Marc Smith

The Microsoft Research Community Technologies group focuses on the study and enhancement of computer mediated collective action systems. In this talk I will present recent developments in projects that highlight and attempt to enhance computer mediated collective action: Netscan, SNARF and AURA.

Biography

Marc Smith is a Senior Research Sociologist leading the Community Technologies Group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA.

Our group focuses on computer-mediated collective action. I study and design enhancements for social cyberspaces. In particular I am interested in the emergence of social organizations like communities in online conversation and annotation environments. Our goal is to identify the resources groups need in order to cooperate productively.

Communities in Cyberspace, a book on the subject is available from Routledge. Co-edited with Peter Kollock, the book explores identity, social order and control, community structures, dynamics, and collective action in cyberspace.

I have also developed software that measures and maps social spaces in the Internet, starting with the Usenet. Read more about Netscan.

As related project allows users to associate conversations (and more) with physical objects using mobile wireless devices and web services. Read more about Project AURA.

I was a graduate student in the UCLA Department of Sociology.