DHB: Collaborative Research: Solving Critical Problems in Online Groups

网络团体正变得越来越重要，例如，通过创造运行互联网的软件，建立历史？S最大的百科全书，为数百万人提供社会支持，以及增加跨越地理界限的人际关系的机会。无论团队在什么环境下运作，要想取得成功，所有人都必须面对三个关键挑战：(1)承诺：通过管理成员对团队的承诺及其为团队做出努力的动机来获得和留住成员；(2)协调：协调成员的行动，以实现集体目标；以及(3)控制：确保成员遵守重要的团队规范。虽然一些在线团体非常成功，但许多其他团体都失败了。许多在线群体的典型特征是规模庞大、营业额高、社交网络薄弱以及沟通渠道贫乏，这些都抑制了他们克服这些挑战的能力。这项研究的目标是通过(1)了解影响在线团队成功的因素；(2)阐明同样适用于线下团队的一般团队流程；以及(3)开发能够帮助在线团队实现其目标的技术干预措施，以帮助在线团队实现其巨大的潜力。这项研究将考察三个非常受欢迎的领域的群体？在线健康和技术支持，在线百科全书维基百科，以及历史上最受欢迎的大型多人游戏魔兽世界。调查性研究将使用数据挖掘技术，使用时间序列方法检查数千个在线团体的丰富档案和纵向数据。此外，干预者研究将在调查性研究的基础上进行计算干预，旨在提高在线小组的有效性。这项研究将制定原则，以更普遍地解释影响在线团体和团体成功的因素。在线团体在经济和社会上都很重要，这一事实表明，流量排名前十的互联网站点中有七个主要是在线团体站点。由于在线团队的失败率很高，了解其有效性背后的因素对设计师和管理者来说至关重要。该项目的技术干预措施旨在提高所部署的小组的业绩，并作为其他在线小组随后的设计工作的样板。

Online groups are becoming increasingly important, for example, by creating the software that runs the Internet, building history?s largest encyclopedia, providing social support to millions, and enhancing opportunities for interpersonal relationships that span geographic boundaries. Regardless of the environments in which groups operate, to be successful all must meet three critical challenges: (1) Commitment: gaining and retaining members by managing members' commitment to the group and their motivation to exert effort on its behalf, (2) Coordination: coordinating members' actions to achieve collective goals, and (3) Control: ensuring that members adhere to important group norms. Although some online groups are very successful, many others fail. The large size, high turnover, weak social networks, and impoverished communication channels typical of many online groups inhibit their ability to overcome these challenges. The goal of this research is to help online groups deliver on their tremendous promise by (1) understanding the factors that affect the success of online groups; (2) shedding light on general group processes that also apply to offline groups; and (3) developing technological interventions that can help online groups achieve their objectives. The research will examine groups in three highly popular domains ? online health and technical support, the online-encyclopedia Wikipedia, and the most popular massively multiplayer game in history, World of Warcraft. Investigatory studies will use data-mining techniques to examine rich archival, longitudinal data about thousands of online groups using time-series methods. In addition, interventionist studies will follow up the investigatory research with computational interventions designed to improve the effectiveness of online groups. This research will develop principles to explain the factors that influence the success of online groups and groups more generally. Online groups are economically and socially important, as indicated by the fact that seven of the top ten Internet sites by traffic (according to www.alexa.com) are primarily online group sites. Because online groups have high failure rates, knowledge about the factors that underlie their effectiveness is critical for designers and managers. This project's technological interventions are designed to improve the performance of the groups in which they are deployed and to serve as exemplars for subsequent design efforts in other online groups.