No abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine if, and to what extent, online Community Question Answering platforms expand the opportunities for professional development in programming. Longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses of Stack Overflow Developer Surveys were used to examine users' geographical distribution, gender, experience, professional status, platform usage and education. In order to study differences between the countries with the largest number of respondents, the developer survey data was combined with indicators of human development, gender equality and educational attainment. The results show that the Stack Overflow community has expanded to some extent, both in terms of wider geographical distribution and the programming expertise of users. However, the community reflects and fails to mitigate the apparent gender disparity in the field of programming. Furthermore, participation seems to be conditioned by formal education, especially in developing countries. In general, participation patterns in Stack Overflow seem to be heavily influenced by local conditions in different countries.

The purpose of this study is to examine if, and to what extent, online Community Question Answering platforms expand the opportunities for professional development in programming. Longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses of Stack Overflow Developer Surveys were used to examine users' geographical distribution, gender, experience, professional status, platform usage and education. In order to study differences between the countries with the largest number of respondents, the developer survey data was combined with indicators of human development, gender equality and educational attainment. The results show that the Stack Overflow community has expanded to some extent, both in terms of wider geographical distribution and the programming expertise of users. However, the community reflects and fails to mitigate the apparent gender disparity in the field of programming. Furthermore, participation seems to be conditioned by formal education, especially in developing countries. In general, participation patterns in Stack Overflow seem to be heavily influenced by local conditions in different countries.

This exploratory paper examines a tension between interacting and documenting as knowledge sharing tasks on Stack Overflow, a platform that supports informal learning at scale in the domain of programming. The study works with platform data in the form of the text of posts and accompanying metadata along with 16 interviews with users. Drawing on trace ethnography as an approach to maintaining an interpretive stance while combining several types of data, this preliminary analysis discusses two interrelated particularities of the tension. The discussion of these particularities, platform mechanics and competing temporalities, helps to unpack a tension that is both a phenomenon of analytic interest and a member’s concern for users of the platform.

This exploratory paper examines a tension between interacting and documenting as knowledge sharing tasks on Stack Overflow, a platform that supports informal learning at scale in the domain of programming. The study works with platform data in the form of the text of posts and accompanying metadata along with 16 interviews with users. Drawing on trace ethnography as an approach to maintaining an interpretive stance while combining several types of data, this preliminary analysis discusses two interrelated particularities of the tension. The discussion of these particularities, platform mechanics and competing temporalities, helps to unpack a tension that is both a phenomenon of analytic interest and a member's concern for users of the platform.