research-article

Working for the Invisible Machines or Pumping Information into an Empty Void? An Exploration of Wikidata Contributors' Motivations

Authors:

Charles Chuankai Zhang,

C. Estelle Smith,

Loren TerveenAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 6, Issue CSCW1

Article No.: 135, Pages 1 - 21

https://doi.org/10.1145/3512982

Published: 07 April 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Structured data peer production (SDPP) platforms like Wikidata play an important role in knowledge production. Compared to traditional peer production platforms like Wikipedia, Wikidata data is more structured and intended to be used by machines, not (directly) by people; end-user interactions with Wikidata often happen through intermediary "invisible machines." Given this distinction, we wanted to understand Wikidata contributor motivations and how they are affected by usage invisibility caused by the machine intermediaries. Through an inductive thematic analysis of 15 interviews, we find that: (i) Wikidata editors take on two archetypes---Architects who define the ontological infrastructure of Wikidata, and Masons who build the database through data entry and editing; (ii) the structured nature of Wikidata reveals novel editor motivations, such as an innate drive for organizational work; (iii) most Wikidata editors have little understanding of how their contributions are used, which may demotivate some. We synthesize these insights to help guide the future design of SDPP platforms in supporting the engagement of different types of editors.

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Xu ZZhang JGreenberg JFrumkin MJaveed SZhang JBenedict BBotterbush KRodebaugh TRay WLu C(2024)Predicting Multi-dimensional Surgical Outcomes with Multi-modal Mobile SensingProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36596288:2(1-30)Online publication date: 15-May-2024
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Index Terms

Working for the Invisible Machines or Pumping Information into an Empty Void? An Exploration of Wikidata Contributors' Motivations
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Empirical studies in collaborative and social computing

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cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 6, Issue CSCW1

CSCW1

April 2022

2511 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3530837

Editor:
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Apple Inc., United States

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Published: 07 April 2022

Published in PACMHCI Volume 6, Issue CSCW1

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Li WGao RXiong JZhou JWang LMao XYi EZhang D(2024)WiFi-CSI Difference ParadigmProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36596088:2(1-29)Online publication date: 15-May-2024
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