1,721,005 research outputs found
The moral economy of social media
No full textIn this chapter we take a high-level view of social media, focusing not on specific applications, domains, websites, or technologies, but instead our interest is in the forms of engagement that social media engender. This is not to suggest that all social media are the same, or even that everyone’s experience with any particular medium or technology is the same. However, we argue common issues arise that characterize social media in a broad sense, and provide a different analytic perspective than we would gain from looking at particular systems or applications. We do not take the perspective that social life merely happens “within” such systems, nor that social life “shapes” such systems, but rather these systems provide a site for the production of social and cultural reality – that media are always already social and the engagement with, in, and through media of all sorts is a thoroughly social phenomenon.\ud
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Accordingly, in this chapter, we examine two phenomena concurrently: social life seen through the lens of social media, and social media seen through the lens of social life. In particular, we want to understand the ways that a set of broad phenomena concerning forms of participation in social life is articulated in the domain of social media. As a conceptual entry-point, we use the notion of the “moral economy” as a means to open up the domain of inquiry.\ud
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We first discuss the notion of the “moral economy” as it has been used by a number of social theorists, and then identify a particular set of conceptual concerns that we suggest link it to the phenomena of social networking in general. We then discuss a series of examples drawn from a range of studies to elaborate and ground this conceptual framework in empirical data. This leads us to a broader consideration of audiences and publics in social media that, we suggest, holds important lessons for how we treat social media analytically
Suburban nostalgia : the community building potential of urban screens
No full textUrbanely nomadic residents are increasingly forgoing the potential of locale based serendipitous encounters in favour of digitally mediated interactions within their walled garden of existing social networks. This limits a sense of community in urban neighbourhoods to members of one’s social network, but what of interactions with those outside of these networks, such as inhabitants of residential spaces? We report on our pilot study of open ended interviews which investigates the different user archetypes whose needs we consider when designing social technology for urban spaces. We propose a design to extend the sense of community in urban neighbourhoods beyond pure network sociality. Through a lens of ‘suburban nostalgia’ we envision how neighbourhood interactions might be retrofitted in new ways through civic engagement in the enhancement of environments
Social and mobile interaction design to increase the loyalty rates of young blood donors
Full text linkYoung adults represent the largest group of first time donors to the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, but they are also the least loyal group and often do not return after their first donation. At the same time, many young people use the internet and various forms of social media on a daily basis. Web and mobile based technological practices and communication patterns change the way that young people interact with one another, with their families, and communities. Combining these two points of departure, this study seeks to identify best practices of employing mobile apps and social media in order to enhance the loyalty rates of young blood donors. The findings reported in this paper are based on a qualitative approach presenting a nuanced understanding of the different factors that motivate young people to donate blood in the first place, as well as the obstacles or issues that prevent them from returning. The paper discusses work in progress with a view to inform the development of interactive prototypes trialling three categories of features: personal services (such as scheduling); social media (such as sharing the donation experience with friends to raise awareness); and data visualisations (such as local blood inventory levels). We discuss our translation of research findings into design implications
Dramatic character development personas to tailor apartment designs for different residential lifestyles
No full textThis chapter reports on research work that aims to overcome some limitations of conventional community engagement for urban planning. Adaptive and human-centred design approaches that are well established in human-computer interaction (such as personas and design scenarios) as well as creative writing and dramatic character development methods (such as the Stanislavsky System and the Meisner Technique) are yet largely unexplored in the rather conservative and long-term design context of urban planning. Based on these approaches, we have been trialling a set of performance based workshop activities to gain insights into participants’ desires and requirements that may inform the future design of apartments and apartment buildings in inner city Brisbane. The focus of these workshops is to analyse the behaviour and lifestyle of apartment dwellers and generate residential personas that become boundary objects in the cross-disciplinary discussions of urban design and planning teams. Dramatisation and embodied interaction of use cases form part of the strategies we employed to engage participants and elicit community feedback
The Swarm: Decreasing Gratuitous Mobile Interaction by Increasing Digital Content
No full textA series of internationally patent protected mobile phone prototypes called The Swarm have been developed in response to the user needs identified in a three-year empirical study of young people’s use of mobile phones. The prototypes take cues from user led innovation and provide multiple avatars that allow individuals to define and manage their own virtual identity. This paper briefly maps the evolution of the prototypes and then describes how the pre-defined, color coded avatars in the latest version are being given greater context and personalization through the use of digital images. This not only gives serendipity a nudge by allowing groups to come together more easily, it provides contextual information that can reduce gratuitous contact
Playing urban sustainability : the ecology of a\ud simulation game
No full textTo date, methodologies used in the field of game studies are\ud
prolific while indistinct due to the multifaceted nature of the field. In particular, games that shape our understandings of political, social or cultural environments add a new dimension to the discussion and theorization of games and learning. As gameplay is increasingly understood as situated in cultural contexts and practices, this paper argues for a comprehensive approach to game studies by positioning games in a wider ecology of learning. The strength of an ecology approach is that it identifies the relations and heterogeneous agents that contribute to developing, shaping, and performing the learning\ud
opportunities of a game. This paper suggests a methodological approach of qualitative ethnographic participant observation.\ud
Adopting a case study approach as an appropriate research\ud
strategy, this ethnography specifically examines and\ud
participates in the simulation game SCAPE (Sustainability,\ud
Community And Planning Education), an urban sustainability\ud
education tool
Women are people too : the problem of designing for gender
No full textCultural theory breaks with Modern analysis by\ud
rejecting traditional notions of race, gender, class and\ud
sexuality. In doing so, alternative frameworks such as\ud
Post-Feminism emerge which are useful for thinking\ud
about culture, technology and what our interactions\ud
with it mean. From a Post-Feminist perspective it can\ud
be seen how in our multi-cultural, post-industrial,\ud
digitized world, there is space to move beyond\ud
traditional ways of dividing up society such as ‘male’\ud
and ‘female’. We are then free to re-construct our\ud
identity in light of a rich diversity of individually\ud
relevant experiences. Therefore, in order to get a better\ud
understanding of the highly nuanced cultural\ud
interactions that characterize our use of technology,\ud
this paper argues against using the inherently\ud
stereotyped lens of gender and allowing a new set of\ud
user needs to emerge
Giving Serendipity a Nudge by Sharing Everyday Mobile Content
No full textThis paper examines the capturing and sharing of digital images in everyday life. We find that this practice not only gives serendipity a nudge by allowing groups to come together more easily, it provides contextual information that can reduce gratuitous contact. In order to demonstrate this we will reference the Swarm phone prototype and describe how the pre-defined, color coded avatars in the latest version are being given greater context and personalization through the use of everyday digital images
Conveying identity with mobile content
No full textA series of mobile phone prototypes called The Swarm have been developed in response to the user needs identified in a three-year empirical study of young people’s use of mobile phones. The prototypes take cues from user led innovation and provide multiple avatars that allow individuals to define and manage their own virtual identity. This paper briefly maps the evolution of the prototypes and then describes how the pre-defined, color coded avatars in the latest version are being given greater context and personalization through the use of digital images. This not only gives ‘serendipity a nudge’ by allowing groups to come together more easily, it provides contextual information that can reduce gratuitous contact
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