Trouble in Programmer’s Paradise: Gender-Biases in Interacting on Stack Overflow

EasyChair Preprint 5981

Abstract

This paper examines how gender shapes participation on Stack Overflow, the world’s largest programming question-and-answer forum. I show that visible femininity negatively impacts assessments of technical expertise. Through social network analysis, I find that interaction on Stack Overflow is mediated by gender, determining whose questions get answered by whom.

Keyphrases: Anonymity, Stack Overflow, Technology Culture, gender, networks, programming, programming forum, sexism

@booklet{EasyChair:5981,
  author    = {Siân Brooke},
  title     = {Trouble in Programmer’s Paradise: Gender-Biases in Interacting on Stack Overflow},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 5981},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}