An important aspect of online learning community development is to evaluate whether or not a particular online learning community is successful. This paper presents preliminary findings in developing and evaluating an online learning community using Preece's framework for designing and evaluating the success of online communities. The community consisted of CSIRO staff interested in what constitutes values in water use in Australia and how to account for such values. About 400 staff participated in the discussion, that was limited to two weeks. Daily observations of the content and participation were made, and participants were surveyed after the discussion had closed. A total of about 17,000 words of discussion data have been analyzed using purpose-built software. Initial findings using Preece's criteria indicate that the online learning community was successful from a sociability perspective. We found that the number of participants was higher than expected, the volume of emails was high, participants referred to each other quite regularly, the discussion stayed on topic most of the time, the participants saw value in the discussion (even the lurkers), and participants were satisfied with the social interaction within the community.
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