The Communication Effects Of Tacit Knowledge In Virtual Community

The researchers of journalism social organization concerned with journalism production noticed that,the majority of knowledge that culture and practice of daily journalism used is based on experience and intuitive tacit knowledge(Schudson,1989).However,the diffusion researchers studied less in the acquisition and diffusion of the tacit knowledge,especially in the context of the rise of the Internet.Whether the Internet plays a role of public media communication or is similar to face-to-face interpersonal communication in the spread process of tacit knowledge is also a question that the researchers like Rogers that haven't answered so far.This article selected the World of Warcraft as the research field to view the spread of knowledge through Internet.This massive multiplayer online role-playing game is a typical virtual community.Members have a stable connection based on online media that may probably transmit the tacit knowledge like experience and skills.The researcher joined the virtual community as a gamer and collected relational data to study whether the communicating effect of tacit knowledge base on Internet medium is connected with the constructive attribute of the communicator in the view of social network.Whether the tie strength between the sender and receiver and the role and position of these two variables can affect spread of the tacit knowledge the among players when player are in the Internet virtual game guild.In sum,the study focuses on the communicating effect of tacit knowledge.The researcher will make depth interviews according to the relevant dimension of tacit knowledge,draw the items and develop the scale of tacit knowledge in online game guild.This study chose the game society named Yuexiahuangcheng as a sample to put out questionnaires,asked the interviewees to look back upon the process that other players delivered their own game skills and experience in game guild,and fulfill the questionnaires based on their own experience.On this basis,this study also analyzed the social network structure of the 26 members of the game guild.According to the research,in the Internet emulation situation,the stronger the tie strength between sender and receiver is,the better communication effects will be acquired,and will be more quickly understood.Meanwhile,the role and position of sender and receiver in game will affect the communication effects of tacit knowledge.The communication effect of structural equivalence node is superior to that of non-structural equivalence,that is to say,the communication effect is better if the game players own the same position.Therefore,the conclusion of this study is that,online game community is beneficial to the communication of tacit knowledge,and the Internet medium will make it more effective.