To Speak up or Shut up? Revealing the Drivers of Crowdworker Voice Behaviors in Crowdsourcing Work Environments

This study examines worker voice behaviors in the microtask crowdsourcing work environment (CSWE) where voice channels are absent. Informed by employee voice research, this study adopts the revealed causal mapping method to analyze the detailed narratives of 60 workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Our data analysis shows that the crowdworkers did engage in voice behaviors, but their voices were not always heard, depending on recipients. The crowdworker voice was directed to three different recipients (worker community, job requester, and platform) and influenced by six antecedents (duty orientation, efficacy judgment, workgroup identification, anger/frustration, futility, and achievement orientation). Based on the findings, we propose a model of worker voice antecedents and moderators in the CSWE. This study extends employee voice research by presenting a moderator perspective in the CSWE. Moreover, our study provides a nuanced understanding of crowdworker voice behaviors from two major aspects – antecedent and recipient – contributing to crowdsourcing research

Analysis of crowdfunding descriptions for technology projects

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page 24).There are many factors that contribute to the success of a project on crowdfunding sites, such as Kickstarter. These include, but are not limited to, the specified project goal of funding, the success of similar projects, the funder incentives, the amount and type of information given on project webpage, the credentials and trustworthiness of project creators. Every successful project on Kickstarter has a project video, which introduces the product. This thesis analyzed four attributes of the project video to determine the success of the project, i.e. whether or not the project received the requested funding. These attributes included the trustworthiness of creators, level of demo of product, finish of product and amount of excitement engendered by video. A survey of undergraduate students was conducted, in which participants were asked to rank each of these attributes for videos of both successful and unsuccessful projects. The results are discussed.by Rachel Fernandes.S.B

Heatmap perception study

Un heatmap es una representación de datos que puede describirse esencialmente como una tabla de datos que denota conjuntos de valores como celdas, codificados en colores. La percepción de los gráficos es la clave para un diseño eficaz de los mismos, éste se ha rastreado y estudiado durante años para mejorar la calidad de las visualizaciones. Sin embargo, los heatmaps parecen estar olvidados. En este proyecto, estudiaremos la percepción de un heatmap, probando configuraciones comunes y estandarizadas a través de tareas perceptivas sencillas

Barriers for SMEs in Adopting Crowdsourcing

Despite its undisputable benefits for firms, crowdsourcing is rarely applied in small and medium sized enterprises (SME), yet. Until today extant literature provides only an uncomplete picture of the barriers that hinder SMEs from adopting crowdsourcing. Because of these incomplete insights on this phenomenon there is a great deal of uncertainty on how to overcome these barriers all the more. In the scope of an interview series with 15 SMEs we explore a range of different barriers. The findings from our study do not only expand the so far incomplete body of knowledge but also provide practical references for SMEs to be aware of the barriers. This simplifies avoiding them and successfully adopting crowdsourcing

When Code Governs Community

We present a qualitative study of governance in the community of League of Legends, a popular Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Riot Games. To cope with toxic behaviors such as griefing and flaming, Riot Games initially implemented a crowdsourcing system inviting players to participate in governing their own community. However, in May, 2014, they automated the system, relying heavily on code while minimizing the level of human participation. We analyzed both players’ and Riot Games’ narratives to understand their attitudes towards the relationship between human judgment and automation, as well as between alienation and community. We found stark differences between players and Riot Games in terms of attitudes towards code and value in designing online governance. We discuss how the design of governance might impact online community

Assisting in the Development of an Aquaponic Greenhouse Enterprise

The goal of this project was to aid The Worcester Roots Project by advancing the progress of their pilot aquaponic greenhouse, and assist Greenvitalize by exploring options to expand their startup enterprise. To accomplish this goal, our team designed the biological system and assessed the structural integrity of the greenhouse. We also developed a strategic plan for Greenvitalize\u27s enterprise and conducted market analysis of viable species to grown in the greenhouse. This project resulted in a forum that allows Greenvitalize to act as a source of urban farming knowledge and collaboration, and a guide to assist individuals interested in aquaponics to create an enterprise similar to Greenvitalize

Adaptive Mobile Health Intervention for Adolescents with Asthma: Iterative User-Centered Development

Background: Adolescents diagnosed with persistent asthma commonly take less than 50% of their prescribed inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), placing them at risk for asthma-related morbidity. Adolescents’ difficulties with adherence occur in the context of normative developmental changes (eg, increased responsibility for disease management) and rely upon still developing self-regulation and problem-solving skills that are integral for asthma self-management. We developed an adaptive mobile health system, Responsive Asthma Care for Teens (ReACT), that facilitates self-regulation and problem-solving skills during times when adolescents’ objectively measured ICS adherence data indicate suboptimal rates of medication use. Objective: The current paper describes our user-centered and evidence-based design process in developing ReACT. We explain how we leveraged a combination of individual interviews, national crowdsourced feedback, and an advisory board comprised of target users to develop the intervention content. Methods: We developed ReACT over a 15-month period using one-on-one interviews with target ReACT users (n=20), national crowdsourcing (n=257), and an advisory board (n=4) to refine content. Participants included 13-17–year-olds with asthma and their caregivers. A total of 280 adolescents and their caregivers participated in at least one stage of ReACT development. Results: Consistent with self-regulation theory, adolescents identified a variety of salient intrapersonal (eg, forgetfulness, mood) and external (eg, changes in routine) barriers to ICS use during individual interviews. Adolescents viewed the majority of ReACT intervention content (514/555 messages, 93%) favorably during the crowdsourcing phase, and the advisory board helped to refine the content that did not receive favorable feedback during crowdsourcing. Additionally, the advisory board provided suggestions for improving additional components of ReACT (eg, videos, message flow). Conclusions: ReACT involved stakeholders via qualitative approaches and crowdsourcing throughout the creation and refinement of intervention content. The feedback we received from participants largely supported ReACT’s emphasis on providing adaptive and personalized intervention content to facilitate self-regulation and problem-solving skills, and the research team successfully completed the recommended refinements to the intervention content during the iterative development process

Social Responsibility and Public Radio: Using Community Reporters To Make News More Responsible

Public radio has experienced a surge in listenership. With the rapid decline in newspaper readership, radio has become one of the only methods that news can be disseminated to people across a wide socio-economic stratum. The cost of a radio is cheap and most people are spending more and more time listening in their automobiles. Recent studies show 92% of Americans age 12 or older listen to the radio weekly if not more. With the introduction of cheap digital audio recorders and broadcast quality microphones on most smartphones, it has never been easier for the general public to produce their own short audio stories. This convergence of increased listenership and ease of production presents a unique situation where the general public can participate in journalism in a more structured manner than social media. This all needs to be leveraged with training in traditional journalism ethics and conduct. This study serves to examine the possibility of making public radio more accessible to locally produced content from the general public through the Social Responsibility theory of the press

How companies can leverage crowd sourcing

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-66).Crowdsourcing is an increasingly popular phenomenon where companies solicit the help of the public in helping accomplish some of the activities commonly performed by employees or contractors. These activities can range from solving scientific problems that baffle the in-house experts to repetitive and boring tasks that are deemed too mundane for the employees. Other activities include content generation, product design, idea generation, and product reviews. The explosive growth of the internet has made the world a more connected place. One consequence of that is that crowdsourcing can now be carried out efficiently and inexpensively through websites. This thesis presents a survey of activities commonly crowdsourced and examines some popular websites that exemplify these types of crowdsourcing.by Sunny Cheung.S.M.in Engineering and Managemen