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MAPPING ONE NICHE OF SOCIAL PALEONTOLOGY’S DIGITAL ECOLOGY: EXPLORING THE PRACTICES OF MYFOSSIL COMMUNITY MEMBERS By LISA LUNDGREN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2018 © 2018 Lisa Lundgren To my husband, Andy Nelson, for his strength, support, and encouragement ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-322725. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. I thank my chair and advisor, Dr. Kent Crippen, whose time and care inspired me to persevere. His guidance has made this a rewarding experience. I sincerely appreciate the support of my committee members, Drs. Pasha Antonenko, Carole Beal, and Bruce MacFadden, this dissertation was strengthened and improved through their feedback. I am grateful to Dr. Jen Bauer, who provided thoughtful editing and feedback. I thank the past, present, and honorary members of the Crippen Research Group, who provided me accountability, statistical advising, and social support. Lastly, I am grateful for the myFOSSIL community, whose collective knowledge and passion for paleontology were an absolute joy to study. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... 10 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 13 Background ................................................................................................................. 13 Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................. 21 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................... 22 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................... 29 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 30 Significance of Study .................................................................................................. 30 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................. 33 Citizen Science as Social Learning? .......................................................................... 35 Learning together: Communities of Practice .............................................................. 39 Communities of practice as communities .................................................................. 44 Online CoPs: Benefits and Challenges ...................................................................... 47 3 METHODS FOR MAPPING PRACTICES WITHIN THE NICHE OF MYFOSSIL .... 53 Introduction and Research Design ............................................................................. 53 Target Population and Sample ................................................................................... 56 Analytical Framework ................................................................................................. 58 Practice: Development within the Domain........................................................... 58 People: The Continuum of Expertise ................................................................... 60 Phase I: Quantitative .................................................................................................. 65 Variables in Quantitative Analysis ....................................................................... 65 Quantitative Data Collection ................................................................................ 67 Quantitative Data Analysis ................................................................................... 68 Reliability and Validity .......................................................................................... 73 Phase II: Qualitative .................................................................................................... 76 Qualitative Data Collection................................................................................... 76 Qualitative Data Analysis ..................................................................................... 77 Establishing Credibility ......................................................................................... 78 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Design ...................................................................................................................... 78 Research Permissions and Ethical Considerations ................................................... 79 Role of the Researcher ............................................................................................... 80 Limitations ................................................................................................................... 80 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 81 4 FINDINGS ................................................................................................................... 91 Phase I: Quantitative Findings.................................................................................... 92 Forms of Social Paleontological Practice in Aggregate ...................................... 92 Forms of Practices and Knowledge-Creating Discourse within Website Features ............................................................................................................ 96 Descriptive statistics ...................................................................................... 97 Chi-Square Test of Independence ................................................................ 99 Social network analysis of data types and knowledge-creating discourse ..................................................................................................100 Forms of Social Paleontological Practice, PIT Identity Breakdown ..................104 Practice-development over time..................................................................104 Descriptive Statistics ...................................................................................106 Chi-Square Test of Independence ..............................................................108 Quantitative Data Summary ...............................................................................109 Phase II: Qualitative Findings ...................................................................................110 Profiles in Practice..............................................................................................111 Scientist........................................................................................................111 Public ...........................................................................................................117 Education and Outreach ..............................................................................123 Comparing Profiles in Practice ..........................................................................127 Comparisons between the Exemplar Public and Scientist .........................127 Comparisons between Exemplar Scientist, Public, and Education and Outreach Members...................................................................................130 Summarizing Quantitative and Qualitative Data ......................................................131 5 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................139 Overview ...................................................................................................................139 Synthesizing Findings with Previous Literature .......................................................140 Identifying Forms of Social Paleontological Practice ........................................140 Identifying Knowledge-Creating Discourse .......................................................143 Practice-Development and Community Member Attributes ..............................149 Implications of the Research in Total ................................................................152 Findings and CoP Design Principles .................................................................154 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................163 Conclusions ...............................................................................................................165 APPENDIX 6 A COMMUNITY SURVEY ............................................................................................167 B IRB CONSENT FORM ..............................................................................................176