A cumulative research project on the effect of collaboration on Digital Collective Communities

1. “Success in the Hands of the Community: HitRECord.org as a Case for the
Transformation of Artistic Collaboration in the Digital Space.”
Samantha Juneman
We The Network
COM 597
8/16/2012

2. Topic/Problem:
• The Internet provides digital meeting grounds for
artists.
• Digital collaboration communities are constantly
evolving, gaining success, and also failing.
• What aspects of a modern digital collaboration
community are successful and why?
• Enter…

3. Key Literature/
Theoretical Model
• Candy and Edmonds “Explorations in Art and Technology” (2002)-
Thought leaders in the effect modern technology (the Internet) has on Artistic
Collaboration.
• Edmond’s “New Directions in Interactive Art Collaboration”
(2006)- Context of Evolution of Digital Collaboration
• Burr’s “Social Contructionism” (2003) – Understand how members form
their own realities.
• Garner’s “Social Theory: Power and identity in the global era”
(2010)- Understand how Hall’s Encoding/Decoding effects community interaction.

4. Research
Questions:
• Why do the members of HitRECord choose to collaborate on this space
when there are other digital collaboration mediums available to them?
• Does the fact that HitRECord functions as an online “production company”
have an effect on the creativity it facilitates?
• What incentives does an artist have to continue to collaborate within the
HitRECord Community?

5. Data:
Phone interviews with 7 active community members
chosen at random. Each interview respondent was asked
the same questions

6. Data:
• Definition of Goals and Success for HitRECord participation.
• Why HitRECord and not another collaborative community?
• What incentives do they have to collaborate in the HitRECord community?
• Favorite and least favorite parts about the community and the platform?
• Observations, unique to their experience with HitRECord?
• What is HitRECord’s most valuable asset? Least valuable asset?

7. Findings:
Collaboration
70% listed this as a
personal goal.
43% listed this as their
definition of success
“They ultimately want more.”

8. Findings:
Features/Recognition
28% listed this as a
personal goal.
86% listed this as their
definition of success
After they place their intentions in the context of the community, their personal
definitions change.
“Social Constructionism”

9. Findings:
Learning/Inspiration
43% listed this as their
definition of success
They don’t expect it to happen, but eventually adopt the importance the
community has placed on this.
0% listed this as a
personal goal.

10. Findings:
Monetary Gain/Published Works
28% listed this as a
personal goal.
0% listed this as their
definition of success
1 respondent
mentioned this as their
incentive to collaborate on
HR
2 respondents
mentioned this as HR’s
biggest asset for success.
“This is what they perceive as
other members’ incentives”
“Encoding”

11. Findings:
Support/Community
0% listed this as their
definition of success
43% listed this as a
personal goal.
72% noted this as an
incentive to participate.
3 respondents
noted this one of HR’s assets.

12. Conclusion:
• The collective community will work together to create
their own culture and reality.
• Initial individual perceptions will change as they are
influenced by the group.
• A clear involvement with the group is important to
the individual.

13. Next Steps:
Recommendations for future Digital Collaborative Communities:
• Don’t constrict or influence the culture, it will naturally shift.
• Don’t inhibit communication or control.
• Collaborative communities thrive on the influence they have on each
other- make this visible.
• Give users multiple incentives, they may discover which aspects they are
actually looking for.

14. Questions?