my work seeks to understand the conditions for collective action using
observational data from real communities. This work has been shaped
by three complentary approaches: (1) the comparison of failures to
-build communities to rare successful attempts through the use of
-projects as the unit of analysis; (2) attention to the role of
-reputation and status in the mobilization of volunteers; and (3)
-analysis of design changes as ``natural experiments'' building a
-deeper, and often causal, understanding of social processes using
-observational data. Nearly all of my work incorporates at least two of
-these approaches.
+build communities to rare successful attempts; (2) attention to the
+role of reputation and status in the mobilization of volunteers; and
+(3) analysis of design changes as ``natural experiments'' building a
+deeper, and often causal, understanding from observational
+data. Nearly all of my work incorporates at least two of these
+approaches.
-\section{Projects As Unit of Analysis}
+\section{Studying Attempts at Collective Action}
Although there have been many thousands of studies of online
-collective action the vast majority have only considered successful
-projects like Wikipedia and Linux. The majority of research on
-collective action -- on and offline -- has only considered projects
-that have successfully mobilized. In this sense, most previous
-analyses of collection action have systematically selected on their
-dependent variable. Most of my research treats projects as the unit of
-analysis and collective action as the outcome of interest.
+collective action, the vast majority have only considered projects
+like Wikipedia and Linux that have successfully built communities -- a
+characterization that can be extended to observational work on
+collective action more generally. In this sense, most previous
+analyses have systematically selected on their dependent
+variable. Instead, most of my research treats projects as the unit of
+analysis and collective action as the outcome of interest -- comparing
+the successful examples of collective action to attempts that never
+got off the ground.
% \begin{wrapfigure}{r}{0.4\textwidth}
% \begin{centering}
quantitative, ``big data'' approach typical of most of my work, the
research question and strategy is representative.
-I have also followed this strategy in a series of quantitative
-studies of the Scratch online community: a public website where a large
+I have also followed this strategy in a series of quantitative studies
+of the Scratch online community: a public website where a large
community of users create, share, and remix interactive media. The
community is built around the Scratch programming environment: a
freely downloadable desktop application that allows amateur creators
to combine media with programming code (see Figure
-\ref{fig:scratchapp}). Despite the fact that Scratch is a community
-designed to promote collaboration through content remixing, only about
-ten percent of Scratch projects attract a second
-contributor.
+\ref{fig:scratchapp}). Although Scratch is a community designed to
+promote collaboration through content remixing, only about ten percent
+of Scratch projects attract a second contributor.
In one study, co-authored with Andrés Monroy-Hernández and forthcoming
in American Behavioral Scientist, I test several of the most widely
This year, I am conducting a population-level analysis in a new
dataset I have created that includes 80,000 attempts at wikis (i.e.,
public, editable, websites similar to Wikipedia). In my first working
-paper using this dataset, I consider inter-organizational effects of
-competition for volunteer labor and find little support for a widely
-cited ecological model of collective action from sociology that treats
+paper using this dataset, I consider inter-organizational competition
+for volunteer labor and find little support for a widely cited
+ecological model of collective action from sociology that treats
volunteer labor as a fixed and finite resource. Instead, I show that
contributions to different wikis on the same topic or theme are driven
primarily by environment-level changes in interest and that projects
-may even benefit from complimentarities and synergies
+can even benefit from complimentarities and synergies
\cite{hill_is_2012}.
\section{Reputation and Status}
\ref{fig:lilypad}) -- lead to large increases in the proportion of
women contributors and drastic shifts in the type of projects created
\cite{buechley_lilypad_2010}. I have also explored how technical
-errors may be able to provide similar opportunities for analysis
-\cite{hill_revealing_2010}.
+errors may be able to provide similar opportunities for analysis by
+interrupting normal operation of a system and revealing internal
+processes that are usually hidden \cite{hill_revealing_2010}.
% or changes in socio-technical systems describing responsibility for a piece of software can lead to an important impact in the type and structure of contributions in peer production \cite{michlmayr_quality_2003}
work, I plan to evaluate the effect of governance and different
systems of authority, framing, modularity and project complexity. In
the long term, I hope to offer a broad set of principles of
-design for online collection action and community.
+design for online collection action.
\emph{Toolkits for Experimental Social Design} -- My research has been
possible through personal relationships I have with a series of
experiences. Most of the time, these organizations have very little
idea if these changes are effective. I plan to seek funding for, and
to create, a technical framework and a network of academic and
-practitioner collaborators, to facilitate well-designed natural
+practitioner collaborators to facilitate well-designed natural
experiments by the hosts of large online communities and to share data
that allows for academic evaluation of these experiments.
Although I study cooperation, I also practice it. In graduate school,
-I have collaborated with a large and engaged group of co-authors in
-many academic departments. I intend to continue doing so. In sum, my
-research uses design to contribute to social scientific theories of
-collective action, and uses theories of collective action to influence
+I have collaborated with a large group of co-authors in many academic
+departments. I intend to continue doing so. In sum, my research uses
+design to contribute to social scientific theories of collective
+action, and uses theories of collective action to influence
design. Although my research settings are online communities, I
believe my work has implications for a broad range of disciplines and
fields.
projects / bmh-research_statement / commitdiff