Trust in virtual communities
(2008)Department of Informatics
- Abstract
- The way we see computers is changing nowadays. Computers are being seen not only as a utility, but also as a means and mediums of communication. With the proliferation of virtual communities and various social networks, the problem of trust becomes significant. Trust in virtual settings has been mostly researched from a security perspective; however, when it comes to virtual communities sociological aspects of trust has to be taken into account since trust is one of the most important factors for a community to exist successfully. Thus, there is a need to research how trust is experienced in the virtual world and evaluate how the virtual mediums influence trust between members of virtual communities. The purpose of our research is to... (More)
- The way we see computers is changing nowadays. Computers are being seen not only as a utility, but also as a means and mediums of communication. With the proliferation of virtual communities and various social networks, the problem of trust becomes significant. Trust in virtual settings has been mostly researched from a security perspective; however, when it comes to virtual communities sociological aspects of trust has to be taken into account since trust is one of the most important factors for a community to exist successfully. Thus, there is a need to research how trust is experienced in the virtual world and evaluate how the virtual mediums influence trust between members of virtual communities. The purpose of our research is to explore the phenomenon of trust in virtual settings. This is done by literature analysis and synthesis as well as elaborating qualitative research methodology which was inspired by phenomenological thought. Using qualitative interviews and observations, we explore how members of virtual communities experience trust. The research revealed that technological medium often camouflages the social contexts and so reduces trust atmosphere within virtual communities. Trust in virtual communities is more superficial than in real life settings as it lacks embodiment. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1334780
- author
- Burauskas, Gytis and Aldama, Jon Iker
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2008
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- trust, Virtual Community, virtual world, online community, online relationships, Informatics, systems theory, Informatik, systemteori
- language
- English
- id
- 1334780
- date added to LUP
- 2008-07-29 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2010-08-03 10:51:54
@misc{1334780,
abstract = {{The way we see computers is changing nowadays. Computers are being seen not only as a utility, but also as a means and mediums of communication. With the proliferation of virtual communities and various social networks, the problem of trust becomes significant. Trust in virtual settings has been mostly researched from a security perspective; however, when it comes to virtual communities sociological aspects of trust has to be taken into account since trust is one of the most important factors for a community to exist successfully. Thus, there is a need to research how trust is experienced in the virtual world and evaluate how the virtual mediums influence trust between members of virtual communities. The purpose of our research is to explore the phenomenon of trust in virtual settings. This is done by literature analysis and synthesis as well as elaborating qualitative research methodology which was inspired by phenomenological thought. Using qualitative interviews and observations, we explore how members of virtual communities experience trust. The research revealed that technological medium often camouflages the social contexts and so reduces trust atmosphere within virtual communities. Trust in virtual communities is more superficial than in real life settings as it lacks embodiment.}},
author = {{Burauskas, Gytis and Aldama, Jon Iker}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Trust in virtual communities}},
year = {{2008}},
}