Identifying online communities of inquiry in higher education using social network analysis

Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides a range of models particularly well suited for mapping bonds between participants in online communities and thus reveal prominent members or subgroups. This can yield valuable insights for selecting a theoretical sample of participants or participant interactions in qualitative studies of communities. This chapter describes a procedure for collecting data from Usenet newsgroups, deriving the social network created by participant interaction, and importing this relational data into SNA software, where various cohesion models can be applied. The technique is exemplified by performing a longitudinal core periphery analysis of a specific newsgroup, which identified core members and provided clear evidence of a stable online community. Discussions dominated by core members are identified next, to guide theoretical sampling of text-based interactions in an ongoing ethnography of the community.

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Exploring Behavior of People with Suicidal Ideation in a Chinese Online Suicidal Community

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16010054 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 54 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Zheng Wang ◽

Guang Yu ◽

Xianyun Tian

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Suicidal Ideation ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Online Communities ◽

Chinese Women ◽

Intervention Strategies ◽

Effective Prevention ◽

Social Media Platforms

People with suicidal ideation (PSI) are increasingly using social media to express suicidal feelings. Researchers have found that their internet-based communication may lead to the spread of suicidal ideation, which presents a set of challenges for suicide prevention. To develop effective prevention and intervention strategies that can be efficiently applied in online communities, we need to understand the behavior of PSI in internet-based communities. However, to date there have been no studies that specifically focus on the behavior of PSI in Chinese online communities. A total of 4489 postings in which users explicitly expressed their suicidal ideation were labeled from 560,000 postings in an internet-based suicidal community on Weibo (one of the biggest social media platforms in China) to explore their behavior. The results reveal that PSI are significantly more active than other users in the community. With the use of social network analysis, we also found that the more frequently users communicate with PSI, the more likely that users would become suicidal. In addition, Chinese women may be more likely to be at risk of suicide than men in the community. This study enriches our knowledge of PSI’s behavior in online communities, which may contribute to detecting and assisting PSI on social media.

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Obstacles and opportunities for networked practice: a social network analysis of an inter-organizational STEM ecosystem

Journal of Educational Administration ◽

10.1108/jea-02-2020-0041 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Yi-Hwa Liou ◽

Alan J. Daly

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Geographic Region ◽

Central Position ◽

Content Type ◽

Related Information ◽

Stem Pipeline ◽

And Mathematics

PurposeThis study responds to major administrative and policy priorities to support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education by investigating a multi-sector ecosystem of regional organizations that support a STEM pipeline for education and careers.Design/methodology/approachWe use social network analysis to investigate an entire region within a geographic region of California which included 316 organizations that represent different stakeholder groups, including educational institutions (school districts, schools and higher education), government, private companies, museums, libraries and multiple community-based organizations. This STEM ecosystem reflects a systems-level analysis of a region from a unique social network perspective.FindingsResults indicate that organizations have a surface-level access to STEM-related information, but the deeper and more intense relationship which involves strategic collaboration is limited. Further, interactions around information and collaboration between organizations were purportedly in part to be about education, rarely included PK-12 schools and district as central actors in the ecosystem. In addition, while institutions of higher education occupy a central position in connecting and bridging organizations within the ecosystem, higher education's connectivity to the PK-12 education sector is relatively limited in terms of building research and practice partnerships.Originality/valueThis research has implications for how regional-level complex systems are analyzed, led and catalyzed and further reflects the need to intentionally attend to the growth of STEM networks.

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