MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — The Mozilla Foundation, in partnership with the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, is looking for volunteers to participate in their Having Our Say: Online News Consumption and Commenting Behaviors Among Women and Non-Binary/Non-Gender Conforming People of Color.
Led by Dr. Meredith Clark, the study is a move towards filling the prominent gap in news research around how underserved communities engage with news. From lack of editorial oversight to racist and gendered abuse in comment spaces, communities around journalism have not served women and gender non-conforming/non-binary people of color well, if at all, researchers said. They added that improving diversity in news has focused almost entirely on representation within the newsroom; while that is certainly a necessary part of improving how journalism can serve more people, this study seeks to address equally fundamental questions around how and where underserved people engage with news in the English language.
Volunteers must self-identify as a woman or gender non-binary/non-conforming, and as a person of color; be 18 or older; and read news online in the English language.
Potential participants will be sent a follow-up survey to confirm eligibility. Focus groups will be conducted remotely online in English and may involve follow-up interviews. Participants will receive a $25 Amazon or WalMart gift card for volunteering their time, and the data collected by the study will be anonymized and used by The Coral Project to inform the creation of more inclusive commenting experiences. The study will also be shared publicly. Applications are available online, as well as a consent form.
Email Sydette Harry at sydette@mozillafoundation.org to learn more.
The Coral Project is a unique collaboration between the Mozilla Foundation, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
info: app.hellosign.com/s/9e6af5a0. mozilla.org/en-US/foundation. coralproject.net.
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