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For my Master’s Project at Georgia Tech, I researched online literary communities and created design elements intended to support more thoughtful, Socratic-style discussion online.
The Question:
The Question:
How might online communities encourage understanding and empathy rather than argument, and meaningful participation rather than passive consumption?
The Context:
The Context:
Book Clubs as a Form of Citizenship
Book Clubs as a Form of Citizenship
Via the readings of philosophy, literature and contemporary media we discover ways of changing our lives. (1)
A place to discover what we believe and how to articulate it.
Socratic circles, salons, living rooms, libraries, bookshops, and now… the internet.
Research Questions
Research Questions
Investigate the way the book club traditions continue through the medium of online communities.
Identify people's needs and frustrations when using online book clubs.
Understand behaviors and attitudes of people that participate in online book clubs.
Methods
Methods
Research Methods
Research Methods
Literature Review
Book Clubs
How Literature Changes the Way We Think
Survey
Contextual Inquiry
Analysis Methods
Analysis Methods
Affinity Diagram
Persona Creation
Empathy Mapping
User Stories
Research Findings:
Research Findings:
Readers valued flexibility, but still wanted depth.
Readers valued flexibility, but still wanted depth.
Virtual communities made participation easier, but many participants struggled to find spaces that encouraged thoughtful discussion.
Community mattered more than recommendations.
Community mattered more than recommendations.
Participants often joined for books but stayed for the conversations and relationships.
Existing platforms were poorly designed for dialogue.
Existing platforms were poorly designed for dialogue.
Many people described current tools as outdated, inflexible, or ill-suited for meaningful discussion.
Participants wanted exposure to new perspectives.
Participants wanted exposure to new perspectives.
Readers viewed book clubs as opportunities to expand their understanding of the world and engage with diverse viewpoints.
EmpathyMap.pdfpersona.pdfKey Design Elements:
Key Design Elements:
Structured Discussion & Perspective Labeling
Structured Discussion & Perspective Labeling
One of the project’s core design goals was encouraging more thoughtful and reflective online discussion. To support this, discussion responses used a customizable tagging system that allowed participants to label the type of contribution they were making — such as personal anecdote, belief, textual evidence, or sourced factual information. The goal was not to rigidly moderate conversation, but to help participants better contextualize perspectives, distinguish interpretation from evidence, and encourage healthier dialogue practices in online communities.
Embodiment & Social Presence
Embodiment & Social Presence
Drawing from social presence theory, the project also explored ways digital literary communities might feel more socially connected and emotionally human. The live discussion space used avatars, emotional reactions, voice discussion, hand-raising, status indicators, and shared virtual environments to create a stronger sense of “being together” during discussions. These features were designed to foster warmth, participation, emotional expression, and collaborative engagement in online reading communities.
Full Research Report
Full Research Report
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