Abstract: Todays' online media landscape facilitates communication on how sports practitioners can develop in their sport. Hence, sports and educational institutions need to recognize the increased role of the individual as "a facilitator of knowledge" through (ICT). For sport organizations and educational institutions to effectively reach out with knowledge and research, they need to know how individuals assess, value, and trust information sources. This article aims to increase the knowledge and understanding of how the traditional culture in equestrianism meets the contemporary media user. It is based on a study that uses a mixed methods design, containing a questionnaire with 1,655 respondents and 28 focus group interviews with Swedish and Norwegian equestrians, to investigate how equestrians create their own repertoires of horse-knowledge online and what sources of knowledge they trust and prioritize. The results show that accessibility, agency, and trust are key terms when mapping equestrians' preferred knowledge platforms, and that equestrians are generally not satisfied with the availability and the quality of horse-related online content. Horse experience is the most important positional factor influencing online repertoires in the equestrian community. Riders with less experience turn to Social Network Sites (SNS) to a higher extent than riders with more experience. Further, equestrians find the ability to assess information as an important yet challenging task. This article shows that the term is appropriate when discussing the relationship (or ) between the traditional culture in equestrian sports and the contemporary media user. On the one hand, many equestrians clearly express that they would rather stay away from obtaining information about horses and riding on ICTs. On the other hand, the data, together with previous research, indicates that many equestrians see ICTs as important platforms for discussing and exchanging information about horses and riding.
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This research paper examines how equestrians’ use online technology to expand their knowledge base, and the factors that influence trust and the valuing of information about horse riding in online environments.
Methodology
The research used a mixed-methods approach, incorporating a combination of a survey from 1,655 respondents and 28 focus group interviews with Swedish and Norwegian equestrians.
This design allowed the researchers to gather both quantitative data from a large number of participants and qualitative information from a smaller group of study participants.
Through this approach, researchers aimed to understand how equestrians create their own knowledge repositories online and identify which information sources they trust and prioritize.
Key Findings
Results indicated that equestrians value accessibility, personal agency, and trust when selecting their preferred online platforms for knowledge.
Broadly speaking, equestrians were found to be dissatisfied with the availability and quality of horse-related content online.
Horse experience is found to be the most crucial positional factor shaping online knowledge acquisition methods in the equestrian community. Riders with less experience showed a higher likelihood of using Social Network Sites (SNS) compared to riders with more experience.
Equestrians identified the evaluation of information as a critical but challenging task.
Current State of Equestrian Learning in Digital Space
The study found that the relationship between traditional equestrian culture and contemporary media usage is complex.
Many equestrians mentioned that they prefer not to rely on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for obtaining information on horses and riding.
However, other data and prior research also suggest that many equestrians recognize ICTs as valuable platforms for discussing and exchanging information on horses and riding.
This apparent dichotomy points towards the complexities involved in introducing traditional sports cultures to modern media environments and calls for more nuanced digital learning approaches.
Cite This Article
APA
Broms L, Boije Af Gennäs K, Radmann A, Hedenborg S.
(2022).
Accessibility, Agency, and Trust: A Study About Equestrians’ (Online) Learning Repertoires.
Front Sports Act Living, 4, 863014.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.863014
Department of Sport Science, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Boije Af Gennäs, Klara
Department of Sport Science, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Radmann, Aage
Department of Teacher Education and Outdoor Life Studies, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Hedenborg, Susanna
Department of Sport Science, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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