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CHAPTER 6. ANALYZING THE TALK.ABORTION NEWSGROUP 80 Figure 6.3 on the following page illustrates the number of authors of each type participating in the newsgroup by day. The entry, continuity and exit of authors to the newsgroup can be summarized this way: on an average day in talk.abortion, nearly 30 authors post messages who have written before, and will write again. Additionally, about two authors join the conversation for the first time and make a subsequent contribution at some later date; about three authors who had previously contributed make their final contribution; and about four authors make their one and only appearance in the conversation. Figure 6.4 on page 82 illustrates the characteristics of threads using the same categories. On an average day in talk.abortion, nearly 60 threads are continued from previous days and will be continued on a subsequent day. In addition, about 11 new threads are started, to be continued on subsequent days; twelve previously existing threads are ended; and seventeen threads start and end. In short, talk.abortion is a dynamic conversational environment, featuring an expanding and contracting base of authors and threads, according to the needs and desires of its participants. It is clear that while the talk.abortion newsgroup has a committed set of contributors, at the same time a subset of constantly changing contributors is participating. To the extent that the introduction of new participants is an indicator of diversity, talk.abortion can be considered a diverse arena. During the course of the study, nearly 3,000 different authors wrote at least one message to the newsgroup. Most of these authors wrote very few articles. Eighty percent of the authors wrote five or fewer articles, and more than 65 percent of the authors wrote only once or twice to the newsgroup. Concentration ratios provide a useful measure of participation. A graphic technique for summarizing concentration data is a Lorenz curve, which shows as a continuous function the percentage of total posts accounted for by an individual author, with the authors ranked in order of post frequency. Two summary measures of concentration examined here are the Gini coefficient and the entropy coefficient(Scherer 1980, Horowitz 1971). The Gini coefficient measures the departure between the Lorenz curve actually observed and the curve that would have appeared had all participants contributed equally (Scherer 1980, 57). A Gini coefficient of zero indicates equality. Figure 6.5 on page 83 displays the Lorenz curve and shows the frequency of messages posted by authors, illustrating the dramatic inequality of participation. One half of one percent of the authors account for more than 40 percent of the articles posted to the newsgroup during the study period; five percent of the authors account for nearly 80 percent of the articles posted. The Gini coefficient for this curve is calculated as .44, indicating a high level of concentration. The second
CHAPTER 6. ANALYZING THE TALK.ABORTION NEWSGROUP 81 120 Figure 6.3: Authors Entering, Exiting and Continuing by Day Authors Contributing By Day 100 80 Number 60 40 20 Mean = 40.94 Median = 39.00 80 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Day Entering Authors 80 Exiting Authors 60 60 Number 40 20 Mean = 3.48 Median = 2.00 Number 40 20 Mean = 3.48 Median = 3.00 0 0 100 200 300 Day 80 60 Continuing Authors Mean = 29.34 Median = 28.00 0 0 100 200 300 Day 80 60 Single Day Authors Number 40 20 Number 40 20 Mean = 4.63 Median = 4.00 0 0 100 200 300 Day 0 0 100 200 300 Day
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Expanding the Public Sphere through
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Contents Acknowledgements 7 1 Compu
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List of Figures 3.1 Structure of a
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Acknowledgements When one takes eig
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CHAPTER 1. COMPUTERS, CONVERSATION
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CHAPTER 2. THE PUBLIC SPHERE 15 2.1
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CHAPTER 2. THE PUBLIC SPHERE 27 com
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Appendix B Density Scores Table B.1
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APPENDIX B. DENSITY SCORES 165 Tabl
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Appendix C Supplemental Analysis 16
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APPENDIX C. SUPPLEMENTAL ANALYSIS 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 177 Best, Michael L. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 179 Fisher, Bonnie, Mi
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 181 Hiltz, Starr Roxan
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 183 Mansbridge, Jane.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 Pateman, Carole. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 Savicki, Victor, D
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 189 U. S. Congress, Of
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