Mukati 0

Zain Mukati
Professor Pierson
ENC 1102
23 February 2018
Task 2: Annotated Bibliography

Having a discourse with active members and the ability for new members to join is

essential to the success and thriving of the community. If it is difficult for new members to

assimilate into a discourse, then the community will fall apart. These communities are essential

to filling in their intended exigences and thus must be established through new membership.

Currently within the community, it seems to be a struggle to get new members to join to the

difficult environment and mass amounts of experiences members creating a rather intimidating

environment. Articles and research relating to this subject area discuss a variety of different

topics. Within these articles they discuss the hierarchy within these communities (Girvan et. al,

2002.), they discuss the phases of assimilation (Kramer, 2011), they discuss different approaches

to be used on members (Garton, 1997), they compare different levels of memberships (Jacoby et.

al, 1999.), they discuss why people enjoy being apart of a community (Ridings et. al, 2017), and

they discuss the cycles that most communities go through (Backstrom et. al, 2006). Now while Commented [ZM1]: Fully addressed all former
research
these research article give quite a bit of information in relation to communities, there is an

obvious exigence that is ever present in relation to how the assimilation process can be

improved. This exigence completely weakens all the research conducted in this study area simply

because how are people to know what factors can allow for members to join communities easier

and be less intimidated while doing it?

The intention of my research is to fill in this exigence and simplify the assimilation

process. I will focus on a multitude of factors that allow for me to get a good understanding of

the bodybuilding.com community and how new members feel when joining, this will help to
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gage what causes assimilation for new members and will contribute to filling in this exigence.

The research question I seek to answer is “How can the assimilation process be improved in the

bodybuilding.com community? The question effectively relates to new members and once

answered will fulfill the intended exigence. This research will be conducted through primary and

secondary sources. The secondary sources will relate to alternate communities which can then be

compared to the primary sources which directly come from the bodybuilding.com community.

The combination of information from the bodybuilding community and alternate sources which

talk about the process of new members joining will make up the rest of this paper due to the

relevance they have in relation to my chose research area of membership and assimilation. Upon

the completion of my paper, the whole area of communities and membership research will be

greatly strengthened and as a result the present research will also be more valuable simply

because it can relate to what the data I am finding now. This is because the finding in the

previously conducted studies indicate a need for a rope to tie them together, and thus my

research on the assimilation process is that rope. This study conducted on a choir group and how

new members assimilate is relevant to my area of study due its focus on new members. Commented [ZM2]: Restructured the whole
introduction to fit the cars model
Secondary Sources

Kramer, M. W., (2011) A study of voluntary organizational membership: the assimilation

process in a community choir. western journal of communication, 75(01), 52-55, Retrieved from:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10570314.2010.536962 Commented [ZM3]: Fixed annotation

The source describes assimilation through a series of phases, beginning with the

“encountering” phase. Within this phase, members looked towards supervisors and former

members for assistance and directions for tasks essential to assimilating within the community.
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The next phase is known as “metamorphosis”. Within this phase, ranking of new members is

determined through their ability to keep up with former members and how well they ingrain

themselves within the culture of the community. The final phase is known as the “exit” phase.

Within this phase, members either become dissatisfied with the community, its members, or as a

result of their own personal problems which keep them from continuing within the community.

These phases were then applied to the choir group being studied to determine how these phases

actually fit into the assimilation of new members in the group. The study then describes the

demographics of those within the choir group and gives an analysis of the assimilation process

that occurred. The source is deals with similar (Backstrom et al, 2006) because both sources deal

with different phases of the community and its members. This source has more of a focus on the

membership process and how people join communities while (Backstrom et al, 2006) has more

of a focus on communities as a whole and how these communities move to other communities as

a result of changing ideologies. Both sources greatly contribute to the understanding of

membership and assimilation, but one deals more with the joining process (Kramer, 2011), while

the other deals with developments and falling apart of mindsets in the community over time

(Backstrom et al, 2006). The focus of this source relates more This source can be applied to my Commented [ZM4]: Inserted synthesis

research because we can classify members of the bodybuilding.com discourse into specific

phases and give them advice and assistance tailored specifically to them to help with the

assimilation process. Knowing this information about the assimilation process can help ease

members into the community which is my area of study, thus this source is relevant to my

purpose.
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Garton, Laura., Hawthorneite, Caroline., Wellman, Barry. (1997). Studying online social

networks. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3 (1). doe: 10.1111/j.1083-

6101. 1997.tb00062. x.

This is a secondary source which focuses on online communities and how networks form

within these communities. The source is a journal which was written for the purpose of

differentiating between ego-centered approach and whole centered approach. The article

discusses how the whole centered approach and ego centered approach can give

completely different views to community members. These views can make the difference

between how members perceive the messages and thus can differentiate whether some

members assimilate better or not. A whole centered approach would essentially be

something very impersonal such as post onto Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and thus

may not be too appealing to members. As a contrast, the ego centered approach would be

something a little more personal such as someone directly messaging members to inform

them about an event. Even if the direct messages are all the same, it can make the

difference between a member assimilating or not. This study examines the difference

between these approaches and the benefits of each one. The whole-centered approach has

a focus on getting to as many members as possible while the ego-centered approach may

reach less people but can attract those who the message reaches a lot better. This source

is essential to my research because it would allow me to understand which approach is

more appropriate for the assimilation process and which kind of approach should be used

at each phase of assimilation (Kramer, 2011). This source can be implemented alongside

(Kramer, 2011) to maximize the benefits of each of the approaches depending on what

phase most members are in. The author of (Kramer, 2011) would agree with the author of
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this source that different approaches have the potential of being more effective on

different members in the community based on how what phase of assimilation the

different members are in. In (Kramer, 2011) different phases are discussed with different

levels of comfort of members based on what phase of assimilation members are in. When

Kramer’s phases are used alongside this source, it becomes clear that the ego centered

approach is significantly more effective for members who are less assimilated and need

the extra attention to cause them to fully assimilate. While those who are more

assimilated and in a later phase according to (Kramer, 2011), they simply just need the

whole centered approach because they are already at a high level of assimilation and

comfort. Overall, both authors give solid information on assimilation which helps greatly

with my understanding of how the assimilation process can be improves. This source can

also be utilized for getting a better understanding of how most members who are trying to

assimilate can be approached. If the ego-centered approach is utilized, new members will

be able to better be able to assimilate and become apart of the community while the

whole-centered approach will get the message out better. This source can be applied to

the bodbuilding.com community in terms of how information is given to members, if the

members are newer, an individualized message will be more effective so that they feel

cared for (ego centered approach) while if the member is older, a mass message will be

sufficient for them to continue their journey in the community (whole centered). This

research also simply allows me to understand what kind of simple interaction can affect

the rate of assimilation in the bodybuilding.com community. Commented [ZM5]: Inserted synthesis and application
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Jacoby, S., & Gonzales, P. (1999). The constitution of expert-novice in scientific discourse. retrieved

February 23, 2018, from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3fd7z5k4 Commented [ZM6]: Fixed citation

Within this research study, the relationship between advanced/intermediate members is compared with

that of the formerly mentioned members and beginners. Throughout the course of the source, it

becomes pretty clear that these relationships drastically affect the assimilation process and thus

are essential to my area of study(membership). When relationships are formed between

members, often those with more experience will form relationships easier with those who are

also experienced. The major disadvantage of this, as seen throughout the paper is that novices

tend to benefit most from relationships with those who are more experienced because it acts as a

sort of “helping hand”. In the bodybuilding.com community, most people form cliques based on

levels of experience and strength while they should be formed more based on who can help

mentor newer members. This source in summation allows for formation of better membership

patterns in the community and aids in my understanding of the creation of groups for my study.

The author of this source and (Garton, 1997) can both agree that there are different factors that

can both greatly aid in the assimilation process for new members. This source has more of a

focus and manipulating membership patterns to cause rapid assimilation while (Garton, 1997)

has its tenets implanted in the fact that using a certain type of approach for new members

interested in the community will cause speedy assimilation. Both sources cover different

approaches that can be used to aid assimilation, but authors of both sources can agree that the

ego-centered approach discussed by (Garton, 1997) will be much more effective for more “shy”

members while the approach discussed within this source is much better for social members who

enjoy having somebody teach them. The authors both hold their own place in how the
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assimilation process can be accelerated, and it is quite clear that both approaches have great

potential when used to allowed for members to assimilate. When these relationships between

inexperienced members and experienced members are formed, the assimilation process is greatly

aided, and new members can greatly benefit. I will apply this research to get an understanding

about how older members can aid the assimilation process. This information is essential to

finding out how members in the bodybuilding community can form a good environment to aid

assimilate. The application of this source in terms of my research and the bodybuilding.com

community is that it allows me to find efficient patterns of membership that can be utilized in

both the bodybuilding.com community and also allow me to get a clearer understanding of the

assimilation process as a whole. It also aids in understanding the process by which cliques are

formed in communities based on similarities

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Ridings et al. (2017, July 17). Virtual community attraction: why people hang out online | journal of

computer-mediated communication | oxford academic. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from

https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/10/1/JCMC10110/4614455 Commented [ZM7]: Inserted this secondary source

Within this study, virtual communities were studied and from the study of these virtual communities, it

was determined that most people who are active within the community typically are for because

there were a multitude of reasons which caused them to assimilate. These reasons were found

through direct messaging mass number of members in different communities and asking them

why they are a part of the community. One of the most common reasons that members joined

and stayed within virtual communities was because of the environment that the community

created which showed genuine compassion towards its members. But the reasons varied

depending on what kind of community. Some stayed for good information, while others stayed

for anonymity. But the study did find that while most communities focus quite a bit on the

content, the most successful ones have a good bit of kindness and caring within them for the sake

of the newer members and to maintain the older ones. This source can be compared to (Jacoby et

al, 1999) because with the combination of these sources, it is clear that mentorship and

compassion can lead to the formation of strong communities. (Jacoby et al, 1999) discusses the

relationships between more experienced members of a community and novice members of a

community and how a strong relationship between these two types of members can lead to a

strong and successful assimilation while this source deals with all the factors that cause members

to remain once being assimilated especially in virtual communities. This source is essential to

research simply due to the fact that it deals with virtual communities and what kinds of reasons

that members join and assimilate within them. Bodybuilding.com is a virtual community, so it is

likely to follow some of the trends mentioned in this study. This source when combined with
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(Jacoby et al, 1999) makes the assimilation process much clearer in the bodybuilding.com

community and together they show the kinds of actions that expert or more advanced members

can take in the bodybuilding.com community to help novice members assimilate.

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Backstrom et al (2006) Membership, growth, and evolution. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2018, from

https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1150412 Commented [ZM8]: Inserted this secondary source

This final source deals with the spawn and growth of communities over time. It discusses how

while even though a community may be centered around one thing, over time views within the

community change and the mindsets of the members of these communities might completely

contrast those of the original members who formed them. It also discusses how many of the

members of a group or community will over time flock to another group with the same main goal

simply because its new and seemingly more attractive. An example of this would be everyone

moving from Myspace to Facebook and from Facebook to Instagram and Snapchat. The growth

is the primary focus of this research and what is discussed during this article is how growth

increases overtime until it eventually peaks and then the community start going downhill, and the

members are starting to move to other communities. This study of the cycle of a community is

similar to the previously discussed source (Kramer, 2011) about the process of assimilation. But

the difference between these two sources is that this one deals with the community has a whole

and gives a much bigger picture while the previous source (Kramer, 2011) just deals with

membership. This source includes more of a focus on changing mindsets and trends in the

community while the previous one (Kramer, 2011 discusses how people evolve while

assimilating into a community. Both authors of these sources will agree that overtime both the

members and the community change which can cause the assimilation process to increase in

difficulty. It’s also clear this source can be applied to the bodybuilding.com community because

it can quite easily help determine whether a community is worth joining or not depending on its

phase and where the mindsets of most of the communities’ members stand at any given moment.
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This source contributes greatly to the understanding of how fluctuations within a community can

affect assimilation due to the fact that it focuses on everything from start of a community to the

end where the community shifts to a different location. The value in this source comes from

these elements and when combined with (Kramer, 2011), both sources give us good insight into

the community and the mindsets within it.

Primary Sources Commented [ZM9]: Changed heading

Jim Brewster (2017) “Beginning bodybuilding: a comprehensive guide!” bodybuilding.com,

bodybuilding.com, 11 Dec. 2017,

www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beginning_training_guide.htm.

This next article is a primary source directly from the community. Within the article, discussion

occurs in relation to how members can assimilate into the bodybuilding community and

the intention of the article is to teach people attempting to assimilate how to better

progress into the community. This text comes directly from the bodybuilding.com

website. It discusses a multitude of literate activities that can help improve membership

status in the bodybuilding.com community. These literate activities include logging

progress and foods eaten throughout the day to ensure that members are improving their

physiques and getting much stronger. The source begins with a description of what kinds

of people its intended for and uses this to branch out into the suggested advice for these

members. This texts function in the community is to give new members in the

bodybuilding.com some guidance in how to take their training and diet and utilize these

two things to create an impressive physique. The author tries to utilize simple language
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and avoids jargon in an attempt to increase appeal to those who have a poor

understanding of the typical bodybuilding terms. This article can be utilized to get an

understanding of the typical approach to make the assimilation process easier for novices.
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Smith, A. C., & Stewart, B. (2012). Body perceptions and health behaviors in an online

bodybuilding community. Qualitative Health Research, 22(7), 971-985.

doi:10.1177/1049732312443425

Within the next source, body views within the bodybuilding community are discussed in

relation to how their perception differs from most people and how these perceptions can impact

daily life and habits. These views are significant to the community and can affect membership in

a multitude of ways, ranging from people who are well-developed not being considered very

high up into the community to simply pressuring members into putting in work and drastically

changing themselves as a result of these skewed perceptions. The text comes from an online

journal known as “Sage” and is a primary source that is directly involved within the

bodybuilding community. This text allows us to understand how these perceptions can cause

members to obsess over literate activities and continually use mass amounts of their time to see

improvements in their body. While literate activities are typically beneficial to members of the

community, this source discusses how the literate activities of logging calories and progress can

mentally tire out individuals found within the community. The sources function in the

community is for members to see the bodybuilding community from “the outside looking in”.

This is accomplished because it is written by a non-member of the bodybuilding community. The

goal of this source within the community is to get members to understand the true harms of

getting too worked up over some of the literate and physical activities and that they should

attempt to avoid these high levels of stress for the sake of there own health.
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Anonymous. (2017). Best supplements for gaining weight. retrieved February 23, 2018, from

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=173532831 Commented [ZM10]: Fixed citation

This final source is a forum question which displays one of the many literate activities in

the bodybuilding.com community. Specifically, though, the community was created just for

questions like this to help aid new members to assimilate. Within the post, a new lifter who is

struggling to gain weight asks for advice on how he can gain weight. This literary activity of

asking questions on forums is quite common among individuals trying to assimilate into the

bodybuilding.com community. When these questions are asked it guides these new members and

helps them assimilate sometimes while other times it does nothing for them because everyone

leaves joke answers. The function of this text within the community is to give insight into how it

can benefit members to ask questions. I gathered this post directly from the bodybuilding.com

community. The overall theme of this post is truly to show how the assimilation process

functions along literate activities in the bodybuilding.com community and thus I incorporated the

post into my research.