Lurker is an Internet pejorative term for an online discussion group member who “lurks” that is, receives and reads postings to a list, but rarely or never contributes to the discussion (Grint, 1992; Marvin, 1995). Another perspective is to consider the noncontributing members of an online discussion group as an “audience,” engaged in behavior similar to listening to a face-to-face panel discussion.
Published in Chapter:
E-Mail Distribution Lists in Adult Learning: A Historical Perspective
Mauri Collins (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA) and Zane Berge (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-863-5.ch049
Abstract
Online, e-mail-based discussion groups are contemporary examples of an historical tradition of voluntary, informal, learning groups used by adults for topical discussion, fellowship, and learning. Because the discussion among group members takes the form of e-mail exchanges, they are also been likened to historical correspondence networks. This chapter sets the historical context of the e-mail-based discussion groups that preceded the extensive use of bulletin-board style discussion forums in contemporary learning management systems.