Paul Zube

Crowdsourcing civility: A natural experiment examining the effects of distributed moderation in online forums

Abstract Participation in discussions about the public interest can be enhanced by technology, but can also create an environment in which participants are overwhelmed by the quantity, quality, and diversity of information and arguments. Political participation is at a greater disadvantage than non-political activities in that participants from different parties already start out with established differences, which requires them to reach some form of common ground before progress can be made. Those seeking authentic deliberation are discouraged to participate when confronted with uncivil and inflammatory rhetoric. These issues are often exacerbated in online discussions, where lack of identity cues and low barriers to entry can lead to heightened incivility between participants, often labeled as “flaming” and “trolling”. This paper explores the extent to which moderator systems, tools online discussion forums use to manage contributions, can reduce information overload and encourage civil conversations in virtual discussion spaces. Using the popular website Slashdot as an example of sound moderation in a public discourse setting, we found that users move toward consensus about which and how comments deserve to be moderated. Using these findings, we explore how transferable these systems are for participation in public matters specifically to the unique attributes of political discussion. Slashdots political forum provides a comparison group that allowed us to find quantitative and qualitative differences in political posting, comments, and moderation. Our results show that large scale, civil participation is possible with a distributed moderation system that enables regularly lively debates to be conducted positively because the system provides tools for people to enforce norms of civility.

CITIZEN JOURNALISM SITES AS INFORMATION SUBSTITUTES AND COMPLEMENTS FOR UNITED STATES NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

A content analysis of 48 citizen journalism sites, 86 weekly newspapers and 138 daily newspapers indicates that citizen journalism sites differed enough in six local government content attributes to conclude that citizen journalism sites are, at best, imperfect information substitutes for most newspapers. However, the data also indicate that some large-city citizen journalism sites complement newspapers by increasing the number of news stories and the amount of opinion available about local government. The results also found differences between citizen news sites and citizen blog sites. Few citizen journalism sites outside of large metropolitan cities covered local government.

Toward A Model of Sources of Influence in Online Education: Cognitive Learning and the Effects of Web 2.0

To explore the integration of education processes into social media, we tested an initial model of student learning via interactive web tools and theorized three sources of influence: interpersonal, intrapersonal, and masspersonal. Three-hundred thirty-seven students observed an online lecture and then completed a series of scales. Structural equation modeling supported several individual hypotheses and partially supported the overall model. Findings indicated that instructor credibility has a significant positive effect on content area knowledge, whereas social identification with online colearners has a negative effect on learning outcomes. Findings are discussed with respect to both theoretical and practical implications of the integration of interactive media as a classroom resource.

Classroom Wikipedia participation effects on future intentions to contribute

One of the biggest challenges faced by social media sites like Wikipedia is how to motivate users to contribute content. Research continues to demonstrate that only a small percentage of users contribute to user-generated content sites. In this study we assess the results of a Wikimedia Foundation initiative, which had graduate and undergraduate students from 22 U.S. universities contribute content to Wikipedia articles as part of their coursework. 185 students were asked about their participation in the initiative and their intention to participate on Wikipedia in the future. Results suggest that intentions to continue contributing are influenced by the initial attitude towards the class, and the degree to which students perceived they were writing for a global audience.

How Radio News Uses Sources to Cover Local Government News and Factors Affecting Source Use

This study of source use in news coverage of local governments by 198 radio stations indicates that radio news stories had fewer and less diverse sources than daily newspaper stories. The differences in source use between radio and weekly newspaper stories were not as great. Predictor variables related to source use indicated that local government stories from publicly supported and TV–radio cross-owned radio stations included more sources and more diverse sources than found in stories from other types of stations. Radio news competition was slightly and positively correlated with greater numbers of sources and source diversity.

Dailies Still Do 'Heavy Lifting' in Government News, despite Cuts

This content analysis finds that daily newspapers continue to inform citizens about important government matters, despite cuts in resources. Articles in dailies contain more sources with greater diversity than do articles in weeklies.

Network Autocorrelation of Task Performance via Informal Communication Within a Virtual World

Network autocorrelation occurs when individuals receive assistance from others which regulates their own behavior, and it can be used to explain how group members may improve their task performance. This study explored how network autocorrelation, via informal communication within a virtual group, affected an individual’s task achievement in the online game World of Warcraft. Informal interactions between guild members during a 4-year period were collected and analyzed to assess how informal interactions with other group members affected an individual’s in-game achievement. Findings indicate informal communication from other group members (specifically the experience and helpfulness of the other members) positively predict an individual’s task performance, while tenure with the group negatively predict individual achievement. Findings are discussed with respect to network analysis and influence in online groups.

Connecting Real and Virtual Neighbors: The Interplay between Physical Space, Civic Journalism, and Online Community

Unlike most of the literature surveying the proliferation and increased usage of social media in society at large, this study analyzes the potential of blogs to mobilize local communities. It focuses on blogging in the context of a geographic locality and describes a participatory action research project in inner city Detroit built around the “Going Home” blog hosted by The Detroit News. The results of the project demonstrate that blogging can be used as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization. United by positive feelings towards the neighborhood, geographically separated social groups of current and former residents connected online, shared sentiments and information, and combined their efforts to bring about positive social change in the physical community.

Commentary about Government Both Broad, Diverse

A study of editorials, columns and letters about local government in dailies and weeklies shows the range available is both broad and diverse, an outcome consistent with the goals of the Hutchins Commission as well as that of the journalism community.