We learned in class that “reputation systems attempt to mediate and automate reputation: to take note of a community-member’s actions; assess the community’s reaction to them; and keep a running tally of the history of these actions.” A community that I am a part of is my sorority, and we have recently instated a points system that acts as a reputation system. At first it was not very effective because no one was really sure what the rules and requirements were and we learned that more specific sets of rules have greater influence on behavior. Now the points system has very clear guidelines and seems to be very efficient.
Trust is required in this community because without it the chapter would not be united and would not be able to run at all. Trust is required amongst friends as well as leaders and as a whole we need to trust that the officers are doing everything fairly and that no one is cheating the system. The desired behaviors are mainly going to events and activities. There are certain points that you must achieve in order to “break even”, ie. Points are deducted if girls do not go to certain events.
In this system, we can see which girls are not going to mandatory meetings, philanthropy events, or other activities around campus. However, girls are also rewarded extra points for going to activities that are not required, going to other house’s philanthropy events, and for helping out officers in ways that are considered going above and beyond their responsibilities. Doing more than is expected of us is truly the desired behavior. This is rewarded not only by verbal recognition every week, but also with gift certificates. The biggest reward is to the lineage with the most points, which receives a limo ride to our formal at the end of the semester. Making this reward a group prize encourages more people to participate as to not let people down in the end.
The main way this could be manipulated is if the girl in charge of the points system were to unfairly distribute points. However, due to the trust in each other we are assured that this does not happen because the officer is elected to her position due to the fact that we trust her. We trust that she has fair judgment in deciding if excuses are legitimate, and we trust that she follows the rules just as we do.
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That's interesting that the sorority had adoption issues with the reputation system, and really, it makes sense. Users have to get used to the rules and guidelines so that they can pass judgment properly, and that means learning the rules. I like that you use a group prize to encourage people to go to events. As we talked about, face-to-face communication yields better trust, and people that will be able to take a limo together, for example, will be more likely to work to obtain as many points as possible.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that there is a reward for going to mandatory meetings (sort of). If it is noticed that someone doesn't attend mandatory meetings, is there a punishment? Perhaps someone should loose points for not going to the mandatory meetings, since it doesn't seem fair to weigh mandatory and non-mandatory meetings the same.
ReplyDeleteIt could get complicated, but maybe some events should be worth more. For example, handing out quarter cards for an hour should be less than a full day of community service. If there is an event that no one wants to do, perhaps you could put bonus points on it.