Moira Burke

Email: moir...@gmail.com

I'm a Research Scientist on the Data Science team at Facebook. I recently completed my Ph.D. at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Bob Kraut. I perform research that bridges computer science and social psychology, particularly large-scale computational analysis of social patterns in online communities.

The "i" in my name is silent. And I really like Brussels sprouts.

How teens and adults on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum use social technology
Newcomer socialization, engagement, social capital and well-being
Computational linguistics and machine learning
Computer-mediated communication and computer-supported cooperative work
Specific communities, including: Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Slashdot, Flickr, blogs, and health support groups

Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction, December 2011
Carnegie Mellon University

B.A. summa cum laude in Computer and Information Science, June 2001
Donald Clark Honors College, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Honors and awards

Google PhD Fellowship in Human-Computer Interaction (2010)
Yahoo! Key Scientific Challenges Program (2010)
Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship (2010)
Facebook Ph.D. Fellowship Finalist (2010)
ACM CHI Best Note Award (2010)
ACM CSCW Best Paper Award (2010)
Small Group Research (SGR) Best Article Award (2010)
International Conference on Communities & Technologies Best Paper Award (2007)
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2005)
AT&T Labs Graduate Research Fellowship (2005)
Most Innovative WebOPAC (2004): Industry award for best library catalog design
Phi Beta Kappa "Oregon Six" (2001): One of the top six graduating seniors
University of Oregon President's Award (2001)
Mildred Braaten Archibald Scholarship in Science and Math (2000)
Distributed Mentorship Program, Computing Research Association (1999 and 2000)
Bess Templeton Cristman Award for leadership, scholarship, and service (1999)
Wigham Family Thesis Award (1999)

Bernstein, M., Bakshy, E., Burke, M., and Karrer, B. (2013). Quantifying the Invisible Audience in Social Networks. ACM CHI 2013: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (PDF) (Best paper honorable mention).
Wang, Y., Burke, M., and Kraut, R. (2013). Gender, Topic, and Audience Response: An Analysis of User-Generated Content on Facebook ACM CHI 2013: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (PDF soon).
Burke, M., Kraut, R., and Marlow, C. (2013). Using Facebook after Losing a Job: Differential Benefits of Strong and Weak Ties. ACM CSCW 2013: Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. PDF (Best paper award)
Burke, M., Kraut, R., and Marlow, C. (2011). Social capital on Facebook: Differentiating uses and users. ACM CHI 2011: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. PDF
Burke, M., and Settles, B. (2011). Plugged in to the community: Social motivators in online goal-setting groups. C&T 2011: Fifth International Conference on Communities and Technologies. PDF
Burke, M., Marlow, C., and Lento, T. (2010). Social network activity and social well-being. ACM CHI 2010: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1909-1912. PDF (Best paper award)
Burke, M., Kraut, R., and Williams, D. (2010). Social use of computer-mediated communication by adults on the autism spectrum. ACM CSCW 2010: Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, 425-434. PDF (Best paper award)
Collier, B., Burke, M., Kittur, N., and Kraut, R. (2010). Promoting good management: Governance, promotion, and leadership in open collaboration communities. International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).
Burke, M., Marlow, C., and Lento, T. (2009). Feed me: Motivating newcomer contribution in social network sites. ACM CHI 2009: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 945-954. PDF
Burke, M., and Kraut, R. (2008). Mopping up: Modeling Wikipedia promotion decisions. ACM CSCW 2008: Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. 27-36. PDF
Burke, M., and Kraut R. (2008) Mind your Ps and Qs: The impact of politeness and rudeness in online communities. ACM CSCW 2008: Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. 281-284. PDF
Burke, M., Joyce, E., Kim, T., Anand, V., and Kraut, R. (2007). Introductions and Requests: Rhetorical Strategies That Elicit Response in Online Communities. Third International Conference on Communities & Technologies 2007. PDF (Best paper award)
Torrey, C., Lee, M., Burke, M. Dey, A., Fussell, S., and Kiesler, S., (2007). Connected Giving: Ordinary People Coordinating Disaster Relief on the Internet. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) 2007.
Burke M., Amento, B., Isengard, P. (2006). Error Correction of Voicemail Transcripts in SCANMail. ACM CHI 2006: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York: ACM. PDF (1M)
Burke, M., Gorman, N., Hornof, A., and E. Nilsen (2004). Banner Advertisements Hinder Visual Search and Are Ignored. ACM CHI 2004: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Extended Abstracts of ACM CHI 2004: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York: ACM, 1139-1142. PDF (214K)

Burke, M., Kraut, R., and Joyce, E. (2010). Membership claims and requests: Conversation-level newcomer socialization strategies in online groups. Small Group Research 41(1), 4-40. http://sgr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/41/1/4 (Best paper award)
Shklovski, I., Burke, M., Kiesler, S., and Kraut, R. (2010). Technology Adoption and Use in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. American Behavioral Scientist. http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/53/8/1228
Kraut, R., Wang, X., Butler, B., Joyce, E., and Burke, M. (under review). Beyond information: Developing the Relationship between the Individual and the Group in Online Communities. Information Systems Research (ISR).
Burke, M., Hornof, A., Nilsen, E., and Gorman, N (2005). High Cost Banner Blindness: Ads Increase Perceived Workload, Hinder Visual Search, and Are Forgotten. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 12(4), 423-445. PDF (1M)

Burke, M., and Kraut, R. (2008). Taking up the mop: Identifying future Wikipedia administrators. Extended Abstracts of ACM CHI 2008: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Burke, M., and Kraut R. (2008). Mind your p's and q's: When politeness helps and hurts in online communities. Extended Abstracts of ACM CHI 2008: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Collier, B., Burke, M., Kittur, N., and Kraut, R. (2008). Retrospective versus Prospective Evidence for Promotion: The Case of Wikipedia. Academy of Management.
Shklovski, I., Burke M., Kiesler, S., and Kraut, R. (2008) Technology Adoption and Use in New Orleans Following Hurricane Katrina. HCI for emergencies workshop, CHI 2008.
Burke, M., Joyce, E., Kim, T., Anand, V., and Kraut, R. Introductions and Requests: Rhetorical Strategies that Elicit Community Response. Presentation at Interdisciplinary Network of Groups Researchers (INGRoup) 2007.

Kraut, R., Riedl, J., Burke, M. (in preparation). Dealing with newcomers. In Kraut, R., and Resnick, P. (Eds.) Designing from Theory: Using the Social Sciences as the Basis for Building Online Communities. MIT Press.
Torrey, C., Burke, M., Lee, M., Dey, A., Fussell, S., and Kiesler, S., (2007). Approaches to Authority in Online Disaster Relief Communities after Hurricane Katrina. Forthcoming in Atwater, L. and Weisband, S. (Eds.). Leadership at a Distance. Erlbaum, in press.

Technical reports and undergraduate thesis

Burke, M. K. & Hornof, A. J. (2001). The Effect of Animated Banner Advertisements on a Visual Search Task. University of Oregon, Department of CIS Technical Report 02-03, University of Oregon. PDF (601K)
Burke, M.K. (2001). The Effect of Animated Banner Advertisements on a Visual Search Task. University of Oregon, Clark Honors College Thesis. PDF (350K)

ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST)
ACM Transactions on the Web (TWEB)
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS)
Communications of the ACM (CACM)

Teaching assistant for CSCW: Designing online communities (with Kraut, 2006)
Teaching assistant for Human-computer interaction methods (with John and Mankoff, 2007)
Guest lecturer in undergraduate statistics, design, and communication courses (2007-Present)
Mentor for four undergraduate research assistants and one high-school researcher (2006-Present)
Instructor of applied machine learning at OurCS workshop for undergraduate women in CS (2007, 2011)
Instructor for technical and non-technical library staff in web publishing and accessibility (2002-2005)
Afterschool homework tutor for elementary and middle-school students (2005-Present)

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERISTY (2005 to Present)
Graduate Research Assistant
Advisor: Bob Kraut
Modeled successful interactions in online communities (Wikipedia, discussion groups).

FACEBOOK, INC. (Summer 2008 and 2009)
Research Intern
Advisors: Cameron Marlow and Tom Lento
Modeled newcomer socialization strategies associated with future content contribution to Facebook. Modeled communication patterns associated with perceived social capital and loneliness.

AT&T RESEARCH (Summer 2005)
Research Intern
Advisor: Brian Amento
Evaluated multimodal interfaces for error correction of automatically generated voicemail transcripts.

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON (2000 to 2005)
Research Intern
Advisor: Anthony Hornof, with Erik Nilsen
Investigated human attentional capacity for animation concurrent with visual search tasks.

GRAPHICS, VISUALIZATION, USABILITY CENTER: GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (Summer 2000)
Research Intern
Advisor: Jessica Hodgins
Analyzed play-balancing techniques in massively multi-player games.

COMPUTER GRAPHICS LAB, BROWN UNIVERSITY (Summer 1999)
Research Intern
Advisor: Nancy Pollard
Developed tools to visualize aspects of motion, such as center-of-mass position and trajectory.

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON (Summer 1998)
Programmer
Advisor: Steve Fickas
Designed and implemented Java bots in an online “office hours” environment.

DIGITAL SERVICES COORDINATOR, PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE LIBRARY (2002 to 2005)
Designed and maintained award-winning library website and catalog based on usability testing
Managed technology initiatives, including:

Nationally recognized electronic reserves system
IEEE-LOM compliant "learning objects" repository
Database cleanup and configuration for library consortium membership

Purchased and maintained two Sun Solaris 8 servers running Apache, SSL, ColdFusion, PHP
Trained technical and non-technical staff in MARC cataloging, web publishing, accessibility standards
Led workshops at national library conferences

WEB AND MULTIMEDIA DESIGNER (1997 to 2002)
http://www.thoughtcrumbs.com/portfolio
Designed websites for non-profit organizations
Conducted usability testing, card sorting, heuristic evaluation
Composed creative standalone applications and Shockwave movies in Director
Programmed dynamic content with PHP, ColdFusion, MySQL