Amanda Menking

The Heart Work of Wikipedia: Gendered, Emotional Labor in the World's Largest Online Encyclopedia

This note explores the issue of womens participation in Wikipedia through the lens of emotional labor. Using a grounded theory approach, we detail the kinds of tasks women Wikipedians choose to do and explore why they choose the work they do. We also explore the emotional costs of their labor and their strategies for coping. Our analysis of 20 interviews leads us to posit that the gendered and emotional labor required of many women to participate in Wikipedias production renders it, problematically, a space of conflicting public and private spheres, motivated by antithetical open and closed values. In addition to other contributions, we believe this insight sheds light on some of the complex dynamics behind Wikipedias observed gender gap.

Imagining Intersectional Futures: Feminist approaches in CSCW

The aim of this one-day workshop is to explore theoretical and methodological approaches that help us consider issues of gender, sexual orientation, and power in the design of socio-technical systems. This program builds on two previous workshops on the topic of feminism and CSCW. With this instantiation, we are motivated by an explicit commitment to intersectionality--a recognition that the effects of various oppressions cannot be understood independently. Considerable time will be devoted to discussing work in post-colonial feminism, queer theory, Women of Color feminism, and feminist critical disability studies. Through generative conversation with participants, feedback on works-in-progress, and the initiation of outlets for new feminist CSCW work, we aim to 1) build on existing research and practice and 2) identify concerns and approaches for both designing and assessing research oriented toward intersectional and feminist futures in the context of CSCW and social computing.

Feminism and Feminist Approaches in Social Computing

Following on the successful CSCW 2014 workshop on Feminism and Social Media, this workshop will bring together a set of CSCW scholars to discuss feminist perspectives in social computing and technology. We will explore theoretical and methodological approaches to the topic and draw on literature and empirical studies to build a set of generative and creative dialogues around the topics of diversity, sexual orientation, cultural attitudes, sociopolitical affiliations, and other emergent themes. Conversations will be directed particularly toward the challenges of using a feminist approach in CSCW scholarship, identifying both productive and problematic research practices. This session promises to open new feminist dialogues about current issues in CSCW from sexuality and identity on social media, labor and technology development, and gender inequality within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math + Arts and Design (STEAM) collaborative efforts, and other emergent areas of interest.

On the production of the spirit of feminism

3 6 I N T E R A C T I O N S S E P T E M B E R – O C T O B E R 2 016 This piece is no exception. Yet the tale we tell here is not another report of inequalities uncovered. Instead, it is a story of an awakening, a story that takes place within an already feministidentified group about how we came to a different way of thinking. This transformation took place in a series of workshops on feminism and social media at the Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) conferences in 2014 and 2015. In putting ideals into practice in these events, we as organizers gained insight into what the word feminist means to us and what we think it can mean more globally within the tech communities of which we are a part. References to feminism in our community are usually triggered by the appearance of something controversial or seemingly atypical, like sexism in the comments section of a site. Feminism also gets invoked when recognizing the inequities between male and “Other-ed” developers, or when acknowledging the asymmetries intrinsic in modern realities such as algorithmic culture. Here, the moniker feminist is pointedly used to distinguish something from the mainstream, from the “normal” way of doing things. It also immediately charges what is to come with an alternative set of logics and values. On the Production of the Spirit of Feminism Ingrid Erickson, Rutgers University Libby Hemphill, Illinois Institute of Technology Amanda Menking, University of Washington Stephanie Steinhardt, Cornell University

“No Prejudice Here”: Examining Social Identity Work in Starter Pack Memes:

As a performance venue, online social spaces afford users a variety of ways to express themselves. Many of these expressions include social identity work, such as the articulation, affirmation, or policing of a shared identity. In this study, we examine one online space in which users engage in social identity work: a Reddit forum (r/starterpacks) that primarily generates and discusses image memes of a very specific format: the “starter pack.” Users leverage these image memes to convey what we refer to in this article as prototypes of social identities. Many of these prototypical depictions are necessarily influenced by offline social groups and/or consumer culture, and are furthermore constructed around gendered, racial, or ethnic stereotypes. To understand how these image memes are used to form and perpetuate prototypes of social identities, we employed content analysis to evaluate a sample of 500 image meme artifacts created, shared, and upvoted by the subreddit’s users. We discuss the process of applying visual analysis techniques to articulate themes identified in the image meme expressions, in particular: (1) the default of the White, male identity in starter pack characterizations; (2) the production of oppressive social identities through the use of visual and textual content; and (3) the dedication to a stance of “consumption” in assembling starter pack memes, both through body politics expressed therein and use of consumer goods in images. Finally, we draw on reader response theory to frame the challenges of researchers “reading” starter pack memes, despite employing systematic methods of analysis.

Who Wants to Read This?: A Method for Measuring Topical Representativeness in User Generated Content Systems

This methods paper details an approach for identifying the representativeness of content in a user generated content (UGC) system while also accounting for endogeneity bias. We leverage metadata from an independent content provider to generate sets of commercially viable terms presumed to be of interest to specific audiences linking those terms to UGC. We describe our method and heuristics at a level of detail allowing others to follow or modify it to study both content representativeness and content gaps in UGC systems. We illustrate the method by investigating how well the English language Wikipedia addresses the content interests of four sample audiences: readers of mens and womens periodicals, and readers of political periodicals geared toward either liberal or conservative ideologies. We also share preliminary findings from each case study to demonstrate our method.

Perceptions of Walls: An Exploration of Trait Affect and Personality in a Cross Cultural Study of Perception of Risks Related to the Edward Snowden Case

In this within subjects study, we explored the role of trait affect, personality, and culture on an individual’s information seeking behavior about the Edward Snowden case. We also considered how these factors may affect an individual’s perception of risks related to Snowden’s actions. We used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to conduct two surveys five weeks apart with respondents in both India and the U.S. After accounting for differences in age, education, and gender, early findings suggest that trait affect and personality are associated with how people acquire and understand information as well as the information sources they choose to use. We also found that culture played a significant role in shaping how our respondents perceived the Snowden case and the implications of risk associated with his actions. Since our study is explorative and our respondent sample was limited by our survey method, these findings warrant further analyses.

Cairn: Using digital markers to bridge learning communities

Cairn is a proposed geo-social networking mobile application that could help people search for, find, participate in, and tag learning communities, events, and artifacts. The goal of Cairn would be to enable users to find others with whom they can study, attend learning events, and share learning related artifacts, such as museum exhibits or historical markers. The primary target audience would consist of post-secondary students; the secondary target audience would be recent graduates and young professionals. Cairn is proposed to be a native mobile app integrated with existing web-based interest and/or social networks. This paper presents a design exploration, including an overview of the relevant sections of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) geo-social and learning markets, eight key features identified by focus groups and interviewees, a case informed by user research, and possible directions for prototype development and integration with So.cl.