Josejuan Rodriguez and Amy Giroux July 29, 2013

Reddit: an idea for integration

Reddit is a social news website that could be improved in its organization and use of language. All visitors are introduced to information bias, and non-English speakers have limited accessibility to the site due to the site being primarily in English. A more comprehensive search function and organizing by date would help remove the narrow perspective that contributes to the bias of the site, while translation software would allow non-English speakers to better participate in the digital community. Current Functionality Reddit.com is, as said by co-founder Alexis Ohanian a social news website, basically all that means is its a democratic front page of all the best stuff on the web. (Ohanian, 2009 TED talk). Simply put, Reddit is an online forum made to connect users with interesting information. Reddit has many subforums called subreddits, which contain threads which users can upvote or downvote. These threads are ranked by algorithms which process each posts upvotes and the time of posting. Theres a premium section of the site, called Reddit gold that gives users access to new and in-testing aspects of the site. Theres also a gift shop, where you can buy Reddit related merchandise. Visitors and registered users alike first encounter the front page, which is an aggregation of the most upvoted content from subscribed threads (for visitors, it is from the twenty most popular subreddits by default). Users can access the site freely, but to participate in discussions and post content, a user must register with the site. Registering is free, allowing Reddit to become a hub of discourse and distribution point for information. This can be especially helpful in areas and countries who may not allow freedom of information and ideas. Users of Reddit can search for information, though it is limited to searching by content source, author, and subreddit with other searching parameters such as searching for text in a url and text in a self post. The front page, as stated before, is what users and visitors first encounter when entering the site. By default, the threads displayed are arranged by hot. This displays the most upvoted content within a recent time frame from each of the users subscribed threads. The way in which threads are displayed can be changed, however, to new, controversial, rising, and top. All organization methods are dependent on complex algorithms that determine what information will be displayed and which subreddit it will come from. Content generated by Reddit can be displayed in a number of different languages through the preferences section for registered users, though visitors can change the displayed language as well by clicking the underlined English on the top right hand corner of the site, next to where a user logins in. While the static content of the site is displayed in different languages, there is

currently no method of translating user generated content on the site. That is not to imply that there is not user generated content in different languages. There are instances of user generated content that are not written in English, but that is often in language or culture specific subreddits. Site Constraints Reddit is a large and broad site. With regards to the scope of our proposed project, we will be focusing on the following constraints: default organization by hot, no search by date function, and a lack of complete translation and consistent language filtering. Because of the vast amounts of users and dynamic voting system, only a handful of the information shared on Reddit is actually viewed by users of the site. Many subreddits are imagined communities in their own right, and as a result, information that does not coincide with the ideas of the group are overlooked or outright ignored. While it may be considered a given that the minority will not be given the same attention as the majority, it seems to stand in contrast to Reddits selfproclaimed democratic nature. Since Reddit is organized by hot posts by default, this supports the filter bubbles (manipulation of information presented to suit the majoritys needs and interests) caused by the democratic opinion of the internet, and therefore keeps those opinions on top, while other or opposing positions are lost as new posts. The filter bubbles created by the current organization of Reddit showcase specific information and does not allow less popular information to be heard as easily, even if it is important. Reddits search function is slightly lacking in capabilityone can search by keyword, by author, and by subreddit, but there does not exist an advanced search feature that can allow a user to search by date. So, after a period of a few days (depending on the subreddit), old information is hard to find unless a user goes page by page to find a thread. While Reddit is characterized by being a constantly moving and updating environment, having the ability to find older posts could be useful when searching for specific content during a specific time period. Reddit is mainly in English. It supports translation, but very few languages are complete, and it does not translate user generated content. For non-registered users, Reddit only shows English content by default--all content in other languages are hidden, creating a distinct filter bubble of English content. When changing the selected language, any user may volunteer to translate and help translate the static content of the site. While waiting for users to volunteer and translate the static content will give more accurate translations for the major, static parts of the site, it does not allow for a complete experience for a non-English speaker. While there is an option in the preferences page to only show content of specific languages, it functions by temporarily subscribing the user to subreddits generally associated with the language that may or may not have content in the specific language. While this does allow users to see content generally in a specific language, it does not filter the whole site, and does not allow the user to only search for content in a specific language. Also, since the language filtering is by subreddit, if a user is registered and logged in, changing the languages viewed in the preferences does nothing. This filtering is not entirely effective and does not allow users to find all content in their preferred language easily, contributing to making the site less accessible for non-English speakers.

Project Proposal While Reddit is a very interesting website that is immensely popular, it is not free from pitfalls. These pitfalls mainly concern the primary usage of only one language on the site as well as organizational issues, which can be observed through different aspects of the site. Some changes can be introduced that can be of great help, and allow for a truly democratic site. In order to decrease the amount of bias on Reddit, we propose to change the default organization to new. Then, to allow for a more diverse user base, including non-English speakers, we would like to add a Google translate widget to the site, and also rework the language filtering to allow individuals to search and find content in a specific language. Finally, to help new information not get lost as quickly, we would like to add a search term to allow users to search by date. Reddit expects a democratic forum where many diverse peoples may communicate, presumably without bias. As such, the most democratic way we see fit for Reddit is having new content displayed in each subreddit and the front page by default, that way the community has more power in deciding what they like and dont like. Reorganizing the front page to be sorted by new by default would allow the many opinions of each subreddit to be heard more equally. Then, if a user still wishes to see what is popular, they may still use the hot tab at the top of the page. Google translate integration could translate the entire webpage, including user generated content. The addition of a Google translate widget on Reddits site would greatly benefit nonEnglish users as it would help incorporate content from various languages. Below is a section of the Reddit front page with English content manipulated to show how it may look with the Google translate widget (Figure 1), with a non manipulated screenshot for comparison (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Manipulated Spanish Reddit igure 2: Original English Reddit

In order to tag posts by language, Reddit may enlist the users. If a drop-down menu is added with a list of languages in the form to create a text or link post, the author may tag their writing to the language they are writing in. This would make the tag for each post as the post was

created and then each post would have consistent tags that could be searched and filtered through. Creating a tagging system for each language that will allow users to filter and search by language could allow a larger user base to fully use Reddit. Design Benefits These changes to Reddits organizational structure will reduce the instances of filter bubbles and by extension, help to reduce any unwanted bias from the site. While it is understood that a bias will exist regardless of organizational structure, reorganizing the threads displayed by having new as the default display method will help minimize this bias. Keeping hot as a organization option and the integration of a more advanced search feature could help in relieving any anxiety felt by old users. By allowing users to be able to search into specific points in time without the constraint of having to know the author, or the subreddit in which the information is posted, users are granted a new freedom. It grants the user the ability to search with minimal exposure to bias, which can lead to a new wealth of information for the user. The integration of a Google translate widget would be a painless and near effortless method of allowing speakers of various languages to glean an understanding of the content in other languages on the site. The widget could be placed at the top of the site to avoid cluttering the site or adding too many new features to the already simple layout of the site. The widget would do well to close the language differences between English and non-English speakers, and, while Googles translation software will not be entirely accurate, it will at least be able to convey basic themes and ideas to users. It will be a simple, yet powerful way to bring in a new audience and new ideas. As Reddit users, one of us being bilingual, we encounter many of these constraints on a daily basis. We have noticed the tendency of visitors and some users to consider Reddit a hive-mind of sorts, likening the reign of majority opinion to groupthink. After having had some experience in the rhetoric of digital environments, we feel that the addition of our proposed changes will help mitigate the biases and allow for a more well rounded user base. The lessening of bias could help to build ethos for the site, by eliminating its distinction as a hive-mind and could allow the site to expand its user base and widen the perspective found on the site. Work Plan The changes could be implemented in six weeks, beginning with announcing the changes to Reddit Gold users while the changes in code are worked on during Week 1. Because Reddit Golds subscriber base is smaller than the rest of Reddit, and since many changes to Reddit are often tested first on Reddit Gold users, Reddit Gold users will do well to function as a test audience. Each feature could be introduced in weekly cycles, culminating in integrating all changes to Reddit Gold users, and then to all of Reddit. This extended release cycle would allow Reddit Gold users to feel less overwhelmed as the changes would be more gradual. Then, during Week 2, the Google translate widget and the change to new as the default organization may be implemented, as both require simpler, relatively quick coding changes. While the first changes are being tested by the Gold community, we must work on the next wave of changes.

The advanced search may need a little more effort. Posts are already able to be sorted by date, so searching by date would be based on creating a set of commands to allow users to search for that criteria. For example, a user can search for a specific author by including author:username in their search. Search by date could be tied to posts before:date and posts after:date. While date is already tied to each post, there is little indication of language being tied to each post. We would need to implement a tagging system which would make each user select the language they are writing in for each post. This could be done by adding a simple drop-down menu on the form for submitting a post, and would allow each post to be sorted immediately after being posted, and then tie it to a phrase like language: language. These search function expansions will be implemented in Week 3, while we will be considering and implementing any revisions that may be necessary. The changes will be announced to the rest of Reddit during Week 4, and then implemented during Week 5. During Week 6 we would polish up the changes, and address any possible bugs. A more compact work flow chart may be seen below (Figures 3 and 4).

Figure 3: Work Plan Weeks 1-3

Figure 4: Work Plan Weeks 4-6

Works Cited Ohanian, Alexis. "How to Make a Splash in Social Media." Lecture. TED Talk. India. Nov. 09. TED. Nov. 09. Web.