EAGER: Developing design principles for network-scale applications derived from Internet thinking and the behavioral sciences.

EAGER：为源自互联网思维和行为科学的网络规模应用程序开发设计原则。

• 批准号: 2236700
• 负责人: David Clark
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236700&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Developing; design; principles; network

The Internet is a platform that moves information between endpoints. But transport service alone is meaningless to users. It is Internet applications that control the character of user experience: without them the Internet would be of scant value to most. While applications create the user experience, their design is an under-studied topic. The objective of this EAGER is to gain deeper understanding of how to bridge the gap between data transport and user goals—and how alternative design decisions might better serve users. To better support applications there must be a more methodical consideration of application requirements.Some requirements are fully technical: improving performance and resilience or ensuring greater security of data transport. However, the most important and least well-understood are those that derive from their role in shaping the quality of Internet experience. One line of inquiry must begin “top down”, seeking to understand the ways in which design choices impact behavior. Current Internet applications bring great benefit to society, but they also enable great harms (e.g., erosion of privacy, the fast and wide spread of disinformation, identity theft, the balkanization of society into disconnected, mutually hostile camps, etc.) This EAGER proposes to focus on this question: can we identify design approaches that reduce the potential for harm and create a more benign Internet experience? What would these alternate design principles imply for application support, and even for core features of the network?This research is timely, because the Internet and society sit at a critical juncture. Governments are moving to impose a range of regulations on Internet Service Providers or application providers (aka "The Big Tech players"). Historical regulatory strategies (e.g., antitrust enforcement) may not be effective in this context. They may have only a limited or indirect impact on application design. If regulation is to mitigate the harms listed above, it must be based on a grasp of how decisions made during application design shape user behavior. Regulators need a toolbox containing insights and practical strategies to be effective in this environment. This project seeks to inspire the creation of such a toolbox.The challenge is only partially shaped by technical considerations. Online behavior is, above all, a manifestation of innately human motives and behavior patterns. Thus, the strategy to address the human aspects of the requirements includes a careful scan of research results from the behavioral and social sciences and the computer sciences. The output will be a framework that explores the ways in which human behavior emerges under different design conditions. The results from these inquiries will offer fresh insights and options for action that will, in turn, lead to a more benign online experience for all. Tasks included in the EAGER include: o Summarizing a body of relevant knowledge:o As an initial case study of societal harms, focusing on disinformation; based on insights from that topic, generating to other examples where the insights are applicable;o Developing a series of proposed design principles to foster prosocial behavior online. These will specify the application support services associated with select requirements, and - if possible - proposals for changes to the Internet itself; and finally;o Translating the summary into a form more accessible (e.g., comprehensible) to the technical community. With the emergence of a new generation of interactive applications (e.g., enhanced and /or virtual reality), there will be unforeseen challenges in the arenas of authenticity, quality, and dynamics of online experience. By interweaving computer, behavioral and social sciences, work under this EAGER grant will go beyond the study of disinformation to identify practical steps applicable to a wide range of applications and their uses to support the continued growth of an open, civil society.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.

互联网是一个在终端之间移动信息的平台。但仅有交通服务对用户来说是没有意义的。控制用户体验特征的是互联网应用程序：没有它们，互联网对大多数人来说就没有什么价值了。虽然应用程序创造了用户体验，但它们的设计是一个研究不足的话题。这项研究的目的是更深入地了解如何弥合数据传输和用户目标之间的差距，以及替代设计决策如何更好地服务于用户。为了更好地支持应用程序，必须更有条理地考虑应用程序要求。一些要求完全是技术性的：提高性能和弹性，或确保更高的数据传输安全性。然而，最重要和最不为人所知的是那些源于它们在塑造互联网体验质量方面的作用。必须从“自上而下”开始，寻求理解设计选择对行为的影响方式。当前的互联网应用给社会带来了巨大的好处，但也带来了巨大的危害(例如，侵犯隐私、虚假信息的快速和广泛传播、身份盗窃、社会被割裂成相互敌对的阵营等)。这位热心人士建议关注这样一个问题：我们能否找到降低潜在危害并创造更良性互联网体验的设计方法？这些替代的设计原则对应用程序支持，甚至对网络的核心功能意味着什么？这项研究是及时的，因为互联网和社会正处于关键时刻。各国政府正在采取行动，对互联网服务提供商或应用程序提供商(又名“科技巨头”)实施一系列监管。以往的监管策略(例如，反垄断执法)在这种情况下可能并不有效。它们可能只会对应用程序设计产生有限或间接的影响。如果监管要减轻上面列出的危害，它必须基于对应用程序设计期间做出的决定如何塑造用户行为的把握。监管机构需要一个包含洞察力和实用战略的工具箱，才能在这种环境下发挥作用。这个项目试图启发这样一个工具箱的创建。挑战只是部分由技术考虑决定的。最重要的是，网络行为是人类与生俱来的动机和行为模式的表现。因此，解决需求的人的方面的战略包括仔细扫描来自行为和社会科学以及计算机科学的研究结果。结果将是一个框架，探索人类行为在不同设计条件下出现的方式。这些调查的结果将提供新的见解和行动选择，进而为所有人带来更良性的在线体验。O总结大量相关知识：o作为社会危害的初步案例研究，重点放在虚假信息上；o根据该专题的见解，生成其他可应用这些见解的例子；o制定一系列拟议的设计原则，以促进网上亲社会行为。这些服务将具体说明与选定要求相关的应用程序支助服务，如有可能，还包括对因特网本身进行修改的建议；o最后，将摘要翻译成技术人员更易理解(例如，可理解)的形式。随着新一代交互应用(如增强型和/或虚拟现实)的出现，在线体验的真实性、质量和动态化领域将面临不可预见的挑战。通过将计算机、行为和社会科学相结合，这项迫切的拨款下的工作将超越对虚假信息的研究，以确定适用于广泛应用的实际步骤，并将其用于支持开放的公民社会的持续发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。