VL/HCC 2022
Mon 12 - Fri 16 September 2022 Rome, Italy

Although the number of blind or low vision (BLV) software developers is the largest minority population of developers with physical disabilities, they are often marginalized in mainstream online programming communities. We studied how BLV developers engage with a BLV-specific programming community called Program-L, by exploring the help-seeking behaviors of novices. We analyzed 173 messages written by 20 novices over a 4-year period and identified the kinds of help they asked for and their justifications for requesting that help. We learned that self disclosure, practical assistance, and community dynamics were all critical activities to support four types of novices: community, domain, programming, and accessibility. The findings of our work give insight into what support can look like for online communities for marginalized software developers.

Thu 15 Sep

Displayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change

11:00 - 12:30
Session on Code Comprehension & Help SeekingResearch Papers at San Francesco Room
Chair(s): Thomas LaToza George Mason University
11:00
15m
Talk
Program-L: Online Help Seeking Behaviors by Blind and Low Vision ProgrammersShort paper
Research Papers
Jazette Johnson University of California - Irvine, Andrew Begel Carnegie Mellon University, Institute for Software Research, Richard Ladner University of Washington, Denae Ford Microsoft Research
DOI
11:15
30m
Talk
Pinpoint: A Record, Replay, and Extract System to Support Code Comprehension and ReuseFull paper
Research Papers
Wengran Wang North Carolina State University, Gordon Fraser University of Passau, Mahesh Bobbadi North Carolina State University, Benyamin T. Tabarsi North Carolina State University, Tiffany Barnes North Carolina State University, Chris Martens North Carolina State University, Shuyin Jiao North Carolina State University, Thomas Price North Carolina State University
DOI
11:45
30m
Talk
Understanding Similar Code through Comparative ComprehensionFull paper
Research Papers
Justin Middleton North Carolina State University, Kathryn Stolee North Carolina State University
DOI
12:15
15m
Talk
Exploring Organization of Computational Notebook Cells in 2D SpaceShort paper
Research Papers
Jesse Harden Virginia Tech, Elizabeth Christman Virginia Tech, Nurit Kirshenbaum University of Hawaii at Manoa, John Wenskovitch Virginia Tech, Jason Leigh University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Chris North Virginia Tech
DOI