The goal of the the prelimary results is to identify data sources and analysis methods a priori before a more in depth analysis. This project utlized a comparative case study, using matrix analysis, to identify themes and pedalogical patterns of learning in two affinity spaces.
First we began with a martix utitlizng Gee's 11 characteristics of Affinity Spaces (see appendix or we can put in table/aside if publisher allows). These were then cross populated with evidence collected. We then examined the data across the matrix using our theoreretical lens as a tool for data reduction.
This lead us to collapse the 11 principles into four descriptive themes: goals, organizational structure, content creation, and knowledge brokering. Once we had the four agreed upon themes we returned to the data sources and looked for illustrative examples from within the community.
Given our goal of describing learning from your own website we chose two spaces to study that were deeply entrenched in blogging communities. DS106 and IndieWeb. DS106 was an online digital storytelling class launched in 2008. IndieWebCamp was a movement focused on personal ownership of the social web that began in 2010.
These spaces were ideal for comparative case study analysis of networked learning. They share a relative similarity in age, the participants and founders often overlap, and more importantly they utilize a similar worldview that governs the sociotechnological systems deployed by each affinity space.
At the same time the networks were composed of different audiences with various skill levels. IndieWebCamp, organized around a princple of a deliberatley limited approach aimed at a first generation of users through a fourth generartion of users. DS106 began as an online digital storytelling class, but created a traveling artist bard of networked educators that migrate from each other's distributed learning classes.
The first principle of having one's own spac or website still unites these communities. For DS106 this often included people new to both blogging and social media. For IndieWebCamp it is a multi-generational organization founded by early web alumni and developers both young and old. Both communities reflect the historical inequitied found in technology and in MOOC completion rates.
Data sources centered around the networks where these spaces gather. For IndieWebCamp this involved searching the chat logs at https://chat.indieweb.org and for #DS106 an archive of Twitter hashtags was used. Aggregate data of pattern usage was collected for each communities. Links back to th We also used podcasts and videos of members were also used. The variety of data sources created a rich mosaic of illustrative artifacts.
A deeper search of the web should also be included for critcisim and critiques of the web. However, as noted, we actively seek to iterate and improve on these learning spaces.While we acknowledge this influences how we describe opur cases we also made efforts to understand the power relationships in these sociotechological systems.
Given the preliminary nature of this study the inclusion and rejection criteria were not well defined. The matrices were shared with the communities involved and participants were encouraged. In fact many of the artifacts submitted were from the #DS106 community.
The links to artifacts shared in this study are governed by the Terms and Service of the platform, and hopefully of someone's personal website. All links to chats in the IndieWeb are archived under a public domain license. While this data is available publicly, publishing online doesn't mean people assume they give up their privacy. All efforts were made to contact any person who was directly quoted in the study. Any person had the right to remove their quote or change any perceived connotative meaning. This level of member checks improves both the ethicsd and reliability of the study.
The 11 attributes of Gee's affinity were placed as the criterion in a matrix. Multiple cells were then created for each of the principles. Then using a Deweyian lens we collapsed these criterion into four overarching themes of goals, organizational structure, content creation, and knowledge brokering. This final level of data reduction occured within the process of writing.