CHS: Small: Collaborative Research: Catalyzing Youth Civic Engagement Through Innovations in Social Computing

这项研究将设计、开发和评估新型智能手机应用程序，帮助年轻人探索和利用他们的社交网络参与集体行动，并评估这一行动的影响。从通过使用推特标签加入社会运动，到通过Facebook进行集体组织，社会计算工具催生了新的、令人兴奋的公民参与形式(个人和集体为解决社会关切的问题所作的努力)。虽然从历史上看，让青年参与公民行动一直是一种挑战，但社交计算平台为青年提供了一种与媒体相关的方式来解决对他们至关重要的问题。然而，尽管在线公民参与的机会增加了，但青年在浏览其社交网络方面可能存在困难，这给理解和利用网络中的社会资本--即能够支持集体行动的有益资源--带来了挑战。这项研究考察了青年社交网络的互动可视化如何帮助青年更有效地理解和利用其网络中的社会资本。这种形象化可以通过便利获取关于社会关系的丰富和复杂的信息，帮助青年评估他们通过在线公民行动产生的影响，帮助他们为未来的活动做出有效的决定，从而支持公民参与。这项工作将包括两个新的智能手机应用程序的设计、开发和评估。尽管有大量文献从算法的角度对这些网络进行可视化，但对于人们，尤其是年轻人如何理解网络可视化，以及网络可视化是否或何时可以增强对社会资本的获取和利用，知之甚少。该项目将贡献新的经验发现和新的软件工具来填补这一研究空白。此外，尽管复杂的网络数据越来越多地打包供公众使用，但如何有效地进行打包几乎没有标准，特别是在移动可视化的背景下，小屏幕空间极大地放大了可视化挑战。这项研究将提供关于如何在人们越来越多地使用移动平台与数据交互的移动平台上为非专业受众最好地可视化网络数据的新知识。这项工作将对设计的界面如何最好地管理网络数据的复杂性，以便放大认知、行动和赋权感觉进行实证评估。这项工作将最终形成一个概念框架，指导青年公民参与的社会计算工具的设计。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research will design, develop, and evaluate novel smartphone applications that help youth explore and leverage their social networks to engage in collective action, and assess the impact of this action. From affiliation with social movements through the use of Twitter hashtags, to collective organizing through Facebook, social computing tools have catalyzed new and exciting forms of civic engagement (efforts taken by individuals and collectives to address issues of societal concern). While historically it has been challenging to engage youth in civic action, social computing platforms offer a media-relevant way for youth to address issues that matter to them. However, despite increased opportunities for civic engagement online, youth can have difficulty navigating their social networks, which creates challenges for understanding and putting to use the social capital within networks, that is, the beneficial resources that can support collective action. This research examines how interactive visualizations of youth's social networks can help youth more effectively understand and put to use the social capital within their networks. Such visualizations may support civic engagement by easing access to the rich and complex information about social ties, helping youth evaluate the impact they have through online civic action, preparing them to make effective decisions about future activities. The work will include the design, development, and evaluation of two novel smartphone applications. Although there is a large literature on how best to visualize these networks from an algorithmic perspective, very little is known about how people, especially young people, interpret network visualizations, nor whether or when network visualizations may enhance access to and utilization of social capital. This project will contribute new empirical findings and novel software tools to fill this research gap. Additionally, although complex network data is increasingly packaged for public consumption, there are few standards for how to do so effectively, particularly in the context of mobile visualizations where small screen real estate dramatically amplifies the visualization challenge. The research will contribute new knowledge regarding how best to visualize network data for lay audiences, on the mobile platforms that people are increasingly using to interact with data. This work will yield empirical assessments of how designed interfaces can best manage the complexities of networked data in order to amplify cognition, action, and feelings of empowerment. This work will culminate in a conceptual framework to guide the design of social computing tools for youth civic engagement.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.