Measuring the Value of Anonymous Online Participation

An NSF-sponsored collaboration between researchers at New York University, University of Washington, and Drexel University to understand social and technical aspects of anonymous and pseudonymous online participation. (CNS # 1703736, 2031951)

Our Research Results In Brief:

Project Team

• Rachel Greenstadt (PI), greenstadt@nyu.edu
• Andrea Forte (co-PI), aforte@drexel.edu
• Mako Hill (co-PI)
• Bao Chau Tran Phi (PhD Student), New York University
• Kaylea Champion (PhD Student), University of Washington

Past Team Members

• Shruti Sannon (Post Doc), Drexel University
• Nora McDonald (PhD student, graduated), Drexel University
• Stephanie Bankes (Undergrad Research Co-op and Research Assistant), Drexel University
  
• Joseph Zhang (Undergrad Research Co-op 2018/19), Drexel University
  

Publications

• Sannon, Shruti and Andrea Forte. (2022) Privacy Research with Marginalized Groups: What We Know, What's Needed, and What's Next. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (CSCW 2022) * honorable mention *
• Tran, Chau; Champion, Kaylea; Hill, Benjamin Mako; Greenstadt, Rachel. (2022) “The risks, benefits, and consequences of pre-publication moderation: Evidence from 17 Wikipedia language editions” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (CSCW 2022)
• McDonald, Nora, and Andrea Forte. (2021) Powerful Privacy Norms in Social Network Discourse. Proceedings of the ACM: Human-Computer Interaction (PACM: HCI). CSCW 2021.
• (preprint) Hill, Benjamin Mako, and Aaron Shaw. 2020 (Forthcoming). “The Hidden Costs of Requiring Accounts: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Peer Production.” Communication Research.
• Champion, Kaylea. (2020) “Characterizing Online Vandalism: A Rational Choice Perspective.” 11th International Conference on Social Media & Society. SM-Society, July 2020.
• (Draft preprint) Chau Tran, Kaylea Champion, Andrea Forte, Benjamin Mako Hill, Rachel Greenstadt. (2020) Are anonymity-seekers just like everybody else? An analysis of contributions to Wikipedia from Tor. IEEE Security & Privacy.
  ** Replication Data Set **
• (PDF) McDonald, Nora, and Andrea Forte. (2020) The Politics of Privacy Theories: Moving from Norms to Vulnerabilities. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2020). Honolulu, Hawaii. * honorable mention *
• (PDF) Champion, Kaylea, Nora McDonald, Stephanie Bankes, Joseph Zhang, Rachel Greenstadt, Andrea Forte, and Benjamin Mako Hill. (2019) A Forensic Qualitative Analysis of Contributions to Wikipedia from Anonymity-Seeking Users. Proceedings of the ACM: Human-Computer Interaction (PACM: HCI). CSCW.
• (PDF) McDonald, Nora, Benjamin Mako Hill, Rachel Greenstadt, and Andrea Forte. (2019). Privacy, Anonymity, and Perceived Risk in Open Collaboration: A Study of Service Providers. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '19). Glasgow, UK.
• (PDF) McDonald, Nora, Sarita Schoenebeck, and Andrea Forte. (2019) Reliability and Inter-rater Reliability in Qualitative Research: Norms and Guidelines for CSCW and HCI Practice. Proceedings of the ACM: Human-Computer Interaction (PACM: HCI). CSCW.
  ** Honorable Mention **
• McDonald, Nora, and Andrea Forte. (2020) Privacy and Vulnerable Populations. In Modern Perspectives on Privacy. Bart Knijnenburg, Xinru Page, Pamela Wisniewski, Heather Richter Lipford, Nicholas Proferes, Eds. Springer
• PILOT WORK: (PDF) Andrea Forte, Nazanin Andalibi, Rachel Greenstadt. (2017) Privacy, Anonymity, and Perceived Risk in Open Collaboration: A Study of Tor Users and Wikipedians. Proceedings of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW) Portland, OR, USA.

Presentations

• Kaylea Champion Mozilla MozFest 2022 ``What's Anonymity Worth?''
• Andrea Forte. Research Approaches and Trajectories. Invited Short Talk. Workshop on CSCW Research in Latin America.
• Rachel Greenstadt. Understanding the Value of Anonymity. Short Talk. USENIX Workshop on Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI).
• Nora McDonald. Research Presentation. Despite the ban: doing good work anonymously on Wikipedia. Wikimania 2019, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Andrea Forte. Editing Encyclopedias and Other Dangerous Jobs (Pilot Work). Wikimedia Research Showcase, December 2016



Studies and Materials

• provider interview study consent form (recruitment has ended)
• young adult privacy study consent information (recruitment has ended)
• Wikipedia editor study flyer and consent form
• Library privacy study