Temporal Motivations of Volunteers to Participate in Cultural Crowdsourcing Work

Sultana Lubna Alam () and John Campbell ()
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Sultana Lubna Alam: Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, Deakin Business School, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3125, Australia
John Campbell: Research School of Management, ANU College of Business and Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Information Systems Research, 2017, vol. 28, issue 4, 744-759

Abstract: Crowdsourcing (CS) by cultural and heritage institutions engage volunteers in online projects without monetary compensation. Uncertainty concerning online volunteer motivation has led to a growing body of academic research. This study contributes to that debate, by extending focus to CS volunteer work in nonprofit cultural institutions where no monetary benefit is offered to volunteers. This study examines motivations of high performing volunteers in a newspaper digitisation CS project, initiated by the National Library of Australia. Volunteers are motivated by personal, collective, and external factors, and these motivations change over time. Volunteers initially show intrinsic motivations, though both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations play a critical role in their continued participation. Volunteer contributions range from data shaping (e.g., correcting digitised optical character recognition data) to knowledge shaping (e.g., shaping historical data through tagging and commenting, but also through development of norms and social roles). The locus of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) also changes with different kinds of contributions. The distinction between data and knowledge shaping contributions, and the locus and focus of motivation behind these activities, has implications for the design of CS systems. Design for improved usability through cognitive and physical system affordances and development of social mechanisms for ongoing participation is discussed.

Keywords: crowdsourcing; motivation; volunteer work; data shaping; knowledge shaping; galleries, libraries, archives, and museums; interpretive research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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