Barnstars - coding schema

Author	David W. McDonald
Research questions	How are Barnstars used in Wikipedia? How are people awarded with Barnstars?
Method	Qualitative codin
Theoretical background	The codebook contains three groups of codes: (1) the scope of the barnstar, such as whether it points to a specific edit or comments on general contributions to Wikipedia, (2) the genre of the barnstar, such as whether it is antagonistic, and (3) the work that the barnstar acknowledges.
Process of creation	codebook by open coding a random sample of 200 barnstars. We then applied the codebook to a second random sample of 200 barnstars. Through our attempt to systematically code the second barnstar sample, we iteratively refined our codes and agreed upon their application to the barnstars.
Dimensionalization and coding cycles	We used this codebook to iteratively code a random sample of 2400 barnstars. The barnstars were divided randomly into six bins. Two of the authors independently coded each bin. One coder reviewed the codes and noted discrepencies. Discrepencies were iterated upon until there was consensus. After coding was completed, we performed extensive consistency checking of commonly correlated codes. A barnstar often suggests multiple legitimate codings, either because a particular phrasing calls out multiple dimensions or because the barnstar contains multiple independent statements. We therefore chose to apply multiple codes for every code group instead of force-fitting a dominant code. For example, the following barnstar provides evidence of a prior encounter and serves as a peace offering (genre), while acknowledging general administratative actions, committment to the project, and conflict mediation (work)
Date	2008
Research area	Information Science
Inter-coder-reliability	85%
Keywords	Wikipedia, CSCW
Visualizations
Software	NVivo
Coding schema	Datei:Codes.xml
Project data	Datei:Codes.xml
Research data	Barnstars - research data
Publication	Articulations of WikiWork, Finding Patterns in Behavioral Observations by Automatically Labeling Forms of Wikiwork in Barnstars
Study	Barnstar Study

First Level of coding

black: Has Successor

	Definition	Example	Has Successor
Editing	Acknowledgments for copy editing, general editing, and for contributions to specific articles	Mani, you have contributed a great deal of Estonian articles and done major and useful copyedits in a short time. You are a very productive user and deserve recognition. I award you, Magni, this Barnstar for keeping on top of this Wikipedia article and for being the ”Master Editor”. Keep up the fine work!	Root
Border Patrol	Detecting and disciplining such behavior constitutes a wide range of punitive work in Wikipedia. The most acknowledged border patrol activity is fighting vandalism by reverting or repairing the damage.	For standing with me this morning to revert all of those AOL vandals hell-bent on causing as much trouble as possible, I award you this barnstar.	Root
Collaborative Action	Collaborative Actions and Disposition is differentiated from Social and Community Support Actions by the direct implication of collaborative activity, such as conflict mediation on talk pages. Although this category points to work activities that involve others, it is important to recognize that the dependencies are not clearly present in the texts of the barnstars	It is my honor to award Anonymous Editor this...green cucumber with sunglasses, for being cool when the editing isn’t. For always keeping a level head. If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you	Root
Meta Content	The last category is work related to meta-content. Meta-content work includes the acknowledgement of tool creation (programming), creation of templates, creation and management of categories or category tags, and work on formal Wikipedia policies.	I award you this fine barnstar for the work you did in improving the Taxobox template by adding conservation status shortcuts. I was thinking of doing that myself, but you beat me to the punch!	Root
Social/Community	This category includes welcoming newcomers, initiating or leading new projects, rewarding individuals who give out barnstars, and general social support. In the examples below we see individuals receiving barnstars for their personal characteristics and willingness to help other Wikipedians	I hereby ordain Andhrimnir to ”The Order of the Smiley”, for his dedication in helping newcomers like me. Without people like you, we would be lost. Awarded by Hermod	Root
Administrative	The barnstars in this category pertain to the actions taken by administrators and acknowledge participation in formal processes. Common processes include Editor Reviews and Featured Article Reviews	I hereby award you The Working Man’s Barnstar for repeatedly notifying relevant parties during featured article reviews, as it’s an oft-forgotten task.	Root
Misc/Unknown	There are some barnstars that are not very specific about the actual work completed. Many such barnstars include references to “Janitorial Services” and “mop and bucket”, reflecting a general work ethic of cleaning and maintaining various aspects of Wikipedia.	I, Gerd, award you this barnstar for your hard work here at Wikipedia, and to let you know I feel your wiki-stress. Gefion awards this Barnstar to Frigg for dedicated hard work with the mop and bucket, making Wikipedia better for everyone.	Root

Second Level of coding

article editing

EG	general editing
EMAJ	contributions-media (images, audio, graphic design work, photos, latex)
EMED	initiative (starting an article, work on article stubs)
ERED	redesign / restructuring (refactoring, merging pages)
EMAJ	contributions-major (MAJOR CHANGES TO TEXT; some kind of large refinement or improvement to the article)
EMIN	minor (cleanup, copy-editing, maintenance, work on captions, work on a single article)
EACH	achievement (FA, FP, GA, DYK, readable)
ECLA	classification (categorization, disambiguating links, redirects)
EATT	attribution (adding references; removing unattributable information)
ETRA	translation (to another language)
EEXT	external research (doing outside research in order to make quality contributions)

collaborative actions/disposition (individual attribute)

CG	general collaborative
CDA	diplomatic-action (working toward concensus, mediation)
CDD	diplomatic-disposition (staying cool, civility, maintaining sense of humor, accepting of criticism, cooperative/collaborative)
CEXP	explanation (instance of explanation; to newcomers, of particular area of expertise, intricacy of policy)
CADH	adherence (to policy, maintaining NPOV, balancing policies, academic integrity)

meta content

MG	general meta
MPRO	programming artifacts (external tools, bots)
MCLA	classification (category creation, refactoring)
MPOL	policy / formal process (creation, refactoring, elaboration)
MTEM	template (creation, refactoring, barnstars, page templates, userboxes, DYK)
MFOR	forums / portals (creation, maintenance)
MARC	archiving (user talk pages, discussion pages)

border patrol

general border
BVG	vandal fighting-general
BVU	vandal fighting-user pages vandal fighting on a user or user talk page
BVT	vandal fighting-talk pages vandal fighting on an article talk page
BVW	vandal fighting-wp pages vandal fighting on a WikiProject or other WP administrative page
BVA	vandal fighting-articles vandal fighting on an article page
BSO	sockpuppet detection (requests for check user (CU, RFCU), sleuthing)
BDEL	deletion (notability application, AfD, spam removal, speedy deletion, saving page from deletion)
BLEG	legal (copyright patrol)

social / community (attribute realized with others) must note something about the person!

SG	general social (for being you…, model wikipedian)
ST	teaching others (mentorship; being an accessible resource for people (e.g. reference desk); giving constructive criticism about another user's behaviors (e.g. in an Editor Review))
SR	rewarding others (giving out barnstars)
SW	welcoming newbies
SU	user page design (helping design someone else's userpage, having a nice user page)
SL	leadership (starting wikiprojects, esperanza, improvement drives, information portals)
SH	humor and cheer (for cheering someone up, for being funny)
SE	expertise/knowledge (for bringing unique knowledge or experience to bear)
SC	committment (recognizing temporal commitment to some article, community, etc)
SD	defense standing up for another Wikipedian's good name; standing up 'gainst the man

administrative / formal process formal process/action needs to be explicitely mentioned!

AG	general administrative (AN/I)
AC	content acknowledgement (FA, FP, GA, FAC)
AD	dispute resolution (RfC, RfM, RfArbitration)
AA	administrative action (locking pages, blocking users, accountname changes)
AP	privilege granting (RfAdminship)
AB	border patrol (AfD, VfD, RFCU, CU=check user)

misc / unknown

UM	general misc (general contributions / unspecific mop and bucket or janitorial services)
US	status attainment (status attainment (e.g. adminship), individual milestone (e.g. edit count, anniversary))
UN	none (no work acknowledged; e.g. sorry you were a victim of vandalism, here's a piece of cake)
UU	unknown (not enough information; e.g. "barnstar 5")