초록

Abstract

The present study surveyed 225 undergraduates to examine their social media use behaviors and their perceptions of usefulness, trustworthiness, and privacy of social media for seeking and sharing health information. 151 respondents reported using social media for health information while 74 reported not using it for health matters. Results show that the most popular medium were social Q&As, followed by blogs and social networking sites. Age, gender, school year, and the presence of a health problem were associated with the social media use behaviors. This study suggests the potential of social media as a desired channel for providing health information to undergraduates.

초록

야후 앤서(Yahoo! Answers)와 네이버 지식인과 같은 지식 검색 커뮤니티가 활성화되면서 전문가가 아닌 일반인이 제공하는 정보에 대한 신뢰성이 끊임없이 제기되어 왔지만 일반인 답변자들의 신뢰성 있는 정보 제공 노력에 대한 연구는 미흡한 실정이다. 이에 본 연구는 야후 앤서에서 활동하는 44명의 일반인 답변자들과의 이메일, 채팅, 전화 인터뷰를 통해 그들이 이용하는 정보원, 신뢰성 있는 정보 제공을 위한 전략, 그리고 자칭 전문성(self-claimed expertise)에 대한 인식을 알아보았다. 본 연구의 결과는, 일반인을 효과적인 정보제공자로 교육시키는 이용자 교육 측면에서 활용될 수 있다.

Abstract

The popularity of question answering communities such as Yahoo! Answers and Naver Knowledge-iN and increasing doubts about the competence of lay information providers prompted this study to explore answerers' strategies to provide a credible answer in a question answering community. Forty-four active answerers in Yahoo! Answers were included in this study, and interviews were conducted through email, chat, and over the telephone. This study identified a set of information sources the answerers used, an array of important strategies to provide a credible answer, and their perception of self-claimed expertise. Implications of results were discussed in the context of user instruction.