THE TECH CUES OF LEADERSHIP EMERGENCE

Revised Thesis Statement

There is a cyber-based cue leadership emergence process in virtual communities.

Introduction

The convergence emergence generation is upon us, virtual communities are becoming the latest fashion trend within the scope of computer-mediated communication (CMC), precisely, the environment of the Internet. From on-line game communities to fan forum threads, these virtual communities are serving as social, psychological, competitive, and task-oriented entities for their participants.

I contend that because these virtual communities are relevant to convergence models and its noted concepts, their intricacies, as a community group, recognize the traditional hierarchical concept of emergence of leadership. This traditional leader-role emergence within the confines of the on-line CMC virtual community, utilizes cyber-based context and tasks as cues to determine leadership selection rather than the normal face-to-face verbal and non-verbal cues of leadership determination utilized in real-world groups. These cues are found in a convergence of mediums and their usage plays an important role in the cyber-based context that is utilized to determine virtual community leadership selection.

Articles

Teo, H., Chan, H., Wei, K., and Zhang, Z. (2003) Evaluating information accessibility and community
adaptivity features for sustaining virtual learning communities. Science Direct, International Journal
of Human-computer Studies., doi: 101016/S1071-5819(03)00087-9 Retrieved March 5, 2009.

Summary

This article discusses virtual communities and their growth and impact within the scope the large amounts of activities from "economic and marketing to the social and educational." (p.1). It relates to my thesis because of its depiction of convergence ideologies that may or may not influence the sustainability of a virtual community and the cues that are connotative of defining the hierarchical structures of interaction that define and control the process.

Nabath, T., Angehrn, A., and Mittal, P. (2005). Using artificial agents to stimulate participation in
virtual communities. International Journal of Electronic Commerce., Vol. 8 (2) Winter 2003 pp. 75-94.
Retrieved March 5, 2009 from: http://www.ac.aup.fr/~croda/publications/2005CeldaAgentsComm.pdf

Summary and Relation to Thesis

This article discusses how virtual communities are an avenue to facilitate the circulation of knowledge in groups and the challenge of engaging people into the process to maintain a sustainable group. It is directly related to my paper's thesis because it alludes to the set of cues that are used to establish a virtual community's members and its climate. It covers the suggested cues in behavioral patterns within a technical context.