出版社：University of Sheffield, Department of Information Studies
摘要：Introduction . This paper presents an analysis of the information seeking practices found on a social question and answer site, Ask Metafilter, from the perspective of social constructionism. It has been suggested that the study of epistemic community is a prerequisite for a better understanding of information-seeking and this paper accomplishes this in the context of a social question and answer site. Method . The author takes a social constructionist approach through the study of a series of conversations on the Ask Metafilter social question and answer website. Analysis . This is a conversation analysis of the sets of answers associated with questions on Ask Metafilter. Results . The author was able to identify important features of collective information seeking and knowledge construction such as the importance of corroboration, elaboration, and productive disagreement. Conclusion . These findings suggest a new direction for social question and answer research, with implications for how knowledge is socially constructed more generally, where the unit of analysis becomes the conversation rather than a singular answer.
