EAGER: Identifying Barriers and Opportunities for Building SocioTechnical Capital

该项目促进了对“社会技术资本”--通过使用信息和通信技术创造、维持或利用的联系--如何在不同的社会经济群体和人口中发展和使用的科学理解。人们假设，与其他宝贵资源一样，通过计算机创造社会技术资本的机会所带来的好处在社会中的分配是不平等的。例如，似乎在为高薪专业人士(如LinkedIn)构建社交网络工具和在线市场方面投入的精力远远多于为杂工或临时工打造的社交网络工具和在线市场。而为低技能、低承诺工作而存在的在线劳动力市场(如亚马逊机械土耳其人)似乎没有提供一条建立社会技术资本的途径，这可能会带来更稳定、更高工资的工作。这个项目试图了解定制社交网络工具和在线劳动力市场的技术以满足特定社会经济人口需求的前景，例如底特律、密歇根和其他经济衰退城市的人口。该项目将遵循以人为中心的背景调查方法，进行采访和采用一系列“设计探索”的焦点小组。这些调查将考察目前支持就业过程的技术(如LinkedIn、CareerBuilder、oDesk、TaskRabbit和Angie‘s List)，以此作为跳板来确定基本的使用障碍，并为可能特别有用的功能产生想法。在以后的会议中，设计探测器将包括低保真原型，体现在早期会议中产生的特征。最终的结果将是阐明使用技术帮助经济脆弱社区的人们建立、维持和使用社会资本开始攀登经济阶梯的特殊需求、障碍和机会。该项目将调查信息和通信技术如何有助于在特定经济社区内的个人和那些能够在这些社区之外提供就业机会的人之间建立和维护社会和经济桥梁。广泛的影响：该项目将产生广泛的社会影响，为受经济衰退打击最严重的社区提供培养向上流动途径的方法。如果这项研究在使用社交网络工具和在线劳动力市场方面发现了有希望的机会和可以克服的障碍，它将为未来技术和计算机中介方法的设计提供信息，以帮助这些人口更好地繁荣。如果研究发现机会有限或不可逾越的障碍，从业者将知道寻找其他地方，以帮助弱势群体找到必要的社会技术资本。

This project advances a scientific understanding of how "socio-technical capital" - ties that are created, maintained, or exploited through the use of information and communication technologies - is developed and used across different socioeconomic groups and populations. It is hypothesized that, like other valuable resources, the benefits of computer-mediated opportunities for building socio-technical capital are unequally distributed in society. For example, it appears as if far more effort has gone into building social networking tools and online markets for highly paid professionals (such as LinkedIn) than for handymen or day laborers. And online labor markets that exist for low-skill, low-commitment jobs (such as Amazon Mechanical Turk) do not appear to offer a path toward building socio-technical capital that might lead to more-stable, higher-wage jobs.This project seeks to understand the prospects of tailoring the technologies of social networking tools and online labor markets to meet the needs of specific socio-economic populations, such as populations in Detroit, Michigan, and other cities in economic decline. The project will follow a human-centered approach of contextual inquiry, conducting interviews and focus groups employing a range of "design probes". These probes will examine technologies that currently support the employment process (such as LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, ODesk, TaskRabbit, and Angie's List) as a springboard to identify fundamental barriers to usage, and also to generate ideas for features that might be especially useful. In later sessions, design probes will include low-fidelity prototypes embodying features generated in earlier sessions. The end result will be an articulation of the special needs, barriers, and opportunities for using technology to help people in economically vulnerable communities to build, maintain, and use social capital to start moving up the economic ladder. The project will investigate how information and communication technology can help to create and maintain of social and economic bridges between individuals within specific economic communities and people who can provide access to employment opportunities outside of those communities.Broader Impacts: The project will have broad social impact by informing approaches to cultivating pathways to upward mobility in communities hit hardest by economic decline. If the research finds promising opportunities and surmountable barriers to the use of social networking tools and online labor markets, it will inform the design of future technologies and computer-mediated approaches to help these populations better prosper. If the research finds limited opportunities or insurmountable barriers, practitioners will know to look elsewhere to help vulnerable populations find essential socio-technical capital.