This document analyzes self-disclosure in an online user experience (UX) professional community on Reddit from January 2016 to February 2017. It finds that UX professionals disclosed academic background, work experience, career plans, and expertise. Self-disclosure occurred in 31.7% of posts and supported online communication by attracting more comments and follow-up disclosures. Disclosure helped the UX profession by sharing knowledge, established credibility for opinions, and built professional identities. The study concludes self-disclosure informs lifelong professional practice and aids the development of the UX field.

1. YUBO KOU
Florida State University
“WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND A
COMPLETE BEGINNER LIKE ME TO PRACTICE?”
PROFESSIONAL SELF-DISCLOSURE IN AN ONLINE COMMUNITY
COLIN M. GRAY
Purdue University

2. EVOLVING DISCIPLINARY STATUS OF
USER EXPERIENCE (UX)
INSTANCE OF CREATIVE +
PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

3. “the act of revealing personal
information to others”
Sidney M. Jourard. 1971. Self-disclosure:An experimental analysis
of the transparent self. Oxford, UK: John Wiley.
SELF-DISCLOSURE

4. /r/userexperience
January 2016–February 2017
1790
POSTS
11,373
COMMENTS

5. 568
POSTS
Contained
self-disclosure
5,047
COMMENTS
Original
corpus
1790
POSTS
11,373
COMMENTS
• The personal information must
refer directly or indirectly to a
specific person (e.g., location of
work and life, work experience,
job title).
• The information must be about
the poster, not other persons that
the poster was referring to.
Self-disclosure occurred in 31.7% of all posts.

6. 1) What do UX professionals disclose
about themselves in an online
professional community?
2) How does self-disclosure take place in
posts and comments?
3) How does self-disclosure support online
professional communication?

7. 1. What do UX professionals
disclose about themselves in an
online professional community?

8. 568
POSTS
Contained
self-disclosure
5,047
COMMENTS
1,222
POSTS
Did not contain
self-disclosure
6,326
COMMENTS
100
POSTS
100
POSTS

9. 100
POSTS
100
POSTS
1,504
COMMENTS
AA
academic background, professional
background, employment information,
biographical information, career plan, and
self-perceived expertise.

10. 100
POSTS
100
POSTS
1,504
COMMENTS
AA
academic background, professional
background, employment information,
biographical information, career plan, and
self-perceived expertise.
workplace experience
and emotional attachment
+

11. 100
POSTS
100
POSTS
1,504
COMMENTS
AA
278
COMMENTS

12. >20% FREQUENCY
Academic Background
(P:41%; C: 25.7%)
Professional Background
(P:44%; C: 31.3%)
Employment Information
(P:27%; C: 20.4%)
Career Plan
(P:29%; C: 11.2%)
Self-Perceived Expertise
<20% FREQUENCY
Biographic Information
(P:8%; C: 6.8%)
Emotional Attachment
(P:8%; C: 1.2%)
Professional Connection
(P:0%; C: 0.6%)
Work-Related
(P:0%; C: 2.2%)
Self-Learning
(P:0%; C: 0.6%)

13. SELF-PERCEIVED
EXPERTISE
+-
POSTS: 32%
COMMENTS: 7.8%
POSTS: 4%
COMMENTS: 16.4%

14. 2. How does self-disclosure take place
in posts and comments?

15. Competency: ways to improve UX competency:
e.g., “Good resources for mastering visual design”
Collaboration: experiences of collaborating with others:
e.g., “As a visual designer, how should I be collaborating with a UX consultant?”
Artifact: artifacts created by community members:
e.g., “I added new (ugly) filter buttons to an existing page.”
Job: job-related issues such as stipend in the UX industry:
e.g., “Move to the Bay Area for a UX job? YES! ...if...”
Knowledge: UX design knowledge and trends:
e.g., “22 Things New UX Designers Should know Before Entering the Workplace”
Product: the UX of popular products such as iPhone:
e.g., “Taking a look at the iOS 10 lockscreen”
Socialization: networking with other UX designers:
e.g., “UX/Dev Summit in Ft. Lauderdale early February 2016”
Tool: tools for making artifacts:
e.g., “Anyone have a recommendation for a good, web-based card sorting tool?”
POSTTHEMES

16. Seeking and
Disclosing
24 7 20 22 9 2 3 6
Sharing and
Disclosing
0 0 2 3 1 1 0 0
Seeking without
Disclosing
5 1 16 7 3 2 0 9
Sharing without
Disclosing
8 0 5 2 22 11 1 8
Competency
Collaboration
Artifact
Job
Tool
Socialization
Product
Knowledge

17. Question answering (24.6%) is the most basic type of disclosure where the
discloser answered a question by sharing personal information.
Reciprocity (26.1%) describes a scenario where disclosure emerged in
accordance with the flow of professional conversation between two
interlocutors.
Evidence-based reasoning (27.5%) includes scenarios where disclosure
served as evidence for the discloser to make a point about UX work.
Credibility-adjusting (16.7%) is a context where disclosure did not serve as
a necessary logical link, but rather a means of increasing or decreasing the
credibility of the discloser’s opinion.
Empathy (5.1%) is a situation where people disclosed their own
experiences, often negative ones such as frustrations and failures, to
respond to others’ disclosure of similar experiences.
COMMENT
FUNCTIONS

18. 3. How does self-disclosure support online
professional communication?

19. Min. Max. Mean Std.
# of comments per
disclosing post
0 32 4.13 6.41
# of comments per
non-disclosing post
0 48 3.87 8.59
# of disclosing comments per
disclosing post
0 16 2.12 2.82
# of disclosing comments per
non-disclosing post
0 14 0.65 1.74

20. A disclosing post was significantly more likely to attract comments
(X2= 4.5041; p = .033815)
A Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test did not suggest significant difference
regarding the number of comments a post could attract
(z = 1.07998; p = .14007)
IMPACT OF DISCLOSURE
IN POSTS ON COMMENTS

21. A Chi-Square test indicated that disclosing posts were significantly more
likely to attract disclosing comments
(X2 = 12.2241; p = .000472.)
A Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test similarly found that disclosing posts would
attract a significantly higher number of disclosing comments
(z = 5.64301; p < .00001.)
IMPACT OF DISCLOSURE
IN POSTS ON DISCLOSING
COMMENTS

22. DISCUSSION & IMPLICATIONS

23. DISCLOSURE
AIDING THE
PROFESSION
DISCLOSURE
INFORMING
LPP
DISCLOSURE
BUILDING
IDENTITY

24. DISCLOSURE
AIDING THE
PROFESSION
DISCLOSURE
INFORMING
LPP
DISCLOSURE
BUILDING
IDENTITY

25. DISCLOSURE
AIDING THE
PROFESSION
DISCLOSURE
INFORMING
LPP
DISCLOSURE
BUILDING
IDENTITY

26. YUBO KOU
yubokou.info
ykou@fsu.edu
COLIN M. GRAY
colingray.me | uxp2.com
gray42@purdue.edu
THANK YOU