School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Research Publications

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    Digital housekeepers and domestic expertise in the networked home
    Kennedy, J ; Nansen, B ; Arnold, M ; Wilken, R ; Gibbs, M (Sage Publications, 2015-11-01)
    This article examines the distribution of expertise in the performance of ‘digital housekeeping’ required to maintain a networked home. It considers the labours required to maintain a networked home, the forms of digital expertise that are available and valued in digital housekeeping, and ways in which expertise is gendered in distribution amongst household members. As part of this discussion, we consider how digital housekeeping implicitly situates technology work within the home in the role of the ‘housekeeper’, a term that is complicated by gendered sensitivities. Digital housework, like other forms of domestic labour, contributes to identity and self-worth. The concept of housework also affords visibility of the digital housekeeper’s enrolment in the project of maintaining the household. This article therefore asks, what is at stake in the gendered distribution of digital housekeeping?
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    Methodological and ethical concerns associated with digital ethnography in domestic environments: participation burden and burdensome technologies
    Nansen, B ; Wilken, R ; Kennedy, J ; Arnold, M ; Gibbs, M ; Warr, D ; Waycott, J ; Guillemin, M ; Cox, S (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
    This chapter reflects on methodological and ethical issues arising in a digital ethnography project conducted in domestic environments. The participatory aims of the methodological approach required participants to produce a series of videos exploring domestic digital environments. The videos were then uploaded using an ethnographic software application. Early in the project it became evident that researchers had limited control over important aspects of the technology, and that the technology itself was having disruptive effects in households. Further, although the study was designed to be engaging and playful for participants, the tasks of producing the videos was perceived by some participants as requiring onerous levels of creativity and digital media literacy. The chapter discusses these methodological and ethical issues, and how they were largely resolved.
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    Proxy Users, Use By Proxy: Mapping Forms of Intermediary Interaction
    Nansen, B ; Wilken, R ; Kennedy, J ; Arnold, M ; Carter, M ; Gibbs, M ; Ploderer, B ; Carter, M ; Gibbs, M ; Smith, W ; Vetere, F (ACM, 2015-12-17)
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    An Ontography of Broadband on a Domestic Scale
    ARNOLD, M ; Nansen, B ; Kennedy, J ; Gibbs, M ; Harrop, M ; Wilken, R (Transformations Journal, 2016)
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    Digital ethnographic techniques in domestic spaces: Notes on methods and ethics
    Nansen, B ; Kennedy, J ; ARNOLD, M ; Gibbs, M ; Wilken, R (Visual Methodologies, 2015)
    This paper reflects on the opportunities provided by the use of novel digital ethnographic methods for gaining insights into the changing uses of broadband internet and digital media in everyday domestic spaces, as well as the new kinds of methodological and ethical issues that are raised by these techniques. It begins by describing the research context, rationale, and methodology for deploying mobile devices, digital ethnographic software, and visual tasks in domestic spaces, which sought to encourage and empower participants to actively produce and interpret visual data. In particular, we describe how these digital ethnographic techniques aimed to overcome some of the limitations of traditional media ethnography in domestic spaces. We go on to describe a number of ethical implications, both anticipated in the research design and emerging during the introduction and early period of household data collection within the longitudinal study. These included issues of gaining informed consent and participant burden, given the disruptive qualities of the mobile device, ethnographic software and visual tasks, and the creative and technical competence required to complete the research tasks. We conclude with a discussion of the benefits and challenges of these digital ethnographic techniques, and note how the research methods have undergone collaborative modification in response to the ethical challenges encountered by participants.This paper reflects on the opportunities provided by the use of novel digital ethnographic methods for gaining insights into the changing uses of broadband internet and digital media in everyday domestic spaces, as well as the new kinds of methodological and ethical issues that are raised by these techniques. It begins by describing the research context, rationale, and methodology for deploying mobile devices, digital ethnographic software, and visual tasks in domestic spaces, which sought to encourage and empower participants to actively produce and interpret visual data. In particular, we describe how these digital ethnographic techniques aimed to overcome some of the limitations of traditional media ethnography in domestic spaces. We go on to describe a number of ethical implications, both anticipated in the research design and emerging during the introduction and early period of household data collection within the longitudinal study. These included issues of gaining informed consent and participant burden, given the disruptive qualities of the mobile device, ethnographic software and visual tasks, and the creative and technical competence required to complete the research tasks. We conclude with a discussion of the benefits and challenges of these digital ethnographic techniques, and note how the research methods have undergone collaborative modification in response to the ethical challenges encountered by participants.
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    Framing the NBN: An Analysis of Newspaper Representations
    Wilken, R ; Kennedy, J ; Arnold, M ; GIBBS, M ; Nansen, B (RMIT University, 2015)
    The National Broadband Network (NBN), Australia’s largest public infrastructure project, was initiated to deliver universal access to high-speed broadband. Since its announcement, the NBN has attracted a great deal of media coverage, coupled with at times divisive political debate around delivery models, costs and technologies. In this article we report on the results of a pilot study of print media coverage of the NBN. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis techniques were used to examine how the NBN was represented in The Age and The Australian newspapers during the period from 1 July 2008 to 1 July 2013. Our findings show that coverage was overwhelmingly negative and largely focused on the following: potential impacts on Telstra; lack of a business plan, and of cost-benefit analysis; problems with the rollout; cost to the federal budget; and implications for business stakeholders. In addition, there were comparatively few articles on potential societal benefits, applications and uses, and, socio-economic implications
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    National, local and household media ecologies: The case of Australia's National Broadband Network
    Wilken, R ; Nansen, B ; Arnold, M ; Kennedy, J ; Gibbs, M (RMIT-SCH MEDIA & COMMUNICATION, 2013)