ERIC Number: EJ851582
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Mar
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1556-1607
EISSN: N/A
Group Awareness and Self-Presentation in Computer-Supported Information Exchange
Kimmerle, Joachim; Cress, Ulrike
International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, v3 n1 p85-97 Mar 2008
A common challenge in many situations of computer-supported collaborative learning is increasing the willingness of those involved to share their knowledge with other group members. As a prototypical situation of computer-supported information exchange, a shared-database setting was chosen for the current study. This information-exchange situation represented a social dilemma: while the contribution of information to a shared database induced costs and provided no benefit for the individual, the entire group suffered when all members decided to withhold information. In order to alleviate the information-exchange dilemma, a group-awareness tool was employed. It was hypothesized that participants would use group awareness for self-presentational purposes. For the examination of this assumption, the personality variable "protective self-presentation" (PSP) was measured. An interaction effect of group awareness and PSP was found: when an awareness tool provided information concerning the contribution behavior of each individual, this tool was used as a self-presentation opportunity. In order to understand this effect in more detail, single items of the PSP-scale were analyzed.
Descriptors: Databases, Educational Technology, Computer Uses in Education, Computer Mediated Communication, Cooperative Learning, Group Behavior, Group Dynamics, Social Problems, Sharing Behavior, Cooperation, Information Transfer, Measures (Individuals)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A