CREW - Colloboratroy for Research on Electronic Work
I was privileged to work for CREW after graduating from U of Michigan. I worked under the direction of Judy Olson and Nathan Bos. Our studies focused on Partly Distributed Teams.
I first heard of CREW as a participant in their experimental studies. I was still an undergraduate student looking for easy cash and learning more about research, so I became a "guinea pig" in many experiments. One of the experiments happened to be Shape Factory. I enjoyed the experiment so much that I decided to contact the supervisors and see if I could join the project and help with it.
I started working as a research assistant who helped run the Shape Factory studies. I arranged the laptops, made copies of the instructions and completed other administrative duties related to running the studies. This later on grew to more responsibilities. Eventually I was in charge of running the Shape Factory studies; supervising research assistants, arranging the administrative work of payments, recruiting subjects and more.
Part of my position also included attending lab meetings. This got me involved in more theoretical work on the project. I became involved in development of new conditions and directions for the study. After collecting the data, I helped with the data analysis and with the submission of papers for publications.
One of the highlights of working for CREW was going to the Computer Supportive Cooperative Work (CSCW) 2004 Conference in Chicago. The first paper of which I was a co-author was presented, and it was an enriching experience to be part of this conference (Besides, Chicago is one of my favorites cities).
I was also involved in the development and running of Tree Town, a new simulation that was developed by our team.
As part of my work with CREW I also helped develop the Michigan Paid Experiments website. This site was developed to help recruit participants for CREW studies. I was the first administrator of the website. The site has now grown and is used by researchers in various departments of the Ross School of Business, School of Information and the Psychology Department of the University of Michigan. It currently has over 2000 registered participants and has been used for over 30 studies.
I am grateful for the opportunity I had working at CREW for two years. I enjoyed my work and gained hands on research experiences.