1. Computer-Mediated Communication
Introduction to Collective Action and Public Goods

2. Computer-Mediated Communication
Today
Preparing for Assn2: Project research!
Short wrap-up of reputation discussion
Introduction to collective action and public goods
11/9/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication

3. Another side of reputation…“
Internet markets also have significant advantages in establishing reputations … any information that is gleaned can be near costlessly tallied on a continuing basis … [and] that information can be near costlessly transmitted to millions of potential customers.
— Resnick et al. 2006, p. 80 ”
In other words, all that privacy stuff keeps coming back up, especially when reputations are inferred based on prior activity.
11/9/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication

4. Computer-Mediated Communication
The CMC and ‘Offline’ Reputation Link: Emergent Reputation Systems and Identity
11/9/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication

5. As designers, what can we learn from all of this?
What kind of community do you have (or are you trying to foster)?
When and Why to use Pos/Neg/Mixed/Hybrid Reputation Systems?
What behavior(s) do you want to encourage, reward, punish?
Consider the “unintended consequences” of implicit information
Just because you build a system to be interpreted a certain way doesn’t mean that the user will agree…
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Computer-Mediated Communication

6. Computer-Mediated Communication
Core Concepts
Collective Action
Public Goods
Free-Rider Problem
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Computer-Mediated Communication

7. Computer-Mediated Communication
Collective Action
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Computer-Mediated Communication

8. Computer-Mediated Communication
More generally, collective action consists of actions taken by two or more people for the same collective good.
Collective Action
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Computer-Mediated Communication

9. Key Characteristics of Public Goods
Non-Excludability
Non-Rival Goods (Jointness of Supply)
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Computer-Mediated Communication

10. Computer-Mediated Communication
The Tragedy of the “Commons”
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Computer-Mediated Communication

11. Computer-Mediated Communication
Cornucopia of the Commons?
(Bricklin 2001)
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Computer-Mediated Communication

12. Computer-Mediated Communication
“Public Good”
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Computer-Mediated Communication

13. The Free-Rider Problem
Individual interests tend to make non-contribution tempting, especially if other people will do the work.
In collective action, we can view this as an n-person prisoner’s dilemma
…but more on that later
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Computer-Mediated Communication

14. Privileged Groups as Solution
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Computer-Mediated Communication

15. Selective Incentives as Solution
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Computer-Mediated Communication

16. Free-Riding and the Logic of Collective Action
“If all individuals refrained from doing A, every individual as a member of the community would derive a certain advantage. But now if all individuals less one continue refraining from doing A, the community loss is very slight, whereas the one individual doing A makes a personal gain far greater than the loss that he incurs as a member of the community.”
(Pareto 1935, vol. 3, sect. 1496, pp )
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Computer-Mediated Communication

17. Computer-Mediated Communication
“I guess I will never vote again… unless of course no one else is voting.” – Deepti Chittamuru (2007)
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Computer-Mediated Communication

18. Life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” (Hobbes 1651)
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Computer-Mediated Communication

19. Computer-Mediated Communication
“The Leviathan”
The argument that Hobbes makes is that “The State” must be created to solve the rampant, unrestrained self-interest of individuals
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Computer-Mediated Communication

20. But is Self-Interest Always Negative?
We tend to think of people taking advantage of others…spare the air day… but are there situations where self-interest might not be so cleanly black/white?
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Computer-Mediated Communication

21. Collective Action and the Hobbesian “War of All Against All”
Under what conditions will cooperation emerge in a world of egoists without central authority?
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Computer-Mediated Communication

22. Collective Action and Group Size
Smaller groups tend to have a better chance of producing a public good (Olson 1965)
Why?
More benefits for each person
Larger impact of any single contribution
Generally, lower costs of organization
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Computer-Mediated Communication

23. But what about REALLY big groups?
Analyzing and Visualizing the Semantic Coverage of Wikipedia and Its Authors (Holloway, Bozicevic and Borner 2005)
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Computer-Mediated Communication

24. Self-Interest in Small versus Large Groups
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Computer-Mediated Communication

25. Computer-Mediated Communication
Considering the “Free-Rider Problem” in Online Systems of Collective Action
Communality and Discretionary Databases
“Second-Order” Communality
Communality: a public good derived from collecting, storing and sharing information resources among members.
11/9/2018
Computer-Mediated Communication