And growth altered the sense of close community that existed when membership was small, met face to face at conferences, and knew each other well. Growing pains Growth also meant that the list generates a lot of email arriving in already overloaded inboxes. Systers had to limit discussion messages and topics to minimize it. All email content must relate to being a woman in computer science. While limiting communication was necessary, members see how it constrains what a virtual community can do.
New people join every week, and many expect more dynamic interaction and fewer limits.
It's a challenge to preserve the intimacy and helpfulness systers has always offered. Time to redesign To address this challenge, Jeffries has undertaken coordinating a redesign of the systers infrastructure to improve members' experience of community. Her partners in that step were Dr. Sara Kiesler, a professor at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and Dr. Lee Sproull, professor of business at the Leonard N. Stern School at New York University. Most longtime systers are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, with academic credentials ranging from bachelor's degrees to PhDs. Newcomers tend to be in their 20s and 30s, with a bachelor's degree.