Sociality, Community and Productivity in Virtual Citizen Science
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Southampton Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering Web Science Sociality, Community and Productivity in Virtual Citizen Science Neal Reeves Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2018 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy SOCIALITY, COMMUNITY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN VIRTUAL CITIZEN SCIENCE Neal Reeves Virtual Citizen Science describes web-based crowdsourcing activities which recruit volunteers to complete microtasks for scientific research. VCS methodologies have been applied to diverse research challenges, from identifying neurons in MRI-scan images of the optic nerve, to morphologically classifying images of galaxies. Initiat- ives generally rely on participants' intrinsic motivations to encourage contributions, but increasingly designers are turning to additional mechanisms { including the use of online community features and discussion platforms such as forums. However, the influence of these features on participant engagement are still poorly under- stood. Drawing on a pragmatist, mixed-methods approach, this thesis explores the relationship between these social features within task and discussion elements of projects, to understand the influence of such features on volunteer productivity and project efficiency. A literature review of five transdisciplinary databases was conducted to identify design principles, motivations and social features associated with VCS approaches. This was then followed with a review of 48 VCS projects, to better understand the online community features within current VCS initiatives. To understand and clarify these findings, interviews were conducted with six mem- bers of the EyeWire project design team. Analysis of competitions in EyeWire demonstrated a relationship between task sociality and increased productivity and activity within the project. Finally, an analysis of two high-pressure VCS projects explores how periods of heavy productivity affect discussion activity. This research contributes to the understanding of motivational factors and design affordances within Virtual Citizen Science and similar crowdsourcing initiatives. Contents Abstract 3 List of Tables 11 List of Figures 13 Declaration of Authorship 17 Acknowledgements 19 1 Introduction 21 1.1 Research Questions . 24 1.2 Research Contributions . 25 1.3 Research Scope and Generalisability of Findings . 26 1.4 Structure . 28 2 Background 31 2.1 Citizen Science . 31 2.2 Online Communities . 38 2.3 Collective Action . 41 2.4 Gamification . 42 2.5 Crowdsourcing . 45 2.6 Social Machines . 47 2.7 Distributed Cognition . 49 2.8 Actor-Network Theory . 50 3 Methodological Approach 53 3.1 Mixed Methods . 53 3.2 Pragmatism . 55 3.3 Experimental Design . 57 3.4 Project Selection . 58 5 6 3.5 Study Data and Methodologies - Qualitative Methods . 59 3.5.1 Systematic Literature Review . 60 3.5.2 Project Survey . 66 3.5.3 Interview . 70 3.6 Study Data and Methodologies - Quantitative Methods . 74 3.6.1 Hypothesis Testing . 75 3.6.2 Effect Size . 76 3.6.3 Correlation Coefficients . 78 3.6.4 Data Extraction . 81 3.7 Summary and Conclusions . 85 4 Characterising Virtual Citizen Science 89 4.1 Further Clarification of Scope . 90 4.2 Theme Selection . 91 4.3 Literature Results . 92 4.4 Tasks and Assets . 96 4.5 Design Challenges . 104 4.5.1 Accuracy and Data Quality . 105 4.5.2 Maximising Contributions . 108 4.5.3 Participant Recruitment . 110 4.5.4 Participant Retention . 112 4.6 Volunteer Motivations . 113 4.6.1 Altruism . 114 4.6.2 Intrinsic Motives . 116 4.6.3 Extrinsic Motives and Rewards . 117 4.6.4 Gamification and Game Elements . 118 4.6.5 Collective and Community Motives . 119 4.6.6 Competition . 120 4.6.7 Sociality and Interaction . 121 4.6.8 Feedback and Learning . 122 4.6.9 Technology and Web-Specific Motives . 123 4.6.10 Reputation and Recognition . 123 4.7 Engagement and Activity . 124 4.8 Sociality and Interaction . 127 7 4.8.1 Forms of Interaction . 127 4.8.2 Motivation for and Engagement with Discussion . 129 4.8.3 Relation to Task . 132 4.9 Discussion { Characterising VCS Engagement . 133 4.10 Summary and Conclusions . 135 5 Online Community Features Within VCS 137 5.1 Task Visibility . 139 5.2 Goals . 141 5.3 Feedback . 144 5.4 Rewards . 149 5.5 Discussion . 152 5.5.1 Comparison with Chapter 4 Results . 154 5.6 Summary and Conclusions . 158 6 Understanding the Design Process 159 6.1 Project Context { EyeWire . 160 6.2 Themes and Heading Categorisation . 161 6.3 Project Needs and Success . 163 6.3.1 Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness . 163 6.3.2 Fun and Engagement . 166 6.3.3 Public Dissemination and Awareness . 169 6.4 Volunteer Motivations . 171 6.4.1 Altruism . 171 6.4.2 Intrinsic Factors . 173 6.4.3 Social and Community Factors . 176 6.4.4 Extrinsic Factors and Rewards . 178 6.5 Online Community Framework . 180 6.5.1 Task Visibility . 180 6.5.2 Goals . 182 6.5.3 Feedback . 186 6.5.4 Rewards . 187 6.6 The Role of Sociality . 189 6.6.1 Game Management . 190 6.6.2 Enabling Tasks . 191 8 6.6.3 Relationship with Productivity . 192 6.7 Discussion . 194 6.8 Summary and Conclusions . 198 7 Competitions { Sociality Within Task 201 7.1 Competition Types . 202 7.1.1 Hypotheses . 205 7.1.2 Correlation and Causation . 215 7.2 Statistical Analysis . 215 7.2.1 Participation . 223 7.2.2 Player Numbers . 223 7.2.3 Cube Contributions and Productivity . 224 7.2.4 Chat and Additional Tasks . 225 7.3 Discussion . 225 7.4 Summary and Conclusions . 232 8 Sociality and Productivity { High Pressure Projects 233 8.1 Project Contexts . 235 8.2 Descriptive Statistics . 236 8.3 Contributions Over Time . 237 8.4 Correlation Between Talk and Task . 240 8.5 Distribution of Effort . 242 8.6 Hypothesis Testing . 244 8.6.1 Hypothesis Formation . 245 8.6.2 Hypothesis Testing Results . 249 8.7 Discussion . 250 8.8 Summary and Conclusions . 253 9 Discussion and Conclusions 255 9.1 Summary of Contributions . 255 9.1.1 Transdisciplinary Literature Review . 256 9.1.2 Project Survey . 257 9.1.3 Interview Sessions . 258 9.1.4 Competition Analysis . 259 9.1.5 High Productivity Project Analysis . 260 9.2 Synthesis of Findings . 260 9 9.2.1 The Nature of VCS . 260 9.2.2 Online Community Features in VCS . 261 9.2.3 Sociality and Productivity . 263 9.2.4 VCS as Collective Action . 265 9.3 Limitations and Future Work . 267 9.4 Concluding Remarks . 269 References 273 Appendix A Round One Literature Review Results 299 A.1 Applications . 299 A.2 Irrelevant Citizen Science Topics . 301 A.3 Irrelevant - Not Citizen Science . 301 A.4 Methodologies . 306 A.5 My Publications ..