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之间的相互作用，在人们创造和分享内容的在线社区中。最近的研究发现，以下五件事通常是不同的：(1)法律说了什么；(2)人们认为法律说了什么；(3)人们认为是道德的；(4)社区规范；以及(5)人们实际做了什么。我们如何才能更好地了解用户，他们如何在网上接触到受版权保护的内容，以及他们如何在创造性分享的环境中相互作用？为了全面回答这些问题，有必要解决所有五个方面及其复杂的相互作用。这项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，以及在线社区管理和设计可以获得哪些经验教训。互联网是一种丰富的媒介，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。创造这种丰富创造力的原材料是原创想法和现有内容的组合，包括公司或其他互联网用户创作的受版权保护的材料的重新混合。因此，虽然版权法的细微差别曾经只对内容的商业制作人有很大影响，但技术已经改变了这一切。由于数字内容和互联网的存在，复制和广泛传播变得容易了几个数量级，版权现在几乎每天都会接触到普通计算机用户。对于数量庞大的网络业余内容创作者来说，情况尤其如此。然而，仅仅因为法律与更多的人相关并不意味着它更容易被理解。技术进步加剧了法律应用中一直存在的同样的困惑。在这些创作者群体中形成的社会规范不一定完全符合法律，但代表了共同的理解和构建，以及伦理直觉。这些规范与在线社区中的其他秩序来源--法律规则、网站政策和技术强加的控制--以错综复杂的方式相互作用，只有结合在一起才能提供用户行为的完整图景。这项研究将从三个来源收集数据：(1)当前在线社区政策；(2)当前网站和来自旧社区的档案中关于知识产权的公开对话；以及(3)对在线创意内容创建者的采访。分析将集中于梳理不同社区中存在的规范，它们是如何演变的，以及它们如何与成文和社区政策颁布的法律相互作用。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行的基本理解。它将为在线社区设计师和负责帮助法律有效适应新技术的政策制定者提供循证指导。这项研究的更广泛的教育影响包括在这一跨学科研究领域培训两名研究生。此外，这项研究将丰富必修的本科课程CS4001“计算机、社会和职业精神”的课程内容。

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."