Method

The data for this project are culled from a host of different sources, combining observational and interview methods: messages posted to two forums that are central to the Newton community (the Newton Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.newton.misc and the NewtonTalk listserv), several user-created webpages devoted to the Newton community, as well as a series of interviews conducted with members of the Newton community. Our method was an ethnography, or what some call Netnography (since it is largely conducted on the Internet). Our data was pretty thorough.

Community Forums. A large part of the data for this study included the messages members posted to one another via two community forums: the comp.sys.newton.misc newsgroup and the NewtonTalk listserv. The two forums are the primary means by which members of the Newton community interact. Several of the active Newton users participated in both forums, though many appeared to have a preference for one or the other.

            User-created Webpages. User created webpages focusing on the Newton were also included as data. These webpages were identified in a number of ways. First, brand community keyword searches were performed on sites that allowed consumers to create personal web pages (geocities, tripod, anglefire). Similar keyword searches on .edu domains were also conducted using search engines (for example, www.google.com) to find personal pages housed on academic servers. Keywords used included the brands (Apple Newton) and the various model numbers. Second, eligible sites were identified through links contained on downloaded pages (i.e., members would have links to similar pages created by their friends). Third, webrings, loosely organized clusters of these communities, were followed. Finally, we visited the personal websites that users listed in the signature files of messages that they posted to the newsgroup and listserv. They also reveal important themes in the community.

Interviews. Interviews were also conducted with members of the community. Our initial questions were derived from analysis of community usenet and listserv postings and user-created websites. Some of these were responses to the initial research questions posted on our research webpage, while others evolved into extended email discussions, and a few telephone interviews. To recruit volunteers, we used a research web page, which we announced via postings to the various community forums. Entry into the community was facilitated when the host/administrator of one of the forums (the Newtontalk listserv) volunteered to host part of the research page on the listserv website. We had approached the administrator seeking permission to post a message to the listserv announcing our research webpage. He was intrigued and eager to help. After learning the details of the study and verifying the researchers' backgrounds, he offered to help host part of the research webpage on the listserv website and to announce the researchers' presence to the community. This administrator was cited by most of our informants as one of the central figures in the community. His direct endorsement of us as researchers along with his explicit call for community members to participate in our study gave us much needed credibility within the community and access to the production cohort and their mundane, everyday social interaction. We are extremely grateful to him and to all of the members of the community who responded and provided input. 

last modified on April 27, 2004