Tammara Combs Turner

Picturing Usenet: Mapping Computer-Mediated Collective Action

Usenet is a complex socio-technical phenomenon, containing vast quantities of information. The sheer scope and complexity make it a challenge to understand the many dimensions across which people and communication are interlinked. In this work, we present visualizations of several aspects and scales of Usenet that combine to highlight the range of variation found in newsgroups. We examine variations within hierarchies, newsgroups, authors, and social networks. We find a remarkable diversity, with clear variations that mark starting points for mapping the broad sweep of behavior found in this and other social cyberspaces. Our findings provide the basis for initial recommendations for those cultivating, managing, contributing, or consuming collectively constructed conversational content.

Assessing differential usage of usenet social accounting meta-data

We describe a usage study of NetscanTech, a system that generates and publishes daily a range of social metrics across three dimensions: newsgroup, author, and thread, for a set of approximately 15,000 technical newsgroups in Usenet. We bring together three interlinked datasets: survey data, usage log data and social accounting data from Usenet participation, to triangulate the relationship between various user roles and differential usage of social metrics in NetscanTech. We found our most frequent users focused on information related to individual authors far more than any other information provided. In contrast, users that visited less frequently focused more on information related to newsgroups and viewing newsgroup metrics. Our results suggest features that designers and developers of online communities may wish to include in their interfaces to support the cultivation of different community roles.

Scanning objects in the wild: assessing an object triggered information system

We describe the results of a field deployment of the AURA system which links online content to physical objects through machine readable tags. AURA runs on commercially available pocket computers using integrated bar-code scanners, wireless networks, and web services. We conducted a real world deployment with twenty participants over five weeks. The results from our field study illustrate the importance of moving beyond demonstrations and testing system design assumptions in the real world, as our field study highlighted several places that our seemingly reasonable design assumption did not match with real usage. Our experience deploying AURA highlighted several key features for mobile object triggered information systems including handling groups of items and a robust offline experience.

A survey of personal and household scheduling

We describe results from a survey of employees at Microsoft about how they manage personal and household scheduling. We saw a much greater use of digital calendars than we expected. Of our 621 respondents, 51% (317) used their digital calendar at work as the calendar where most of their personal and household events were recorded, while 38% (233) of respondents primarily used paper calendars. We discuss reasons respondents gave for choosing a particular type of calendar as well as challenges faced by respondents in scheduling events for themselves and their households.

The Impact of Social Types within Information Communities: Findings from Technical Newsgroups

We explored whether Fisher and Durrance’s [11] framework of information communities applies to online technical newsgroups and the impact of particular social types on information flow within digital economy. Data collection methods included content analysis of discussion threads from six technical newsgroups over an eighteen month period, along with focus groups, participant observation and interviews with key informants, and analysis of quantitative data obtained from Microsoft Research’s Netscan project. Findings support and expand the information communities framework. Four social types were identified: (1) members, (2) mentors, (3) managers and (4) moguls. Newsgroups facilitated social and information exchanges among individuals from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and geographic locations as they posted and replied to messages publicly available for viewing. The interaction of the social types within the communities thus fostered information flow as people solicited, disseminated and exchanged information on varied topics.

Object auras: a mobile retail and product annotation system

In this paper, we describe a system used to link physical objects to online content implemented with commercially available pocket computers using bar code scanners, wireless networks, and web services. We describe sample applications built with the system for objects like books, music, packaged goods, and art works as well as a related web application that facilitates the creation of communities around objects scanned by the handhelds. Finally, we suggest several scenarios for uses of these kinds of devices and the possible sociological and commercial implications.

Social types and personas: Typologies of persons on the web and designing for predictable behaviors

Whether we call them “users,” “participants,” or just “actors,” a focus of information science research and practice is invariably human beings. While user studies have grown in scope and volume since the early ARIST chapters in the 1960s, few researchers have approached study populaces from the perspective of social types. A concept with a long and somewhat sordid history in the social sciences, particularly sociology, as Almog (1998) explains referencing the works of Parker, Simmel, Goffman, Klapp, Becker, and other luminaries, social types in essence refer to: A sociological summary of the typical characteristics of a particular group or of a category of human beings usually recognized and typed by the public and often granted a nickname. This group or category may be a secondary group, a community, a profession, a subculture, a status group, a class or a generation unit that is characterized by its look (physical, fashionable or both), life style and philosophy, pattern of interaction (particularly linguistic), attitudes and certain psychological traits.