A Theory-Driven Design Framework for Social Recommender Systems

Social recommender systems utilize data regarding users’ social relationships in filtering relevant information to users. To date, results show that incorporating social relationship data – beyond consumption profile similarity – is beneficial only in a very limited set of cases. The main conjecture of this study is that the inconclusive results are, at least to some extent, due to an under-specification of the nature of the social relations. To date, there exist no clear guidelines for using behavioral theory to guide systems design. Our primary objective is to propose a methodology for theory-driven design. We enhance Walls et al.’s (1992) IS Design Theory by introducing the notion of “applied behavioral theory,” as a means of better linking theory and system design. Our second objective is to apply our theory-driven design methodology to social recommender systems, with the aim of improving prediction accuracy. A behavioral study found that some social relationships (e.g., competence, benevolence) are most likely to affect a recipient’s advice-taking decision. We designed, developed, and tested a recommender system based on these principles, and found that the same types of relationships yield the best recommendation accuracy. This striking correspondence highlights the importance of behavioral theory in guiding system design. We discuss implications for design science and for research on recommender systems

Personalityzation: UI Personalization, Theoretical Grounding in HCI and Design Research

Personalization is an effective means for accommodating differences between individuals. Therefore, the personalization of a system’s user interface (UI) features can enhance usability. To date, UI personalization approaches have been largely divorced from psychological theories of personality, and the user profiles constructed by extant personalization techniques do not map directly onto the fundamental personality traits examined in the psychology literature. In line with recent calls to ground the design of information systems in behavioral theory, we maintain that personalization that is informed by psychology literature is advantageous. More specifically, we advocate an approach termed “personalityzation”, where UI features are adapted to an explicit model of a user’s personality. We demonstrate the proposed personalityzation approach through a proof-of-concept in the context of social recommender systems. We identify two key contributions to information systems research. First, extending prior works on adaptive interfaces, we introduce a UI personalization framework that is grounded in psychology theory of personality. Second, we reflect on how our proposed personalityzation framework could inform the discourse in design research regarding the theoretical grounding of system’s design

Heuristic Principles and Differential Judgments in the Assessment of Information Quality

Information quality (IQ) is a multidimensional construct and includes dimensions such as accuracy, completeness, objectivity, and representation that are difficult to measure. Recently, research has shown that independent assessors who rated IQ yielded high inter-rater agreement for some information quality dimensions as opposed to others. In this paper, we explore the reasons that underlie the differences in the “measurability” of IQ. Employing Gigerenzer’s “building blocks” framework, we conjecture that the feasibility of using a set of heuristic principles consistently when assessing different dimensions of IQ is a key factor driving inter-rater agreement in IQ judgments. We report on two studies. In the first study, we qualitatively explored the manner in which participants applied the heuristic principles of search rules, stopping rules, and decision rules in assessing the IQ dimensions of accuracy, completeness, objectivity, and representation. In the second study, we investigated the extent to which participants could reach an agreement in rating the quality of Wikipedia articles along these dimensions. Our findings show an alignment between the consistent application of heuristic principles and inter-rater agreement levels found on particular dimensions of IQ judgments. Specifically, on the dimensions of completeness and representation, assessors applied the heuristic principles consistently and tended to agree in their ratings, whereas, on the dimensions of accuracy and objectivity, they not apply the heuristic principles in a uniform manner and inter-rater agreement was relatively low. We discuss our findings implications for research and practice

What\u27s in a Stream? Understanding Video Gamers\u27 Perceptions regarding Streaming and its Legitimacy

Video game streaming – live interactive broadcasts of gameplay on online platforms such as YouTube, has emerged as an important phenomenon in the world of video games, with leading streamers attracting the viewership of millions. The public’s perception of streaming, and its legitimacy, is still very much undecided. We seek to understand gamers’ and streamers’ normative perceptions of streaming. Employing an extreme case study methodology, we analyze the Reddit discussion threads and streamers’ video-blogs following the decision of a game producer, Altus, to restrict streaming of its Persona 5 game. We reveal ambiguities amongst community regarding the nature of streaming, with perceptions ranging between streaming as a broadcast of game, a creative performance, or a community activity. Further, we discover the factors that influence gamers’ perceptions regarding streaming legitimacy. We discuss implications for HCI and IS research and practice

Do you have a source for that?: Understanding the challenges of collaborative evidence-based journalism

WikiTribune is a pilot news service, where evidence-based articles are co-created by professional journalists and a community of volunteers using an open and collaborative digital platform. The WikiTribune project is set within an evolving and dynamic media landscape, operating under principles of openness and transparency. It combines a commercial for-profit business model with an open collaborative mode of production with contributions from both paid professionals and unpaid volunteers. This descriptive case study captures the first 12-months of WikiTribune's operations to understand the challenges and opportunities within this hybrid model of production. We use the rich literature on Wikipedia to understand the WikiTribune case and to identify areas of convergence and divergence, as well as avenues for future research. Data was collected on news articles with a focus on the time it takes for an article to reach published status, the number and type of contributors typically involved, article activity and engagement levels, and the types of topics covered

Information Quality in Wikipedia: The Effects of Group Composition and Task Conflict,

AbstrAct: the success of Wikipedia demonstrates that self-organizing production communities can produce high-quality information-based products. research on Wikipedia has proceeded largely atheoretically, focusing on (1) the diversity in members' knowledge bases as a determinant of Wikipedia's content quality, (2) the task-related conflicts that occur during the collaborative authoring process, and (3) the different roles members play in Wikipedia. We develop a theoretical model that explains how these three factors interact to determine the quality of Wikipedia articles. the results from the empirical study of 96 Wikipedia articles suggest that (1) diversity should be encouraged, as the creative abrasion that is generated when cognitively diverse members engage in task-related conflict leads to higher-quality articles, (2) task conflict should be managed, as conflict-notwithstanding its contribution to creative 72 ArAzy, NOV, PAttErSON, AND yEO abrasion-can negatively affect group output, and (3) groups should maintain a balance of both administrative-and content-oriented members, as both contribute to the collaborative process. Key wOrds ANd PhrAses: co-creation, cognitive diversity, collaboration, communitybased production, group composition, information quality, task conflict, Wikipedia. receNt yeArs hAve seeN the emergeNce Of A community-based model for collaborative work, whereby a self-organizing online community creates knowledge-based goods We center our investigation on Wikipedia 1 to study the performance of editor groups within Wikipedia, we focus on the quality of its main outcome, the information provided in its articles, as the primary indicator of group output. Wikipedia articles are created using wiki technology, a Web-based collaborative authoring tool that is designed for openness, anonymity, and egalitarianism [56, Prior literature identifies three central aspects in Wikipedia's collaborative authoring process: (1) the cognitive diversity in members' knowledge and experiences, (2) task conflict, and (3) the roles members play. Cognitive diversity of an editor group is believed to contribute to the quality of the produced article, in line with "the wisdom of the crowd" argument the unique setting of online peer production [52] and the distinctive affordances of the enabling wiki technology Our empirical method relies on Wikipedia's system logs. Harvesting these logs can reveal important insights regarding members' ongoing behavior in its natural setting related Studies eArLier, we ideNtified three ceNtrAL themes in Wikipedia's collaborative authoring process. two themes refer to the composition of Wikipedia editor groups: the inclusion of specific types of members and the diversity in members' knowledge bases. the third theme refers to group work processes: task-related conflict. Here we review prior studies related to these three themes, as well as works related to the group output (the quality of the produced Wikipedia article), focusing primarily on studies of Wikipedia and on works in related areas: virtual teams, online communities, and OSS projects

From Crud to Cream: Imagining a Rich Scholarly Repository Interface

  This article addresses the design of a dynamic repository interface to support numerous scholarly activities. Starting with the four fundamental functions associated with persistent storage — create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) — we tested, as an organizing rubric for the interface, the acronym CREAM: Create (represent, illustrate); Read (sample, read); Enhance (refer, annotate, process); Analyze (search, select, visualize, mine, cluster); and Manage (track, label, transform). Based on a card-sorting exercise conducted with researchers, we conclude that a slightly modified rubric of CREAMS offers a useful starting point that emphasizes the enriched functionality a scholarly repository or similarly complex digital environment requires, as well as the immense challenge of designing conceptually clear interfaces, even for a relatively homogenous community of researchers