::fibreculture:: Public Lecture @ National Library, 26 August 2014

[Mathieu ONeil]

The News & Media Research Centre (N&MRC), University of Canberra, presents a Public Lecture:

WORKING WITH THE CROWD: ENGAGING PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE CROWDS AND COMMUNITIES



Ferguson Room, National Library of Australia

Tuesday August 26, 5.30PM-7PM

The lecture will be delivered by the N&MRC's Visiting International Scholar Professor Caroline Haythornthwaite



About the Speaker

Caroline Haythornthwaite is the Director and Professor of Library, Archival and Information Studies at The iSchool at The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. Her research areas explore the way interaction, via computer media, supports and affects work, learning, and social interaction, primarily from a social-network-analysis perspective.



Lecture Abstract

The organization of work is changing. The change began with the first move to online communication and has accelerated with each new innovation in social media and social networking. The latest challenge entails harnessing the crowd - crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, crowd creativity, and more - to address work needs. This focus promises the contributory power of many without the obligation to plan for long-term maintenance of the workforce. The turn to the crowd represents a marked change from earlier attention to communities. What have we gained and lost in focusing on the crowd over the community? What do we know about each form of organizing that can help in matching tasks and goals to crowd and community options? How can we harness the power of crowds as well as the commitment of communities?

This presentation outlines two models for design and analysis of contributory practice: a lightweight model that draws on a crowd perspective to address tasks and rewards from discrete contributors, and a heavyweight model that draws on a community perspective to address contributions from connected contributors. The future of crowdsourcing entails multiple models of contributory practice, some of which entail full commitment to the goals of the work, trust in the use of contributions, and payoffs - however near or far - for society, the environment, and the next generation.



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