Assignment #7: Daniela Retelny

A community that I am part of is the Information Science Student Association, which is a club dedicated to bringing together Information Science students, keeping people updated about the major as well as helping members network with others in the field. A couple of weeks ago I was elected to be the Student Curriculum Representative. This job entails meeting twice a month with faculty to discuss the major requirements and make improvements.

Trust plays a big role in the Student Curriculum Representative position. By being selected for the position, students trust that I will get their opinions and messages across to the Information Science faculty. However, I also need to trust the ISSA members and their messages, because without their input I do not have much information to share at the curriculum meetings.

The type of trust involved in the ISSA community is cognitive trust. Trust is built between individuals through interaction, experience and longevity. Therefore, a recommender system would need to take these things into account. Desirable behaviors include students sharing nonbiased, accurate and true statements about what they think needs to be changed in the major. Because the group communicates primarily face-to-face at our meetings and follows up via email, the group relies on cooperative behavior. Our face-to-face meetings relate to Handy and Bos et. al’s article on “Trust Needs Touch.”

A potential recommender system for this community, particularly for my job as Student Curriculum Representative would be an online forum where all members of the ISSA have a profile and can start new threads for certain topics. Group members could then rate each other’s forums topics and ideas as well as respond to each other’s posts. There would also be a vote feature, where students can say whether or not they agree with their group members posts. By knowing that their names are exposed and that their posts are going to be rated by other Information Science students, people will have more of an incentive to keep their posts accurate and beneficial. The authors of the posts with the most votes, as well as those who have been active members for a certain period of time would get a higher status. These “experts” could act as resources to incoming and current students and maybe even gain extra “brownie” points by faculty members.

Ultimately I would reward the members of the ISSA by getting their voices heard. Ideally the reward to all of the Information Sciences majors is a major filled with thoughtful, useful classes that will prepare them well for their future endeavors. However, on the site, students would be rewarded by gaining points depending on how much other members agree with their post. These points would gain them status and strengthen their reputation.