The life cycle of contributors in collaborative online communities -the case of OpenStreetMap. Issue 8 (3rd August 2018)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- The life cycle of contributors in collaborative online communities -the case of OpenStreetMap. Issue 8 (3rd August 2018)
- Main Title:
- The life cycle of contributors in collaborative online communities -the case of OpenStreetMap
- Authors:
- Bégin, Daniel
Devillers, Rodolphe
Roche, Stéphane - Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: Over the last two decades, online communities have become ubiquitous, with millions of people accessing collaborative project websites every day. Among them, the OpenStreetMap project (OSM) has been very successful in collecting/offering volunteered geographic information (VGI). Very different behaviours are observed among OSM participants, which translate into large differences of lifespan, contribution levels (e.g. Nielsen's 90–9-1 rule) and attitudes towards innovations (e.g. Diffusion of innovation theory or DoIT). So far, the literature has defined phases in the life cycle of contributors only based on the nature of their contributions (e.g. role of participants and edits characteristics). Our study identifies the different phases of their life cycle from a temporal perspective and assesses how these phases relate to the volume and the frequency of the contributions from participants. Survival analyses were performed using both a complementary cumulative distribution function and a Kaplan-Meier estimator to plot survival and hazard curves. The analyses were broken down according to Nielsen and DoIT contributors' categories to highlight potential explanatory variables. This paper shows that two contribution processes combine with three major participation stages to form six phases in contributors' life cycle. The volume of edits provided on each active day is driven by the two contribution processes, illustrating the evolution of contributors' motivation overABSTRACT: Over the last two decades, online communities have become ubiquitous, with millions of people accessing collaborative project websites every day. Among them, the OpenStreetMap project (OSM) has been very successful in collecting/offering volunteered geographic information (VGI). Very different behaviours are observed among OSM participants, which translate into large differences of lifespan, contribution levels (e.g. Nielsen's 90–9-1 rule) and attitudes towards innovations (e.g. Diffusion of innovation theory or DoIT). So far, the literature has defined phases in the life cycle of contributors only based on the nature of their contributions (e.g. role of participants and edits characteristics). Our study identifies the different phases of their life cycle from a temporal perspective and assesses how these phases relate to the volume and the frequency of the contributions from participants. Survival analyses were performed using both a complementary cumulative distribution function and a Kaplan-Meier estimator to plot survival and hazard curves. The analyses were broken down according to Nielsen and DoIT contributors' categories to highlight potential explanatory variables. This paper shows that two contribution processes combine with three major participation stages to form six phases in contributors' life cycle. The volume of edits provided on each active day is driven by the two contribution processes, illustrating the evolution of contributors' motivation over time. Since contributors' lifespan is a universal metric, our results may also apply to other collaborative online communities. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- International journal of geographical information science. Volume 32:Issue 8(2018)
- Journal:
- International journal of geographical information science
- Issue:
- Volume 32:Issue 8(2018)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 32, Issue 8 (2018)
- Year:
- 2018
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 8
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2018-0032-0008-0000
- Page Start:
- 1611
- Page End:
- 1630
- Publication Date:
- 2018-08-03
- Subjects:
- OSM history -- behaviour -- lifespan -- survival analysis -- diffusion of innovation theory
Geography -- Data processing -- Periodicals
Information storage and retrieval systems -- Periodicals
Géomatique -- Périodiques
Systèmes d'information -- Périodiques
910.285 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tgis20 ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/13658816.2018.1458312 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1365-8816
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4542.266150
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 6739.xml