Engaging Online Citizens in Civic Works-A Flow Theory Based Approach
Advisor Information
Gert Jan de Vreede
Location
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
7-3-2014 1:00 PM
End Date
7-3-2014 4:00 PM
Abstract
Online collaborative problem solving (OCPS) refers to the use of social web technologies to garner netizens’ collective effort for problem solving and innovation tasks. The model has enabled government agencies to involve citizens in civic works at large scale. However, success of this kind of initiatives depends much on, among other things, user engagement, or the quality of effort online users devote to OCPS activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes. We argue that an important influence on user engagement in OCPS events is their experience when participating in the events. We further argue that Flow Theory by Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi (1988) provides much insight on how to improve this experience. In addition, we propose to measure the psychological construct “flow” through a novel physiological-psychometric approach. We validate our hypotheses in a lab experiment.
Engaging Online Citizens in Civic Works-A Flow Theory Based Approach
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
Online collaborative problem solving (OCPS) refers to the use of social web technologies to garner netizens’ collective effort for problem solving and innovation tasks. The model has enabled government agencies to involve citizens in civic works at large scale. However, success of this kind of initiatives depends much on, among other things, user engagement, or the quality of effort online users devote to OCPS activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes. We argue that an important influence on user engagement in OCPS events is their experience when participating in the events. We further argue that Flow Theory by Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi (1988) provides much insight on how to improve this experience. In addition, we propose to measure the psychological construct “flow” through a novel physiological-psychometric approach. We validate our hypotheses in a lab experiment.