Daphne Ruth Raban

Predictors of answer quality in online Q&A sites

Question and answer (Q&A) sites such as Yahoo! Answers are places where users ask questions and others answer them. In this paper, we investigate predictors of answer quality through a comparative, controlled field study of responses provided across several online Q&A sites. Along with several quantitative results concerning the effects of factors such as question topic and rhetorical strategy, we present two high-level messages. First, you get what you pay for in Q&A sites. Answer quality was typically higher in Google Answers (a fee-based site) than in the free sites we studied, and paying more money for an answer led to better outcomes. Second, we find that a Q&A sites community of users contributes to its success. Yahoo! Answers, a Q&A site where anybody can answer questions, outperformed sites that depend on specific individuals to answer questions, such as library reference services.

Studying Gamification: The Effect of Rewards and Incentives on Motivation

Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts to encourage a desired type of behavior. In recent years gamification systems have been applied in marketing as well as non-business contexts such as politics, health, or interactive systems and education.

User-Centered Evaluation of Information: A Research Challenge

Purpose - This paper sets out to present the concept of the value of information, review the descriptive, rational, social and behavioral approaches for assessing the value of information, and explain why user-centered rather than information-centered evaluations are the most relevant. Design/methodology/approach - The paper starts by highlighting the main facets and market characteristics which influence the value of information. Next, four approaches to assessing the value of information are explained, including a discussion of advantages and limitations of each approach. The approaches reviewed include descriptive, rational, social and behavioral research. Finally, an information value assessment recommendation is given and a theoretical framework is offered. Findings - The descriptive approach is useful in raising new angles for theory development. The rational approach assumes that the value is inherent in information and offers models that describe how information should be valued. The social perspective suggests that markets are enhanced by social activity. The behavioral aspect teaches that value perception changes by person and circumstance and is a key influence on information markets. Originality/value - This paper offers a concentrated multi-dimensional theoretical basis on a topic of central importance to anyone interested in Internet research, information consumption and production. Theory offered here constitutes a basis for a large number of potential empirical research endeavors.

Testing social theories in computer-mediated communication through gaming and simulation

Information is a critical component of commercial transactions. Our games, the LEMONADE STAND and HULIA, and simulation, AUCTION SIMULATION, represent a variety of computerized commercial situations where information may be actively shared or traded or passively available as part of the transaction. These games and simulation served as research tools for testing a variety of social theories aiming to offer some explanations for information behavior in online spaces and its subsequent effect on the commercial transactions taking place. We demonstrate, using the analytical sciences approach, how computerized games and simulations are used to study and validate theoretical constructs in networked environments. Validating a variety of theories using three different artifacts, while acknowledging their strengths and limitations, shows promise for the continued development of games and simulations as important instruments for the analytical sciences approach.

Empirical evidence of information overload constraining chat channel community interactions

Prior work has demonstrated that the impact of individual information-processing limits can be observed in dynamics of mass interaction in asynchronous collaborative systems (Usenet newsgroups and email lists). Here we present the first evidence of such impacts on synchronous social interaction environments through the analysis of an Internet Relay Chat network. We highlight how shared public discourse in chat channels appears to be limited to 40 posters in any 20 minute interval, even as the number of channel users increases well into the hundreds. We discuss our findings in terms of understanding the relationship between online community space types and the user interaction dynamics they support.

Statistical Inference from Power Law Distributed Web-Based Social Interactions

Purpose – to propose a method for statistical inference on data from power law distributions in order to explain behavior and social phenomena associated with web-based social spaces such as discussion forums, question-and-answer sites, web 2.0 applications and the like. Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts by highlighting the importance of explaining behavior in social networks. Next, the power law nature of social interactions is described and a hypothetical example is used to explain why analyzing sub-sets of data might misrepresent the relationship between variables having power law distributions. Analysis requires the use of the complete distribution. We propose logarithmic transformation prior to correlation and regression analysis and show why it works using the hypothetical example and field data retrieved from Microsofts Netscan project. Findings – The hypothetical example emphasizes the importance of analyzing complete datasets harvested from social spaces. The Netscan example shows the importance of the logarithmic transformation for enabling the development of a predictive regression model based on the power law distributed data. Specifically, we show that the number of new and returning participants are the main predictors of discussion forum activity. Originality/value – This paper offers a useful analysis tool for anyone interested in social aspects of the Internet as well as corporate intra-net systems, knowledge management systems or other systems which support social interaction such as cellular phones and mobile devices. It also explains how to avoid errors by paying attention to assumptions and range restriction issues.

Acting or reacting? Preferential attachment in a people-tagging system

Social technologies tend to attract research on social structure or interaction. In this paper we analyze the individual use of a social technology, specifically an enterprise people-tagging application. We focus on active participants of the system and distinguish between users who initiate activity and those who respond to activity. This distinction is situated within the preferential attachment theory in order to examine which type of participant contributes more to the process of tagging. We analyze the usage of the people-tagging application in a snapshot representing 3 years of activity, focusing on self-tagging compared to tagging by and of others. The main findings are: (1) People who tag themselves are the most productive contributors to the system. (2) Preferential attachment saturation is reached at 12–14 tags per user. (3) The nature of participation is more significant than the number of participants for system growth. The paper concludes with theoretical and practical implications.

Impression formation in corporate people tagging

This research explores the relationship between self-presentation and perception by others as manifested explicitly through the use of tags in a people tagging system. The study provides insights relevant for the organizational context since it is based on a system implemented within IBM. We developed a detailed codebook and used it to categorize 9,506 tags assigned to a sample of taggers. Our analysis examines the use of self tags versus social tags (assigned by others) across different categories and sub-categories. While overlap exists, self tags tend to be more factual describing technology expertise, social tags augment the individual tags by adding a personal dimension.

Designing Online Information Aggregation and Prediction Markets for MBA Courses

At our School of Management, novel Internet-based tools are employed in order to enrich the instruction of theoretical aspects of decision making with hands-on experience and expose the students to these unique tools. One example is the incorporation of online Information Markets that use the financial markets mechanism as an information aggregation and processing engine. In this case the underlying asset is a statement to be evaluated or an event to be forecasted. The resulting market price reflects the traders’ collective opinion as to the events probability of occurring or the statement to be corrected. In class, three types of preconceived markets are implemented in order to expose the students to the versatility of the tool: prediction markets, information aggregation markets, and opinion markets. The hands-on activity was found to be essential for enhancing the understanding of this complex topic, and it added interest and excitement to the lessons. Furthermore, by surfacing opinions and attitudes of the students, this activity can assist in improving instruction processes and in-class dialogue. The development of an effective teaching environment required a substantial investment in time, but the direct monetary costs were relatively low.

Hello Stranger! A Study of Introductory Communication Structure and Social Match Success

Social matching systems recommend people to people. One of the key challenges such systems face is how to build introduction mechanisms that minimize privacy concerns, while maximizing the chance of successful introductions. Another challenge is to design systems that are suitable for mobile devices. We explored the relationship between introduction success and four communication interfaces: 1) a simple chat interface, 2) a restrictive profile exchange interface, 3) a hybrid of the two with temporary profile information, and 4) a hybrid of the two with full profile information. Our findings show that the restrictive profile, which is suitable for mobile devices, supported a comparable level of willingness-to-meet as did the other conditions but it did so in a considerably shorter time. Users preferred the UI of the fourth condition which suggests a future development direction for introduction system user interfaces. We discuss the implications of this finding for design of mobile social-matching applications