ABSTRACT
During COVID-19 lockdown many social media challenges captured the attention of users all around the world, and many online communities of practice used social media platforms for their daily interactions. On Instagram these communities gather around common interests through the platform's sociotechnical affordances. We examined the role that these features play in boundary maintenance processes and boundary crossing practices, analyzing posts from four online communities of practice (CoPs), who were bounded by their hashtags and shared an art recreation challenge that was popular on Instagram at the start of COVID-19 lockdown. We found that while some practices are shared across CoPs, boundary maintenance processes sometimes are not, and the boundaries of some of these CoPs are more permeable than others. Cultural differences, language, and script were critical for boundary maintenance regardless of the platform's visual affordances that served the boundary crossing practices. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced people all over the world into lockdowns, the role of technology in society shifted and became the glue that bonded isolated individuals. Many used social media platforms to connect with others and join various art, dance, cooking, and other challenges. We analyze posts from an art recreation challenge from several online communities of practice (CoPs) on Instagram and aim to gain a better understanding of the relationships between technology and society. We found that the boundaries of some of these CoPs are more permeable than others, and that, while practice is shared across CoPs, boundary maintenance processes sometimes are not. We make contributions to social informatics research and enhance our knowledge of boundary maintenance and boundary-crossing processes, discussing the role of both textual and visual sociotechnical affordances. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Shengnan Yang, Xiaohua Zhu and Pnina Fichman;individual chapters, the contributors.
ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a study that analyzed communication between scientists and laypeople via a social media platform, Twitter, during and about the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examines ICT use in a unique context, the global pandemic, from a social informatics perspective. The objective of this study was to understand what and how scientists, medical professionals, and public health organizations communicated with the public on social media, in order to improve online public health communication in the future. We collected Twitter data from 15 scientists and medical professionals, two pseudo-experts, and six federal government-sponsored public health organizations. Using content analysis, we investigated social media features, content features, social cues, and topics shown in the tweets from these accounts over three different periods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that scientists and medical professionals, pseudo-experts, and public health organizations used different social media features and shared different content when communicating with the public about COVID-19 and other scientific topics. In addition, different topics appeared in the tweets over the three different periods. By examining the engagement level and content of tweets, we found that tweets with certain social media features and social cues received a higher count of favorites and retweets. The study informs the use of Twitter for online public engagement with science by applying a social informatics perspective. Moreover, the study contributes to the body of social informatics research by studying a sociotechnical system outside of organizational contexts. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Shengnan Yang, Xiaohua Zhu and Pnina Fichman;individual chapters, the contributors.