The Trouble with Social Computing Systems Research

Social computing has led to an explosion of research in understanding users, and it has the potential to similarly revolutionize systems research. However, the number of papers designing and building new sociotechnical systems has not kept pace. We analyze challenges facing social computing systems...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bernstein, Michael S., Ackerman, Mark S., Chi, Ed H., Miller, Robert C.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: ACM SIGCHI 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/64444
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0442-691X
Description
Summary:Social computing has led to an explosion of research in understanding users, and it has the potential to similarly revolutionize systems research. However, the number of papers designing and building new sociotechnical systems has not kept pace. We analyze challenges facing social computing systems research, ranging from misaligned methodological incentives, evaluation expectations, double standards, and relevance compared to industry. We suggest improvements for the community to consider so that we can chart the future of our field.