Iamcr2015 domenget-latzko-toth

Pour une approche temporaliste des usages et des dispositifs de communication numériques

For a temporalist approach of digital communication devices and their uses

Jean-Claude DomengetELLIADD – Université de Franche-Comté

Guillaume Latzko-TothLabCMO – Université Laval

IAMCR 2015 / UQAM / 14-07-2015

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Conceptualizing the unstable – Limits of existing theoretical frameworks

Domenget & Latzko-Toth – For a temporalist approach of digital communication devices and their uses – IAMCR 2015

Two paradigms in the field of French social studies of ICT uses (sociology of uses; Jauréguiberry et Proulx, 2011; Proulx, 2015) :

1) Unit of analysis = social uses as stable pattern of practices; focus on continuity, reproduction, filiation of uses

missing some aspects of digital ICT uses (changes, instabiliy, fragility)

2) Unit of analysis = activity within which ICT uses take place; 5 levels of analysis including everyday life and the long term

time as a contextual element in the analysis (to situate uses at a specific scale of time or within a historical sequence)

A concept of uses as stable construct becomes inadequate when devices themselves are – and stay – unstable!

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Instability of digital devices, fragility of their uses


Software-based media...

•Keep their plasticity (flexibility) long after they start to be used

•Are subject to constant mutations (permanently beta, Neff & Stark, 2003)

•Are unstable and incomplete by design (Garud et al, 2008; Latzko-Toth, 2011; Maxigas, 2014) : their plasticity is instrumentalized by designers to enroll users in the design process

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Instability of digital devices, fragility of their uses


Digital practices...

•Are unstable as they are constantly adjusting to evolving devices

•Uses are fragile (Domenget, 2013) : subject to changes in attitudes towards and representation of the device; fluctuations in the degree of engagement; moments of disengagements, and so on

•Show various states from non-uses or "limited uses" – Kellner et al., 2010) to routinized (social) uses = 2 ideal-types at both ends of a continuum

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Broadening the conceptual framework to include temporal dimensions


• Poorness of existing terminology to refer to time in ICT uses

• No unified theory in sociology of time, but a rich vocabulary has been crafted in this scholarship, allowing for a rich and fine-grained analysis of social temporalities in relation to digital practices

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Lallement's (2008) grammar of time based on Grossin (1996) articulates 4 time structures/formations :

- temporal frames: imposed "architectures" of time specific to a domain of activity (closed and rigid)

- temporal milieus: temporal assemblages that structure activities on an open, free, and flexible basis

- temporal cultures: shared representations and "ways of doing" associated with a group/society/period/generation

- personal temporal equations: combining a personal temporal horizon (individual perspective on the articulation of present, past and future), time management practices, and other elements

useful for analyzing temporal heterogeneities and related conflicts in ICT uses

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A typology of temporal dimensions (Dubar et Rolle, 2008):

- Moments of time: present, past, future

- Time scales: short, medium, long term

- Domains of time structuration: work, leisure, family, intimacy

- Modes of temporal expression: ways of expressing temporalities in discourse (e.g. temporal narratives regarding the self)

Useful for describing the temporal texture and "depth" of ICT uses

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Methodological principles


• Approach devices and practices in a diachronic, historicized way; by following the device's co-construction process, design changes and the formation of uses are captured jointly

• Within a definite time period, think digital devices as synchronicly embedded in a boundless web of digital artifacts

• A sensitivity to instability and fragility as expressed in the discourses involved in sociotechnical controversies

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Inquiry methods


• Long term observation/immersion (several years) develop a reflexive practice and a diachronic view of the device

• Qualitative interviews personal temporal equations in their diachronic and synchronic aspects

• Trace analysis (archives of posts, tweets, etc. ; Facebook activity logs...)

• Hybrid methods (e.g. trace interviews and co-analysis with users)

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Illustrations: temporalizing Twitter uses


• Twitter lists: how listing morphed from a social curation practice to a metrics of authority

• Twitter bots and the automation of relation establishment

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Conclusions – Revisiting user agency through the lens of temporality


• Unfolding the "hidden dimension" of time in studies of digital communication devices

• New possible axes of analysis Historicity of ICT uses (e.g.: how users periodicize their own

practices)

Time practices in relation to ICT uses (how digital practices shape collective and individual temporalities)

...

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Conclusions – Revisiting user agency through the lens of temporality


•Time and technology as a nexus of political struggle (cf. Grossin's temporal ecologies):

ICTs may be used to empower users in relation to time by helping them articulate temporal milieus allowing them to deal with temporal heterogeneity and other challenges in a culture of emergency (Auber, 2003) and social acceleration (Rosa, 2012);

but they can also harden the constraints of temporal frames and configure users' temporal experiences in a forced fashion

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Merci ! Thank you !

Jean-Claude DOMENGET – ELLIADD – Université de Franche-Comté

[email protected]@jcdblog

Guillaume LATZKO-TOTH – LabCMO – Université Laval

[email protected]@guillaumelatzko

Education

Iamcr2015 domenget-latzko-toth