Balancing socio-emotional and informational considerations in social Q&A: The case of Academia Stack Exchange

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Worrall, Adam
  • Cappello, Alicia
  • Osolen, Rachel

• Many frequent social Q&A sites to share information, with social and emotional support often important in continued use of these sites as resources for both information and socialization, but balancing these is not easy. We explored the socio-emotional motivations of users of Academia Stack Exchange and the influence of these on community coherence. Findings identified seven categories of socio-emotional motivations contributing positively or negatively to coherence. Academia SE focuses on being an information resource and on acculturation, learning, and translation, akin to legitimate peripheral participation, but empathetic concerns stress the necessity of further balancing socio-emotional and informational considerations.

• Date created

  2018

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Informational Considerations
  • Socio-emotional Considerations
  • Stack Exchange
  • Q&A

• Type of Item

  Conference/Workshop Presentation

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-gm98-xz27

• License

  © A. Worrall