subtle acts of support in online communities

what is this study about?

We are exploring how online community members support each other in subtle, often unnoticed ways. Our goal is to understand these interactions (including how people perform them in their online communities even though there aren’t many tools to support this behavior) and develop tools that help make subtle support easier to do in online community platforms.

who is conducting this research?

This project is led by Dr. Austin Toombs (Associate Professor, Indiana University) with PhD students Tilar DeVine and Seora Park. It is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF Award #2432286).

how can communities participate?

We are currently looking for online communities interested in taking part in this study. Participation can happen in multiple ways, and all parts are completely optional:

  1. Digital Ethnography (Ongoing) – We observe public interactions in online communities to identify supportive behaviors and we take notes about what we notice (without taking screenshots or compiling a database of the posts). No additional action is required from community members, and all observations remain anonymous. In instances where communities also want us to participate, we will! There are a few communities we are already participating in, including joining voice channels on Discord and learning to play Marvel Rivals.
  2. Individual Participation (Starting August 2025) – We will recruit individuals for:
    • Diary Study ($50 compensation) – Participants record interactions and experiences over two weeks.
    • Interviews ($40 compensation) – One-on-one discussions about online community experiences.
    • Focus Groups ($80 compensation) – Group discussions on community support dynamics.
    • Workshops ($40 per hour, $80 total compensation) – Co-design sessions to develop tools for online support.
  3. Technology Testing (Future Phase) – Some communities will be invited to test tools (e.g., bots or browser extensions) designed to foster supportive interactions.

why is this important?

Online communities play a crucial role in social support, but many forms of community care go unnoticed and are unsupported by platform design. We want to provide evidence-based recommendations and tools to enhance online community well-being.

how do I know you’re real?

This is a perfectly reasonable concern! Here are some official and reputable announcements about this project:

how do I notify you that we are interested in participating?

If your community is interested in participating or if you have questions, please contact us at Austin’s university email address, “altoombs” followed by the “at” symbol followed by “iu.edu”. We would love to collaborate with a wide range of communities, so even if you think yours might not “count,” I’ll bet that it does!

frequently asked questions

If we are okay with you observing us, what all does that include?

  • There’s a wide range of ways we can do the observations depending on how your community might want us to participate, but the main takeaway is we will not be taking screenshots or scraping data or compiling a database of posts and conversations. Our goal is to identify patterns and observe how interactions among participants unfold over time.
    • On one end of the extreme we can just passively read through posts as they appear. For example, in a subreddit we would look at what people are talking about right now and take notes about the kinds of things we’re noticing and what questions those things surface for us about how people are interacting together.
    • On the other end of the extreme we can be “participant observers,” where we actively engage in your group. For example, in a Discord server that supports a group of people who like to play a particular video game together, we might add memes, joke around with other participants, join voice calls, or play games with you all. We would also be taking notes about the kinds of things we’re noticing and what questions those things surface for us about how people are interacting together. However, we would only take this kind of high-engagement approach if that is what your group would like from us.

Can we see the study information sheet?

What happens if we decide we no longer want you to observe us or we want to stop participating?

  • Just let us know and we will remove ourselves from your community’s online space. We fully respect your group’s boundaries.
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