Understanding Peer-to-Peer Instructional Support in an Online Community for Blind Audio Producers

Exchange of peer-to-peer support in online Q&Acommunities plays an instrumental role in helping people learn and use complex software tools. While prior work has documented how disabled people support each other in fnding accessible practices and workarounds in diferent contexts, research on understanding their participation in dedicated online Q&A communities has been limited. Through the analysis of 180 conversation threads consisting of 1140 posts in an online text-based Q&A community of blind and low-vision audio producers, we reveal various strategies members in this community use to formulate their queries and provide efective solutions regarding screen reader based navigation of complex graphical user interfaces. We refect upon our fndings to discuss the complexities blind and low-vision software users face in developing a shared understanding during collaborative troubleshooting through textual conversations and reimagine how online Q&A platforms could enhance peer-to-peer instructional support among screen reader users.