Benjamin Mako Hill
Biographic Data
| ID | 369841 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin Mako Hill |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin Mako |
| FAMILY NAME | Hill |
| SIGNATURE | HILL B M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Washington |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8588-7429 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Unintended politics: Opinion expression and incivility in incidental political discussion
While substantial research has focused on how political talk can reinforce to or undermine democratic norm, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of incidental political discussion in everyday, nonpolitical contexts. Embedded within contexts of shared, nonpartisan identities or preexisting social relationships, existing theory suggests that incidental political discussion will be less likely to include political opinion and uncivi…
Countering underproduction of peer produced goods
Peer produced goods, such as online knowledge bases and free/libre open source software rely on contributors who often choose their tasks regardless of consumer needs. These goods are susceptible to underproduction : when popular goods are relatively low quality. Although underproduction is a common feature of peer production, very little is known about how to counteract it. We use a detailed longitudinal dataset from English Wikipedia to show th…
Communication networks do not predict success in attempts at peer production
Although peer production has created valuable information goods like Wikipedia, the GNU/Linux operating system, and Reddit, the majority of attempts at peer production achieve very little. In work groups and teams, coordination and social integration—manifested via dense, integrative communication networks—predict success. We hypothesize that the conditions in which new peer production communities operate make communication problems common and ma…
The Hidden Costs of Requiring Accounts: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From Peer Production
Online communities, like Wikipedia, produce valuable public information goods. Whereas some of these communities require would-be contributors to create accounts, many do not. Does this requirement catalyze cooperation or inhibit participation? Prior research provides divergent predictions but little causal evidence. We conduct an empirical test using longitudinal data from 136 natural experiments where would-be contributors to wikis were suddenl…
From hanging out to figuring it out: Socializing online as a pathway to computational thinking
Although socializing is a powerful driver of youth engagement online, platforms struggle to leverage social engagement to promote learning. We seek to understand this dynamic using a multi-stage analysis of over 14,000 comments on Scratch, an online platform designed to support learning about programming. First, we inductively develop the concept of “participatory debugging”—a practice in which users learn through the process of collaborative tec…
Laboratories of Oligarchy? How the Iron Law Extends to Peer Production: Laboratories of Oligarchy
Peer production projects like Wikipedia have inspired voluntary associations, collectives, social movements, and scholars to embrace open online collaboration as a model of democratic organization. However, many peer production projects exhibit entrenched leadership and deep inequalities, suggesting that they may not fulfill democratic ideals. Instead, peer production projects may conform to Robert Michels' “iron law of oligarchy,” which proposes…
Computer supported collective action
Social media has become globally ubiquitous, transforming how people are networked and mobilized. This forum explores research and applications of these new networked publics at individual, organizational, and societal levels. --- Shelly Farnham, Editor
The official Ubuntu book
The Remixing Dilemma: The Trade-Off Between Generativity and Originality
In this article we argue that there is a trade-off between generativity and originality in online communities that support open collaboration. We build on foundational theoretical work in peer production to formulate and test a series of hypotheses suggesting that the generativity of creative works is associated with moderate complexity, prominent authors, and cumulativeness. We also formulate and test three hypotheses that these qualities are as…
Reflections on free software past and future
The following commentary is part of First Monday's Special Issue #2: Open Source
Breaking the Rules in Japanese Schools: Kōsoku Ihan, Academic Competition, and Moral Education
From the perspective of an American observer, Japanese schools emphasize rules related to general comportment and deemphasize rules related to academic honesty. I interpret this by considering the role schooling plays within the broader process of Japanese enculturation. Compared to U.S. schools, Japanese schools are allocated greater responsibility in the discipline and moral educa tion of children, with authority extending to domains of behavio…
Breaking the Rules in Japanese Schools: Kōsoku Ihan, Academic Competition, and Moral Education
From the perspective of an American observer, Japanese schools emphasize rules related to general comportment and deemphasize rules related to academic honesty. I interpret this by considering the role schooling plays within the broader process of Japanese enculturation. Compared to U.S. schools, Japanese schools are allocated greater responsibility in the discipline and moral educa tion of children, with authority extending to domains of behavio…
Communication networks do not predict success in attempts at peer production
Although peer production has created valuable information goods like Wikipedia, the GNU/Linux operating system, and Reddit, the majority of attempts at peer production achieve very little. In work groups and teams, coordination and social integration—manifested via dense, integrative communication networks—predict success. We hypothesize that the conditions in which new peer production communities operate make communication problems common and ma…
Countering underproduction of peer produced goods
Peer produced goods, such as online knowledge bases and free/libre open source software rely on contributors who often choose their tasks regardless of consumer needs. These goods are susceptible to underproduction : when popular goods are relatively low quality. Although underproduction is a common feature of peer production, very little is known about how to counteract it. We use a detailed longitudinal dataset from English Wikipedia to show th…
The Remixing Dilemma: The Trade-Off Between Generativity and Originality
In this article we argue that there is a trade-off between generativity and originality in online communities that support open collaboration. We build on foundational theoretical work in peer production to formulate and test a series of hypotheses suggesting that the generativity of creative works is associated with moderate complexity, prominent authors, and cumulativeness. We also formulate and test three hypotheses that these qualities are as…
Breaking the Rules in Japanese Schools: Kōsoku Ihan, Academic Competition, and Moral Education
From the perspective of an American observer, Japanese schools emphasize rules related to general comportment and deemphasize rules related to academic honesty. I interpret this by considering the role schooling plays within the broader process of Japanese enculturation. Compared to U.S. schools, Japanese schools are allocated greater responsibility in the discipline and moral educa tion of children, with authority extending to domains of behavio…
Reflections on free software past and future
The following commentary is part of First Monday's Special Issue #2: Open Source
The official Ubuntu book
The Remixing Dilemma: The Trade-Off Between Generativity and Originality
In this article we argue that there is a trade-off between generativity and originality in online communities that support open collaboration. We build on foundational theoretical work in peer production to formulate and test a series of hypotheses suggesting that the generativity of creative works is associated with moderate complexity, prominent authors, and cumulativeness. We also formulate and test three hypotheses that these qualities are as…
Laboratories of Oligarchy? How the Iron Law Extends to Peer Production: Laboratories of Oligarchy
Peer production projects like Wikipedia have inspired voluntary associations, collectives, social movements, and scholars to embrace open online collaboration as a model of democratic organization. However, many peer production projects exhibit entrenched leadership and deep inequalities, suggesting that they may not fulfill democratic ideals. Instead, peer production projects may conform to Robert Michels' “iron law of oligarchy,” which proposes…
Computer supported collective action
Social media has become globally ubiquitous, transforming how people are networked and mobilized. This forum explores research and applications of these new networked publics at individual, organizational, and societal levels. --- Shelly Farnham, Editor
From hanging out to figuring it out: Socializing online as a pathway to computational thinking
Although socializing is a powerful driver of youth engagement online, platforms struggle to leverage social engagement to promote learning. We seek to understand this dynamic using a multi-stage analysis of over 14,000 comments on Scratch, an online platform designed to support learning about programming. First, we inductively develop the concept of “participatory debugging”—a practice in which users learn through the process of collaborative tec…
The Hidden Costs of Requiring Accounts: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From Peer Production
Online communities, like Wikipedia, produce valuable public information goods. Whereas some of these communities require would-be contributors to create accounts, many do not. Does this requirement catalyze cooperation or inhibit participation? Prior research provides divergent predictions but little causal evidence. We conduct an empirical test using longitudinal data from 136 natural experiments where would-be contributors to wikis were suddenl…
Communication networks do not predict success in attempts at peer production
Although peer production has created valuable information goods like Wikipedia, the GNU/Linux operating system, and Reddit, the majority of attempts at peer production achieve very little. In work groups and teams, coordination and social integration—manifested via dense, integrative communication networks—predict success. We hypothesize that the conditions in which new peer production communities operate make communication problems common and ma…
Countering underproduction of peer produced goods
Peer produced goods, such as online knowledge bases and free/libre open source software rely on contributors who often choose their tasks regardless of consumer needs. These goods are susceptible to underproduction : when popular goods are relatively low quality. Although underproduction is a common feature of peer production, very little is known about how to counteract it. We use a detailed longitudinal dataset from English Wikipedia to show th…
Unintended politics: Opinion expression and incivility in incidental political discussion
While substantial research has focused on how political talk can reinforce to or undermine democratic norm, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of incidental political discussion in everyday, nonpolitical contexts. Embedded within contexts of shared, nonpartisan identities or preexisting social relationships, existing theory suggests that incidental political discussion will be less likely to include political opinion and uncivi…
Computer Science (5 works) · Open Source Software Innovations (5 works) · Knowledge Management and Sharing (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Wikis in Education and Collaboration (4 works) · Political science (3 works) · Social media (3 works) · Social Media and Politics (3 works) · World Wide Web (3 works) · Business (2 works)