NSF Org:	IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems
Recipient:	THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
Initial Amendment Date:	December 15, 2022
Latest Amendment Date:	December 15, 2022
Award Number:	2309485
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Dan Cosley dcosley@nsf.gov  (703)292-8832 IIS  Division of Information & Intelligent Systems CSE  Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Start Date:	December 15, 2022
End Date:	December 31, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$95,201.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$95,201.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2023 = $95,201.00
History of Investigator:	Brian Keegan (Principal Investigator) brian.keegan@colorado.edu Casey Fiesler (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Colorado at Boulder 3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO  US  80309-0001 (303)492-6221
Sponsor Congressional District:	02
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Colorado at Boulder 3100 MARINE ST STE 481 572 UCB BOULDER CO  US  80303-1058
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	SPVKK1RC2MZ3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	HCC-Human-Centered Computing
Primary Program Source:	01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s):	7367, 7914
Program Element Code(s):	736700
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.070

ABSTRACT

Although social networking sites employ many features to discourage users from moving between platforms, users still migrate to new platforms following sudden changes to rules, designs, and incentives. Since October 2022, alternative social networking sites like Mastodon, an open-source, decentralized micro-blogging service, have received hundreds of thousands of new users. The scale and speed of this migration provide a unique opportunity to understand the motivations to migrate between social networks, to identify the challenges of sudden platform migrations, and to preserve important information from the migration. Surveys, interviews, and archived content will provide time-sensitive data to inform reporting, research, and design related to sudden platform migrations and develop research methods for analyzing decentralized social media. Understanding the drivers of platform migrations and the challenges of re-creating communities on a new platform are important for ensuring that online ?public squares? can remain resilient and inclusive spaces for connection, deliberation, and organizing.

This project will use quantitative and qualitative methods to characterize the socio-technical mechanisms underpinning the 2022 migration. The first data collection effort will survey users to understand their motivations and challenges with migrating, cross-posting, or remaining. The second data collection effort will interview stakeholders like moderators and software developers to understand their values, priorities, and challenges for governing social platforms facing rapid migrations. The third data collection effort will archive digital traces of content documenting onboarding, socialization, and conflicts illustrating the tensions and challenges associated with the migration. The resources and findings developed by this project will be shared via regular blog posts, a public archive, and peer-reviewed manuscripts.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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