HCC: Participation Lifecycles in Online Communities

增加对社交网站的参与（例如，MySpace、Facebook）、讨论网站（例如，Slashdot、Digg）和贡献型社交媒体网站（例如，YouTube，维基百科）提出了关于这些在线社区用户体验的问题。这项研究将为人们对参与在线社区的新认识作出概念上的贡献;持续在线社区的新用户如何融入，参与如何持续，退出的预测因素，以及随着时间的推移参与的模式。本项目将对Slashdot（一个专注于技术问题的新闻和讨论网站）和Everything 2进行深入的多方法分析，一个强调创造性表达的用户生成的百科全书。这两个网站都是长寿的，有长达十年的互动历史，这使得纵向模式的分析。特殊的站点访问协议提供了对服务器日志和用户数据的异常全面的访问。在Everything 2的情况下，该协议还允许在网站内修改界面和创建多个实验条件。这些现场实验将补充更传统的服务器日志分析、用户调查和访谈。使用同一套工具同时检查两个网站，可以为更广泛的结果和验证措施创造机会，这些措施可以在未来应用于其他在线社区。更广泛的影响：大规模在线社区的日益普及已经改变了人们协作、生成内容、分享兴趣、讨论主题和维护关系的方式。然而，很少有人知道网站的设计，服务条款，激励结构，规范或其他社会技术特征如何影响用户体验。考虑到这些类型的在线社区在学生的在线体验中越来越重要，这个项目深思熟虑地将各级教育学与社会计算研究挂钩。最终，这项研究的影响将是改善设计和维护的在线社区作为强大的社会技术系统。

Increased participation in social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Facebook), discussion sites (e.g., Slashdot, Digg), and contributory social media sites (e.g., YouTube, Wikipedia) has raised questions about the user experience within these online communities. This research will make conceptual contributions to the emerging understanding of participation in online communities; how new users of persistent online communities become integrated, how that participation is sustained, the predictors of exit, and patterns of involvement over time.This project will engage in an in-depth, multi-method analysis of Slashdot, a news and discussion site focused on technology issues, and Everything2, a user-generated encyclopedia with an emphasis on creative expression. Both sites are long-lived, with up to ten years of interaction history, which enables an analysis of longitudinal patterns. Special site access agreements afford an unusually comprehensive level of access to server logs and user data. In the case of Everything2, the agreement also allows interface modifications and creation of multiple experimental conditions within the site. These field experiments will complement more traditional analyses of server logs, user surveys, and interviews. Simultaneously examining two sites with the same set of tools creates opportunities for greater generalization of results and validated measures that can be applied to other online communities in the future.Broader Impact: The growing prevalence of large-scale online communities has changed how people collaborate, generate content, share interest, discuss topics, and maintain relationships. However, little is known about how the design of sites, terms of service, incentive structures, norms or other socio-technical features affect the user experience. Given the centrality that these types of online communities increasingly have in students' online experiences, this project thoughtfully engages pedagogy at all levels with the hook of social computing research. Ultimately the impact of this research will be improved design and maintenance of online communities as robust socio-technical systems.