Productivity or Equity? Tradeoffs in Volunteer Microtasking in Humanitarian OpenStreetMap

DOI

Microtasking, the decomposition of tasks into small units of work, is prolific in human computation and crowdsourcing, and some peer production systems are beginning to leverage this same technique in volunteer contribution-based settings. While early research suggests that focusing volunteer work in this way using microtasking may be fruitful, the effects of microtasking on contributor behavior in volunteer peer production settings like OpenStreetMap remain unclear. This paper takes advantage of a natural experiment facilitated by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap's Tasking Manager microtasking system and employs causal inference analysis to evaluate the effects of a microtasking intervention on contributor dynamics. Our study employs a systematic approach and leverages an extensive and diverse dataset to analyze peer production dynamics, expanding on prior research and seeking to address knowledge gaps in the understanding of peer production and interface design of the microtasking system. We causally show that, indeed, microtasking can be an effective intervention in peer production settings. However, it may exacerbate power-law patterns that are common in peer production settings. By incorporating project design decisions and characteristics, we further suggest implications for platform practitioners, with a focus on addressing engagement and contribution inequity issues prevalent in settings like OpenStreetMap.