#Implicit_Care #Ethnography

︎DRS ’26 [paper]
︎Published the website of design patterns [link]

Design research in social computing has used the concept of care to describe how technologies help or hinder interpersonal support online. Yet opportunities remain to explore how the subtle, everyday forms of care that have long sustained communities can inform social technology design.

To address this, we explore the implicit care practices of online communities through digital ethnographies of Reddit, Discord, and Facebook groups. Building on empirical findings, we propose how platforms can support, without scripting, everyday forms of care.

As one of the design approaches, we present a collection of design patterns that translate culturally specific, everyday social practices of various communities into design prompts for digital platforms. Come and check our DRS ‘26 paper and the associated website linked above!

︎ Advised by Dr. Austin Toombs