When the audience talks back: MOOCs and “super” discourse

Opportunities for co-produced digital media find users differentially involved within emergent and unfamiliar configurations of technologies, organizations, and complex information flows. Addressing the interaction patterns and rhetorical practices of the most frequent contributors to online discussion forums in comparison to the majority of infrequent contributors, this analysis considers the contributions of each toward the structuring of online discourse. An empirical analysis found an inverse ratio between the monologues and replies of frequent contributors and those users posting a single comment. Although both groups tended to engage in interpretive practices, frequent contributors more often interacted in direct reply with others, often in sharp critique or supportive acknowledgement. These findings suggest that frequent contributors perform a significant role in the emergent structuring of online discourse.