@article {9999, title = {Evaluating MIDST, a system to support stigmergic team coordination}, journal = {Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction}, volume = {5}, year = {2021}, month = {04/2021}, pages = {Article 36}, abstract = {

Data science teams working on a shared analysis face coordination problems such as dividing up the work to be done, monitoring performance and integrating the pieces. Research on distributed software development teams has raised the potential of stigmergic coordination, that is, coordination through a shared work product in place of explicit communication. The MIDST system was developed to support stigmergic coordination by making individual contributions to a shared work product visible, legible and combinable. In this paper, we present initial studies of a total of 40 student teams (24 using MIDST) that shows that teams that used MIDST did experience the intended system affordances to support their work, did seem to coordinate at least in part stigmergically and performed better on an assigned project.

}, keywords = {stigmergic coordination; translucency; awareness; data-science teams}, doi = {10.1145/3449110}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/CSCW_2020_MIDST_paper_final_0.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Jeffery Saltz and Niraj Sitaula and Yatish Hegde} } @article {9998, title = {Examining Open Innovation in Science (OIS): What Open Innovation can and cannot offer the science of science}, journal = {Innovation: Organization \& Management}, year = {2021}, abstract = {

Scholars across disciplines increasingly hear calls for more open and collaborative approaches to scientific research. The concept of Open Innovation in Science (OIS) provides a framework that integrates dispersed research efforts aiming to understand the antecedents, contingencies, and consequences of applying open and collaborative research practices. While the OIS framework has already been taken up by science of science scholars, its conceptual underpinnings require further specification. In this essay, we critically examine the OIS concept and bring to light two key aspects: 1) how OIS builds upon Open Innovation (OI) research by adopting its attention to boundary-crossing knowledge flows and by adapting other concepts developed and researched in OI to the science context as exemplified by two OIS cases in the area of research funding; 2) how OIS conceptualises knowledge flows across boundaries. While OI typically focuses on well-defined organizational boundaries, we argue that blurry and even invisible boundaries between communities of practice may more strongly constrain flows of knowledge related to openness and collaboration in science. Given the uptake of this concept, this essay brings needed clarity to the meaning of OIS, which has no particular normative orientation toward a close coupling between science and industry. We end by outlining the essay{\textquoteright}s contributions to OI and the science of science, as well as to science practitioners.

}, doi = {10.1080/14479338.2021.1999248}, author = {Susanne Beck and Marcel LaFlamme and Carsten Bergenholtz and Marcel Bogers and Tiare-Maria Brasseur and Marie-Louise Conradsen and Kevin Crowston and Diletta Di Marco and Agnes Effert and Despoina Filiou and Lars Frederiksen and Thomas Gillier and Marc Gruber and Carolin Haeussler and Karin Hoisl and Olga Kokshagina and Maria-Theresa Norn and Marion Poetz and Gernot Pruschak and Laia Pujol Priego and Agnieszka Radziwon and Alexander Ruser and Henry Sauermann and Sonali Shah and Julia Suess-Reyes and Christopher L. Tucci and Philipp Tuertscher and Jane Bj{\o}rn Vedel and Roberto Verganti and Jonathan Wareham and Sunny Mosangzi Xu} } @proceedings {2020, title = {Effects of stigmergic and explicit coordination on Wikipedia article quality}, year = {2020}, address = {Wailea, HI}, abstract = {

Prior research on Wikipedia has noted the importance of both explicit coordination of edits (i.e., through the article Talk page) and stigmergic coordination (i.e., through the article itself). Using a panel data set of article quality and edits for 23 articles over time, we examine the impact of different kinds of edits on article quality. We find that stigmergically-coordinated edits seem to have the biggest effect on quality, but that explicit coordination of major edits also predicts article quality. The findings have implications for both research on coordination inWikipedia and for supporting editors.

}, doi = {10.24251/HICSS.2020.287}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/Stigmergy_in_Wikipedia_HICSS_2020.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Amira Rezgui} } @article {642, title = {Encouraging Work in Citizen Science: Experiments in Goal Setting and Anchoring}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This paper describes the results of an online field experiment where we designed and analyzed the effects of a goal-setting tracker in an online citizen science project - Floating Forest. The design of our tracker was influenced by psychology theories of anchoring and goal-setting. Our results of our experiment revealed: (1) setting goals increases annotations in a session; (2) numeric anchors influence goals; and (3) participants in the treatment who saw a prompt but did not set a goal, contributed more annotations than the participants in the control group. Our research shows how goal-setting and anchoring combine to increase work in online communities.}, doi = {10.1145/2818052.2869129}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/CSCW-abstract.pdf}, author = {Corey Brian Jackson and Kevin Crowston and Gabriel Mugar and Carsten {\O}sterlund} } @article {2014, title = {Editorial: The role of information systems in enabling open innovation}, journal = {Journal of the Association for Information Systems }, volume = {15}, year = {2014}, month = {11/2014}, chapter = {Article 4}, doi = {10.17705/1jais.00381}, url = {http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1692\&context=jais}, author = {Eoin Whelan and Kieran Conboy and Kevin Crowston and Lorraine Morgan and Matti Rossi} } @proceedings {9999, title = {Exploring data quality in games with a purpose}, year = {2014}, month = {3/2014}, address = {Berlin, Germany}, abstract = {

A key problem for crowd-sourcing systems is motivating contributions from participants and ensuring the quality of these contributions. Games have been suggested as a motivational approach to encourage contribution, but attracting participation through game play rather than scientific interest raises concerns about the quality of the data provided, which is particularly important when the data are to be used for scientific research. To assess whether these concerns are justified, we compare the quality of data obtained from two citizen science games, one a {\textquotedblleft}gamified{\textquotedblright} version of a species classification task and one a fantasy game that used the classification task only as a way to advance in the game play. Surprisingly, though we did observe cheating in the fantasy game, data quality (i.e., classification accuracy) from participants in the two games was not significantly different. As well, the quality of data from short-time contributors was at a usable level of accuracy. These findings suggest that various approaches to gamification can be useful for motivating contributions to citizen science projects.

}, doi = {10.9776/14066}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/gamedataquality_cameraready_4.pdf}, author = {Nathan Prestopnik and Kevin Crowston and Wang, Jun} } @unpublished {9999, title = {Exploring Collective Intelligence Games With Design Science: A Citizen Science Design Case}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Citizen science is a form of collective intelligence where members of the public are recruited to contribute to scientific investigations. Citizen science projects often use web-based systems to support collaborative scientific activities, but finding ways to attract participants and confirm the veracity of the data produced by non-scientists are key research questions. We describe a series of web-based tools and games currently under development to support taxonomic classification of organisms in photographs collected by citizen science projects. In the design science tradition, the systems are purpose-built to test hypotheses about participant motivation and techniques for ensuring data quality. Findings from preliminary evaluation and the design process itself are discussed.}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/designing\%20citizen\%20science\%20games.pdf}, author = {Nathan Prestopnik and Kevin Crowston} } @proceedings {Howison:2008, title = {e{R}esearch workflows for studying free and open source software development}, year = {2008}, note = {Slides from the presentation at the Oxford eResearch Conference of lessons learned in replicating research in eResearch workflows.}, address = {Milan, Italy, 7-10 September}, abstract = {This paper proposes a demonstration of eResearch workflow tools as a model for the research community studying free and open source software and its development. For purposes of background and justification, the paper first introduces eResearch as increasingly practiced in fields such as astrophysics and biology, then contrasts the practice of research on free and open source software. After outlining the suitable public data sources the paper introduces a class of tools known as scientific workflow frameworks, specifically focusing on one---Taverna---and introducing its features. To further explain the tool a complete workflow used for original research on FLOSS is described and the agenda for the live demonstration is outlined. }, keywords = {eResearch, FLOSS, Workflow}, doi = {10.1007/978-0-387-09684-1_39}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/eResearchWorkflows.pdf}, author = {James Howison and Wiggins, Andrea and Kevin Crowston} } @proceedings {, title = {eSocialScience for Free/Libre Open Source Software researchers}, year = {2008}, address = {Manchester, UK, 18-20 June}, abstract = {This abstract presents a case study of the potential application of eScience tools and practices for the social science research community studying Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development practices. We first describe the practice of research on FLOSS to motivate the need for eScience. After outlining suitable public data sources, we describe our initial efforts to introduce eScience tools for FLOSS research, potential obstacles and how the use of such tools might affect the practice of research in this field.}, keywords = {eScience, FLOSS}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/NCeSS2008CrowstonHowisonWiggins.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and James Howison and Wiggins, Andrea} } @proceedings {Heckman:2007, title = {Emergent decision-making practices in Free/Libre Open Source Software FLOSS development teams}, year = {2007}, address = {Limerick, Ireland, 10-14 June}, abstract = {We seek to identify work practices that make Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development teams effective. Particularly important to team effectiveness is decision making. In this paper, we report on an inductive qualitative analysis of 360 decision episodes of six FLOSS development teams. Our analysis revealed diversity in decision-making practices that seem to be related to differences in overall team characteristics and effectiveness. }, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/20070320\%20OSS\%20Conference_v15_final\%20submitted.pdf}, author = {Heckman, Robert and Kevin Crowston and Eseryel, U. Yeliz and James Howison and Allen, Eileen E. and Li, Qing} } @article {2007, title = {Emergent leadership in self-organizing virtual teams (Poster)}, year = {2007}, address = {Montr{\'e}al, Qu{\'e}bec, Canada, 9{\textendash}12 Dec}, keywords = {FLOSS, Leadership}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/20081204\%20ICIS\%20Poster_v.5.1.pdf}, author = {Heckman, Robert and Kevin Crowston and Misiolek, Nora and Eseryel, U. Yeliz} } @proceedings {Heckman:2006b, title = {Emergent decision-making practices in technology-supported self-organizing distributed teams}, year = {2006}, address = {Milwaukee, WI, 10{\textendash}13 Dec}, abstract = {We seek to identify work practices that make technology-supported self-organizing distributed (or virtual) teams (TSSODT for short) effective in producing outputs satisfactory to their sponsors, meeting the needs of their members and continuing to function. A particularly important practice for team effectiveness is decision making: are the right decisions made at the right time to get the work done in a way that satisfies team sponsors, keeps contributors happy and engaged, and enables continued team success? In this research-in-progress paper, we report on an inductive qualitative analysis of 120 decision episodes taken by 2 Free/libre Open Source Software development teams. Our analysis revealed differences in decision-making practices that seem to be related to differences in overall team effectiveness.}, keywords = {Decision-Making, FLOSS}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/Emergent\%20Decision\%20Making\%20Practices\%20In\%20Technology\%20Supported\%20Self\%20O.pdf}, author = {Heckman, Robert and Kevin Crowston and Li, Qing and Allen, Eileen E. and Eseryel, U. Yeliz and James Howison and Kangning Wei} } @proceedings {Crowston:2005e, title = {Effective work practices for FLOSS development: A model and propositions}, year = {2005}, note = {"Effective work practices for Software Engineering: Free/Libre Open Source Software Development". Presentation at the Workshop on Interdisciplinary Software Engineering 2004, SIGSOFT 2004/FSE-12 Conference, Newport Beach, CA, 5 November. Powerpoint file.}, address = {Big Island, Hawai{\textquoteright}i, January}, abstract = {We review the literature on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and on software development, distributed work and teams more generally to develop a theoretical model to explain the performance of FLOSS teams. The proposed model is based on Hackman{\textquoteright}s [1] model of effectiveness of work teams, with coordination theory [2] and collective mind [3] to extend Hackman{\textquoteright}s model by elaborating team practices relevant to effectiveness in software development. We propose a set of propositions to guide further research.}, doi = {10.1109/HICSS.2005.222}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/22680197a.pdf , https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/041101\%20Wiser\%20Presentation.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Annabi, Hala and James Howison and Masango, Chengetai} } @article {2005, title = {An exploratory study of factors related to effectiveness of Free/Libre Open Source Software teams}, year = {2005}, note = {Talk at the Padua Open Source Software Symposium, 14-15 April 2005.}, keywords = {FLOSS}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/050415\%20padua\%20presentation.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Eseryel, U. Yeliz} } @conference {2004, title = {Effective work practices for software engineering}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2004 ACM workshop on Interdisciplinary software engineering research (WISER {\textquoteright}04)}, year = {2004}, pages = {18}, publisher = {ACM Press}, organization = {ACM Press}, address = {Newport Beach, CA, USA}, abstract = {We review the literature on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and on software development, distributed work and teams more generally to develop a theoretical model to explain the performance of FLOSS teams. The proposed model is based on Hackman{\textquoteright}s [34] model of effectiveness of work teams, with coordination theory [52] and collective mind [79] to extend Hackman{\textquoteright}s model by elaborating team practices relevant to effectiveness in software development. We propose a set of propositions to guide further research.}, keywords = {FLOSS}, isbn = {1581139888}, doi = {10.1145/1029997.1030003}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/p18-crowston.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Annabi, Hala and James Howison and Masango, Chengetai} } @article {Crowston:2003, title = {The evolution of high-reliability coordination mechanisms for collision avoidance}, journal = {The Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA)}, volume = {5}, year = {2003}, pages = {1-29}, abstract = {Resource sharing and allocation are important coordination problems in most processes and organizations. They are especially critical in transportation systems, where the resource to be shared and allocated is the space through which various vehicles move and the problem is ensuring that vehicles do not conflict in their use of the space{\textemdash}that is, that they do not collide. Transportation systems are interesting because they accomplish this resource allocation in a highly reliable and often highly distributed fashion. In this paper, we apply coordination theory to analyze collision avoidance as a coordination problem. Coordination theory suggests that coordination problems are created by dependencies among activities and resources that constrain how the activities can be performed. To avoid or overcome these constraints, additional work must be performed in the form of a coordination mechanism that manages the dependency. From this perspective, transportation systems can be viewed as collections of mechanisms for allocating a scarce resource, namely the space through which vehicles move. The claim of coordination theory is that having identified the type of dependency involved in transportation systems, we can consider alternative coordination mechanisms and more importantly, the tradeoffs between them. More interestingly, we can analyze how the use of information technology differentially affects the costs of different mechanisms thus shifting the tradeoff. As well, the range of coordination mechanisms identified may have implications for resource allocation in other kinds of organizations.}, keywords = {Coordination}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/5045\%20pdf.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston} } @article {, title = {The effects of market-enabling Internet agents on competition and prices}, journal = {Journal of Electronic Commerce Research}, volume = {2}, number = {1}, year = {2001}, pages = {1-22}, abstract = {The Internet offers a vision of ubiquitous electronic commerce. A particularly useful feature is the ability to automate the search for price or other information across multiple vendors by using an {\textquotedblleft}agent{\textquotedblright} to retrieve relevant information. The use of agents has the potential to dramatically reduce buyers{\textquoteright} search costs. We develop a framework that suggests that vendors who sell products with many differentiating factors beyond price will tend to accept agents, while vendors of commodities or branded goods will tend to resist them unless they have lower costs than their competitors. Empirically, we found that agents seem to be accepted for differentiated goods, but resisted for more commoditized goods, though not universally. An analysis of prices from one agent shows that 1) a small number of vendors tended to have the lowest prices and 2) while divergence in pricing remains, price dispersion declined over the period studied.}, keywords = {Electronic Commerce, Internet Agent, Market-enabling}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/joecr01.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and MacInnes, Ian} } @proceedings {Crowston:1999a, title = {The effects of linking on genres of web documents}, year = {1999}, address = {Maui, Hawai{\textquoteright}i, January}, abstract = {Documents on the Web can be composed of multiple Web pages, suggesting the need to consider how linking between pages affects a document{\textquoteright}s form. We illustrate this point by considering patterns of linking in a common genre of document, the Frequently Asked Questions file or FAQ. In a sample of 70 FAQs, we found four patterns of linking: no links, links within the page, links to pages on the same host and links to other hosts. We suggest that links that tie together document pieces simply recreate the already accepted FAQ genre, but links that provide navigation within the document or that link to other information sources begin to extend and adapt the FAQ genre to the needs and capabilities of the Web.}, isbn = {0-7695-0001-3}, doi = {10.1109/HICSS.1999.772648}, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/hicss99.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Williams, Marie} } @inbook {Crowston:1993a, title = {Evolving novel organizational forms}, booktitle = {Computational Organization Theory}, year = {1994}, note = {Other publications: Crowston, K. Evolving novel organizational forms. In Ingemar Hulthage (Ed.), Computational Organization Design: Papers from the 1994 Spring Symposium (Technical Report SS-94-07) (pp. 35{\textendash}42). Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press.}, pages = {19-38}, publisher = {Lawrence Erlbaum}, organization = {Lawrence Erlbaum}, address = {Hillsdale, NJ}, abstract = {A key problem in organization theory is to suggest new organizational forms. In this paper, I suggest the use of genetic algorithms to search for novel organizational forms by reproducing some of the mechanics of organizational evolution. Issues in using genetic algorithms include identification of the unit of selection, development of a representation and determination of a method for calculating organizational fitness. As an example of the approach, I test a proposition of Thompson{\textquoteright}s about how interdependent positions should be assigned to groups. Representing an organization as a collection of routines might be more general and still amenable to evolution with a genetic algorithm. I conclude by discussing possible objections to the application of this technique. }, keywords = {Coordination}, isbn = {0-8058-1406-X }, attachments = {https://crowston.syr.edu./sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/CCSWP185.html}, author = {Kevin Crowston}, editor = {Carley, Kathleen M. and Prietula, Michael J.} }