Knowledge Production and Social Roles in an Online Community of Emerging Occupation: A Study of User Experience Practitioners on Reddit

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


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2


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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


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


‣ 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).


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)


}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

COLINGRAY.ME | UXP2.COM

[email protected]

THANK YOU

Knowledge Production and Social Roles in an Online Community of Emerging Occupation: A Study of User Experience Practitioners on Reddit

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