Hi John, You might find this empirical study (and the brief lit review at the beginning of it) useful in your work: Shen, W., Hu, Y. J., & Ulmer, J. R. (2015). Competing for attention: An empirical study of online reviewers’ strategic behavior. *MIS Quarterly, 39*(3), 683–696. "Our results indicate that reviewers’ review decisions are affected by the existence of a reputation system that amplifies the effect of reputation and consumer attention. Our comparison across two different review systems confirms that reviewers’ behaviors become more strategic in providing reviews when there exists a reviewer ranking system that makes each reviewer’s reputation very quantifiable and visible. We find that reviewers on Amazon, where a reviewer ranking system exists, become sensitive to the competition among existing reviews and tend to avoid crowded review segments. In direct contrast, on the BN website, which does not include such a reviewer ranking system, reviewers do not respond to the competition effect. In addition, reviewers on Amazon post more differentiated ratings compared with reviewers on the BN website, presumably because Amazon’s reviewer ranking system makes each reviewer’s reputation very quantifiable and visible and intensifies the competition for attention. Our findings yield interesting managerial implications for companies interested in encouraging online reviewers’ contributions and in managing review activities on their websites. We discuss these details in the “Discussion and Conclusion” section and provide guidance for managers so that they can improve the design of their review systems in order to fulfill different business needs and goals." -Karim On Tue, Nov 10, 2015 at 12:15 PM, Gallagher, John <johng@illinois.edu> wrote:

Hi everyone,

I’m currently looking for resource about online reviewing as unpaid labor/value creation (in particular Amazon reviews, but online reviewing generally would work). Would anyone happen to know of articles that focus specifically on this topic?

Sincerely, John

John R. Gallagher, PhD Visiting Assistant Professor English Department University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign johng@illinois.edu<mailto:johng@illinois.edu>

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Scott and Orlikowski (2012) look at rating systems in Trip Advisor (although only slightly linked to unpaid labor) in "Reconfiguring relations of accountability: Materialization of social media in the travel sector" Abstract Expanding use of Web 2.0 technologies has generated complex information dynamics that are propelling organizations in unexpected directions, redrawing boundaries and shifting relationships. Using research on user-generated content, we examine online rating and ranking mechanisms and analyze how their performance reconfigures relations of accountability. Our specific interest is in the use of so-called “social media” such as TripAdvisor, where participant reviews are used to rank the popularity of services provided by the travel sector. Although ranking mechanisms are not new, they become “power-charged”—to use Donna Haraway’s term—when enacted through Web 2.0 technologies. As such, they perform a substantial redistribution of accountability. We draw on data from an on-going field study of small businesses in a remote geographical area for whom TripAdvisor has changed ‘the rules of the game,’ and we explore the moral and strategic implication of this transformation. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361368211001139 Kind Regards, Sara Kind Regards, Sara ________________________________________ From: Air-L <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Elizabeth Anne Watkins <writetowatkins@gmail.com> Sent: 10 November 2015 19:08 To: Burrough, Christine Cc: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] Online Reviewing as Unpaid Labor This 2014 conference on Digital Labor at the New School might also be of value: http://digitallabor.org/schedule On Tue, Nov 10, 2015 at 2:03 PM, Burrough, Christine <xtine@utdallas.edu> wrote:

You will probably find something on this in Scholtz's Digital Labor anthology, as well as helpful supportive material. Scholars often talk about immaterial labor at the outset (Lazzarto) and then specify types of contributions.

Best, xtine

...

On Nov 10, 2015, at 11:15 AM, Gallagher, John <johng@illinois.edu> wrote:

Hi everyone,

I’m currently looking for resource about online reviewing as unpaid labor/value creation (in particular Amazon reviews, but online reviewing generally would work). Would anyone happen to know of articles that focus specifically on this topic?

Sincerely, John

John R. Gallagher, PhD Visiting Assistant Professor English Department University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign johng@illinois.edu<mailto:johng@illinois.edu>

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Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

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_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ -- The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.