Martin produced four empirical studies for the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), a novel crowdsourcing setting where thousands of volunteers produce maps to support humanitarian aid. How can volunteer capacity be built proactively, so that trained volunteers are available when needed? How important are opportunities for social encounter, either online or in person? HOT’s diversity of settings provided opportunities to observe the effects of different coordination practices. His evaluations of novel practices were informed by existing community concerns, and revisited existing theories in social and behavioural science in the context of HOT. He used statistical methods to analyse participation records across the full HOT contribution history.
The work has already achieved significant impact: all four studies have been published in major academic
