEAJohn
B
C
D
E
F
5
1
1
1
4
7
8
9
Jennifer
Steve
tmSmall
G
H
I
1
2
4
M
L, S
VL, M, M, M
Content of
Discourse
Membership
Code
John
CraigL
Context of
Discourse
Community
Members
1
Message
Length
(in words)
Number of
participants
& 4.8.
M
L first reply, M,
M, S, L
M, S, L, S, M
L
S
S
S, VS, M, M
Inquiry (topic generator)
Exp, Exp, Mix, Exp, Mix
Mixed
Ac, Phil, Mix, ST, Mix
Supp, Exp, Mix, Ack, Exp
Supp
Exp
Exp
Exp, Ack, Mix (Inq&
Exp), Mix (Inq& Exp)
Exp
Exp, Exp
Exp, Exp, Exp, Exp
Other, Exp., Exp., Other, Exp.
Mix
Exp.
Exp.
Exp., Other, Ac, Ac, Ac
4-16
Mixed
Mix, Ac
Ac, Ac, Ac, Ac
Chapter 4
Case Studies
10
KenR
J
2
VS, S
Ack, Exp
Other, Exp.
11
GotMail
K
1
S
Exp
Tech
12
Onlineater
L
1
S last reply
Exp
Tech
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000 Very
Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse: Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.7: Discourse analysis of the Topic “Business Name”
Figure 4.7 shows that there were two active periods which lasts 2 and 4 days. Also, there
were cool off period of 5 days in total. Figure 4.8 shows the Author’s relative
contribution in the discourse, where it can be seen that members (A, B, F and I) have
contributed 17%, 17%, 14% and 14% of the discussion respectively.
Topic: Business Names
11
12
10
8
6
6
5
4
3
1
2
0
-2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16- 17- 18- 19- 20- 21- 22- 23- 24- 25- 26- 27- 28Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov
Period: 11 Days
Figure 4.7: Discussion profile for the Topic: “Business Name”
4-17
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic: Business names
L, 4%
K, 4%
A, 17%
J, 7%
I, 14%
B, 17%
H, 7%
C, 4%
G, 4%
D, 4%
F, 14%
E, 4%
Figure 4.8: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “Business Name”
4.2.3.2 Medium discussed topics
4.2.3.2.1 Topic 1: Learning from other SuN entrepreneurs
This could be classified as social topic as the topic initiator wanted to share his
Experiential about how he was benefitted using this CoP. The topic seems to be
perplexing if anybody reads the topic without reading the brief of the initiator. The brief
below shows that how the participant wanted to show his gratitude towards this CoP and
his inquest of how Start up Nation CoP has benefited others?
“I met my web designer here, I've met customers here both wholesale and retail, I've
gotten great advice and inspiration, I've purchased great products from new friends (still
lovin that Jerky of the Month Janie!) and I have a place in SuN where I can come to for
answers that nobody in my everyday "real" life would know. Thanks SuN for being there
from "idea" to now in 13 stores in 5 states, 2 online sites and 1 catalog…”
In the brief the topic initiator told his own story about how he met his web designer,
customers both wholesale and retail, and has got great advice and inspiration in this CoP.
4-18
No. of Messages
Message Length
(in words)
Context of Discourse
Content of Discourse
HouseJerkey
CraigL
Camp Steve
Membership Code
1
2
Case Studies
Community Members
Number of participants
Chapter 4
A
B
3
1
VS
VS, M, VS
VS
Inquiry (topic generator)
Exp, Ack, Supp
Ack
Exp.
Exp., Other, Other
Other
3
HouseJerkey
C
1
S
Ack
Other
4
Grill Chamber
D
2
M, VS
Exp, Ack
Exp., Other
5
Rich Willmot
E
1
M
Supp
Mixed
6
Tapeseal
F
2
S, S last reply
Cont, Exp
Exp., ST
Key:
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000 Very
ong (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse:
Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.8: Discourse analysis of the Topic “Learning from other SuN entrepreneurs”
Figure 4.9 shows that there were two active periods which lasts 3 and 2 days. Also, there
was cool off period of 1 day. Figure 4.10 shows the author’s relative contribution in the
discourse where it can be seen that members (A, D, F and I) have contributed 30%, 20%
and 20% of the discussion respectively.
Topic: Learning from other Sun entrepreneurs
3.5
3
3
2.5
2
2
2
2
1.5
1
1
0.5
0
0
21-Mar
-0.5
0
0
22-Mar
23-Mar
24-Mar
25-Mar
26-Mar
27-Mar
28-Mar
Period: 6 Days
Figure 4.9: Discussion profile for the Topic: “Learning from other SuN entrepreneurs”
4-19
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic: Learning from other Sun entrepreneurs
F, 20%
A, 30%
E, 10%
B, 10%
D, 20%
C, 10%
Figure 4.10: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “Learning from other SuN
entrepreneurs”
4.2.3.2.2 Topic 2: How to Use Text Messaging to Reach Customers
The above topic is self explanatory and engenders curiosity among the members to be
engaged in such a discussion. In this topic the initiator tries to engage members by stating
a commentDo people like having their private communications invaded by adverts?
His statement involved 10 other members to participate in the topic. The analysis of the
topic below shows that most of the responses were short to medium by length. In
addition, the members were not following up with the discussion. It is evident in their
responses that nobody responded more than once to this topic. However, a detailed
analysis of the responses to this topic is shown in the Table 4.9 and Figures 4.11 & 4.12.
4-20
Community Members
Membership Code
No. of Messages
Message Length
(in words)
Context of Discourse
Content of Discourse
Case Studies
Number of
participants
Chapter 4
1
2
Cigarman
Joopen
Eaglemagary
A
B
1
1
VS
M
VS
Inquiry (topic generator)
Exp
Inquiry
Tech
Tech
Ac
3
4
Khathleen
Real Vibez
C
D
1
1
S
S
Exp
Exp
Ac
ST
5
6
7
8
9
Bthomd
Zendoo
Migrinemaven
Sipmarketing
Tzarecta
E
F
G
H
I
1
1
1
1
1
M
S
S
S
S
Exp
Mixed (Inq& Exp)
Exp
Exp
Exp
Tech
Tech
ST
Tech
Tech
10
KalinMoon
J
1
Exp
Ac
S
Key:
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000 Very
Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse: Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.9: Discourse analysis of the Topic “How to Use Text Messaging to Reach Customers”
How to use text messaging to reach customers?
2.5
2 2
2
1.5
1 1
1
1
1
1
1
0.5
0 00 0 0 0 0 0
00 0 00 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
0
09-Aug
08-Aug
07-Aug
06-Aug
05-Aug
04-Aug
03-Aug
02-Aug
01-Aug
30-Jul
29-Jul
28-Jul
27-Jul
26-Jul
25-Jul
24-Jul
23-Jul
22-Jul
21-Jul
20-Jul
19-Jul
18-Jul
17-Jul
16-Jul
15-Jul
14-Jul
13-Jul
12-Jul
11-Jul
10-Jul
09-Jul
08-Jul
07-Jul
06-Jul
05-Jul
04-Jul
-0.5
Period: 33 Days
Figure 4.11: Discussion profile for the Topic: “How to Use Text Messaging to Reach Customers”
4-21
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic: How to use text messaging to reach customers?
J, 10%
A, 10%
I, 10%
B, 10%
H, 10%
C, 10%
G, 10%
D, 10%
F, 10%
E, 10%
Figure 4.12: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “How to Use Text Messaging to Reach
Customers”
4.2.3.2.3 Topic 3: How to Increase Your Sales Overnight?
This topic is another distinctive example of altruistic nature of CoP. This topic is
inititiated by a member who has a great deal of knowledge on online marketing. Here he
wanted to share his knowledge with the community how to increase the sales online fast
by following different online marketing tools.
As the topic intiator has given the tips in the brief of the topic, the reponses to this topic
was minimised. Only 7 people responded to the message with a single reply each, as all
the reponses to the topic was more of a thank you notes and acknowledgements.
However, the topic could generate a lot of interest and there were a lot of viewers who
did not participate in the discussion. The following analysis of the topic in the Table 4.10
and Figures 4.13 & 4.14 below shows how other members have been responded to this
topic-
4-22
Message
Length
(in words)
Context of
Discourse
Content of
Discourse
DaleKing
Boyatrade
KTC
No. of
Messages
1
2
Case Studies
Membership
Code
Number of
participants
Community
Members
Chapter 4
A
B
1
1
S
S
S
Inquiry (topic generator)
Supp
Mix (Supp& Cont)
Mixed
Exp.
Exp.
3
Daleking
C
5
S, V, S, S, S
Exp, Ack, Ack, Ack, Ack
Ac, Other, Other Other, Other
4
Doormat
D
1
VS
Ack
Other
5
Bellapria
E
1
S
Exp
Ac
6
skipAnderson F
1
M
Exp
Ac
7
Rekid
G
1
S
Supp
Other
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000
Very Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse: Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.10: Discourse analysis of the Topic “How to Increase Your Sales Overnight”
How to increase your sales overnight?
6
5
5
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
0
27-Feb
26-Feb
25-Feb
24-Feb
23-Feb
22-Feb
21-Feb
20-Feb
19-Feb
18-Feb
17-Feb
16-Feb
15-Feb
14-Feb
13-Feb
12-Feb
11-Feb
10-Feb
09-Feb
08-Feb
07-Feb
06-Feb
05-Feb
04-Feb
03-Feb
02-Feb
01-Feb
30-Jan
29-Jan
28-Jan
27-Jan
26-Jan
25-Jan
24-Jan
-1
Period: 30 Days
Figure 4. 13: Discussion profile for the Topic: “How to Increase Your Sales Overnight”
4-23
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic: How to increase your sales overnight?
G, 9%
A, 9%
F, 9%
B, 9%
E, 9%
D, 9%
C, 46%
Figure 4.14: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “How to Increase Your Sales Overnight”
4.2.3.3 Low discussed topics
4.2.3.3.1 Topic1: Risks of a Car Rental Business
Te above topic is an example of a frequent practice in any CoP, where the topic initiators
requests for specific supports from the members of CoP. The brief below demonstrates
the common nature of CoPHi, I am 18 yrs old and interetstind in opening a car rental company, in Jan 08. I was
wondering if anyone has any experience in this area, and if you could share your
difficulties and successes in the business.
The topic was reviewed by 425 members. The topic could not generate enough responses
(only 4 responses) owing to the fact that it requires specific knowledge of the topic to get
involved to the topic to support the topic initiator. Only two members responded to the
request with long and medium responses. Further analysis of the topic is shown in the
Table 4.11 and Figures 4.15& 4.16.
4-24
Message
Length
(in words)
Context of
Discourse
Content of
Discourse
DesiSun
Scottg
DesiSun
No. of
Messages
1
2
Case Studies
Membership
Code
Number of
participants
Community
Members
Chapter 4
A
B
2
2
S
L, M
M, M last reply
Inquiry (topic generator)
Exp, Exp
Exp, Exp
Exp.
Exp., Mix
Mixed, ST
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000 Very
Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse: Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.11: Discourse analysis of the Topic “Risks of a Car Rental Business”
Figure 4.15 shows that there was one active period which lasts for 2 days. Figure 4.16
shows the Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse where it can be seen that the
four responses came from two authors for which each of them has contributed 2
responses.
Topic: Risk of a car rental business
3.5
3
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
1
0.5
0
0
19-Nov
0
20-Nov
21-Nov
22-Nov
Period: 2 Days
Figure 4.15: Discussion profile for the Topic: “Risks of a Car Rental Business”
4-25
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic: Risk of car rental business
B, 50%
A, 50%
Figure 4.16: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “Risks of a Car Rental Business”
4.2.3.3.2 Topic 2: Is receiving/stocking /shipping inventory a difficult
task?
The above topic is another example of a low participated topic. Here the brief of the
topic is –
I'm looking to inventory various products, but all of it seems so intimidating to me
(especially in regards to owning/leasing warehouse space.) Just how hard is it to set
up an inventory network? Should I look into 3rd party services such as Amazon's
fulfilment services? (in which they receive, stock, and ship your inventory for you)
Any thoughts would be appreciated, especially your own personal Experientials.
Thanks everyone
The topic was reviewed by 678 members. Reminiscent of the previous topic, there
were not enough responses for the similar reason that, the topic requires certain
specialised knowledge in a specific field. Consequently, this topic could generate only
2 responses (with a short and long response). However, a detailed analysis of the
topic demonstrated in the Table 4.12.
4-26
No. of
Messages
Message
Length
(in words)
Context of
Discourse
Content of
Discourse
A
B
1
1
S
S
L last reply
Inquiry (topic generator)
Exp
Exp
Mixed
ST
Mixed
Community
Members
Number of
participants
1
2
Case Studies
Membership
Code
Chapter 4
Bronco
Kevien Yvette
NevadaScul
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L); 501- 1000 Very
Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse: Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.12: Discourse analysis of the Topic “Is receiving/stocking /shipping inventory a difficult
task?”
4.2.3.3.3 Topic 3: Who Shops Amazon.com?
This topic was generated by a member who is trying to increase traffic flow to a new
program called 5% Blue. This type of topic is very commonly observed in any CoP
requesting for help/ suggestion to solve certain problems. Alike the previous two topics,
this one also could not create enough responses for the similar reason mentioned above.
Unlike previous 2 topics, this topic could generate 3 responses with 2 short and one
medium response. The topic was reviewed by 556 members. However, further analyses
No. of
Messages
Message
Length
(in words)
Context of
Discourse
Content of
Discourse
WAUHVGR
CampSteve
WAUHVGR
GraigL
Membership
Code
1
2
3
Community
Members
Number of
participants
are undertaken in Table 4.13 and Figure 4.17& 4.18.
A
B
C
1
1
1
S
M
S
VS last reply
Exp& Inquiry (topic generator)
Exp
Mixed (Exp& Inq)
Exp
Tech
Tech
Tech
Tech
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L);
501- 1000
Very Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Context of discourse: Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack), Mixed
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST); Mixed, Other
Table 4.13: Discourse analysis of the Topic “Who Shops Amazon.com?”
4-27
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Figure 4.17 shows that there was one active period which lasts for 1 day. Figure 4.18
shows the author’s relative contribution in the discourse where the three responses for
this topic came from 3 different authors.
Topic: Who shops Amazon.com?
3.5
3
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
0
01-Jan
02-Jan
03-Jan
Period: 1 Day
Figure 4.17: Discussion profile for the Topic: “Who Shops Amazon.com?”
Who Shops Amazon.com?
C, 33%
A, 34%
B, 33%
Figure 4.18: Authors’ relative contribution in the discourse: “Who Shops Amazon.com?”
4-28
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.2.3.4 Topics with no replies
Three topics with no replies were selected for further analysis. Like other case studies we
have analysed, topics under this category are too specific or it comes as explanation for a
situation “general knowledge”.
4.2.3.5 Case Summary
Figure 4.19 gives a comparision of message length for the topics classified under “very
long”; ”long”; ”medium”; ”short”; and ”very short”. The Figure illustrates that the
members’ posted either “short” or “medium” size messages while participated in online
discussion.
Message length in Startupnation CoP
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
High Discussed topics
Very short
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Medium discussed topics
Short
Medium
Long
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Low discussed topics
Very long
Figure 4.19: Message length in Start up Nation CoP
Figure 4.20 gives a comparison of the context of discourse for the Start up Nation CoP
where as Figure 4.21 gives a comparison of the content of discourse for the Start up
Nation CoP.
4-29
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Context of discourse in Startupnation CoP
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
High Discussed topics
Inquiry
Explanation
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Medium discussed topics
Contradict
Support
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Low discussed topics
Acknowledgement
Mixed
Figure 4.20: Context of discourse in Start up Nation CoP
Content of discourse in Startupnation CoP
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 3 Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 3 Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 3
High Discussed topics
Academic
Philosophy
Medium discussed topics
Experience
Technical
Figure 4.21: Content of discourse in Start up Nation CoP
4-30
Low discussed topics
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Table-4.14 provides an overall summary of the case. For the ‘High discussed topics’
category two of the original ‘inquiries’ had a ‘long’ message length. Two out of tree
message fall into ‘Technical’ content, whereas the third one into academic/ technical
category. With regards to ‘High discussed topics’ category two messages were VS (very
short) in size while the third one is S (small) length. The content of the discourse varied,
from being description of experience in a Storytelling format to Academic/ Philosophical
and ‘Mixed’ discussion for the second and third topic respectively. Interestingly, all three
topics belonged to ‘Low discussed’ category had a message length S (small) were
specific ‘inquiries’ and the content was technical.
Table 4.14 illustrates that for the Start up Nation CoP case study, ‘Explanation’ was the
main context of discussion with 65% message belonged to this category. In terms of
overall content of the discourse, ‘Mixed’ content of discussion has scored the highest
with the average 20.5% responses. However, Academic content of discussion also
seemed high with the average response of 18.4% and the majority of the message size
was ‘Short’ to ‘Medium’ with the average of 38.3% and 31.7% respectively.
Table 4.15 gives an overview of the all three topics for each of the category (‘High
Discussed’, ‘Medium Discussed’ and Low Discussed) along with the mentorship status of
‘Topic Initiator’; who posted the first message (who starts it?) and the status of the
member who posted the last message (who finished it?). This is to determine how much
membership status can impact on the engagement index. Also to find out of membership
status has any relevance with the ‘Content’ of Discourse and size of postings.
4-31
Chapter 4
Case Studies
From Table-4.15 there is nothing conclusive about the membership status and preferred
‘content’ of discourse. The only useful information we get is that for the ‘High discussed’
topics were ‘initiated’ by a Senior Member (SM) of the community, and the first reply
was also posted by a SM, and the ‘Last reply’ also came from a senior member. However,
for the ‘Low discussed topics’ and ‘Topics with no reply’, SM didn’t participate in the
discussion at all. There is nothing conclusive about the size (length) of the ‘inquiry’ (first
message) length and similarly the first reply and last reply to underline if the length of the
message has any influence on the engagement indices. There is no conclusive evidence to
this factor, as for the ‘High discussed’ topics there is no pattern as the length of the
messages varied from VS (very short) to VL (very long).
For the ‘Medium Discussed Topics’ length of all messages was either VS (very short) or
S (short). However, for the ‘Low Discussed Topics’ or ‘Topics with no Reply’, no pattern
emerged. The last column, ‘Does it (inquiry) lead to another topic is gives a very different
result for ‘High discussed topics’, ‘Medium Discussed Topics’ and ‘Low discussed
topics. As it shows that all the three ‘High Discussed’ topics lead to start another subtopic ( thread) and two out of three ‘Medium Discussed’ topics lead to at least another
sub-topic, whereas ‘Low discussed’ topics did not lead to any sub-topic.
4-32
Content of discussion Context of Discussion
Inquiry
Explanation
High discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
%
1
3
2
7
1
4
27
76
15
52
18
64
Medium discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
1
10
1
10
0
0
3
30
8
80
3
27
Low discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
0
0
0
0
0
0
100 2
100 2
4
67
Topics with no reply
Topic1
T2
T3
%
%
%
0 0
0 0 0 0 3.7
0 0
0 0 0 0 65.1
Contradict
2
6
0
0
0
0
1
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1.7
Support
Acknowledge
ment
Mixed
Academic
Philosophical
1
2
3
6
0
4
0
14
2
2
7
7
2
4
20
40
0
0
0
0
2
5
18
45
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5.3
12.4
2
15
0
6
42
0
7
14
0
27
44
0
5
9
1
18
32
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
0
10
30
0
1
2
0
10
18
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
33
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
11.8
18.4
0.44
Experiential
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
6
0
4
7
3
7
7
17
0
12
20
9
20
20
4
0
0
7
4
4
10
14
0
0
28
14
14
34
7
2
1
5
3
2
10
25
7
4
18
10
7
36
4
0
0
1
5
4
3
40
0
0
10
50
40
30
0
5
2
0
0
1
7
0
50
20
0
0
10
70
2
0
0
1
6
2
8
18
0
0
9
55
19
72
1
0
1
2
0
0
0
25
0
25
50
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
50
50
0
0
50
0
3
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
33
33
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
15.4
17.4
12.3
20.5
15.6
15.8
38.3
15
3
3
0
42
9
9
0
9
4
2
0
31
14
7
0
10
5
1
0
36
17
4
0
3
0
0
0
30
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
9
0
0
0
3
1
0
0
75
25
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
50
0
0
1
0
0
0
34
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
31.7
12.7
2.22
0
0
0
2410
0
1657
1.47
Medium
Long
Very long
Extended
contribution
No. of replies
Total No. of days
No. of views
Activity index
Size
Case Studies
Average
%
Chapter 4
35
35
5620
1
29
39
2894
0.74
28
11
3123
2.5
10
6
376
1.6
10
33
358
0.30
11
30
679
0.36
Table 4.14: Summary of the analysed topics of Start up Nation CoP
4-33
4
2
425
2
2
7
678
0.28
3
1
556
3
100
0
0
930
0
0
0
1840
0
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Last reply
Topic
initiator’
status
Who started
it? (first
reply)
Who
finished it?
(last reply)
High
Discussed
topics
Topic 1
Academic
S
VS
VL
SM
SM
SM
Open conclusion
Yes
1
Topic 2
Technical
L
VS
VS
SM
SM
SM
Unsuccessful
Yes
2
Topic 3
Mixed
M
L
S
Admin
SM
SM
Open conclusion
Yes
1
Medium
discussed
topics
Topic 1
Experience
VS
VS
S
JM
SM
JM
Successful
Yes
1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Technical
Mixed
Experience
VS
S
S
M
S
L
S
S
M
JM
JM
JM
JM
JM
SM
M
M
JM
Successful
Successful
Successful
Yes
No
No
1
-
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Mixed
Technical
Technical
S
S
M
S
M
-
L
VS
-
JM
JM
JM
JM
JM
-
JM
JM
-
Successful
Open conclusion
Unsuccessful
No
No
No
-
Topic 2
Topic 3
Academic
Technical
VS
S
-
-
JM
M
-
-
Unsuccessful
Unsuccessful
No
No
-
Low
discussed
topics
Topics with
no reply
Conclusion
First reply
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
Inquiry
length
Member status
Content of
discourse in the
first message
Message length
Respond rate:
Message length:
Member Status:
High (H), Medium (M), Low (L), None (0)
Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin)
Conclusion:
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Table 4.15: Summary of the analysed topics of Start up Nation CoP
4-34
Chapter 4
4.3
Case Studies
Case Study 2: All nurses (AN) CoP
4.3.1 Case Study Background
All nurses (AN) CoP is a popular free online community (registration is needed to
see all the contents provided) developed to encourage discussion and information
sharing of issues related to nursing. The All nurses include mainly career
information, forums, global and local (by state) sections, and news. All nurses.com
gets 35,000 daily visits and 1,100,000 monthly visits with over 7 million page views
monthly
(http://www.aboutus.org/AllNurses.com).
This
is
the
most
active
community among all the cases included in this thesis.
The front end of the website and profile (as in 1 Aug 2008) are illustrated in Figure 4-22.
Figure 4.22: All nurses CoP interface and profile: http://All nurses.com/forums/
4-35
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Brian Short, RN, the founder of this CoP states that as of August 20, 2008, more than
300,000 of his colleagues have joined this CoP for which they have discussed 293,192
topics through 3,007,605 posts, the largest and most comprehensive nursing website in
the world. Started as a hobby in 1996 when Short was in nursing school, AN has grown
into an internationally respected education, career and social networking resource with
more than eight million page views and 800,000 unique visitors every month (further
details are shown in Table 4.16).
4.3.2 Case Statistics
All nurses have a desire in common to make life better for themselves and others. This
includes pursuing additional education, checking out the latest medical equipment,
looking for a better job, or even something as simple as finding a decent pair of shoes.
Participants of this CoP range from young (and not-so-young) people considering health
care careers to nursing students in the academic trenches to seasoned floor nurses and
managers to advanced practice nurses with post-graduate degrees. Members represent
every state of the USA and more than thirty countries on six continents. With free access
to more than 200 specialty forums and twelve years' worth of searchable archived posts,
All nurses.com has become the go-to research and networking resource for many. As
members of AN say –
"Whenever I have a question or dilemma, I come to All nurses.com first". "Within a few
hours I can get dozens of replies from people who know exactly what I'm talking about."
To provide the maximum support to the members of AN CoP, Short and a small
volunteer staff do their best to keep the site user-friendly. Owing to the congenial
atmosphere that invites participation, especially from those new to nursing or the 'net,
AN's membership roster continues to grow by the thousands. All the numbers mentioned
4-36
Chapter 4
Case Studies
above do not count the "lurkers"--visitors who read messages without signing up or
making posts themselves. A conservative estimate has such guests outnumbering
registered members at a ratio of six to one. Given those statistics, All nurses.com has a
"viewership" that rivals the circulation stats of even the largest hard copy nursing
magazines. Short finds such a tremendous response extremely gratifying"It's wonderful to offer my peers and colleagues a place where they can come to network
with other nurses and have some fun in the process."
Main statistics of this CoP can be summrised as follows:
Activity
Total Number
1. Monthly page views
7.7 million
2. Visits each month
3. Absolute unique visitors
1.1 million
733,418
4. Opt-in email newsletter subscribers
5. Registered members
6. Nursing discussions topics
195,000
294,121
286,787
7. Individual postings
2.9 million
8. New nursing topics created every day
9. New posts submitted every day
300+
2,400+
10. Gender
34% Male / 66% Female
#1 in the nursing field
11. Ranking
Table 4.16: All nurses.com Daily Visitor Traffic Statistics (big board: http://www.bigboards.com/board/440/)
Hence, the question arises, what is the driving force behind this kind of traffic? The
answer to this question is, possibly the community is hungry for connection, information,
collaboration and support to improve their experience in the professional life as well as
reducing their stress level. As one of the members asks"We care for others, but who cares for us?”
4-37
Chapter 4
Case Studies
The forum market itself as “At a time when too many highly-qualified nurses find as
themselves struggling to stay ahead of job stress and burnout, All nurses.com provides an
oasis of encouragement, humour and friendship, along with a wealth of nursing
knowledge. All nurses membership provides members with many ways to interact learn
and share with nurses worldwide.” This includes getting nursing help, engaging in
discussions with other members of the community about anything nursing related, and
tracking the specialty forums, nursing topics, news, and discussions that are most
important to a member.
All nurses CoP interface has a list of categories and forums (see Table 4.17), with basic
statistics for each including the number of topics and posts, and which member posted the
most recent message. In other words, the CoP as a whole contains six categories (broad
subject areas), which themselves contain forums (more specific subject areas) which
contain topics (conversations on a topic) which are made up of individual posts (where a
user writes something).
4-38
Sub Forum
Activity Index
Replies
Topics
Sub Forum
Engagement
index
Replies
Case Studies
Topics
Sub
Forum
Chapter 4
1 All nurses Announcements
1.1 Announcements: This section is for
announcement to other members
2 General Nursing
82
1622
19.7
2.1 General Nursing Discussion
44243
606721
13.7
2.2 Nursing News
3363
42252
12.5
2.3 General Nursing Polls
2.4 First Year in Nursing
1033
2761
21112
26013
20.4
9.4
2.5 Nursing Humor - Share your jokes &
funny stories
2.6 Patient Education
2.7 Success Stories in Nursing
2.8 Nursing Issues On Patient Safety
2.9 Nursing Activism/ Healthcare Politics
2.10 Nurses with Disabilities
2.11 Retired Nurses or Inactive Nurses
2985
29012
9.7
55
132
1127
3314
193
50
196
2014
15257
34099
2354
438
3.5
15.2
13.5
10.2
12.1
8.7
2.12 Registered Nurses: Diploma, and or
BSN?
2.13 LPN / LVN Corner
LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse)& LVN
(licensed Vocational Nurse ) are general
certificates in the nursing field
2.14 Male Nursing Forum
2.15 Health & Stress Management 101
257
5,773
22.4
3251
29287
9
566
182
10086
6513
17.8
35.7
2.16 Native American Indian (patient)
Nursing
3. All nurses Community Central
305
1078
3.5
3.1 Comments & suggestions
3.2 Getting Started - university (ANU
3.3 Introductions & Greetings
3.4 Nursing Newsletter Archives
269
26
16910
146
1765
1727
84049
150
6.5
66.4
4.9
1.02
3.5 Staff Spotlight
4. Nursing Scrubs and Gear
11
11
1
4.1 Nursing Gear
4.2 Nursing Scrubs & Uniforms
4.3 Nursing Stethoscope
74
103
158
850
936
1483
11.4
9
9.3
4-39
82
1622
19.7
63618
782936
12.30
2145
87830
40.94
17355
87851
5.06
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.4 Nursing Shoes & Footwear
4.5 Mobile Computing & Nursing
5. Nursing Career
152
677
2391
4780
15.7
7
5.1 Nursing Career Advice
3786
21522
5.6
24421
576412
23.60
6. Premium Member Forums
6.1 The Break Room
- Nurses Book Club
- Current Events
- Election 2008
- Photo Gallery
- Classifieds
- Poetry/Song Lyric Forum
6.2 Premium Members Journals
Critical Care Nursing Topics
Overall Forum Activity Index
14
1286
3766
21455
5.69
24410
576568
34.62
91.8
111376
1558262
13.99
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.17: All nurses CoP structure
4.3.3 Analysis of selected topics
We have selected 13 topics from the All nurses virtual CoP for further analysis as
illustrated in Table 4.18. The analysis involved a relatively high, medium and low
number of “replies” but also involved numerous participants. Topics with no replies are
included as well.
4-40
Case Studies
Discussion
period
Topic
Engagement
index
17
Days
153
Days
137
Days
99
Days
0.02
9 Sep 07 to
20 Sep 07
24 Jan to
5 Feb 08
18 Jan to 19
Jan 06
12
Days
13
Days
2
Days
Creeze
4 Feb 05 to 9
Feb 05
8 Aug 04 to
24 Aug 04
27 Nov 06
6
Days
17
Days
1
Day
0
thunderwolf
26 Oct 05
0
0
81
0
mrshrigro
11 May 05
0
0
273
0
geekchick
15 May 08
0
0
1
Any male nurses to share experience?
1650
37
Laughing
2
My success stories
6179
33
Srina
3
Diploma nurse & proud
2076
27
Nurse4117
4
Why did you go to nursing
1468
20
nghtflguy
1274
12
HM2Vicking
1248
12
Oramar
1090
8
nurseredcalif
ornia
3255
3
blondii
610
3
Milenko
96
1
2303
Topic
No. of
replies
30 Jun 04 to
15 July 04
25 Jun 06 to
28 Nov. 07
3 Dec 07 to
19 Apr08
10 Dec07 to
19 Mar 08
No. of
views
Discussion
date
Topic
generator
Chapter 4
*High discussed topics
* Medium discussed topics
1 Depression more damaging than some
chronic illnesses
2 Surgery may be best route for type II
diabetics.
3 Need good tips on Nclex books
* Low discussed topics
1 Having trouble on tracing the path of a
drop of blood
2 Qualitative Research
3
Survey regarding Competitiveness of
Filipino Nurses?
* Topics with no reply:
1 Here is the link to our many nursing
forums
2 My first post, but have visited the site a
lot
3 Anyone took pharmacology online
course from Santa Barbara City College?
Overall topic engagement index
Table 4.18: A list of selected topics from All nurses CoP
4-41
0.0053
0.01
0.013
0.0094
0.0096
0.0073
0.00092
0.0049
0.01
Chapter 4
Case Studies
High discussed topics
Size
Content of discussion
Context of
Discussion
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Inquiry
Explanation
1
14
Contradict
3
8
0
0
3
11
0
0
Support
Acknowledgement
Mixed
Academic
6
8
5
0
16
22
13
0
7
18
4
0
21
55
12
0
5
0
1
5
19
0
3
18
4
1
4
1
20
5
20
5
Philosophy
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
0
9
0
6
15
7
15
12
0
24
0
16
41
19
40
33
1
3
0
2
7
20
10
16
3
9
0
6
21
61
30
49
0
0
0
0
21
1
8
12
0
0
0
0
78
4
30
44
2
2
0
1
12
2
6
8
12
10
0
5
60
10
30
40
Medium
8
21
6
18
4
15
6
30
Long
2
6
-
-
3
11
-
-
-
1
3
-
-
-
Very long
Number of replies
Total number of days
No. of Views
Activity index = no. of replies/ no. of days
-
0
4
%
0
12
Topic 4
%
3
38
0
18
%
0
67
1
10
%
5
50
-
37
17
33
153
27
137
20
99
1650
2.1
6179
0.21
2076
0.19
1468
0.20
Table 4.19: (a) Summary of the analysed topics from all nurses CoP
4-42
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Size
Content of discourse
Context of
Discourse
Medium discussed topics
Low discussed topics
Topics with no reply
Average
%
Inquiry
Explanation
Topic 1
%
0
0
8
67
Topic 2
%
1
8
7
58
Topic 3
%
0
0
4
50
Topic 1
%
0
0
1
33
Topic 2
%
1
33
1
33
Topic 3
%
0
0
1
100
Topic 1
%
0
0
0
0
Topic 2
%
0
0
0
0
Topic 3
%
0
0
0
0
Contradict
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1.8
Support
Acknowledgement
Mixed
Academic
3
0
1
3
25
0
8
25
2
0
2
5
17
0
17
42
1
1
2
4
13
12
25
50
1
1
0
1
33
34
0
33
0
1
0
2
0
34
0
67
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16.3
16.2
9.7
24
Philosophy
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1.5
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
0
0
6
3
0
2
6
0
0
50
25
0
17
50
0
0
2
4
1
3
2
0
0
17
33
8
25
17
1
0
0
2
1
3
4
12
0
0
25
13
38
50
0
0
0
0
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
67
100
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
1
0
0
0
0
33
67
33
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5.5
0
9.4
38.3
21.5
37.7
31.6
Medium
4
33
5
41
1
12
0
0
0
0
1
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
27
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
17
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Long
Very long
Extended contribution
Number of replies
Total number of days
No. of views
Activity index
4.9
50.8
12
12
8
3
3
1
0
0
0
2.3
0.4
0
12
12
1274
1
13
1248
0.92
2
1090
4
6
3255
0.5
17
610
0.17
1
96
1
0
2303
0
0
81
0
0
273
0
35.15
1278.75
0.84
Table 4. 20: (b) Summary of the analyzed topics of all nurses CoP
4-43
Chapter 4
Topic
initiator’
status
Who started
it?
(first reply)
Who
finished it?
(last reply)
Topic 1
Experience
S
M
VS
SM
SM
JM
Successful
Yes
1
Topic 2
Experience
VL
VS
M
SM
Admin
JM
Successful
No
-
Topic 3
Topic 4
Topic 1
Mixed
Mixed
Academic
VS
S
M
VS
S
S
S
M
VS
SM
JM
SM
JM
M
SM
JM
JM
JM
Successful
Successful
Successful
No
No
No
-
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Academic
Academic
Mixed
VS
S
M
VS
M
VS
S
S
VS
M
JM
M
JM
M
JM
M
JM
JM
Open conclusion
Successful
Successful
Yes
No
No
1
-
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Academic
Academic
Mixed
S
M
S
VS
S
-
VS
-
M
M
SM
M
M
-
M
-
Unsuccessful
Unsuccessful
Unsuccessful
Yes
No
No
1
-
Topic 2
Topic 3
Storytelling
Experience
S
M
-
-
M
M
-
-
Unsuccessful
Unsuccessful
No
No
-
Respond rate:
Message length:
Member Status:
Conclusion:
Conclusion
Last reply
Topics with
no reply
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
First reply
Low
discussed
topics
Member status
Inquiry
length
Medium
discussed
topics
Message length
Content of
discourse in the
main enquiry
High
Discussed
topics
Case Studies
High (H), Medium (M), Low (L), None (0)
Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin)
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Table 4.21: Summary of the analyzed topics of all nurses CoP
4-44
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.4 Case Study 3: Young entrepreneur CoP
4.4.1 Case study background
YoungEntrepreneur.com is the ultimate resource for business owners and entrepreneurial
enthusiasts. With exclusive articles, interviews with the experts, free downloadable
forms, and the growing free membership based forum- YoungEntrepreneur.com is good
entrepreneur related CoP. The community has nearly fourty thousand members who have
discussed 26,602 topics through 182,633.
Young Entrepreneur CoP is an award-winning small business website for entrepreneurs
and small businesses and is comprised of entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs who
are truly passionate about economic development and enjoy promoting the formation and
success of innovative and growth-oriented companies. Several topics discussed and some
of the many features include networking with like-minded business professionals
including venture capitalists, private investors, industry experts, business service
providers, inventors, other up and coming and successful entrepreneurs. Young
Entrepreneur CoP members understand that the future economic vitality of the World
must come from the emergence of new businesses through entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs add new jobs, create new opportunities for prosperity, and also help
support the World's creativity and cultural richness. Their goal is to help you start,
manage or grow your successful business venture. In order for this to occur, there must be
an entrepreneurial culture, a pool of resources to draw from, and successful models to
follow.
The front end of the website and profile (as on 1 Aug 2008) is illustrated in Figure 4.23.
4-45
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Figure 4.23: Young Entrepreneur CoP interface and profile: http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/forum/
4.4.2 Case study statistics
This CoP offers young entrepreneurs and business start-ups a combination of on-line
services, tools, resources and one on one Start Up consulting. Young Entrepreneur CoP
utilizes the power of the Internet to effect optimal idea and information exchange,
facilitating on-line introductions that lead to the formation of successful, long-lasting
business relationships. Young Entrepreneur CoP firmly believes the entrepreneurial spirit
is a powerful and driving force, one which we aim to help properly focus in order to
achieve greatness. Our collective experiences led us to develop a simpler, faster, and
more convenient mechanism to serve aspiring young entrepreneurs world wide.
4-46
Chapter 4
Sub forum
Case Studies
Description
Topics
4380
32840
16495
94918
5.7
6283
44420
7
Business
Start up
phase
In this section, members can share any new ideas,
Entrepreneurial experiences or stories with fellow
like-minded entrepreneurs.
- Features great success stories on well known
entrepreneurs,
- Advice and assistance with your marketing mix
and Page Ranking activities, Investment Firms
and people seeking investment.
- Business Law including general advice,
contracts, employment issues, and company
structures.
- Buying or selling an entire site.
- Have Management ideas or issues.
- Discuss your thoughts and concerns.
- Discuss franchising strategies, successful
franchises.
General business discussion, advice and assistance
for the online portion of your business
- Search engine optimization
- Marketing your business online.
- Technical advice & assistance (including
non-ecommerce websites) related issues.
- From concept to a finished business plan, the
planning stage is considered the make it or break it
stage.
Sub Forum
Activity Index
7.4
990
5829
5.8
Ask A
business
Question
- Ask questions or seek advice if you are thinking
about starting up,a business.
This is the place where members post their
questions and other members and panel of experts
try and assist them.
692
4717
6.8
182724
6.3
Lounge
General
Business
General
Internet
28840
Overall Forum Activity Index
Replies
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.22: Young Entrepreneur CoP Structure
4.4.3 Analysis of selected topics
We have selected 13 topics from the Young Entrepreneur virtual CoP for further analysis
as illustrated in Table 4.23. The analysis involved a relatively high, medium and low
number of “replies” with numerous participants. Topics with no replies are included as
well.
4-47
Topic
Engagement
Index
Discussion
period
Date
Discussion
No. of
replies
Topic
generator
Case Studies
No. of
views
Topic
Chapter 4
1
Bill Gates
2933
41
Nick R
30 Oct 07 to
30 July 08
270 Days
0.013
2
Are You Innovative
5950
61
entrepreneur6
4 Jan 2007 to 8
4.4.3.1.1.1.1.1
July 2008
550 Days
0.01
3
Yahoo vs GoDaddy
3612
36
sal329
20 july 2008
743 Days
0.0099
3 July 08 to 26
July 8
27 Jan 06 to 15
May 06
24 Days
0.022
107 Days
0.017
9 Feb 08 to 11
Mar 08
31 Days
0.027
*High Discussed Topics
*Medium Discussed Topics
1 Entrepreneurial Learning through A
Social Network
2 South Bay, CA Entrepreneur meetings
3
Where do you spend your advertising?
*Low Discussed Topics
1 Thoughts about global entrepreneur
cooperation
2 UK T-Shirt transfer paper site for sale
on ebay
3
Speaking and Conversation Skills
* Topics with no replies
1 How to Turn Your Financial Problem
Around
2 Genuine ebay Opportunity
3
Japanese products
945
21
lance
1271
22
rtsai0069
476
13
mattSantill
735
7
2positive
3-5 July 2006
3 Days
0.0095
378
1
quiteshirty.co
m
2 Sep 2007
1 Day
0.0026
163
8
johnbears
6-8 Aug 2008
3 Days
0.04
363
0
IntrnetBizPro
24 Sep 07
-
0
123
0
Hypnoaudio
18 May 07
-
0
216
0
001979
31 May 07
-
0
Overall topic engagement index
0.026
Table 4.23: A list of selected topics from Young Entrepreneur CoP
4-48
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Size
Content of discussion
Context of discussion
High discussed topics
Medium discussed topics
Low discussed topics
Topics with no reply
Topic 2
%
Topic 3
%
Topic 1
%
Topic 2
%
Topic 3
%
Topic 1
%
Topic 2
%
Topic 3
%
Inquiry
2
5
4
7
0
0
0
0
1
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
%
1.7
Explanation
13
32
40
66
26
72
12
57
10
46
6
46
3
42
0
0
6
75
48.4
Contradict
Support
4
14
10
34
1
7
2
11
0
5
0
14
6
1
28
5
1
8
5
44
2
3
15
24
1
2
15
28
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
13
8.2
19.2
Acknowledg
ement
Mixed
Academic
Philosophy
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
8
19
6
10
2
6
1
5
0
0
0
0
1
15
0
0
1
12
7.4
0
0
3
6
1
18
3
10
26
0
0
7
15
3
44
7
24
63
3
12
3
15
4
8
9
10
14
6
20
5
25
7
13
14
16
23
3
0
0
5
21
8
0
2
21
8
0
0
14
58
22
0
6
58
1
4
2
6
5
3
1
0
8
5
19
10
28
5
33
5
0
38
2
0
0
0
0
17
4
1
9
9
0
0
0
0
77
19
4
41
2
2
0
0
9
1
1
0
5
15
15
0
0
69
8
8
0
39
0
0
0
3
1
1
0
2
2
0
0
0
42
15
15
0
28
29
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
100
0
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
0
0
2
1
1
0
63
0
0
0
0
25
12
12
15.1
13
2.4
13.77
28.55
23.55
8.6
10
33.66
11
3
1
0
0
27
7
3
0
0
31
11
2
2
1
51
18
3
3
2
12
2
0
1
0
33
6
0
3
0
4
7
0
2
0
19
33
0
10
0
10
2
1
0
0
46
9
4
0
0
3
5
0
0
0
22
39
0
0
0
3
2
0
0
0
42
29
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
5
1
0
1
0
64
12
0
12
0
44.8
17
1.11
3.1
0
Short
Medium
Long
Very long
Extended
contribution
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Averag
e
Topic 1
%
No. of replies
No. of viewers
Total no. of days
41
2933
270
61
5950
550
36
3612
743
21
945
24
22
1271
107
13
467
31
7
735
3
1
378
1
8
163
3
0
363
0
0
123
0
0
216
0
Activity index
0.15
0.11
0.04
0.91
0.21
0.41
2.3
1
2.6
0
0
0
Table 4.24: Summary of the analysed topics from Young Entrepreneur CoP
4-49
1429
0.85
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Who started it?
(first reply)
Who finished
it? (last reply)
Topic 1
Storytelling
L
VS
VS
Admin
JM
JM
Successful
Yes
2
Topic 2
Storytelling
L
L
S
JM
SM
JM
Open conclusion
Yes
4
Topic 3
Technical
S
VS
M
M
JM
JM
Successful
No
-
Topic 1
Mixed
L
M
M
JM
Mod
JM
Successful
No
-
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Storytelling
Technical
Academic
Technical
Experience
Academic
M
S
M
VS
S
S
S
-
JM
M
JM
M
M
M
Mod
Mod
SM
JM
SM
-
SM
SM
JM
JM
M
-
Open conclusion
Unsuccessful
Open conclusion
Unsuccessful
Successful
Unsuccessful
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
1
-
M
S
M
M
VS
S
S
-
Topic 2
Technical
M
-
-
M
-
-
Unsuccessful
No
-
Topic 3
Technical
M
-
-
M
-
-
Unsuccessful
No
-
Respond rate:
Message length:
Member Status:
Conclusion:
Conclusion
Topic initiator’
status
Topics with
no reply
Last reply
Low
discussed
topics
First reply
Medium
discussed
topics
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
Inquiry length
High
Discussed
topics
Member status
Content of
discourse in the
first
Message length
High (H), Medium (M), Low (L), None (0)
Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin)
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Table 4.25: Summary of the analysed topics from Young Entrepreneur CoP
4-50
-
Chapter 4
4.5
Case Studies
Case Study 4: Teneric CoP
4.5.1 Case Study Background
The Teneric Business Forum provides great network with business owners. It was established
in 2004 and attracted over 2,000 unique visitors a day. It has 15909 members, 8112 topics,
36437 posts. Mr Jhala, the founder of this community states that this CoP will help people start
their business. According to him, a good business plan is the key to the growth, survival and
success of a business. But unfortunately most of the small and medium enterprises do not know
how to develop a business plan in a systematic order. Due to his marketing experience, he
developed a simple business plan process and wrote 30 odd specific business plans for
different industries. He made those business plans accessible to the members of this
community without any charge.
The front end of the website and profile (as in 1 Aug 2008) are illustrated in Figure 4.24
Figure 4.24: Teneric CoP interface and profile: http://forums.teneric.co.uk/
4-51
Chapter 4
Sub Forum
Activity Index
Topics
Replies
Case Study Statistics
Sub
Forum
4.5.2
Case Studies
1. Marketing Forum
Marketing Ideas Forum
Internet Marketing Forum
Website Reviews Forum
Search Engine Optimisation Forum
Google Adsense
2. Small Business Forum
Starting a Small Business
Finance Forum
Legal Forum
Small Business News
General Discussion
3. Business break out
Introduce yourself
Forum Rules
Students & Educational Forum
Buy sell or trade
Suggestions for the business forum
4. Teneric VIP Members Forums
Marketing, SEO & Business Downloads Section
Private Discussion Forum
1705
11129
6.5
5163
15497
3.0
1254
9840
7.8
24
27
1.1
65
288
4.4
8211
36781
4.4
5. Business Plans Forum
Marketing, SEO & Business Downloads Section
Private Discussion Forum
Overall Forum Activity Index
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.26: Teneric CoP structure
4-52
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topic
Engagement
Index
Discussion
period
Discussion
date
No. of
replies
Topic
generator
No. of
views
Topic
4.5.3 Analysis of selected topics
1737
24
icre8
4 Oct 07 to
6 Nov 07
32
Days
0.013
4827
34
perterjhale
29 June 05 to
11 Dec 06
526
Days
0.007
3988
30
Go4outsour
7July 05 to
15 Aug 06
403
Days
0.0075
1123
17
Bill Deakin
15
Eve Barisic
45
Days
77
Days
0.015
1533
26 July 06 to
11 Sep 06
10 Jan 06 to
27 Mar 06
5801
22
peterjhale
20 July 05 to
18 Nov 2006
485
Days
0.003
1693
1
Spunkay
21 July 04
1Day
0.0005
684
5
BIZAL
10
peterjhale
17
Days
25
Days
0.007
3204
6 Feb 06 to
22 Feb 06
4 Oct 05 to
9 Nov 05
* Topics with no replies
1 12 Success Factors
385
0
dschutte
25 Jan 2006
-
0
2
938
0
loes
29 Nov 06
-
0
220
0
DesignCaddy
6aug06
-
0
*High Discussed Topics
1 Why Any Small
Business Needs A
Website.
2 What's the biggest thing
you have learned so far in
your business life
3 Social life vs. business
*Medium Discussed Topics
1 Email marketing - can it be
done properly?
2 New small manufacturing
business
3
Links in your posts
*Low Discussed Topics
1 Do I need a business
licence
2 .com or .co.uk
3
3
Getting the most out of this
forum
Web survey
Evaluating Risk in your
Business Plan
Overall topic engagement index
Table 4.27: A list of selected topics from Teneric CoP
4-53
0.009
0.003
Content of discussion Context of Discussion
Inquiry
Explanation
High discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
%
1
4
1
3
0
0
14
59
31
91
25
83
Medium discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
2
12
2
13
3
14
5
29
9
60
11
50
Low discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
%
0
0
0
0
6
60
100 4
1
80
3
30
Topics with no reply
T1
T2
Topic 3
%
%
%
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
11.5
64.7
Contradict
2
8
0
0
0
0
1
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1.68
Support
Acknowledge
ment
Mixed
Academic
Philosophy
6
0
25
0
0
1
0
3
2
2
7
7
1
3
6
18
1
1
7
7
4
4
18
18
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
20
1
0
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8.11
8.11
1
1
0
4
4
0
1
3
2
3
9
6
1
0
5
3
0
16
5
5
0
29
29
0
2
3
0
13
20
0
0
1
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5.8
9.5
2.4
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
0
18
0
4
1
2
14
0
75
0
17
4
8
59
21
1
2
4
1
7
16
61
3
6
12
3
21
47
4
0
17
2
2
7
19
13
0
57
7
7
23
63
3
5
1
0
3
7
8
18
29
5
0
19
43
47
3
5
2
1
1
8
6
20
33
13
7
7
53
40
0
16
1
0
4
13
9
0
73
5
0
18
59
41
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
1
1
4
0
0
40
0
20
20
80
0
0
8
2
0
0
8
2
0
80
20
0
0
80
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
12.4
37
11.8
18.1
8.6
40.77
35.22
8
0
0
0
33
0
0
0
9
0
1
0
26
0
6
0
4
0
0
0
14
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
5
5
0
1
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
11.11
11.66
1.22
0
Medium
Long
Very long
Extended
contribution
No. of replies
Total No. of days
No. of views
Activity index
Size
Case Studies
Average
%
Chapter 4
24
32
1737
0.75
34
526
4827
0.06
30
403
3988
0.07
17
45
1123
0.37
15
77
1533
0.19
22
485
5801
0.04
Table 4.28: Summary of the analyzed topics of Teneric CoP
4-54
1
1
1693
1
100
0
0
0
100
0
0
5
17
684
0.29
10
25
3204
0.4
0
0
385
0
0
0
938
0
0
0
220
0
2177
0.39
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Topics with
no reply
Topic
initiator’
status
Who started
it? (first
reply)
Who finished
it? (last
reply)
Topic 1
Academic
VS
S
M
Mod
SM
SM
Successful
Yes
1
Topic 2
Storytelling
VS
M
M
M
Mod
Mod
Open conclusion
Yes
1
Topic 3
Academic
S
VS
VS
SM
M
SM
Open conclusion
No
-
Topic 1
Academic
M
S
VS
Mod
Admin
Mod
Successful
Yes
2
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Academic
Academic
Academic
VS
VS
VS
S
S
L
VS
VS
LM
JM
JM
JM
Mod
SM
JM
Mod
M
Successful
Successful
Successful
Yes
Yes
No
2
3
-
M
Mod
M
M
Unsuccessful
Open conclusion
No
Yes
6
Conclusion
Last reply
Low
discussed
topics
First reply
Medium
discussed
topics
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
Inquiry
length
High
Discussed
topics
Member status
Content of
discourse in the
first
Message length
Topic 2
Topic 3
Academic
Technical
L
VS
VS
S
VS
L
M
SM
M
Topic 1
Technical
VS
-
-
M
-
-
Unsuccessful
No
-
Topic 2
Academic
VS
-
-
SM
-
-
Unsuccessful
No
-
Respond rate: High (H), Medium (M), Low (L), None (0)
Message length: Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member Status: Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin)
Conclusion:
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Table 4.29: Summary of the analyzed topics of Teneric CoP
4-55
Chapter 4
4.6
Case Studies
Case study 5: Supply chain Focus CoP
4.6.1 Case Study Background
The supply chain Focus CoP is intended to be a forum for the discussion of all Supply
Chain related matters, targeted mainly to Australian member. The main goal of
establishing this community is to foster the exchange of information and ideas, and
provide a central communication and discussion point for those interested in the topic of
Supply Chain Management. (http://www.supplychainfocus.com/). Hence, the topics
discussed in this CoP covers- Logistics, Distribution, Warehousing, Transport, Planning,
Systems and much more with members participating from all over the World. The aim of
this CoP is to provide a platform to all the people who are related to SCM, to discuss their
issues without any hesitation. As with most CoPs, members of this CoP participate using
a nickname in order to stay anonymous. The supply chain Focus CoP has generated a lot
of interest in the field of supply chain management in a very short span of time, primarily
in Australia. As of August 20, 2008, more than 5288 joined this CoP for which they have
discussed 395 topics through 1855 posts. 95% of the members of this CoP are from
Australia and the remaining 5% are from the rest of the world.
The front end of the website and profile (as in 1 Aug 2008) are illustrated in Figure 4.25.
4-56
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Figure 4.25: Supply Chain Focus CoP interface and profile:
http://www.supplychainfocus.com/forum/index.php
The supply chain Focus CoP as a whole is consisted of three categories (broad subject
areas), which themselves contain forums (more specific subject areas); each of these
forum contains topics (conversations on a topic) that are made up of individual posts
(where a user writes something). The first category of this CoP is called General
Discussion, News and Board Owner Comments where general discussions are not
covered by the specific categories. However, general supply chain industry related news,
major events, mergers, acquisitions and new member introduction is mentioned in this
section. Second category is regarding Supply Chain Discussion Forums. And the last
category called the bar which contains general suggestion, complains and for the
discussions of any topics that are not related to supply chain (Figure 4.30).
4-57
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.6.2 Case study Statistics
The interface of the supply chain focus CoP has a list of categories and forums, with
basic statistics for each - including the number of topics and posts, also about which
member posted the most recent message. To maintain a clear statistics of the site,
registration is required if someone is to use all the features of the supply chain Focus
CoP. Being registered gives an identity on the board, a fixed username on all messages
that embers post and an online public profile. As the site is relatively new, it does take a
while for participation to grow. Whilst there are not yet a huge number of active (posting)
members, a large number of visitors browse the site on a regular basis. This is due to the
good content and all participants are spreading the word which is key factors for this
massive interest.
Below Table explains the main categories of this community in more details:
4-58
Total replies
126
433
209
1074
5.1
40
187
4.6
1694
4.5
Sub forum
activity
index
Total tpics
Topics
Replies
Case Studies
SUB
FORUM
Chapter 4
1.0 General Discussion, News and Board Owner Comments
1.1 Notes& Tips from Top Link (the Board Owner)
13
15
1.2 New Member Introductions:
1.3 News: General Supply Chain industry related news, major events,
mergers, acquisitions.
1.4 General Discussion: General discussion not covered by the specific
categories and forums below.
2.0 Supply Chain Discussion Forums
67
10
242
40
36
136
2.1 Supply Chain Strategy: Main issues of supply chain. Includes
outsourcing, collaboration, business constraints, industry solutions.
2.2 Supply Chain Management: Broad/Overall management of Supply
Chain, Logistics, Distribution.
2.3 Supply Chain Network design/optimisation: Designing supply chain &
distribution networks, how to, use of software.
2.4 Warehousing & Distribution Centres: Facility design, equipment
selection, process improvement, location.
2.5 Transport & Transport Management
Management, vehicles, suppliers.
2.6 Procurement & Purchasing Supply management, procurement,
purchasing.
2.7 IT Systems: TMS, WMS, APS, forecasting, CTS, RFID, selection,
implementation
2.8 Human Resources: Management, training, recruitment
2.9 Regulatory - Legal: Customes, Taxes.
3.0 The Bar - Discussion Forum
38
244
42
265
14
96
34
131
20
77
22
99
22
90
11
6
56
16
3.1 Bar Talk
Topics are not related to supply chain related can be discussed here which
includes funny stories.
28
142
3.2 Suggestions / Moderation Issues
Members can send their suggestions, complaints, problems, the
moderators in this sub-forum.
12
45
Overall Forum Activity Index
375
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.30: Details of the main categories in SCF CoP
4-59
3.4
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.6.3 Analysis of selected topics
We have selected 11 topics from the All nurses virtual CoP for further analysis as
illustrated in Table 4.31. The analysis involved a relatively high, medium and low
number of “replies” but also involved numerous participants. Topics with no replies are
No. of
replies
Discussion
period
Topic
Engagement
index
*High discussed topics
1 Does being Chartered Institute of Purchasing and
Supply (CIPS) accredited really help your career?
1220
24
Starbucks
28Nov 06 to 16
Apr 08
140
Days
0.019
2 what kind of supply/inventory model should I
597
24
Noguchi
29 Oct 07 to 22
Feb 08
113
Days
0.04
3 Supply Chain Book Recommendations
911
14
HDW
6 Jan 06 to 18
Jan 07
377
Days
0.015
* Medium discussed topics
1 How can we maintain quality standards in China?
529
138
11
supbad
3 Best examples of supply chains
385
11
Deepak
Arecal
19
Days
4
Days
9
Days
0.020
2 Lead time measurement
19 Nov 07 to 6
Dec 07
28 July 08 to 31
July 08
23 Oct 07 to 31
Oct 07
184
5
Chris86
5
Rob O’Byrne
218
3
John-sm
38
Days
40
Days
73
Days
0.027
396
4 June 08 to 12
July 08
17 Jan 07 to 27
Feb. 07
3 May 08 to 16
July 08
1 How does trade.meritline.com work?
90
0
Willanfe
13 May
0
0
2 Supply Chain Asia Forum 2008
188
0
Rob O’Byrne
16 Apr 08
0
0
0.028
Topic
No. of
views
Discussion date
Topic generator
included as well.
choose
* Low discussed topics
1 What relationship does supply chain have with
other department?
2 Article - Product Slotting
3 Supply Chain Software
11
Starbuck
0.079
0.028
0.012
0.013
* Topics with no reply:
Overall topic engagement index
Table 4.31: A list of selected topics from supply Chain Focus CoP
4-60
Case Studies
Average
%
Chapter 4
Medium discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
4
37
3
28
2
18
5
43
5
44
5
44
Low discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2 Topic 3
%
0
0
1 20 0
0
4
80 3 60 3 100
Topics with no reply
T1
T2
Topic 3
%
%
%
0 0 0 0 0
0
0 0 0 0 0
0
Contradict
1
4
1
4
2
14
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2.4
Support
Acknowledge
ment
Mixed
Academic
Philosophy
5
3
20
13
1
3
4
13
5
1
36
7
0
1
0
10
0
0
0
0
1
2
10
18
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7.8
9
3
10
0
13
41
0
1
1
0
4
4
0
1
10
0
7
72
0
1
8
0
10
73
0
3
9
0
28
82
0
1
7
0
10
62
0
1
3
0
20
60
0
0
2
0
0
40
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10.2
48.2
0
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
4
1
4
2
3
9
4
17
4
17
8
13
38
15
7
2
6
4
4
10
5
29
8
25
17
17
41
21
1
0
1
0
2
12
2
7
0
7
0
14
86
14
1
0
0
1
1
5
4
9
0
0
9
9
45
37
0
0
0
2
0
4
7
0
0
0
18
0
37
63
0
0
1
1
2
4
5
0
0
10
10
18
37
44
2
0
0
0
0
2
1
40
0
0
0
0
40
20
0
2
0
0
1
3
2
0
40
0
0
20
60
40
0
2
0
1
0
1
1
0
67
0
33
0
33
33
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
11.3
13
6.6
10.6
10.1
46.3
31.9
Medium
Long
Very long
Extended
contribution
No. of replies
Total No. of days
No. of views
Activity index
8
2
1
0
35
8
4
0
4
3
2
0
17
13
8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
18
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
19
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
20
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
34
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10.1
8.3
1.3
2
Size
Content of discussion Context of Discussion
Inquiry
Explanation
High discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
%
2
8
7
29
2
14
10
42
11
46
3
22
24
140
1220
0.17
24
113
597
0.21
14
377
911
0.04
11
19
529
0.57
11
4
138
2.75
11
9
385
1.22
Table 4.32: Summary of the analysed topics from Supply Chain Focus CoP
4-61
5
38
184
0.13
5
40
396
0.125
3
73
218
0.041
0
0
90
0
0
0
188
0
0
0
217
0
17.1
53.1
422
0.73
Chapter 4
Topic
initiator’
status
Who started
it?
(first reply)
Who
finished it?
(last reply)
Topic 1
Academic
VS
S
M
Mod
SM
SM
Successful
Yes
2
Topic 2
Storytelling
VS
M
M
M
Mod
Mod
Successful
Yes
7
Topic 3
Academic
S
VS
VS
M
M
SM
Open conclusion
Yes
1
Topic 1
Academic
M
S
VS
Mod
Admin
Mod
unsuccessful
Yes
4
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Academic
Academic
Academic
VS
VS
VS
S
S
L
VS
VS
LM
JM
JM
JM
Mod
SM
JM
Mod
M
Successful
Successful
Successful
Yes
Yes
No
3
2
-
M
Mod
-
M
M
-
Open conclusion
Successful
Unsuccessful
Yes
No
No
1
-
-
-
Unsuccessful
No
-
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Academic
Technical
Technical
L
VS
VS
VS
S
-
VS
L
-
M
SM
M
M
Topic 2
Academic
VS
-
-
SM
Respond rate:
Message length:
Member Status:
Conclusion:
Content of Discourse
Conclusion
Last reply
Topics with
no reply
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
First reply
Low
discussed
topics
Member status
inquiry
length
Medium
discussed
topics
Message length
Content of
discourse in the
first
High
Discussed
topics
Case Studies
High (H), Medium (M), Low (L), None (0)
Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin)
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Academic (Ac), Philosophy (Phil), Experience (E), Technical (Tech), Storytelling (ST), Other, Mixed
Table 4.33: Summary of the analysed topics from Supply Chain Focus CoP
4-62
Chapter 4
4.7
Case Studies
Case study 6: System Dynamic Society Virtual CoP
4.7.1 Case study background
System Dynamics association has been around for about 50 years and was conceived due
to the cross fertilization of the fields of management science, control theory and computer
simulations. It aims to represent time behaviour of a “real world” system using some well
known pattern such as learning curve or S-curve. More complex models are readily
developed using non-linear algebraic equations, however, the main aim is to understand
the dynamics and behavioural changes in a system over time rather focusing on actual
numbers or quantitative outputs. Such analysis is therefore suitable to study medium to
long term changes such as impact of an organisations’ three to five year strategy or
policy.
We are using a virtual community of practice representing System Dynamics Association
as our case study. The CoP is a specialist community involving technical expertise of
domain experts, teachers, consultants and students. The reason for choosing the CoP was
our own interest and expertise of this subject area for the past 16 years. This allows us to
have a good knowledge of the domain expert in the different categories of SD discipline.
Also we have an active participant in the past discussions of this CoP. However, we have
been an observant during the case study period.
We will analyse these topics of
discussions which reflect over a period of two years. However, duration of discussion for
these topics lasted a maximum 20 days. We have analysed these topics by who are the
participants of the discussion (For example, topic initiator, community member, domain
expert). We have given each member a code (for example, A, B, C, ..etc) to analyse their
overall contribution in the discussion. We have counted total number of messages for
4-63
Chapter 4
Case Studies
each topic and analysed the length of each message (for example: 1-50 Very Short (VS);
51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long (L); 501- 1000 Very Long (VL);
+1000 extended contribution (EC).
The System Dynamics Society was established around thirty years ago with key aim to
provide a platform for researchers, educationalist and practitioners for exchange of ideas.
Over the years the activities of the Society have evolved in many forms such as
organizing workshops, conferences and doctoral colloquiums. The SD community of
practice was such a successful initiative that subsequently two off-spring communities
were established to ensure a focus debate in the related fields. These include:
(i)
K-12 CoP: This is established by the educators of SD at the pre university
schools and colleges.
(ii)
Sustainability CoP: A dedicated forums for social scientist and economist
predominantly engaged with developing SD models for sustainability at macro
level.
The front end of the website and profile (as in 1 Aug 2008) are illustrated in Figure 4.26,
4-64
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Figure 4.26: SD CoP interface and profile: http://www.ventanasystems.co.uk/forum/
The analysis in this thesis concerns the main System Dynamics CoP. The analysis reveals
how domain expert in the field are acting as a voluntary mentors for educating the
students, semi experts and experts in the field. We also illustrate how these mentor
experts share their subjective and tacit knowledge to act as a catalyst to generate new
ideas, and maintain the interest of the community to remain engaged in a dialogue. Some
recent studies have already shown that leadership is a key success factor for managing a
virtual community of practice (Bourhis A., Dube’ L and Jacob R., 2005). We further
explore a number of knowledge management tools to illustrate how learning takes place
in this CoP and individual as well as domain knowledge is expanded.
4-65
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Sub Forum
Activity Index
Replies
Topics
Topics
Sub
Forum
4.7.2 Case study statistics
1. Ventana Systems UK Forum
1.1 Welcome and General Information
This forum is for any announcements or any general queries.
1.2 SD Mailing List Archive
This forum contains all archives from the SD Mailing list (go to
http://www.vensim.com/sdmail/sdmail.html for more
information). This is here as a read-only resource, please post
any SD related questions to the SD Discussion forum.
1.3 System Dynamics Discussion
Use this forum to discuss any issues relating to Systems
Dynamics and Systems Thinking
2. Software
19
49
2.5
2681
7529
2.8
114
409
3.5
2.1 Vensim
Venism related questions can be sent to this section. (Vensim is
software used for constructing models of business, scientific,
environmental, and social systems).
2.2 Sable
Sable related questions can be sent to this section. (Sable is
reoffered to all Sable Systems softwares).
644
2729
4.2
63
209
3.3
Overall Forum Activity Index
3521
10925
3.1
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.34: System Dynamics CoP Structure
4.7.3 Analysis of selected topics:
We have selected 11 topics from the System Dynamic virtual CoP for further analysis as
illustrated in Table 4.35. The limited contribution by most individuals taking part in
these discussions is somewhat unfortunate because it does not allow us to see how
individuals’ views developed through the interactive process of this discussion. This
limitation to the study is readily accepted but it is submitted that this does not prevent the
4-66
Chapter 4
Case Studies
broader methodological approach of this paper from being discussed. In developing this
SD and other modelling approaches
1626
3
Manufacturing control systems
930
30
4
Using statistics in dynamic models
423
28
5
Reliable models
1323
32
*Medium Discussed Topics
1 Formal Tools/Methods for Modelling
Support and Model Analysis
2 Limitations of System dynamics?
*Low Discussed Topics
1 Teaching System Dynamics to
Computing Undergraduates
2 Vensim and Visual Basic
* Topics with no replies
1 Excel interface for Vensim
(Member has developed a general
purpose Excel interface that delivers
basic Vensim functionality (running
scenarios and sensitivity analysis)
2 Good Reading for System Dynamics
41
Topic
engagement
index
2
Discussion
period
46
date
1810
Discussion
No. of
replies
*High Discussed Topics
1 Can system dynamics models learn
Topic
generator
No. of
views
Topic
work and the overall approach, a more comprehensive dataset can be compiled
Martin F.
Schaffernich
18 Apr 03 to 7
May 03
20 days
0.025
Fadl Alakwa
10 Dec 05 to 06
Oct 06
12 Nov 03 to 2
Dec 03
29 Jan 04 to
6 Feb 04
3 Apr 96 to
7 May 96
28 days
0.025
21 days
0.032
9 days
0.066
34 days
0.024
27 Days
0.022
18 Days
0.012
Lim Yan
Ronald
Jay Forrest
Adrian
Boucher
633
14
Gyucel
885
11
Woncheol
Kwak
1093
7
Jim Duggan
825
1
379
171
16 Aug 07 to
12 Sep 07
15 Oct 02 to 31
Oct 02
7 Days
0.006
Anonymous
24 Nov 04 to
30 Nov 04
21 May 03
1 Day
0.0012
0
tangent
25 June 08
-
0
0
Michael
Bean"
11 May 03
-
0
Overall topic engagement index
0.023
Table 4.35: A list of selected topics from SD CoP
4-67
Case Studies
High discussed topics
7
70
Topic 4
%
0
0
19
68
Topic 5
%
3
9
16
50
Medium discussed
topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
%
%
1
7
0
0
12
86
5
45
0
0
1
4
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
10
2
3
1
10
3
2
0
7
0
4
0
13
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
27
0
0
0
9
13
0
22
32
0
3
20
0
10
67
0
6
14
0
22
50
0
8
16
1
25
50
3
1
10
0
7
71
0
3
5
0
28
45
0
2
4
4
39
4
9
14
4
0
5
18
1
3
5
10
0
12
44
2
7
12
3
0
0
6
1
0
4
10
0
0
20
3
0
13
1
1
0
12
0
0
1
4
4
0
42
0
0
4
2
0
0
13
0
3
1
6
0
0
41
0
9
3
1
1
0
2
0
1
6
7
7
0
15
0
7
44
5
0
1
0
0
0
1
27
37
13
0
22
9
2
0
54
22
5
0
6
17
2
1
20
57
7
3
11
9
5
2
39
32
18
7
13
11
3
1
41
35
9
3
3
3
1
0
21
21
7
0
7
2
0
1
Topic 2
%
5
12
22
54
2
21
Contradict
4
9
0
0
Support
Acknowledge
ment
Mixed
Academic
Philosophy
12
2
27
4
4
1
2
17
5
4
37
10
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
1
2
2
18
2
4
7
Medium
Long
Very long
Extended
contribution
No. of replies
Total No. of days
No. of views
Activity index
12
17
6
0
Size
Content of discourse
Context of Discourse
Inquiry
Explanation
Topic 1
%
1
2
25
54
46
20
1810
2.3
41
28
1626
1.4
Topic 3
30
21
930
1.4
28
9
423
3.1
32
34
1323
0.94
14
27
633
0.51
Table 4.36: Summary of the analysed topics from System Dynamics CoP
4-68
11
18
885
0.611
Low discussed
topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
%
%
0
0
0
0
100
6
86
1
Topics with no reply
T1
T2
T3
%
%
%
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
4.1
68.1
Average
%
Chapter 4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1.7
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10.4
1
1
4
0
14
57
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
14.7
45.4
1.41
45
0
10
0
0
0
9
0
0
0
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
43
0
14
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
9.37
12.77
2.82
27.13
1
16.22
11
64
18
0
9
4
1
0
1
58
14
0
14
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
36
26.2
6.55
4.1
7
7
1093
1
1
1
825
1
100
0
0
0
100
0
0
379
0
0
0
171
0
0
0
232
0
26.25
20.6
860.8
1.53
Chapter 4
Case Studies
S
VS
L
Topic 2
Academic
VS
VL
Topic 3
Academic
M
EC
L
Topic 4
Academic
L
L
VL
Topic 5
Mixed
VL
L
Topic 1
Topic 2
Academic
Academic
L
M
Topic 1
Topic 2
Mixed
Technical
Topic 1
Technical
Conclusion
Mixed
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
SM (DE)
JM
Successful
Yes
1
SM (DE)
SM (DE)
Successful
Yes
5
SM (DE)
SM (DE)
Successful
Yes
2
SM (DE)
SM (DE)
SM
Successful
No
-
M
SM
M
SM
Open conclusion
Yes
3
L
M
S
L
M
JM
JM
M
M
M
Unsuccessful
Open conclusion
Yes
No
1
-
M
S
M
VS
M
-
M
M
JM
JM
M
-
Successful
Unsuccessful
No
No
-
M
-
-
JM
-
-
Unsuccessful
No
-
Topic
initiator’
status
Who
finished
it? (last
reply)
Last reply
Topic 1
Member status
Who
started it?
(first
reply)
First reply
Medium
discussed
topics
Low
discussed
topics
Topics with
no reply
Inquiry
length
High
Discussed
topics
Content of
discourse in
the first
Message length
M
M
Topic 2
Academic
S
SM
Unsuccessful
No
Respond rate:
High (H), Medium (M), Low (L), None (0)Message length
Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member Status:
Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin), DE: Domain Expert
Conclusion:
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Content of Discourse Academic (Ac), Philosophy (Phil), Experience (E), Technical (Tech), Storytelling (ST), Other, Mixed
Table 4.37: Summary of the analysed topics from System Dynamics CoP
4-69
-
Chapter 4
4.8
Case Studies
Case Study 7: Mahjoob CoP
4.8.1 Case study Background
Mahjoob CoP is a part of Jordanian Abu Mahjoob Creative Productions (AMCP) website
established in 1999. AMCP is a full-service advertising agency, which is committed to
deliver media knowledge and services to execute creativity on regional, national and
international levels. By the early 2006, the membership of Mahjoob CoP exceeds 7000
members and by August 2008 it exceeds 15000 members. There are separate Arabic and
English interfaces where the same sub-communities are founded. Members can post their
topic to either of the sub-community interface.
Figure 4.27: English interface of Mahjoob CoP http://www.mahjoob.com/en/forums/index.php
4-70
Chapter 4
4.8.2
Case Studies
Case Study Statistics
The interface of the supply chain focus CoP has a list of categories and forums, with basic
statistics for each - including the number of topics and posts, also about which member posted
the most recent message. This CoP consists of twenty sub-CoPs in which topics are classified as
Religion, General discussion, Joke zone, Men’s corner, Girl’s corner, Family matters, On focus,
Business and Economy, Arab Arts Symposium, Humanities, Sport, Poetry and prose, Tech talk,
Teenagers thought, Health and science, Entertainment, Politics, Suggestions and Complaints, and
Announcements. The user can choose what interests him most. Each section however got
subsections as follows as explained in the below Table 4.38.
Sub forum
Topi
cs
Replies
Sub Forum
Activity index
2758
35331
12.8
4049
111150
27.4
3
Religion
Anything related to religion can be discussed here.
General discussion: Any topic can not fit in other specific
forums can be discussed here.
Jordanian: Topics related to Jordan
1165
18775
16.1
4
Joke zone: Humour and funny stories are posted here.
5919
202727
34.2
5
Men’s corner
941
36722
39.0
6
Girls talk
1922
64716
33.6
7
Family matters
729
17259
23.6
8
On focus
1477
76506
51.7
9
Business and Economy
6147
137285
22.3
10 Arab Arts Symposium
24
234
9.7
11 Humanities
3373
38770
11.4
12 Sports
2508
54886
21.8
13 Poetry and prose
12105
131298
10.8
14 Tech Talk
2547
20754
8.1
15 Teens thoughts
680
64471
94.8
16 Health & Science
2576
20182
7.8
1
2
4-71
Chapter 4
Case Studies
17 Entertainment
3562
49145
13.7
18 Politics
3595
28684
7.9
19 Suggestions and complaints
332
22524
67.8
20 Announcements
101
1345
13.3
Overall F Activity Index
56511
764781
13.5
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.38: Mahjoob CoP structure
4.8.3 Analysis of selected topics
We have selected 12 topics from the Mahjoob virtual CoP for further analysis as
illustrated in Table 2. The analysis involved a relatively high, medium and low number of
“replies” but also involved numerous participants. Topics with no replies are included as
well.
4-72
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Spanish
Topic
engagement
Index
Classical
Arabic
660
Days
45%
15%
40%
-
0.26
151
19
2876
269
35 days
18 days
40%
60%
15%
37%
15%
3%
30%
0.052
0.070
39
691
11 days
80%
20%
-
-
0.056
22
1659
5 days
10%
15%
75%
-
0.013
12
8
130
526
2 Days
2 Days
85%
70%
15%
30%
-
-
0.092
0.015
2
93
1 Day
100%
-
-
-
0.021
2
6
159
78
2 Days
2 Days
100%
100%
-
-
-
0.012
0.076
-
-
*Medium Discussed Topics
1 What is your best achievement in life so far?
2 How do you measure risk in your life?
*Low Discussed Topics
1 Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th
Century
2 Effects of Smoking on Vitamin A and C
3 What do you find annoying about emails?
* Topics with no replies
1 Help finding a book to download on line
2 How to use WordPress.com
Arabic in
Latin letters
6389
0
0
26
69
Overall topic engagement index
Table 4.39: A list of selected topics from Mahjoob CoP
4-73
-
English
1671
Replies
*High Discussed Topics
1 General talk: The posted topic suggested to other
members to share their knowledge about Palestine
(country, people and land)
2 I3jaz-il-quran (The Holy Quran miracles)
3 Spanish corner (One member is a Spanish
language teacher and sharing his knowledge with
others who have the same interest)
4 Is Aspirin good for your health? (Misuse of
medications can be dangerous to patients. A member
asks when to use aspirin according to his medical
conditions)
5 Benefits from Chinese acupuncture
(Member seeks advice that she suffering from
migraine and asks others for their experience if
anybody tried Chinese acupuncture to cure it.)
Views
Topic
Discussion
period
Language
-
-
-
Case Studies
High discussed topics
Topic 1
%
Topic 2
%
Topic 3
%
Topic 4
%
Topic 5
%
Medium discussed
topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Low discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
%
Topic 3
%
Topics with no
reply
T1
Topic 2
%
%
Average
%
Chapter 4
83
973
5
58
11
61
7.3
40
2
7
10.5
36.9
3
26
7.6
66.8
1
9
4.5
41
1
7
8.3
58.3
0
4
0
50
0
1
0
50
0
1
0
50
0
4
0
66.8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4.3
51.78
Contradict
28
1.7
6
4
1
5.3
0
0
1
4.5
0
0
1
12.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2.79
Support
Acknowledg
ement
Mixed
Academic
Philosophy
312
180
18
11
32
27
21.2
18
5
3
26.3
15.7
5
5
12.8
12.8
7
1
31.8
4.5
2
0
16.7
0
0
2
0
25
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
16.6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
14.34
8.7
105
6.3
14
9.5
1
5.3
0
0
3
13.6
2
16.7
1
12.5
1
50
1
50
1
16.6
0
0
0
0
18.1
231
293
13.8
17.5
0
41
0
27.2
12
0
63.2
0
8
4
20.5
10.3
0
5
0
22.7
0
2
0
16.7
0
3
0
37.5
0
0
0
0
1
0
50
0
1
0
16
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16
13
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
411
0
616
120
24.6
0
36.9
7.2
32
0
17
61
21.2
0
11.2
40.4
4
0
0
3
21
0
0
15.8
2
0
7
18
5.1
0
18
64.1
4
0
7
6
18.7
0
31.6
27
2
0
5
3
16.7
0
41.6
25
2
0
3
0
25
0
37.5
0
0
1
0
1
0
50
0
50
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
50
3
1
0
1
50
17
0
17
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
18
6.5
17
29.5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
410
518
24.5
31
29
38
19.2
25.1
2
7
10.5
36.9
5
15
12.8
38.5
5
8
22.7
36.4
3
5
25
41.7
2
2
25
25
0
1
0
50
1
0
50
0
1
2
16.7
33.3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
20.6
31.8
Medium
Long
Very long
Extended
contribution
No. of replies
Total No. of days
No. of views
Activity index
392
217
23.5
12.9
48
12
31.8
7.9
2
3
10.5
15.8
16
0
41
0
6
2
27.3
9.1
2
1
16.7
8.3
3
1
37
13
1
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
28.8
6.7
61
73
3.7
4.4
8
16
5.3
10.7
1
4
5.2
21.1
2
1
5.1
2.6
0
1
0
4.5
1
0
8.3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7.8
4.3
Size
Content of discussion
Context of Discussion
Inquiry
Explanation
1671
151
19
39
22
12
8
2
2
6
0
0
241
660
35
18
11
5
2
2
1
2
2
0
0
92.2
6389
2876
269
691
1659
130
526
93
159
78
26
69
1620
2.5
4.3
1.05
3.5
4.4
6
4
2
2
3
0
0
4.09
Table 4.40: Summary of the analyzed topics of Majoob CoP
4-74
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Last reply
Topic
initiator’
status
Who started
it? (first
reply)
Who
finished it?
(last reply)
Topic 1
Mixed
VL
L
M
SM
SM
JM
Successful
Yes
83
Topic 2
Mixed
VL
M
S
SM
JM
SM
Open conclusion
Yes
11
Topic 3
Academic
VL
VL
S
JM
M
JM
Open conclusion
Yes
2
Topic 4
Academic
VS
VS
S
SM
Mod
JM
Successful
Yes
3
Medium discussed
topics
Topic 5
Topic 1
Topic 2
Academic
Experience
Experience
S
VS
VS
VL
M
VS
VS
VS
VS
SM
M
JM
JM
JM
JM
SM
SM
M
Successful
Open conclusion
Open conclusion
No
No
No
1
1
-
Low discussed
topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Technical
Mixed
VS
VL
S
VL
VS
VS
JM
M
SM
M
SM
JM
Successful
Unsuccessful
No
No
-
Topic 3
Experience
M
S
VS
JM
Mod
Mod
Successful
No
-
Topic 1
Technical
M
-
-
JM
-
-
Unsuccessful
-
-
Topic 2
Technical
S
SM
Unsuccessful
Respond rate:
High (H), Medium (M), Low (L), None (0)
Message length:
Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member Status:
Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin)
Conclusion:
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Content of Discourse Academic (Ac), Philosophy (Phil), Experience (E), Technical (Tech), Storytelling (ST), Other, Mixed
-
-
High Discussed
topics
Topics with no
reply
Table 4.41: Summary of the analyzed topics of Majoob
4-75
Conclusion
First reply
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
Inquiry
length
Member status
Content of
discourse in the
first message
Message length
Chapter 4
4.9
4.9.1
Case Studies
Case Study 8: Alnj3 CoP
Case study background
Alnjaa or in Arabizi Alnaj3 (Companion) is a Libyan cultural site established nearly 7
years ago. It is different from other Libyan cultural sites as majority of its membership
belongs to a single ethnic group and through this CoP they can share knowledge and
interests. It has been voted as the best Libyan CoP in 2005. There are some Arab
nationals or Libyans from different regions. The medium of communication is Arabic and
English.
The main point of interest to bring this community together is that most of the members
are expatriates or living away from their home towns and use this site as a source for
information for social, political and cultural news, However, other major interests of this
community lies in latest local poetries, local folk stories, and the latest computing
technologies. It is growing very fast as membership by 48% between June and November
2007. Members are very active and have discussed over 268.762 topics and 747.217 posts
since the inception of the website. As in 20 August 2008, the total number of members
was 32.574. A front end of the website is illustrated in Figure 4.28.
4-76
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Figure 4.28: Alnj3 CoP interface: alnj3.com
4.9.2 Case study statistics
The interface of Alnj3 CoP has a list of categories and forums, with basic statistics for
each - including the number of topics and posts, also about which member posted the
most recent message. This CoP consists of eight sub-CoPs in which topics are classified
as Songs & Poetries, Customs, Social Campaign, Technology, Internet, Mobile phones,
religion & Art, and Alnj3 News. The user can choose what interests him most. Each
section however got subsections as follows as explained in the below Table 4.42.
4-77
Topics
Sub
Forum
Sub Forum
Activity Index
Case Studies
Replies
Chapter 4
1. Religious Matters
1.1 Religion
1.2 Wisdoms
1437
2822
8242
24997
5.7
8.8
873
3091
5656
18112
6.4
5.8
2014
1352
680
16262
4732
3484
8.0
3.5
427
453
4054
2511
9.4
5.5
170
590
245
666
2474
2210
3.9
4.1
9.0
6. Mobile phones
6.1 Mobile applications, themes and games
6.2 Latest Libyan tones and pictures
58
72
535
411
9.2
5.7
7. Other campaigns
7.1 General
7.2 Suggestions and queries
740
358
4020
2387
5.4
6.6
2
37
15421
29
628
101410
14.5
16.9
6.5
2. Songs & Poetries
2.1 Bedouin songs
2.2 Folk stories/ poetries
3. Customs
3.1 Fun
3.2 Sport
3.3 Knowledge bank
4. Social campaign
4.1 Her campaign
4.2 Family health
5. Technology and internet
5.1 TV channels
5.2 Latest computer programmes
5.3 Computer graphics
8. Alnj3 news
8.1 Latest news
8.2 Interviews with local famous people
Overall Forum Activity Index
Key: Sub forum activity Index = Total replies of the forum/ total topics generated by the forum
Table 4.42: Alnj3 CoP structure
4-78
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4.9.3 Analysis of selected topics
We have selected 12 topics from the Alnj3 virtual CoP for further analysis as illustrated
in Table 1. The analysis involved a relatively high, medium and low number of “replies”
but also involved numerous participants. Topics with no replies are included as well.
Classical
Arabic and
Libyan
Arabic
0.037
Arabic in
Latin letters
Topic
Engagement
Index
105
Days
Members were asked to participate in this
game to describe other members they know
in the community
This topic was regarding specific Libyan
Bedouin art, a collection of which has been
created as members posted their favourite
examples
The topic was regarding the most common
language grammatical mistakes that can
change the meaning sometimes that most
members are doing.
10
%
-
90%
5%
25%
75%
-
-
%100
(Akakus is the name given to the western
part of Tadrart mountain, near the oasis city
of Ghat, Libya).
Pictures and video images can be redownloaded even if they are deleted. The
shows how to format the mobile phone
before selling it so nobody can access your
personal photos or videos
The topic was regarding the main causes of
PC slow down and how to prevent them.
-
-
%100
-
-
%100
-
-
%100
English
Period
282
Brief
description
Replies
views
Topic
Language
High discussed topics:
Introducing
7598
1 Alnaj3
members
2 Bedouin art
6349
268
203
Days
0.042
3 Common
247
25
36
Days
0.10
492
19
35
Days
0.038
185
10
24
Days
0.054
79
could reduce
your PC speed
Low discussed topics:
1 Do you know 130
(Sport events)
35
2 Almadar
7
3
Days
0.08
4
2
Days
3
Days
0.030
This is list of 100 important sport events.
-
-
%100
0.057
-
-
%100
3 Teaching Auto 297
1
1 Day
0.003
This is regarding the new service
introduced by the CoP admin that
members can subscribe to some services
by sending message to the national mobile
phone in Libya called ‘Libyana’
Learning Auto CAD tutorials
-
-
%100
-
0
-
-
%100
language
errors.
Medium discussed topics:
1 Spirit of
Akakus
2 Before you
sell your
mobile
3 31 reasons
2
CAD
Topics with no reply
1 The danger
43
0
Summary of scientific article that
4-79
Chapter 4
behind
overeating
2 Benefits from
hibiscus
3 How to use
“feather”
command.
Case Studies
shows over eating
6
0
-
0
5
0
-
0
Overall topic engagement index
General topic listing the benefits of
the common used plant hibiscus.
Guide to effective use of ‘feather’
command
0.091
Table 4.43: A list of selected topics for analysis from Alnj3 CoP
4-80
-
-
%100
-
-
%100
Case Studies
High discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Content of discussion Context of Discussion
%
%
Medium discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
%
%
Low discussed topics
Topic 1
Topic 2 Topic 3
%
Topics with no reply
Top1
T2
Topic 3
%
%
%
%
Average
%
Chapter 4
2.1
43
7
153
2.6
57
2
9
8
36
1
4
5.3
21
0
6
0
60
0
3
0
43
1
2
25
50
0
1
0
50
0
1
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4.8
51.1
Contradict
5
1.7
11
4.1
3
12
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
50
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7.7
Support
53
66
18.8
23.4
53
43
19.7
16
6
3
24
12
5
9
26.3
47.4
2
2
20
20
2
2
28.5
28.5
1
0
25
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
18
16.3
Mixed
Academic
Philosophy
31
11
1
0.6
2
8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
32
0
11.3
0
43
0
16
15
3
60
12
0
3
0
15.8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2.1
17.8
6.1
Experience
Technical
Story telling
Mixed
Other
Very short
Short
37
0
127
86
13.2
0
45
30.5
86
0
83
56
32
0
31
21
0
0
2
5
0
0
8
20
3
0
5
8
15.8
0
26.3
42.1
2
4
3
1
20
40
30
10
1
3
1
2
14.2
43
14.2
28.6
1
0
1
2
25
0
25
50
0
2
0
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
98
120
34.8
42.6
48
139
17.9
51.8
2
9
8
36
7
6
36.8
31.6
3
5
30
50
2
3
28.5
43
0
2
0
50
0
1
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Medium
Long
Very long
Extended
contribution
No. of replies
Total No. of days
No. of views
Activity index
49
7
17.3
2.5
56
19
21
7
12
0
48
0
4
1
21
5.3
2
0
20
0
2
0
28.5
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
50
0
1
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
0
2.8
0
4
2
1.6
0.7
2
0
8
0
0
1
0
5.3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Size
6
121
Inquiry
Explanation
Acknowledgem
ent
282
105
7598
2.6
268
203
6349
1.3
25
36
247
0.69
19
35
492
0.54
10
24
185
0.41
7
3
79
2.3
Table 4.44: Summary of the analysed topics from Alnj3 CoP
4-81
4
2
130
2
2
3
35
0.66
1
1
297
1
0
0
43
0
0
0
6
0
0
0
5
0
13.4
20.3
20
22.4
0
17.4
39.5
34
1.6
6.9
0.6
77.25
51.5
1933.3
1.43
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Who started
it? (first
reply)
Who
finished it?
(last reply)
Topic 1
Storytelling
M
M
S
SM
SM
SM
Open conclusion
Yes
6
Topic 2
Storytelling
L
VL
M
SM
Mod
SM
Successful
Yes
7
Topic 3
Academic
L
M
S
JM
JM
JM
Open conclusion
Yes
2
Topic 1
Storytelling
VL
S
VS
JM
M
SM
Successful
Yes
1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 1
Technical
Technical
Experience
Technical
Technical
Mixed
L
VL
VL
M
S
S
S
VS
VS
M
VS
-
S
VS
VS
M
-
JM
JM
JM
Mod
JM
M
SM
Mod
JM
SM
SM
-
Mod
SM
JM
JM
-
Successful
Successful
Open conclusion
Successful
Successful
Unsuccessful
No
No
No
No
No
No
0
0
1
0
0
0
No
0
Topic 2
Topic 3
Respond rate:
Message length:
Member Status:
Conclusion:
Conclusion
Topic
initiator’
status
Topics with
no reply
Last reply
Low
discussed
topics
First reply
Medium
discussed
topics
Does it lead to
another topic?
If yes,
How many?
inquiry
length
High
Discussed
topics
Member status
Content of
discourse in the
first message
Message length
Mixed
M
JM
Unsuccessful
Technical
M
M
Unsuccessful
High (H), Medium (echM), Low (L), None (0)
Very short (VS), Short (S), Medium (M), Long (L), Very long (VL), Extended Contribution (EC)
Member (M), Junior Member (JM), Senior Member (SM), Moderator (Mod.), Administrator (Admin)
Successful, Open Conclusion, Unsuccessful
Table 4.45: Summary of the analysed topics from Alnj3 CoP
4-82
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Summary
This chapter discussed the Case study -1 (Start –Up Nation CoP) in full details and the rest
of the seven cases has been discussed briefly with a summary table of each case at the end.
A detailed version of the rest of the seven cases has been included in the appendix as a
reference. However, an overall comparison of all the eight cases are shown in figure 4.29,
4.30 and 4.31 below to summaries the findings of the eight cases.
Figure 4.29 shows that the message length in majority of the CoPs are short to very short
with the highest average score of 46% very short messages in SC Focus followed by
average score of 44% of short messages in YE. However, in the two informal CoPs,
Mahjoob and Alnj3, it was found that majority of the messages were short to medium with
the average score of 59% (Mahjoob) and 73% (Alnj3).
Overall comparision of message length in the 8 CoPs
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Sun
AN
YE
Teneric
Very short
SuN= Start up Nation
YE= Young Entrepreneurs
AN= All nurses
Teneric= Teneric
Short
SC Focus
Medium
SD
Mahjoob
Alnj3
Long
SC Focus= Supply Chain Focus
SD= Systems Dynamics
Alnj3
Mahjoob
Message Length (in words): 1-50 Very Short (VS); 51-100 Short (S); 101- 250 Medium (M); 251-500 Long(L);
501- 1000 Very Long (VL); +1000 extended contribution (EC)
Figure 4.29: Overall comparison of message length in the eight CoPs
4-83
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Again, the investigation discovered that ‘Explanation’ (Exp) was the main context of
discourse in all the case studies. In the Figure 4.30 below it is evident that explanation
scored the highest in all the CoPs (65%, 50%, 48%, 64%,53%, 68% , 51%,and 51%) for
Sun, AN, YE, Teneric, SC Focus, SD, Mahjoob and Alnj3 respectively). It was also
found that ‘Contradiction’ (Cont) and ‘Inquiry’ (Inq) were the lowest mentioned factors
in terms of context of discourse in all the eight cases.
Overall comparision of context of discourse in the eight CoPs
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Sun
AN
YE
Inq
SuN= Start up Nation
YE= Young Entrepreneurs
discourse:
Mixed
Teneric
Exp
AN= All nurses
Teneric= Teneric
Cont
SC Focus
Supp
Ack
SD
Mahjoob
Alnj3
Mixed
SC Focus= Supply Chain Focus
SD= Systems Dynamics
Alnj3
Mahjoob
Explanation (Exp.); Support (Supp); Contradict (Cont.); Inquiry (Inq.), Acknowledgement (Ack),
Figure 4.30: Overall comparison of content of discourse in the eight CoPs
The Figure 4.31 below also describes that ‘Academic’( AC) discussion was the main
content of discourse in most of the cases under investigation, followed by ‘Technical’,
‘Others’ and ‘Mixed’ where ‘Philosophy’ had been mentioned least as the content of
discourse. However, in the observation it was noticed that in both the informal CoPs
4-84
Chapter 4
Case Studies
(Mahjoob and Alnj3) ‘Mixed’ contents were mentioned the most important content for
discussion.
Overall comparision of content of discourse in the eight CoPs
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Sun
AN
YE
Ac
SuN= Start up Nation
YE= Young Entrepreneurs
Teneric
Phil
Exp
AN= All nurses
Teneric= Teneric
SC Focus
Tech
ST
Mixed
SD
Mahjoob
Alnj3
other
SC Focus= Supply Chain Focus
SD= Systems Dynamics
Alnj3
Mahjoob
Content of Discourse: Technical (Tech); Experiential (E); Philosophical (Ph); Academic (Ac), Storytelling (ST);
Mixed, Other
Figure 4.31: Overall comparison of content of discourse in the eight CoPs
4-85
Chapter 4
Case Studies
Table 4.46 below shows the average engagement index, activity index, sub-forum activity
index and topic activity index for the selected topics (High, Medium, Low discussed) in
the eight CoPs. Where,
Overall activity index= Number of replies/ Total number of days
Overall sub-forum activity index= Number of replies/ Number of topics
Overall topic engagement index = Number of replies/ Number of viewers
From the analysis it is evident that the scores of Teneric Business Forum (4.35) and
Mahjoob (4.09) are very high compared to the rest of the cases investigated. This might
be due to the fact that members of these communities are more responsive and active to
the topics introduced in the forum, where they share their views openly. Whereas the
overall activity index of SCM Focus is the lowest (0.73). This is because of its nature of
the forum. In SCM CoP, if members want to contribute to a specific topic they need very
specialized knowledge in each topic introduced. Moreover, in this forum most of the
topics introduced usually requires a very specific answers and once the issue is answered
by any member, viewers tend not to engage in the discussion any further as no more
discussion is required on the specific topic in the following days.
The table 4.46 also shows that the overall sub forum activity index of All Nurses,
Mahjoob and Start Up Nation are very high with the score of 13.99, 13.5 and 9.36
respectively compared to the lowest score of Systems Dynamics ( 3.1). All Nurses,
Mahjoob and Start Up Nation members tend to get more involved in any topic introduced
to the forum. As the topics that are introduced to the forum are more general and people
can get involved easily, they are more likely to participate in the aforementioned
4-86
Chapter 4
Case Studies
communities. Again, it needs to be mentioned that, a lot of the responses were greetings,
acknowledgements and thanksgiving (eg. Thanx, wc, , lol, , xxx, received etc) .
However, it needs to be mentioned that this result can not be generalized as the topics for
investigation were picked randomly by the researcher. The result might be very different
if different sets of topics were chosen for investigation. On the other hand the topics in
Systems Dynamics require specialized knowledge for members to respond to the
postings, what justifies the overall low score.
Finally, in terms of overall topic engagement index, Mahjoob scored extraordinarily high
( 4.09) compared to the rest of the communities (lowest score 0.39 for Teneric Business
Forums). As Mahjob is purely an informal social online CoP, people tend to participate
more in discussions and sharing their views compared to other CoPs what rationalizes the
highest score. Overall, the table 4.46 for overall engagement indices gives a general idea
regarding how the member of the eight case studies under investigation engage and share
knowledge in online CoPs.
4-87
Chapter 4
Case Studies
No
CoP’s name & URL
Origin
Language
Overall
Activity
index
Overall Sub
Forum activity
index
Overall Topic
engagement
index
1
Start up Nation forum
www.startupnation.com/
All nurses
http://All
nurses.com/forums/
Young entrepreneurs
www.youngentrepreneur
.com/forum/
Teneric Business
Forums
SCM FocusDiscussion Forum
Systems Dynamics
www.ventanasystems.co
.uk/forum/
Mahjoob
www.mahjoob.com/ar/f
orums/index.php
Alnj3
www.Alnj3.com
USA
English
1.47
9.36
1.47
USA
English
0.84
13.99
0.84
UK
English
0.85
6.3
0.85
UK
English
4.35
4.4
0.39
Australia
English
0.73
4.50
0.73
UK
English
1.53
3.1
1.53
Jordan
Arabic,
English &
Spanish
Arabic
4.09
13.5
4.09
1.43
6.5
1.43
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Libya
Table 4.46: Overall Engagement indices in the eight case studies
4-88
Chapter 4
Case Studies
4-89