The C&T 2009 Program


Preliminary Program for Communities and Technologies 2009



June 25th, 2009

Opening Keynote
David McDonald, NSF: The legacy and future of 'community' in NSF

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Session Title: Community Knowledge
Session Chair: Carla Simone, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Paper Title: Towards an Analytic Framework for Understanding and Supporting Peer-Support Communities in Using and Evolving Software Products
Authors: Andrew Gorman (University of Colorado), Gerhard Fischer (University of Colorado)
Abstract: This research works to create a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of social support provided by peers in software development communities from the following perspectives: (1) How responsive are communities to the needs of its members?, (2) How does the peer help process work?, (3) How wide is the participation of users and in what kind of roles do they participate?, and (4) What is the impact of explicit reward (point) systems on community behavior?

Paper Title: Measuring Self-Focus Bias in Community-Maintained Knowledge Repositories
Authors: Brent J Hecht (Northwestern University), Darren Gergle (Northwestern University)
Abstract: Self-focus is a novel way of understanding a type of bias in community-maintained Web 2.0 graph structures. It goes beyond previous measures of topical coverage bias by encapsulating both node- and edge-hosted biases in a single holistic measure of an entire community-maintained graph. We present two methods to quantify self-focus, one of which is computationally inexpensive, and present empirical evidence using a multi-lingual approach that examines self-focus across 15 different language editions of Wikipedia. We demonstrate evidence for the existence of self-focus in Wikipedia graph structures, suggest applications of our self-focus measures, and discuss the risks of ignoring self-focus bias in technological applications.

Paper Title: Understanding Collective Content: Purposes, Characteristics and Collaborative Practices
Authors: Thomas Daniel Olsson (Tampere University of Technology, Unit of Human-Centered Design)
Abstract: The creation and management of user-created content can be seen as a collective effort where community memories are created and relationships maintained. We studied four communities' interaction with collectively created and used content, i.e. collective content. The aim was to specify what collective content actually is and to understand its nature and purposes. We report users' motivations for creating the collective content, examples of it and its role in community interaction. We present the found factors and characteristics by which collectivity of the content can be described: the community's contribution, the relevance of the content and the level of sharing.

Session Title: Support and Raport
Session Chair: Volker Wulf, University of Siegen and Fraunhofer FIT, Germany
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Paper Title: Supportive Communication, Sense of Virtual Community and Health Outcomes in Online Infertility Groups
Authors: Jennifer Welbourne (University of Texas Pan America), Anita Blanchard (UNC Charlotte), Marla Boughton (UNC Charlotte)
Abstract: Women use online health groups to deal with the stresses and complications of infertility. Online groups provide a resource that is absent in their FtF communities. This study examines how the sense of virtual community (SOVC) that develops in these groups buffers perceived stress and physical health symptoms. Women from two virtual communities completed an online survey. Results show that observing the exchange of emotional support was positively related to SOVC while observing informational support was negatively related to SOVC. Further, SOVC was negatively related to physical health symptoms and additionally, served as a buffer between stress and physical health symptoms.

Paper Title: The Community is Where the Rapport Is - On Sense and Structure in the YouTube Community
Authors: Dana Rotman (College of Information Studies - University of Maryland), Jennifer Golbeck (College of Information Studies - University of Maryland), Jenny Preece (College of Informaiton Studies - University of Maryland)
Abstract: In this study we examine whether YouTube users express a sense of community, and if such feeling exists, is it reflected in the explicit ties among users. We examined YouTube videos and comments using Grounded Theory, and performed Social-Network analysis of the ties among YouTube users. We show that although users perceive YouTube to be a cohesive community, their explicit connections are almost random, suggesting that users' sense of community is not necessarily related to the network's structure, and may result from subjective affinity to other users. We also advise triangulating qualitative and quantitative methods when studying the nature of online-communities.

Paper Title: Answer Quality on the Wikipedia Reference Desk
Authors: Pnina Shachaf (Indiana University)
Abstract: This study aims to examine answers' quality on the Wikipedia Reference Desk. A sample of answers from the Wikipedia Reference Desk was analyzed along three SERVQUAL quality variables: reliability (accuracy, completeness, verifiability), responsiveness, and assurance. The study reports that on all three SERVQUAL measures quality of answers produced by the Wikipedia Reference Desk is comparable with that of library reference services. The collaborative social reference model of the Wikipedia facilitated the provision of services that matched or outperformed those provided by librarians. This study extends research on Wikipedia quality, reference, and answer quality on Q&A sites.

Afternoon Keynote
Lev Gonick, Case Western Research University and OneCommunity: "From Digital Campus to Connected Community"

Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Session Title: Social Capital
Session Chair: Geri Gay, Cornell University
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Paper Title: Exploring social capital from identity-bonding perspective
Authors: Hao Jiang (IST at Penn State)
Abstract: We argue that along with social network analysis, or approaches focusing on social ties and social networks, researchers in information science can also benefit from looking at the identity bonding perspective. In this paper, by synthetic and critical reviewing literature on related work from sociology and information science, we provide a new theoretical lens that calls attention to the role played by social identity in creating and increasing social capital.

Paper Title: Communities, Technology, and Civic Intelligence
Authors: Douglas Schuler (The Evergreen State College / The Public Sphere Project)
Abstract: In this paper, we present the concept of "civic intelligence" as an important variety of collective intelligence that is socially and environmentally ameliorative. We build a case for its importance and relevance, and provide examples and frameworks. We also discuss implications for members of this community. We argue that an examination of the social context is critical and that a civic intelligence orientation surfaces important research questions. We present thoughts on future projects that would help promote understanding about civic intelligence while improving it. Finally we present some choices as we move forward in a dynamic and uncertain environment.

Session Title: Activism
Session Chair:
Kathi R. Kitner, Intel, USA
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Paper Title: Communities Real and Imagined: Designing a Communications System for Zimbabwean Activists
Authors: Tad Hirsch (Intel Research)
Abstract: In this paper, I describe how various understandings of community activated the design of Dialup Radio, a telephone-based independent media distribution system for Zimbabwean civil society and human rights activists. I identify three distinct communities and discuss their influence on the design process. Finally, I consider the challenges activist designers face in simultaneously addressing the needs of present-day users and the imagined future communities their projects hope to create.

Paper Title: Empowering Rural Citizen Journalism via Web 2.0 Technologies
Authors: Marco Figueiredo (Loyola Univeristy Maryland - Center for Community Informatics), Paola Prado (University of Miami), Mauro Câmara (Federal University of Minas Gerais), Ana Lima (IBICT)
Abstract: Once acquainted with the modern information and communication tools made available with the advent of the Internet, five Brazilian rural communities participating in a pilot project to develop a self-sustaining rural community telecenter model, engaged in citizen journalism using inexpensive digital video cameras. Community members used Web 2.0 collaborative tools to post short videos on the telecenter portal. The 95 video blogs published between September 2006 and May 2008 recorded various aspects of community life, including religious celebrations, oral history arts and crafts traditions, folklore, and environmental concerns. This study evaluates the impact of video blogging in these communities.

Paper Title: Technologies within Transnational Social Activist Communities: An Ethnographic Study of the European Social Forum
Authors: Saqib Saeed (Univerity of Siegen), Markus Rohde (Univerity of Siegen), Volker Wulf (Univerity of Siegen)
Abstract: ICT support for transnational social movements is an important field of research: not only due to increased political importance of this sector but also due to their organizational characteristics. In order to design appropriate technological support for social activists’ communities, it is important to understand their work practices which differ from traditional business organizations. This paper investigates into organizational practices of the European Social Forum, in particular its 2008 meeting in Malmo, Sweden. Since the goal of our research is directed towards enhancing the capabilities of social movements by means of ICT, we focus particularly on the usage of ICT.

June 26th, 2009

Keynote
Karim R. Lakhani, Harvard Business School: "Knowledge Reuse and Novelty In Community Settings"

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Session Title: Socio-technical Tools
Session Chair: Giorgio De Michelis, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Paper Title: The Conference Room as a Toolbox: Technological and Social Routines in Corporate Meeting Spaces
Authors: Christopher Plaue (Georgia Institute of Technology), John Stasko (Georgia Institute of Technology), Mark Baloga (Steelcase Inc)
Abstract: HCI, CSCW, and ubicomp researchers have developed new technologies and interaction techniques to support collaboration, ranging from electronic whiteboards to software supporting display sharing capabilities. However, very few longitudinal studies have explored the technological and social routines of individuals using personal devices in conjunction with shared displays under authentic settings in meeting rooms. We extend previous work in this area by studying routines within two multi-purpose meeting spaces at two design and manufacturing-oriented corporations, with particular emphasis on the shared display found in each location.

Paper Title: Experiential Role of Artefacts in Cooperative Design
Authors: Dhaval Vyas (University of twente), Dirk Heylen (University of twente), Anton Nijholt (University of twente), Gerrit van der Veer (Open University Netherlands)
Abstract: The role of material artefacts in supporting distributed and co-located work practices has been well acknowledged within the HCI and CSCW research. In this paper, we show that in addition to their ecological, coordinative and organizational support, artefacts also play an "experiential" role. Based on our ethnographic fieldwork on understanding cooperative design practices of industrial design students, we describe several experiential practices that are supported by mundane artefacts like sketches, drawings, physical models and explorative prototypes developed in designers’ everyday work. Our main intention to carry out this kind of research is to develop technologies to support designers' everyday practices.

Paper Title: Active Artifacts as Bridges between Context and Community Knowledge Sources.
Authors: Federico Cabitza (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca), Carla Simone (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca)
Abstract: The concept of active Knowledge Artifact (KA) is proposed to put together the archival functions of artifacts belonging to organizational ISs with context- and content-aware functionalities to promote collaboration awareness and support knowledge management. Through a case study in the hospital domain, we illustrate an approach where documents are augmented with information intended to support context interpretation and evoke the knowledge actors need to coordinate their action in that context. The autonomous provision of Awareness Promoting and Knowledge Evoking Information (API and KEI, respectively) by means of modular and reactive mechanisms is what characterizes active KAs computationally.

Session Title: Development and Regulation
Session Chair: Myriam Lewkowicz, Universite de Technologie de Troyes, France
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Paper Title: wConnect: A Facebook-Based Developmental Learning Community to Support Women in Information Technology
Authors: Mary Beth Rosson (Pennsylvania State University), John M. Carroll (Pennsylvania State University), Dejin Zhao (Pennsylvania State University), Timothy Paone (Pennsylvania State University)
Abstract: The under-representation of women in computer and infor-mation science (CIS) has created a crisis in availability of qualified CIS professionals and diversity of perspectives. Many interventions are being explored but these are primarily institutional programs like curriculum enhancements and mentoring. We describe wConnect, a developmental learning community that leverages social relations and social networking software to support women in CIS. This is a practical issue of some urgency that presents an opportunity for community informatics to impact the CIS profession. We report our progress and lessons learned, so that other organizations may initiate similar outreach activities.

Paper Title: And the Ringleaders Were Banned: An Examination of Protest in Virtual Worlds
Authors: Bridget M Blodgett (The Pennsylvania State University)
Abstract: Protest has made the jump between the offline and the online spaces and is frequently used in most virtual worlds available today. Despite the frequency of these actions in virtual worlds further research is needed to see how the adaptation to a virtual environment changes the protest. This research uses case studies to examine several major protest actions that have occurred in several different virtual worlds over the last 10 years. She makes the argument that these differences are large enough that they require a deeper exploration and grounding in theoretical models for the field to grow into its potential.

Paper Title: Hometown Websites: Continuous Maintenance of Cross-Border Connections
Authors: Luis Castro (The University of Manchester), Victor Gonzalez (The University of Manchester)
Abstract: ICTs become particularly relevant in contexts where place-based communities get dispersed. This paper presents the case of a website currently being used by migrants and non-migrants of a community to maintain strong linkages with daily life in their hometown. In particular, this work aims to understand the types of information conveyed as well as temporal patterns of community exchanges. This work analyses and classifies the content of the website throughout one year. We found that user-generated content tend to increase during certain periods. Our results are relevant towards understanding the role played by ICTs on maintaining cross-border connections.

Demo Title: itsme: developing next generation personal computing
Demonstrator: Giorgio De Michelis (University of Milano)
Time: 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m (each demo will be different)
Description: We are designing and developing next generation personal computing based on a radically new metaphor called "Stories and Venues". We have adopted a participatory design approach with a highly iterative process that alternates activities dedicated to research and investigation, sedimentation, assessment, refinement and dissemination. During the demo, we will present the design approach showing the tools and the prototypes we have developed so far: a concept evaluation, an interactive social computing website, an emulator, and an early prototype of the system.

Demo Title: Sidelines: Selecting Diverse Results from Votes
Demonstrators: Sean Munson (University of Michigan), Paul Resnick (University of Michigan)
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Description: Many aggregators rely on links or user votes to select a subset of the many news items generated each day. Including diverse opinions in these result sets can provide benefits to individuals, society, and the provider of the news aggregator, but simply selecting the most popular items may not yield as much diversity as present in the overall pool of itms. In this demo, we will discuss some ways of measuring diversity, an initial attempt at selecting more diverse result sets, and tools to visualize, distribute, and evaluate these results.

Demo Title: StateCollege.com
Demonstrator: Daniel Myers (Lazerpro DMG)
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Description: StateCollege.com is a local community portal system providing content aggregation and delivery, social behaviors and interactions, calendaring, local business promotion and micro-charge transactional revenue generation to the community of State College, Pennsylvania, via both Web and mobile delivery.

Demo Title: Social Science TeraGrid Gateway @ VirtualRDC
Demonstrators: Lars Vilhuber (Cornell University), John Abowd (Cornell University)
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Description: Tera-scale social science data are underutilized. The Social Science TeraGrid Gateway @ VirtualRDC will extend the VirtualRDC (http://www.vrdc.cornell.edu) model to allow support of tera-scale social science computing via the NSF-sponsored TeraGrid resources. The Social Science TeraGrid Gateway @ VirtualRDC (i) will allow researchers to perform data preparation using their "comfort-level" software packages, speeding up the data preparation phase, and (ii) do so on servers that have a fast connection to the TeraGrid, thus greatly speeding up the data-transfer process.

Demo Title: NodeXL: Social network analysis and visualization in Excel
Demonstrators: Marc Smith (Telligent Systems), Derek Hansen (University of Maryland)
Time: 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m
Description: NodeXL is an add-in for Office 2007 that provides social network diagram and analysis tools in the context of a spreadsheet. Adding the directed graph chart type to Excel opens up many possibilities for easily manipulating networks and controlling their display properties. Additional features generate social networks from social media data sources like personal e-mail and the Twitter social network micro-blogging system. Reasonably large and arbitrary edge lists (anything that can be pasted into Excel) can be visualized and analyzed in NodeXL. Bring an edge list of interest to the demo and we will demonstrate visualizing it in NodeXL! To download the NodeXL Add-in and slides, go to: http://www.codeplex.com/NodeXL.

Demo Title: Centre County PAWS (Promotion of Animal Welfare and Safety)
Demonstrator: Christian Vinten-Johansen (Penn State and PAWS)
Time: 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m
Description: Centre County PAWS (Promotion of Animal Welfare and Safety) is an organization of members, volunteers and staff committed to companion animal welfare, placement, care, education and advocacy. It is the largest such organization in this area. The PAWS website (http://centrecountypaws.org/) has been an important element of the community's success. It serves as a source of news, event announcements, online donations, and a repository of irresistible photos of kittens, puppies and heart-rending bios. It's a landmark site for area animal rescuers, animal lovers, and partly responsible for a lot of placement activity.

Demo Title: Mobile Green Tour
Demonstrators: -- Harry Robinson (Penn State), Jamika Burge (Penn State)
Time: 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m
Description: In partnership with Penn State's Center for Sustainability we are developing a Mobile Green Tour highlighting sustainable building practices at Penn State. The Center offers guided tours once a year, but our system will allow for self-guided tours by leveraging handheld, web-capable devices (such as the iPhone) and existing WiFi infrastructure to support the Center's education and outreach mission, while allowing us to explore research questions relating to the design of location-based information services and the civic and community potential of a mobile infrastructure. Our demo includes a walking tour with a prototype of the system.

Demo Title: The classroom as a community: ClassCommons
Demonstrator: Honglu Du (Penn State)
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Description: We are trying to enhance students' sense of community through an interactive public display video commenting system - ClassCommons. We will describe our early deployment experiences of this system in a large size university class.

Demo Title: Wireless State College: Mobile Community Network Services
Demonstrators: Wendy Xie (Penn State), Craig Ganoe (Penn State)
Time: 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m
Description: We are investigating how communities envision and acquire the use of mobile technologies to support civic needs. We are designing and developing a community event service that leverages the available WiFi infrastructure to enhance the experience and interactions of community events attendees using hand held devices. Users find events of interest nearby, plan participation, comment and network around the events on the go. Our longer-term goals are to observe how this technology can, on an ongoing basis, enhance community engagement at day-to-day community activities and events.

Session Title: Reuse
Session Chair: Markus Rohde, University of Siegen and International Institute for Socio-Informatics, Germany
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Paper Title: Overhearing the Crowd: An Empirical Examination of Conversation Reuse in a Technical Support Community
Authors: Derek L. Hansen (University of Maryland)
Abstract: This paper describes a mixed method, empirical analysis of conversation reuse in an online technical support community. I find that the same characteristics that make the conversation successful (its highly personal, immediate, and socially engaging nature) make reuse of the conversation problematic. The archived discussion and wiki are reused to satisfy an immediate need, while the ongoing conversation is reused to help learn the practice. Use of the discussion archive and wiki repository are compared, showing benefits of the decontextualized, distilled wiki content for reuse. Implications of the findings on the design of "reuser friendly" tools and strategies are discussed.

Paper Title: An Analysis of the Social Structure of Remix Culture
Authors: Giorgos Cheliotis (National University of Singapore), Jude Yew (University of Michigan)
Abstract: We present findings from our study of a music sharing and remixing community in an effort to quantify and understand the structural characteristics of commons-based peer production for products of aesthetic/cultural or entertainment value. We also provide a normative perspective on the strategies that such communities should employ with respect to the use of "remixing contests", which are popular means of attracting new user-creators to the community and boosting its creative output. This paper contributes to the literature of social network analysis of online communities, the literature on commons-based peer production, and the research agenda of cultural analytics.

Paper Title: Spinning Online A Case Study of Internet Broadcasting by DJs
Authors: David A. Shamma (Yahoo! Research), Elizabeth Churchill (Yahoo! Research), Nikhil Bobb (Yahoo!), Matt Fukuda (Yahoo!)
Abstract: Personal video streaming websites have become common on the Internet. Broadcasters and entertainers are adopting these websites as online venues for performances and as community gathering places for their "fans". We studied a site which hosts an active and vibrant DJ community. DJs had little difficulty adapting to web broadcasting, using analogues of familiar techniques from physical venue events to gauge their audience and the quality of their online sets. Further, the sense of place experienced by DJs with regard to their channels suggesting a deeper sense of connection with viewers who are invited or drop by the channel regularly.


Panel Title: Making Social Participation a Priority
Panelists: Elizabeth Churchill (Yahoo Research), Gerhard Fischer (University of Colorado), Jenny Preece (University of Maryland), Marc Smith (Telligent Systems)
Moderator: Ben Shneiderman (University of Maryland)
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Description: The rapid adoption of Facebook, Youtube, Wikipedia and other social media throughout much of the world illustrates the potential for social participation by people with different educational, professional and ethnic backgrounds. A better understanding of the motivations that bring people to contribute to these social sites will enable their application to important societal goals throughout the world. These could include the UN Millennium Development Goals (e.g., end poverty and hunger, health care, universal education), business innovation, energy sustainability, environmental protection, and community safety.

Compelling research agendas should include meaningful social goals, deep scientific research questions, and challenging technology innovations. Even with these ingredients promoting such agendas in the face of traditional scientific paradigms and commitments in universities, industry and government will require a unified voice.

We will ask panelists and the audience to describe strategies for successful research with a focus on transforming the perspective of people outside of this research community.
June 27th, 2009

Session Title: Communities of Practice
Session Chair: Loren Terveen, University of Minnesota, USA
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Paper Title: Supporting the Formation of Communities of Practice: Urban Planning in the MR-Tent
Authors: Ina Wagner (Vienna University of Technology), Maria Basile (Équipe LTME Université Paris Est), Lisa Ehrenstrasser (Vienna University of Technology), Valérie Maquil (Vienna University of Technology), Jean-Jacques Terrin (Équipe LTME Université Paris Est), Mira Wagner (Vienna University of Technology)
Abstract: As urban design today faces complex demands. It has become a necessity to negotiate between stakeholder objectives, the expectations of citizens, and the demands of planning. In this paper we describe how we use a set of participatory technologies in combination with methods for preparing and enabling a heterogeneous group of participants to create a vision of an urban project. Our observations show how space, materials, and different types of content affect participants’ collaboration and their debate of the urban issues. We discuss how these participatory technologies and events may help build a community of practice around an urban project.

Paper Title: Conversations in Developer Communities: a Preliminary Analysis of the Yahoo! Pipes Community
Authors: M Cameron Jones (Yahoo!), Elizabeth F. Churchill (Yahoo!)
Abstract: In this paper we describe several issues end-users may face when developing web mashup applications in visual language tools like Yahoo! Pipes. We explore how these problems manifest themselves in the conversations users have in the associated discussion forums, and examine the community practices and processes at work in collaborative debugging, and problem solving. We have noticed two valences of engagement in the community, core and peripheral, leading one to question why there is such a strong divide, and how the periphery functions in the community process.

Paper Title: Makumba: the Role of the Technology for the Sustainability of Amateur Programming Practice and Community
Authors: Cristian Bogdan (KTH, CSC), Rudolf Mayer (Vienna University of Technology)
Abstract: We address the issue of sustainability of practice, which we regard as crucial for the sustainability of the community at large. In the absence of material reward, sustaining a specialized activity such as programming is not a trivial matter especially when members move often in and out of the community. Our case is the group of voluntary, amateur student programmers from a European-wide student organization. Although being totally voluntary and managing a large intranet, the group has been thriving for six years. To explain such high practice sustainability we examine the role of the technology framework used by the group.

Panel Title: Community technology to support geographically-based communities
Panelists: Keith Hampton (University of Pennsylvania), Joe McCarthy (Strands Labs), Paul Resnick (University of Michigan)
Moderator: Marcus Foth (Queensland University of Technology)
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Description: Web applications such as blogs, wikis, video and photo sharing sites, and social networking systems have been termed 'Web 2.0' to highlight an arguably more open, collaborative, personalisable, and therefore more participatory internet experience than what had previously been possible. Giving rise to a culture of participation, an increasing number of these social applications are now available on mobile phones where they take advantage of device-specific features such as sensors, location and context awareness. This panel will make a contribution towards exploring and better understanding the opportunities and challenges provided by tools, interfaces, methods and practices of social and mobile technology that support the needs and activities of geographically-based communities. It will bring together a group of academics and practitioners to critically examine a range of community technology applications that foster place-based interaction.

Session Title: Placed Community
Session Chair: Marcus Foth, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Paper Title: The Social Life of Wireless Urban Spaces: Internet Use, Social Networks, and the Public Realm
Authors: Keith N Hampton (University of Pennsylvania), Oren Livio (University of Pennsylvania), Lauren Sessions (University of Pennsylvania)
Abstract: This study examines the impact of wireless Internet use on urban public spaces. Through extensive observations of seven parks and plazas in four cities and surveys of laptop users in those sites, how this new technology is related to democratic participation, privatism, and interaction is explored. Findings reveal that wi-fi use affords interactions with acquaintances that are more diverse than those associated with mobile phone use. The level of diversity to which users are exposed is less than most users of these spaces, although the activities in which wi-fi users engage do contribute to broader participation in the public sphere.

Paper Title: Facilitating Participatory Decision-Making in Local Communities through Map-Based Online Discussion
Authors: Bo Yu (Pennsylvania State University), Guoray Cai (Pennsylvania State University)
Abstract: GIS has been widely used for supporting decision-making in local communities. However, limited studies have been conducted to use maps directly as a communication tool to support community discussion. In this paper, we explore the potential of using geospatial annotations to facilitate map-based online discussion in local communities. We developed a prototype system, which explicitly links participants’ discussion contributions with geographic references. The system is based on conceptual understanding of map-based discussion space, which guides the generation of system requirements. We demonstrate the utility of such systems by a hypothetical scenario of building a Smoke-Free campus in a university community.

Paper Title: Supporting Community in Third Places with Situated Social Software
Authors: Joseph F. McCarthy (Strands Labs), Shelly D. Farnham (Strands Labs), Yogi Patel (Strands Labs), Sameer Ahuja (Viginia Tech), William R. Hazlewood (Indiana University), Daniel Norman (Strands Labs), Josh Lind (Strands Labs)
Abstract: The Community Collage (CoCollage) is designed to cultivate community in a café, a quintessential "third place", by bringing the richness of online social software into a physical community space. The system shows photos and quotes uploaded to a web site by café patrons and staff on a large computer display in the café, providing a new channel for awareness, interactions and relationships among people there. We describe the CoCollage system and report on insights and experiences resulting from a 2-month deployment of the system, focusing on the impact the system has had on the sense of community within the café.

Session Title: Social Networking
Session Chair: Roderick Lee, The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, USA
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Paper Title: Leveraging Social Software for Strategic Social Networking and Community Development at Events
Authors: Shelly Farnham (Pathable)
Abstract: Professional networking is a primary goal of people attending conferences and events. Over the past year we developed a social networking and community tool for events, Pathable, to help attendees meet the right people. Pathable provides an online directory of profiles, communication tools, and a recommendation system optimized to help people meet based on commonalities. We performed a deployment study and found that quality of conversations and sense of community were strong predictors of who said they would return. The more people used Pathable to meet others at the event, the greater their event attachment and sense of community.

Paper Title: Bowling Online: Social Networking and Social Capital Within the Organization
Authors: Charles Steinfield (Michigan State University), Joan M. DiMicco (IBM Research), Nicole B. Ellison (Michigan State University), Cliff Lampe (Michigan State University)
Abstract: Social capital facilitates knowledge management in organizations by enabling individuals to locate useful information, draw on resources and make contributions to the community. This paper explores the relationship between social capital and use of an internal social network site in a multinational organization. We hypothesize that SNS use contributes to social capital within the organization by enabling users to form networks of heterogeneous contacts and maintain and deepen existing relationships. Survey findings show that bonding relationships, sense of corporate citizenship, interest in connecting globally, and access to new people and expertise are all associated with greater intensity of SNS use.

Paper Title: Analyzing Social (Media) Network Data with NodeXL
Authors: Marc Smith (Telligent Systems), Ben Shneiderman (University of Maryland), Natasa Milic-Frayling (Microsoft Research), Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues (Microsoft Research), Vladimir Barash (Cornell University), Cody Dunne (University of Maryland), Tony Capone (Microsoft Research), Adam Perer (University of Maryland), Eric Gleave (University of Washington)
Abstract: In this paper we present NodeXL, an extendible toolkit for network data analysis and visualization, implemented as an add-in to the Microsoft Excel 2007 spreadsheet software. We demonstrate NodeXL features through analysis of a data sample drawn from an enterprise intranet social network, discussion, and wiki. Through a sequence of steps we show how NodeXL leverages and extends the broadly used spreadsheet paradigm to support common operations in network analysis. This ranges from data import to computation of network statistics and refinement of network visualization through a selection of ready-to-use sorting, filtering, and clustering functions.

Session Title: Privacy and Personalization
Session Chair: Scott Robertson, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Paper Title: Information Revelation and Internet Privacy Concerns on Social Network Sites: A Case Study of Facebook
Authors: Alyson L Young (The University of Western Ontario), Anabel Quan-Haase (The University of Western Ontario)
Abstract: Since the introduction of SNSs, Internet users have been more willing to disclose personal information despite privacy concerns. This study employs surveys and interviews to examine the factors that influence university students' information revelation. We found that network size was positively related to information revelation on Facebook. No association was found between concern about unwanted audiences and information revelation on Facebook. Conversely, students' Internet privacy concerns and information revelation were negatively associated: the greater the concern, the less information revealed. The findings assist in understanding why university students self-disclose on Facebook and how they protect themselves against potential privacy threats.

Paper Title: How much do you tell? Information Disclosure Behavior in Different Types of Online Communities
Authors: Johann Schrammel (CURE), Christina Köffel (CURE), Manfred Tscheligi (CURE)
Abstract: Online communities of different types have become an important part of the internet life of many people within the last couple of years. Both, research and business have shown interest in studiing the possibilities and risks of these emerging communities. A very controversial aspect of these communities is their influence on privacy issues. Valuable research is available on information disclosure on such communities, however no systematic comparision on what the differences in communities of different types are is available and only few is known about how the information behaviour is related to demographic variables, usage contexts and usage patterns.

Paper Title: Please Help! Patterns of Personalization in an Online Tech Support Discussion Board
Authors: Sarita Yardi (Georgia Institute of Technology), Erika Shehan Poole (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Abstract: We analyze help-seeking strategies in two large tech support discussion boards and observe a number of previously unreported differences between tech support discussion boards and other types of online communities. Tech support discussion boards are organized around technical topics and consumer products, yet the types of help people seek online are often grounded in deeply personal experiences. Family, holidays, school, and other personal contexts influence the types of help people seek online. We examine the nature of these personal contexts and offer ways of inferring need-based communities in tech support discussion boards in order to better support users seeking technical help online.

Panel Title: What's the Paradigm? Why Communities and Technologies? Is Civic Intelligence One Answer?
Panelists: Fiorella de Cindio (University of Milan), Aldo de Moor (CommunitySense), Peter van den Besselaar (Rathenau Institute)
Moderator: Douglas Schuler (Public Sphere Project)
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Description: The magnitude and complexity of today's challenges build urgency for our work. This panel asserts that without a paradigm (or more than one) that informs our work, helps unite our community, and connects our work to the historically demanding times, the study of communities and technologies runs the risk of becoming incoherent and irrelevant.

Without ruling out the possibilities of other paradigms, we assert that many of us are actually orienting our work towards something that we could call civic intelligence. Informally, civic intelligence refers to how "smart" a society is. Intelligence in this framework not only refers to the availability of knowledge, skills and tools, but also to the social organization needed for citizens and organizations to use the knowledge for societal problem solving and for improving conditions for life. Several researchers / practitioners will be on the panel to offer their ideas before we open up a general discussion based on several questions. These questions include
  1. How could we benefit from explicit orienting paradigms?
  2. What is civic intelligence and how could civic intelligence (or something like it) be useful to this community?
  3. What other paradigms could serve (or are serving) these needs now?
  4. And, finally, Assuming that civic intelligence (or something similar) becomes a paradigm in our field, what should we do to help strengthen our work and mobilize a community around a new paradigm?
Ideally this panel and the general discussion would surface specific ideas that would help move us forward as a coherent and concerned community.

Closing Keynote
Mark Finkle, Mozilla: Mozilla: Working with Community

Time: 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.