Ratings Use in an Online Discussion System: The Slashdot Case
Clifford Lampe · Deep Blue (University of Michigan) · 2006
A dissertation depends on the effort and support of many people. Friends, family, colleagues, classmates and advisors all leave their indelible print on a work like this, and I hope to some extent they all feel some ownership of this document. Several people deserve individual recognition for their investment and assistance in this process. First, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to my advisor, Paul Resnick. Paul’s intelligence, dedication, enthusiasm and experience were essential in guiding me through the dissertation process. He blended encouragement and constraint in the right way to help make the dissertation better at each step in the process. Paul invested valuable time and effort into this project at every turn, and was constantly willing to help. He is the type of thoughtful, brilliant researcher that I hope to become someday. I am also indebted to the other members of my committee. It was a fortuitous meeting with Judy Olson that drew me to the School of Information, a diversion for which I’ll always be grateful. Judy is an incredible mentor to graduate students at SI, and her contributions are invariably precise and accurate. Russ Neuman helped me to think about this research in a context outside of the information sciences, and his seminar on