The influence of social and cultural factors on mothers' domestication of household ICTs - Experiences of Chinese and Korean women

10.1016/j.tele.2009.07.001Telematics and Informatics273205-216TEIN

Análisis de la domesticación y estudio sobre el uso que hace la población infantile de los smartphones y las tablets

The article provides a sense of how the field of domestication analysis has developed over the last 25 years, showing the range of ways in which has been deployed, and how it can address social issues relating to technologies. Understanding cross-cultural differences has not been a strong feature of this framework to date, but examples are provided to indicate how this dimension could be included and developed. Finally, a case study of children’s experience of smartphones and tablets is provided to illustrate how the framework can be used and be useful

Presenting the networked home: a content analysis of promotion material of Ambient Intelligence applications

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) for the home uses information and communication technologies to make users’ everyday life more comfortable. AmI is still in its developmental phase and is headed towards the first stages of diffusion. \ud Characteristics of AmI design can be observed, among others, in the promotion material of initial producers. A literature study revealed that AmI originally envisioned a central role for the user, convenience that AmI offers them and that attention should be paid to critical policy issues such as privacy and a potential loss of freedom. A content analysis of current promotion material of several high-tech companies revealed that these original ideas are not all reflected in the material. Attributes which were used most in the promotion material were ‘connectedness’, ‘control’, ‘easiness’ and ‘personalization’. An analysis of the pictures in the promotion material showed that almost half of the pictures contained no humans but appliances. These results only partly correspond to the original vision on AmI, since the emphasis is now on technology. The results represent a serious problem, since both users, as well as critical policy issues are underexposed in the current promotion material

Going mobile: the domestication of the cell phone by teens in a rural east Texas town

This thesis explores the use of the cell phone among US teens. The research was conducted in a rural east Texas town, with two student groups, 13-14 year-olds (middle school) and 18-20 year-olds (university), between 2007 and 2008, at a time when 2G cell phones were the norm. The analysis adopts and applies the domestication framework developed by Silverstone and Hirsch (1992) within work on the social shaping of technology (Haddon, 2004; Berker, 2006; Selwyn, 2012), and points to some limitations and areas for further development within this approach. The thesis explores the extent to which teens use of the cell phone serves as a vehicle for self-expression and collective identity. It considers their emotional investment and connection with the cell phone as an extension of the self ; as well as its role as a focus for, and a means of, regulation of young people both by adults and by peers. The analysis suggests that, far from being a matter of free choice and autonomy, teens use of cell phones may be restricted by cost (of texting, calling plan), features (of particular phones), and by parental or institutional rules about how, where and when cell phones may be used. Use may also be regulated by peers in terms of when and with whom to talk or text, enabling peer groups to exclude others. Through the lens of the domestication framework this thesis concludes that teens in this context are not an homogenous group: the ways they incorporate the cell phone into their everyday lives may differ to a degree, not least as a result of parental and institutional regulation. The research does, however, identify broad areas of consensus among teens, partly linked to the geographical and socio-economic context of the participants, which provides a useful comparison with research undertaken on teens elsewhere in the world

Multiply-mediated households : Space and power reflected in everyday media use

This study investigates how contemporary Australian families incorporate the consumption of multiple media technologies within their home environments. It uses an approach similar to David Morley\u27s (1986) Family Television where he explored the consumption of television programs in the context of everyday family life. He viewed the household (or family) as the key to constructing understandings of the television audience; where there were gendered regimes of watching, and where program choice often reflected existing power relationships in the home. However since then (a time when most families had only one television set) the media environment of many homes has changed. The addition of multiple television sets, along with newer digital technologies such as computers and game consoles, has introduced a new dynamics of social space within the household. Therefore, the family living room, with its erstwhile shared television culture, has become a less critical site of domestic media consumption. With the migration of television sets and new digital technologies to other spaces in the home, claims over time and space have become even more intimately involved with the domestic use of media technologies. Consequently, this study critically analyses the relationship between media consumption and the geographical spaces and boundaries within the home. Drawing upon interviews with all family members, this thesis argues that the incorporation of multiple media technologies in many households has coincided with significant changes to the spatial geography of these homes, along with a rearticulation of gendered and generational power relationships. Extra media spaces in bedrooms, hallways, home offices and \u27nooks’ have freed up the lounge room, possibly allowing for more harmony and accord within the family, but also reducing the amount of time the family spends together. At the same time the newer media spaces become additional sites for gendered and generational conflict and tension. This study uses an audience ethnography approach to explore and analyse media consumption at the micro level, that of the individual within the household/family. Twenty-three in-depth conversational interviews and observations of children and adults living in six technologically rich households in suburban and regional areas of Western Australia formed the basis of this thesis. Themes and issues that emerged from this qualitative research process include the gendered nature of screens in children\u27s bedrooms, the extent to which a media-rich bedroom culture is evident in Australia, the existence of a masculine gadgeteer culture within some families in the study, the social construction of gaming as a gendered (boy) culture, gendered pathways on the Internet and the reintegration of adult acknowledge-based work into the family home. The thesis also addresses digital divide issues relating to inequities in access, technical and social support, motivation and the quality of new digital technologies available in the home

Digital multimedia use and consumption in the Irish household setting

This thesis is essentially about human interaction and engagement with ICTs, in this case the internet. Its primary objective is to explain how human-techno relationships are constructed, maintained and modified, and to assess a number of social factors influential in the shaping process. The thesis presents a qualitative in-depth analysis of 16 households, in order to provide an understanding of the intricate and subtle processes of domestication and how they are influenced by a range of social factors. In Ireland, traditional studies of internet users have been general and wide-scale. Thus, a small scale, userfocused qualitative analysis of the ways internet technologies are becoming technologies of everyday life is timely. Therefore, the present study marks a move away from determinist-focused reports, towards a social shaping of technology perspective, in order to analyse the influence of social factors on the domestication and consumption of the internet in the household. The major conclusion of this research is that one must look beyond a single influence or social factor to accurately portray the nature of domestic internet consumption. The current study presents a multi-layered analysis of how social factors, especially social class, gender, age and economic factors influence the use and consumption of the internet. In addition, case-studies of individual households are used to examine the influence of such factors in depth. A user-based analysis of the domestication process, rendered from an application of the Silverstone model, is constructed. Through this practical application, an understanding is gained of the complex processes of domestication involved in acquisition, use, consumption and conceptualisation of technologies in 'everyday' life. The present thesis provides concrete examples and experiences of social factors working together to shape the ways people create themselves as users, and the ways they form relationships with and engage with the artefact