A Balancing Act - How r/AskWomen

Creates a Safe Space for Women

A 4-month long ethnographic study and evaluation using Amy Jo Kim's 9 Design Principles for building Online Communities

Access the paper

Jump To

Abstract . Final Presentation . Contributions . Challenges and Takeaways

MY ROLE

Observation: 30+ hours of participant observation on the Subreddit. This involved participating in discussions, reading and posting questions and comments on the sub, answering questions and messaging participants.

Interviews: Designed and conducted 3 semi-structured interviews to understand participants' experiences on the subreddit and as part of the community.

Coding and Analysis: I transcribed, reviewed and coded the interviews to analyze emerging categories about participant behaviors.

PROJECT SCOPE

Aug - Dec '22 (4 months)

Tulika Banerjee
Ramyani Ghosh
Jingyi Wan

TOOLS/SKILLS

Deep user interviews, ethnographic observation, thematic coding, Reddit, Zoom

KEYWORDS

Reddit, online moderation, safe space, women, community, human-subjects study

MY ROLE
Observation: 30+ hours of participant observation on the Subreddit. This involved participating in discussions, reading and posting questions and comments on the sub, answering questions and messaging participants.

Interviews: Designed and conducted 3 semi-structured interviews to understand participants' experiences on the subreddit and as part of the community.

Coding and Analysis: I transcribed, reviewed and coded the interviews to analyze emerging categories about participant behaviors.

PROJECT SCOPE
Aug - Dec '22 (4 months)

Tulika Banerjee
Ramyani Ghosh
Jingyi Wan

TOOLS/SKILLS

Deep user interviews, ethnographic observation, thematic coding, Reddit, Zoom

Jump To

Abstract . Final Presentation . Contributions . Challenges and Takeaways

KEYWORDS
Reddit, online moderation, safe space, women, community, human-subjects study

MY ROLE

Interviews: Designed and conducted 3 semi-structured interviews to understand participants' experiences on the subreddit and as part of the community.

Coding and Analysis: I transcribed, reviewed and coded the interviews to analyze emerging categories about participant behaviors.

PROJECT SCOPE

Aug - Dec '22 (4 months)

Tulika Banerjee
Ramyani Ghosh
Jingyi Wan

TOOLS/SKILLS

Deep user interviews, ethnographic observation, thematic coding, Reddit, Zoom

KEYWORDS

Reddit, online moderation, safe space, women, community, human-subjects study

Jump To

Abstract . Final Presentation . Contributions . Challenges and Takeaways

Abstract

Reddit is one of the largest social networks today, boasting over a billion registered users and 430 million monthly users. One of the dominant reasons for its popularity is the existence of around 130,000 subreddits, each catering to different subgroups and interests. From hugely popular topics like r/gaming to those catering to more niche passions like r/lawnpopping (yes, this is a thing), one can say that an internet user will almost certainly find a subreddit that piques their interest.

Oldenburg (1999) writes about the third place, a place that is “inclusively sociable, offering both the basis of community and the celebration of it.”

In this paper we discuss r/AskWomen, a subreddit that doubles up as a third place. The r/AskWomen subreddit is a community for asking and answering questions, created for the benefit of women. Being a thriving community with strict moderation, r/AskWomen makes for a great place to study the many nuances of gender, gender roles, and stereotypes, both practiced and perceived.

In this paper, we use Amy Jo Kim’s “9 Timeless Principles For Building Community” to analyze r/AskWomen’s impact as a community and the role that its moderation plays in shaping it. We also present the perspectives of ten members of the community who agreed to interview with us and speak about their involvement in r/AskWomen.

Check out the Final Presentation!

Contributions

Students have limited time available to them. With so many events happening around campus, it is impossible for them to keep track of them all and hence, students miss out on events of importance to them and lose out on a holistic campus experience.

It is crucial that alerts and campus-wide notifications reach students on time, especially in emergencies. Other times, receiving notifications on time can save valuable time and energy.

Challenges & Takeaways

Wearing many hats

Unlike most hackathons, we did not have the ability to choose our own teams and were assigned to a team of four based on a business chemistry test. We were effectively strangers with a common goal.

Given the short timeframe of the challenge, this implied instantly assessing our diverse skillsets and interests for efficient work distribution and tuning ourselves to be on the same wavelength. Moreover, our schedules made it difficult for us to meet in person, reinforcing strong active communication.

Wearing many hats

Unlike most hackathons, we did not have the ability to choose our own teams and were assigned to a team of four based on a business chemistry test. We were effectively strangers with a common goal.

Wearing many hats

Unlike most hackathons, we did not have the ability to choose our own teams and were assigned to a team of four based on a business chemistry test. We were effectively strangers with a common goal.

Stakeholders, stakeholders, stakeholders

The Innovation challenge took place in the middle of finals week, and we found ourselves juggling this along with classes and exams. As such, one of our teammates dropped out of the challenge, leaving us with a team of three.

I took the initiative to coordinate our schedules and fill in for work if one of my teammates was held up. This truly challenged and honed my time management skills.

Stakeholders, stakeholders, stakeholders

I took the initiative to coordinate our schedules and fill in for work if one of my teammates was held up. This truly challenged and honed my time management skills.

Stakeholders, stakeholders, stakeholders

I took the initiative to coordinate our schedules and fill in for work if one of my teammates was held up. This truly challenged and honed my time management skills.