{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/124122"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/124122","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Systems for collective human curation of online discussion","abstract":"The internet was supposed to democratize discussion, allowing people from all walks of life to communicate with each other at scale. However, this vision has not been fully realized--instead online discourse seems to be getting worse, as people are increasingly drowning in discussion, with much of it unwanted or unpleasant. In this thesis, I present new systems that empower discussion participants to work collectively to bring order to discussions through a range of curation tools that superimpose richer metadata structure on top of standard discussion formats. These systems enable the following new capabilities: 1) recursive summarization of threaded forums using Wikum, 2) teamsourced tagging and summarization of group chat using Tilda, 3) fine-grained customization of email delivery within mailing lists using Murmur, and 4) friendsourced moderation of messages against online harassment using Squadbox. In a world of abundant discussion and mass capabilities for amplification, the curation of a social space becomes as equally essential as content creation in defining the nature of that space. By putting more powerful techniques for curation in the hands of everyday people, I envision a future where end users are empowered to actively co-create every aspect of their online discussion environments, bringing in their nuanced and contextual insights.","abstract_html":"The internet was supposed to democratize discussion, allowing people from all walks of life to communicate with each other at scale. However, this vision has not been fully realized--instead online discourse seems to be getting worse, as people are increasingly drowning in discussion, with much of it unwanted or unpleasant. In this thesis, I present new systems that empower discussion participants to work collectively to bring order to discussions through a range of curation tools that superimpose richer metadata structure on top of standard discussion formats. These systems enable the following new capabilities: 1) recursive summarization of threaded forums using Wikum, 2) teamsourced tagging and summarization of group chat using Tilda, 3) fine-grained customization of email delivery within mailing lists using Murmur, and 4) friendsourced moderation of messages against online harassment using Squadbox. In a world of abundant discussion and mass capabilities for amplification, the curation of a social space becomes as equally essential as content creation in defining the nature of that space. By putting more powerful techniques for curation in the hands of everyday people, I envision a future where end users are empowered to actively co-create every aspect of their online discussion environments, bringing in their nuanced and contextual insights.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhang, Amy Xian."],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Doctoral","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["David R. Karger."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019","date_published":"2019","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:47Z","subjects":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124122","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["David R. Karger."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science","EECS"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zhang, Amy Xian."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2020-03-09T18:58:57Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-03-09T18:58:57Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2019"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctoral"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124122"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.","Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2019","Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-316)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The internet was supposed to democratize discussion, allowing people from all walks of life to communicate with each other at scale. However, this vision has not been fully realized--instead online discourse seems to be getting worse, as people are increasingly drowning in discussion, with much of it unwanted or unpleasant. In this thesis, I present new systems that empower discussion participants to work collectively to bring order to discussions through a range of curation tools that superimpose richer metadata structure on top of standard discussion formats. These systems enable the following new capabilities: 1) recursive summarization of threaded forums using Wikum, 2) teamsourced tagging and summarization of group chat using Tilda, 3) fine-grained customization of email delivery within mailing lists using Murmur, and 4) friendsourced moderation of messages against online harassment using Squadbox. In a world of abundant discussion and mass capabilities for amplification, the curation of a social space becomes as equally essential as content creation in defining the nature of that space. By putting more powerful techniques for curation in the hands of everyday people, I envision a future where end users are empowered to actively co-create every aspect of their online discussion environments, bringing in their nuanced and contextual insights."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph. D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Systems for collective human curation of online discussion"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["David R. Karger."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science","EECS"],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:creator":["Zhang, Amy Xian."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2020-03-09T18:58:57Z"],"dc:date.available":["2020-03-09T18:58:57Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2019"],"dc:description":["This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.","Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2019","Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-316)."],"dc:description.abstract":["The internet was supposed to democratize discussion, allowing people from all walks of life to communicate with each other at scale. However, this vision has not been fully realized--instead online discourse seems to be getting worse, as people are increasingly drowning in discussion, with much of it unwanted or unpleasant. In this thesis, I present new systems that empower discussion participants to work collectively to bring order to discussions through a range of curation tools that superimpose richer metadata structure on top of standard discussion formats. These systems enable the following new capabilities: 1) recursive summarization of threaded forums using Wikum, 2) teamsourced tagging and summarization of group chat using Tilda, 3) fine-grained customization of email delivery within mailing lists using Murmur, and 4) friendsourced moderation of messages against online harassment using Squadbox. In a world of abundant discussion and mass capabilities for amplification, the curation of a social space becomes as equally essential as content creation in defining the nature of that space. By putting more powerful techniques for curation in the hands of everyday people, I envision a future where end users are empowered to actively co-create every aspect of their online discussion environments, bringing in their nuanced and contextual insights."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph. D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124122"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:title":["Systems for collective human curation of online discussion"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctoral"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:47Z"}