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Questions, Insights, Connections

Leave your question, insight, and/or connection for each class here. I don't expect this to be more than 250 words. Make sure it's unique to you. For example:

Here is my unique question (or insight or connection).... And it is signed. -Reagle (talk) 12:49, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Be careful of overwriting others' edit or losing your own: always copy your text before saving in case you have to submit it again.

Jan 16 Tue - Persuasion

1. "Give [people] superpowers" (p.20). This is one of B.J. Fogg's, the founding father of behavior design, main principles. The central idea of this principle is that emotion plays a major role in human behavior, and if the emotions associated with an action are positive then one is more likely to repeat said behavior "repeatedly-- and unthinkingly" (p.19). This concept is especially prevalent today in a world of social media where users are seemingly supplied with the basic human need for validation and connection just by swiping right or hitting a like button-- which is also what makes these apps so successful. Tristan Harris, a former student of Fogg, questions the ethics behind behavior design and technology-- claiming that "there is a fundamental conflict between what people need and what companies need" (p.49). Those creating apps such as social media are concerned with engagement and profits, while those using the apps are looking to connect with the world around them. Using behavior design principles it is easy for these companies to manipulate human behavior in their favor.

As much as we as individuals all like to think that we are in control of our behaviors, how much of our lives are truly being dictated by outside forces? This is the main question that arose for me when reading through this piece. It also made me question, if there is anything we can really do to prevent such behavioral manipulation, or if it is just inevitable? Despite Robert Cialdini's notion that understanding persuasion techniques can help us "truly analyze requests and offerings" (p.81), does it really matter if our behaviors remain unchanged? -Fairbanks-Lee 15 1:58 January 2024

E23895, excellent QIC. Don't forget to log in when writing on Wikipedia, and sign your messages with tildas. -Reagle (talk) 20:20, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Technology puts "hot triggers" at peoples' fingertips (Leslie, 2016). It is easier to act on these triggers than to ignore them. The opportunity for a frictionless response heightens the motivation to entertain the triggers, and is the crux of addictive technology, according to author Ian Leslie. Technology makes it too easy not to think: "When you're feeling uncertain, before you ask why you're uncertain, you Google" (Leslie, 2016). Nothing tells users to go on certain apps, but their emotions dictate which app they seek out, and each app triggers new emotions, guiding the user to stay on the device. Technology uses the "six basic tendencies of human behavior, reciprocation, consistency, social validation, liking, authority and scarcity" to keep users committed to their device (Cialdini, 2001, p.76).

Robert Cialdini argues that understanding these basic human tendencies allows us to recognize the persuasion techniques being used and to make educated decisions (Cialdini, 2001, p.81). However, I disagree that identifying this manipulation is enough for us to stop falling for it. These are innate psychological human principles and acknowledgement of these tendencies will not stop us from feeding into them... especially when it can be so fun! The concept of variable rewards keeps us constantly checking our phones because we don't know what awaits us: is it a text from Mom, a like on instagram, a job offer? Even when we recognize this manipulation, we still let it happen because we rely too much on technology to sacrifice it entirely.

Although captology can influence us to create healthy habits, it can also exploit our innate human behaviors. Maybe humans find comfort in being influenced. It's less thinking. It's less work. It's easy. Lvogel1 (talk) 00:07, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with your last statement. I think we find comfort and ease in following along and conforming to what the majority does. We are cognitive misers - we seek for quick solutions and use mental shortcuts in making judgments. In short, we can be lazy thinkers! Jinnyjin123 (talk) 03:38, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

,:Lvogel1, excellent QIC. -Reagle (talk) 17:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. There are six components that can govern our decisions, as discussed in Robert Cialdini's article. Of the six tendencies, social validation seems to be the most pervasive component that exists in our daily, digital lives. Although written before the rise of social media, the concept helps explain many of our behaviors online. The article by Ian Leslie explores the evolution of behaviorism into modern "behavior design", examining the ethical implications of shaping user behavior through digital interfaces. "Variable rewards", a concept devised by Skinner, play a crucial role in behavior design, as seen on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder. Receiving likes, comments and followers on social media plays into our human need for social connection and validation. Continuing to open and check such apps for social interaction and affirmation is a common behavior, also contributing to the success of social media platforms.

In a digital age where many, especially the younger generation, are chronically online, many concerns have been raised about its impact on social skills, attention span, and mental health. A question that arose for me as I read these articles is how should designers balance inventing products that "enhance" lives with the risk of inadvertently fostering unhealthy habits? Addiction to technology and social media is another concern that is consistently raised, especially when it comes to teenagers. Although there are benefits to the advances in technology, too much of anything is bad. One other question that I have left with is where should the line be drawn in using user data in customizing one's social media feed? As the nature of these articles lie in persuasion, it made me recall all the times that I had googled something, or discussed a product with a friend, and then seeing an advertisement for the same very product on my social media feed. Alexistang (talk) 01:19, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Alexistang, excellent QIC, but longer than necessary (~250 words). You don't need extensive summary; you need enough detail/content to make your unique question, insight, or connection. -Reagle (talk) 17:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. "Knowledge is power" (p.80) is the key idea expressed in Robert Cialdini's The Science of Persuasion, as he takes through the basic tendencies of human behavior to cater towards the techniques of persuasion. The understanding of the principals of reciprocation, consistency, social validation, liking, authority, and scarcity give us the power to not be "helplessly manipulated" (p. 81) by them. Although in some cases the power of knowledge can aide us in analyzing persuasive materials and situations, individuals can still be negatively affected by persuasion.

In regards to the concept of social validation, the modern age of social media plays a major role in the persuasion of individuals in the online space. Influencer's hold the keys to persuasion within platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram, with everything from fashion trends to, travel to physical appearance. Despite the positives of social media with community online, the social validation of users is extremely manipulated with after effects various struggles with self-esteem and mental health because of the unattainable societal expectations expressed through influencer content. This phenomenon is an example of the "backfire" that can produce perhaps the opposite of the intended request, generating more "undesirable behavior" (p. 78).

These conclusions can cause us to question the legitimacy of our ability to resist persuasion, despite having the knowledge of how the tactics can influence us. The important of social validation in today's society is essential to everyday life, increasingly with the growth of social media. "If everyone is doing it, why shouldn't I" is a constant question one may ask while using social media, despite the negative effects that participating in those behaviors may have on or their own well being (p.78). - kbill98 (talk) 21:13, 15 Jan 2024 (UTC)

kbill98, excellent QIC. I tweaked the formatting of your paginations. -Reagle (talk) 17:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. Tech companies have become masters in the art of persuasion as they "hijack our psychological vulnerabilities" (Leslie, 2016) to hook us into engaging with their products. While it sounds extreme, marketers essentially prey on our vulnerabilities to social approval -- they know we want to feel important, loved, and socially validated so they strategically design their tactics to appeal to our needs. Marketers will go out of their way to promote their product as a "hot commodity" to trigger the pressure that everyone else is buying it, so you should, as well. They take advantage of our tendency to conform and make us feel bad if we do not follow the trend that "everyone" is participating in. Consider the Asch conformity experiment and the power of conformity. Even when individuals don't agree with the majority group's opinion, most people will conform to the majority in fear of being ridiculed -- and this is the power of social pressure and validation. Marketers take advantage of this power by stimulating our compliance and showing us that others have complied or bought their product. The practices of these persuasion professionals raise concerns regarding their genuine intentions and morals as their "financial well-being depends on their ability to get others to say yes" (Cialdini, 2001, p. 80). In a digital-conscious era, we have become more wary of the risks of scammers and tricky marketers who appeal to our need for social validation and acceptance by making use of manipulative tactics to grab our attention.

Will we forever be held captive to the power of captology in this advanced digital age of marketing? Companies spend millions of dollars to promote their products, and we as customers fall victim to their games of persuasion. Genuity and authenticity become a huge concern as we must now continuously question the intentions behind these marketers and quality of products. It is dystopian to think about the reality of how much individuality and free choice we have in our daily lives and choices as we are constantly being swayed by the subtle yet manipulative tactics of these 24/7 targeted advertisements and marketers. As much as we rely on the Internet to search for information or buy products, these tech companies and marketers rely on us to gather and make use of our data, so they know exactly how to appeal to our ego, interests, and needs. - Jinnyjin123 (talk) 03:02, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jinnyjin123, excellent QIC, and I appreciate your comment above. This is longer than necessary (~250 words). You don't need extensive summary; you need enough detail/content to make your unique question, insight, or connection. -Reagle (talk) 17:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. "No matter how useful the products, the system itself is tilted in favour of its designers." In their respective articles on the processes of influencing and controlling consumer behaviour, Robert Cialdini and Ian Leslie explore the underlying debate on the power dynamics feeding this novel science. Using the Skinner box, an experiment that in many ways marked the start of the study of "behaviourism," Leslie points out how the user is essentially trapped by a box (their device) that holds the promise of constant rewards. The designer of the box not only controls the thing itself, but the mechanism behind it which provides varied results, keeping the person hooked and willing, to a certain extent, to remain trapped by the box.

What I think provides a good contrast to this point of view is the notion of reciprocity spoken of by Cialdini. He argues that there are six basic tendencies of human behaviour necessary to produce a positive response to attempts at controlling behaviour. One of these tendencies he names as the "code of reciprocity," the societal norm that requires an individual to repay what they have received in some kind of way. I believe this raises an important question about the extent to which designers can truly be said to have the upper hand in this dynamic. The system may be tilted in favour of its designers -- but without the consumers, the system is just an empty, useless box, no matter its intricacy. In some ways, I would argue that this means the greater system at hand is tilted in the favour of the consumer. In order to enter the box and thus feel the need to reciprocate, customers must feel they're getting what they want, at least in the beginning.Tiarawearer (talk) 15:35, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tiarawearer, excellent QIC. -Reagle (talk) 17:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. "Captology (Computers as Persuasive Technologies)- later became behaviour design, which is now embedded into the invisible operating system of our everyday lives." Leslie touches upon how this concept is further used and designed to essentially "hack" users and place emphasis on the technology's quirks often times manipulating the users. The question that arises is to what extent do we allow ourselves to be manipulated by these quirks? Are we the problem for entertaining the concepts of the emerging technology which then poses the other question mentioned in Cialdini's article of "If everyone's doing it why shouldn't i?" (Cialdini, p. 78).

Cialdini touches on the concept of "social validation", that social media can ultimately take advantage of us users by showing us that users similar to ourselves are using and interacting with their product allowing the user to fall in the trap of "peer pressure." We see our peers conforming to these notions, we like our peers (concept of liking) then we conform falling into the trap ourselves. This leads back to the question "to what extent do we allow ourselves to be manipulated?"

Leslie's article speaks about how social media has not only impacted this generation's decision making but most significantly mental health. After an interview mentioned in Leslie's article, young women created "fake" personas through Instagram to gain this sense of "liking" that was mentioned in Cialdini's article. However, the new followers and every new comment and like was similar to a dopamine rush in the moment. Ultimately, this lead to a realization that the concept of "chasing" and organizing life just to be "liked" and conform to typical societal "expectations" made them unhappy. Moseley describing it as a "sickness" Dena.wolfs (talk) 11:26 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Dena.wolfs, excellent QIC. -Reagle (talk) 17:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jan 19 Fri - Kohn on motivation

1. "Rewards Punish" (Kohn, p. 50), was one of my main takeaways from Friday's reading on motivation. Using multiple research studies to support his claims, Kohn argues that although one typically has a positive connotation while the other is negative, both rewards and punishment have more in common than one may think regarding motivation. Not only can rewards be harmful, but Kohn also discusses that they can be damaging to relationships in places of work, creating "An undercurrent of 'strifes and jealousies'" (Kohn, p. 55) One of my main takeaways from Chad Whitacre's piece, Resentment, is that these feelings of jealousy that can stem from rewards is not solely negative, and can create "healthy competition" (Whitacre).

Through more studies on motivation, it was found that "extrinsic rewards reduce intrinsic motivation" (Kohn, p. 71). This is where I found the connection between Whiteacre and Kohn's readings. From how Whitacre described Gittip, no extrinsic rewards were being offered. There was personal satisfaction that came with seeing his creation on the home page, but the users of this platform were not promised anything in particular for good performance. Although Whitacre described that seeing his competitors succeed made him resentful, it was not necessarily negative. Rather than letting resentment overcome him and affect his work, it motivated him to work harder. I know I feel the same as Whitacre when it comes to watching others succeed, it lights a fire in my stomach, pushing me to do more.

This is where I agreed the most with both readings. When someone is promised something, that is all they can think about, whether it be a reward or punishment. Nobody can do their best work when they are promised a reward by someone else, they must do it for themselves. The resentment that comes from punishment and rewards can only affect us in the way that we let it. Stuchainzz (talk) 22:56, 17 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Stuchainzz, excellent use of detail and connection between readings. -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. Kohn challenges the practice of motivating people with extrinsic rewards, explaining that this is not the most effective method, as it causes people to lose intrinsic motivation, or interest in the actual task they are completing. He summarizes it with a simple question and answer: "Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards" (p. 67). Kohn expands on this idea by describing rewards as a "'how' answer to what is really a 'why' question" (p. 90). He explains this in the context of students in school that are given assignments and told to complete them for a good grade, without any further explanation as to why the assignment is necessary.

Kohn's argument brings up an important discussion. Most schools are structured in a way that prioritizes completing assignments to receive a grade. From a young age, students are taught to write a paper or study so they receive an A, but rarely are students told why they are completing the assignment or what other benefits they may receive from doing so, other than just receiving a good grade, or a reward. Schools are typically modeled around extrinsic motivation and rewards when it has been proven that this makes people lose interest in the actual task at hand, as Kohn explains. This then raises the question of why schools continue to follow this model so closely when there is research and evidence to prove this may be completely ineffective. But would it be widely possible for schools to move away from typical grading systems and devalue extrinsic rewards like receiving As on assignments? Would all students be able to achieve success with a model that relies solely on intrinsic motivation instead of extrinsic motivation if this is what they had always known from a young age? - Lmeyler02 (talk) 18:30, 18 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lmeyler02, excellent response. -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. I agree with Kohns opinion that reawards what is functioning as extrinsic motivators, has risk of reducing intrinsic motivators like interests and enthusiam. I know Patreon because of my interest in animation. I found many professional users on that platform who provide usefull tutorials, resources and tips. Many of those are charged. I can see the necessity of this because those are all hard works from creators. But I meanwhile question the overall atmosphere of monetizing these kinds of open-source communities.

As Kohn precisely pointed out," Anything presented as a prerequisite for something else-that is, as a means towards some other end - comes to be seen as desirable" (p.76). Learning animation, if made into a means to earn money, risk undermining the passion and interests of many animation lovers all over the world. People would think whether their time or labor spent are worthy. This will also engender what Whitacre(2013) called as a resentment problem, "We plant the seeds of discontent by selective monetary rewards." A piece of work made out of pure interests will not lead critical judgement or even blames, but often a charged piece will. So is it possible to offer rewards while without undermining passions and interests? This issue is important as it's usually intrinsic motivation that results in more creativity. Letian88886 (talk) 12:12, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Letian88886 good use of detail and connection; make use of spellchecker to address typos. -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. "Rewards and punishments are not opposites at all" (p. 50) was a thought-provoking opening to Kohn's reading. When I first read that, I was confused; how could they not? Rewards are "prizes" awarded to those who live up to a certain standard, while punishments are "penalties" given to those who fail to live up to those standards. By right, they are opposites. However, Kohn goes on to explain how they really are just two sides of the same coin. Kohn discusses that punishments and rewards follow the same psychological model, positing that motivation is nothing more than the manipulation of behavior (p.51). As explored in a later chapter, both rewards and punishments alike contribute to extrinsic motivation. Along with the issues that arise from rewards, such as ignoring reasoning and being controlling, Kohn argues that they undermine intrinsic motivation. More specifically, he notes that "extrinsic rewards reduce intrinsic motivation" (p.71).

I have always looked at rewards as a token of achievement and never thought about its negative impacts on motivation. Having read Kohn's arguments, along with the studies/experiments cited, it is clear that extrinsic motivation does not reap optimal results, despite it being the "norm". Taking sports for example, most athletes are motivated extrinsically. They look at winning as a goal for reasons such as being awarded a trophy, money or a good reputation, rather than an intrinsic reason such as achieving a personal best. Thus, I walk away with the question of how do we cultivate intrinsic motivation when most of us have been accustomed to having done things from extrinsic motivation? Alexistang (talk) 00:54, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Alexistang, excellent engagement with Kohn; do you see any relevance to online community or Whitacre? -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. "Rewards also disrupt relationships in very particular ways that are demonstrably linked to learning, productivity, and the development of responsibility" (Kohn 54). When I read this in the reading, I had no clue how a reward could disrupt relationships. As I read more, Kohn mentions that managers are recognizing that excellence will stem from intrinsic motivation by a well-functioning team rather than extrinsic motivation by a select few "talented" individuals. Kohn further adds the well-known slogan typically heard in classrooms: "I want to see what you can do, not what your neighbor can do." However, Kohn argues that creating this sense of an individualistic culture sets the students up for a naturally extrinsic motivated work environment. Whereas, this leads to issues of jealousy and a fight for "goods" which ultimately leads to lessened quality work.

After reading this, I am left with the question To what extent does extrinsic motivation affect our ability to form connections and trust with other individuals in our work environment? If a group of individuals are all working individually towards achieving the same extrinsic motivated reward there is bound to be a lack of community and willingness to help peers. This all leads up to competition and resentment that Whitacre touches upon. "Feeling resentment is a sign that something is wrong: with a social system, with a relationship, or with myself" (Whitacre). Another question that I ask myself is, Is there a slight feeling of resentment when individuals are completing an extrinsically motivated task?Dena.wolfs (talk) 9:22, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Dena.wolfs excellent engagement with Kohn and connection with Whitacre. -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. I have never thought about how "rewards change the way people feel about what they do" (Kohn, 1999, p. 68). In other words, receiving rewards for tasks impacts the intensity of our motivation. When we perform a task, we expect compensation for our effort and time. We are more encouraged to succeed in a task if we are rewarded for it -- and usually, we want to receive material rewards. However, after reading Kohn's arguments on how rewards "fail" us, I began to understand the difference between being intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. If we are used to receiving extrinsic rewards for our efforts, will we forever lose our intrinsic motivation to perform tasks? Can we ever enjoy doing things just for the sake of it? These concerning questions also make me wonder how extrinsic motivation impacts the relationships we create. Specifically, when looking at our connected society of networked individuals, we can see our society is built around networks to receive resources. We maintain networks for job opportunities. Do we now live in a society where even the efforts we put within our relationships are extrinsically motivated? It sounds wrong to think that our motivations for connecting with people can be superficial in that way.

Kohn (1999) argues that intrinsically motivated people "display greater innovativeness and tend to perform better under challenging conditions" (p. 69). This makes sense to me -- given that these people are performing the task without any extrinsic rewards, they have learned to gain motivation simply through the process of doing it. Athletes who are intrinsically motivated have genuine love for sports and are motivated to perform better for their own benefit -- not just to win games or earn money. They find satisfaction in their own efforts. To respond to @Alexistang: in the context of sports, there are several ways sport psychologists work with their clients to cultivate intrinsic motivation - receiving positive feedback on their "process" rather than "outcome", shaking things up during practices (avoid stale/boring environments), and involving everyone in decisions and learning processes. - Jinnyjin123 (talk) 06:29, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jinnyjin123, excellent work. -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. We've been trained to believe that "the reason to learn or work or live according to certain values is to get a reward or avoid punishments" (Kohn, 1999, p. 91). That's why everyone goes to work, pays their taxes, goes to school, and does other basic necessities to function in society. The goal is to gain rewards (money, status, connections, etc.) and avoid punishments (tax avoidance, poverty, jail, failure, etc). Kohn (1999) argues that "people lose interest by virtue of feeling controlled" (p. 81). Whether it is "positive" control through rewards, or "negative" control through punishments, "rewards and punishments undermine intrinsic motivation..." (Kohn, 1999, p. 69).

For example, the reading discusses an old man who was harassed by children on their way home from school. He decided to give them each a dollar for yelling insults at him. The next day he gave them only 25 cents, and the following day just a penny. The kids felt that it wasn't worth it to harass him for just a penny, even when they began doing the activity for free (Kohn, 1999, p. 71). Another study in the reading discusses children drinking Kefir for rewards. The group who got rewarded for drinking the yogurt the first week were much less interested in it the second week, whereas the children who got nothing "liked the beverage just as much, if not more, a week later" (Kohn, 1999, p. 72). These studies reveal that rewards "smother people's enthusiasm for activities they might otherwise enjoy" (Kohn, 1999, p. 74).

Can intrinsic motivation die within us entirely if we are exposed to enough extrinsic motivation? Will we want to do anything anymore if we are so used to everything we do being transactional? Does the reward need to be tangible or is making a loved one (or ourselves) happy enough of a "reward" to motivate? The extent to which someone considers something a reward will vary, but maybe not all extrinsic motivation is bad and maybe it is inevitable. Lvogel1 (talk) 14:24, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lvogel1 excellent engagement with Kohn -- and I love the old man story. How might this apply to online community and/or Whitacre? -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. "Some things ought to be made available unconditionally" is a phrase that stuck out to me from Alfie Kohn's 1993 work, Punished by Rewards. The two chapters I read of this book were fascinating in their description of the many ways in which rewards, which we tend to think of as intrinsically good, can often be as harmful as punishments. One potential effect that I found particularly interesting was that rewards had the tendency to turn the prerequisite task into something burdensome, and no longer (or less) enjoyable to the person seeking the reward. This made me think of the concept of scarcity from Robert Cialdini's article on the science of persuasion.

According to Cialdini, we are more drawn to items and opportunities that we perceive as being limited in availability. Combining this concept with the idea that we begin to resent or dislike tasks that we see only as a means to an end, I began to wonder how much of this growing lack of interest could be moderated by the way in which we present the task, even if we leave the reward attached to it. Would this effect be as prominent if there were more specific restrictions placed on when a person was allowed to undergo this task-reward process? How much does frequency and repetition play a role in this process? All of this led me to reflect on the phrase I quoted at the very beginning -- how do we decide what can be limited, what we are allowed to portion, and at what rate? Creating scarcity is one thing -- deciding how far you can (and should) take it is another. ; Tiarawearer (talk) 15:28, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tiarawearer excellent engagement with Kohn and connection with Cialdini. Be careful of "recipe" type verbose prose: "The two chapters I read of this book were fascinating in their description of the many ways". -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. "'Do it and you'll get that' automatically devalues 'this'" (p.76). This is one of the reasons Alfie Kohn provides for why reward systems are actually harmful. While these systems are rather effective when it comes to getting one to perform a desired behavior, there are long term consequences often not considered. Kohn uses the example of Greg Prestegord. Greg loves baseball and when the library set up a summer reading program where Greg could earn prizes, such as baseball cards, by reading books he began checking out library books and reading them. While the outcome of this reward system seems positive, as Greg's mother puts it "at least he's reading now" (p.73), there are long term effects not being accounted for. By buying this behavior (aka extrinsically motivating) now it solves the problem only for a short period of time, but as Kohn points out, after the baseball cards run out the Greg, and the other children, are not only unlikely to continue reading, but are even less likely then they were before the rewards program.

This example really stuck with me because I remember summer reading programs like this from when I was a kid. My elementary school would offer rewards to kids who read the most books over the summer, and previous to this reading I had never really thought anything but positive of these programs. However looking back, I can remember not reading as much in the school year, unless books were assigned, as I did in the summer. I think I would often chalk this up to just having less time in the school year, but truthfully there was a lack of motivation to just read for fun rather than get rewarded for it. This makes me wonder if there is anyway for reward programs to exist without causing long term harm? I also wonder if in an example like Greg, where he wasn't reading otherwise, the good of a reward system outweighs the bad? E23895 (talk) 16:08, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

E23895, good engagement with Kohn and connecting Prestegord with your own experience. How might this connect to the online realm or Whitacre? -Reagle (talk) 18:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jan 23 Tue - A/B testing & finding a Wikipedia topic

1. The concept of A/B testing brings a massive form of convenience to the idea of website and user interface design. With multiple companies "constantly testing potential site changes on live (and unsuspecting) users" (Christian, 2012), it appears as though basic website design choices and inclusions can easily change as time passes. Overarching updates to design choices on websites can happen frequently and quickly upon viewing real time data. With this use of data coming as evidence for certain choices succeeding or failing over others, supplanting the "highest-paid person's opinion" and allowing for those lower in the projects hierarchy to work on their ideas are both sizable benefits that A/B testing provides.

One question that I do have is how far can this testing go in terms of website variations? As Christian mentioned, "the percentage of users getting some kind of tweak may well approach 100 percent," and that is with just Googles search engine. Taking the scope of how many people experience different website pages, how different can these variations then become? Could organizations utilize A/B testing for broader design choices rather than inclusion of specific phrases or media? Could A/B testing eventually be utilized for some form of personalized website page design, built for the consumers specific design preferences much in the same way that social media chooses what content to present on your "for you" page based on what you previously watched? Kindslime (talk) 07:13, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. "It's now the standard", says Brian Christian in his article about the world of A/B testing throughout Silicon Valley and beyond in regards to websites and online products (Christian, 2012). It allows for companies to understand the user experience when engaging in their websites through the testing's production of important data. More power is given to consumers in this way as organizations build their websites and products around them, "rewriting some of the fundamental rules of business"(Christian, 2012).

After Christian takes the reader through the ways in which new business decisions are made with the help of A/B testing, he raises the question on the possibility of A/B testing in the offline world. To companies all over the globe, data is essential to marketing and other features of consumer product creation. Although in this article it explains how society demands data to be offering instantaneous feedback to companies, thus offline A/B testing wouldn't be possible, are there some ways in which this process would be helpful to business in an offline sense? Would this process aid in bringing people offline and into stores if the data were to help companies improve the customer experience in a face-to-face context? What would it look like? Christian describes an offline testing example of pricing differences at a restaurant as "purely intuitive", but how different is this example to one of ordering food in an online space (Christian, 2012)? The testable web maybe safer as the author claims, but perhaps a little introspection in the offline world would be helpful in being more accessible and relatable to customers. Kbill98 (talk) 14:36, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. It's easy for us to discover the power of data. A very simple social media post that people make for fun or a meme might receive then thousand clicks, but a well-designed post may only receive clicks no more than one thousand. This suggests that our instinct, common-sense, or even knowledge-based content does not usually work well. For me, the described experience here is what people often undergo when running their social media channels, which now has made me believe in the power of data. It is for this reason that A/B test could become such a powerful tool. As Brian(2012) suggested, "On a fundamental level, the culture of A/B cuts against our common-sense ideas about how innovation happens." Data offers us an effective way to solutions that could be beyond our understanding. For example, In the A/B test done by Wikipedia (2010) to promote donation, the banner text "Help protect what we've created" received 69% clicks, while the banner "Wikipedia: Edited by volunteers, supported by readers like you" only had 31% clicks.

It is hard to figure out why through our human way of thinking. It just works, and data offers us the quickest way to reach the solution that really works. What I am concerning is what end our current focus on data will ultimately lead us. I know that big data is ubiquitous in our modern society. Does our complete trust and reliance on data create ethical problems? Letian88886 (talk) 23:21, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. "The testable web is so much safer. No choices are hard, and no introspection is necessary" (Christian, 2012). Companies have become reliant on A/B testing, focus group studies that yield immediate results, due to convenience and the ability to rely on fact rather than intuition. The reading discusses the Obama Campaign and redesigning the website using A/B testing. The team found a pattern of their instinct being wrong in terms of increasing the sign-up rate: if they had "kept 'Sign Up' as the button text and swapped out the photo for the video---the sign-up rate would have slipped to 70 percent of the baseline" (Christian, 2012). Although A/B testing helped to improve this statistic easily, I do not think that relying on it for every business decision is healthy for humanity or for businesses.

A/B testing introduces a disregard for critical thinking and intuition which guides businesses to make more educated decisions. However, honing in on big data could dissuade businesses from making larger changes since they will be caught up in the minutiae of the data.

In the 2010 banner testing, there was a pattern of increased donations when the banner read, "If everyone reading this donated $5." People responded well to there being a general consensus and all users being a part of something bigger. Social validation, one of the six basic tendencies of human behavior according to Cialdini, is evident in these findings. This is related to the allure of A/B testing because both are examples of how humans like to rely on external validation, whether that is other peoples' actions or hard data, to make decisions rather than their own intuition. My instinct is to resist total reliance on A/B testing, but it is inevitable. Maybe I am just resistant to this shift away from human intuition and succumbing to technology/data. Lvogel1 (talk) 15:51, 23 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. Christian (2012) claims that "the single biggest evolution in A/B testing over its history is not how pervasive it has become but rather how fast it has become". The quick results for feedback have become integral for businesses to implement real-time data. Due to its convenience and its ability to generate accurate and live results, A/B testing has become the main source of decision-making within business operations. These test results help us decide the best decision to make regarding yielding quality business results.

"What does it matter if you can get the right result?" (Christian, 2012) While it is productive and efficient to rely on technology and objective data, I worry that our overreliance on data has diminished our ability to use our intuition and critical thinking caps. A/B testing automates the whole process of creating results and skips from point A to Z without helping us understand how the tests are making choices. We miss out on the intricate processes of learning how to run a business. We can thank A/B testing for helping us generate smarter business decisions, however, since A/B requires "no human oversight" (Christian, 2012) whatsoever, the culture of A/B has taken over the humanity and intuition involved within our innovation and vision for business. The testing culture within our data-driven society has helped us successfully run businesses, but I think it is crucial that we step back from our overreliance on data and appreciate the power of humanity in business. Business at its core is about human relationships and how we work together to cater to our society's needs and wants, and I worry that the culture of A/B will erase the collaboration, relationships, and visions that make up businesses. - Jinnyjin123 (talk) 18:01, 23 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jan 26 Fri - Platform affordances: Twitter and Mastodon

1. "Over the past decade, we've been conditioned to think of life on social media as a relentless pursuit of attention from as many people as possible. The goal is to yell into the void, loud enough to perhaps reach a crowd of strangers" (Chayka, 2022). Due to this type of thinking a social media platform like Twitter would be the perfect place for people to do just this. Many types of communities can exist on Twitter as it is a place where people can voice their opinions to the masses as well as begin discourse with people they never would've been able to do before. Since its conception, the kind of communities that can exist on Twitter are those made up of people with similar interests, identities, or goals. The communities on Twitter can revolve around a plethora of different topics and it is all about the idea of sharing ideas and getting a response. A specific community is Black Twitter. Black Twitter is an internet community used to communicate within the black community as well as to have a space where people can talk and reflect on their experiences. The biggest way that the platform facilitates community is through the use of hashtags. In a way, hashtags allow for an easy way to navigate the site and find exactly what sub-group you are looking for on the app. However, as mentioned by Chayka in an article for the New Yorker, users are unhappy with Twitter in more ways than one. One of these is the character limit when drafting a post. If Twitter is supposed to be a place for people to yell into the void how is that possible when they are given only 280 characters? Many of these unhappy people are moving to an adjacent platform by the name of Mastodon. In terms of Black Twitter, moving to Mastodon, I believe it could be a good option for a new home for Black Twitter, however it's all a matter of getting people to migrate over and it needs to be a palace that'll serve the needs that they need as a community. Jfeldman26 (talk) 14:43, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

Jfeldman26, good engagement. But with a 360 word paragraph, I'd encourage you to split it into two or ease of some of the summary and focus on your unique Question, Insight, or Connection. -Reagle (talk) 17:08, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. Black Twitter is known for its ability to "get things done" (p. 205) and mobilize valuable action. Through processes of self and group-identity maintenance, Black Twitter creates its hashtag public. "Blacktags", referring to the "culturally resonant language and phrases combined with hashtags" (p. 206), allow Twitter's Black users of all backgrounds and walks of life to form multilevel networks online. Citing examples of #PaulasBestDishes and #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen, it is apparent that Black Twitter's communicative acts prompt real consequences and contribute to the social construction of hashtags as artifacts that carry meaning between both virtual and physical worlds.

With Elon Musk taking over Twitter's ownership, many users and employees alike made the decision to leave the company/app. Musk's lack of effort to promote inclusion in business had also sparked concerns of how it would affect Black Twitter. At the same time, many users made the switch to Mastodon, where conversations on the platform were compared to Twitter's as "murmurs" rather than "shouts" (Chayka, 2022). Mastodon's unique feature of allowing users to create individual servers aligned with specific interests sparks curiosity about cultivating niche communities. While this may be seen as a good thing in general, Parham (2022) argues that no other social media platform can replicate Black Twitter.

Mastodon connects people of similar interests, but also disconnects people by its nature of forming "subgroups" through its servers. In that way, Mastodon may not be able to replicate Black Twitter, where multilevel connections can be formed through "Blacktags". With Elon Musk's controversial takeover, how can we continue to encourage and foster minority and marginalized online communities such as Black Twitter to persist? -Alexistang (talk) 22:40, 25 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. "The communicative acts of these interlinked communities have prompted real-world consequences and lead to the social construction of hashtags as artifacts that carry meaning between the virtual and physical worlds" (Clark p. 215). In this quote, Clark summarizes one critical feature of Black Twitter, and that is its tendency to facilitate conversations and movements around important social issues, both online and in person. Members of the Black Twitter community, who are often underrepresented in other arenas, are able to come together virtually despite possible "physical, economic, and social barriers" (p. 215). This is especially important to recognize in the face of threats to Twitter as a platform under Elon Musk's ownership. While other platforms like Mastodon may be able to host a new version of Black Twitter, Jason Parham worries that Black Twitter will become harder to replicate each time it is forced to relocate.

This analysis of Black Twitter and its purpose and future raises questions not only for Black Twitter but also other minority communities. Ideally, social media and the Internet allow for groups to come together and form communities in ways that may not be possible or as easy in the physical world. But looking at the example of Black Twitter and the effect Elon Musk's ownership may have on this community, are there any other examples of marginalized communities being affected similarly that we may not even hear about as much? How could these communities prepare for or respond to something like Musk's takeover? -Lmeyler02 (talk) 01:46, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. While I left Twitter long before Elon Musk's eventual takeover, I was nonetheless intrigued by Mastodon when I first heard about it in the wake of these events. It seemed like it would be something right up my alley, as I try to use free and open-source software whenever it is feasible. However, I was admittedly discouraged by its sheer degree of decentralization, especially after being first exposed to Twitter. To say that Mastodon is a "Twitter replacement" misrepresents the service, as it is more akin to a framework upon which others can build than an actual social network.

In relating "Black Twitter: Building Connection through Cultural Conversation" to "There Is No Replacement for Black Twitter," I believe that Parham comes close to reflecting my own thoughts on Black Twitter's existence in a changing internet ecosystem. Parham's conclusion that Black Twitter cannot feasibly be recreated on another platform primarily rests upon the fact that other services' digital infrastructure is different from that of Twitter. I agree wholeheartedly with Parham's conclusion here. However, I also think that the overall environment of Black Twitter could not be replicated on any other platform. This environmental aspect is important, as it is within this environment that discourse takes place.

In my personal opinion, I think there is great potential for decentralized social networking. However, I also think that these social networks would be better off seeking new ways to innovate within the social networking sphere, rather than simply providing alternatives to their centralized counterparts. --- Toothlesswalrus (talk) 04:05, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Toothlesswalrus, good engagement and connection between the readings. -Reagle (talk) 17:08, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4. "It's the end of Black Twitter and Black people at Twitter" (Parham, 2022). Once again, and to no surprise, Black people's voices have been taken away... from Twitter -- the first platform to provide Black people a collective voice. Digital evidence of "the success of individual Black users tapping into their communities to gain visibility around an issue" (Clark, 2015, p. 215). As a woman of color, I am impressed with the power of internet communities such as Black Twitter in allowing users, who are usually silenced from the offline world, to engage in cultural conversations, mobilize crucial conversations, preserve customs and culture, promote social change, as well as expose "the hegemonic in-group's competing social construct of dominance" (Clark, 2015, p. 209). This active meta-network provided a platform for Black users to take back freedom and control of their voices without being silenced or manipulated by mainstream media narratives, as well as confront the systematic disadvantages and oppression they face.

Unfortunately, Black Twitter has lost the authenticity of its earlier days as our digital society is slowly prioritizing virality. "Black Twitter today isn't even the Black Twitter of a few years ago" (Parham, 2022) - and this is my concern for the future of social media. Social media has clearly proven to be a powerful tool in driving social change, providing autonomy and affirmations for marginalized communities. However, I believe that this power is being abused by our greed for online attention. "The goal is to yell into the void, loud enough to perhaps reach a crowd of strangers" (Chayka, 2022). Digital presence is crucial in our digital society driven by capitalism. I worry about the humanity of our online world as our intentions of digital usage have become heavily driven by social validation, commercial capital, and monopolization. Regardless of the platform used, I believe the responsibility lies within the community and its users to maintain a healthy, productive, and supportive online community. - Jinnyjin123 (talk) 07:36, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. With Twitter having been a prominent platform for helping movements spread critical messages, the takeover of Twitter by a man who initially let go thousands of employees has led many users to worry (Chayka, 2022). Looking at hashtags such as #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen, we can see that Twitter users that participate within Black Twitters messages are able to stand behind critical trends that gain a lot of traction by likeminded critiques of certain beliefs. With the discussion of racism and prejudice then getting attention by media outlets outside of Twitter, the platforms hosting of critical groups, such as Black Twitter, allowed for widespread condemnation of harmful, prejudicial thought (Clark, 209-210).

With that said, due to the aforementioned takeover of the platform by Elon Musk, it seems as though Black Twitter will struggle to gain more traction than it has in the past. Many have left the platform in initial "twin exoduses" (Chayka, 2022), and many more have followed afterwards due to various decisions made by Mr. Musk (Parham, 2022). I don't believe that Black Twitter would be able to thrive elsewhere close to the same way it did on Twitter, as both format and user base is so vastly different for other social media platforms that would prevent it from performing its best (Parham, 2022). However, I do think that that Twitter, with its current notoriety for recent decisions, will continue to gain the attention of external media sources tuning in to see what is happening with the platform. Kindslime (talk) 07:50, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. Black Twitter is framed for its powerful ability to "get things done" through online communication as described by Meredith Clark in her text on Black Twitter (Clark, 2015). The passage describes two viral hashtags that stemmed from Black Twitter and infiltrated mainstream media, #PaulasBestDishes and #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen.

However, with the changes in twitter (now X) has seen with leadership from Elon Musk, researches are looking for new solutions where online communities can form. Mastodon is one platform in a "a fleet of new tools for so-called decentralized social networking" where some have moved to from Twitter (Chayka, 2022). Although Mastodon has a similar interface to that of Twitter, the platform defers in many ways. There are different functions and much smaller communities that you must enter and exist. Mastodon users reported that you don't "feel the same level of hostility" then you do on twitter, and yet is it a proper replacement for the platform (Chayka, 2022)?

What is interesting about these articles in conjunction is that the apps are very different in the way communities emerge. On Twitter people find common interests and be-friend other users while still having full access and connection with the "global town square" while Mastodon has more exclusive communities with no central shared area (Chayka, 2022). The reason that the Black Twitter community was able to make those hashtags viral and attack injustices what because of the shared space of Twitter, where Mastodon wouldn't allow for those same communities to act the way they do now. It does not seem like a proper next step and really a different platform where exclusivity could cause feelings of isolation online. - kbill98 (talk) 09:48 , 26 January (UTC)

3. "A lot of times on Twitter there are just a lot of words, but then something gets done" (Clark 1). Various cultures have created a cultural community through Twitter. For example, through Black Twitter individuals and groups can "get things done" by representing a particular identity through this social media outlet by using various hashtags and tweets to voice topics of values and inclusion. "Blacktags" were created as a way to continue representing the African-American community through language prevalent in their own culture and community. Additionally, these specific tags they create form a sense of inclusion and boundaries within the Black Twitter community. They can recognize and interact with other members of the community through shared interests and beliefs.

Questions arise as to the detrimental effects that Musk's ownership of this platform. To what extent could Musk's ownership impact the culture and community these individuals have created in this space? I believe that after the issues with Musk's ownership, Mastodon can be a new home for Black Twitter. With a new and improved management style, Mastodon includes various servers where individuals can cater to different groups and communication styles. However, Brock believes that Black Twitter can not be replicated elsewhere. He states "Mastodon is siloed. Discord is voice-centric. TikTok is too busy. Nothing else closely replicates Twitter's feature set." He says Instagram is the most obvious contender because it "has seen a slow Black Twitter exodus over the last five years." My final question is: To what extent will a new version of "Black Twitter" be a reflection of the concept and platform rather than a replica? Dena.wolfs (talk) 09:50 , 26 January (UTC)

4. Black Twitter hashtags are "artifacts that carry meaning between the virtual and physical worlds" (Clark, 2015, p. 215). Black Twitter brings Black communities together "across physical, economic, and social barriers, giving their members greater agency and visibility" (Clark, 2015, p. 215). The community does not "gatekeep or silence Black people's opinions," allowing members to identify through shared experiences and emotional connections (Parham, 2022). Through the use of #Solidarityisforwhitewomen and #PaulasBestDishes, Black Twitter influences the focus of mainstream media and begins important conversations.

Community members of Black Twitter use social validation and consistency, two of Cialdini's six tendencies of human behavior, to shape the media and draw attention to overlooked issues. For example, #Solidarityisforwhitewonen demands coverage due to a "threat of bad publicity" for the feminists who choose to avoid this discussion (Clark, 2015, p.213). This leads to users acknowledging and participating in online conversation to gain social validation for speaking up. Black Twitter capitalizes on users' desire to be consistent through the use of hashtags. If a user participated in a previous conversation through posts or retweets, they might feel committed to the community and obligated to stay consistent with their participation in discussions.

Elon Musk's leadership puts Black Twitter in danger for dissolution. With Black Twitter potentially coming to an end on Twitter, these members of the community may shift to a new platform called Mastodon which is more friendly and intimate than Twitter. Although nothing can compare to the original Black Twitter, many users' willingness to stay committed to the community even across platforms reveals the intrinsic motivation keeping people involved. Users could blame their disassociation on the switch of platforms or Elon Musk, but those who decide to remain part of the community must genuinely want to be involved. Lvogel1 (talk) 16:19, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lvogel1, very good. Notice the spaces I added to citations: "p. 215". -Reagle (talk) 17:21, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Jan 30 Tue - Creating a Wikipedia outline with citations

...

Feb 02 Fri - Ethics (interlude)

3. "It is important that ethics - and the humans who comprise the data - are not forgotten in the chaos" (Lukito et al., 2023). This quote essentially summarizes the overarching theme across all three readings. Lukito, Matias, and Gilbert worry that by restricting independent research, there will be no one to expose injustices at the hands of major corporations and government. This kind of research can then be used to shape policies that have very real effects. So, while ethics, privacy, and the human component of research are always of concern, independent research cannot be done away with entirely. Instead there must be new forms of accountability to manage the tensions of independent research.

Amy Bruckman writes about her own experiences with managing independent research and ethics while conducting a class where her students ran studies of various online communities. In doing so, Bruckman was able to develop guidelines over the years that allow students to research while balancing concerns of privacy and ethics, which is exactly what Lukito, Matias, and Gilbert instruct people to do.

Finally, the example of user influence experiments on Facebook highlight the necessity of protecting the people behind the data. In a 2014 study, Facebook examined the effect of positive and negative messages seen by users and did so without user consent. The study was criticized because users were unknowingly having their emotions manipulated for the purpose of a study, or as the quote says, forgetting the humans behind the data in the chaos of research. When it comes to independent research and the various considerations that come along with it, Lukito, Matias, and Gilbert capture it perfectly in one sentence. - Lmeyler02 (talk) 21:19, 1 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. This past semester, I took the class COMM2105 Social Networks with Professor Lungeanu. Around the middle of the semester, we were to design a small-scale research project and send it to a small group. This prompted an overview of the ethical considerations that must be taken into account when researching these networks. Studying social networks---as well as the underlying concept of network theory---is a relatively new field of study. And because of this, IRBs are usually skeptical of allowing research into this field. The Lukito et al. piece reminded me of this discussion, particularly the sentence "Prior work has uncovered a number of challenges faced by IRBs, such as keeping up with evolving technologies and practices..." I do not think that this skepticism from IRBs in the field is unwarranted, but at the same time, I think that this shows the hesitancy IRBs have towards accepting new research methods.

From the readings, I was able to draw connections between the ethical considerations discussed in that class to our current discussion for this class. Both subject matters deal with how people interact with each other in a certain space. However, I believe that social network research focuses more on in-person interactions and how people are explicitly connected to each other. Within the online communities space, the focus seems to be more on the community at large than the individuals who compose it. ---Toothlesswalrus (talk) 13:58, 2 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Feb 06 Tue - Norm compliance and breaching

4. "Communities need some more automates and tangible ways to limit damage" claimed Robert Kraut in his chapter on building successful online communities (p.167). Throughout this text, Kraut offers various design claims and alternatives for current online communities to follow in trying to regulate behavior that violates social norms online. The claims referenced punishments and benefits for new online rules and the problem with anonymity online, which can be seen in many online platforms today. An example of this is the live streaming world, what I wrote my influence and motivator paper on, is the idea of moderators. These "formal sanctioning roles" help in finding chatters who violate the community guidelines of that platform (YouTube, twitch, etc.) (p.165). Often with the use of pseudonyms, it can be difficult to punish those violating norms because of their anonymity and ability to create other online personas even if they get banned from a platform.

In order to understand the breaking of these social norms, one must be "a stranger to the life as usual character of everyday scenes" (p.36). Garfinkel's study on social briefing was a great expansion on the idea of looking at how norm violations affect the community surrounding them. The study highlights various experiments conducted with experimenters breaking social norms through asking for someone's seat on a subway or asking to cut in a line. After concluding my reading of the text, there are some questions that can be posed about Garfinkle's experiments. After last week's discussion, are there an ethical concerns that should be discussed involving intentional social breaching? Were these ever justified? And how do experimenters feel about participating in these experimentations? -kbill98 (talk) 14:32, 5 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4. "'Please, no more of these experiments. We're not rats you know'" (Garfinkel p. 49). This quote from the sister of one of the students conducting a social breaching experiment on their family references some of the ethical concerns that may be involved with this type of research. A breaching experiment involves violating accepted social rules or norms to evaluate people's reactions in these situations. For this to work, however, the people involved cannot know they are part of a study because researchers are trying to examine their natural reactions. many of the families involved in students' social breaching experiments were somewhat annoyed after the student's explanation of what had happened. While Garfinkel makes sure to note that none of these experiments caused irreparable damage to students and their families, could there still be an argument that the families were unfairly manipulated for the purpose of a study? As discussed in last week's class and readings, informed consent is usually considered a crucial part of research studies. It is generally agreed upon that it is unfair to involve people in a study which they know nothing about and have not agreed to participate in. So how is social breaching different? What arguments might there be that this type of research and experimentation does not require informed consent? - Lmeyler02 (talk) 22:17, 5 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

5. Sociological theorist Alfred Schutz described the "unnoticed background expectancies" that we take for granted as the "attitude of daily life" (Garfinkel, 1976, p. 37). In our day to day life, there is a lot left unsaid. When there are too many questions, humans get exasperated and impatient. It is expected that we follow a set of societal norms that we are rewarded for following, and punished for disregarding. People follow norms for social validation. "The ability of others to see and judge actions and associate them with the actor---encourages good behavior and discourages bad behavior in the moment" (Kraut, 2012, p. 156). This emphasizes that people want to be seen as if they do what they are supposed to: they follow norms. In a study when students did not follow norms, their families "demanded explanations: what's the matter?... are you sick?" (Garfinkel, 1976, p. 43). This demonstrates our discomfort when someone disregards societal norms. Along with the norms that we are expected to abide by in daily life, there are also norms in online communities and the expectations are the same. For example, "97% of Vandalism on wikipedia is done by anonymous editors," proving that many will not deviate from the norm if their name is attached to the work (Kraut, 2012, p. 155). Is this visceral reaction to the disruption of norms due to our innate discomfort with a "norm-less" society? Is this reaction rooted in our fear of others knowing that we might not understand/be aware of this norm and that is why we are not following it? Perhaps we are subconsciously seeking social validation in our mindless norm compliance. Lvogel1 (talk) 03:26, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. In today's readings, I was particularly interested in reading about the "design claims" offered by Kraut et al. in Building Successful Online Communities. One of the ideas discussed in Design Claim 27 of the book is the implementation of online reputation systems that link users' reputations between communities under a single pseudonym. However, it also mentions that previous attempts to create such a system have failed. While I can certainly see the benefits of such a system, I do not believe that this would work well in practice. Having a singular core online reputation would help to hold users accountable for any negative actions that they carry out, but this comes at the cost of having the potential for abuse.

If users are required to have a singular pseudonym under this system, users could be targeted across forums. This is already a problem if users use similar (or identical) usernames on different platforms, but if such a reputation system were to be implemented, a users' reputation can be "attacked" (for lack of a better word) and influence their standing on multiple forums at once. Additionally, users might prefer the anonymity that is provided by having multiple pseudonyms across multiple websites. I believe that the other design claims discussed by Kraut et al. would be much more effective at incentivizing healthy online interactions than a global reputation system. ---Toothlesswalrus (talk) 05:25, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

5. In a 1962 episode of Candid Camera, unsuspecting subjects entered an elevator where actors were all facing the back of the elevator. The power of conformity was clear -- the subjects started turning around to conform to the group's behavior. This breaching experiment demonstrated how individuals conform to group dynamics. Without questioning the odd behavior of facing the back, the subjects imitated the actors' actions in a subconscious attempt to conform to the group. Even though facing the back of the elevator is considered a violation of elevator norms, the subjects prioritized fitting into the group in the given context. Erving Goffman argues that "the most common rule in all social situations is for the individual to fit in" (Wikipedia). To fit in, one must comply with the given social rules, so they blend in with the group. We feel uncomfortable, awkward, and embarrassed when we or others fail to comply with norms because we attribute violations of norms to the individual's poor character. Associating the compliance of norms with the individual discourages individuals from breaking norms for fear of a bad reputation or exclusion. Humans have an inherent desire for belonging and we enter this world learning that if we obey social rules, we will not only fit in but be respected by others and rewarded for our compliance. A good citizen is someone who abides by the law. A good member of society is someone who abides by norms.

Although compliance with norms is heavily encouraged within our society, I'd like to argue that, sometimes, breaking the social rules can be an important driving force in fostering a culture of innovation and creativity. Innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers are rule breakers who defy the norms of society, think outside the box, and take a unique approach to their line of work -- even if it triggers a public outcry. If we step away from the "normal" way of approaching life, we can see the world from a fresh new perspective, away from the influences of society. - Jinnyjin123 (talk) 05:56, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. Time is a thief, and some of what it steals (or changes) in online communities is meaning. Harold Garfinkel's "Studies in ethnomethodology" (1976) and Robert Kraut's "Building Successful Online Communities" (2012) both spoke about the role of the passage of time in their respective books about social norms and breaching. While Garfinkel was more focused on highlighting the transformative role of time as it relates to changing and producing meaning in social interactions, I was interested to see how this connects to Kraut's evidence-based claims about how one way to ensure safe and appropriate use of online spaces is to increase the benefits of long-term pseudonyms for its users. While Kraut spoke about this mainly from a design perspective, listing ways in which to get users to stick to one pseudonym, I believe that Garfinkel's analysis is a great support as to why users might find this beneficial on more social grounds.

I think that staying on a platform under the same account for longer periods of time is desired by users not only because of ease of access or material gains, but rather it speaks to their desire to be known by the platform which they themselves learn to create meaningful content with. Platforms such as TikTok or Spotify have made a brand out of their famous algorithms that give back to users, catering entire "For you pages" and personalized playlists built from users' listening habits. To break use of that platform under a certain account would feel like a broken relationship, a goodbye that is made more meaningful by the app's personalized design, which relies on social norms to simulate human interactions. Tiarawearer (talk) 15:32, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4. In his book, Kraut notes that a lesson for online communities is that "there must be a high probability that norm violations will be detected" (p. 163). Online community members who violate norms should be detected and dealt with appropriately. Kraut discusses one method of detection, by allowing members to report such violations. An example of a social media platform that has this feature is TikTok, in which one may report a post with prompts to identify the type of violation. The other method Kraut discussed makes use of a software which can flag photographs with "large flesh-colored areas" as potentially pornographic (p. 163). In his chapter, Kraut explored many design claims with regards to regulating behavior that violates social norms, and proposed potential design alternatives. Earlier in the chapter, he discussed how anonymous individuals are less likely to adhere to social norms than those who are identifiable (p. 155). This reminds me of keyboard warriors, who still persist with great online presence to this day. It is often easy to violate rules and norms when one is able to hide behind a pseudonym or fake identity. Thus, one method that Kraut cites as increasing members' willingness to abide by community norms is to prevent or minimize anonymous participation, as Wikipedia has done.

Most commonly associated with Harold Garfinkel, breaching experiments work by essentially taking a regular interaction but changing the context of the interaction as something unfitting. He claims that society has created implicit "rules" in how we interact with one another, however, these rules often come about naturally and are difficult to distinguish. Breaching experiments help highlight these rules/social norms that would often go unnoticed. Although violations of norms in online communities are often seen as divisive and wrong, I believe there are benefits to going against certain norms. Alexistang (talk) 16:20, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. "Their seen but unnoticed presence is used to entitle persons to conduct their common conversational affairs without interference. Departures from such usages call forth immediate attempts to restore a right state of affairs" (Garfinkel, p.42). When it comes to our communities certain norms are established, whether we are aware of them or not. Even the language we use, as Garfinkel points out, is a result of these rules. I also saw a connection between this idea by Garfinkel and Kraut's claim that, "community influence on rule making increases compliance with the rules" (Kraut et al., p.152). The idea behind this claim is that when people violate norms and that violation is pointed out, they are more willing to stop that behavior and correct course to more accurately comply to the rules. Personally, I witnesses this phenomenon when I first came to college. I never realized there were some common phrases that I used on a daily basis back home that confused people when I came to Northeastern. When people started pointing out some of the words or phrases I used that they did not understand I began to stop using them, and conform to the norms of the people around me. Leaving my community and joining a new one led me to reflect on my former norms, and adjust to fit my new ones.

These statements by Garfinkel and Kraut also made me wonder how much these norms are meant to form a community, and how much they are used to exclude others from said community? E23895 (talk) 17:43, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Feb 09 Fri - Regulation and pro-social norms (and writing workshop)

1. "In the face of inevitable turnover, every online community must incorporate successive generations of newcomers to survive" (Kraut et al). Communities are always gaining and losing members at all times. This can be good but it can also be bad. Newcomers can bring in new ideas and creativity but a new member's presence can also create diversity in the group until they learn the group's norms. Kraut mentions in Chapter 5 that there are five basic problems that must be dealt with before integrating into a newcomer. These include recruitment, selection, retention, socialization, and protection. These problems involve the new members and the current community and make sure that they would be a good fit.

I believe that these rules are good guidelines that can be applied to any type of community whether in person or online. When thinking of the Dreddit example, they utilize these types of rules for integrating new members by allowing people to apply and then waiting for an acceptance which mostly likely means that the existing community needs to vet you before you are integrated. This goes hand in hand with the recruitment and selection section of the five problems. As someone who is part of many communities myself in person and online I feel like this method is used by all as it is the more fair and equal way to ensure that communities aren't being exclusionary but they are still maintaining the order they want and taking someone in to follow their norms rather than changing it all up for one person. Jfeldman26 (talk) 11:11, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. Focusing on the various design claims of Kraut, one claim in particular stuck out to me, that being the fifth claim. Design claim five specifically talks about the power that the most influential and engaging members of a community hold in their ability to convince others they know to join said community (Kraut et al, 188). The section dedicated to claim five then goes on to talk about how people are "more likely to be exposed to beliefs that they already agree with" (Kraut et al, 188). Taking these different factors into account, we can see that some communities can begin to intersect with others due to previously existing groups.

Taking the social networks of influential individuals who are a part of communities, and then seeing direct encouragement towards said network to join the community being an effective recruitment technique leads into the idea of both groups having common interests. With the social networks and communities having common beliefs and interests, these influential community members do have great power as they act as the bridge between these two groups. These influential members, as a part of this community, have an interest that, due to social networks members often having common things they agree with, is able to bring in more people due to the fact their peers often have more than one common thing they agree with. This allows for a large amount of intersection between different groups and circles by just the actions of a select few members. Kindslime (talk) 03:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Kindslime can you start with something snappier? -Reagle (talk) 17:21, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

5. "Because they lack experience, when newcomers try to participate, they imperil the work that other community members have already performed" (Kraut p. 179). This quote from Kraut captures the tensions of newcomers entering a community. While new members are a necessity to keep communities flourishing, there also may be some difficulties that arise from new participants that do not yet understand the way a community functions. Kraut outlines several design claims that can be useful to address challenges associated with newcomers, from recruiting them to maintaining them as part of the community.

Design claims 8 and 9, dealing with recruiting members through advertising tactics reminded me of Cialdini's persuasion techniques. Design claim 8 states: "Recruiting materials that present attractive surface features and endorsements by celebrities attract people who are casually assessing communities" (Kraut p. 191). This claim relates directly to authority and liking. Cialdini explains that people can often be easily persuaded by those that seem to have authority or influence, like a celebrity in this case. Similarly, people are more likely to agree to something when they like the person that is asking, and even more likely when the person is attractive. Again, a celebrity meets those requirements which is why this could be a successful tactic for recruiting new members. Design claim 9 suggests highlighting the number of people that have already joined the community to persuade more people to join. Kraut references the example discussed in class of increasing people's willingness to reuse hotel towels by using phrases like "join your fellow guests. . .", which emphasizes what others are doing, speaking to Cialdini's identification of social validation, which is the tendency to look to others to decide what to do in a situation. -Lmeyler02 (talk) 18:43, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lmeyler02 good connections. -Reagle (talk) 17:21, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2. "The community should select only those potential members who fit well. This process may occur through self-selection, in which potential members who are a good fit find the community attractive and those who are not a good fit find it unattractive. Or it may occur through screening, in which the community screens out undesirable members, while encouraging or selecting the others" (Kraut p. 180). This is how Kraut described the process of selection, one of the five basic problems when dealing with newcomers in online communities. This concept, along with recruitment, retention, socialization, and protection are the five problems communities run into when determining whether a new member is fit to join their ranks.

After reading the rules for joining the online community, Dreddit, I feel as if selection is the main concern for this community in particular when deciding whether to admit a new member. I believe this is the case because of their guidelines on "Applying with a recommendation." These rules made it clear that if a recommended member is removed from the community, the person who made that recommendation may also be punished as a result. I think that this rule makes the selection process more nitpicky because it emphasizes not only the applicant but also those who vouch for them. This requires that both the applicant and their recommender align with the community values, adding another evaluation to the process, and making it that much more selective. Stuchainzz (talk) 21:53, 8 February 2024 (UTC)Stuchainzz[reply]

5. Just like the rest of the world, communities can only survive if members who leave are replaced by new ones. As Kraut notes, "without replacing members who leave, a community will eventually wither away" (p. 179). In this chapter, Kraut discusses the importance of recruiting new members into an online community along with the associated design claims. He described newcomers as members who may be a new source of "innovation, new ideas, and work procedures or other resources that the group needs" (p. 179). As it is crucial to recruit new members to preserve an online community, it is important to be aware of its challenges so that recruitment is as effective as possible.

Looking at Dreddit, an online community that consists mostly of Reddit users and their peers, their recruitment of new members falls in line with several of Kraut's design claims. As an example, those who apply with a recommendation from a Dreddit member underwent "interpersonal recruiting" (p. 183). While it appears that Dreddit permits lurkers in its community, GoodWaffe 101 does not unless the prospective member meets an alternative criteria. Having a system in place that allows a community to consider prospective members before admitting them has many benefits, but it leads me to question whether the elimination of lurkers in certain online communities is necessary, considering that many may feel strongly about a specific community but choose against being vocal. Having said that, I believe that GoodWaffe 101's alternative criteria is a fair one. Alexistang (talk) 21:57, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

5. "Online communities will inevitably die without a constant supply of newcomers" reveals Kraut as he emphasizes the important of recruitment of newcomers for online communities in his recruiting design claims (Kraut, p.182). The claims begin with speaking to interpersonal recruiting, and how current members of communities can use word-of-mouth recruitment instead of "laissez-faire" approaches is much more powerful (Kraut, p.183). Along with this, design claim 4 looks at the affordances of the platform where the community lives can affect recruitment. Kraut further introduces the ideas of having credible endorsements, familiarity, and an involved selection process and how these ate extremely important for recruiting and admitting newcomers.

This concept of having members "undertake separating tasks" in hopes it will weed out the "undesirables" can be seen on the Joining Dreddit webpage (Kraut, p. 200). In order to apply to becomes part of the community on your own, you must already be an established Reddit member or else you need a recommendation from a current Dreddit member. Creating these specific steps will make is harder for more "undesirable" or unwanted newcomers to join the community because of the extra hoops they must jump through in order to join. Similarly on GoonWaffle, a perspective member must have a sponsor to join, and that sponsor is responsible if the newcomers behaviors violates the communities laws. We can see how there in-depth recruiting application processes have attempted to find the best newcomers possible through other offline endeavors such as college admissions to joining honors societies and Greek life organizations. What do we think are the benefits of this process for these smaller online communities and would they work for bigger platform's like Instagram or Twitter? - kbill98 (talk) 21:35, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

3. It is indeed a double-edged sword for online communities to recruit newcomers. On the one hand side, they have to get newcomers in order to keep the communities thrive. As suggested in "Wikipedia: Seven Ages of Wikipedians," there is actually a cycle where new people enter and old people exit. To keep this cycle work healthly, the number of incomers must be at least equal to the number of those exiting. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the more newcomers, the better, because newcomers have the potential to disrupt or destroy the entire online communities. As highlighted by Kraut (2012), there is the issue of anonymity, which means that the true identity of the newcomers is usually hard to be verified and lies may exist that destroy the community accord.

Online communities have to carefully select newcomers through some recruiting strategies and tactics. I never joined any game guilds, but as a member of many online communities, I deeply feel the challenges faced by those communities to have the best-fit newcomers. I always see the players of different games dismissing each other's game as naive or tasteless. And I feel like this kind of attack could happen in online communities like Wikipedia as well.Unlike games whose interests are just to attract more and more new players, online communities like Wikipedia have to guarantee the qualities of the newcomers for the sake of the entire community. My remaining question is what can be done to resolve such challenges brought by animosity?-Letian88886 (talk) 03:10, 9 Feburary 2024(UTC)

6. Although newcomers are crucial to the survival of an online community, there are challenges when familiarizing them with the norms of the group. For example, a wikiInfant "may fail to follow the policy of writing with a neutral point of view..." (Kraut, 2012, p. 179). The motivations behind newcomers joining and remaining in a community can be linked to Cialdini's Principles of Persuasion. Design claim 1, which states that a "persuasion attempt" from a familiar person is more effective at influencing attitudes than a general advertisement, demonstrates how liking can influence a newcomer to join a community (Kraut, 2012, p. 184). Additionally, design claim 2 discusses how word-of-mouth is even more effective than impersonal advertising, proving that liking and knowing the individual is an effective way to influence. Not only must the newcomer like the community, but the liking must be reciprocated. For example, to join Goonwaffe you must be referred by a Goonwaffe member and that member must have been in the community for at least 30 days. When building a community, there must be a general consensus amongst the individual and the community that they are a good fit for each other. B. J. Fogg had his students create Facebook apps to attract newcomers through psychology. "The result: in just ten weeks, the students had attracted an aggregate of sixteen million users to their apps" (Kraut, 2012, p. 186). This reveals the impact that credibility of friends and social validation can have on a user's decision to join a community. Given the connection between Cialdini's Principles and newcomers' motivations, what proportion of a community is genuine interest versus performative? Lvogel1 (talk) 14:24, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lvogel1, excellent engagement but break into coherent paragraphs. -Reagle (talk) 17:21, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How transparent does the glass need to be to feel like you have a good idea of what's hiding behind it? In his chapter on dealing with the challenges of newcomers to online communities, Kraut (2012) opens by saying that newcomers are generally happier and better contributors if they have a "complete and accurate impression of the community before they join it." This made me think about the importance of design choices not only for individual platforms, but across them. Most online communities these days are shared and understood by more than users who have a registered account. On TikTok, a popular form of sharing content is by reading funny Tweets or reposting Tumblr posts in a slideshow of images, set to either a humorous or emotional song based on the context.

The consumption of platform-specific content on foreign platforms is extremely prevalent in today's online environment. This could be because of a number of reasons, including the desire to limit online presence and accounts or a particular ethical or moral aversion to a platform, as evidenced by the departure of many from Twitter, now X. How effective is this propagation of content in advertising the platform itself, and would this drive engagement or limit it? As a member of an online community, if I feel like I can get the same content from one place, why would I join another? I wonder how these considerations affect design choices in making specific platforms stand out enough that once people do take a peek through the looking glass, they're motivated enough to break through it. Tiarawearer (talk) 14:25, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4. "In the face of inevitable turnover, every online community must incorporate successive generations of newcomers to survive." (Kraut p. 179). Kraut explains that while newcomers are a great addition to a community providing new insights and perspective to the group there can also be downsides. He states that these newcomers don't yet have a level of loyalty or commitment to the group that old-timers have developed and obtained. Additionally, newcomers can be somewhat unreliable as they may leave the community after facing a slight and minor inconvenience. "They have less motivation to be helpful to the group or to display good organizational citizenship characteristic of many old-timers" (Organ and Ryan 1995).

In order to successfully integrate newcomers into their fold they must use an effective retention approach. They are essentially fragile in the beginning and the community should create a space where newcomers can feel a tie and understanding of how the group functions to integrate them more smoothly.

The question that I ask myself is: Would incorporating a sense and concept of mentoring between old-timers and new individuals interfere m with the community and create barriers between people or essentially help assimilate the new members into the community? Within these applications, old-timers can also create FAQ pages for the new timers to allow them to review archived conversations enabling them to gain an understanding of simply the communication methods within the specific online community.

Overall, the main issue is that many of these online communities lack recruiting initiatives for new members due to the fear of the new members not being able to assimilate which creates this issue to begin with.Dena.wolfs (talk) 09:46, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Dena.wolfs please number this, I think it is your 4th? -Reagle (talk) 17:21, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

6. Kraut et al. (2012) asserts that "interpersonal recruiting is more effective than mass communication" (p. 183). In other words, it is much more productive to actively recruit potential members through the mutual networks of existing members who already understand the expectations and goals of the community. Due to fear of bad reputation, existing members may be more encouraged to bring in potential members who they are confident will positively reflect them and the community. The potential members are more likely to be persuaded by people who they know, trust, and like, as opposed to those in the community they don't know at all. In discussing the behaviors of persuasion, Cialdini (2001) makes a point that "familiar faces sell products" (p. 79) which emphasizes the power of the familiarity heuristic. We tend to like and trust people, things, and ideas we are already familiar with; therefore, our peers (who are already liked) are powerful salespeople. The growing popularity of referral codes utilized by social media platforms to increase engagement through existing members' mutuals, as well as the increasing use of referrals from existing employees in job recruitment, displays the power of interpersonal recruiting and advertising.

Tinder takes advantage of our need for social validation by allowing users to share match profiles with peers instantly through text, AirDrop, or other social media platforms. When we make decisions, we like to look for help from others as a form of validation that we made the correct or "best" decision. Tinder essentially combines the promotion of the app with users' needs. The convenience and accessibility of sharing content with peers easily allows Tinder to increase visibility and, therefore, gain heavy attraction through users' networks. This is a strategic way of promoting the app to potential members who are not on Tinder yet, without the need to directly request users' recommendations. - Jinnyjin123 (talk) 16:11, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4. Design claim 9 states that, "emphasizing the number of people already participating in a community motivates more people to join than does emphasizing the community need (Kraut et al., p. 192). Reading this claim instantly reminded me of Cialdini and his six methods of persuasion, specifically Social Validation. Here, Cialdini claims that people are influenced by their peers and therefore if enough people are doing something or saying something, it will motivate others to do so as well. This idea directly supports Kraut's notion that highlighting those already participating is more motivating when attempting to recruit new members. If a community is perceived as popular it leads others to believe that it must be popular for a reason. This not only makes people curious, but makes them want to be "in on the joke". Furthermore people want the value that comes with being a part of a group, whether that be the social network, a sense of belonging, and so on.

Overall reading Kraut's piece reminded me a lot of the job hiring process, especially the 5 basic problems outlined in the beginning: recruitment, selection, retention, socialization, and protection. First a company posts on a job board, or lets people know through WOM, that a job position is available and they encourage people to apply. Then they begin selecting the best from the group of applicants until they find the best fit. From there, companies work to retain their employees by offering them perks and creating a good work environment, and they socialize them through onboarding training. E23895 (talk) 16:31, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Feb 13 Tue - Newcomer gateways

4. I was interested in the different scenarios that could occur from the interaction of design claims seven and nine. Claim sevens main proposal is to not interact with trolls as that “limits the damage they can do” (Kraut, 135). We then see claim 9 discuss how gags and bans are able to limit trolls damage as well, mentioning that this is mainly effective if the trolls are unable to come back on different accounts to persist later (Kraut, 138). These claims both propose solutions to prevent community disruption at different stages, where at first a troll may be ignored, then followed by harsher repercussions.

With bans being employed to limit interaction on account of “bad actors,” could these gags and bans be seen as interactions with bad actors to further embolden them? Could these interactions, despite their intent to limit damage, potentially lead to new developments for how online communities could be disrupted by bad actors? We’ve seen people try to implement methods such as fake accounts to disrupt groups before, and developments were made with CAPTCHAs to prevent that. That said, much like gags and bans potentially emboldening bad actors to try new methods of community disruption, how will new modern developments, such as CAPTCHA creation, further cause new methods of trolling? I think that research into how new technology, such as artificial intelligence, could be used for forms of trolling should be done, to best prevent methods of community disruption ahead of time. Kindslime (talk) 01:54, 12 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

5. “In thriving communities, a rough consensus eventually emerges about the range of behaviors the managers and most members consider acceptable, what we will call normative behaviors, and another range of behaviors that are beyond the pale” (Kraut 125). According to Kraut, a norm in Wikipedia is creating a neutral standing when communicating through articles. This is a well-known norm of Wikipedia which does an effective job at preventing bad behavior and its effects. “Personal insults may be the primary way to interact in one community, but frowned upon in another” (Kraut 125). What is interesting is to see the shifts in social norms between different online platforms. This poses the question of, To what length does an individual need to be a member/user of a specific online platform to gain a solid understanding of the respective platform’s norms?

While Wikipedians don’t use bias in their articles, at times there are what’s called “edit wars.” One Wikipedian may view the information in an article as not suitable for that specific page and may speak up.“This conflict can lead to editors repeatedly undoing each other’s work in an attempt to make their preferred version of the article visible” (Kittur et al. 2007). In Wikipedia, this can be seen as their norm. The content may be seen as “bad behavior” on one Wikipedian’s end where maybe the other user may have a different viewpoint. However, between the Wikiepdians undoing one’s actions may be seen as the norm on this platform, whereas on another platform it may be seen as rude. Dena.wolfs (talk) 09:43, 13 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

6. “Having a rough consensus about normative behaviors” is essential to having a thriving online community, according to Kraut in chapter 4 of his book (p.126). Throughout the chapter, Kraut offers design claims around the pillar of limiting the effects of bad behavior with moderation, ignoring tolls, compliance, and displaying examples of appropriate behavior. In his section on encouraging voluntary compliance, Kraut explains that the way sin which peoples learn the norms of a community through observing other’s consequences for violating norms, seeing generalizations of codes of conduct, and receiving direct feedback about behavior (p.141).

These strategies are being used in both offline and online communities. Being student at Northeastern means you have read and agreed to the school code of conduct, therefore are in compliance with the rules and regulations of the school. You also observe others around you to understand the norms, and face them even more so if you were to break the norms and face consequences. Similarly on a platform like X (formally twitter) these ideas of learning the norms of users also come into play. The newer function of community notes is a prime example of people observing the consequences of behavior as one of the norms of the community is to not spread misinformation. This can also been seen on Wikipedia, as mentioned in the “Be Nice” article. This can be seen through the ability to comment on Wikipedians talk pages in giving feedback on articles. Although norms are still broken with such strategies in place, they are helpful in understanding how communities act and function. -Kbill98 (talk) 11:49, 13 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

7. “One bad apple soils the barrel” (Kraut et al., 2012). The presence of even a single “bad apple”, or a member engaging in nonnormative or harmful behavior, can detrimentally impact the productivity and well-being of the entire community. Online communities often rely on pro-social norms to maintain a positive and productive environment. Pro-social norms are cultural traits which govern social actions which enhance the community’s well-being. When a member of the community violates these norms by engaging in trolling, harassment, or other negative behaviors, it can disrupt the community’s well-being and lead to a spillover effect where others may start to imitate or tolerate such negative behavior – leading to decreased productivity, decreased participation, and even the departure of previously active members.

In discussing norms, Kraut et al. (2012) differentiate between descriptive and injunctive norms. We tend to interpret descriptive norms (typical behavior) as social evidence of underlying injunctive norms (behaviors people approve or disapprove of). Due to our inherent desire to belong and feel socially validated by others, we look toward the typical behavior of others as a reference or guide for our own behavior as a way to navigate ourselves around a given space. However, to understand what norms are in place within a community, it is crucial to observe not just the common online behaviors of others, but also to observe the responses to those behaviors. If the observer sees the consequences of the behavior, they become aware of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the behavior and gain an understanding of whether the behavior is approved or disapproved within the community. When we receive feedback from others regarding our behavior, we start to understand and integrate the community norms by complying with normative behavior. - Jinnyjin123 (talk) 17:18, 13 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4.Before taking this class, I never thought that there is so much underlying mechanism of Wikipedia and there are so much going-on in this community. According to Reagle (2010), the community actually oftentimes involves in heated debates and even quarrels, but I did not have any idea where such quarrels might take place. The readings made me realize that it takes no easy work to make a free online community like Wikipedia to thrive. “‘Vandals’ and ‘trolls’ are people who come to Wikipedia so as to purposely cause mischief or argument” (Reagle, 2010). According to Kraut et al. (2012), trolls could actually turn away many members. To institute an effective regulative system, Kraut et al. (2012) proposed many design claims, to which a central idea has been that regulation must be imposed, but justice and democracy must be guaranteed and made known to all members. I totally agree with this idea and consider this hugely important to the regulation of any online community.

There's a Japanese and Chinese based game called Onmyoji, for example, has been a topic of debate in recent months, primarily because the operating and managerial team of the game are perceived by the player community as ill-intended and corrupted that disregard the opinions of players and imposed penalties on players arbitrarily. This actually break the trust of the entire community and risk disintegrating it. Letian88886 (talk) 18:39:29 Tuesday, February 13, 2024 (UTC)

7. All communities have a series of behaviors that members consider acceptable. “People learn the norms of a community in three ways: 1. Observing other people and the consequences of their behavior 2. Seeing instructive generalizations or codes of conduct, 3. Behaving and receiving feedback” (Kraut, 2012, p. 141). Many users adhere to these norms because there is a general consensus that following them is good and will lead to social validation.

We often don’t think about norms in a community that we are used to following. “Abstractions and routine behavior can be hard to make salient, but negative behavior catches people’s attention” (Kraut, 2012, p. 143). This relates to our class discussion regarding the high visibility of a norm that has been breached. Maybe we notice these breaches because it disrupts our blind following.

Sometimes having rules too visible can encourage nonconformity. As described in Design Claim 9: “prominently displayed guidelines may convey a descriptive norm that the guidelines are not always followed” (Kraut, 2012, p. 150). This can be explained by a general consensus that despite established rules, there are more casual norms. For example, the reading describes the Gaia site and its listed rules. The fact that these rules are so prominent makes teens want to do the complete opposite.

Social validation and general consensus shape who follows norms and who opposes them. Users fall into roles and we expect certain behaviors depending on whether they are a committed member or a troll. A troll seeks validation through breaking norms, whereas the rest of the community strives for approval. Lvogel1 (talk) 00:39, 14 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Feb 16 Fri - Newcomer initiation

1. “People come to like things for which they suffered because this is the only way they can reconcile their views of themselves as intelligent people with the actions they have performed (Aronson 1997). Although everyone wants to join a group where they feel a sense of belonging and that their peers care about them, there is also a closeness and bond that comes after being a part of a group that “abuses” you. This is similar to a sort of “trauma bond” which usually means that there is a psychological response to abuse or trauma which in turn leads to creating a strong emotional bond between individuals. This can be because of the fact that the others in the group are the only ones that can relate to what you went through and that is where the sense of belonging comes from. In the experiment conducted by Elliot Aronson and Judson Mills, they verified the hypothesis that people find a group more attractive than those who join without going through severe initiation.

This concept and experiment is of course true in online communities such as Wikipedia which is mentioned in the article, but when I think of this concept I relate it back to Greek Life. Within Greek life, there is a joke that everyone is trauma bonded and everyone is always complaining about their respective organizations yet no one leaves. The members within the group can complain but if an outsider says something negative about the organization those inside will defend the chapter no matter what. Especially in terms of hazing, these groups say that this ritual is what bonds people together. Jfeldman26(talk) 12:56, 13 February 2024 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jfeldman26 (talk • contribs)

Jfeldman26, don't forget to sign! -Reagle (talk) 18:09, 13 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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Feb 20 Tue - Collaboration and feedback

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Feb 23 Fri - Moderation: Frameworks

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Feb 27 Tue - Moderation: U.S. law/policy

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Mar 01 Fri - Reddit's challenges and delights

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Mar 15 Fri - Governance and banning at Wikipedia

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Mar 19 Tue - Artificial Intelligence and moderation

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Mar 22 Fri - Algorithms and community health: TikTok

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Mar 26 Tue - Parasocial relationships, "stans", and "wife guys"

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Mar 29 Fri - FOMO and dark patterns

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Apr 02 Tue - RTFM: Read the Fine Manual

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Apr 05 Fri - Community fission and the Reddit diaspora

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Apr 09 Tue - Gratitude

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Apr 16 Tue - Exit and infocide

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@@ Line 432: / Line 432: @@
 There's a Japanese and Chinese based game called Onmyoji, for example, has been a topic of debate in recent months, primarily because the operating and managerial team of the game are perceived by the player community as ill-intended and corrupted that disregard the opinions of players and imposed penalties on players arbitrarily. This actually break the trust of the entire community and risk disintegrating it. [[User:Letian88886|Letian88886]] ([[User talk:Letian88886|talk]]) 18:39:29 Tuesday, February 13, 2024 (UTC)
+----
+. All communities have a series of behaviors that members consider acceptable. “People learn the norms of a community in three ways: 1. Observing other people and the consequences of their behavior 2. Seeing instructive generalizations or codes of conduct, 3. Behaving and receiving feedback” (Kraut, 2012, p. 141). Many users adhere to these norms because there is a general consensus that following them is good and will lead to social validation.
+We often don’t think about norms in a community that we are used to following. “Abstractions and routine behavior can be hard to make salient, but negative behavior catches people’s attention” (Kraut, 2012, p. 143). This relates to our class discussion regarding the high visibility of a norm that has been breached. Maybe we notice these breaches because it disrupts our blind following.
+Sometimes having rules too visible can encourage nonconformity. As described in Design Claim 9: “prominently displayed guidelines may convey a descriptive norm that the guidelines are not always followed” (Kraut, 2012, p. 150). This can be explained by a general consensus that despite established rules, there are more casual norms. For example, the reading describes the Gaia site and its listed rules. The fact that these rules are so prominent makes teens want to do the complete opposite.
+Social validation and general consensus shape who follows norms and who opposes them. Users fall into roles and we expect certain behaviors depending on whether they are a committed member or a troll. A troll seeks validation through breaking norms, whereas the rest of the community strives for approval. [[User:Lvogel1|Lvogel1]] ([[User talk:Lvogel1|talk]]) 00:39, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
 = Feb 16 Fri - Newcomer initiation =