Editing Zooniverse research (2016-2017 archive)
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Playground for Jim, Darren, and Aaron to build up a project analyzing volunteer management in [http://zooniverse.org the Zooniverse]. | Playground for Jim, Darren, and Aaron to build up a project analyzing volunteer management in [http://zooniverse.org the Zooniverse]. | ||
== | == Action items for next meeting == | ||
* | * Slack Zooniverse devs about getting data (JM) | ||
* Revive the Wiki (JM) | |||
* Start constructing data tables from Ouroboros data (JM) | |||
== Goals == | == Goals == | ||
'''Winter 2017''' | '''Winter 2017''' | ||
* | * Start building data tables from existing Ouroboros data. | ||
* Build up theoretical framework | * Build up theoretical framework and argumentation for models | ||
* | * Model data to analyze communication and productivity | ||
* Think about publishing to CSCW 2017 (April) as a stretch goal | |||
'''Fall 2016''' | |||
* Aquire Panoptes data (either dump or API access from Zooniverse developers (Adam and Marten) | |||
'''Spring 2016''' | |||
* Fully developed planning document including a thorough analysis plan. | |||
* A cleaned up dataset (variables and measures that we can model; not just raw database records). | |||
== Preliminary Project Overview == | |||
'''Understanding Effective Leadership and Volunteer Engagement in Citizen Science''' | |||
'''Rationale:''' | |||
Prior research investigating the mechanisms of effective crowd work and citizen science has focused on volunteer/worker motivations, algorithmic and computational techniques for quality control/improvement, and task/incentive design. Despite a number of findings indicating that the patterns of interaction between requesters and volunteers/workers shape participant experiences and work contributions in important ways, these interactions remain largely unexplored as a domain of analysis, design, and intervention. This is arguably an especially important design space in the context of citizen science, where "the crowd" consists entirely of volunteers and poor volunteer management or relations would likely result in complete project failure. | |||
As task requesters in citizen science are scientists who perform important leadership functions for the project as a whole, we draw on prior literature analyzing effective leadership in volunteer online communities. Several studies by Haiyi Zhu and colleagues in the context of peer production show that "shared leadership" behaviors increase newcomer motivation and participation along multiple dimensions, but may adversely affect experienced participant motivation and participation. | |||
This study will contribute a comparative analysis of requester-volunteer interactions in a sample of citizen science projects from within the Zooniverse platform. Building on literature on crowd work, citizen science, and studies of effective leadership in online communities and peer production, we construct models to test whether shared leadership behaviors lead to enhanced citizen scientist engagement. | |||
'''Analytic approach:''' | |||
Use observational data drawn from Zooniverse database records to build variables and multilevel models that test whether science team member behaviors and science team - volunteer interactions consistent with shared leadership predict increased volunteer engagement and higher quality contributions. <more details needed here> | |||
'''Dependent variables (all nested within projects):''' | |||
*Count of volunteer contributions | |||
*Median/total quality of contributions (using gold-standard data where available) | |||
*Volunteer survival rate: time on zooniverse platform, completed project (0/1) | |||
*Number of active volunteers throughout project? | |||
*Risk of highly negative interactions between volunteers and science team members (if we can identify these) | |||
**from my observations I have yet to find these. | |||
**these seems like an independent, not a dependent variable | |||
== Dimensions of Analysis == | |||
=== Theory === | |||
'''shared leadership (from Zhu et al.)''' | |||
*transactional (positive feedback) | |||
*aversive (negative feedback) | |||
*directive (directive message) | |||
*person focused (social message) | |||
''' Group Identity (from Ren et al.)''' | |||
* identity attachment to group within the community | |||
* bond based attachment to individual members | |||
* attachment to the large community | |||
''' Network Exchange Patters (from Faraj & Johnson) ''' | |||
* direct reciporcity | |||
* indirect reciprocity | |||
* preferential attachment | |||
'''social Q&A?''' | |||
=== Folk-knowledge === | |||
*building a great project | |||
**built in cooperation with volunteers. | |||
**discuss your research goals (especially on project page) | |||
**two way communication--volunteer testing | |||
*the launch rush | |||
**Write a newsletter. | |||
**have a promotion plan, recruit from outside zooniverse | |||
**use talk during initial launch | |||
**moderators for talk | |||
*in for the long hall | |||
**reminder emails | |||
**create community--more commitment from volunteers involved in talk | |||
**positive feedback, report on accomplishments | |||
=== Observations === | |||
* information seeking | |||
== Data and measures we want == | |||
* Users for every project we study | |||
** Account creation date / project | |||
** Projects active in | |||
** Tags for various roles (participant, moderator, science team, zooniverse employee) | |||
*** Dates roles acquired/dropped | |||
== Resources & Links == | == Resources & Links == | ||
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== Meeting logs == | == Meeting logs == | ||
=== 01-27-17 === | === 01-27-17 === | ||
Jim and Aaron discussed project goals for the winter and spring quarters, including analytical goals, timelines, and publishing strategies. The project will analyze communication between scientists and volunteers, and the effect/association with productivity. Moving forward, Aaron will work up the theoretical framing, and Jim will wrangle the data. | Jim and Aaron discussed project goals for the winter and spring quarters, including analytical goals, timelines, and publishing strategies. The project will analyze communication between scientists and volunteers, and the effect/association with productivity. Moving forward, Aaron will work up the theoretical framing, and Jim will wrangle the data. | ||
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=== 08-02-16 === | === 08-02-16 === | ||
Met with Zooniverse Researchers to discuss project proposal and data acquisition. See [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k8mF-UzZlfJyJrods79ZHgJgRk27Xr_2okBxZJF01aw/edit?usp=sharing Jim's Notes from meeting w/ Zooniverse] | Met with Zooniverse Researchers to discuss project proposal and data acquisition. See [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k8mF-UzZlfJyJrods79ZHgJgRk27Xr_2okBxZJF01aw/edit?usp=sharing Jim's Notes from meeting w/ Zooniverse] | ||
=== 06-23-2016 === | === 06-23-2016 === |