The following are a selection of publications accompanied with the access link and abstract. Feel free to contact me with any questions regarding my work.
For immediate access to my cited work, visit my Google Scholar page.
Darian, S., Dym, B., & Voida, A. (2023). Competing Imaginaries and Partisan Divides in the Data Rhetoric of Advocacy Organizations. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7(CSCW2), 1-29.
Abstract: Data are wielded to shape public opinion, particularly in electoral contexts where the role and veracity of information is questioned. This post-truth era is characterized by world events in which facts too often are obfuscated and evidential standards are abandoned. To study how data are used to influence pressing and divisive contemporary issues, this paper explores the rhetorical work that quantitative data are doing through the blogging practices of advocacy organizations during the highly-polarized month preceding the 2016 United States elections. We present results of a qualitative content analysis of the quantitative data used in 337 blog posts published by five pairs of conservative and liberal advocacy organizations over the course of the month leading up to the 2016 US elections. We identify key data rhetoric practices along partisan lines and contribute an analytic framework-evaluating ethos, pathos, and logos- that can be used to analyze the rhetorical use of data in other contexts. We then characterize two different imaginaries that come into conflict in this research: 1) the political imaginaries being promoted through organizational blogging and 2) the sociotechnical imaginary of the data economy, foregrounding differences in the epistemic value of data in each. We conclude by outlining research challenges and trajectories for future research within each of the two imaginaries of data.
Dym, B., Simpson, E., & Fong, O. (2023). The Internet Is Not Forever: Challenges and Sustainability in Video Game Archiving and Preservation. Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports, 1(1).
Abstract: Video games are an increasingly significant cultural touchstone in people’s everyday lives. However, preserving and archiving video games faces unique challenges, including intellectual property law, technology degradation, and the broader question of what it means to preserve a video game. In an exploratory study investigating sustainable game preservation practices, we spoke to 15 amateur game preservationists and hobbyists about their informal work with code, gaming consoles, and servers for online play. We found a lack of access to particular games during childhood or young adulthood led participants to seek out these games in other formats—such as emulated games they could play on other mediums (e.g., playing Nintendo games on your personal computer). Their nostalgia and the communities they found searching for these experiences inspired them to undertake archival work. Participants leveraged distributed knowledge across their communities to keep video games accessible for anyone interested in playing them. Considering these findings in the context of modern archival practices, we discuss what it means to archive a game, especially when that game is dependent on interactive, communal experiences, and what is potentially lost in current archival practices in contrast to informal, accidental archival work.
Dym, B., Rockwood, C., & Fiesler, C. (2023, March). Gaming Together, Coding Together: Collaborative Pathways to Computational Learning. In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (pp. 1035-1041).
Abstract: Collaborative, playful learning represents an important avenue to mastering a range of skills within computer science education. This research presents findings from interviews with 9 members of an online community that started out as a gaming league and transitioned into a game development team. Community members learned programming skills to contribute their ideas to the game and participate in activities based around game development. Drawing on these experiences, we identify key elements from informal learning that can improve computer science education: 1) playful projects can help learners overcome barriers to participating in computer science; 2) community closeness facilitates a collaborative learning environment to support developing expertise in specific computational skills. We consider these findings in the context of learning as an everyday social practice, and discuss means of developing playful learning communities in computer science classrooms.
Seering, J., Dym, B., Kaufman, G., & Bernstein, M. (2022). Pride and professionalization in volunteer moderation: Lessons for effective platform-user collaboration. Journal of Online Trust and Safety, 1(2).
Abstract: While most moderation actions on major social platforms are performed by either the platforms themselves or volunteer moderators, it is rare for platforms to collaborate directly with moderators to address problems. This paper examines how the group-chatting platform Discord coordinated with experienced volunteer moderators to respond to hate and harassment toward LGBTQ+ communities during Pride Month, June 2021, in what came to be known as the “Pride Mod” initiative. Representatives from Discord and volunteer moderators collaboratively identified and communicated with targeted communities, and volunteers temporarily joined servers that requested support to supplement those servers’ existing volunteer moderation teams. Though LGBTQ+ communities were subject to a wave of targeted hate during Pride Month, the communities that received the requested volunteer support reported having a better capacity to handle the issues that arose. This paper reports the results of interviews with 11 moderators who participated in the initiative as well as the Discord employee who coordinated it. We show how this initiative was made possible by the way Discord has cultivated trust and built formal connections with its most active volunteers, and discuss the ethical implications of formal collaborations between for-profit platforms and volunteer users.
Dym, B., Pasupuleti, N., & Fiesler, C. (2022). Building a pillowfort: Political tensions in platform design and policy. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(GROUP), 1-23.
Abstract: Social media platforms make trade-offs in their design and policy decisions to attract users and stand out from other platforms. These decisions are influenced by a number of considerations, e.g. what kinds of content moderation to deploy or what kinds of resources a platform has access to. Their choices play into broader political tensions; social media platforms are situated within a social context that frames their impact, and they can have politics through their design that enforce power structures and serve existing authorities. We turn to Pillowfort, a small social media platform, to examine these political tensions as a case study. Using a discourse analysis, we examine public discussion posts between staff and users as they negotiate the site’s development over a period of two years. Our findings illustrate the tensions in navigating the politics that users bring with them from previous platforms, the difficulty of building a site’s unique identity and encouraging commitment, and examples of how design decisions can both foster and break trust with users. Drawing from these findings, we discuss how the success and failure of new social media platforms are impacted by political influences on design and policy decisions.
Abstract: Broadening participation in computing among underrepresented groups is important for not only increasing the workforce in computer science careers but also for ensuring that a broad range of stakeholders can contribute to technology development. However, stereotypes and stereotype threat represent a major barrier to underrepresented groups engaging with computer science education. To investigate alternative paths into computational work that sidestep the pressures of stereotypes, we interviewed 22 people working on computational projects in transformative fandom, a community centered on media remix and critique. Our participants–primarily women, people of color, and/or LGBTQ+ people–described a set of stereotypes about computing that prevented them from seeing their own highly technical work as computational. However, participants also described projects that not only taught them computing skills but also opened up alternative pathways for involvement in computer science. We draw on these findings to provide recommendations for how educators and professionals might break down stereotypes and incorrect expectations to increase underrepresented groups’ involvement and confidence in computer science.
Abstract: Within online communities, social norms that both set expectations for and regulate behavior can be vital to the overall welfare of the community–particularly in the context of the privacy and safety of its members. For communities where the cost of regulatory failure can be high, it is important to understand both the conditions under which norms might be effective, and when they might fail. As a case study, we consider transformative fandom, a creative community dedicated to reimagining existing media in often subversive ways. In part due to the marginalized status of many members, there are strong, longstanding norms to protect the community. Through an interview study with 25 fandom participants, we investigate social norms that have been largely effective over time at maintaining member privacy and safety, but also break down under certain circumstances. Catalysts for these breakdowns include tensions between sub-communities and an increasing presence of outsiders, though most prominently, we identify a disconnect between the norms the community needs to support and the design of the platforms they occupy.
CSCW Best Paper Honorable Mention
Abstract: When online platforms rise and fall, sometimes communities fade away, and sometimes they pack their bags and relocate to a new home. To explore the causes and effects of online community migration, we examine transformative fandom, a longstanding, technology-agnostic community surrounding the creation, sharing, and discussion of creative works based on existing media. For over three decades, community members have left and joined many different online spaces, from Usenet to Tumblr to platforms of their own design. Through analysis of 28 in-depth interviews and 1,886 survey responses from fandom participants, we traced these migrations, the reasons behind them, and their impact on the community. Our findings highlight catalysts for migration that provide insights into factors that contribute to success and failure of platforms, including issues surrounding policy, design, and community. Further insights into the disruptive consequences of migrations (such as social fragmentation and lost content) suggest ways that platforms might both support commitment and better support migration when it occurs.
Abstract: As online fandom continues to grow, so do the public data created by fan creations and interactions. With researchers and journalists regularly engaging with those data (and not always asking permission), many fans are concerned that their content might end up in front of the wrong audience, which could lead to privacy violations or even harassment from within or outside of fandom. To better understand fan perspectives on the collection and analysis of public data as a methodology, we conducted both an interview study and a survey to solicit responses that would help provide a broader understanding of fandom’s privacy norms as they relate to the ethical use of data. We use these findings to revisit and recommend best practices for working with public data within fandom.
Abstract: Online communities provide support for those who are vulnerable, such as LGBTQ people while coming out. Research shows that social support and personal narrative construction are important when recovering from personal crises and traumatic events. As an online community focused on writing fanfiction and also consisting of a large number of LGBTQ members, transformative fandom provides an opportunity to examine the relationship between support, crisis, and narrative. Through an interview study with 31 LGBTQ fanfiction authors, our findings mirror Herman’s model of trauma recovery: these spaces self-organize to support recovery work through constructing “community narratives” that help LGBTQ people establish safety when exploring their identity and build LGBTQ support structures without publicly outing themselves before they are ready, challenge stereotypes, and support others through reshaping existing media that perpetuate inaccurate or harmful LGBTQ narratives. These online communities embody “selective visibility”–that is, though not specifically designed as support structures for identity work and recovery, their design allows people to selectively find and create communities of support for stigmatized issues that they might be unable to safely seek out in other spaces. Based on lessons learned, we generate insights that can inform the design of safe support spaces online.
Abstract: Underrepresented fans of media, such as women, members of the LGBTQIA community, and other marginalized people use fan fiction (new narratives constructed from elements of existing media) to critique and recraft their representation in media such as television, movies, books and video games. This article explores fan response to diverse gender identities, or their absence, in video games, through stories found on the popular fan fiction website Archive of Our Own (AO3). The analysis examines metadata from over 2,200 unique fan fiction stories, focusing on freeform, user-generated tags. In addition to categorizing works, tags are also a place for authors to describe their intentions and respond to the source material. This analysis reveals that authors are recrafting video game narratives to include more diverse gender representation in a way unique to the current cultural nuances of video games. This article argues that game developers can expand diversity in games not only by adding queer characters but by leaving narrative choices and details open so that players can interpret character identities in multiple ways. By challenging the hegemonic barriers in games, the diverse communities that take place in authoring and reading fan fiction expand the boundaries of video game culture while also revealing ways that video games themselves can open the doors to greater diversity in their narratives.
Brianna Dym 