Patterns of Everyday Care is an ongoing collection of 23 design patterns describing the subtle, everyday forms of care that hold online communities together. Each pattern is inspired by cultural practices that help make space for when and where this kind of care can take place.
The collection is maintained by the Community·Computer Interaction Lab (C·CIL) at Indiana University, directed by Austin L. Toombs.
The patterns were developed through digital ethnographies and qualitative study of online communities. The full collection was first published at the Design Research Society conference:
For the patterns themselves and the research, cite the paper above. If you’re citing the toolkit as you used it—a specific version of the cards, templates, or site—cite the resource and its version, since this site is updated over time:
Austin L. Toombs, Seora Park, Tilar Manion, and Xinyun Zhang.
Based on design work by Evan O’Neil.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2432286. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
The patterns, cards, and templates are released under CC BY. You're welcome to use, print, adapt, and build on them, including in workshops and teaching; please keep the attribution above. If you adapt the materials, a note that your version is based on this collection is appreciated.
This collection grows. Patterns may be reworded, examples added, and new material released over time; each version is dated, and significant changes are noted in the changelog so anyone who used an earlier version can see what moved.
Know a reading (scholarly or otherwise) that would deepen or complicate one of these patterns? Have you used the patterns in your own work and want to tell us how? We'd be glad to hear from you, and to consider additions for a future version. The most useful suggestions point to work that extends or troubles a specific pattern, not simply one that mentions the topic. Reach out at austintoombs.com/contact-me.