id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
spir-13465	Miltner, Kate ; Kadar-Satat, Gitit; Ashton, Emily	I WORKED SO HARD, AND I STILL DIDN'T SUCCEED”: CODING BOOTCAMP EXPERIENCES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13465	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13465/11441	Coding bootcamps are intensive training programs that aim to turn adults with no computer programming experience into professional software developers in as little as 12 to 16 weeks. In both the US and the UK, coding bootcamps are positioned as an alternative pathway into the tech “pipeline” for groups who are traditionally excluded from computing careers (Schnell, 2019; UK Digital Strategy, 2022). Framed as a form of “coding equity”, bootcamps are said to provide “transformative access” for participants and have even been characterized as a form of social justice activism (Rea, 2022). However, our ongoing comparative study about coding bootcamps in the US and UK indicates that the benefits of attending a coding bootcamp accrue disproportionately across different groups. Drawing upon ethnographic, interview, and survey data, this work-in-progress paper focuses on the bootcamp experiences of people with disabilities, who were more likely to experience unfair bias and/or exclusion and are less likely to have experienced employment-related benefits than people without disabilities. This paper discusses some of the contributing factors to these outcomes and explores the impact that these experiences have on bootcamp students with disabilities. In doing so, it casts some doubt on the “transformative” possibilities of bootcamps for marginalized groups. Although some bootcamps declare their “support” for “people with disabilities and neurodiversities” (Northcoders, n.d.), our study indicates that even if and when this support exists, it falls short of what people with disabilities need to thrive in a bootcamp setting.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13466	Monea, Alexander	CRUISING TIKTOK: USING ALGORITHMIC FOLK KNOWLEDGE TO EVADE CISHETERONORMATIVE CONTENT MODERATION	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13466	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13466/11440	This paper examines crackdowns on queer content on TikTok and creative responses of content creators to circumvent biased content moderation and cisheteronormative censorship. The first portion of the paper demonstrates TikTok’s recurrent cisheteronormative biases in content moderation decisions and examines select instances of LGBTQ+ content that has been censored on the platform. It also works to situate this within a broader trend of LGBTQ+ censorship across internet platforms. The second portion of the paper examines how LGBTQ+ TikTok users have built up folk knowledges and intuitive understandings of TikTok’s blackboxed algorithms and opaque content moderation policies, situating this discussion within theories of the ‘algorithmic imaginary’. It catalogs the myriad ways that TikTok users work to circumvent LGBTQ+ censorship on the platform (e.g. by tactically obscuring key words in both speech and text and obscuring body parts and scenes). In the final portion of the paper, I draw on the concept of ‘cruising’ and other constitutive silences of LGBTQ+ existence to show how LGBTQ+ users are particularly well suited to producing folk knowledge about blackboxed algorithms. In closing, I examine the affordances and the limitations of LGBTQ+ users’ approach to navigating platform governance – and content moderation practices more specifically – as well as call for more organized and collective action in search of more permanent changes towards LGBTQ+-friendly platforms.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13467	Myles, David ; Chartrand, Alex; Duguay, Stefanie	'IF WE LOOK AT IT FROM AN LGBT POINT OF VIEW…’ MOBILIZING LGBTQ+ STAKEHOLDERS TO QUEER ALGORITHMIC IMAGINARIES	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13467	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13467/11422	This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that examines the social implications that platform algorithms raise for LGBTQ+ communities. We share the preliminary results of our Phase 2 group interviews, which were conducted with Canadian social media managers of LGBTQ+ non-profit organizations and with Canada-based LGBTQ+ tech workers. Algorithmic controversies relating to LGBTQ+ communities identified in Phase 1 were used as prompts to elicit discussions among participants. In this paper, we pay close attention to how participants queered dominant algorithmic imaginaries. Our preliminary analysis highlights four main findings. First, participants questioned dominant discourses that depict AI technology as being inherently new, instead re-inscribing algorithmic controversies within a long-lasting history of gender and sexual oppression. Second, participants reconfigured the ideal-type user embedded in sociotechnical systems but also identified challenges with effecting sociotechnical change as LGBTQ+ stakeholders. Third, participants subverted the notion of algorithmic resistance by questioning whether effective technological resistance should rely on technological misuse or disuse. Fourth, participants translated algorithmic controversies via their positionality as LGBTQ+ stakeholders to move beyond purely technicist considerations. Finally, we highlight the importance of mobilizing stakeholders from marginalized communities to contest the dominant discourses through which society makes sense of AI technologies.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13468	Nelson, Lucinda ; Suzor, Nicolas	EVERYDAY MISOGYNY: DISCOURSES ABOUT DEPP V HEARD ON TWITTER	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13468	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13468/11421	This paper examines the manifestation of 'everyday' online misogyny. Social media platforms are often deeply unsafe spaces for women, particularly women who speak publicly about feminist issues. In response to a number of public controversies over the last decade, platforms have introduced a range of different design interventions and policy changes. However, these interventions have predominantly focused on the most extreme, unambiguous manifestations of online misogyny. Current literature on gender-based violence emphasises that ‘everyday’ expressions of misogyny play a significant role in normalising violence against women and reinforcing the beliefs that underpin the more exceptional misogynistic attacks. This paper presents the initial findings of a case study of everyday misogyny on Twitter in discourses about the $2 trial. It aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how everyday misogyny manifests in ordinary language and debates on social media platforms, as a step towards developing better mechanisms for identifying and responding to online misogyny. Our preliminary findings challenge platforms' traditional reliance on counterspeech-based approaches to addressing the harms of everyday misogyny. Rather than serving as a remedy, this study suggests that online debate about women's experiences of violence can instead, in some circumstances, become a vehicle for oppression, a manifestation of everyday online misogyny.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13469	Nemer, David ; Marks, William	UNRAVELING DISINFORMATION: EXAMINING THE HUMAN INFRASTRUCTURE OF MISINFORMATION IN BRAZIL THROUGH THE LENS OF HETEROMATION	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13469	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13469/11420	In recent years, major technology companies have taken much of the public blame for this reality, given their algorithms facilitate the sharing of—and sometimes even promote—falsehoods. This, however, misses a key reality; social media, search engines, and messaging services are not fully automated technologies. Rather, they are heteromated: they are reliant on participatory humans to serve their economic goals. Focusing on users, and on the sharing, rather than the origination, of disinformation, we connect theories of heteromation with those surrounding the Human Infrastructure of Misinformation (HIM) with the express purpose of contributing to a more holistic understanding of how and why misinformation is so prevalent online.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13470	Nieborg, David ; Poell, Thomas	PLATFORMS, POWER & ADVERTISING: ANALYSING RELATIONS OF DEPENDENCY IN THE DIGITAL ADVERTISING ECOSYSTEM	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13470	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13470/11419	This paper examines how dominant institutional actors exercise power and control over the digital advertising ecosystem. It pursues this inquiry through a case study on the 2021 introduction of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature—a privacy setting newly integrated in the operating system of iOS mobile devices. Developing this case study, we ask: How do dominant market actors exercise control over the infrastructural layers of the ‘mobile ad stack’ and how do they gain access to end-user data? These questions are addressed through a mix-methods approach that involves (A) analysis of developer documentation provided by Apple, (B) a review of ongoing litigation, and (C) analysis of financial disclosure forms of two ad-driven platforms Meta and Snapchat. This inquiry shows, first, how and why Facebook and Google, each in their own way, have been highly successful in their ability to aggregate both ad inventory and accurate, real-time user data. Second, it demonstrates how ATT blocked the access of advertising platforms to a key part of this real-time user data, while, simultaneously, enabling Apple to gain control over end-users’ mobile data. Thus, the rollout of ATT and its subsequent shifts in revenue and data demonstrate the relational and constantly evolving nature of institutional power in the mobile advertising ecosystem.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13471	Niemann-Lenz, Julia ; Dittrich, Anja; Scheper, Jule	WITH OR WITHOUT THE CROWD? THE INFLUENCE OF CODER CHARACTERISTICS ON CODING DECISIONS COMPARING CROWDWORKERS AND TRADITIONAL CODERS.	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13471	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13471/11418	Standardized manual content analysis is an important methodology to capture the messages in journalistic and social media. Specifically, for supervised machine learning aproaches, human-generated training data is needed. The process of coding as well as the selection of suitable coders is crucial for obtaining good data quality. However, little research has been done on how the coding process should be designed and how personal characteristics of the coders might influence data quality. This blind spot becomes even more crucial because coding is nowadays increasingly performed with the help of crowdworkers. When working with such anonymous coders, the process of coding can then be less controlled by the researchers, which can lead to loss of quality. In our comparative mixed-methods study we compare data from a content analysis on the topic of legalizing abortion (n = 300 tweets). We conducted this in two ways: Firstly, with a team of four student coders who also received training and secondly with 150 crowdworkers. All coders had to complete a short survey on their socio-demographics and personality traits. The results show that both validity and reliability are higher for the student coders, especially for tricky coding tasks. Further, multivariate (logistic) regression analysis reveals that personal characteristics such as formal education and emotional sensitivity also have an impact on coding quality. Hence, with a reflective selection of coders as well as a thoughtful design of the coding process and the codebook, the quality of data collection can be increased—even when relying on crowdworkers.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13472	Noone, Rebecca ; Jacob, Arun	PERILS OF PLACE: GEOFENCES AND PREDATORY PLATFORM INTIMACIES	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13472	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13472/11417	For many, mapping platforms are enmeshed in everyday experiences. We navigate, locate, and move through the world with the help of their locative affordances. Consequently, these platforms have an intimate awareness of our movements and location history, and this information is valuable for advertisers. One way that platforms can track and share this information is through geofences, commonly used by companies to send targeted advertisements directly to platforms. Geofences are virtual perimeters established around target locations that act as a digital tripwire, marking who and what crosses its threshold. Digital mapping platforms like Google Maps broker this location data to third-parties (Bui, Chang, & McIlwain, 2022). This paper examines two applications of geofences as intermediaries of locational data. The first is the use of geofences by the property platform, CIVVL, that applies geofences to facilitate and accelerate the tenant eviction process. The second is Hawk Analytics, a locational data broker that geofences abortion clinics and sells the locational data from the clinic’s clients to anti-choice organizations, in jurisdictions of the United States where such healthcare is illegal. In our analysis of locational data, we apply the concept of platform intimacies (Rambukkana and de Verteuil, 2021; Ley, & Rambukkana, 2021) to understand the techniques through which geofences access private locational details. This paper examines the spatial relations the geofence enforces and how this often-unregulated informational infrastructure can be applied to weaponize location data. We argue that the geofence enables an extractive relationship with intimate platform knowledge while it enforces hegemonic notions of trespass and belonging.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13473	Normark, Maria ; Hansson, Karin; Jacobsson, Mattias	DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ERA OF DATAFICATION	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13473	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13473/11416	In this paper, we explore how activists and human rights defenders deal with datafication. This work demonstrates how data can be a valuable resource in activism and campaign planning. In addition, data and lack of data also complicate daily life for people in vulnerable positions, for example, when contacting government agencies, schools, and medical facilities . Data from four types of human rights activism formed the basis of our analysis. They include volunteers and employees of NGOs dealing with refugee and migrant issues, homelessness, poverty, sexual minorities, and women's shelters. The study was done in Sweden, where the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) laws limit the handling and storage of personal data. The following five major themes emerge from the analysis of data from our interview study: Affording personal integrity, Data poverty, Protective data practices, Drawing attention to data, and Systems and data routines. In addition, this study shows how activists and the organizations that they support are exposed to contradictory aspects of data; on one hand, deliberately exposing data about marginalized/minoritized groups, while on the other, making sure those groups, along with activists themselves, are not exposed. Most important, the data laws and regulations are not adjusted to the needs of the most vulnerable in society, and therefore, actions of civil disobedience are necessary to care for vulnerable populations through data.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13474	Novozhilova, Ekaterina ; Kate, Mays; Huang, Dongpeng; Lee, Hongchan; Katz, James	WHERE IN SOCIETY WILL AI AGENTS FIT? A PROPOSED FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING ATTITUDES TOWARD AI OCCUPATIONAL ROLES FROM THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF STATUS, IDENTITY, AND ONTOLOGY	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13474	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13474/11415	To better understand what drives the public’s perception and acceptance of AI in different roles, we propose a study that looks at varying AI domains by occupational status and individual differences across ontological perceptions, automation anxiety, perceived status, and identity threat. As a first step, we conducted a representative survey of the US population (N = 1,005) that looked into the public's perceptions of AI replacement of high-status jobs. Results indicate that a majority of participants hold negative attitudes about AI replacement in all domains presented. However, participants were more open to AI replacement in lower-status roles such as journalist and hiring manager compared to higher-status roles of spiritual leader and trial judge. Contrary to our expectations, participants believed that trial judge was a slightly worse idea than AI spiritual advisor. This finding suggests that the associated machine heuristic of the judge role as being a more rational and objective occupation was not triggered in our sample. Our results also suggest that more vulnerable populations are more reluctant to accept AI in the majority of jobs. These findings are in line with previous public opinion surveys and demonstrate that individuals with lower levels of power and status are more likely to be reluctant to accept new technology and potentially perceive it as a threat. Our next step will be to include more occupations that can be potentially automated and look for explanatory mechanisms driving the public’s view of AI integration.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13475	Okafor, Carl Chineme; Ferrer-Conill, Raul; Helle, Sjovaaj	DIMENSIONS OF DATA QUALITY FOR VALUES IN SMART CITIES DATAFICATION PRACTICES	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13475	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13475/11414	Data quality facilitates data interoperability for optimal decision-making in smart cities datafication. But there are few studies on how technologists (e.g., data scientists), governance people (e.g., municipal workers), and third-party collaborators (e.g., smart city services vendors) assess data quality together in smart cities datafication. This paper offers a response to this knowledge gap, using interviews (n=10) with municipal workers, data scientists and smart city services vendors, and data structure documents (n=8) in a situated case, the Stavanger (Norway) smart city. Implicit the paper’s results is that data quality is a floating signifier – comprising the different articulations of data scientists, municipal workers and services vendors in assessment. This generates friction with implications on data interoperability. This paper therefore posits that assessing data quality in smart cities datafication is ambiguous, but not empty. It fluctuates between the articulations of data scientists, municipal workers, and services vendors, with implications on data interoperability through the friction this generates. Keywords: data quality, data interoperability, floating signifier, frictions, smart city datafication
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13476	Paasonen, Susanna ; Sundén, Jenny; Tiidenberg, Katrin; Vihlman, Maria	RETHINKING THE SOCIAL IN SOCIAL MEDIA	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13476	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13476/11413	This paper makes an argument for the value of including sexual sites in definitions and analyses of social media. Building on interview data (four developer interviews and 56 user interviews) from three North European sexual platforms (Darkside, Alastonsuomi and Libertine.Center) devoted to nudity, sex, and kink, it examines the implications of defining sex platforms as social media and the analytical avenues that the inclusion of sexual sites opens up for understanding forms of sociability within them. We start by mapping the studied platforms as built infrastructures that shape and constrain sociality, with a particular focus on developer dialogue with the broader social media ecosystem. We then discuss how these built spaces are used and experienced as “socio-sexual silos” with a particular focus on notions of safety. Finally, we consider what this means for sociality on social media and propose “context promiscuity” as a conceptual aid for unpacking this.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13477	Parnell, Claire	ALGOSPEAK AND ALGO-DESIGN IN PLATFORMED BOOK PUBLISHING: REVOLUTIONARY CREATIVE TACTICS IN DIGITAL PARATEXT TO CIRCUMVENT CONTENT MODERATION	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13477	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13477/11423	This paper examines the rise of algo-design in the context of platformed book publishing. Building on conceptualizations of algospeak, a strategy that involves creating code words or phrases to create a brand-safe lexicon, the paper theorizes algo-design as a broader creative strategy used by online creators that involves using and avoiding specific language and visuals to evade content moderation by platforms. Specifically, this research explores the use of algo-design in the paratext of romance and erotica novels by authors of color and LGBTQIA authors who publish their fiction on digital publishing platforms, such as Amazon, and market them on social media platforms. This exploratory reseach is based on a qualitative multi-method research design, including interviews with authors and metadata analysis. In many cases, algo-design may be seen as a revolutionary creative tactic for BIPOC and LGBTQIA authors of romance fiction, who are disproportionately affected by content moderation systems (Monea, 2022) and often have their works flagged as adult material due to the genre’s tendency to include intimate relationships (Parnell, 2021). In this way, the use of algo-design by authors is a clear effort to push back against bluntly imposed content moderation interventions and subvert platform power.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13478	Pettersen, Lene; Karlsen, Faltin	DARK DESIGN PATTERNS AND GAMIFICATION AS THE HEART OF DATING APPLICATIONS’ BUSINESS MODELS	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13478	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13478/11426	Dating applications represent a paradox: on the one hand, they provide a monetized platform for people to form relationships, yet on the other hand, the more people who find partners, the less revenue goes to the company. With this paradox as a backdrop, this extended abstract examines the business model of dating applications by address the following research question: What characterizes the business models of dating applications? To provide a nuanced picture of this, we conducted a 2022-study combining data about dating apps and app users: (A) 22 in-depth interviews with current and previous users (aged 24–49 years) of Norwegian dating applications users; (B) a systematic analysis of 30 serious dating apps in Google Play and Apple’s App Store; and (C) a diary study of four of the 30 dating applications. The findings reveals that dating apps follows a business model that creates revenue through a mix of an in-app purchase-model and subscription fees. The apps typically market themselves as free, yet they use several dark design and gamification features to create and spark emotional curiosity and engagement that in turn brings in revenue to dating app companies. Several of the users stated that they have experienced the apps as manipulative, emotionally exhausting and that they created the same kind of “addiction” or “cravings” they experienced in social media. Clearly, design is not only power, design gives the dating app companies power where designing for emotional engagement is a key value-creating element in their business models.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13479	Pettis, Ben Tadayoshi	WHO WATCHES THE BIRDWATCHERS? CREATING A ROGUE ARCHIVE OF TWITTER’S ONGOING COLLAPSE	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13479	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13479/11439	Community Notes (formerly named “Birdwatch”) is Twitter’s crowdsourced fact-checking program to combat mis- and dis-information. By signing up to be a Birdwatch contributor, a user can add contextual notes and commentary to other tweets as well as rate the contributions of others. User submissions to the Community Notes program also serve as metacommentary on the platform more generally. Beyond their fact-checking role, Birdwatch notes also illuminate how some users perceived Elon Musk’s recent purchase of the platform and how the subsequent changes aligned with their own understandings of what the platform ought to be. This paper describes Birdwatch Archive, a project to archive Twitter’s Community Notes program by parsing the data that Twitter publicly releases from the Birdwatch program and displaying it in a searchable and organized fashion that is accessible and useful to researchers. Using the anonymous user identification strings from each TSV file, the website enables researchers to assess how frequently users contribute to the Community Notes program by grouping notes and ratings they have provided. Even as Twitter continues to devolve and collapse, we can try to learn from how users described and understood the platform. When studying major platforms, we cannot rely solely upon the data made accessible by the platform itself. Instead, we must look for opportunities to create “rogue archives” of online settings, which includes turning sources that are not as frequently viewed by most users.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13480	Poole, Elizabeth ; de Quincey, Ed; Giraud, Eva; Richardson, John	TRACING MEDIA SOLIDARITIES WITH MUSLIMS: CONTESTING ISLAMOPHOBIA ON TWITTER	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13480	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13480/11438	Solidarity has been cited as a necessary prerequisite for transformational structural change and therefore contains revolutionary potential (Featherstone, 2012). This paper examines the role and evolution of mediated solidarities, which have become increasingly central to an analysis of social movements with the advent of participatory technologies, by drawing on data from a project on anti-Islamophobic counter-narratives. Online platforms have the affordances to contest Islamophobic hate speech as demonstrated by the dynamics of #stopIslam following the Brussels terror attack, 2016. In this instance, the hashtag gained its prominence through the contestations of users who sought to question, critique and undermine its original message (reference redacted). However, research has also shown the limitations of social media for online activism, in particular for creating meaningful debates or change (Schradie, 2019). This paper examines data from a large-scale study that used methods of computational, quantitative, and qualitative analysis to examine the dynamics of discourse about Muslims on Twitter in the case of Brexit, the Christchurch terror attack and Covid. We will examine whether the high incidence of solidarity discourses in this dataset are limited to acts of counter-speech (and other acts of weak solidarity) or if they contribute to sustainable counter-narratives that have implications for wider discursive formations related to Islam. Rather than reinforce existing binary arguments regarding the potentials and limitations of Twitter as a platform for solidarity, we wish to demonstrate the contradictory dynamics of the solidarities that arise from the logics of Twitter which relies on and produces these entanglements.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13481	Rauchberg, Jessica Sage ; Alper, Meryl; Simpson, Ellen; Guberman, Josh; Feinberg, Sarah	“HERE TO HAVE FUN AND FIGHT ABLEISM”: #AUTISKTOK USER BIOS AS NEUROQUEER MICRO-ACTIVIST PLATFORM AFFORDANCES	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13481	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13481/11437	User biography sections on digital social platforms (hereafter described as “user bios” or “bios”) are spaces for account holders to take narrative ownership in communicating their identities to other users and interlocutors. Online platforms, such as social media, are increasingly used as community hubs for disabled groups, and especially for autistic people (Author; Author; Sins Invalid, 2019). We focus on #Autisktok, one of many enclaves for autistic community building and cultural production on TikTok. Through a critical/cultural qualitative thematic analysis of #Autisktok user bios, we assess how the user bio mediates self-advocacy, agency, and autistic-centered knowledges on #Autisktok. To investigate how autistic TikTokers use their profile’s bio section as a space for “restorying” mainstream discourses about autism and agency, we draw upon M. Remi Yergeau’s (2018) work on autism and neuroqueer rhetorics and Arseli Dokumacı’s (2023) theory of micro-activist affordances, extending these frameworks toward the digital. We pose the following research questions: How do autistic youth use the bio section on TikTok to (re)story autism diagnosis? What is the user bio’s role in creating a supportive enclave for other autistic creators, users, and activists on the TikTok platform? Three themes emerged from our analysis: the explicit use of autism in the user bio, autism and intersecting identities, and the bio as a space for asserting agentic autistic selfhood.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13482	Rawlings, Richard ; Brown, Genavee; Coventry, Lynne; Thomas, Lisa	HOOK-UP APPS COMPLICATE VISIBILITY FOR RURAL QUEER PEOPLE: RESULTS OF A QUALITATIVE SCOPING STUDY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13482	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13482/11434	Before the millennium, finding other queer people often involved travelling to a queer venue in a city. Consequently, queer people have been at the forefront of internet technologies such as hook-up apps, namely $2 . Rural hook-up app use is under-researched, and queer visibility may be more carefully negotiated in rural areas than in cities. We carried out a qualitative study to establish whether location and/or technology use shaped social, sexual and romantic network creation and/or quality. Thirty-eight participants in cities and rural areas across the UK took part. We found hook-up apps to be the only source of local queer connection for some rural participants. Users speak of being drawn to these technologies when lonely, yet find they can contribute to feelings of isolation. Being visible, which the pictorial logic of some hook-up apps demands, can be difficult in rurality due to partial ‘outness’ about sexuality. Some fear meeting other app users in public in rural areas due to potential homophobia, yet lack access to private spaces. Some users find innovative ways to meet goals of friendship and community beyond the perceived affordances of sexual hook-ups, such as forming friendship and community groups via or beyond apps. This demonstrates that hook-up apps are inadequately-tailored tools for participants’ queerness, which extends beyond visible sexuality to negotiated communities and relationships of trust. This contributes to wider understanding of technology’s role in shaping social cohesion across diverse geographies and groups and the demands of visibility of such technologies on users.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13483	Reddy, Ananya; Kumar, Priya	EXPLORING AUTHENTICITY ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA APP BEREAL	2023-12-31	AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research; 2023: AoIR2023	Association of Internet Researchers	eng	10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13483	https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/download/13483/11433	BeReal, the latest social media app to gain popularity, explicitly frames itself as a more “authentic” alternative to dominant platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Users can post only once per day, in a random two-minute window controlled by the app. Posts consist of an image that combines photos from a smartphone’s front- and back-facing cameras. While these individual features aren’t novel, the app packages them as an overt response to current cultural frustration with fake-ness. How persuasive is this marketing tactic, especially among a generation that has grown up with social media? To explore this question, we are interviewing young adult BeReal users about how they use the app and to what extent they experience BeReal as a space for authenticity. Our ongoing analysis suggests that while participants find BeReal to offer forms of real-time and spontaneous authenticity, on a deeper level, they question whether social platforms can ever act as vessels for authenticity. These initial findings indicate that young adults may recognize social media claims to authenticity as the marketing tactics they often are.
oai:journals.uic.edu:article/13484	Reynolds, CJ; Hallinan, Blake	YOUTUBE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT CREATORS": HOW YOUTUBERS USE THE PLATFORM TO PROMOTE ACCOUNTABILITY	2023.0	5	.pdf	application/pdf	1581	87	28	[Edited].docx Selected Papers of #AoIR2023: The 24th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers Philadelphia, PA, USA / 18-21 Oct 2023 “I WORKED SO HARD, AND I STILL DIDN’T SUCCEED”: CODING BOOTCAMP EXPERIENCES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Kate M. Miltner The University of Sheffield Gitit Kadar-Satat The University of Warwick Emily Ashton The University of Warwick INTRODUCTION Coding bootcamps are intensive training programs that aim to turn adults with no computer programming experience into professional software developers in as little as 12 to 16 weeks. Coding bootcamps have been promoted as a key solution for the tech “skills gap” in the United States (Swartz, 2017) as well as a “ticket into the middle class” for low-income workers (Pathak, 2016).	cache/spir-13465.pdf	txt/spir-13465.txt