Kablogerate

We've discussed lurking on lists, etc. and I found this in an article I'm reading about blogging. I think it makes an interesting and valid point.

Indeed, Nonnecke & Preece (2001) maintain that lurking is an imperative aspect of an online community and should be regarded as a form of passive or vicarious participation that not only serves to increase the understanding in the lurker, but provides a sense of belonging regardless of whether they ever intend to participate. There is also the possibility that active participants in an online community 'perform' to a potential readership that may or may not eventually become active participants in a community. Thus, active participants may well assume a lurking audience as part of the accepted risk of rebuttal, in creating an argument or expressing a theory in making a blog entry. This risk, in turn, develops skills among active participants in critical thinking and argument creation.

Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector by Jeremy Williams