[目的 /意义]探究技术帮助的属性及其影响因素,从而加深对数字鸿沟的变化过程的理解。技术帮助指人们在使用不熟悉的信息与通信技术遇到困难时获取或提供帮助的行为。[方法 /过程]在技术帮助研究中引入信息分层理论,对18名大学生和大学后勤工作人员进行深度访谈,考察信息富裕者和信息中层两个群体在技术帮助方面的特征。在数据分析阶段,采用扎根理论研究方法,通过开放性编码、主轴编码和选择编码,探讨影响技术帮助的发生和完成的因素,以及不同的影响因素间的关系。[结果 /结论]技术帮助受到认知因素、ICT使用水平、可接触性、人口学因素和社会因素这五类因素的共同影响。其中,认知因素、ICT使用水平、可接触性是技术帮助的直接影响因素,人口学因素和社会因素是间接影响因素。

Thinking tools that assist by externalizing thought processes and conceptual structures so they can be manipulated potentially improve user learning. We propose the design of a sensemaking assistant that integrates many such tools. Our design emerged from an intensive study of sensemaking by users working on real tasks, providing a link from users to developers. Sensemaking is the process of forming meaningful representations and working with them to gain understanding, possibly communicated in a report, to support planning, decision‑making, problem‑solving, and informed action. At the heart of our design is a set of tightly integrated tools for representing and manipulating a conceptual space: tools for producing and maintaining concept maps, causal maps/influence diagrams, argument maps, with support through self-organizing semantic maps, importing concepts and relationships from external Knowledge Organization Systems, and inferring connections between texts; further a tool for organizing information items (documents, text passages notes, images) linked to the concept map. The sensemaking assistant we envision guides users through the sensemaking process; for each function it suggests appropriate cognitive processes and provides tools that automate tasks. The comprehensive sensemaking model introduced in specifies functions in the iterative process of sensemaking: Task analysis and planning; Gap identification (tools for both: brainstorming, finding documents on the task); information acquisition, data seeking and structure seeking (search tool: finding databases, query expansion, passage retrieval; summarization tool); information organization, building structure, instantiating structure, information synthesis / new ideas / emerging sense (conceptual space tools mentioned above); information presentation, creating reports (from concept map to outline, guide through the writing process, analyze draft writing for coherence and clarity). The system tracks sources. Users using a sensemaking assistant may well internalize good ways for intellectual processes and good conceptual organization in addition to learning a useful application. The paper will provide some evidence from the literature and propose further testing.

Online community and groups often experience heated discussion. This paper examines a WeChat group discussion from the perspective of majority and minority influence to explore the evolvement of the discussion and the be-haviors of group members. Content analysis of 515 messages suggests that opin- ion conflicts between majority and minority evoke discussion engagement and knowledge exchange. There are different patterns of knowledge construction expressions between majority and minority groups. The majority prefer egocentric expression, while the minority prefer allocentric expression. Majority opinion holders have different conflict handling styles compared to minority opinion holders, who are more likely to avoid. Minority group is under great pressure in social interaction, they are easier to receive unfair comments and personal attacks.

Online platforms provide a public sphere for discussion, debate, and deliberation among citizens. The engagement of online deliberation enables participants to exchange viewpoints and form communities. This paper aims to explore the influencing factors on engagement level of online deliberation by examining the relationship between an initial post’s content features and length and the engagement of the discussion thread it initiates. We sampled 254 discussion threads with 254 initial posts and 2934 following posts and conducted quantitative and qualitative analysis of the posts. Findings show that initial posts which are longer and allocentric (as opposed to egocentric) would evoke longer following posts in a discussion. Different content type (social interaction, claim, argument) of initial posts would lead to significant different engagement, arguments would trigger higher level engagement (average posts per participant and average length of posts in discussions). Whether an initial post holds a clear position has no significant impact on discussion engagement. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of online deliberation and its engagement and can be useful in promoting engagements in online deliberation.