Written by: Megan McDowell and Marcia DaCosta
Insightrix Communities is an Online Community platform that offers a number of useful tools for engagement- surveys, polls, bulletin board discussions and diary mode discussions-to name a few.
Of these, online discussions are offered in two different formats:
1. Bulletin Board Discussions- these are many-to-many conversations. Invited community members can see the moderator’s comments and other member’s comments. Participants can answer to the discussion topic overall, or reply to a post from another member to have a string of conversations.
2. Diary Mode Discussions- these are one-to-many conversations. These discussions are private conversations between the moderator and individual community members. Comments added by community members can only be seen by the moderator.
Each discussion type is suited for certain types of engagements and allows users to have control over the interactions that take place within the community.
Bulletin board discussions are well suited for engagements that promote and encourage interaction between members. In these discussions the moderator can address the group as a whole and everyone invited to participate has the opportunity to view and respond to other’s comments and posts. This is great for encouraging collaboration, building of ideas, and where it is beneficial for the comments of everyone in the group to be displayed.
Diary mode discussions on the other hand are more suited to discussions that are private and confidential. Here, the moderator can have one-on-one conversations with all that are involved- the participating member only sees the conversation between themselves and the moderator. This is helpful for sensitive information and topics that may be viewed as uncomfortable for discussion in a group. Diary mode discussions are also helpful in eliminating bias in the contributions made by members since members cannot see the comments by others to sway their opinion. Although everyone invited sees the conversation as a private one, the moderator has the ability to moderate each of the conversations in a diary mode discussion from one spot. In other words, if a diary mode discussion has 40 people invited to participate, although it will appear as private conversation to the participants, moderators can navigate all users from one spot and do not have to manage 40 separate conversations.
If you are interested in learning more about our online discussions and how they can be used to help you reach your research goals, contact us!