"Like a Real Friendship": Translation, Coherence, and Convergence of Information Values in LibraryThing and Goodreads

This paper presents findings on the roles that two digital libraries and virtual book club communities, LibraryThing and Goodreads, play in the existing and emergent communities of their users. Informed by social informatics and sociotechnical theory and research, it improves our understanding of the phenomenon of information value and how shared information values are translated, cohered, and converged as users interact. LibraryThing and Goodreads play significant roles, but perfect coherence and convergence is not necessary in most cases; understanding differences and being willing to negotiate and translate around them allowed for continued use of the sites and for continued community existence and emergence. Translation was a significant factor in allowing common ground and social ties to be established, leading to greater information and knowledge sharing. Similar to maintaining “a real friendship,” these processes are often invisible work, but serve as significant factors in the sociotechnical infrastructure of LibraryThing and Goodreads.

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