[RCom-l] Conducting Experiments on Effects of Messages in Wikipedia: Feedback needed

Thu Aug 11 01:08:19 UTC 2011

Given the slowing of discussion of this project on the talk page, the
unanimous opinion of those involved in discussion and the lack of objection
at the village pump, I'd like to give these guys our support at this time.
 Are there any objections?

They are hoping to go to their IRB tomorrow with confidence that they've
discussed the project with us first.

--Aaron

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 11:19 AM, Aaron Halfaker
<aaron.halfaker at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hey guys!
>
> There is another project looking to perform subject recruitment that needs
> our assistance.
>
> It looks like the researchers are looking to contact new
> article creators with different message styles to detect a causal
> relationship in changes to editor behavior.
>
>
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Effects_of_Feedback_on_Participation_in_<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Effects_of_Feedback_on_Participation_in_Wikipedia#Benefits_for_the_Wikimedia_Community>
> Wikipedia<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Effects_of_Feedback_on_Participation_in_Wikipedia#Benefits_for_the_Wikimedia_Community>
>
> I'll be moving my comments and questions to the project talk page, so
> please continue any discussion there.
>
> -Aaron
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Haiyi Zhu <haiyiz at cs.cmu.edu>
> Date: Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 4:47 PM
> Subject: Re: Conducting Experiments on Effects of Messages in Wikipedia
> To: Aaron Halfaker <aaron.halfaker at gmail.com>
> Cc: Robert Kraut <robert.kraut at cmu.edu>, nkittur <nkittur at cs.cmu.edu>, Amy
> X Zhang <amyz at andrew.cmu.edu>, Jenny He <jipingh at andrew.cmu.edu>
>
>
> Hi Aaron
>
> We have created a project page for the experiment we would like to do.
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Effects_of_Feedback_on_Participation_in_Wikipedia#Benefits_for_the_Wikimedia_Community
> We are ready for review. Would you please help us get the ball rolling?
>
> Thanks a lot!!
> Haiyi
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 8:23 AM, Aaron Halfaker <aaron.halfaker at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Haiyi,
>>
>> This study sounds like it would be relevant if submitted to the Wikimedia
>> Research Committee(http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Committee) for
>> review as a Subject Recruitment request(
>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Subject_recruitment).  I think
>> this should be an excellent venue for feedback, and if things go well, a
>> go-ahead/endorsement from the committee.  You'll have to create a project
>> page (see the form on
>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Subject_recruitment) and then let
>> me know when you are ready for review and I can get the ball rolling.
>>
>> The review is relatively unstructured and consists primarily of questions
>> and requests raised on the talk page.
>>
>> Let me know if you have questions.
>>
>> -Aaron
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 12:13 AM, Haiyi Zhu <haiyiz at cs.cmu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Aaron,
>>>
>>> This is Haiyi Zhu from Carnegie Mellon University. I am working with Bob
>>> Kraut and Niki Kittur. I read your work about the effects of revert in
>>> Wikipedia. That is very interesting. Also congratulations on getting the
>>> summer intern job in Wikipedia.
>>>
>>> We have been planning on conducting an experiment to investigate the
>>> effects of messages on participation in Wikipedia. We are wondering if there
>>> is any appropriate place in Wikipedia website for us to post our plan of
>>> experiments and get feedback from Wikipedia foundations and experienced
>>> Wikipedians. It would be really helpful if you could point us to the right
>>> place.
>>>
>>> I also attach the details of our experiments.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help!
>>> Haiyi
>>>
>>>
>>> 1. Purpose of the study
>>>
>>> Wikipedia is one of the most successful examples of social production
>>> online, and the key components to its continued success is maintaining a
>>> large number of contributions made by a large and diverse community of
>>> editors. The quality of Wikipedia articles is also maintained by its
>>> community of editors through shared leadership behaviors, which are
>>> leadership behaviors that come from all members at all levels (e.g. all
>>> Wikipedia users), not only members in a defined leadership position (e.g.
>>> Wikipedia administrators). Shared leadership behaviors in Wikipedia include,
>>> but are not limited to, giving positive comments to a contributor for
>>> creating a well-written new article (positive task-based message),
>>> criticisms or reprimands to a contributor for not complying to Wikipedia
>>> guidelines (negative task-based message), giving directions to correct an
>>> error (directive task-based message). All of these aforementioned messages
>>> could be written in a manner that is sociable and person-focused--friendly,
>>> supportive and caring, and seeks to retain relationships with others, or not
>>> sociable.  Past research has shown that person-focused leadership was
>>> effective in motivating users to contribute more, while negative messages
>>> lead to decrease in motivation (Effectiveness of Shared Leadership, CSCW,
>>> 2012, under review,
>>> http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~haiyiz/ttt/SharedLeadership_fifthpdf.pdf).
>>> Therefore, we are interested in learning how task-based messages (positive,
>>> negative, directive) with a sociable(person-focused) component would effect
>>> Wikipedia users' contributions.
>>>
>>> We will test how receiving the different types of messages (positive
>>> task-based, negative task-based, or directive message) with and without a
>>> sociable component, as well as the recipient's level of experience will
>>> influence a recipient's future contributions to Wikipedia. We will do so by
>>> having researchers post messages on the recipients' Wikipedia User Talk
>>> page, and then we will track the recipients' level of contribution over
>>> time.
>>>
>>> 2. Research procedures:
>>>
>>> The research procedure will not require any extra effort and activity by
>>> the participants, other than their usual participation on Wikipedia. The
>>> time period of this experiment will take place from July 1st to August. The
>>> location will take place online on the Wikipedia website.
>>>
>>>  We will be posting experimentally altered messages to the participants'
>>> Wikipedia User Talk page, which is public and can be seen by anyone. The
>>> experiment researchers will identify a list of newly created articles that
>>> are two to ten days old. We will only post a response to a newly-created
>>> article that is at least two days old, in accordance to Wikipedia's policy
>>> of "don't bite the newcomers" (
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BITE).
>>>
>>> We will then categorize the new articles as containing errors or not
>>> containing errors according to a set of criteria determined by Wikipedia
>>> guidelines. The creator of the new article containing errors would randomly
>>> be assigned to receive a positive task-based message, negative task-based
>>> message, directive message, or non task-based message, and each type of
>>> message would also be randomly assigned to be sociable or not sociable. The
>>> same assignment procedure will be given to the creator of an article without
>>> errors, with the exclusion of negative task-based feedback.
>>>
>>> Also, all messages sent by the experimenter will be prepared beforehand
>>> in templates (see the section 4) , which are designed to mimic messages sent
>>> by other Wikipedia users, and therefore the risk associated with these
>>> messages are no greater than the risks experienced by a Wikipedia user
>>> during everyday interactions on Wikipedia. We will then extract the users'
>>> activity data after one to two weeks in order to examine the users level of
>>> contribution; we will also extract some user info, such as date of first
>>> edit,  in order to assess the recipients' level of experience. However, no
>>> personal information that could be used to identify the identity of the
>>> recipient will be extracted, used, or recorded in this experiment.
>>>
>>> 3. We need your help!
>>> If you are interested in our research project and would like to
>>> participate in our experiment and send out messages, please sign here.
>>>
>>> 4. Appendix: example messages
>>>
>>> 4.1 Each message has some base, non-task focused/non-social content.
>>> I see you created the new article [[“{{{{contrib}}}}]].  New articles are
>>> typically reviewed by users on the [[Wikipedia:New_pages_patrol|‘New Article
>>> Patrol’]].  If your article has not been reviewed, it should happen soon.
>>>  Thank you, ~~~~
>>> I see that you recently created the new article [[“{{{{contrib}}}}]]. As
>>> you know, Wikipedia is always a [work in progress].  So thank you, ~~~~
>>> I see that you recently created the new article [[contrib]].  It would
>>> probably fit into project [[Project]].  (although a good suggestion, this
>>> message is not yet compatible with the various categories,
>>>
>>> 4.2. The social messages have social content in the salutation before the
>>> base message and in the closing after the base message:
>>>
>>> Salutations:
>>>
>>> Happy Monday, {{SUBST:BASEPAGENAME}}!
>>> Greetings {{SUBST:BASEPAGENAME}}!
>>> Hi {{SUBST:BASEPAGENAME}}!
>>> Welcome {{SUBST:BASEPAGENAME}}!  (new users only)
>>>
>>>
>>> Closing:
>>>
>>> Happy editing! Hope your day is going well and you are having fun.  ~~~
>>> It’s nice to see you editing! Hope you’ll stick around! ~~~~
>>> Have a fun and productive day! Cheers, ~~~~
>>> Let me know if there is any way I can help.  Hope you sill stick around.
>>>  Thanks, Amy ~~~~
>>> Let me know if I can be of any help and I’ll do my best! ~~~~
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 4.3. The positive feedback message includes some general positive comment
>>> and an article specific comment
>>>
>>> General: This article looks very well put together. [ Point to a specific
>>> praiseworthy element , based on article content.]
>>>
>>> Specific:
>>>
>>> The image greatly improves the article.
>>>
>>> The citations and references seem to abide to Wikipedia’s referencing
>>> guidelines.
>>>
>>> There is a good number of citations and references.
>>> The content seems pretty substantial for a new article.
>>> The content seems well-organized.
>>> The information is presented clearly and is easy to understand.
>>> The layout of the article makes it very clear.
>>> The headings and sections seem appropriate.
>>>
>>> 4.4. The negative feedback message includes some general negative comment
>>> and an article specific comment
>>>
>>> General: However, I noticed the article contains errors.  [Point to a
>>> specific error, based on article content.]
>>>
>>> Specific:
>>>
>>> The article contains spelling/grammatical error’s (specifics)
>>> The article currently does not contain any [[WP:REF|references]].
>>> The article’s image currently does not contain any captions.
>>> The references in the article do not follow Wikipedia guidelines. There
>>> is a tutorial on formatting citations at [[Wikipedia:Referencing]]
>>> The article does not contain any [[Help:Link|Wikilinks]], and so doesn’t
>>> follow [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (linking)|Wikipedia style guidelines]].
>>> The article does not contain in-line citations, and so doesn’t follow
>>> [[WP:REF|Wikipedia style guidelines]].
>>> The article is confusing.  I do not understand what you are trying to
>>> say.
>>> The article’s footer sections are not in the [[WP:FOOTER|standard
>>> order]].
>>>
>>>
>>> 4.5. The directive  message asks the editor to do a specific comment on
>>> an article related to the one they created.
>>>
>>> Other sample tasks:
>>>
>>> It would be great if you could also improve the related article __.
>>> It would be great if you could also [[Help:Files|upload a picture]] for
>>> the related article__.
>>> It would be great if you could also [[WP:REF|add references]] to the
>>> related article __.
>>> It would be great if you could also create new articles for [the red
>>> links that do not lead to another article yet].
>>> It would be great if you could also [[Talk:__|give feedback]] for the
>>> related article __.
>>> It would be great if you could also clean-up the related article __.
>>> It would be great if you could also [[WP:MOS|Wikify]] the related article
>>> __.
>>> It would be great if you could also help merge the related article __.
>>> It would be great if you could also participate in the [discussion] about
>>> deleting __.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
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