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

lampecli@msu.edutwitter: @clifflampe