Herding a Deluge of Good Samaritans: How GitHub Projects Respond to Increased Attention

Collaborative crowdsourcing is a well-established model of work, especially in the case of open source software development. The structure and operation of these virtual and loosely-knit teams differ from traditional organizations. As such, little is known about how their behavior may change in response to an increase in external attention. To understand these dynamics, we analyze millions of actions of thousands of contributors in over 1100 open source software projects that topped the GitHub Trending Projects page and thus experienced a large increase in attention, in comparison to a control group of projects identified through propensity score matching. In carrying out our research, we use the lens of organizational change, which considers the challenges teams face during rapid growth and how they adapt their work routines, organizational structure, and management style. We show that trending results in an explosive growth in the effective team size. However, most newcomers make only shallow and transient contributions. In response, the original team transitions towards administrative roles, responding to requests and reviewing work done by newcomers. Projects evolve towards a more distributed coordination model with newcomers becoming more central, albeit in limited ways. Additionally, teams become more modular with subgroups specializing in different aspects of the project. We discuss broader implications for collaborative crowdsourcing teams that face attention shocks.National Science Foundation Grant No. IIS-1617820.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153786/1/Maldeniya et al. 2020.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153786/4/Maldeniya et al. 2020 Published Version.pdfDescription of Maldeniya et al. 2020.pdf : Main ArticleDescription of Maldeniya et al. 2020 Published Version.pdf : Published Versio

Shocking the Crowd: The Effect of Censorship Shocks on Chinese Wikipedia

Collaborative crowdsourcing has become a popular approach to organizing work across the globe. Being global also means being vulnerable to shocks -- unforeseen events that disrupt crowds -- that originate from any country. In this study, we examine changes in collaborative behavior of editors of Chinese Wikipedia that arise due to the 2005 government censor- ship in mainland China. Using the exogenous variation in the fraction of editors blocked across different articles due to the censorship, we examine the impact of reduction in group size, which we denote as the shock level, on three collaborative behavior measures: volume of activity, centralization, and conflict. We find that activity and conflict drop on articles that face a shock, whereas centralization increases. The impact of a shock on activity increases with shock level, whereas the impact on centralization and conflict is higher for moderate shock levels than for very small or very high shock levels. These findings provide support for threat rigidity theory -- originally introduced in the organizational theory literature -- in the context of large-scale collaborative crowds

Real-time analysis shows that the first debate shifted attitudes among Twitter users towards Biden and the second solidified them.

While debates tend to have a limited effect on a presidential election’s outcome, they can nonetheless play an important role in the way that the media frames the campaigns. In new research Lisa Singh, Ceren Budak, Kornraphop Kawintiranon and Stuart Soroka analysed real-time responses of Twitter uses to the first and second presidential debates. They found that the first debate moved users’ support more towards Joe Biden, and that the second debate maintained this support with little improvement for Donald Trump

Bridging Nations: Quantifying the Role of Multilinguals in Communication on Social Media

Social media enables the rapid spread of many kinds of information, from memes to social movements. However, little is known about how information crosses linguistic boundaries. We apply causal inference techniques on the European Twitter network to quantify multilingual users' structural role and communication influence in cross-lingual information exchange. Overall, multilinguals play an essential role; posting in multiple languages increases betweenness centrality by 13%, and having a multilingual network neighbor increases monolinguals' odds of sharing domains and hashtags from another language 16-fold and 4-fold, respectively. We further show that multilinguals have a greater impact on diffusing information less accessible to their monolingual compatriots, such as information from far-away countries and content about regional politics, nascent social movements, and job opportunities. By highlighting information exchange across borders, this work sheds light on a crucial component of how information and ideas spread around the world.Comment: ICWSM 2023 (please cite accordingly); see https://github.com/juliamendelsohn/bridging-nations for data, models, and cod

Araç Kullanırken Müzik Dinlemek, Sürücü Dürtüselliği, Trafik Ortamının Risk Seviyesi ile Sürücü Davranışları ve Risk Algısı Arasındaki İlişki

Müzik dinlemek, çoğu yol kullanıcısının sergilediği davranışlardan biridir. Ayrıca, dürtüsellik gibi insan faktörü ile ilgili değişkenler ve trafik ortamını etkileyen fiziksel faktörler sürücülerin riskli sürücü davranışlarını etkilemektedir. Bu çalışma kapsamında, araç kullanırken müzik dinlemek, sürücü dürtüselliği ve trafik ortamının risk seviyesi ile sürücülerin risk algısı ve davranışları arasındaki ilişki araştırılmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, 50 sürücüden (37 erkek, 13 kadın) veri toplanmıştır. Katılımcılar, çalışma öncesinde, sürüş sırasında müzik dinleyecekleri deney grubu ve kontrol grubu olmak üzere iki gruba rasgele atanmıştır. Katılımcılar iki farklı (düşük ve yüksek riskli) simülasyon senaryosu, demografik bilgi formu, sürüş senaryolarına ilişkin risk algısı sorusu ve Dürtüsel Sürücü Ölçeği’nden oluşan bataryayı tamamlamıştır. Müzik dinlemenin sürüş simülatöründeki sürücü davranışları için bir etkisi olmazken, işlevsiz dürtüselliğin, farklı risk seviyesine sahip iki trafik ortamında da sürücü davranışı ile anlamlı bir ilişkiye sahip olduğu bulunmuştur. Yüksek işlevsiz dürtüselliğe sahip bireyler, yüksek ve düşük riskli senaryolarda daha hızlı araç kullanmış ve yüksek riskli senaryoda hızlarını daha fazla değiştirmiş, şeridin daha solunda araç kullanmış ve bulunduğu şeridi daha fazla değiştirmiştir. Bulgular, işlevsiz dürtüselliğin farklı trafik ortamlarında sürücü davranışlarını etkileyen faktörlerden biri olduğunu ve yol güvenliği açısından daha fazla araştırma yapılması gerekliliğini sunmaktadır.Listening to music is one of the behaviors that most road users exhibit. Moreover, factors like impulsivity as variables affecting human factors and physical factors affecting traffic environment influence risky behaviors of driver. Within the scope of the present study, the effects of listening to music while driving, driver impulsivity and the risk level of traffic environment on risk perception and driver behaviors were investigated. Data were collected from 50 drivers (37 males, 13 females). Participants were randomly assigned to two groups before the study, one with experimental condition and one with control condition. Participants completed a battery consisting of two different (low and high risk) simulation scenarios, the demographic information form, the risk perception question, and the Impulsive Driver Scale. Unlike music, dysfunctional impulsivity had a significant relationship with driver behaviors in two traffic environments with different risk levels. Individuals with high dysfunctional impulsivity showed higher speed in high-risk and low-risk scenarios and showed higher speed variance, used the vehicle to the left of the lane, and showed more lane deviation in high-risk scenarios. Findings showed that dysfunctional impulsivity is one of the factors affecting driver behaviors in different traffic environments and needed to be investigated more with respect to road safety

Supplemental Material for “More than meets the tie: Examining the Role of Interpersonal Relationships in Social Networks”

This is the supplementary material for the paper “More than meets the tie: Examining the Role of Interpersonal Relationships in Social Networks” accepted by the International Conference of Web and Social Media (ICWSM'21).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167015/3/Supp_ICWSM21.pdfDescription of Supp_ICWSM21.pdf : Supplementary materialSEL

Participation of New Editors After Times of Shock on Wikipedia

User participation is vital to the success of collaborative crowdsourcing platforms such as Wikipedia. Previously user participation has been studied during “normal times”. However, less is known about participation following shocks that draw attention to an article. Such events can be recruiting opportunities due to increased attention; but can also pose a threat to the quality and control of the article and drive away newcomers. We study the collaborative dynamics of Wikipedia articles after times corresponding to shocks generated by drastic increases in attention as indicated by data from Google trends.We find that participation following such events is indeed different from participation during normal times–both newcomers and incumbents participate at higher rates during shocks. We also identify collaboration dynamics that mediate the effects of shocks on continued participation after the shock. The impact of shocks on participation is mediated by the amount of negative feedback given to newcomers in the form of reverted edits and the amount of coordination editors engage in through edits of the article’s talk page.National Science Foundation Grant No. IIS-1617820Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148429/1/Zhang et al. 2019.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148429/4/3253-Article Text-6302-1-10-20190531.pdfDescription of Zhang et al. 2019.pdf : Preprint versionDescription of 3253-Article Text-6302-1-10-20190531.pdf : Final Versio

Isolated pulmonary metastases in patients with cervical cancer and the factors affecting survival after recurrence

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the treatment options and survival of uterine cervical cancer (UCC) patients who develop isolated pulmonary metastases (IPM) and to establish risk factors for IPM.Material and Methods: Data from patients diagnosed with UCC between June 1991 and January 2017 at the Gynecological Oncology Department, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, were investigated. In total, 43 cases with IPM were evaluated retrospectively. Additionally, 172 control patients diagnosed with UCC without recurrence were matched according to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2009 stage when the tumor was diagnosed. They wereselected using a dependent random sampling method.Results: Of the 890 patients with UCC, 43 (4.8%) had IPM. The presence of lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) anda mid-corpuscular volume (MCV) < 80 fL were statistically significant prognostic factors for IPM development in UCC patientsaccording to univariate regression analyses, and the presence of LVSI, a hemoglobin level < 12 g/dL, and an MCV < 80 fLwere statistically significant according to the multivariate regression analyses. We were unable to assess the role of lymph node status (involvement or reactive) as a prognostic factor in the development of IPM, because only seven patients (16.2%) in the case group underwent lymph node dissection.Conclusions: IPM typically develops within the first 3 years after the diagnosis of UCC, and survival is generally poor. AnMCV < 80 fL and the presence of LVSI are significant risk factors for IPM development

Crowd Development: The Interplay between Crowd Evaluation and Collaborative Dynamics in Wikipedia

Collaborative crowdsourcing is an increasingly common way of accomplishing work in our economy. Yet, we know very little about how the behavior of these crowds changes over time and how these dynamics impact their performance. In this paper, we take a group development approach that considers how the behavior of crowds change over time in anticipation and as a result of their evaluation and recognition. Towards this goal, this paper studies the collaborative behavior of groups comprised of editors of articles that have been recognized for their outstanding quality and given the Good Articles (GA) status and those that eventually become Featured Articles (FA) on Wikipedia. The results show that the collaborative behavior of GA groups radically changes just prior to their nomination. In particular, the GA groups experience increases in the level of activity, centralization of workload, and level of GA experience and decreases in conflict (i.e., reverts) among editors. After being promoted to GA, they converge back to their typical behavior and composition. This indicates that crowd behavior prior to their evaluation period is dramatically different than behavior before or after. In addition, the collaborative behaviors of crowds during their promotion to GA are predictive of whether they are eventually promoted to FA. Our findings shed new light on the importance of time in understanding the relationship between crowd performance and collaborative measures such as centralization, conflict and experience.National Science Foundation under Grant No. IIS-1617820Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138122/1/Zhang et al. 2017.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138122/4/a119-zhang.pdfDescription of a119-zhang.pdf : Published Versio