| This mixed method research applied multimodal analysis, sociogram analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis, statistics descriptive, and hypothesis testing to study the process of learning Kindle Fire's usability through the online discussion forum. The key aspects discussed in this study are the semiotic resources of Kindle Forum, the meaning-making process, the affordances and usability of Kindle Fire, the affordances and usability of the forum, and the methodological implications for this study. Two settings of this study were (a) the webpage as an environment for users to experience elements of reading paths and (b) the discussion forum, as a place to post experiences using Kindle Fire. Simple random and purposive sampling were implemented to select, as samples, 437 postings from 247 participants. Data were primarily collected using observations, and MAXQDA 11 was the main software used to analyze the data. Findings and analysis affirmed that: (1) the Kindle Fire Discussion Forum has multisemiotic resources that enable users to quickly perform acts of transferring meaning of the discussion content; (2) there were two categories of action potential of the forum: (a) actions made to the page and feedback from the page, and (b) interactions between users in the discussion itself; and, (3) discussions in the forum could not reveal the affordances but can be used to explain the conventions and constraints of the Kindle Fire. However, the methodology applied in this study would benefit from further testing in a similar, forthcoming study. As a starting point for this study, though, it began with a discussion on technology mediated assistance and peer support in learning new technology. |
