@article{7e19f95d17ad48a39eb1c46dfb380da8,
title = "All talk: How increasing interpersonal communication on wikis may not enhance productivity",
abstract = "Prior research suggests that facilitating easier communication in social computing systems will increase both interpersonal interactions as well as group productivity. This study tests these claims by examining the impact of a new communication feature called “message walls” that allows for faster and more intuitive interpersonal communication in wikis. Using panel data from a sample of 275 wiki communities that migrated to message walls and a method inspired by regression discontinuity designs, we analyze these transitions and estimate the impact of the system{\textquoteright}s introduction. Although the adoption of message walls was associated with increased communication among all editors and newcomers, it had little effect on productivity, and was further associated with a decrease in article contributions from new editors. Our results imply that design changes that make communication easier in a social computing system may not translate to increased participation along other dimensions.",
keywords = "Interpersonal communication, Newcomers, Peer production, Wikis",
author = "Sneha Narayan and Nathan Teblunthuis and Hale, {Wm Salt} and Hill, {Benjamin Mako} and Aaron Shaw",
note = "Funding Information: This paper contains material that was published in the first author?s PhD dissertation. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (awards IIS-1617129 and IIS-1617468, and GRFP #2016220885). Special thanks to Danny Horn who led the implementation of message walls, and gave us the idea for this study and the support to carry it out. We also thank Trevor Bolliger and Federico ?Nemo? Leva for their generous assistance with data collection. Feedback and support for this work came from members of the Community Data Science Collective, Northwestern University?s Technology and Social Behavior program, and the University of Washington?s Department of Communication. The manuscript benefited from excellent feedback from Darren Gergle, Anne Marie Piper, and several anonymous referees and associate chairs at CSCW. Funding Information: This paper contains material that was published in the first author{\textquoteright}s PhD dissertation. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (awards IIS-1617129 and IIS-1617468, and GRFP #2016220885). Special thanks to Danny Horn who led the implementation of message walls, and gave us the idea for this study and the support to carry it out. We also thank Trevor Bolliger and Federico “Nemo” Leva for their generous assistance with data collection. Feedback and support for this work came from members of the Community Data Science Collective, Northwestern University{\textquoteright}s Technology and Social Behavior program, and the University of Washington{\textquoteright}s Department of Communication. The manuscript benefited from excellent feedback from Darren Gergle, Anne Marie Piper, and several anonymous referees and associate chairs at CSCW. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).",
year = "2019",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1145/3359203",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "3",
journal = "Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction",
issn = "2573-0142",
publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)",
number = "CSCW",
}