“Digital Sanctums of Empowerment”: Exploring Community and Everyday Resilience-Building Tactics in Online Professional Communities for Women

Subhasree Sengupta, Zhasmina Tacheva

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

Abstract

Work and learning are essential facets of our existence, yet women have and may continue to face multiple restrictions that hinder and impede their professional outcomes. These restrictions are especially pronounced in the technical domains of Information technology and Computer science. This paper explores the power of informal online communities to act as collective shields of care in the context of professional development, especially for women. Using a mixed-methods comparative investigation of 400,268 conversational traces from three professional development communities on Reddit, we report resilience and communal empathy-building tactics, as well as calls for inclusivity and belongingness, which drive the collective identity of these online channels. The long-term goal of this work is to address the way in which such channels can be designed and curated to offer spaces for enrichment, empowerment, and advocacy with a focus on the professional development of women, especially those engaged in technical domains.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023
EditorsTung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages2061-2070
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780998133164
StatePublished - 2023
Event56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: Jan 3 2023Jan 6 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Volume2023-January
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period1/3/231/6/23

Keywords

  • Comparative mixed-methods analysis
  • Gender in the workplace
  • Online community norms and support
  • Reddit
  • Resilience building and support

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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