The value of visualizing shared rationales for identifying hidden profiles in virtual group decision-making

当人们想到一个群体聚在一起做决定时，一个普遍的看法是，群体讨论使成员能够将他们不同的知识汇集在一起，因此群体做出比个人更明智的决定。与这种普遍的看法相反，小组成员倾向于汇集和讨论共同的信息，而留下独特的信息。由于这种信息汇集现象，要求群体将唯一信息汇集在一起的正确决策不能被群体识别，因此被称为“隐藏简档”。虚拟群体的决策活动更容易受到隐藏的配置文件问题，因为它比面对面的群体更精简的通信介质。该研究试图解决虚拟群体决策中的隐藏配置文件问题，通过探索虚拟隐藏配置文件任务中共享和可视化群体成员理性的价值。具体而言，两个协作应用程序将被设计和实施，以提供共享的理据的协作可视化，使用两种可视化机制，即，基于作者和基于信息的机制。可视化技术的有效性将通过一个实验室控制的研究，其中虚拟组将进行一个隐藏的配置文件任务在三个条件下：即时通讯（IM）只，IM +基于作者的可视化机制的协作应用程序，IM +基于信息的可视化机制的协作应用程序。在这项研究中开发的协作应用程序将访问群件研究人员和公众。虽然在短期内，研究将集中在共享和可视化的群体成员的理由在解决隐藏的档案问题的价值，未来的研究将着眼于他们的价值在虚拟群体的知识建设，知识管理和集体智慧。

When people think of a group getting together to make a decision, a common perception is that group discussion enables the members to pool their diverse knowledge together so the group makes a more informed decision than individuals. Contrary to this common belief, group members tend to pool and discuss common information while leaving unique information behind. As a result of this information pooling phenomenon, the correct decision that requires the group to pool together the unique information together cannot be identified by the group, hence is called the "hidden profile". Virtual group decision-making activities are more vulnerable to the hidden profiles problem because of its leaner communication media compared to face-to-face groups. The proposed research attempts to address the hidden profiles problem in virtual group decision-making by exploring the value of sharing and visualizing group members' rationales in a virtual hidden profile task. Specifically, two collaborative applications will be designed and implemented to provide the collaborative visualization of the shared rationales, using two visualization mechanisms, namely, author-based and information-based mechanisms. The effectiveness of the visualization techniques will be examined through a lab controlled study where virtual groups will conduct a hidden profile task under three conditions: Instant Messenger (IM) only, IM + the collaborative application with author-based visualization mechanism, and IM + collaborative application with information-based visualization mechanism. The collaborative applications developed in this research will be made accessible to groupware researchers and public. While in the short term, the research will focus on the value of sharing and visualizing the group members' rationales in addressing the hidden profiles problem, future research will look at the their value in virtual group's knowledge building, knowledge management, and collective intelligence.