HCC: Small: Copyright and Online Communities: An Empirical Study of Social Norms and User Conceptions

这项研究将详细了解版权法、社会规范和用户行为在人们创建和分享内容的在线社区之间的相互作用。最近的研究发现，以下五件事是典型的不同：(1)法律规定的内容；(2)人们认为法律说了什么；(3)人们认为合乎道德的；(4)社区规范；(5)人们实际在做什么。我们如何才能更好地了解用户，他们如何参与在线版权内容，以及他们如何在创造性分享的环境中彼此互动？为了充分回答这些问题，有必要解决所有五个方面，以及它们之间复杂的相互作用。本研究的任务是了解这些维度如何在不同的在线社区中发挥作用，社区规范如何演变，以及可以为在线社区管理和设计提供哪些经验教训。互联网是一个丰富的媒介，可以进行广泛的创造性活动。人们创作原创艺术，写故事，制作视频，并在网上与他人分享。这种丰富的创造力的原材料是原创思想和现有内容的结合，包括公司或其他互联网用户创作的受版权保护的材料的再混合。因此，虽然版权法的细微差别曾经在很大程度上只与内容的商业生产者有关，但技术改变了这一切。由于数字内容和互联网的存在，复制和广泛传播都变得更加容易，版权现在几乎每天都与普通计算机用户有关。对于大量的在线业余内容创作者来说尤其如此。然而，仅仅因为法律与更多的人更相关并不意味着它更容易理解。在法律适用中一直存在的同样的混乱，因技术进步而加剧。在这些创造者群体中形成的社会规范不一定完全遵循法律，但代表着共同的理解和建构，以及道德直觉。这些规范以复杂的方式与在线社区中的其他秩序来源（法律规则、站点政策和技术强加的控制）相互作用，只有结合在一起才能提供用户行为的完整图景。本研究将从三个来源收集数据：(1)当前的在线社区政策；(2)当前在线网站和旧社区档案中关于知识产权的公开对话；(3)对网络创意内容创作者的访谈。分析的重点是梳理不同社区中存在的规范，它们是如何演变的，以及它们如何与社区政策制定的法律相互作用。这项研究的结果将更好地为在线社区设计提供信息，并更广泛地有助于我们对社会规范如何在复杂的社会技术系统中运作的基本理解。它将为在线社区设计者和负责帮助法律有效适应新技术的政策制定者提供基于证据的指导。这项研究的更广泛的教育影响包括在这个跨学科的研究领域培养两名研究生。此外，这项研究将丰富所需的本科课程CS 4001“计算机，社会和专业。”

This research will develop a detailed understanding of interactions between copyright law, social norms, and user behavior in online communities where people create and share content. Recent work has found that the following five things are typically different: (1) what the law says; (2) what people think the law says; (3) what people think is ethical; (4) community norms; and (5) what people actually do. How can we better understand users, how they engage with copyrighted content online, and how they interact with one another in environments of creative sharing? To fully answer these questions, it is necessary to address all five dimensions, and their complex interactions. This research takes up the task of understanding how these dimensions function within different online communities, how community norms evolve, and what lessons can be derived for online community management and design.The Internet is a rich medium for a vast spectrum of creative activity. People make original art, write stories, make videos, and share them with others online. The raw material for this wealth of creativity is a combination of original ideas and existing content, including the remix of copyrighted material created by corporations or other Internet users. As a result, while the nuances of copyright law were once something that largely mattered only to commercial producers of content, technology has changed all of this. With both copying and wide dissemination made orders of magnitude easier thanks to digital content and the Internet, copyright is now something that touches the average computer user on almost a daily basis. This is particularly true for the large number of online amateur content creators. However, just because the law is more relevant to more people does not mean it is more easily understandable.The same confusions that have always existed in applications of the law have been exacerbated by technological advances. Social norms that form within these communities of creators do not necessarily track exactly to the law, but represent shared understandings and constructions, as well as ethical intuitions. These norms interact in intricate ways with other sources of order in online communities - legal rules, site policies, and technology-imposed control - and only together provide a complete picture of user behavior.This study will gather data from three sources: (1) current online community policies; (2) public conversations about intellectual property occurring on current online sites and archives from older communities; and (3) interviews with creators of online creative content. The analysis will focus on teasing out the norms that exist within different communities, how they have evolved, and how they interact with the law as written and as enacted by community policies.The results of this research will better inform online community design, and more broadly contribute to our fundamental understanding of how social norms operate in complex sociotechnical systems. It will provide evidence-based guidance for online community designers, and for policy makers tasked with helping the law adapt effectively to new technologies. Broader educational impacts of this research include the training of two graduate students in this interdisciplinary field of study. Additionally, this research will enrich the curriculum for the required undergraduate class CS 4001 "Computers, Society, and Professionalism."