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This is my keynote from the WikiSym 2010 meeting in Gdansk, Poland
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The Machine in the Ghost: a Socio-Technical Approach to User-Generated Content ResearchDr. Cliff Lampe
Dept. of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media
Michigan State University
Overall narrative:We need to combine the theories, techniques, and passions of multiple fields to truly understand (and possibly affect) human interaction mediated by information and communication technology. We also need to engage practitioners.
Clifford Arthur Cochise LampeResearcher at Michigan State University
PhD in Information from U of Michigan
Studies
Online communities, Social Media, socio-technical systems, blah, blah blah
Human interaction mediated by Information and Communication Technology
Cliff’s BiasesOne centric jerk
U.S. CentricSocial science centric
Inductive-ishPractice-oriented research
i.e. Technological DeterministMSU as a land grant
Sociotechnical systemsDefinition, examples, totally sweet diagrams
My boiled down definition
Sociotechnical system:The interrelated social and technical aspects of mediated interactions
But really:Don’t get hung up on the definition.
SocialTechnical
sociotechnical
SocialTechnicalsocio
technical
Hardware
Applications
Design
Usability Groups
Organizations
Society
InterpersonalOpenness
Characteristics of sociotechnical systems
Common characteristicsDirect user-to-user interactionMediation
Uncommon characteristicsSize of the social systemSet of ICT toolsTask being supported
Some obvious examples of sociotechnical systems
Sociotechnical systems are the interrelation between technological and human systems.
The science of sociotechnical systems
Consistently multidisciplinary
Leads to multiple methods, multiple theories
Consequently dominated by disciplines that “play ball”
Hard to feed findings/results back into the main disciplines
Hard to bring in new disciplines fully (i.e. the “sucking hind tit” problem)
Some people who helped me think about sociotechnical systems
Lawrence LessigA Dot’s Life
Paul ResnickSociotechnical capital
Mark AckermanSociotechnicalgap
Gary and Judy OlsonDistance Matters
Judith Donath“Signals in Social Supernets”
Barry Wellman“Connecting Community: On- and Off-Line”
Jonathan Grudin“Why groupware applications fail.”
Joe Walther“Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated communication”CommunitylabBob Kraut, Sara Kiesler, Loren Terveen, John Riedl, Joe Konstan, Resnick: communitylab.org
Popular press discussions
A sordid history of sociotechnical systems
I’ve researched
An even more sordid historyof sites I’ve been helping to create
The MSU-INgage Collaboration
Quick aside to reflect on my shameThe following projects are built on proprietary software.
That’s eating me up from the inside.
My university president could care less.
University = bureaucratic organization
The Great Places NetworkIn developmentPartners
Michigan State University Cooperative Extension, The Land Policy InstituteEconomic development in Grand Rapids and the Great Lakes Bay region
GoalHelp local leaders and NGOs create and promote regional economic plans
Michigan Energy Efficiency NetworkIn developmentPartners
Michigan Dept of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth; Office of the Governor, MI Depts of Information Technology, Education, Transportation, Wildlife and Natural Resources
GoalsHelp anchor institutions in Michigan consume less energy, and save money on energy expenditures
Recurring questions
How do we get people to go to this site?
How do we get people to participate on the site?
How do we get them to do X because they were on the site?
Defining the success of STS
System-internal metricsMore common in the history of research in this areaFocuses on a rich set of possible interactions in the systemStill needs much research on the intersection of social and technical systems
System-external metricsAn effect of the wide scale use of STS?Crazy hard to measure.
Example questionsWhat has been the wide-scale effect of Wikipedia been? How much more do people know than they did before the site came along?
For the Michigan Energy Efficiency Network, how much energy is saved as a result of the system? How much money was saved? How many new jobs were created because of this effort?
New jobs, more education, new grant money, less out-migration, better schools, more social capital, more voting, better decisions ETC ETC
The vitality of the online system itself is no longer a
sufficient outcome.
In other words:Can STSs save the world?!* p.s. Let’s hope so...
Nathan EagleUltimately, our research agenda is to determine how we can use these insights to actively improve the lives of the billions of people who generate this data and the societies in which they live.
Keith Hamptoni-Neighbors.org: using ICT to connect support connections in local systems
Kurt DeMaagdSolar-powered, Satellite internet workstations in rural Tanzania, with local copies of Wikipedia
Reid PriedhorskyUsing geo-wikis to create a community of cyclists in Minneapolis
STS Researchers in Action
So what’s the hold up?Challenges to a sociotechnical perspective.
Social science vs. Computer science
The wisdom of XKCD
Social vs. Computer ScientistsSocial Scientists...
Are distant from practice
Don’t understand how tech works
Can’t code
Overly dependent on journals
Computer Scientists...Are technological determinists
Have no theories
Ignorant of applicable social science
Sloppy methods
Social scientists are divorced from practice
i.e. “useless”
This was not always the case
Social scientists of the 30s and 40s were very interested in changing behavior through social science
Lewin, Lippman, Festinger, Milgram
Render unto the practitioner that which is the practitioner’s.
Computer scientists are technological determinists.
Technological determinismThe idea that large historical/sociological changes are caused by changes in technologyThe idea that you can cause change in social structures with a technological intervention
Straw man argumentPretty much everyone agrees it’s a complex interaction
General challenges to academic collaborations
Mixed incentivesJournals or conferences? Books or patents?
(Un)shared vocabulariesFor terms, but also for methods, seminal work, theories, ground knowledge
Competition for limited resourcesWho gets credit for what? Who manages the budgets? Are we helping them poach our turf?
Few opportunities to interactCocktail hours every term don’t cut it
But it’s even harder than that...We also have to get the practitioners on board
The ecology of STS in action
Who do we need to get real change from online interactions?
Social and technology researchersPractitioners
Site designersentrepreneurspolicy expertssubject expertsmarketers/advertiserseducatorsend users
Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration Challenges
Different cultures
Includes different languages, relational norms, communication styles, etc.
Different goals
Are we doing research, or getting the project accomplished? What if you have to pick between the two?
Unmatched incentives
The sweet dangling hook of tenure vs. reputation or pay. Journal publications vs. active sites.
How to encourage this approachWays to combine the efforts of researchers in multiple fields, STS practitioners, and more general audiences.
Phenomena-based research
Phenomena-based research
BenefitsBrings multiple perspectives to playEasier discovery process
RisksGeneralizability
ExamplesAoIR, CSCW, F/OSS, Communities and Technologies, FooCamp etc.
Workshops
Funding pressure to collaborateExisting opportunities
Cross-disciplinary requirements in large grantsComputing Innovation Fellows ProgramSupported Workshops
e.g. Technology Mediated Social Participation
Potential opportunitiesPaid academic internships
But...Hard to do across bordersDominated by core disciplines/locations
Practitioners and researchers making sweet STS love
PractitionersCan help by making data and experience availableNeed to articulate their needs and interests
ResearchersCan help by explaining the interactions taking place in STSsNeed to work harder to show the value of that work
Examples of sort of successSourceforge, Wikipedia, Twitter
How to make it happenMixed events like WikiSym, CHI, other ACM conferences
But how to get the core social sciences involved?Sabbaticals
Industry sabbaticals need to be rewarded in new waysAdjunct positions for practitioners
Not just for teachingFunding for practitioner participation
Need to be included in academic grantsSpecific project partnerships between the two
not just talks in corporate settings, but actual problems to take on
These collaborations are difficult, but they will be worth it.
Final Thoughts
Take-awaysCombine social and technical approachesCombine efforts of researchers and practitioners
Thanks!WikiSym, for the invitation, Phoebe Ayers for kicking ass
[email protected]: @clifflampe