Publications
You can also find my articles on
my Google Scholar profile.Published in Big Data & Society, 2017
Scholars and practitioners across domains are increasingly concerned with algorithmic transparency and opacity, interrogating the values and assumptions embedded in automated, black-boxed systems, particularly in user-generated content platforms. I report from an ethnography of infrastructure in Wikipedia to discuss an often understudied aspect of this topic: the local, contextual, learned expertise involved in participating in a highly automated social-technical environment. Read more
Recommended citation: R. Stuart Geiger. (2017). "Beyond opening up the black box: Investigating the role of algorithmic systems in Wikipedian organizational culture." Big Data & Society 4(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717730735
Published in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Compter Interaction, 2017
A mixed-method trace ethnographic analysis of issues around the governance of automated software agents in Wikipedia, focusing on how to interpret cases where bots reverted each other’s edits. Read more
Recommended citation: R. Stuart Geiger and Aaron Halfaker. 2017. “Operationalizing conflict and cooperation between automated software agents in Wikipedia: A replication and expansion of Even Good Bots Fight." Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (Nov 2017 issue, CSCW 2018 Online First) 1, 2, Article 49. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3134684. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:conflict-bots-wp-cscw.pdf.
Published in Information, Communication, and Society, 2016
This article introduces and discusses bot-based collective blocklists (or blockbots) in Twitter, which have been developed by volunteers to combat harassment in the social networking site in a more decentralized and counterpublic way than actions taken by Twitter, Inc. staff. I discuss how such forms of automation require that communities encode specific understandings of what harassment is and how to identify it, relating these cases to several longstanding issues around the governance and moderation of the public sphere. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart. (2016). “Bot-based collective blocklists in Twitter: the counterpublic moderation of harassment in a networked public space.” Information, Communication, and Society 19(6). http://stuartgeiger.com/blockbots-ics.pdf
Published in Proceedings of HCOMP, Citizen-X Workshop, 2014
We review various crowdsourcing and collective action systems, identifying particular sets of civic values and assumptions. Read more
Recommended citation: Matias, N. and Geiger, R.S. “Defining, Designing, and Evaluating Civic Values in Human Computation and Collective Action Systems.” In Proceedings of HCOMP 2014, Citizen-X Workshop. http://stuartgeiger.com/defining-civic-values-hcomp-matias-geiger.pdf.
Published in Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 2014
On the history and continued relevance of the term "broadcasting" in an era of social media. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart and Lampinen, Airi. (2014). “Old Against New, or a Coming of Age? Broadcasting in an Era of Electronic Media.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 58(3). http://www.stuartgeiger.com/jobem.pdf
Published in Proceedings of CHI, 2014
This paper discusses the Snuggle project, built to support newcomer socialization and reflexive critique of Wikipedia's existing socialization processes. Read more
Recommended citation: Halfaker, Aaron., Geiger, R. Stuart., and Treveen, Loren. (2014). “Snuggle: Designing for Efficient Socialization and Ideological Critique.” In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing (CHI 2014). http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~halfak/publications/Snuggle/halfaker14snuggle-personal.pdf
Published in Information, Communication, and Society, 2014
This article introduces and discusses the role of bespoke code in Wikipedia, which is code that runs alongside a platform or system, rather than being integrated into server-side codebases. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart. (2014). “Bots, Bespoke Code, and the Materiality of Software Platforms.” Information, Communication, and Society 17. http://stuartgeiger.com/bespoke-code-ics.pdf
Published in Ecology and Society, 2013
We examined how graduate students experienced and social-ecological research initiative within the large-scale, geographically distributed Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. Read more
Recommended citation: Romolini, Michele., Sydne Record, Rebecca. Garvoille, Y. Marusenko, and R. Stuart Geiger. (2013) “The Next Generation of Scientists: Examining the Experiences of Graduate Students in Network-Level Science.” In Ecology and Society 18(3). http://stuartgeiger.com/lter-network-level-science-es.pdf
Published in Proceedings of WikiSym, 2013
This paper examines what happened when one of Wikipedia's counter-vandalism bots unexpectedly went offline. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart and Halfaker, Aaron. (2013). “When the Levee Breaks: Without Bots, What Happens to Wikipedia’s Quality Control Processes?” In Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (WikiSym 2013). http://stuartgeiger.com/wikisym13-cluebot.pdf
Published in American Behavioral Scientist, 2013
A mixed-method, multi-study analysis of editor retention, socialization, gatekeeping, and governance in Wikipedia. Read more
Recommended citation: Halfaker, Aaron., R. Stuart Geiger, Jonathan Morgan, and John Riedl. (2013). “The Rise and Decline of an Open Collaboration System: How Wikipedia’s reaction to sudden popularity is killing it.” American Behavioral Scientist 57(5). http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764212469365
Published in Proceedings of CSCW, 2013
This paper establishes a quantitative metric for measuring editor activity through temporal edit sessions. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart and Halfaker, Aaron. (2013). “Using Edit Sessions to Measure Participation in Wikipedia.” In Proceedings of the 2013 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2013). http://www.stuartgeiger.com/cscw-sessions.pdf
Published in Information and Organization, 2012
This paper studies the role of computational infrastructure and organizational structure in the Open Science Grid. Read more
Recommended citation: Ribes, David, Steve Jackson, R. Stuart Geiger, Matt C. Burton, and Tom Finholt (2012). “Artifacts that organize: Delegation in the distributed organization.” Information and Organization 23:1–14. http://www.stuartgeiger.com/artifacts-that-organize.pdf
Published in Proceedings of WikiSym, 2012
We introduce and advocate a multi-faceted theory of literacy to investigate the knowledges and organizational forms are required to improve participation in Wikipedia’s communities. Read more
Recommended citation: Ford, Heather and R. Stuart Geiger. (2012). “”Writing up rather than writing down”: Becoming Wikipedia Literate.” In Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (WikiSym 2012). New York: ACM Digital Library. http://www.stuartgeiger.com/becoming-wikipedia-literate.pdf
Published in Proceedings of ICWSM, 2012
A descriptive study of Wikipedia's highly-automated socialization processes and an A/B test to improve templated messages to newcomers. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart, Aaron Halfaker, Maryana Pinchuk, and Steven Walling (2012). “Defense Mechanism or Socialization Tactic? Improving Wikipedia’s Notifications to Rejected Contributors.” In Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM 2012). http://stuartgeiger.com/defense-mechanism-icwsm.pdf
Published in Proceedings of CHI (alt.CHI), 2012
We introduce IP over Xylophone Players (IPoXP), a novel Internet protocol between two computers using xylophone-based Arduino interfaces Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart, Yoon J. Jeong, and Emily Manders (2012). “Black-Boxing the User: Internet Protocol over Xylophone Players.” In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (alt.CHI 2012). New York: ACM Digital Library. http://stuartgeiger.com/ipoxp.pdf
Published in Wikipedia: A Critical Point of View, 2011
I describe the complex social and technical environment in which bots exist in Wikipedia, emphasizing not only how bots produce order and enforce rules, but also how humans produce bots and negotiate rules around their operation. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart. (2011). “The Lives of Bots.” In G. Lovink and N. Tkacz (eds.) In Wikipedia: A Critical Point of View. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. http://www.stuartgeiger.com/lives-of-bots-wikipedia-cpov.pdf
Published in Proceedings of WikiSym, 2011
This paper investigates Wikipedia's article deletion processes, finding that it is heavily populated by specialists. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart and Heather Ford. (2011) “Participation in Wikipedia’s Deletion Processes.” In Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (WikiSym 2011). New York: ACM Digital Library. http://www.stuartgeiger.com/papers/article-deletion-wikisym-geiger-ford.pdf
Published in Proceedings of HICSS , 2011
We detail the methodology of ‘trace ethnography’, which combines the richness of participant-observation with the wealth of data in logs so as to reconstruct patterns and practices of users in distributed sociotechnical systems Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart and David Ribes (2011). “Trace Ethnography: Following Coordination through Documentary Practices.” In Proceedings of the 44th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). http://www.stuartgeiger.com/trace-ethnography-hicss-geiger-ribes.pdf
Published in Proceedings of CSCW , 2010
This paper traces out a heterogeneous network of humans and non-humans involved in the identification and banning of a single vandal in Wikipedia. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart and David Ribes (2010). “The Work of Sustaining Order in Wikipedia: The Banning of a Vandal.” In Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2012). New York: ACM Digital Library. http://www.stuartgeiger.com/papers/cscw-sustaining-order-wikipedia.pdf
Published in Proceedings of Wikisym, 2009
A short paper showing the recent explosive growth of automated editors (or bots) in Wikipedia, which have taken on many new tasks in administrative spaces. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart (2009). “The Social Roles of Bots and Assisted Editing Tools.” In Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration. New York: ACM Digital Library. http://www.stuartgeiger.com/papers/geiger-wikisym-bots.pdf
Published in Gnovis, 2009
Habermasians have been debating about the role of the Internet in the public sphere, but they have all taken for granted the highly-automated software infrastructures that mediate our knowledge of the blogosphere. Read more
Recommended citation: Geiger, R. Stuart (2009). “Does Habermas Understand the Internet? The Algorithmic Construction of the Blogo/Public Sphere.” Gnovis: A Journal of Communication, Culture, and Technology. 10(1). http://www.stuartgeiger.com/papers/gnovis-habermas-blogopublic-sphere.pdf
