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It was Fun, but Did it Last?: The Dynamic Interplay between Fun Motives and Contributors' Activity in Peer Production

Authors:

Martina Balestra,

Lior Zalmanson,

Oded NovAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 1, Issue CSCW

Article No.: 21, Pages 1 - 13

https://doi.org/10.1145/3134656

Published: 06 December 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Peer production communities often struggle to retain contributors beyond initial engagement. This may be a result of contributors' level of motivation, as it is deeply intertwined with activity. Existing studies on participation focus on activity dynamics but overlook the accompanied changes in motivation. To fill this gap, this study examines the interplay between contributors' fun motives and activity over time. We combine motivational data from two surveys of Wikipedia newcomers with data of two periods of editing activity. We find that persistence in editing is related to fun, while the amount of editing is not: individuals who persist in editing are characterized by higher fun motives early on (when compared to dropouts), though their motives are not related to the number of edits made. Moreover, we found that newcomers' experience of fun was reinforced by their amount of activity over time: editors who were initially motivated by fun entered a virtuous cycle, whereas those who initially had low fun motives entered a vicious cycle. Our findings shed new light on the importance of early experiences and reveal that the relationship between motivation and participation levels is more complex than previously understood.

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Cited By

Perin MMelo Lde Souza Cde Almeida AFigueira Filho F(2024)Developing and validating a scale for motivation in participating in time-bounded collaborative eventsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103223185:COnline publication date: 1-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103223
Khatri SShaw ADasgupta SHill B(2022)The social embeddedness of peer production: A comparative qualitative analysis of three Indian language Wikipedia editionsProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3501832(1-18)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491102.3501832
Kaplan Mintz KArazy OMalkinson D(2022)Multiple forms of engagement and motivation in ecological citizen scienceEnvironmental Education Research10.1080/13504622.2022.212018629:1(27-44)Online publication date: 8-Sep-2022
https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2120186
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Index Terms

It was Fun, but Did it Last?: The Dynamic Interplay between Fun Motives and Contributors' Activity in Peer Production
1. Human-centered computing
  1. 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 1, Issue CSCW

November 2017

2095 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3171581

Editors:
Clifford Lampe
University of Michigan
,
Jeff Nichols
Google
,
Karrie Karahalios
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
,
Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Vienna University of Technology
,
Uichin Lee
KAIST
,
Andres Monroy-Hernandez
Snap Inc.
,
Wolfgang Stuerzlinger
Simon Fraser University

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Copyright © 2017 ACM.

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Published: 06 December 2017

Published in PACMHCI Volume 1, Issue CSCW

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Cited By

Perin MMelo Lde Souza Cde Almeida AFigueira Filho F(2024)Developing and validating a scale for motivation in participating in time-bounded collaborative eventsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103223185:COnline publication date: 1-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103223
Khatri SShaw ADasgupta SHill B(2022)The social embeddedness of peer production: A comparative qualitative analysis of three Indian language Wikipedia editionsProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3501832(1-18)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491102.3501832
Kaplan Mintz KArazy OMalkinson D(2022)Multiple forms of engagement and motivation in ecological citizen scienceEnvironmental Education Research10.1080/13504622.2022.212018629:1(27-44)Online publication date: 8-Sep-2022
https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2120186
Almeida Lde Souza CPerin MFigueira Filho FBatista Ada Silva Jr. F(2021)Taking the Challenge: An Exploratory Study on What Motivates Jammers to Participate in Game JamsProceedings of the 6th Annual International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons, and Game Creation Events10.1145/3472688.3472694(37-46)Online publication date: 2-Aug-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3472688.3472694
Yarovoy ANagar YMinkov EArazy O(2020)Assessing the Contribution of Subject-matter Experts to WikipediaACM Transactions on Social Computing10.1145/34168533:4(1-36)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3416853
de Almeida Melo Lda Silva Junior FLeite TFilho Fde Souza CMota MSerique BPrates RCandello H(2018)Going Beyond The Challenge!Proceedings of the 17th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3274192.3274217(1-10)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3274192.3274217
Balestra MEvers VNaaman MFitzpatrick GKarahalios KLampinen AMonroy-Hernández A(2018)Individual and Collective Determinants of Activity in Collaborative ProductionCompanion of the 2018 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3272973.3272984(101-104)Online publication date: 30-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3272973.3272984

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