Participatory culture and knowledge sharing among educators and scholars in higher education.

This study aims to explore how subjects identified as digital scholars use social media for sharing information and knowledge. A qualitative approach was used with in-depth semi-structured interviews to a purposive sample of 13 subjects. We adopted the Braun and Clarke Thematic Analysis approach and used NVivo QDA Software for the analysis of the data. The results point to 3 major themes: 1) Sharing 2) Interacting and Communicating and 3) Connecting and Networking. The participants in this study reveal a clear awareness of the importance of online presence and interaction with others in establishing shares, dialogues, relationships and bonds on the network. However, there is some heterogeneity among the participants, some being assumed as more active and participatory and others as less so, some clearly separating the work and non-work contexts and others for whom this distinction is less relevant. Motivations for sharing, such as altruism and generosity, are also related to possible gains in social capital. What is common to all participants is the need to find value in what is shared in networks, as well as the need for these actions to have some utility for themselves or for the collectives where information and knowledge are shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]