Interpreting Online Discussions: Connecting Artifacts and Experiences in User Studies

This paper presents a methodological effort to connect the specifics of technologies to the details of social practices, in an attempt to deepen our understanding of evolving sociotechnical cultures. More specifically, this paper describes a methodological framework that makes use of online discussions as a vital source of data. The reason the paper focuses on online discussion is that the Internet has become a natural habitat for discussions of high-end technologies, be they physical products or online services. The framework combines interpretative research and attribute-consequence-value (ACV) chain theory – a theory commonly applied to market and consumer research – to conceptualize and explore evolving prosumer cultures through online discussions. The benefit of using ACV chain theory is that it explicitly connects products and services to practices and values. The proposed methodological framework identifies three central techniques to elicit and analyse ACV chains from online prosumer discussions: (1) attribute analysis (2) Internet forum data collection and (3) thematic analysis. The paper goes on to exemplify the application of this framework by examining the sociotechnical co-evolution of the friend list – a backbone feature of many social networking services. In summary, this paper shows how ACV chains can be fruitfully applied to explore evolving prosumer cultures and make the vital connection between technical features and emerging cultures

Gift-Giving as a Conceptual Framework: Framing Social Behavior in Online Networks

This paper explores the use of gift-giving as a theoretical and conceptual framework for analyzing social behavior in online networks and communities. Not only has gift-giving the potential to frame and explain much social media behavior, but reversely, and perhaps more Importantly, mediated social behavior also has the potential to develop gift-giving theory. Information and communication technologies form joint sociotechnical systems where new practices emerge. The paper focuses on describing the academic background of the gifting framework to help develop a deeper, theory-based, understanding of these sociotechnical phenomena. Three themes are prevalent In the gifting literature: other- orientation, social bonding and generalized reciprocity. The paper gives examples of how these themes are enacted by end-users via the use of Information and communication technologies. Finally, sociotechnically embedded economies, called gifting technologies, are Identified and discussed

What is Feminist Media Archaeology?

In a fairly recent blog post, Jussi Parikka discusses how media archaeology can be criticized for being a “boy’s club”. In the introduction of this text, he writes: One of the set critiques of media archaeology is that it is a boys\u27 club. That is a correct evaluation in so many ways when one has a look at the topics as well as authors of the circle of writers broadly understood part of \u27media archaeology\u27. I make the same argument for instance in What is Media Archaeology?, but there is also something else that we need to attend to. There is however a danger that the critique also neglects the multiplicity inherent in the approach. For sure, there are critical points to be made in so many aspects of Kittler\u27s and others\u27 theoretical work, but at the same time it feels unfair to neglect the various female authors and artists at the core of the field. In other words, the critique often turns a blind eye to the women who are actively involved in media archaeology. Let\u27s not write them out too easily. Parikka then goes on to briefly introduce several female researchers and artists who are active in the media archaeological field. These are women who are, in different ways, doing media archaeology. This is of course an important issue – skewed representations or lopsided citation practices are never good – and the contributions of these researchers are significant and important. However, we could also argue that there is an important difference between the body of work being done by women and, what we may call, feminist media archaeology. There can, of course, be overlaps between these two ways of representing feminist interests in media archaeology, but for feminist theorizing and practising to truly have an impact, we have to ask ourselves what is feminist media archaeology? By looking for empirical gaps and putting questions of, for example, design, power, infrastructure and benefit, to the fore we can shine a different light on the material-discursive genealogy of digital culture, still very much in the vein of media archaeological endeavors. What we suggest is quite simple – a transdisciplinary approach which emphasizes “the unity of intellectual frameworks beyond the disciplinary perspectives [which] points toward our potential to think in terms of frameworks, concepts, techniques, and vocabulary that we have not yet imagined”. As such, we want to take an exploratory tactic to the question posed in the title of this paper. We do not intend to provide a single nor definite answer – rather we want to think with media archaeology and feminism together, seeking to raise other questions in order to find dynamic parallels and crosscurrents

The Performative Gift: A Feminist Materialist Conceptual Model

Gifting (or gift-giving) is a particularly interesting form of communication that envelops both material and social dimensions. Objects are transformed into gifts through particular socio-material practices. While these practices are, of course, interesting in themselves, this paper will take a step back and revisit attempts to define and theorize the gift as a concept. In a time when the gift economy is often called upon as a potential candidate for more “participatory alternatives to capitalist totality”, particularly in relation to theorizing of labour on and through the Internet, theories of gifting provide an important foundation for discussing the boundaries of alternative futures and economies. So far, little effort has been taken to advance gift theory into a new materialist or posthumanist thinking. In an attempt to take that first step, this paper provides two contributions. First, it highlights how feminist theorizing of the gift comprises interesting forerunners in a new materialist conception of the gift. Second, it explores the analytical traction that can be gained from interlocking theories of the gift, feminist materialism and digital media, the result being a conceptual model that addresses the gift as a form of virtual-digital-material communication

Gifting Technologies : Ethnographic Studies of End-users and Social Media Sharing

This thesis explores what dimensions that can be used to describe and compare the sociotechnical practice of content contribution in online sharing networks. Data was collected through online ethnographical methods, focusing on end-users in three large media sharing networks. The method includes forum message elicitation, online interviews, and application use and observation. Gift-giving was used as an applied theoretical framework and the data was analyzed by theory-informed thematic analysis. The results of the analysis recount four interrelated themes: what kind of content is given; to whom is it given; how is it given; and why is it given? The five papers in this thesis covers the four themes accordingly: Paper I presents the research area and proposes some initial gifting dimensions that are developed over the following papers. Paper II proposes a model for identifying conflicts of interest that arise for end-users when considering different types of potential receivers. Paper III presents five analytical dimensions for representing how online content is given. The dimensions are: direction (private-public); identification (anonymous-identified); initiative (active-passive); incentive (voluntary-enforced); and limitation (open-restricted). Paper IV investigates photosharing practices and reveals how social metadata, attached to media objects, are included in sharing practices. The final paper further explores how end-users draw on social metadata to communicate bonding intentions when gifting media content. A general methodological contribution is the utilization of sociotechnical conflicts as units of analysis. These conflicts prove helpful in predicting, postulating and researching end-user innovation and conflict coordination. It is suggested that the conflicts also provide potent ways for interaction design and systems development to take end-user concerns and intentions on board.Article no. 1 is published 2004 in First Monday Vol 9, nr 12 and re-published 2005 in First Monday, Special Issue #1: Music and the Internet.</p

The Performative Gift: A Feminist Materialist Conceptual Model

Gifting (or gift-giving) is a particularly interesting form of communication that envelops both material and social dimensions. Objects are transformed into gifts through particular socio-material practices. While these practices are, of course, interesting in themselves, this paper will take a step back and revisit attempts to define and theorize the gift as a concept. In a time when the gift economy is often called upon as a potential candidate for more “participatory alternatives to capitalist totality”, particularly in relation to theorizing of labour on and through the Internet, theories of gifting provide an important foundation for discussing the boundaries of alternative futures and economies. So far, little effort has been taken to advance gift theory into a new materialist or posthumanist thinking. In an attempt to take that first step, this paper provides two contributions. First, it highlights how feminist theorizing of the gift comprises interesting forerunners in a new materialist conception of the gift. Second, it explores the analytical traction that can be gained from interlocking theories of the gift, feminist materialism and digital media, the result being a conceptual model that addresses the gift as a form of virtual-digital-material communication

Public and Non-Public Gifting on the Internet

This thesis contributes to the knowledge of how computer-mediated communication and information sharing works in large groups and networks. In more detail, the research question put forward is: in large sharing networks, what concerns do end-users have regarding to whom to provide material? A theoretical framework of gift-giving was applied to identify, label and classify qualitative end-user concerns with provision. The data collection was performed through online ethnographical research methods in two large sharing networks, one music-oriented and one photo-oriented. The methods included forum message elicitation, online interviews, application use and observation. The result of the data collection was a total of 1360 relevant forum messages. A part from this there are also 27 informal interview logs, field notes and samples of user profiles and sharing policies. The qualitative analysis led up to a model of relationships based on the observation that many users experienced conflicts of interest between various groups of receivers and that these conflicts, or social dilemmas, evoked concerns regarding public and non-public provision of material. The groups of potential recipients were often at different relationship levels. The levels ranged from the individual (ego), to the small group of close peers (micro), to a larger network of acquaintances (meso) to the anonymous larger network (macro). It is argued that an important focal point for analysis of cooperation and conflict is situated in the relations between these levels. Deepened studies and analysis also revealed needs to address dynamic recipient groupings, the need to control the level of publicness of both digital material and its metadata (tags, contacts, comments and links to other networks) and that users often refrained from providing material unless they felt able to control its direction. A central conclusion is that public and non-public gifting need to co-emerge in large sharing networks and that non-public gifting might be an important factor for the support of continued provision of goods in sustainable networks and communities

Contracorrents del màrqueting del ‘microordinador’: ordinadors personals i genealogia dels mitjans

Entre el final dels anys setanta i fins a mitjan anys vuitanta, molts països van viure el “boom dels ordinadors personals”. L'ordinador personal (o “microordinador”, com se'l coneixia col·loquialment) s'havia convertit en un concepte viable de màrqueting, perquè les empreses, després de desenvolupar unes màquines molt avançades i cares per a aplicacions empresarials, científiques i d'enginyeria, havien trobat un segment de mercat per a uns “ordinadors personals” més assequibles, accessibles i no tan avançats per a usuaris individuals. La domesticació de l'ordinador és, lògicament, una fase interessant de la història dels mitjans i descobreix intermedialitats, continuïtats i interrupcions dins de l'evolució de la cultura digital. En analitzar el màrqueting de l'ordinador personal, tal com apareix en els anuncis de revistes entre el 1981 i el 1985, aquest article sosté que podem comprendre millor la relació de transformació mútua entre el disseny i el llenguatge intrínsecament tècnics de l'enginyeria de software i hardware, i l'idioma ideològic i cultural de la informatització. La pregunta clau de la recerca d'aquest article és: Com es va transcodificar el llenguatge intrínsecament tècnic i, fins i tot, les operacions concretes de l'enginyeria de software i hardware, per crear conceptes de màrqueting? O, en altres paraules, com es va negociar l'agència humana i l'agència tecnològica a través del llenguatge visual del màrqueting? La resposta a aquesta pregunta proporcionarà informació sobre com començava a produir-se la informatització imminent de la societat des d'un nivell ideològic i semiòtic, fet que, alhora, s'ha vist reforçat per les capacitats materials de les tecnologies dels mitjans. Com a resultat, l'article identifica tres possibles “contracorrents” en les quals es negocien les materialitats, les agències i els discursos

Contracorrientes en el márquetin del «microordenador»: ordenadores personales y genealogía de los medios

Entre el final dels anys setanta i fins a mitjan anys vuitanta, molts països van viure el “boom dels ordinadors personals”. L'ordinador personal (o “microordinador”, com se'l coneixia col·loquialment) s'havia convertit en un concepte viable de màrqueting, perquè les empreses, després de desenvolupar unes màquines molt avançades i cares per a aplicacions empresarials, científiques i d'enginyeria, havien trobat un segment de mercat per a uns “ordinadors personals” més assequibles, accessibles i no tan avançats per a usuaris individuals. La domesticació de l'ordinador és, lògicament, una fase interessant de la història dels mitjans i descobreix intermedialitats, continuïtats i interrupcions dins de l'evolució de la cultura digital. En analitzar el màrqueting de l'ordinador personal, tal com apareix en els anuncis de revistes entre el 1981 i el 1985, aquest article sosté que podem comprendre millor la relació de transformació mútua entre el disseny i el llenguatge intrínsecament tècnics de l'enginyeria de software i hardware, i l'idioma ideològic i cultural de la informatització. La pregunta clau de la recerca d'aquest article és:Com es va transcodificar el llenguatge intrínsecament tècnic i, fins i tot, les operacions concretes de l'enginyeria de software i hardware, per crear conceptes de màrqueting? O, en altres paraules, com es va negociar l'agència humana i l'agència tecnològica a través del llenguatge visual del màrqueting?La resposta a aquesta pregunta proporcionarà informació sobre com començava a produir-se la informatització imminent de la societat des d'un nivell ideològic i semiòtic, fet que, alhora, s'ha vist reforçat per les capacitats materials de les tecnologies dels mitjans. Com a resultat, l'article identifica tres possibles “contracorrents” en les quals es negocien les materialitats, les agències i els discursos.From the late 1970s to the mid 1980s, many countries experienced a “home computer boom”. The “home computer” (or “micro” as it was colloquially referred to) had become a viable marketing concept because companies, having developed advanced and expensive machines for business, science and engineering applications, now identified a new market segment for more affordable, accessible, and less advanced single-user “home computers”. The domestication of the computer is, naturally, an interesting phase in media history, revealing intermedialities, continuities, and disruptions in the development of digital culture. By analysing home computer marketing as it appears from 1981 to 1985 in magazine advertisements, this paper argues that we can come to a better understanding of the mutually transformative relation between the inherently technical design and language of software and hardware engineering and the ideological and cultural language of computerisation. The key research question for this paper is:How was the inherently technical language, and indeed material operations, of software and hardware engineering transcoded into marketing concepts? Or, in other words, how was human agency and technological agency negotiated through the visual language of marketing?Answering this question will provide insights into how the impending computerisation of society started to take place at an ideological and semiotic level, which in turn is underpinned by the material capacities of media technologies. As a result, the paper identifies three tentative ‘crosscurrents’ where materialities, agencies and discourses are negotiated. Desde finales de los setenta hasta mediados de los ochenta, numerosos países experimentaron el «boom de los ordenadores personales». El «ordenador personal» (o «microordenador», como se denominaba coloquialmente) había pasado a ser un concepto viable de márquetin, puesto que las empresas, que habían desarrollado máquinas avanzadas y costosas para aplicaciones empresariales, científicas y de ingeniería, acababan de descubrir un nuevo segmento de mercado en los «ordenadores personales» para usuarios individuales, menos avanzados, pero más asequibles y accesibles. La domesticación del ordenador constituye, lógicamente, una fase interesante de la historia de los medios, que muestra intermedialidades, continuidades e interrupciones en la evolución de la cultura digital. Con su análisis del márquetin de los ordenadores personales tal como apareció entre 1981 y 1985 en anuncios de revistas, este artículo sostiene que podemos llegar a comprender mejor la relación de transformación mutua entre el diseño y el lenguaje intrínsecamente técnicos de la ingeniería de software y hardware y el lenguaje ideológico y cultural de la informatización. La pregunta principal de la investigación de este artículo es: ¿Cómo se transcodificó ese lenguaje intrínsecamente técnico, e incluso las operaciones concretas, de la ingeniería de software y hardware en conceptos propios del márquetin? O, dicho de otro modo, ¿cómo se negoció, por un lado, la agencia humana y, por otro, la agencia tecnológica a través del lenguaje visual del marketing?La respuesta a esta pregunta permitirá conocer mejor cómo empezó a producirse la inminente informatización de la sociedad desde un nivel ideológico y semiótico, que, a su vez, se ha visto respaldada por las propias capacidades materiales de las tecnologías de medios. Como resultado, el artículo detecta tres posibles «contracorrientes» en las que se negocian las materialidades, las agencias y los discursos

Im/possible desires: media temporalities and (post)human technology relationships

Abstract not available