Finding Support and Negotiating Identity

Finding Support and Negotiating Identity

Building on work that has identified the difficulties ‘newbies’ (people joining an internet forum for the first time) have in negotiating acceptance onto eating disorder related forums, the present study reports a discourse analysis and a descriptive statistical analysis of the structure and content...

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In:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/reset,
Main Authors: Williams, Cara, Riley, Sarah
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Language:Anglais
Published: RESET 2014
Subjects:
troubles du comportement alimentaire
newbies
discours
identité
online
eating disorder
newbie
discourse
identity
Online Access:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:reset_117 https://doi.org/10.4000/reset.117 urn:doi:10.4000/reset.117 en https://journals.openedition.org/reset/117 2014-07-22T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/jvr1 All rights reserved Finding Support and Negotiating Identity RESET Association Recherches en sciences sociales sur Internet info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2264-6221 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/reset Williams, Cara Riley, Sarah troubles du comportement alimentaire newbies discours identité online eating disorder newbie discourse identity Building on work that has identified the difficulties ‘newbies’ (people joining an internet forum for the first time) have in negotiating acceptance onto eating disorder related forums, the present study reports a discourse analysis and a descriptive statistical analysis of the structure and content of newbie first posts and the responses to them. Analysis of posts from five English language pro-ana sites, collated over the course of one month showed that all newbie posts were responded to, with 57 % percent eliciting further discussion between the newbie and other members. A reoccurring pattern for successful newbie entry was identified across these forums despite their relative diversity. Successful postings involved giving enough information about themselves to elicit identification from another member, explicitly requesting support or advice so as to give established members a role of guide as well as guardian of site membership, and writing in a way that reproduced the sites’ behavioural rules and ideological framing of eating disorders (e.g. a problem requiring recovery or a lifestyle choice). The study also highlights a dual role for these websites as both offering community support and a platform for ‘cyber pickup’ for those seeking a partner in their disordered eating. Le présent article s’appuie sur des travaux ayant identifié les difficultés que connaissent les newbies (nouveaux arrivants sur un forum Internet) pour négocier leur acceptation sur des forums de discussion liés aux troubles alimentaires. Nous présentons une analyse de discours et des statistiques descriptives de la structure et du contenu des premiers messages de newbies et de leurs réponses. L’analyse de messages postés sur cinq sites « pro-ana » de langue anglaise, rassemblés sur une période d'un mois, a montré que tous les messages de newbies ont reçu une réponse et que dans 57 % des cas, cela a mené à des discussions entre les nouveaux arrivants et d’autres membres. Nous avons pu identifier un schéma récurrent d’entrée réussie sur ces forums. Les messages couronnés de succès contiennent suffisamment d'informations sur les newbies pour permettre leur identification par les autres membres, formulent des demandes explicites de soutien ou de conseils, de manière à placer les membres établis dans des rôles de guide ou de gardien de la communauté, et sont écrits de façon à reproduire les règles de comportement du site et son cadrage idéologique concernant les troubles alimentaires (un problème nécessitant une guérison ou bien un choix de vie). L'étude met également en évidence le double rôle que jouent ces sites, consistant à la fois à offrir le soutien d’une communauté et à servir de plate-forme de rencontre pour ceux qui cherchent un partenaire dans leur pratique des troubles alimentaires.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic troubles du comportement alimentaire
newbies
discours
identité
online
eating disorder
newbie
discourse
identity
spellingShingle troubles du comportement alimentaire
newbies
discours
identité
online
eating disorder
newbie
discourse
identity
Williams, Cara
Riley, Sarah
Finding Support and Negotiating Identity
description Building on work that has identified the difficulties ‘newbies’ (people joining an internet forum for the first time) have in negotiating acceptance onto eating disorder related forums, the present study reports a discourse analysis and a descriptive statistical analysis of the structure and content of newbie first posts and the responses to them. Analysis of posts from five English language pro-ana sites, collated over the course of one month showed that all newbie posts were responded to, with 57 % percent eliciting further discussion between the newbie and other members. A reoccurring pattern for successful newbie entry was identified across these forums despite their relative diversity. Successful postings involved giving enough information about themselves to elicit identification from another member, explicitly requesting support or advice so as to give established members a role of guide as well as guardian of site membership, and writing in a way that reproduced the sites’ behavioural rules and ideological framing of eating disorders (e.g. a problem requiring recovery or a lifestyle choice). The study also highlights a dual role for these websites as both offering community support and a platform for ‘cyber pickup’ for those seeking a partner in their disordered eating.
author Williams, Cara
Riley, Sarah
author_facet Williams, Cara
Riley, Sarah
author_sort Williams, Cara
title Finding Support and Negotiating Identity
title_short Finding Support and Negotiating Identity
title_full Finding Support and Negotiating Identity
title_fullStr Finding Support and Negotiating Identity
title_full_unstemmed Finding Support and Negotiating Identity
title_sort finding support and negotiating identity
publisher RESET
publishDate 2014
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/reset
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/reset.117
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/reset/117
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