From: Benjamin Mako Hill <mako@atdot.cc>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 23:47:45 +0000 (-0700)
Subject: put some final notes on the research statement
X-Git-Url: https://projects.mako.cc/source/bmh-research_statement/commitdiff_plain/7fd5fb4c9cff2255e64d460ec586ad195164c97b

put some final notes on the research statement
---

diff --git a/research_statement.tex b/research_statement.tex
index 11797f5..40f7b92 100644
--- a/research_statement.tex
+++ b/research_statement.tex
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 \usepackage{textcomp}
 \usepackage[garamond]{mathdesign}
 
-\usepackage[letterpaper,left=1.2in,right=1.2in,top=1.2in,bottom=1.2in]{geometry}
+\usepackage[letterpaper,left=1.2in,right=1.2in,top=1.15in,bottom=1.1in]{geometry}
 
 % packages i use in essentially every document
 \usepackage{graphicx}
@@ -136,13 +136,14 @@ of superficial collaboration leads to negative reactions and community
 displeasure \cite{hill_responses_2010}.
 
 \begin{wrapfigure}{l}{2.6in}
+ \vspace{-1em}
  \begin{centering}
  \includegraphics[width=2.6in]{figures/frontpage_modified-topremix.png}
   \caption{The front page of the Scratch online community where users
     can share and collaborate on projects.}
  \label{fig:scratchfrontpage}
  \end{centering}
- \vspace{-2em}
+ \vspace{-1.5em}
 \end{wrapfigure}
 
 This year, I am conducting a population-level analysis in a new
@@ -155,8 +156,11 @@ 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
 can even benefit from complimentarities and synergies
-\cite{hill_is_2012}.
-
+\cite{hill_is_2012}.  By looking at failures, these studies provide
+tests of several of the most influential theories of the conditions
+for collective action, suggest important practical and theoretical
+limitations to existing models, and point to previously untheorized
+mechanisms.
 \section{Reputation and Status}
 
 Although empirical research comparing successful and unsuccessful peer
@@ -195,7 +199,10 @@ Research and nominated for best paper at the CHI 2011 conference
 analysis of a design change and in-depth interviews of users to
 demonstrate how credit-giving is ineffective when it stems from an
 automated system because systems fail to reinforce status-ordering
-with credible human expressions of social deference and gratitude.
+with credible human expressions of social deference and
+gratitude. These studies suggest important limits to previous
+theoretical work on status as a motivator for collective action, and
+describe a more nuanced theoretical model.
 
 %\newpage
 \section{Design-Driven Natural Experiments}
@@ -204,9 +211,7 @@ Although nearly all of my work has important implications for the
 design of socio-technical systems, I have structured much of my work
 around the evaluation of technological design changes. In several
 papers, I treat design changes as ``natural experiments'' that
-exogenously change the ways that social structure is enacted. By doing
-so, I can both build causal understandings of social phenomena from
-field data, and can tighten the distance between theory and design.
+exogenously change the ways that social structure is enacted.
 
 \begin{wrapfigure}{r}{0.25\textwidth}
  \vspace{-1em}
@@ -239,7 +244,11 @@ 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 by
 interrupting normal operation of a system and revealing internal
-processes that are usually hidden \cite{hill_revealing_2010}.
+processes that are usually hidden \cite{hill_revealing_2010}. In
+addition to the important theoretical findings in these studies, this
+type of work represents an important methodological advance in that it
+allows for stronger causal claims while also closing the gap between
+theory and design.
 
 % 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}