This research, sponsored by the Science & Society Program, seeks to examine the development of expertise (and non-expertise) in a digital discussion network. Server-side social network and knowledge management technologies (also known as Web 2.0 technologies) represent a social space in which researchers and general publics can potentially come together to collaboratively generate knowledge on a variety of topics. This research project involves a collaboration with ManyOne Networks, makers of a suite of Web 2.0 technologies called Digital Universe, to oversee content development for a new community-driven web portal on the topic of Human Rights.
This project employs participant observation, interviews, and analysis of quantitative data to investigate: 1) the implications of this Web 2.0 technology for coordinating and generating expert and "non-expert" knowledge in the Human Rights portal, and 2) the network relationships that form as research and lay knowledge communities that create and distribute information on human rights issues and activism take shape. In addition, this project seeks to inform the design of novel technological approaches for increasing the input from diverse knowledge communities.
This project stands to contribute to scholarship on the societal issues intertwined with Web 2.0 social network technologies and digital information communication technologies (ICTs). The project promises greater understanding of the ways emerging digital network systems influence knowledge formation and communication between research experts and general publics. Additionally, the focus of this project on a discussion network on Human Rights issues means the results can speak to scholarship on the use of ICTs in social movement activism. The project results will be disseminated in articles and a book. A potential broader impact of this work is better understanding of Web 2.0 technologies in communication on human rights topics and of how to facilitate civil society in bringing together, experts, activists, and other citizens.
