knowledge production and social roles in an online community of emerging occupation: a study of user...
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A STUDY OF USER EXPERIENCE PRACTITIONERS ON REDDIT
YUBO KOU, COLIN M. GRAY, AUSTIN L. TOOMBS, AND ROBIN S. ADAMS
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL ROLES IN AN ONLINE COMMUNITY OF EMERGING OCCUPATION
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL ROLES IN AN ONLINE COMMUNITY OF EMERGING OCCUPATION
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KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL ROLES IN AN ONLINE COMMUNITY OF EMERGING OCCUPATION
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KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL ROLES IN AN ONLINE COMMUNITY OF EMERGING OCCUPATION
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How are UX approaches adopted in practice?
How do we educate students for careers in UX?
courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4328394839
Documenting elements of competence in UX practice (Gray, 2014)
Mapping the flow or movement of competence between UX practitioners and companies
(Gray, Toombs, & Gross, 2015)
courtesy of Juhan Sonin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/7797009214
Identifying knowledge-sharing practices among UX practitioners through social media
(Gray & Kou, in review)
WHAT IS AN “EMERGING”
OCCUPATION?“occupations […] that are becoming “numerically important or emerging
due to technological change” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994)
UX represents one such “emerging occupation”
Social media supports the development and sustainment of communities of practice (CoP) (e.g., Marlow and Dabbish, 2014).
Flows of knowledge and communication are generally an evolution of legitimate peripheral participation, from novice to expert.
In this study, we wanted to discover what kinds of knowledge work exist when there is no central definition of “expert” or “core knowledge,” such as in UX practice.
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION1How does vocality influence knowledge activity in the online community?
SOCIAL ROLES2What roles do community members take on when participating?
/r/userexperience
970 posts; 6958 associated comments (JAN-AUG 2016)
Descriptive Statistics
Content Analysis
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION1How does vocality influence knowledge activity in the online community?
POST COMMENT
Score # CommentsAuthor Vocality Score
Author Vocality
Min 0 0 1 -17 1
Max 204 121 45 69 160
Avg. 9.16 7.21 5.35 2.32 26.63
SD 14.66 9.75 9.74 3.28 39.33
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION1How does vocality influence knowledge activity in the online community?
‣ Vocal authors do not necessarily generate high-value posts (post: r=0.12; comment: r=0.11)
‣ People active in making posts are not necessarily active in making comments, and vice versa (r=0.28)
‣ People who are good at creating high value posts are not necessarily good at making high value comments (r=0.04).
SOCIAL ROLES2What roles do community members take on when participating?
TOP 50 POSTERS 83 USER
ACCOUNTS (4.3% of all accounts)
TOP 50 COMMENTERS
}361 posts (37%); 2352 comments (34%)
}
Knowledge Broker (18/83)
Translator (6/83)
Experienced Practitioner (19/83)
Conversation Facilitator (17/83)
Learner (23/83)
SOCIAL ROLES2What roles do community members take on when participating?
}83 USER
ACCOUNTS (4.3% of all accounts)}
361 posts (37%); 2352 comments (34%)
KNOWLEDGE BROKER (18/83 = 21.7%)
Knowledge brokers introduced knowledge they found novel and valuable to the community by sharing links to interesting UX articles, concepts, or newly published books.
POST: How Tools Have Shaped the Role of the Designer
POST: Dark Patterns are designed to trick you (and they’re all over the Web)
POST: Seats in the street: How LA's outdoor furniture creates a more livable city
} SOCI
AL
ROLE
S2
TRANSLATOR (6/83 = 7.2%)
Translators sought to bring academic knowledge into the community, drawing from their own experiences in other domains or disciplines.
COMMENT: Author has a lot of opinion and seems to have set up his Slack poorly but...He does raise several very common CSCW issues which are in fact present in many collaboration systems like Slack that Slack has also not resolved yet…
} SOCI
AL
ROLE
S2
EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONER (19/83 = 22.9%)
Experienced practitioners often self-identified as a senior UX practitioner with years of experience in UX design, including expertise in working with diverse groups and demonstrated familiarity with the UX industry.
COMMENT: I have various documents I've types up on conducting research (e.g. best practice or industry specific), from carrying out stakeholder interviews to researching users needs. Also plenty on how to carry out heuristic reviews, SEO audits, routes in/out, topographic reviews, strategy process etc...
} SOCI
AL
ROLE
S2
CONVERSATION FACILITATOR (17/83 = 20.5%)
Conversation facilitators did not introduce new knowledge. They tended to start and maintain thoughtful conversations with others, with posts frequently receiving high numbers of comments.
POST: Looking for examples of US state selectors where the user can select multiple US states
COMMENT: Maybe add a twist to it and make it your own instead of copying 100%. That's what I usually do if I REALLLY like a design.
} SOCI
AL
ROLE
S2
LEARNER (23/83 = 27.7%)
Learners were generally students or junior UX designers who relied upon the community for suggestions and advice.
COMMENT: i did two software engineering internships and halfway through the first one i decided it just wasn't for me. i wanted a career in something that would have a bigger impact on people. […] discovered ux halfway through my second internship, my last internship was full ux :)
} SOCI
AL
ROLE
S2
UX knowledge in the community
RESEARCH–PRACTICE GAP
ACADEMIC RESEARCH/THEORY
TRANSLATORSenior UX
designers’ personal
experiences
LEARNER
CONVERSATIONFACILITATOR
EXPERIENCEDPRACTITIONER
Knowledge on external sites (e.g., articles,
design artifacts)
KNOWLEDGEBROKER
SOCIAL ROLES2
/R/USEREXPERIENCEAS A COMMUNITY OF EMERGING OCCUPATION
/R/USEREXPERIENCEAS A COMMUNITY OF EMERGING OCCUPATION‣ Distinctive external forces such as high job
demand and nascent undergraduate training
‣ Fragmented yet supportive knowledge work with no clearly defined “center”
‣ Bridges the knowledge gap among multiple stakeholders in UX practice, education, and workforce development
THANK YOU
