Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8961-5647
Date Available
8-20-2027
Year of Publication
2025
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Communication and Information Studies
Department/School/Program
Communication
Faculty
Dr. Renee Kaufmann
Faculty
Dr. Christopher Sean Burns
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the knowledge sharing that occurred in the Vesuvius Challenge, a $1 million dollar innovation contest designed to advance the research of Professor Brent Seales to virtually unwrap and read carbonized papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum. Through a content analysis of the Discord channel chats posted by Vesuvius Challenge contestants and stakeholders, the study reveals the existence of several aspects of a community of practice and the operation of the Vesuvius Challenge as a boundary practice. It also presents findings regarding how that development impacted the level of knowledge sharing that occurred in the highly competitive environment. Finally, it suggests that communities of practice operate as effectively in virtual spaces as they do in face-to-face environments, although computer mediated communities of practice manifest some additional features not delineated in traditional communities of practice literature. Discord chats from two channels, #papyrology and #general, were examined qualitatively using deductive qualitative analysis and thematic content analysis approaches. Previously identified concepts from communities of practice theory were used as a theoretical framework and, along with concepts from other virtual community participation and knowledge sharing literature, served as sensitizing constructs for the deductive and inductive coding analysis of the chats. This dissertation work adds to the literature regarding communities of practice by describing the qualities of a purely online community of practice and by proposing a coding scheme for measuring the existence of a community of practice. It is also the first study to examine the effectiveness of innovation contests in a new environment, that of academic research, and to explore how the typical features of communities of practice may encourage collaboration in such competitive environments.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.429
Recommended Citation
Yarbrough Chapman, Christy, "“WE JUST WANNA READ THE SCROLLS!” COLLABORATION AND COMPETITION IN THE VESUVIUS CHALLENGE— A STUDY OF VESUVIUS CHALLENGE DISCORD CHATS" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Communication. 140.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/comm_etds/140
