The Role of Information Visibility in Network Gatekeeping: Information Aggregation on Reddit during Crisis Events Alex Leavitt John J. Robinson Annenberg School for Human Centered Design & Communication & Journalism, Engineering DUB Group, University of Southern California University of Washington [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT easier, the visibility of information continues to be a As social media platforms witness more and more practical – and theoretical – issue, not only for people contributions from participants during developing crisis finding information but also for people producing events, some platforms provide affordances that support information during crisis events. For designers as well as visibility for specific pieces of information. However, the users, it is important to know how information visibility design of information visibility, especially in the context of impacts how these contributors do their work. controlling information flows (through gatekeeping), may shape how participants collect and share up-to-date Visibility therefore may be a crucial factor in information information in these systems. This paper looks at the field flows. One lens that provides insight into control over site of reddit.com through trace ethnography methods to information production processes is the concept of understand how the design of reddit’s platform (from “gatekeeping” [3,46,47,63], where particular actors algorithms to user roles) impacts the visibility of (“gatekeepers”) permit or restrict certain information as it information and subsequently how participants aggregate passes through “gates” in the process of reaching audiences information in response to ongoing events. Through trace (the “gated”). Contemporary analyses of gatekeeping such ethnographic analysis, we illustrate three themes related to as “network gatekeeping” [3,4] have extended traditional tensions around visibility – behavioral, structural, and theories of information flows in cases where ordinary relational – and show how visibility shapes the work of participants – such as those in social media platforms – act producing information about crises in social news sites. as both information producer (“gatekeeper”) and consumer (“gated”) and interact with others who may have variable Author Keywords gatekeeping abilities. Network gatekeeping theories touch Network gatekeeping; visibility; crisis communication; briefly on or usually evade issues of system design, and aggregation; breaking news; information flows; trace only some literature in CSCW captures the importance and ethnography influence of information visibility. Notably, “social ACM Classification Keywords translucence” argues that people have a sophisticated H.5.3. Computer-supported cooperative work understanding of the visibility of social actions in the production of information [17], and focusing on how people INTRODUCTION understand the visibility of information may change the In crisis situations, such as earthquakes, shootings, and way that people use these systems. Especially when other natural and man-made emergencies, finding useful scholars have shown that engagement on social media information remains a difficult yet critical problem. platforms derives from access to particular pieces of However, as social media adoption increases and more information over others (i.e., visibility, such as retweets, people share information during ongoing crisis events, reblogs, trending topics, promoted content, etc.), theories surges of information make finding information more about information flows should recognize the tensions that difficult. Though some online sociotechnical systems have designs introduce to the visibility, consumers, and designed affordances to make finding particular information producers of crisis information. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or This paper therefore presents data on the impact of classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full information visibility on how crisis communicators citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others contribute information and how this evidence helps us than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy rethink the role of information visibility in system design otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]. theory. In particular, it presents the concerns about and CSCW '17, February 25-March 01, 2017, Portland, OR, USA conflicts around visibility for participants who aggregate Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM. ACM 978-1-4503-4335-0/17/03 $15.00 and respond to information produced in reaction to crisis DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2998181.2998299 events within the particular genre of social media platforms called “social news sites.” Social news sites, like reddit, Gatekeeping Digg, and Slashdot, rely on the network of users to vote on Gatekeeping describes forms of control in information individual pieces of user-generated content, which are then systems, where “the process by which the billions of algorithmically ranked and displayed to readers, most often messages that are available in the world get cut down and with the highest-voted links, media, etc. appearing at the transformed into the hundreds of messages that reach a top of the page [26,27,29,33,43]. While the network of given person on a given day” [46]. The basic concept participants helps filter the many pieces of information suggests that a variety of actors can open or close the submitted per day, moderators and administrators enact “gates” so that certain information passes through while privileges, like deletion, from their designed user roles that others do not. In the era of broadcast mass media, early may also significantly shape the way that ordinary gatekeeping theories primarily focused on selection – when participants contribute to the system. In this paper, we ask a message is moved from story selection to publication, an the following research questions related to the labor of individual, group, or organization decides to continue or managing information visibility during crisis events: discard the message [63] – and the process of gatekeeping frequently involved multiple gatekeepers, each enacting RQ1. How does the design of a social media platform different decisions at points in various channels [30]. As the impact the visibility of information during the network complexity of information and media systems has increased gatekeeping of a crisis event? since the mid-twentieth century, the presence and roles of RQ2. How do people who share information about these multiple gatekeepers has shifted organizationally in order to events account for issues of visibility in their crisis address the management of even more information [47]. communication work? Network Gatekeeping Understanding the impact of design on information flows Earlier gatekeeping theories did not focus on the evolving motivates this research, particularly when people on social actors, fluid roles, and dynamics of control in digital media platforms play a larger role in information networks. Barzilai-Nahon [3] identified that the focus of publication and circulation. As UGC platforms like Twitter, earlier theories “remains on the role of the gatekeeper rather Facebook, and reddit become more widely used, in some than understanding how networks (human and instances they extend or even eclipse mainstream media technological) and information affect relations between reporting in speed of information circulation or access to gatekeepers and gated, and their impact on gated” (1495). new original sources [2,9]. Also, journalists increasingly are The concept of network gatekeeping compensated for the engaging with audiences themselves on these platforms in traditional unidirectional and top-down assumptions of addition to – or instead of – using news organization gatekeeping control, emphasizing instead the evolving websites [8,11,60]. One of the critical aspects though, is network structures between actors in contemporary that access to crucial information (i.e., information communication and organizational forms. Network visibility) may be restricted by the design of these systems. gatekeeping extends gatekeeping theory to focus on how In particular, participation in platforms that employ designs networks of actors – both human and technological – reflect that affect information visibility (e.g., Facebook’s News different (or even previously overlooked) practices of Feed) have consequences for people based on how much control between gatekeepers and gated individuals or they understand these systems to work [18,44]. groups within the intersecting processes of gatekeeping, as well as the novel social effects of shifting from hierarchies In studying people’s behaviors within the constraints of to networks. A modern conception of gatekeeping therefore information visibility, we also investigate the details of focuses on the ways that participants (formerly reddit’s platform design and its impact on information conceptualized as a static audience) can and do participate visibility during breaking news situations. In particular, we and provide feedback to information processes [47]. are interested