Week 10: Communities, Social Gaming, and Live Streaming
Digital citizenship extends beyond individual tools into collective spaces where communities, gaming, and live streaming converge. Software literacy here means understanding not only how to use these platforms but also how they shape identity, participation, and governance.
Communities on platforms like Discord, Reddit, and Twitch illustrate how digital citizens gather around shared interests. Livingstone and Third (2017) emphasize that young people’s rights in digital spaces include meaningful participation. These communities foster belonging but also require literacy to navigate moderation, harassment, and misinformation.
Games such as Fortnite or League of Legends are more than entertainment—they are social ecosystems. Sheng & Kairam (2020) argues that online games create “networked publics” where players perform identity and build relationships. Software literacy involves understanding in‑game economies, communication tools, and governance structures that regulate play.
Platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live transform gaming into performance. Plantin & Punathambekar (2018) show that streamers engage in “visibility labour,” curating their persona while interacting with audiences in real time. This labour is both creative and precarious, as algorithms and monetization policies shape who gets seen and rewarded.
Case Study: Twitch Communities and Moderation
Twitch illustrates the intersection of community, gaming, and streaming. Streamers build communities around their channels, but moderation is crucial. Hamilton et al. (2014) found that chat moderation practices directly affect whether viewers feel welcome or excluded. Toxicity can undermine community health, while inclusive moderation fosters belonging.
Moderation on Twitch is not only technical but cultural. Streamers often appoint moderators from their own community, creating a hybrid governance system where platform tools (timeouts, bans, filters) intersect with community norms. Kim et al. (2017) argue that this labour is precarious, as moderators and streamers must constantly negotiate visibility, harassment, and monetization pressures.
At the same time, Twitch communities can be empowering. Sheng & Kairam, (2020) highlights how live streaming enables marginalized players to find supportive spaces, while Plantin & Punathambekar (2018) show that streaming can generate new forms of digital work. The case of Twitch demonstrates that software literacy is about more than technical skill—it requires critical awareness of governance, identity, and collective responsibility.
Guest Lecture Insights: Pokimane (Imane Anys)
For Week 10, the lecture drew on insights from Pokimane (Imane Anys), one of Twitch’s most recognized streamers, who has spoken openly about the challenges of building healthy online communities. Pokimane emphasizes that streaming is not just entertainment but a form of community governance, where moderators and audiences shape the culture of a channel. She highlights how harassment and toxicity can undermine belonging, while inclusive moderation fosters supportive spaces.
Her perspective reframes live streaming as both creative and precarious labour. Streamers must constantly negotiate visibility, monetization, and community health, echoing Seering & Kairam’s (2023) findings that volunteer moderators play essential roles in enforcing norms, managing chat flow, and sustaining community trust. By amplifying her voice, Week 10 shows how famous streamers make visible the hidden governance work behind gaming communities, reminding us that software literacy is about collective responsibility as much as technical skill (Seering & Kairam, 2022).
Hamilton, W., Garretson, O., & Kerne, A. (2014). Streaming on Twitch: Fostering participatory communities of play within live mixed media. Streaming on Twitch: Fostering Participatory Communities of Play within Live Mixed Media, 1315–1324. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557048
Kim, T., Yang, M., Bae, J., Min, B., Lee, I., & Kim, J. (2017). Escape from infinite freedom: Effects of constraining user freedom on the prevention of dropout in an online learning context. Computers in Human Behavior, 66, 217–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.019
Livingstone, S., & Third, A. (2017). Children and young people’s rights in the digital age: An emerging agenda. New Media & Society, 19(5), 657–670. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816686318
‌Plantin, J.-C., & Punathambekar, A. (2018). Digital media infrastructures: pipes, platforms, and politics. Media, Culture & Society, 41(2), 163–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718818376
‌Sheng, J. T., & Kairam, S. R. (2020). From Virtual Strangers to IRL Friends. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW2), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1145/3415165
Seering, J., & Kairam, S. R. (2022). Who Moderates on Twitch and What Do They Do? Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7(GROUP), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3567568