Many in one - one in many: Towards construction of community in an electronic discussion forum

Abstract

This paper focuses on participants in an electronic discussion forum (EDF) for young people engaging in asynchronous discussion with each other. It seeks to determine if the participants constitute a discernible discourse community which establishes and regulates the norms and conventions for electronic discussion in the forum. From a plurality of voices offering a multiplicity of perspectives in one forum (many in one), is there a distinctiveness among participants with shared distinguishing features (one in many) ? Specifically, the examination of how participants express coherence as a community centers on identifying participants' underlying beliefs or assumptions with regard to the purpose and nature of interaction, their perceptions and sense of awareness of each other as interactants in the forum, and the code used in communicating in the EDF.