Abstract
Design research in social computing has used the concept of care to describe how technologies help or hinder interpersonal support online. Yet opportunities remain to explore how the subtle, everyday forms of care that have long sustained communities can inform social technology design. Addressing this, we present a collection of design patterns that translate culturally specific, everyday social practices like passeggiata (Italian social stroll) and sobremesa (Spanish post-meal lingering) into design prompts for digital platforms. Our collection has five pattern families: Shared Habits and Routines, Atmospheric Qualities, Collective Identities, Facilitation Roles, and Boundary Practices. The patterns map these families to implicit care practices identified through digital ethnographies of Reddit, Discord, and Facebook communities, illustrating how platforms can support, without scripting, everyday forms of care. The resulting collection functions as both an analytic and generative tool, foregrounding how everyday care is enacted through rhythm, atmosphere, and maintenance in online community life.
Keywords
implicit care, online communities, social practices, design patterns
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1086
Citation
Toombs, A., Park, S., Manion, T., and Zhang, X. (2026) Patterns of everyday care: Translating cultural practices for online communities, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1086
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Patterns of everyday care: Translating cultural practices for online communities
Design research in social computing has used the concept of care to describe how technologies help or hinder interpersonal support online. Yet opportunities remain to explore how the subtle, everyday forms of care that have long sustained communities can inform social technology design. Addressing this, we present a collection of design patterns that translate culturally specific, everyday social practices like passeggiata (Italian social stroll) and sobremesa (Spanish post-meal lingering) into design prompts for digital platforms. Our collection has five pattern families: Shared Habits and Routines, Atmospheric Qualities, Collective Identities, Facilitation Roles, and Boundary Practices. The patterns map these families to implicit care practices identified through digital ethnographies of Reddit, Discord, and Facebook communities, illustrating how platforms can support, without scripting, everyday forms of care. The resulting collection functions as both an analytic and generative tool, foregrounding how everyday care is enacted through rhythm, atmosphere, and maintenance in online community life.