When I initially began the practicum project, I joined two support groups. One was www.dailystrength.org and the other was www.experienceproject.com. Since my presentation to the class several weeks ago, I have stopped actively participating in ExperienceProject. While I do check in every week, none of the discussion topics or forums have changed since October and the most recent posted topic received no responses from members. ExperienceProject seems to be a way for people to identify with general experiences rather than offer support to each other. Most users have many "experiences" that they subscribe to on ExperienceProject and these tags collectively form an individual's online identity within the community.
Conversely, DailyStrength houses a more active community and the interface is much easier to navigate. The members of this group range from people considering to be vegetarians to strict vegans. Their reasons for becoming vegetarians include animal rights, environmentalism, and health-related issues. Discussions progress daily and range from new recipes, to ethical debates, to venting frustrations, to sharing information about new products, events, facts, and ideas.
I think the interface and layout of DailyStrength fosters the popularity DailyStrength over a site like ExperienceProject to any person seeking an online support group. ExperienceProject is arranged so the posts you see upon entering a group are under the heading "Vegetarian Stories & Experiences". Here, individuals publish personal stories. Discussion is delegated to a small box several scrolls past the boundaries of your home screen. In Daily Strength, the discussion box is centered in the group's home page, and to the right recent group activity is posted in the side bar. By giving visual predominance and easy access to the discussion board, I think that Daily Strength encourages members to read others posts, which in turn instigates discussion. I personally found DailyExperience to have more confusing layout with distracting sidebars advertising activity within other groups. One thing I've learned from this course is the multitude of online communities out there that most people never stumble into. I think that ease of use, layout, and graphics all play a role in determining the popularity, and ultimately the success of, online support groups like the one I am part of.
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