While the problem of trans-inclusive, -affirming, or -empowering research methods is not specifically a CSCW problem -as we directly confront by comparing and contrasting the perspectives of CSCW and conventional demography -we argue that a CSCW lens may be uniquely suited to addressing it. While these critiques are important, this paper explores what trans-inclusive quantitative methods could be by applying a participant- or user-driven approach. This work has emphasized how trans people are excluded, harmed, and misrepresented in existing platforms, algorithms, and research methods.
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Prior work on transgender technology users in CSCW has primarily focused on how they interact with algorithms and communication technology, empirically identifying specific use cases and profiles, and speaking largely to the designers and developers of these platforms. While this article is specific to Reddit, researchers may also view it as a list of the type of information one may seek to acquire prior to conducting a project that uses any type of social media data. Specifically, we provide descriptive information about the Reddit site and its users, tips for using organic data from Reddit for social science research, some ideas for conducting a survey on Reddit, and lessons learned in merging survey responses with Reddit posts. In this article, we attempt to document several challenges and opportunities encountered when working with Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the Internet” and popular social media site. Unfortunately, this type of information is often not obvious ahead of time as much of this knowledge is gained through word-of-mouth and experience. For example, social media data are so large that they may not be able to be processed on a single machine they are in file formats with which many researchers are unfamiliar, and they require a level of data transformation and processing that has rarely been required when using more traditional data sources (e.g., survey data). Social media data have properties quite different from those with which many social scientists are used to working, so the assumptions often used to plan and manage a project may no longer hold. When deciding whether to use data from social media, it is useful to learn as much as possible about the data and its source. These data are plentiful and offer the potential to answer new research questions at smaller geographies and for rarer subpopulations. Social media are becoming more popular as a source of data for social science researchers. Based on these identity re-presentations and their potential effects on the experience of reddit users, we examine how the unlimited opportunities for the construction of one’s (sexual) identity that the Internet appears to offer turn out to be restricted by hegemonic as well as other normative prescriptions of seemingly open and welcoming communities.
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By taking a closer look at what is said – and what is not – about both those who create content and those who are seen as this content, we seek to elucidate how sidebars in subreddits serve to include and/or exclude specific behaviours in/from the normative visions of socially negotiated sexual identities.
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Based on analyses of sidebars displayed in subreddits, we explore which aspects of identity are seen – and thereby made – to be markers of personal and collective sexual identities. However, it is these very representations that co-produce the identities of those who could be included in them. The short descriptions that sidebars in these subreddits offer may appear to serve simply as a welcome to those whose identities they claim to represent. The online community reddit seems to offer countless opportunities for the expression of sexual identities in specific groups called ‘subreddits’ – from those who play their part in the ‘maledom sexology’ to others who ‘celebrate’ ‘femboys’ or ‘girls with glasses’ to ‘gay bros’ doing ‘guy stuff’, and ‘actual lesbians’ escaping the ‘male gaze’.