wikisym 2010 pelizza

Openness as an Asset.Openness as an Asset.A Classification System for Online Communities A Classification System for Online Communities

Based on Actor-Network TheoryBased on Actor-Network Theory

Open Collaboration TrackAnnalisa Pelizza, Ph.D.

July 9th 2010

http://www.wikisym.org/ws2010/

Reasons and Aims of the Reasons and Aims of the ResearchResearch

Early taxonomiesEarly taxonomies• Online communities classified according to:

Principia Divisionis MethodReasons of the

Research Results Discussion

Attributes

Type of software

Relationship to physical community

Degree of “boundedness”

Shared interest, social conventions, size, emotional ties

IRC, BB, newsgroups, etc.

Based on / related to/ no links with PC

how many social relationships remain within the defined population



Limits of early Limits of early taxonomiestaxonomies

Discipline-related variables

Categorical variables cannot cluster OC

SNS and the obsolescence of many categories…

Obsolescence due to:Obsolescence due to:

Ever-widening meaning of “community”

No single interest focus

New ways to articulate traditional dichotomies (i.e. individual Vs. collective, physical Vs. virtual)

Need to develop a new taxonomyNeed to develop a new taxonomy

It should:



– avoid outdated or anecdotal variables– be applicable to a wide range of cases– be enough abstract to do not stick to a specific

discipline’s interests– help researchers to reduce heterogeneity by

identifying few types of OC– provide a framework for researchers to identify

techno-social aggregates that produce innovation

Two Two Principia DivisionsPrincipia Divisions

STS and ANTSTS and ANTEpistemological tools by STS and ANT useful to

address the 5 requirements:

No specific social groups set a-priori

Actor-network as an open network: openness as abstract principle underpinning the classification system proposed

Measurable variables: “Length of the chain of action” (LCA) and “Degree of visibility of the Outside” (DVO)





MediationMediation

Outputs exceed inputs

Cannot be reduced to cause-effect relationship

Object exert agency Long concatenation

of actions Ex. “Access to ICT

empowers communities”

LCA variableLCA variableIntermediationIntermediation

Inputs enough to define outputs

Cause-effect relationship

Tools transport agency p2p without interfering

Short concatenation of actions

Ex. “PDA has proved to be helpful”



Short chainShort chain Accounts number more

intermediaries than mediators

Few “passages” between cause and effect

ICT depicted as intermediaries

Relationship between ICT and society as simple causation

Community as a stabilized entity whose boundaries are taken for granted

Long chainLong chain Accounts number more

mediators than intermediaries

Many concatenations: each mediator activates other mediators

ICT depicted as mediators: each mediator makes a difference

Community as unstable entity whose boundaries are porous

“Good” accounts

LCA variableLCA variable



DVO variableDVO variable

• It measures the degree of openness allowed by groupware architectures

• It replaces focus on type of technology with focus on how code contributes to keep up group boundaries

• Groupware architecture embodies regimes of access and visibility in the form of access policies

• Open groupware architectures = those that establish the potential for non-members to access the assemblage as viewers AND to leave a publicly visible trace of the interaction

MethodMethod

Sample selectionSample selection



SolutionSolution Ars Electronica’s Digital

Communities Prize

Competition as arena where meaning emerges from comparison

Recurring elements like spokespersons, anti-groups and boundaries

Competition as place where online networks hit representation

11 submissions awarded from 2004 to 2007

RequirementsRequirements

Data from textual accounts and websites

Situations where the social is made “visible” (meetings, science labs, distance in time/space, breakdowns, archives and museum collections, fiction)

Agencies are made visible into accounts

Techniques of data collection and analysisTechniques of data collection and analysis



LCA variableLCA variable

Textual analysis techniques

Analytical partition

Text classification procedures

Analysis sheet

Descriptive categories Operative questions Index

Project objective(s) A

Goals What is the goal(s) that the project aims at

achieving?

A1

Source of boundaries To what element does the entry form appeal in

order to depict the community as a stable, taken for

granted assemblage?

A2

Actors involved B

Addresser Is there any entity that designed/developed the

project?

B1

Addressee Is there any identifiable target of the action of the

Addresser?

Are Addresser and Addressee clearly

distinguishable?

B2a

B2b

Anti-groups/anti -actants Are there anti-actants that inter fere with the course

of action in a negative way?

B3

Actants as mediators Vs.

intermediaries

Is there any entity that contributes with some

competences to the course of action?

Does the actant trigger further actions/mediations?

Does it activate new participants?

Does it introduce a bifurcation in the course of

action?

Does it ÔtransportÕ (shift) or ÔtranslateÕ (modify)

what it is supposed to carry?

Is the output predictabl e starting from the input?

Does the actant determines some other event?

How long is the chain of action? How many

passages can be counted?

B4

B4a

B4b

B4c

B4d

B4e

B4f

B4g

Professional mobilized Are there professionals (journalists, social

scientists, statisticians) quoted as part o f what

makes possible the durable definition of the

community?

B5

Spokesperson Do the spokespersons that speak for the group

existence Ð namely, the author of the entry form Ð

appear as agents in the account?

B6



Degrees of visibility of Degrees of visibility of guests’ contentsguests’ contents

• “Invisible”

• “Very low”

• “Rather low”

• “Rather high”

• “Very high”

DVO variableDVO variable

List of all functionalities

Sort out interactive functionalities

Sort out functionalities which allow visible traces

Sort out functionalities which allow visible traces by guests

Techniques of data collection and analysisTechniques of data collection and analysis

ResultsResults



LCA variableLCA variable““Long chain” valueLong chain” value

6 cases: • Overmundo

• Tonga.Online

• Word Starts With Me

• Free Software Foundation

• Telestreet/NGVision

OC as actor-network

Dichotomy Addresser/Addressee not relevant

““Short chain” valueShort chain” value 5 cases:

• Akshaya

• Proyecto Cyberela

• Open Clothes

• Electronic Frontier Foundation

• Canal*Accessible

OC as stabilized assemblages

Broadcast model



DVO variableDVO variable““Invisible” or “very Invisible” or “very

low” valuelow” value 4 cases:

• Akshaya

• Proyecto Cyberela

• World Starts With Me

• Tonga.Online

““Rather low” valueRather low” value 2 cases:

• Electronic Frontier Foundation

• Open Clothes

““Rather high” or “Very Rather high” or “Very high” valuehigh” value

4 cases:• Free Software

Foundation

• Telestreet/NGVision

• dotSUB

• Canal*ACCESSIBLE

Membership as Membership as process of process of

assimilationassimilation SNS (Overmundo)

DiscussionDiscussion

Only two variablesOnly two variables



• “Openness” = porosity of boundaries

AdvantagesAdvantages

• Abstract applicable to a wider range of cases

• Ordinal variables it allows to cluster communities into four typologies

• ANT’s definition of actor-network it allows to track innovation

Paul Ricœur’s distinction



IdeologyIdeology

It tends to preserve identity

Cases in lower-left quadrant

• few mediators

• software establishes impermeable boundaries

UtopiaUtopia

It aims at exploring new possibilities

Cases in upper-right quadrant

• include external elements as mediators

• have not yet closed their digital boundaries to the Outside

Partially Partially permeable permeable boundariesboundaries

SNS + UGC

Cases in upper-left quadrant

Openness subordinated to status acquisition

Applicability to Wiki Communities?!Applicability to Wiki Communities?!



Wiki communities might find place in each one of the four quadrants: a wiki community will not find place a priori into one of them

Only after a careful analysis of access policies they will be located in one of the 4 quadrants

This classification system purposely avoids deterministic correlations between software architecture and openness

Correlation coefficient between LCA Correlation coefficient between LCA and DVO variables (Kendall's tau-c and DVO variables (Kendall's tau-c

method)method)



Value

Asymp. Std. Error(a)

Approx. T(b)

Approx. Sig.

Kendall's tau-c

,231 ,331 ,699 ,484

Possible explanationsPossible explanations



• It could reflect effects of competitiveness

• Cases submitted in a period (2004-2007) of considerable diffusion of UGC platforms and SNS (mainly located in upper-left quadrant)

• “Inertial tendency to closeness”???

ThanksThanks

“Tracing back Communities” research

By Annalisa Pelizza

Ph.D. at University of Milan-Bicocca

[email protected]



wikisym 2010 pelizza

Technology

mediators ict

social conventions

social relationships

degree of openness

specific social groups

open network

degree of visibility

technosocial aggregates