How

do you design a digital research project that has substantial labor needs with few staff members to fulfill them? Related to the field of computer-supported cooperative work, crowdsourcing has become a way to leverage contributions from the public to create a more substantial collection of information. The promise of crowdsourcing has created larger questions for researchers and system designers: How do we design systems to facilitate contributions from the crowd? What motivations can system designers tap to engage people in crowdsourcing projects? I analyzed 26 digital research projects that were sourcing contributions from the crowd to discover what approaches designers took to build systems and motivate contributors. I coded them according to elements of machine labor and human labor in an iterative process that revealed that motivations behind contributing were at the heart of system design issues. The coding decisions were my own, not based on existing content analysis models. Some systems relied heavily on machine laboror algorithms written by programmersto entice contributors and maintain their engagement. Other systems relied heavily on manual labor by staff members to process contributions and maintain progress. Unsurprisingly, systems motivating contributors through gaming required the most programming, and thus formed the smallest category due to the higher need for programming skills. It is also not surprising that nearly all projects marketed themselves to potential contributors as a way their efforts could benefit the greater good. The interesting lesson here falls in the middle, where learning motivates people to continue contributing. Learning is an outcome that can be produced at all points along this labor spectrum. This is exploratory research. Future progress requires having multiple coders to determine inter-coder reliability. That stage of research could form more concrete crowdsourcing models to assist digital research project designers in planning and building their systems.

Melody Dworak

April 13, 2012

Masters Poster Speech

The Public As Collaborator: Crowdsourcing Models for Digital Research Initiatives Digital research projects often seek out large-scale data sets but have a small budget to achieve them. In their pursuit of using technology to discover something new, some scholars have turned to crowdsourcing strategies, where the efforts of individual volunteers can contribute to collective, significant data outcomes. How can examples of successful crowdsourcing projects inform future digital research initiatives? By looking at current examples of digital research projects using crowdsourcing, this research proposes new models for amassing data through the assistance of engaged publics. Inspired by the problems posed by building a large-scale database of metadata from mid-20th century small-press ephemera, this inquiry explores what outreach strategies work for different kinds of projects and with which publics. This research performs a qualitative content analysis of more than thirty digital research initiatives that rely on crowdsourcing strategies to amass data. Through their project websites, the initiatives were coded to determine the factors that motivated contributors and the electronic interfaces employed for digital delivery. The models created from this research fall along a spectrum with minimal requirements for technology and programming capacity to deploy strategies at one end and sophisticated requirements at the other. Motivational factors discovered include competition and reward systems inspired by games, personal contributions to discovery and historical narratives, and the pure entertainment of interest-driven learning. By identifying strategies that can inform approaches to scaling up digital research initiatives, these models provide a guide for scholars with boundless ideas and limited budgets.

Melody Dworak

SLIS Masters Candidate

Literature Review Use & Users Melody Dworak March 20, 2012 Finding Without Seeking, Or, Ill Take Some Empathy with that Information, Please: A Review of the Literature Review on Online Social Support Networks for Parents of Children with Special Health Care Needs Introduction As online social networking sites reach their golden age, people turn to them to both actively seek and passively find information to enhance their individualized experiences. People who have experiences that are uncommon in their real world communities can gain benefits by turning to online communities to build weak ties and share information. Some parents of children with special health care needs may be required to stay at home more to care for their children, and online social networking sites and personal blogs may connect them to others who share their experiences. Besides such physical isolation, it may not be as easy for parents of children with disabilities to find parents with similar experiences in their real world community, as only about six percent of the U.S. population have disabilities. In order to study how parents of children with disabilities find information

through informal online social networks, the author conducted a review of the relevant literature such a study must form a foundation on. The author located key findings in three areas of research: literature on the information behavior and needs of parents of children with disabilities; literature on the new frontier of online social network analysis and social media; and literature on health-related online support

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groups, whether those groups were formed by formal organizations or blossomed organically. At the center of these overlapping areas lies the heart of this studys primary concern.

Informa(on Behavior and Needs of Parents of Children with Disabili(es

Health-Related Online Support Groups

Online Social Networks

Information Behavior and Needs of Parents Parents want to learn from other parents. Adults without children may

appear as less trustworthy information sources due to their lack of personal experience and ability to verify the accuracy of advice. Several studies confirm that parents of children with disabilities want to hear from other parents of children with disabilities, making such like-experienced individuals more trustworthy sources of information and potentially rich sources for empathy. Mackintoshs 2005 study on the information sources of parents of children with autism found that parents believed that the best sources were other parents, and that individuals with lower incomes and socio-economic status had fewer information resources. Mackintoshs study identified websites as a source of information but did not identify social media sites explicitly. Statically published websites provide a controlled flow of information, whereas social media sites provide a space for

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dynamic interaction and exchange of information in a many-to-many forum. Mackintoshs study also found misinformation was a concern of such parent-to- parent exchange of information, with no mediation from authoritative health information professionals. Pain (1999) found that personal communication is the preferred method for

information-gathering parents of children with disabilities, with one parent stating, There was no substitute for real people, written information is nice to have as a comfort factor, but you really get your information from people, talking face to face with them (p. 303). Pain concluded the purposes for information, regardless of source, were the following: to enhance management of the child, where certain information improves working with the child on a day-to-day basis (1999, p. 305); to help parents cope emotionally, where empathy from other parents adds comfort to a diagnosis from an authoritative source; and to access benefits and services, where information shared leads to new opportunities (1999, p. 308). How do these preferences transform in a world where more and more personal communication becomes computer-mediated? Huber et al. (2005) and Tillisch (2007) both found the Internet cited as the most common information source for parents of children with disabilities. Tillischs survey of 1,000 parents found support groups rivaled the Internet for most-used sources of information, with Huber adding that information seeking is greatest at the time of diagnosis. Personal communication through online social networking may be the next fruitful place to study information behavior of parents of children with special health care needs.

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Literature Review

Analyzing Computer-Mediated Online Social Networks As more parents seek information online to help them manage day-to-day

needs of their child with disabilities, cope emotionally, and find services, the scale of computer-mediated communication and information is growing rapidly. No longer does the computer-mediated role of information provider rest squarely on the bandwidth of static, one-way communicating websites. With the birth of a new genre, Web 2.0 and social media, online social networking sites such as Twitter (launched 2006) and Facebook (launched 2004 and opening to the public in 2006) have spurred computer-mediated communication and information sharing into a new era. Facebook has more than 845 million user accounts (Protalinski, 2012), and Twitter has more than 300 million user accounts (Taylor, 2011). The people behind those accounts may not all be active users, but the data amassing on social media servers is enough for the Library of Congress to enter into an agreement with Twitter executives to create an archive of all public tweets (Raymond, 2010). Such is the value of that publicly contributed dataa status update being a unit of datato the future of research. Researchers have already begun to conduct empirical studies on the large-scale datasets these online social networking sites can provide. Dodds et al. (2011) used more than 46 billion words comprising roughly five percent of tweets posted between September 9, 2008, and September 18, 2011, to determine the happiest days of the seven-day week were Friday through Sunday, the happiest hour, between 5 and 6 a.m. Researchers of social networks are also turning their attention to the data

available on social media sites. Huberman et al. (2009) cautions that counting the

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mere number of friends and followers does not give an accurate portrayal of influence, a much-debated term among online social networking researchers. Huberman et al. believes networks hidden among networks can be found by studying who talks to whom, a metric not easily discoverable through public profiles alone. Burgess (2009) argues that online social networks can be leveraged to empower women in learning environments, emphasizing that networking functionlinking people togetherto build social capital that facilitates access to information and resources. Burgess warns against believing online networks escape established privilege structures, cautioning those wanting to turn to a digital environment to be mindful of how power reinvents itself online. Scholars researching information behavior and cultural communication

patterns find the data embedded in online social networking sites to be rich and informative, as well. Lerman and Ghoshs study (2010) tracked how information spreads through Twitter and Digg. Digg, a user-submitted news aggregator, became the denser platform for these researchers due to the ease of tracking comments and measuring popularity of submissions. Digg users vote on stories by clicking a thumbs-up icon or thumbs-down icon so visitors to the website can see how each submission ranks in popularity. Lerman and Ghosh found that network structure affects the dynamics of how the information flows from one person to the next. Digg makes following the popularity of posts on the Wild West of Twitter seem like herding and wrangling cats. But those retweets can be wrangled. boyd et al. (2010) argue retweeting

where a post by one Twitter user is seen by another Twitter user and reposted to

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the latter users profilecan be studied as a conversational practice. The researchers found that Twitter users retweet posts for specific purposes. The retweet shows engagement in a conversation and shares information among the listeners. A retweet in and of itself sends the message that the user is listening. boyd et al. found the other two purposes for retweeting a post are to indicate agreement publicly (or publicly to ones approved list of followers if that user has a private account) and to validate others thoughts. This study of retweeting as a conversational practice demonstrates that attribution, relationship-building, and community appreciation are important aspects of participating in online social networks. Chen (2011) came to a similar conclusion that retweeting acts to mediate

relationships on Twitter. Chen found that the more hours users spent on Twitter, the greater the need those users had to connect with others. Chen confirmed this need for we-ness by participants in online social networks, and that the more active users were, the more likely they were to also feel connected. Chens study focused on uses and gratification theory (U&G) to explore Twitter users need to connect with others. Psychological needs direct communication goals, according to Chens explanation of U&G theory, which requires purposeful decisions on participating with communication media. Chen states (2011, p. 757), U&G focuses on social and psychological needs, which generate expectations that lead to different patterns of media use to gratify these needs (Katz et al., 1974). It is important to note that Internet communication has in some ways nullified the traditional sender-

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receiver model, which makes using U&G even more relevant to online media (Ko, 2000). People online can choose what media they want to use (Singer, 1998) with a simple click of the mouse. They can both send and receive messages simultaneously through media such as Twitter. Which parents of children with disabilities are turning to strangers in online social networks to satisfy their information, emotional, and psychological needs? The Beating Heart of It The third area of literature that informs a study on online social support

networks and information uses by parents of children with disabilities is literature on health-related online support groups. This area does not strictly cover online social network or the information behavior and needs of parents of children with disabilities but overlaps them both. This area of research covers any number of computer-mediated communication vehicles (email lists, chat rooms, online discussion forums, wikis, blogs, or the online social networking sites that have already been discussed) and different mental or physical special health needs. Miller (2006) conducted a study on social networking sites focused on mental health issues like RealMentalHealth.com (now HealthyPlace.com), and found anonymity and connections with other mothers were among the sites benefits. Miller also stressed that the information on such sites were not a substitute for professional help; the need to be adept at computers was another limitation. Baum (2004) focused on Internet Parent Support Groups (IPSGs) and found several outcomes that affect the well-being of care providers of children with special health

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care needs. Those benefits included finding people with similar challenges; finding information and guidance; experiencing anonymity; helping others; venting; and finding hope, gratitude, and experiencing a change in perspective. Baums study found parents who participated in IPSGs felt empowered, and these parents strongly recommended the approach to other parents and care givers of children with special health care needs. The participants in Baums study were mostly female and, like Miller, Baum found that some needed to adapt to computers but such a learning curve was not impossible to overcome. Trust was also a critical aspect in successful IPSG experiences. Although ninety percent of Baums participants in the study recommended joining an IPSG as soon as possible, Baum warns against problems with relying on them exclusively. Potential dangers include misinformation, expression of intense feelings that could overwhelm those struggling with pain and fear, different needs related to different stages of adaptation, untrained people who may offer therapy or untested products, and occasional pressure to adopt excessive or distorted group beliefs. (p. 388) With these warnings taken to heart, Baum found clear support for connecting with other parents of children with disabilities in an online environment. Margarlit and Rashkind (2009) performed a content analysis on reactions of

mothers of children with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as they mourned the potential closing of a website that facilitated online community support. Their analysis also found the interactions through the site empowered mothers through information seeking and community support. The

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analysis in this study found the mothers believed the following was facilitated through this site: information shared was valid and reliable, information could be adapted more easily to their needs, current information and research could be translated into a format accessible to them, information was validated by personal experience, and information could provide different perspectives. Their statements expressed that they benefited from the online community through emotional support, empathy, companionship and prevention of loneliness, immediate support and help, privacy and safety, and through the withholding of judgment. The findings from this area of literature support the need for more research on the use of online social support networks for parents of children with special health care needs. Conclusion These studies overlap around the topic of using an online social network like Twitter to organically create a community where parents of children with disabilities may share their information as well as their empathy. No studies were found to address this subject directly, suggesting a gap in the literature worthy of study. By gleaning these key findings from the three areasliterature on the information behavior and needs of parents of children with disabilities; literature on the new frontier of online social network analysis and social media; and literature on health-related online support groupssuch a study could begin to discover how parents of children with special health care needs find serendipitous information and build weak ties through social media.

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Works Cited Baum, L. S. (2004). Internet Parent Support Groups for Primary Caregivers of a Child with Special Health Care Needs. Pediatric Nursing, 30(5), 381-401. boyd, d., Golder, S. & Lotan, G. (2010). Tweet, tweet, retweet: Conversational aspects of retweeting on Twitter. HICSS-43. IEEE: Kauai, HI, January 6. Briceo, A. C., Gospodarowicz, M., & Jadad, A. R. (2008). Fighting cancer with the internet and social networking. The Lancet Oncology, 9(11), 1037-1038. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70275-4 Burgess, K. R. (2009). Social networking technologies as vehicles of support for women in learning communities. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2009(122), 63-71. doi:10.1002/ace.335 Chen, G. M. (2011). Tweet this: A uses and gratifications perspective on how active Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(2), 755-762. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.10.023 Dodds, P. S., Harris, K. D., Kloumann, I. M., Bliss, C. A., & Danforth, C. M. (2011). Temporal Patterns of Happiness and Information in a Global Social Network: Hedonometrics and Twitter. PLoS ONE, 6(12). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026752 Huberman, B. A., Romero, D. M., & Fang, W. (2009). Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope. First Monday, 14(1-5). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewA rticle/2317/2063

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Lamberg, L. (2003). Online Empathy for Mood Disorders Patients Turn to Internet Support Groups. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 289(23), 3073-3077. doi:10.1001/jama.289.23.3073 Lerman, K., & Ghosh, R. (2010). Information Contagion: an Empirical Study of the Spread of News on Digg and Twitter Social Networks. arXiv:1003.2664. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1003.2664 Mackintosh, V. H., Myers, B. J., & Goin-Kochel, R. P. (2006). Sources of Information and Support Used by Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal On Developmental Disabilities, 12(1), 41-52. Margalit, M., & Raskind, M. H. (2009). Mothers of Children with LD and ADHD: Empowerment through Online Communication. Journal of Special Education Technology, 24(1). Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=EJ861045 Miller, J. (2006). Finding Support Online: Parents are Finding Comfort and Support in Virtual Hugs. Exceptional Parent, 36(10), 42-44. Pain, H. (1999). Coping with a child with disabilities from the parents perspective: the function of information. Child: Care, Health and Development, 25(4), 299- 313. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2214.1999.00132.x Protalinski, E. (2012, February 1). Facebook has over 845 million users | ZDNet. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-has-over- 845-million-users/8332 Raymond, Matt. (2010, April 14). Library to acquire ENTIRE Twitter archive -- ALL public tweets, ever, since March 2006! Details to follow. @librarycongress.

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microblog, . Retrieved March 19, 2012, from https://twitter.com/#!/librarycongress/status/12169442690 Taylor, C. (2011, June 27). Social networking utopia isnt coming. CNN. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06- 27/tech/limits.social.networking.taylor_1_twitter-users-facebook-friends- connections?_s=PM:TECH Tillisch, D. (2007). New Research Provides a Snapshot of Parents with Children Who Have Special Needs. Exceptional Parent, 37(11), 43-44.

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Literacy & Learning Midterm November 3, 2011 Melody Dworak Guiding quote for my term thus far: The inclination to learn from life itself and to make the conditions of life such that all will learn in the process of living is the finest product of schooling. John Dewey in Democracy and Education Question 1: Among other things, literacy is about social power. Being literate allows people to exercise control and direction over their lives. From the readings this semester, provide an explanation for how that power/literacy connection works. In what ways might libraries and librarians modify their practice to address the concerns that this connection raises? Literacys connection to power has firm historical foundations. Wysocki and Johnson-Eilola elaborate on how the dominant group oppresses the languages and literacy behaviors of the subordinate, using the rejection of their dominant belief system as a blessing to slaughter. Their inclusion of the story of Atahaualpa dropping the Bible to the ground in front of a Spanish missionary, which give the Spanish a holy order to massacre the Incans, shows this (p. 357). Pawley explains in the early U.S. colonial period, both boys and girls were taught to read, but only boys were taught to write (p. 438). Street elaborates, it becomes apparent that literacy can no longer be ,addressed as a neutral technology, as in the reductionist autonomous model, but is already a social and ideological practice involving fundamental aspects of epistemology, power, and politics: the acquisition of literacy involves challenges to dominant discourses (Lewis), shifts in what constitutes the agenda of proper literacy (VV einstein-Shr; Carmetti; Shuman) and struggles for power and position (Rockhilt Probst). In this sense, then, literacy practices are saturated with ideology (p. 435). In the present day, we see struggles of power and class play out in 1 Dworak standardized testing data. The No Child Left Behind Act (reauthorization of the Literacy & Learning Midterm

Elementary and Secondary Education Act under President George W. Bush) mandated disaggregating of NAEP data, which gathers test scores to focus on the literacy and math achievements, to specifically focus on achievements at the Fourth and Eighth grade levelsthe interims of which are believed to be critical growth stages. Disaggregating test data was imperative so that schools could no longer hide non-achieving students under an average. It was intended to shine the light on racial disparities in education and in this way became a late-20th-century Civil Rights struggle. Brown and Black children are consistently left behind their White peers, and many have pointed to the lack of education as a determining factor in who will spend time in prison. Davidson and Goldberg state, Seventy-five percent of those imprisoned tend to be illiterate, earning under $10,000 per year at the time of arrest (p. 21). Being convicted of a felony is directly related to ones disenfranchisement. What makes this relationship between literacy and power an extremely troublesome, moral issue is the idea that descendant of slaves are at great risk being un-emancipated, and that the U.S. system of education might be playing a role in that. How might school libraries and teacher-librarians re-imagine their own role in this mess? The readings from this semester suggest two potential options: promote learner agency through subverting not-learning and binding together with the learner in the contact zone. According to Kohl, Not-learning and unlearning are both central techniques that support changes of consciousness and help people develop positive ways of thinking and speaking in opposition to dominant forms of oppression. Not-learning in particular requires a strong will and an ability to take the kinds of pressure exerted by people whose power you choose to question (p. 23). This is a kind of agency for not-learners, but not the kind that will allow them to thrive in the current education system. Teacher-librarians cannot take the traditional authority/subordinate strategies traditionally found in education. Instead they must re-examine motives for not learning and be creative in subverting the subverter. Kohl did this by manipulating the situation and being shaped by the Literacy & Learning Midterm 2 Dworak

not-learners challenges to be more flexible to the not-learners needs. They grew to become allies, bound together in the pursuit of mutual learning. Being bound together through mutual learning is the condition of the contact zone. The contact zone is ...social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today (Wolff, p. 4). But each interlocutor is affected by the experiences of the contact zone. If individuals walk away untouched, theyre burying something deep within themselves. Teacher-librarians can learn to recognize the literate arts of the contact zonetransculturation, autoethnography, critique, collaboration, bilingualism, mediation, vernacular expression, parody, denunciation, and imaginary dialogue (p. 11)to meet learners up close and in the middle, rather than be separated by the distance that planes of power enforce.

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 Question 5: Research in Library and Information Science is traditionally based on a techno-managerial model. How would you describe that model in practice? The techno-managerial model tends to obscure many of the issues related to literacy. How have the readings illustrated this problem? In what ways might libraries and librarians modify their practice if they began to base their knowledge on alternative research paradigms? Two scholars inform our understanding of the techno-managerial model of library practice: Prior and Pawley. We see the techno-managerial model in Priors description of structuralism. Structuralism develops the observational perspective, where scholars can transcend out of the swamp and peer down from the mountain top. Prior states the structuralist purpose is to create a hierarchy of pieces, which Pawley describes as decontextualization. Prior also points to the rule-based outcomes of the structuralist agenda. And we all know how traditional library science practice loves rules. One may quickly imagine the following signs being posted around a library, past or present: No Talking; No Food; No Beverages. Whats from stopping them from posting a No Patrons sign? Pawley elaborates on the techno-managerial model through a discussion of the relationship between decontextualization and commodification of information. Libraries once classified books according to their truthinessproviding the preeminent position to those tomes associated with God and the dominant belief structure. As societies evolved, information became valuable. Decontextualizing information allowed its pieces to be allocated a certain price based on its place in the hierarchy of knowledge. Pawley states that the commodification of information gave libraries a purpose, and organizing those pieces by the alphabet rather than pious prominence resulted. It was almost a natural evolution. Stoddard and Lee speak of the librarian as a custodian, a protector of books (p. 9). An authoritarian role such as this facilitates the storage of knowledge in tidy boxes, it does nothing to facilitate literacy. Pawley links this to the Procrustean model of having one box that each individual, no matter the culture or background, must fit intocolloquially known as forcing a square peg into a round hole. Pawleys Procrustean model has more dire consequences than the more common Literacy & Learning Midterm 4 Dworak

idiom, however. In Pawleys imagery, learners lose pieces of themselves through violent and harmful means. Holland and Haraway inform our understanding of what cultural identities might be cut away through this techno-managerial model, and how librarians might adapt their thinking to promote a more culturally open and communally driven practice. Holland states, From a Bakhtinian-socio-historic perspective, persons develop through and around the cultural forms by which they are identified, and identify themselves, in the context of their affiliation or disaffiliation with those associated with those forms and practices (p. 33). Rather than forcing learners and their needs to fit inside a box, this statement gives hope for a more collectively driven approach. Haraway recognizes the role of situated knowledges and our construction of knowledge through our identities, which we can apply to the librarian-learner relationship. Situated knowledge require that the object of knowledge be pictured as an actor and agent, not a screen or a ground or a resource, never finally as slave to the master that closes off the dialetic in his unique agency and authorship (p. 198). Pawley agrees with this ideal of learner as consumer and producer, and that librarians can recognize this and strike a balance to supplement their traditional techno-managerial model. An example that displays such efforts may be seen in the efforts of the Read Write Library, formerly called the Chicago Underground Library. This is an effort for a library to go beyond the edgy strategy of accepting folksonomies into its taxonomical system: Its working to gather community-created and curated collections within its own digital library (readwritelibrary.org). This initiative is still in development, but its a system with much vision for a library to engage its community in shaping the identity of its place. This solicitation of collection materials from the community gives that community direct ownership over its knowledge.

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