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Membership and activity in an online parenting community.

Pedersen, Sarah; Smithson, Janet

Authors

Janet Smithson



Contributors

Rotimi Taiwo
Editor

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that British women, especially mothers of young children, spend a particularly large amount of time online. Many are logging on to parenting websites. This chapter investigates Mumsnet, a large British parenting site, and evaluates how members use and conceptualise the site. A combined method of a questionnaire survey with open and closed-ended questions, and discourse analysis of discussions on the site, was used to explore this. The analysis considers how membership and expertise are displayed and acknowledged in online groups, how people view their involvement with the site, how online and real life are segregated or integrated in various ways. The positioning of lurkers (those who read but do not post) and of trolls (those who post false information or fake identities) is explored within the context of how power is reproduced and challenged in the type of discourse produced in an online discussion forum.

Citation

PEDERSEN, S. and SMITHSON, J. 2010. Membership and activity in an online parenting community. In Taiwo, R. (ed.) Handbook of research on discourse behavior and digital communication: language structures and social interaction. Hershey, PA: IGI Global [online], chapter 5, pages 88-103. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61520-773-2.ch005

Other Type Reference Work Contribution
Online Publication Date Dec 31, 2010
Publication Date Dec 31, 2010
Deposit Date Aug 31, 2015
Publicly Available Date Aug 31, 2015
Publisher IGI Global
Pages 88-103
Chapter Number Chapter 5
ISBN 9781615207732
DOI https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61520-773-2.ch005
Public URL http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1282
Contract Date Aug 31, 2015

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