New occupations are emerging that have high job demand in the market, but lack a coherent body of disciplinary knowledge. For example, user experience (UX) design is an emerging occupation that has not been adequately supported by the traditional educational system. For learners beginning their undergraduate education, there is no concrete path to follow to become a UX professional, due to few UX-focused undergraduate academic programs. Online communities of practices have been recognized as important learning venues, even while institutions of formal education often lag behind in structuring knowledge production and distribution. However, little is known about how knowledge is generated and diffused in online communities in the context of emerging occupations with volatile knowledge boundaries. In this paper, we analyze knowledge production in relation to social roles in an online UX community. We show that knowledge production is highly distributed, involving the participation of community members of varied levels of experience. We discuss how online communities support the development of the UX occupation. Paper: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/50148

1. A STUDY OF USER EXPERIENCE
PRACTITIONERS ON REDDIT
YUBO KOU,
COLIN M. GRAY,
AUSTIN L. TOOMBS,
AND ROBIN S. ADAMS
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
AND SOCIAL ROLES IN AN
ONLINE COMMUNITY OF
EMERGING OCCUPATION

2. KNOWLEDGE
PRODUCTION AND
SOCIAL ROLES IN AN
ONLINE COMMUNITY OF
EMERGING OCCUPATION
1

3. KNOWLEDGE
PRODUCTION AND
SOCIAL ROLES IN AN
ONLINE COMMUNITY OF
EMERGING OCCUPATION
2

4. KNOWLEDGE
PRODUCTION AND
SOCIAL ROLES IN AN
ONLINE COMMUNITY OF
EMERGING OCCUPATION
3

5. How are UX approaches adopted in practice?
How do we educate students for careers in UX?
courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4328394839

6. Documenting elements of competence in UX practice
(Gray, 2014)
Mapping the flow or movement of competence
between UX practitioners and companies
(Gray, Toombs, & Gross, 2015)
courtesy of Juhan Sonin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/7797009214
Identifying knowledge-sharing practices among
UX practitioners through social media
(Gray & Kou, in review)

7. WHAT IS AN
“EMERGING”
OCCUPATION?
“occupations […] that are becoming
“numerically important or emerging
due to technological change”
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994)

8. UX represents one such “emerging occupation”

9. Social media supports the development and
sustainment of communities of practice
(CoP) (e.g., Marlow and Dabbish, 2014).
Flows of knowledge and communication are
generally an evolution of legitimate peripheral
participation, from novice to expert.
In this study, we wanted to discover what
kinds of knowledge work exist when there
is no central definition of “expert” or “core
knowledge,” such as in UX practice.

10. KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION1
How does vocality influence knowledge
activity in the online community?
SOCIAL ROLES2
What roles do community members
take on when participating?

11. /r/userexperience
970 posts; 6958 associated comments
(JAN-AUG 2016)
Descriptive
Statistics
Content
Analysis

12. KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION1
How does vocality influence knowledge
activity in the online community?
POST COMMENT
Score # Comments
Author
Vocality Score
Author
Vocality
Min 0 0 1 -17 1
Max 204 121 45 69 160
Avg. 9.16 7.21 5.35 2.32 26.63
SD 14.66 9.75 9.74 3.28 39.33

13. KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION1
How does vocality influence knowledge
activity in the online community?
‣ Vocal authors do not necessarily generate high-
value posts (post: r=0.12; comment: r=0.11)
‣ People active in making posts are not necessarily
active in making comments, and vice versa
(r=0.28)
‣ People who are good at creating high value posts
are not necessarily good at making high value
comments (r=0.04).

14. SOCIAL ROLES2
What roles do community members
take on when participating?
TOP 50
POSTERS
83 USER
ACCOUNTS
(4.3% of all accounts)
TOP 50
COMMENTERS
} 361 posts (37%); 2352 comments (34%)

15. Knowledge Broker (18/83)
Translator (6/83)
Experienced Practitioner (19/83)
Conversation Facilitator (17/83)
Learner (23/83)
SOCIAL ROLES2
What roles do community members
take on when participating?
}
83 USER
ACCOUNTS
(4.3% of all accounts)
} 361 posts (37%); 2352 comments (34%)

16. KNOWLEDGE BROKER (18/83 = 21.7%)
Knowledge brokers introduced knowledge they
found novel and valuable to the community by
sharing links to interesting UX articles, concepts,
or newly published books.
POST: How Tools Have Shaped the Role of the Designer
POST: Dark Patterns are designed to trick you (and they’re
all over the Web)
POST: Seats in the street: How LA's outdoor furniture
creates a more livable city
SOCIALROLES2

17. TRANSLATOR (6/83 = 7.2%)
Translators sought to bring academic knowledge
into the community, drawing from their own
experiences in other domains or disciplines.
COMMENT: Author has a lot of opinion and seems to have
set up his Slack poorly but...He does raise several very
common CSCW issues which are in fact present in many
collaboration systems like Slack that Slack has also not
resolved yet…
SOCIALROLES2

18. EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONER (19/83 = 22.9%)
Experienced practitioners often self-identified as
a senior UX practitioner with years of experience
in UX design, including expertise in working with
diverse groups and demonstrated familiarity with
the UX industry.
COMMENT: I have various documents I've types up on
conducting research (e.g. best practice or industry
specific), from carrying out stakeholder interviews to
researching users needs. Also plenty on how to carry out
heuristic reviews, SEO audits, routes in/out, topographic
reviews, strategy process etc...
SOCIALROLES2

19. CONVERSATION FACILITATOR (17/83 = 20.5%)
Conversation facilitators did not introduce new
knowledge. They tended to start and maintain
thoughtful conversations with others, with posts
frequently receiving high numbers of comments.
POST: Looking for examples of US state selectors where
the user can select multiple US states
COMMENT: Maybe add a twist to it and make it your own
instead of copying 100%. That's what I usually do if I
REALLLY like a design.
SOCIALROLES2

20. LEARNER (23/83 = 27.7%)
Learners were generally students or junior UX
designers who relied upon the community for
suggestions and advice.
COMMENT: i did two software engineering internships
and halfway through the first one i decided it just wasn't
for me. i wanted a career in something that would have a
bigger impact on people. […] discovered ux halfway
through my second internship, my last internship was full
ux :)
SOCIALROLES2

21. UX knowledge in the community
RESEARCH–PRACTICE GAP
ACADEMIC
RESEARCH/THEORY
TRANSLATOR
Senior UX
designers’
personal
experiences
LEARNER
CONVERSATION
FACILITATOR
EXPERIENCED
PRACTITIONER
Knowledge on
external sites
(e.g., articles,
design
artifacts)
KNOWLEDGE
BROKER
SOCIAL ROLES2

22. /R/USEREXPERIENCE
AS A COMMUNITY OF
EMERGING OCCUPATION

23. /R/USEREXPERIENCE
AS A COMMUNITY OF
EMERGING OCCUPATION
‣ Distinctive external forces such as high job
demand and nascent undergraduate training
‣ Fragmented yet supportive knowledge work with
no clearly defined “center”
‣ Bridges the knowledge gap among multiple
stakeholders in UX practice, education, and
workforce development

24. COLINGRAY.ME | UXP2.COM
GRAY42@PURDUE.EDU
THANK YOU