World Community GridVolunteer Study
World Community Grid
Rationale for Study
World Community Grid has been around since 2004
Last significant changes to website were in 2009
Want to know if we understood our user base, who they were and what motivates them to participate.Clarify direction for future enhancements and work items
World Community Grid
Study components
Used IBM’s user experience strategy group to conduct study of our current and past volunteers.
Study consisted of: Online survey, which took about 15 minutes to complete
Phone based focus group sessions
World Community Grid
Who was invited and who participated?
Survey E-mailed survey invites to all volunteers opting to receive email
Survey open for almost two weeks, reminder sent about halfway through
15,627 completed survey (3.6% total response rate)
Member type Number Sent Number Opened % Opened
Active 59,538 22,259 37%
Inactive 370,800 43,547 12%
Reminder 421,669 67,314 16%
World Community Grid
Focus Groups
Used survey data and cluster analysis results to determine best groupings for focus groups
Proceeded with six groups: 1. Active, technical volunteers2. Active, non-technical volunteers3. Passive volunteers4. Team members5. Inactive/No longer members6. Non-members
Sessions lasted 1 hour each Questions were tailored for each group
World Community Grid
Demographics
Almost
90%Male
Occupation
Age
World Community Grid
Third of respondents from the US
World Community Grid
75% of respondents have been contributing for more than a year
World Community Grid
Why join World Community Grid? To support scientific research
Support scientific research
Use my unused computer power
Participate in distributed computing
Good way to make a difference
Support a particular research project
Encouraged by employer/university
Join a team effort
Enjoy earning points for my contribution
Competitive aspects
Want to collect the badges
Points system is better
Badges more attainable
Other
World Community Grid
11%
9%
11%
14%
16%
33%
49%
58%Contributing to the research community ingeneral
Contributing to a specific research area
Volunteering in generalLearning about the work in a specific
research areaBeing a part of a team effort
Earning points
Following rankings and statistics
Other
Why do you contribute to other distributed/volunteer computing communities? (N=5984)
Participating in other DCsHave you contributed to other distributed/volunteer computing communities?
Over 100 participants stated that they preferred other volunteer computing
communities to WCG because of the way they
handle GPU.
World Community Grid
How do respondents view us differently from other grids?
World Community Grid’s focus on humanitarian causes solving practical issues seen as key motivator and differentiator.
Contributing results back to public domain GPU cited as significant reason respondents prefer
other distributed computing communities
Focus on World Community Grid’s humanitarian goals in
marketing materials and strengthen by providing
examples of projects that solve “real world”, “practical”
issues. Add more GPU projects.
Recommendation
World Community Grid
Almost half of respondents installed the software from World Community Grid.
World Community Grid
Almost half of respondents disabled the WCG screensaver.
World Community Grid
What would increase your interest? Understanding impact of volunteer’s contribution
Better understanding of the impact of my contribution
More research projects that interest me
Better understanding of World Community Grid ‘s achievements
More opportunities to learn about the science
Simpler, less technical explanations of the science
More technical explanations of the science
Easier to use software
I don’t know
Better recognition for my contribution
Nothing can be done to increase my involvement
Easier to use website
More active community on social media
More or easier to use tools or recruiting other volunteers
A community space that is more accessible to casual volunteer
Better recognition for recruiting other volunteers
More active World Community Grid forum community
Other (please specify)
World Community Grid
Want more frequent, less technical communications
“Would be nice if there was a way to get a short summary on goals of the project. Needs to be presented
in layman’s perspective. Some presentations have been really, really technically detailed. Even
though I have a good educational background, I didn’t understand - friends
wouldn’t understand”
Create a standardized process, which is easy and consistent for researchers
to provide updates. Layering of information:
present high-level information with ability to
drill into more detailed version.
Want less technical but more frequent updates from projects. Volunteers understand that researchers are busy, but want to hear more about results and how their contributions are making a difference.
Insight
“Couldn’t find information that I could understand. Looked at forums and some
forum topics from the researchers. Tried to read
through the material, pretty technical”
Recommendation
World Community Grid
Most promote World Community Grid
Share
Almost 2 in 3 promote World Community Grid to friends or family.
Not Share
When asked why they haven’t
promoted World Community Grid:
48% did not think
family/friendswould be
interested.
31% just hadn’t
thought about it.
34% would like
more materials about the
program to sent them.
World Community Grid
Few share on social media
When asked why they share on
social media:
70% wanted to
encourage others to
join.
14% wanted to share your sense of
accomplishment with others.
59% don’t share because
they don’t use social
media.
ShareNot ShareAround 1 in 5 share
World Community Grid information on social
media.
World Community Grid
Why stop contributing? Mostly due to impact on computer
World Community Grid
Security and performance concerns are barriers to joining
“Downloading programs is very easy nowadays, not a problem for anyone. It’s just the security issues, what will the program do when I'm not there?”
Need to explain the software and underlying technology, especially focusing on security and computer
performance. Beginning with non-technical explanations, then move to more technical details for those who want
to learn more. Materials should also address World Community Grid commitment to safe, unobtrusive
software.
Security and performance questions are obstacles to gaining new members
Finding
Recommendation
World Community Grid
Website feedback
Project selection trickiest part of registration
Over 40% visit the website at least monthly
My Statistics, News & Updates and Research project information most accessed
Volunteers least familiar with Twitter Integration, Partner and Marketing Toolkit pages
45% have heard of but never visited Forums
World Community Grid
Other themes from survey comments
Appetite for more GPU projects
Appetite for more badges (5, 10, 15 year etc.)
Printable certificates to acknowledge contribution
Technical issues with adjusting CPU settings
Frustration that the BOINC points don’t carry over to World Community Grid
Similarly, lack of standardized points
World Community Grid
So what are we doing?
More approachable website: New information architecture and visual design for our website; more user-friendly explanations of what we are and how program works.
Improved communications: More ways to consume it; more volunteer control over how to receive it.
More accessible research information: Improved accessibility of information about projects, what has been accomplished and what the researchers are working towards. Layering of information – better non-technical summaries as well as more detailed scientific content.
World Community Grid
When will the changes appear?
Soon!
We have additional help to build these changes and will start releasing incremental releases shortly
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