Social Presence in Collective Writing Environments: An Analysis of Wikispaces

Recent studies have shown that social presence is a central concept in online education. Interactions enhance the social presence, which is characterized by the potential of participation, involvement and visibility of individuals in relation to themselves, to others and to the environment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify social presence in a collective writing environment - Wikispaces. The 3C Model, which guides the design and implementation of collaborative systems, was used for analysis. Results showed that the awareness element of 3C Model is fundamental for the identification of social presence in a collective space.