Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
The University of Queensland
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
School
School of Communications and Arts
RAS ID
4617
Funders
Australian Research Council
Grant Number
ARC Number : LP0453946
Abstract
This paper investigates the usefulness of a modest-budget website set up to support people recovering from heart-related incidents through a combination of all or some of the following: surgery, drugs, and lifestyle change. Online communities have been shown to offer support for their members. Ideally, the members of this experimental site would eventually constitute an online community. Effective interaction and personal communication indicate that an online community is developing. The opposite is also true: declining and aborted exchanges might indicate a failure to establish community. This paper reports on the first eight weeks of the experimental website HeartNET. As a result of findings during phase one, researchers are radically rethinking the second phase of the research project. Even so, the early findings include some evidence of effective communication and hint that phase two may see the emergence of online community.
Access Rights
free_to_read
Comments
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of: Bonniface, L. N., Green, L. R., & Swanson, M. G. (2006). Communication on a health-related website offering therapeutic support: Phase 1 of the HeartNET Website. Australian Journal of Communication, 33(2,3), 89-107. Available here.