Vassileva, Julita, and Lingling Sun. "Using community visualization to stimulate participation in online communities." E-Service Journal 6.1 (2007): 3-39.

This study introduces a novel motivational community visualization aimed at boosting user engagement and contributions within online communities. Drawing from the social psychology theory of social comparison, the visualization underwent two distinct design iterations—a fixed version and a customizable version—tailored to two different student communities engaged in sharing academic papers. One community consisted of graduate students within a research lab, while the other encompassed undergraduate students in a specific class. The article delves into the characteristics of both communities, outlines the design features of each visualization iteration, and evaluates their respective advantages and disadvantages in fostering an active and contributive community environment.