The Case for Many Internets

Internet studies research often concentrates on mainstream platforms, practices, and users at the expense of people and technologies at the margin. This article introduces a collection of essays that addresses the gap in research, taking a number of different approaches. Indeed, arguing for a diverse and multi-faceted understanding of digital technologies can take a number of forms, including studying platforms that are incredibly common yet rarely investigated, looking at practices that fall outside the scope of mainstream communication research, and investigating communities that are non-Western, non-urban, and/or non-heteronormative. Research in these areas is crucial in developing a broader understanding of online platforms, and for expanding theoretical frameworks related to technology, media, and communication

HCI and Sensitive Life Experiences

HCI research has identified a number of life events and life transitions which see individuals in a vulnerable state, such as gender transition, domestic abuse, romantic relationship dissolution, bereavement, and even genocide. Although these life events differ across the human lifespan, considering them as a group of ‘sensitive life experiences’, and exploring the similarities and differences in how we approach those experiences as researchers could be invaluable in generating a better understanding of them. In this workshop, we aim to identify current opportunities for, and barriers to, the design of social computing systems that support people during sensitive life events and transitions. Participants will take part in activities centred around exploring the similarities and differences between their own and others’ research methods and results, drawing on their own experiences in discussions around carrying out research in these sensitive contexts

Slacktivists or Activists?: Identity Work in the Virtual Disability March

Protests are important social forms of activism, but can be inaccessible to people with disabilities. Online activism, like the 2017 Disability March, has provided alternative venues for involvement in accessible protesting and social movements. In this study, we use identity theory as a lens to understand why and how disabled activists engaged in an online movement, and its impact on their self-concepts. We interviewed 18 disabled activists about their experiences with online protesting during the Disability March. Respondents' identities (as both disabled individuals and as activists) led them to organize or join the March, evolved alongside the group's actions, and were reprioritized or strained as a result of their involvement. Our findings describe the values and limitations of this activism to our respondents, highlight the tensions they perceived about their activist identities, and present opportunities to support further accessibility and identity changes by integrating technology into their activist experiences

Towards identifying, understanding and controlling cumulative revelations in social media

Every day, people post information about themselves and others on online social networks, making such information accessible within their social circles but also, potentially, way beyond. While the information posted may seem benign or innocuous, small pieces of information, when tied together, can potentially reveal much more about the person than intended. Such cumulative revelations could expose them to risks such as identity theft, fraud or loss of employment. This paper describes findings from interviews about people's online interactions, focusing on their requirements and desires for improved ways to identify, understand and control cumulative revelations arising from their social media profiles that could put them at risk of grave consequences. These findings motivate our future work on how to better raise awareness among social media users of the risks and consequences to which combinations of posts may lead

Crafting Identity in League of Legends - Purchases as a Tool to Achieve Desired Impressions

Within the industry of computer games, one game genre with increasing popularity is Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA). The diffusion of MOBAs within in the last decade is accompanied by a remarkable economic success and leaping revenues. This development is particularly interesting since MOBAs follow a free-to-play business model in which the majority of purchases consists of virtual items solely of hedonic value. Although research has already identified meaningful explanations in different contexts, an answer to the question what motivates players to purchase virtual items in the context of the most successful MOBA game League of Legends is still scarce. We use the social identity approach and self-presentation theory simultaneously to explain purchases, investigate predictors of self-presentation and explore effects of different self-presentation strategies (self-promotion, ingratiation, exemplification, intimidation, and supplication) on purchases. Results of our survey (n=209) indicate that identification and self-presentation hold the potential to explain purchases