Conceptualising Social Space in Cyberspace: a Study of the Interactions in Online Discussion Forums

Online discussion forums are perceived as conducive environments for the evolvement and support of collaborative and socio- constructivist learning. However, study of previous work in the field revealed a growing need for developing empiric frameworks for ascertaining the materialisation of these perceptions. The book studies the social dynamics in online discussion threads generated by postgraduate students participating in an online course, in which they were required to contribute to online discussions forums and participate in social construction of learning. Building on Ethnomethodological notions and Structural Analysis approach, the book introduces an alternative analytic framework for the investigation of the socio constructivist dynamics in online discussion forums. The approach portrayed conceptualises discussion forums as systems of relations rather than aggregations of individual contributors. The book introduces a new method for visualising systems of online networks of relations as social spaces,and would be useful for sociologists and educators investigating the social dynamics of online discussions, and their construction of collaborative spaces of meaning.