Online Moderation

Australian experiences of moderating online discussion

About this Research

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Information for Participants

Research Questions

Consent Form

Online Moderation Forum

University of Wollongong

Online Moderation links

About the Researcher

About this Research

The Internet reaches across cultural boundaries, national borders and legal jurisdictions. It enables communication between people who would otherwise not meet, and in doing so it expands the options for people with shared interests to form viable online communities.

Moderators of online discussion groups play an important role in shaping the ways ideas and language can be exchanged in online environments. Their decisions have the potential to influence the behaviour of anyone who has access to their group's discussions, yet very little formal research has engaged with moderators' practices, dilemmas, insights or responsibilities. Most of the previous research on moderation originates in the United States, and references to moderating under Australian conditions are rare.

This research asks people who have  moderated online discussions to reflect on their experiences and share ideas with the researcher and other moderators in a three week online forum. 

If you have been the moderator of an Australian-based or oriented discussion group or mailing list, and everyone in the group you moderated was there voluntarily, you are invited to participate in this research. If you are an experienced online moderator who would like to discuss moderation more generally, you are also welcome to join in. 

The forum will be open from 21 Nov 2003 to 14 Dec 2003.

Last edited 7 Oct 2003
Margaret Emerton