Abstract. Trust plays an important role when it comes to sharing and picking up information on the Internet. Even more so when advice is being exchanged and decisions are being made based on what at first sight seems to be interpersonal communication between people who do not know each other. Research concerned with the role of trust in making an assessment of online user-generated information, often focuses on online reputation systems rather than on the way individuals try to evaluate peer recommendations themselves. In this paper the attention goes out to the construction of trust when people are looking for advice and know-how via online textual discussion boards. The study offers an understanding of online trust by defining the concept of trust, by formulating a trust typology -based on both the object of trust and the stages within a trust relationship -and by identifying trust antecedents. All this while keeping a close eye on the context of online forums and their users.

Part 2: Full PapersInternational audienceThe Internet serves as an important source for people who are looking for information and advice from peers. Within search behavior a central role is reserved for trust; it will guide the decision to participate online, to share experiences or to pick up information. This paper explores insights from discursive psychology as a potentially interesting approach for trust research in online peer environments. This allows for a certain shift of focus. Instead of looking at the information seeker, we focus on the information provider: How does he try to present himself – and the information sources he refers to in his arguments – as trustworthy and authoritative? Within this theoretical perspective trust is being studied as something that is highly negotiable depending on context and the effect the information provider tries to achieve. Throughout the paper conversation fragments - collected from an online forum on home-improvement - are incorporated to clarify and illustrate some central concepts of discursive psychology