IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2014 - 70

roles of users become more identifiable. Some members lead discussions and volunteer information,
while others follow and lurk for
support and information. These
characteristics, which are common to both online and physical
communities, initiate the growth
stage of a healthy community [3],
[33]. Our ethngraphic analysis in
this research explores that roles
of users in DECs can be broadly
classified into:
1) Passive users who are subjected to an action without
responding or initiating in
return as they flow for selfsake rather than benefiting
others. In this research, Newbie and Lurker are two identifiable roles belong to this class
of users in DECs.
2) Active users who are energetically active in terms of
contribution and information
sharing. In our context, users
in DECs might move from
one role to another, or stick
to the same role for own selfbeneficiary. Novice, Insider,
and Leader are three identified
roles in DECs that belong to
this class of users.
However, identified roles within
these two broad classes, based on
the applied enthnographic analysis,
are further discussed below.
Newbie
A newbie refers to a new comer
in any Internet-based activity,
most widely used to express newly
joining, first-time users of DECs.
Newbies start as being observers
or over-hearers in order to grab a
sense of the community. As they
get more familiar with the space,
they bring new ideas for discussion
and their roles eventually change
[10], [29]. They start indirectly by
participating through watching or
reading information without contributing to the community [34].
But further on, as they have the
70

desire to contribute, they normally
become much of contributors.
Lurker
Lurkers are depicted as non-contributors, and resource-takers. This
is because their main role is observing the community and viewing
contents with unstructured levels of
participation, and mainly no desire
or intention for contributing. They
actually do not add any content or
engage into any discussion [29].
And if they do, they tend to engage
anonymously. Lurkers are attracted
to DECs because of their desire for
credible information. They snoop
into the community seeking opportunities to broaden their viewpoints
and consume information for their
own benefit. Approximately and
generally speaking, they represent 80-90% of any DEC population [36]. Despite the argument
of some researchers (e.g., Li et al.
[25]) that lurkers are not necessarily passive participants, we agree
with Nonnecke and preece [29]
that lurkers are passive actors, as
noncontributors.
Novice
A novice is a relatively new member
of a DEC, who is still inexperienced
with patterns of participation. They
are beginners who have just started
to engage within the community. In
other words, it is the stage that often
follows being a newbie. Once they
get fully engaged, they are most
likely to contribute on a higher level.
Based on that, they are heading
toward full participation [24]. Novice users provide content and tentatively interact in few discussions,
post videos, and may comment on
others. Novice users as neither lurkers nor leaders and they have been
once newbies or lurkers [22].
Insider
Insiders are regular participants
who are fully engaged and committed to the community. They consistently add content and get engaged
in group discussions. They can be

classified as experienced users as
well. Their level of interaction is
high and frequent. Insiders make
concerted efforts to comment and
rate others. They not only browse
and ask questions, but respond to
others' queries, engage in social
interaction, and make intelligent
contributions [36]. Insiders were
once novices [22], but now are
established in the community and
comfortably participating in the
community's ongoing life.
Leader
Leaders can be referred to as key
or advanced users. Leaders are
defined as contributors to the success and health of the community since they are in a position to
spread knowledge, and thus ensure
cohesiveness and consistency
among others. They are the main
information providers [25] as users
turn to them for help and thus such
users can also be viewed as community moderators. They sustain
membership through continuous
participation; therefore, they are
recognized within the community. This type of participation is
referred to as a "veteran" of a DEC
[36], highlighting the fact that they
are firmly responsible for making
the majority of contributions in the
community. The contributions of
leaders signifies the main motive
for lurkers to sneak around and
decide to get involved [31].
Based on the aforementioned
discussion, it is now more clear
that users play various roles in
DECs, and that behind each role
lies a purposive personal desire.
However, deciding which role to
play might vary depending on the
value elements that users are willing to recieve.

Interrelationships Between
Values and Roles
The analysis conducted in this
reseach reveals five value elements exchanged in DECs: a)
Social (i.e., emotional, networking,
self-esteem, and self-discovery);

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