Open AccessMoving forward: Conceptualizing comfort in information sources for enthusiast cyclists
Author(s) -
Dorey Jonathan,
Guastavino Catherine
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
proceedings of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8390
pISSN - 0044-7870
DOI - 10.1002/meet.2011.14504801187
Subject(s) - pronoun , context (archaeology) , coding (social sciences) , theme (computing) , content analysis , computer science , selection (genetic algorithm) , psychology , sociology , linguistics , world wide web , artificial intelligence , history , social science , philosophy , archaeology
This research aims to identify how the notion of comfort in the context of bicycling is conveyed in an American bicycling magazine and online forum. An iterative approach, comprising of a content analysis and linguistic discourse analysis aims to go beyond the generally‐accepted definition that focuses on vibrations, and identify the different concepts and typical situations relevant to study comfort for enthusiast cyclists. Are discussed the selection criteria for the magazine and online forum, the development of the coding protocol (including the final operational definition of each concepts) and the method for retrieving and analyzing online forum posts. A quantitative analysis, looking at the number of occurrences for each concept and theme, combined with a qualitative analysis of pronoun use, positive and negative descriptors, and opposing statements shows a complex link between the cyclist, the bicycle, and the environment. The behaviour of the bicycle, environmental factors, what the cyclists thinks and feels as well as the goal of the ride affect how comfort is conceptualized.