Homepage of Rick Wash
I have defended my dissertation and am currently working as a Visiting Assitant Professor at Michigan State University. For more information, see my new website. This website is from my time as a PhD student at the University of Michigan.
Right now I am a PhD candidate in the School of Information the University of Michigan. I expect to finish my dissertation in the Summer of 2009. My advisor is Jeff Mackie-Mason. I am also a Stiet fellow.
My research interest is studying incentives in social software systems. It can be difficult to predict or understand user behavior in social systems because this behavior strongly depends on both the actions of others in the system and the specific design of the system. My work looks at how users use these technologies, why they use them in this way, and how different incentive structures in these systems can produce different user behavior. I am particularly interested in software systems where users all have different information, and appropriate sharing of that information is key to the success of the system. Such systems need to be carefully constructed so that users are motivated to share their information, and to share it in a way that others can use.
I focus on applied, real-world problems, primarily problems arising around computer security and social computing. My research is grounded in social science theory from economics and psychology, providing a framework with which I can generalize my results and apply them to other interesting situations. My strong background in computer science allows me to understand technical constraints, and to design and implement solutions. I also frequently use mixed methods in my research; I believe that a variety of methods can reveal different aspects of a problem so that I can develop a more complete understanding and provide better solutions.
I also have a page on the SI TWiki where I keep working information on my current research.
I wrote a Greasemonkey script that redirects common access-protected websites through the University of Michigan library proxy server. Get it here.