Instruction vs. emergence on r/place: Understanding the growth and control of evolving artifacts in mass collaboration

Abstract

In April 2017, Reddit hosted an online social experiment in mass collaboration that consisted of placing graphical (1-pixel) tiles on a 1000 by 1000-pixel canvas. A simple design rule instructed each person to place one tile at any location but then had to wait 5 min to act again. One of the authors participated in the experiment as a participant observer. We wanted to understand the process of going from nothing to complex visual artifacts, and to compare instruction (rules) and emergence as two mechanisms for controlling complexity (top down vs. bottom up). We used a mixed methods approach for data collection and analysis. After 72 h, most of the visual artifacts were recognizable, but at a more detailed level, many of them had extraneous objects within that diverged from the overall design. We examined in detail one visual artifact (Mona Lisa painting with the Swiss flag) and its related discussion board and suggest a conceptual framework for the analysis of the evolution. The framework takes inspiration from two metaphors of human intervention in natural evolution (plant growth and a disturbed anthill). At the end, we apply the framework to other objects on the canvas and discuss the tradeoff between instruction and emergence.