Abstract
The popularity and ubiquity of social networks has enabled a new form of decentralised online collaboration: groups of users gathering around a central theme and working together to solve problems, complete tasks and develop social connections. Groups that display such `organic collaboration' have been shown to solve tasks quicker and more accurately than other methods of crowdsourcing. They can also enable community action and resilience in response to different events, from casual requests to emergency response and crisis management. However, engaging such groups through formal agencies risks disconnect and disengagement by destabilising motivational structures. This paper explores case studies of this phenomenon, reviews models of motivation that can help design systems to harness these groups and proposes a framework for lightweight engagement using existing platforms and social networks.
Highlights
The recent tragedies of the Grenfell tower block fire in London1 and Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shootings2 have something in common: the rapid and generous response of the community to help those affected by the events
In both cases community action was mobilised by online communication through social networks
Other factors that may prevent individuals from using digital technology as a means of communication include technophobia and ideological resistance to new technologies (Selwyn, 2003). Even for those with access to social media networks, there remain a number of factors that can prevent users from utilising this technology to engage with community projects
Summary
The recent tragedies of the Grenfell tower block fire in London and Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shootings have something in common: the rapid and generous response of the community to help those affected by the events In the former, displaced residents were welcomed into local residents’ houses, local hotels offered free rooms and churches were turned into treatment centres (Sawer, 2017). Crowdsourcing and citizen science projects have shown the willingness of the public to participate in projects they feel are worthwhile; interfacing digital communities with physical communities invokes a complex array of motivations, why people do things, but why they do not Engaging such groups through formal agencies may risk destabilising motivational structures so careful consideration of the design of systems should be made.
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