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CHAPTER 6. ANALYZING THE TALK.ABORTION NEWSGROUP 98 Table 6.10: Correlation between Density Scores and Characteristics of Authors and Threads Author Characteristics Thread Characteristics Measure Abortion Metacomm. Abortion Metacomm. Density Density Density Density Number of Messages ;0:16 0:27 0:10 ;0:14 Number of Threads ;0:12 0:25 0:10 ;0:14 Number of Days ;0:09 0:19 0:15 ;0:19 Spread of Days ;0:06 0:21 0:12 ;0:14 reliability tests for the measure conducted (see Appendix B on page 163). As indicated in Table 6.10, frequency of authorship is strongly and positively correlated with a higher average metacommunication density. Further, threads with fewer messages, occurring over fewer days and featuring fewer authors are more likely to have messages with higher metacommunication densities. More frequent authors are more likely to contribute messages talking about the newsgroup and the newsgroup’s participants than less frequent authors, and to contribute these messages in shorter threads featuring fewer authors. Although the relationships are statically weaker, there is also evidence to indicate that frequent authors are less likely to contribute messages high in abortion content. The negative correlations shown in Table 6.10 indicate that it is the less frequent authors who are more likely to contribute messages high in abortion density. Further evidence of these finding is shown in Table 6.11 on the following page and Table 6.12 on page 100. Very frequent authors have a lower mean abortion density than one time authors. The highest average abortion density is found in the frequent and occasional authors. Correspondingly, very frequent authors have a mean metacommunication density score more than twice that of any other author group. The threads most likely to attract abortion content are those with many messages. Short threads are highest in metacommunication density. The findings concerning abortion and metacommunication density call into question the quality of the discussion in the talk.abortion newsgroup. If the most frequent contributors – who are responsible for the great bulk of the conversation – are the least likely to contribute messages related to the topic at hand, the quality of the entire conversation is most certainly reduced. At the same time, however, it is encouraging to see that the frequent and occasional authors contribute the high-
CHAPTER 6. ANALYZING THE TALK.ABORTION NEWSGROUP 99 Table 6.11: Groups Abortion Density and Metacommunication Density By Author Author Mean Mean Group Abortion Metacommunication Density Density Very Frequent 0.27 0.11 Frequent 0.36 0.05 Occassional 0.32 0.03 Infreqeunt 0.29 0.02 Very Infrequent 0.30 0.06 Two-time 0.28 0.03 One-time 0.33 0.03 F =2:82 F =11:01 p =0:01 p =0:00 est quality (as measured by abortion density) messages. These authors, while not as fanatical in their devotion to the newsgroup, appear to be the ones carrying on the most serious and high quality conversations in the newsgroup.
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Contents Acknowledgements 7 1 Compu
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CHAPTER 1. COMPUTERS, CONVERSATION
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CHAPTER 2. THE PUBLIC SPHERE 15 2.1
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Chapter 3 Technology & the Public S
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CHAPTER 3. TECHNOLOGY & THE PUBLIC
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Appendix B Density Scores Table B.1
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APPENDIX B. DENSITY SCORES 165 Tabl
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Appendix C Supplemental Analysis 16
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APPENDIX C. SUPPLEMENTAL ANALYSIS 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 177 Best, Michael L. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 179 Fisher, Bonnie, Mi
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 181 Hiltz, Starr Roxan
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 183 Mansbridge, Jane.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 Pateman, Carole. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 Savicki, Victor, D
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 189 U. S. Congress, Of
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