David Gurzick, Ph.D.

Security questions are considered a viable alternative for secondary and supplementary authentication. Security questions are susceptible to three types of attacks: blind (brute force), focused guess (statistical), and observation (research/personal). This research outlines how informing users of potential security threats through a security meter may improve security with minimal impact on usability and trust. A security-question authentication model is proposed that builds on the strengths of… Show more

Security questions are considered a viable alternative for secondary and supplementary authentication. Security questions are susceptible to three types of attacks: blind (brute force), focused guess (statistical), and observation (research/personal). This research outlines how informing users of potential security threats through a security meter may improve security with minimal impact on usability and trust. A security-question authentication model is proposed that builds on the strengths of security question responses, chiefly their ease of recall and higher entropy, while mitigating the core weaknesses of the model, which are the lack of uniform answers and public accessibility to answers. Users that were made aware of the entropy of their responses were more likely to provide stronger responses to the security questions without affecting the repeatability of the responses to the questions but negatively impacting the memorability. Show less

Presentation given to the 2017 Institute for Chief Academic and Chief Student Affairs Officers. San Antonio, TX, USA. Podcast available at the link.

This full-day workshop focuses on building Big Social Data research competencies for scholars interested in issues of contribution quality and contributor performance in online co-production systems that generate value through contributions by volunteers. The workshop is designed to engage discussion and promote co-working through a hackathon format to stimulate productive conversation and learning, using shared data sets to provide a common focus for participants to engage questions of… Show more

This full-day workshop focuses on building Big Social Data research competencies for scholars interested in issues of contribution quality and contributor performance in online co-production systems that generate value through contributions by volunteers. The workshop is designed to engage discussion and promote co-working through a hackathon format to stimulate productive conversation and learning, using shared data sets to provide a common focus for participants to engage questions of contribution quality and contributor performance with multiple disciplinary, theoretical, and analytical backgrounds. Show less

Social networking systems and other online collaborative technologies are shaping the daily habits of knowledge workers. These technologies connect knowledge workers to their online personal networks for information exchange, informal learning, and social support. From an evaluation of policies and technical infrastructures of over 50 organizations, a composite set of three profiles was created that reflect prevailing organizational stances towards the use of online personal networks. Examining… Show more

Social networking systems and other online collaborative technologies are shaping the daily habits of knowledge workers. These technologies connect knowledge workers to their online personal networks for information exchange, informal learning, and social support. From an evaluation of policies and technical infrastructures of over 50 organizations, a composite set of three profiles was created that reflect prevailing organizational stances towards the use of online personal networks. Examining these profiles by marrying the lenses of learning theory and operational necessity highlights the role of informal learning and provides insight into organizations seeking to find value-adding advantages to social media use by their employees. Show less

This ongoing research project investigates ad-hoc infrastructure development in volunteer virtual organizations (VVOs). A comparative analysis of the tool appropriation of VVO activity among alternate reality game (ARG) players in three cities yielded insight for future research into underlying principles of infrastructure assemblage, types of ad-hoc resource provisioning, and potential means of design support.

Alternate reality games (ARGs) represent a unique form of group collaboration. A careful comparison of ARGs to more traditional collaborative systems reveals areas for innovation in tools to support ad-hoc teaming. This comparison specifically focuses on processes of group formation, task management, information discovery and collective storytelling. Opportunities for innovation are highlighted, as are future research questions.

This chapter proposes online multi-contextual analysis (OMCA) as a new multi-method approach for investigating and analyzing the behaviors, perceptions, and opinions of social network site (SNS) users. This approach is designed to extend methods currently available for the investigation of the use and social consequences of these sites with techniques that converge upon and triangulate users’ perceptions of their online behavior. Using quantitative measures of SNS usage, OMCA provides a much… Show more

This chapter proposes online multi-contextual analysis (OMCA) as a new multi-method approach for investigating and analyzing the behaviors, perceptions, and opinions of social network site (SNS) users. This approach is designed to extend methods currently available for the investigation of the use and social consequences of these sites with techniques that converge upon and triangulate users’ perceptions of their online behavior. Using quantitative measures of SNS usage, OMCA provides a much neglected level of analysis. We discuss current methodological practice in SNS research and introduce OMCA as an alternative approach. We then describe two studies that have employed OMCA to illustrate the method’s diversity and potential for providing new insights. Finally, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of OMCA in comparison to single approaches and draw conclusions for theories of SNSs. Show less

Alternate reality games (ARGs) represent a unique form of group collaboration. The comparison of ARGs to more traditional groupware systems around themes of group formation and collective storytelling provides several questions for the study of groupwork and groupware systems.

In this panel we will discuss how youth, including children, pre-teens, teens and young adults interact with social media, and how that interaction might differ from that experienced by adults. While not primarily concerned with the educational effects of social media, we will discuss how social media is both used in the classroom, but shut down at many schools as well. Other topics will include how youth understand social media, their privacy concerns, and inherent barriers to adoption by… Show more

In this panel we will discuss how youth, including children, pre-teens, teens and young adults interact with social media, and how that interaction might differ from that experienced by adults. While not primarily concerned with the educational effects of social media, we will discuss how social media is both used in the classroom, but shut down at many schools as well. Other topics will include how youth understand social media, their privacy concerns, and inherent barriers to adoption by populations of youth. Show less

American adolescents have experienced growth in their use of online communities; yet, it was unknown whether the current understanding of online-community design applied to the design of communities specific to adolescents. This study bridged this gap, examining (a) How adolescents interact in an online community designed in accordance with existing best practices, and;(b) Whether this understanding of interactions supports the refinement of existing design guidelines or necessitates the… Show more

American adolescents have experienced growth in their use of online communities; yet, it was unknown whether the current understanding of online-community design applied to the design of communities specific to adolescents. This study bridged this gap, examining (a) How adolescents interact in an online community designed in accordance with existing best practices, and;(b) Whether this understanding of interactions supports the refinement of existing design guidelines or necessitates the creation of new design guidelines to better promote adolescent interaction in an online community? Using a design-science approach, this research investigated an adolescent–centric online community as it progressed through an iterative design. Show less

As web technologies have flourished, the workplace has become inundated with new, often-overlapping applications meant to assist busy employees with information management and collaboration. IT departments seeking to implement these systems encounter difficulties in determining which to use. This paper reports on the impediments that arose as a result of the installation of a knowledge sharing wiki in tandem with other knowledge sharing tools within six school technology departments. Analysis… Show more

As web technologies have flourished, the workplace has become inundated with new, often-overlapping applications meant to assist busy employees with information management and collaboration. IT departments seeking to implement these systems encounter difficulties in determining which to use. This paper reports on the impediments that arose as a result of the installation of a knowledge sharing wiki in tandem with other knowledge sharing tools within six school technology departments. Analysis of the use and perception of the wiki revealed two prevalent issues: concern over achieving a critical mass of content and anxiety over potential unintended/unexpected content changes. Show less

Moderation within online communities is critical. Though many guidelines are available that describe the goals of successful moderation, these often minimize the complex interplay that exists between tools and practices of moderators. This study investigates the role of moderation through the lens of the moderators in a nascent online community for adolescents. Based on an analysis of their activities, three classes of emergent behavior were uncovered when exploring how the available tools… Show more

Moderation within online communities is critical. Though many guidelines are available that describe the goals of successful moderation, these often minimize the complex interplay that exists between tools and practices of moderators. This study investigates the role of moderation through the lens of the moderators in a nascent online community for adolescents. Based on an analysis of their activities, three classes of emergent behavior were uncovered when exploring how the available tools impacted the way moderator work was performed. The findings reveal a need for design considerations that take into account the appropriateness of match between the tools and work processes from a moderator perspective. Show less

Online communities are increasingly important in modern social life. Yet, the diverse collection of guidelines that have directed online community design may not be keeping pace with significant changes in the operating environment of these systems. This paper collects and distills the most relevant of these guidelines and describes their instantiation in a design artifact foundational to a larger design science research project. The core contributions include the distilled guidelines, a… Show more

Online communities are increasingly important in modern social life. Yet, the diverse collection of guidelines that have directed online community design may not be keeping pace with significant changes in the operating environment of these systems. This paper collects and distills the most relevant of these guidelines and describes their instantiation in a design artifact foundational to a larger design science research project. The core contributions include the distilled guidelines, a detailed account of the mechanics of their translation into practice, and a framework for doing design science research in online communities. Show less

Healthcare organizations are struggling to meet industry best practices for information security as well as complying with regulatory requirements. Single sign-on technology is emerging as a leading technology for password authentication management and promises to improve security while curbing system maintenance costs. While the technology seems to be a simple viable solution for authentication, when placed in context, many socio-technical complexities emerge. One of these complexities is that… Show more

Healthcare organizations are struggling to meet industry best practices for information security as well as complying with regulatory requirements. Single sign-on technology is emerging as a leading technology for password authentication management and promises to improve security while curbing system maintenance costs. While the technology seems to be a simple viable solution for authentication, when placed in context, many socio-technical complexities emerge. One of these complexities is that of the mismatch between the users' mental models and the system model.
This study was a 15-month ethnographic field study that followed the implementation of a single sign-on system in a hospital environment. It resulted in the finding that the misaligned mental models caused difficulties not only for the user but for the system administrators. The findings also indicate that not only was the user's mental model of the technology inaccurate, but the presentation of the technology by the information technology group contributed to this misaligned understanding. The end result was dissatisfaction with the new technology for both end users and the system administrators.
In order to address the critical issue of mental model misalignment in the implementation of SSO technology, practitioners must first gain an understanding of the preexisting mental models had by the target users regarding authentication and then use this information to guide implementation of the new technology. Show less

A survey was conducted on 210 Baby Boomers (Age mean= 51.4 Std. dev. 5.46) within the United States to determine their current use of online technology in social interactions, their preferences in these interactions, and the expectations they have of near-future online communication technologies. The findings highlight the importance of online communication in their lives and spotlight their widespread use and preference for e-mail. Despite the popularity of online communication among this… Show more

A survey was conducted on 210 Baby Boomers (Age mean= 51.4 Std. dev. 5.46) within the United States to determine their current use of online technology in social interactions, their preferences in these interactions, and the expectations they have of near-future online communication technologies. The findings highlight the importance of online communication in their lives and spotlight their widespread use and preference for e-mail. Despite the popularity of online communication among this generation, their attitudes are mixed over its use as a replacement for more traditional interaction. Still, Baby Boomers anticipate increasing their use of online communication technologies as they age. Most Baby Boomers expect to have access to these technologies in the future if they were to become a resident at an assisted living facility. Show less

This ongoing research project investigates the changes that occur to weblogs (blogs) throughout their lifespan. It examines both the markers that indicate a particular phase of its existence in our emerging life cycle model and the drivers that move the community through those cycles. Emphasis is placed on identifying likely causes for abandonment at each phase. Implications of this research are both social, promoting the health of the blogosphere in general, and technical, appropriately… Show more

This ongoing research project investigates the changes that occur to weblogs (blogs) throughout their lifespan. It examines both the markers that indicate a particular phase of its existence in our emerging life cycle model and the drivers that move the community through those cycles. Emphasis is placed on identifying likely causes for abandonment at each phase. Implications of this research are both social, promoting the health of the blogosphere in general, and technical, appropriately mapping tools to correct life cycle stages. Show less