Sense of Community Discussion Deck

Description:

This card deck is aimed towards clients who are seeking to explore their sense of community, especially in regard to online communities centered around online celebrities. The research used when building the deck specifically focused on the livestreaming site Twitch, but online communities stemming from other similar sites are applicable as well. Research has found that online personalities seen on Twitch and other similar websites often foster and build communities that fulfill many of the aspects that are fundamental to a sense of community (Sherrick et al., 2023). The cards will thus focus on creating discussion surrounding clients' relationships with such online communities, clients' sense of community, and parasocial behavior. It is important to note that despite the often negative connotations of parasocial behavior, there are often many positive consequences that can arise from parasocial tendencies (Sherrick et al., 2023). This card deck will thus help client and counselor explore this.

Guidelines:

The discussion deck's ideal use case would be in a group environment of clients all seeking to explore their sense of community with a counselor regulating/guiding the discussion. Many of the cards were made with this environment in mind. The card deck was designed to stimulate conversation in multiple ways, beyond verbal prompts (such as through drawing), so counselors should be aware of this when considering its use. The card deck could also be used alone, by an individual with no counselor or discussion group present, but this is not preferred, as prompts were meant to build group discussion.

References:

Sherrick, B., Smith, C., Jia, Y., Thomas, B., & Franklin, S. B. (2023). How parasocial phenomena contribute to sense of community on Twitch. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 67(1), 47–67. https://doi-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.1080/08838151.2022.2151599