Reid Priedhorsky – Research
As a researcher in computer science focusing on human-centered computing, I
work to empower communities and societies to make better decisions in pursuit
of a sustainable, secure, and just global future. I believe that
computing’s vital and growing role at the core of nearly every modern
endeavor means that computer science is uniquely positioned for great impact
in building this future.
My role as a specialist in human-centered and collaborative computing is to
liaise between the technical/scientific community and the world at large, in
order to improve the effectiveness of this critical support role.
Specifically, I work to improve the tools and algorithms which facilitate
human communication, collaboration, and shared creation of knowledge, with a
current focus on the use of such tools and algorithms to answer quantitative
questions about the real world.
My scholarly contributions include:
- Formalizing the notion of geowiki (an online map which allows
editing of all geographic features displayed and supports standard wiki
monitoring features) and introducing the notions of personalized
geowiki (a geowiki which can customize itself according to
individuals’ needs) and computational geowiki (a geowiki where
user contributions feed into an algorithm, e.g. route-finding).
- Showing that the geowiki model works by leading a team which created and
maintains a successful geowiki, Cyclopath, that has been edited over 10,000
times.
- Showing quantitatively the value of user work in a geowiki: for example,
user work in Cyclopath has shortened the average computed route by
1 kilometer.
- Leading a team which was the first to compute the value of
Wikipedia edits and the impact of damage, using reader-based measures
rather than author-based ones, which created a much firmer foundation for
wiki research than was available previously.
I welcome questions; please e-mail me at reid@reidster.net.
Further details