Title:
Getting Up to Speed: Social Media as a Resource for Newcomer Acculturation

Abstract:
Newcomers are essential to the health of collaborative organizations. In order for newcomers to successfully adapt to their new surroundings, newcomers must learn about the norms and values of the organizations they have just joined. When collaborative groups are distributed, this process of acculturation can change, as it moves online. In this talk, I describe research that examine how newcomers can affect the ecology of established groups and then focus on current work aimed at providing resources for newcomer acculturation through social media. Finally, I discuss early work investigating the impact of culture on participation in social media systems.

Bio:
Jenn is a Research Scientist in the Visualization and Behavior Group at IBM Research. At IBM, her research focuses on how the culture of a group affects how its members collaborate and contribute to social systems. Jenn received her Ph.D in Communication from Cornell University. Her dissertation work examined how users express territorial behaviors in online collaborative spaces. For more information, see www.jennthom.com.