VOSS Collaborative Research: I Want You to Know Who I Am: Identity Communication and Verification in Virtual Teams

拟议研究的目标是了解个人层面的身份是如何在虚拟团队中沟通和验证的，以便制定旨在改善身份沟通和验证过程的技术设计指南。身份沟通被定义为一个人用来传达自己身份的方法（Thatcher, Doucet, & Tuncel, 2001），身份验证是指让他人来确认自己身份的过程（Swann, 1983）。促进虚拟团队沟通的技术可以通过增强（Walther, 2008）或隐藏（Weisband, 2002）来扭曲个人层面的身份。因此，这项技术可以为参与虚拟团队创造一个社会障碍，对许多个人和团体的结果产生负面影响，包括团队的整体成功（Gomez, Huici, Seyle, & Swann, 2009）。我们采用混合方法研究方法（Venkatesh, Brown, & Bala, 2013）来制定系统设计指南，以改善虚拟环境中的身份通信和验证。数据将分三个阶段收集，利用定性和定量技术，包括访谈、调查和实验。本项目的广泛影响体现在四个关键领域。首先，我们的研究将产生设计信息技术的具体指导方针，以支持虚拟环境中有效的身份通信和验证。我们将解释各种传播媒介的特征如何影响身份传播和验证。组织不仅可以在新的虚拟团队开始时使用这些信息，还可以作为持续改进计划或当新成员加入现有团队时使用这些信息。其次，我们帮助组织了解如何在不同类型和特征的通信技术中进行选择，以最有效地管理身份通信和验证。通过了解用户的个人和任务相关需求，组织可以部署最好的技术来改进这些特定特征的身份通信和验证。第三，随着在线学习环境使用的增加，我们期望这项工作的结果可以通过提供指导方针来加强教育背景下的身份交流和验证，从而提高教学和学习体验。例如，对在线学习体验的一个常见批评是，学生感觉不到与他们的导师或其他学生的联系。了解技术如何增强身份交流和验证，可以帮助我们开发有效的在线教学工具。第四，更好地理解虚拟团队中的身份沟通和验证将对nsf赞助的虚拟组织产生直接影响，提高跨学科和远程协作的有效性。虚拟团队提供了一种具有成本效益和实用的方式，将来自跨学科领域的不同人员聚集在一起，而不受时间或空间的限制；然而，即使是面对面的跨学科团队也经常遇到沟通困难（Oetzel, 2008），这些困难通常在虚拟环境中加剧。通过指出通往更有效和可持续的虚拟组织的道路，我们的研究可以因此加强跨学科科学和工程研究的网络基础设施。

The goal of the proposed research is to understand how individual-level identities are communicated and verified in virtual teams, in order to develop technology-design guidelines aimed at improving the identity communication and verification process. Identity communication is defined as the methods that a person uses to convey his/her identity (Thatcher, Doucet, & Tuncel, 2001) and identity verification refers to the process of bringing others to confirm one's identity (Swann, 1983). The technology that facilitates communication in virtual teams can distort individual-level identities by heightening (Walther, 2008) or hiding (Weisband, 2002) them. The technology can thus create a social barrier to participation in virtual teams, negatively influencing a number of individual and group outcomes, including overall team success (Gomez, Huici, Seyle, & Swann, 2009). We adopt a mixed-methods research approach (Venkatesh, Brown, & Bala, 2013) to develop design guidelines for systems that improve identity communication and verification in virtual environments. Data will be collected in three phases, leveraging qualitative and quantitative techniques including interviews, surveys, and experiments.The broader impacts of this project are in four key areas. First, our research will result in specific guidelines for designing information technology to support effective identity communication and verification in virtual environments. We will explain how the characteristics of various communication media influence identity communication and verification. Organizations can use this information not only during the onset of new virtual teams, but also as continuous improvement initiatives or when new members join an existing team. Second, we help organizations understand how to choose among different types and characteristics of communication technology to most effectively manage identity communication and verification. By understanding users' individual and task-related needs, organizations can deploy the best technologies to improve identity communication and verification given these specific characteristics. Third, with the increased use of online learning environments, we expect that the results of this work can be used to enhance both the teaching and learning experience by providing guidelines to enhance identity communication and verification in the educational context. For example, a common criticism of online learning experiences is that students do not feel a connection with their instructors or other students. Understanding how technology can enhance identity communication and verification can go a long way in helping us to develop effective online teaching tools. Fourth, a better understanding of identity communication and verification in virtual teams will have direct implications for NSF-sponsored virtual organizations, enhancing the effectiveness of cross-disciplinary and remote collaborations. Virtual teams offer a cost-effective and practical way to bring together diverse people from cross-disciplinary fields regardless of temporal or spatial restrictions; however, even face-to-face cross-disciplinary teams often experience communication difficulties (Oetzel, 2008), and these difficulties are generally exacerbated in virtual settings. By pointing the way toward more effective and sustainable virtual organizations, our research can thus strengthen the cyber-infrastructure for cross-disciplinary science and engineering research.