EAGER: Cultural Issues in Sharing Expertise: Characterizing and Evaluating Online Question-Answer Communities

这是对问答社区的探索性研究，问答社区构成了网络上最有趣和最普遍的非正式知识生产形式之一。网络和网络的广泛采用导致了前所未有的知识生产规模。然而，计算机和信息科学研究界缺乏对基于互联网的知识生产的许多特征的了解。尚未确定哪些特征对知识生产是重要的，特别是如何在这些社区内安排专门知识以提供足够的信息。同样重要的是发现哪些结构特征--如报酬结构、参与率和互动网络--影响知识生产或专业知识的提供。研究人员尤其不了解文化差异如何影响这些问题--从参与、动机、互动类型，到用户留在网站或改变参与角色的可能性。大量问答论坛的存在，为在类似话题中进行文化比较创造了充足的机会。目前的工作必然是探索性的，因为在研究文献中甚至连比较网站的衡量标准都不清楚，而且对在线社区的跨文化研究相对较少。虽然这项工作的最终目标是设计更好的系统和在线空间，以支持人们跨越文化鸿沟分享知识和专业知识，但首先需要更好地了解当前的使用情况。因此，该项目包括两个阶段。第一阶段对许多问答社区进行实证调查，以了解它们的当前使用情况，并创建跨站点比较的指标。第二阶段审查了据信受文化影响的关键问题，包括关键用户的演变、积分和激励、参与的一致性和跨文化差异。这项工作可以大大增加人们对互联网规模社区的理解。它将研究文化如何影响专业知识的分配、知识提供和专业知识网络。即将开发的网络度量将有助于使在线社区的研究系统化，并应在网络科学的其他领域找到应用。因此，这项探索性工作将有助于加深对跨文化知识生产，特别是非正式知识生产的科学理解。它还可以极大地改善公民的日常生活，因为问答网站对于向公民提供即时的日常帮助和信息至关重要，并有助于培育更具生产力的知识经济。

This is an exploratory study of question and answer (Q&A) communities, which constitute one of the most interesting and pervasive forms of informal knowledge production on the Web. The wide-scale adoption of the Web and of networking in general has led to knowledge production on a scale never seen before. However, the computer and information science research community lacks an understanding of many of the characteristics of Internet-based knowledge production. It has not yet been established which characteristics are important for knowledge production, especially how expertise is arranged within these communities in order to provide adequate information. It is also important to discover which structural characteristics -- such as reward structures, participation rates, and network of interactions -- influence knowledge production or expertise provision. Researchers especially do not understand how cultural differences affect these issues -- from participation, to motivation, to types of interaction, to the likelihood users will remain on the site or change their participation role.A large number of Q&A forums exist, creating ample opportunities for cultural comparisons within similar topics. The present work is necessarily explorative, as even the measures by which to compare sites are unclear in the research literature, and relatively few cross-cultural studies of online communities exist. While the ultimate goal of this work is to design better systems and online spaces to support people in sharing knowledge and expertise across cultural divides, a better understanding of current use is first required. This project therefore consists of two phases. The first phase investigates a number of Q&A communities empirically to understand their current use and to create metrics for cross-site comparison. The second phase examines key issues believed to be influenced by culture, including evolution of key users, points and incentives, and consistency of participation, and cross-cultural differences. This work could add substantially to what is understood about Internet-scale communities. It will examine how culture affects the distribution of expertise, knowledge provision, and expertise networks. The network metrics to be developed will help systematize the study of online communities and should find applications in other areas of network science. As such, this exploratory work will lead to the development of a deeper scientific understanding of knowledge production, especially for informal knowledge, across cultures. It could also substantially improve citizens' everyday lives, since Q&A sites are vital for providing immediate, everyday help and information to citizens, and help foster a more productive knowledge economy.