Collective Narrative Expertise and the Narbs of Social Media

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Author(s): Ananda Mitra (Wake Forest University, USA)
Copyright: 2013
Pages: 12
Source title: Social Software and the Evolution of User Expertise: Future Trends in Knowledge Creation and Dissemination
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Tatjana Takševa (Saint Mary's University, Canada)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2178-7.ch001

Keywords: Computer Science & IT / End-User Computing / Human Aspects of Technology / Information Science Reference

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Abstract

A fundamental epistemological question that has been the focus of much deliberation over time is: how do we know what we know? One of the answers to this question has been found in the theories of narrative asserting that humans learn through stories, ranging from religious epics to personal anecdotes. The social media phenomenon offers a unique form of narration that utilizes “narbs,” narrative bits that tell the stories of specific individuals who may be, but often are not, traditional experts. Yet, as a collection, these narbs could become the authoritative narrative about a particular issue where expertise is located in the collective. This chapter examines the theoretical basis of knowledge creation through narrative, and how the narbs of social media users are creating dynamic bodies of information. The chapter offers a lexicon for categorizing narbs and provides an analytical frame for examining them. The overall aim of this chapter is to demonstrate that interaction and new modes of gathering and disseminating information and knowledge in the digital environment require different and emergent expertise in narrative construction and interpretation.

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Collective Narrative Expertise and the Narbs of Social Media

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