In this paper, we describe how socioeconomic background and political leaning are related to how U.S. residents look for information on COVID-19. Using representative survey data from 2,280 U.S. internet users, collected in fall 2020, we examine how factors, such as age, gender, race, income, education, political leaning, and internet skills are related to how many different types of sources and what types of sources respondents use to find information on COVID-19. Moreover, we describe how many checking actions individuals use to verify information, and how all of these factors are related to knowledge about COVID-19. Results show that men, those with higher education, higher incomes, and higher self-perceived internet ability, and those who are younger used more types of information sources. Similar patterns emerged for checking actions. When we examined different types of sources (mainstream media, conservative sources, medical sources, and TV sources), three patterns emerged: 1) respondents who have more resources used more types of sources; 2) demographic factors made less difference for conservative media consumers; and 3) conservative media were the only type of source used less by younger age groups than older age groups. Finally, availability of resources and types of information sources were related to differences in factual knowledge. Respondents who had fewer resources, those who used conservative news media, and those who engaged in more checking actions got fewer answers right. This difference could lead to information divides and associated knowledge gaps in the United States regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

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Bitcoin is an innovative technological network, a new, non-governmental currency, and a worldwide group of users. In other words, Bitcoin is a complex sociotechnical system with a complex set of risks and challenges for anyone using it. We investigated how everyday users of Bitcoin develop trust in Bitcoin on one of the largest online communities devoted to Bitcoin: the Reddit.com r/bitcoin forum. Using qualitative content analysis, we examined how trust in Bitcoin develops based on contributions to this community. On r/bitcoin, trust in Bitcoin is driven by a pervasive ideology we call the "True Bitcoiner" ideology. This ideological viewpoint in centered on the interpretation of Bitcoin as functionally "trustless" and risk-free. Despite widespread evidence of emerging individual and system-level risks with using Bitcoin, participants continue to maintain this ideological perspective. This ideology consists of three primary beliefs: viewing Bitcoin's technology as more trustworthy than its people; rejecting 'corrupt' social hierarchies related to money; and the importance of accumulating or 'HODLing' quantities of Bitcoin as a strategy to create an ideal future. We conclude that this "True Bitcoiner" ideology is maintained despite contradictory evidence in the world because it allows participants to more easily interpret Bitcoin and make decisions by reducing perceived risk and uncertainty in the system. The role of this ideology on r/bitcoin demonstrates an expanded conceptualization of how trust is created and socially-mediated in socio-technical contexts.

This article examines how the embodied experience of contemporary avatar use overlaps with 19th-century American sentimental literature and cultural assumptions about gender and readerly identification in that period. Drawing on recent quantitative and qualitative research on avatar use and ongoing scholarship on nineteenth-century literature, we offer theoretical insights about the resonance between historical and contemporary understandings of media consumption as it intersects with cultural notions of sex and gender differences. Theories of sentimentalism help us to reconsider how gender is conceptualized in quantitative studies of avatars. Our cross-disciplinary study of embodiment and visceral experience thus argues for expanding modes of inquiry within quantitative games scholarship to more fully capture the interplay between gender identity and individual factors in avatar experiences. We conclude with three strategies for quantitative games scholars to consider as a means to enrich our understanding of the complexities of gender in modern game contexts.

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Self-tracking technologies, ranging from digital thermometers to wearable fitness trackers, allow users to use personal data accumulated from their everyday activities. But, to use these data, people have to make sense of how these numbers and figures are relevant to their lives in some way in order to make decisions and gain new insight. This process is impacted by people's emotional reactions to their data. While seeking support from others can be an effective strategy for overcoming these emotional challenges, self-trackers face unique barriers in sharing their personal data. Our study investigates 1) how users seek out support online for emotional barriers elicited by their self-tracking data and 2) what self-described impact this sharing has on their self-tracking practices. To investigate these topics, we analyzed discussions in two online communities on Reddit.com centered around infertility and trying to conceive that consistently describe self-tracking experiences. We found that community members described three distinct driving emotional tensions with their self-tracking data. In seeking community input, users were focused on support for understanding and acting upon their feelings and emotions. Even when data was uncertain, frustrating, or viewed as inaccurate, comparing and learning with others benefited users through feelings of connection, control, and humor this collective sense-making provided. Additionally, we found that users taking breaks from self-tracking in whole or part appeared to support their emotional well-being and long-term motivation to track. Based on these findings, we conclude that self-tracking data has social and emotional value beyond perceived accuracy and individual treatment goals.

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The scope and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges for people seeking health information online. To understand how an existing online community of people living with a chronic health condition navigate meeting their existing health goals alongside the challenges and tensions resulting from COVID-19, we performed a qualitative content analysis of six weeks of discussion in the r/infertility online community. We found that community members collaborated and debated to make dynamic structural and normative changes to their community in accordance with the changing impacts of COVID-19 on their experiences. Additionally, we found that community members information-seeking goals were centered around timelines for their own treatment plans and goals, with the scope of these timelines shifting based on their current state of knowledge of COVID-19. Implications of these findings for supporting health online communities broadly are discussed.