Recently I stumbled over an interesting German article, published in an sociologist online journal. It researched the motivation of podcasters and develops an ideal typology of senders, which seems interesting to me because it seems also applicable to other media, like blogs or wikis, at least partially.

• http://www.kommunikation-gesellschaft.de/ the online journal KOMMUNIKATION GESELLSCHAFT (communication society), University of Frankfurt, Institute for the analysis of society and politics
• the paper: [http://www.soz.uni-frankfurt.de/K.G/B3_2006_Mocigemba.pdf Dennis Mocigemba

"Warum sie selber senden: Eine Typologie von Sendemodi im Podcasting"]

The ideal types suggested there :

• EarlyAdopter - No-Necesito-Modus -- likes to explore new technology
• Personality Prototyper -- who like to be on stage, seeking originality and their own style
• Journalist & Topic Caster -- serving the interests of the readers
• Rebell -- acting on a political agenda fighting some evil
• Social Capitalist -- collecting social capital by collaborating and collection relationships
• Social Gambler (or SocialGamer ?) -- experimenting with people and interactions

This is a stub for not forgetting to write about this. What do you think about the names? -- HelmutLeitner

Hi Helmut, this is a good stub for a taxonomy of sender types. What about adding WebWeaver ? In a certain sense a Social Capitalist is a WebWeaver, but it appears to me containing a diffamating element. A "Social Capitalist" is in some cases kind of an egocentric WebWeaver -- FridemarPache

Is the SocialGamer the same as a troll or more general than a troll? I suppose it is more general. That makes it interesting. Everyone plays social games so they can learn the ropes, even if they aren't intending to be malicious. I wonder how these synch with the CommunicationRoles and the book, CrossingTheChasm? I think the WebWeaver is something like the SocialWorker, but not quite. CommunicationStar or SocialNetworker, perhaps. -- SunirShah

I would have to classify some of my associates and myself as an Expertise Collaborator (or perhaps Sharer). We rely on one another to keep a group of us informed about developments of common interest, using our individual skills to best advantage. One wiki-like benefit is that by offering this information to a group of known associates, one gets feedback that helps the original collector improve the ability to communicate the new finding(s) as efficiently as possible. (I did not feel that this view is captured by the "Social Capitalist" type, and its more than than the "EarlyAdopter" type.) -- HansWobbe