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Level of participation and values derived by members of an agricultural online community of practice in Thailand
Dissertation Abstract:
An online community of practice (OCoP) refers to a platform where people learn and contribute their knowledge about a particular trade or technology, such as in a closed Facebook account. However, members in an OCoP have different levels of participation. Given the increasing number of farmers using smart phones and the probability of disruptive events which may limit the mobility and interaction of people, it is thus important for extension professionals to maximize the opportunities of OCoP as a learning platform. Thus, the study aimed to analyze the participation levels and corresponding values derived by participants in an OCoP.
The study employed a multiphase mixed methods as follows: (I) netnographic approach to extract the data from the online forum; (2) online survey interview among 183 members of the selected Facebook group; and (3) in-depth interview with one outstanding member of the selected Facebook group. Qualitative data from online discussion and key informant interview were analyzed using thematic analysis. On the other hand, quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the differentiation of values derived were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis rank test. The structure of interactions was analyzed and visualized using social network analysis method.
The selected case for this study was the Facebook group about vermiculture practice. In the online forum of this group, most of the posts were about earthworm rearing.
The online forum of this group showed the potential of online community to be a knowledge management platform as the discussion was intensive whether on the aspect of high number of comments, lengthy text messages, high number of reactions, long duration of discussion, and fast reply.
The structure of interaction in an online forum of this group showed that there was one member posited at the core of this network as he frequently interacted with several members. The core was circled by a few members who occasionally interacted with a substantial number of members. Meanwhile, a vast number of members who rarely interacted were dispersed to the peripheral of this network. Thus, the brokerage role of core member is important to support other members in this network.
An unequal distribution was found among members with different participation levels in this group. Only a few members had high and medium participation while most of the members had low and non-participation. Most of the members with different participation levels were different in terms of sex, occupation, and membership period but similar in age and education. Furthermore, most of them were newbies to vermiculture practice who only did small-scale production, without a specific housing system and were able to produce a small amount of vermicompost to fertilize their plants. Aside from these, most of them considered online information sources as highly important than traditional offline information sources.
Furthermore, the study found that there was a highly significant difference in the potential and applied values derived. The members with higher level of participation had higher degree of perceived and applied knowledge in their practice than those with lower level of participation.
The in-depth interview revealed that the member in the selected Facebook group was able to derive values from immediate value, potential value, applied value, realized value, and reframing value. The members with different participation levels can derive value by using different strategies. Hence, a model to facilitate the value derived in an online community of practice is proposed for use by extension organizations.