Case Study: Understanding Accessibility in Online Marketplaces
Case Study: Understanding Accessibility in Online Marketplaces
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Introduction
Introduction
In this study, I led a research to understand the state of accessibility in online marketplaces. This project narrowed into Etsy.com as an online space for sharing, promoting and selling original work.
Impact
Impact
Demonstrated that online marketplaces are not inherently accessible even if they are an instance of remote work.
Identified design considerations to address access barriers surrounding platform use and social norms that hinder participation.
My Role
Lead Researcher
Team
Me
1 Researcher
Setting
Etsy and Social Platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok)
Timeline
Jul 2021 - Mar 2022
Problem: How might online marketplaces foster accessible work among disabled creatives?
Problem: How might online marketplaces foster accessible work among disabled creatives?
Traditional workplaces have been known to marginalize disabled individuals due to inaccessible social norms, workspace configurations, or work expectations. As a result, many people turn to self-employment through means such as online marketplaces seeking flexible work options.
Yet, previous studies involving online marketplaces have largely focused on improving algorithms and shopping experiences for customers. This leaves opportunities to understand the experiences of shop owners, especially disabled sellers.
Goals
Goals
1. Understand how disabled creators use an ecosystem of online tools to promote and sell goods.
2. Identify whether and how online marketplaces provide accessible work opportunities among disabled creatives.
Process
Process
Our research setup involved two phases to understand disabled sellers' participation in online marketplaces:
1. Online Observations
Identified and analyzed shops owned by 44 disabled sellers on Etsy. Extended analysis to social platforms where creators promote their products to better understand what motivates their work and how different online tools are used to accomplish their goals.
2. Interviews with Creators
Complemented data from online observation with interviews involving a subset of sellers to dive deeper into what I observed online.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical Considerations
Given sensibilities surrounding online research, I took measures to respect the identity and agency of informants. I modified identifiable details in reporting creators’ content and kept direct links so I could tell if someone took down their shop, in which case I would remove them from our dataset.
As part of this effort to protect informants' identities, I do not show screenshots and paraphrase exact wording on sellers' creative work. I drew the art in this page to provide visual examples of the work being done by creators.
Figure 2. Apparel communicating access needs.
Figure 3. Mug advocating for disability acceptance.
Figure 4. Sticker communicating access needs.
Phase 1: Online Observations
Phase 1: Online Observations
Narrowing into Etsy
I chose Etsy.com because it is an online marketplace widely seen as a go-to place for custom or ‘handmade' goods. In 2020, Etsy had 80.9 million active buyers, 4.1 million sellers and 87 million items available for sale.
This search focused on sellers that publicly disclosed their disabled identities and created disability-related products. I identified these creators by searching terms like “disability,” “social justice” and “equity.” I analyzed their shop and item names, descriptions of their products and shops, product images and reviews.
Informants offered a variety of items such as apparel, embroidery, pins, zines and more (see Figures 2-4 for examples). In total, I analyzed over 4,280 items across creators’ shops and then narrowed into a subset of 362 unique products related to our research focus (i.e., items about disability, chronic illness or neurodiversity).
Extending to Social Media
Because social media played a complementary role in creators’ promoting and selling practices, I extended our analysis into the social media presence of 34 sellers that had links available on their shops. This involved visiting Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube profiles to analyze usernames, bios, posts and tagged content.
I spent over 50 hours going through creators’ media, which included more than 10,960 posts across creators’ social media. Posts spanned across different topics, but I paid particular attention to those: (1) related to creators’ shops, or (2) disability, chronic illness or neurodiversity topics. This narrowed my focus to a subset of 699 posts.
Phase 2: Interviews with Creators
Phase 2: Interviews with Creators
Finally, I reached out to sellers via Etsy direct messages and interviewed a subset of 9 disabled creators using remote tools (e.g., phone, Zoom, email).
I asked about their experiences as disabled shop owners, social media use, and what prompted them to pursue online content creation.
“I just haven’t found a lot of that kind of stuff and it’s that feeling of taboo and like disability is shameful or it shouldn’t be talked about.”
— Full-time illustrator with generalized hypermobility spectrum disorder, fibromyalgia and interstitial cystitis
“I could get started [on Etsy] with very little resources… Online work means that I control my own schedule... and if I'm having a bad week, like I can try to navigate that the best I can. I don't have to call a boss or supervisor, file an FMLA claim.”
— Full-time illustrator diagnosed with fibromyalgia
and other health conditions
Crucial Insights
Crucial Insights
Our informants sell and promote their work in online marketplaces to attain financial support and a creative outlet that can push forward their disability advocacy goals.
For creators, it was important to bring disabled representation to marketplaces and media because disability is often taboo or rarely talked about. Their designs addressed disability-related issues like advocating for disability acceptance and communicating access needs.
Although disabled creators participate in online marketplaces to pursue creative work while having the flexibility to take care of themselves, they still face access barriers through social norms and pressures to keep up with the fast pace of digital platforms.
One of the most significant barriers involves reward structures that are built onto platforms like Etsy, which incentivize people that respond to customer inquiries and ship items quickly. Sellers that use social media to extend their reach are met with additional platform expectations to post often for increased visibility or algorithmic advantage. This can put disabled creators at a disadvantage because they might not have the bandwidth or resources to keep up with these pressures on top of everything else they must do to maintain their shops.
Creators also face pushback against their presence in online marketplaces from both platforms and audiences. This included having content removed or demonetized for being "graphic," being accused of faking disability for attention and receiving unsolicited advice. This is harmful to disabled creators and audiences because it reinforces stigma and stereotypes about disability.
Access and Design Recommendations
Access and Design Recommendations
Considering alternative measures of success and reward systems to avoid further marginalizing disabled creators or excluding them from benefits.
Educating users and increasing visibility of digital accessibility features (e.g., alt-text) to encourage broader use. This can help improve access in platforms that feature user-generated content and lessen the access labor often taken on by disabled communities.
Engaging with disabled creators and viewers throughout design process can help identify misalignments between communal values and platform expectations.
For additional findings and insights, please refer to related publications below.
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
During the study, I realized that my typical approach to interviews (i.e., audio-recorded, verbal conversations) posed barriers to participation. Some creators who identified as neurodivergent or hard of hearing shared that, although they would like to be interviewed, they preferred communicating via written text. I adapted my research method and offered the option to participate via a text or email to better align with our goal of understanding the perspectives of creators with a variety of lived experiences.
It is important to pay attention to platform dynamics because these can shape our research approach. I learned from participant interviews that shop owners can be penalized if they do not respond to Etsy direct messages within a determined period of time. As soon as I learned this, I readjusted my approach to only contact creators once via Etsy messages without following up if we received no response to minimize contributing to this pressure.
Related Publications
Related Publications
Borgos-Rodriguez, K. and Piper, A.M. (2023). Understanding Participation among Disabled Creators in Online Marketplaces. In Proceedings of ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 7, CSCW2, Article 314.
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