Showing papers in "New Media & Society in 2016"
TL;DR: It is found that Internet use is strongly skewed in this age group leading to a partial exclusion of the old seniors (70+), and Logistic regression shows that gender differences in usage disappear if controlled for education, income, technical interest, pre-retirement computer use and marital status.
Abstract: The diffusion of the Internet is reaching a level between 80% and 90% in Western societies. Yet, while the digital divide is closing for young cohorts, it is still an issue when comparing various generations. This study focuses specifically on the so-called ‘grey divide’, a divide among seniors of age 65+ years. Based on a representative survey in Switzerland (N = 1105), it is found that Internet use is strongly skewed in this age group leading to a partial exclusion of the old seniors (70+). Logistic regression shows that gender differences in usage disappear if controlled for education, income, technical interest, pre-retirement computer use and marital status. Furthermore, the social context appears to have a manifold influence on Internet use. Encouragement by family and friends is a strong predictor for Internet use, and private learning settings are preferred over professional courses. Implications for digital inequality initiatives and further research are discussed.
558 citations
TL;DR: This essay explores the conceptual and semantic work required to render algorithmic information processing systems legible as forms of cultural decision making and represents an effort to add depth and dimension to the concept of “algorithmic culture.”
Abstract: How does algorithmic information processing affect the meaning of the word culture, and, by extension, cultural practice? We address this question by focusing on the Netflix Prize (2006–2009), a contest offering US$1m to the first individual or team to boost the accuracy of the company’s existing movie recommendation system by 10%. Although billed as a technical challenge intended for engineers, we argue that the Netflix Prize was equally an effort to reinterpret the meaning of culture in ways that overlapped with, but also diverged in important respects from, the three dominant senses of the term assayed by Raymond Williams. Thus, this essay explores the conceptual and semantic work required to render algorithmic information processing systems legible as forms of cultural decision making. It also then represents an effort to add depth and dimension to the concept of “algorithmic culture.”
346 citations
TL;DR: Thinking through the implications of the use of wearable technologies in workplaces, this article shows that these technologies introduce a heightened Taylorist influence on precarious working bodies within neoliberal workplaces.
Abstract: Implementation of quantified self technologies in workplaces relies on the ontological premise of Cartesian dualism with mind dominant over body. Contributing to debates in new materialism, we demonstrate that workers are now being asked to measure our own productivity and health and well-being in art-houses and warehouses alike in both the global north and south. Workers experience intensified precarity, austerity, intense competition for jobs and anxieties about the replacement of labour-power with robots and other machines as well as, ourselves replaceable, other humans. Workers have internalised the imperative to perform, a subjectification process as we become observing entrepreneurial subjects and observed, objectified labouring bodies. Thinking through the implications of the use of wearable technologies in workplaces, this article shows that these technologies introduce a heightened Taylorist influence on precarious working bodies within neoliberal workplaces.
286 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that social media use generally has a positive relationship with engagement and its three sub-categories, that is, social capital, civic engagement, and political participation.
Abstract: This meta-analytic study reviews empirical research published from 2007 to 2013 with an aim of providing robust conclusions about the relationship between social media use and citizen engagement. It includes 22 studies that used self-reported measures of social media use and participation, with a total of 116 relationships/effects. The results suggest that social media use generally has a positive relationship with engagement and its three sub-categories, that is, social capital, civic engagement, and political participation. More specifically, we find small-to-medium size positive relationships between expressive, informational, and relational uses of social media and the above indicators of citizen engagement. For identity- and entertainment-oriented uses of social media, our analyses find little evidence supporting their relationship with citizen engagement.
266 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that at extraordinary moments campaigns can exercise what Isaac Reed calls “performative power,” influence over other actors’ definitions of the situation and their consequent actions through well-timed, resonant, and rhetorically effective communicative action and interaction.
Abstract: Drawing on interviews with staffers from the 2012 Obama and Romney presidential campaigns and qualitative content analysis of their Twitter feeds, this article provides the first inside look at how staffers used the platform to influence the agendas and frames of professional journalists, as well as appeal to strong supporters. These campaigns sought to influence journalists in direct and indirect ways, and planned their strategic communication efforts around political events such as debates well in advance. Despite these similarities, staffers cite that Obama’s campaign had much greater ability to respond in real time to unfolding commentary around political events given an organizational structure that provided digital staffers with a high degree of autonomy. After analyzing the ways staffers discuss effective communication on the platform, this article argues that at extraordinary moments campaigns can exercise what Isaac Reed calls “performative power,” influence over other actors’ definitions of the ...
240 citations
TL;DR: The working of the flag is unpacked, alternatives that give greater emphasis to public deliberation are considered, and the implications for online public discourse of this now commonplace yet rarely studied sociotechnical mechanism are considered.
Abstract: The flag is now a common mechanism for reporting offensive content to an online platform, and is used widely across most popular social media sites. It serves both as a solution to the problem of curating massive collections of user-generated content and as a rhetorical justification for platform owners when they decide to remove content. Flags are becoming a ubiquitous mechanism of governance—yet their meaning is anything but straightforward. In practice, the interactions between users, flags, algorithms, content moderators, and platforms are complex and highly strategic. Significantly, flags are asked to bear a great deal of weight, arbitrating both the relationship between users and platforms, and the negotiation around contentious public issues. In this essay, we unpack the working of the flag, consider alternatives that give greater emphasis to public deliberation, and consider the implications for online public discourse of this now commonplace yet rarely studied sociotechnical mechanism.
230 citations
TL;DR: Twitter Wikipedia Mon, 21 May 2018 01:49:00 GMT Twitter (/ ? t w ? t ?r /) is an online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but on November 7, 2017, this limit was doubled.
Abstract: Twitter Wikipedia Mon, 21 May 2018 01:49:00 GMT Twitter (/ ? t w ? t ?r /) is an online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as \"tweets\". Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but on November 7, 2017, this limit was doubled for all languages except Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Edward Snowden Wikipedia Mon, 21 May 2018 00:38:00 GMT The exact size of Snowden's disclosure is unknown, but Australian officials have estimated 15,000 or more Australian intelligence files and British officials estimate at least 58,000 British intelligence files. Friday Squid Blogging: Bioluminescent Squid Schneier on ... Fri, 01 Sep 2017 21:40:00 GMT Friday Squid Blogging: Bioluminescent Squid. There's a beautiful picture of a tiny squid in this New York Times article on bioluminescence -and a dramatic one of a vampire squid.
226 citations
TL;DR: A combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of 200 clips shows that in an arena ostensibly free of formal gatekeepers, participants tend to police themselves, toeing the line with conformist norms.
Abstract: In September 2010, a video titled “It Gets Better” was uploaded to YouTube, responding to suicides of gay teens who had suffered from homophobic bullying. Before long, thousands of Internet users added their own versions of the clip, creating a mass appeal to young people while simultaneously negotiating the norms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) collective identity. Conceptualizing this body of videos as an Internet meme, we examine the extent to which participants imitate or alter textual components presented in previous videos. A combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of 200 clips shows that in an arena ostensibly free of formal gatekeepers, participants tend to police themselves, toeing the line with conformist norms. We also identify domains of potential subversion, related not only to the content of the videos but mainly to the forms facilitated by digital media.
223 citations
TL;DR: Findings suggest that inadvertent encounters with political content on social media are likely to reduce the gap in online engagement between citizens with high and low interest in politics, potentially broadening the range of voices that make themselves heard.
Abstract: We assess whether and how accidental exposure to political information on social media contributes to citizens’ online political participation in comparative perspective. Based on three online surveys of samples representative of German, Italian, and British Internet users in the aftermath of the 2014 European Parliament elections, we find that accidental exposure to political information on social media is positively and significantly correlated with online participation in all three countries, particularly so in Germany where overall levels of participation were lower. We also find that interest in politics moderates this relationship so that the correlation is stronger among the less interested than among the highly interested. These findings suggest that inadvertent encounters with political content on social media are likely to reduce the gap in online engagement between citizens with high and low interest in politics, potentially broadening the range of voices that make themselves heard.
223 citations
TL;DR: It was found that Dutch politicians were more likely to use Twitter than UK candidates and on average tweeted over twice as much as their British counterparts, and the public responded to this by engaging in further dialogue.
Abstract: Twitter has become one of the most important online spaces for political communication practice and research. Through a hand-coded content analysis, this study compares how British and Dutch Parliamentary candidates used Twitter during the 2010 general elections. We found that Dutch politicians were more likely to use Twitter than UK candidates and on average tweeted over twice as much as their British counterparts. Dutch candidates were also more likely to embrace the interactive potential of Twitter, and it appeared that the public responded to this by engaging in further dialogue. We attribute the more conservative approach of British candidates compared to the Netherlands to historic differences in the appropriation of social media by national elites, and differing levels of discipline imposed from the central party machines.
216 citations
TL;DR: A theoretical framework for conceptualizing user engagement on a continuum from exposure to interactivity is proposed and a distinction between user–content and user–user modes of interaction is made.
Abstract: With the emergence and rapid acceptance of online news come new and varied opportunities for user engagement with content, along with alternative metrics for capturing those behaviors. This study focuses on interactive engagement with online news videos. We propose a theoretical framework for conceptualizing user engagement on a continuum from exposure to interactivity. Furthermore, we make a distinction between user–content (e.g. commenting) and user–user (e.g. replying to another user’s comment) modes of interaction. We then explore publicly available measures of these concepts and test a series of hypotheses to explore commenting and conversational behaviors in response to YouTube news videos. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications for advancing our understanding of user engagement with online news.
TL;DR: This article considers Netflix-produced season 4 of Arrested Development as a case study to explore how Netflix positions itself in relation to contemporary ‘quality’ and ‘cult’ TV and associated viewing practices and draws on theories of post-postmodern capitalism to understand its function within a broader socio-political context.
Abstract: This article explores the relationship between television and video on demand (VOD), focusing specifically on Netflix and its recent move to produce and distribute original serialised drama. Drawing on a number of conceptualisations of contemporary media, this article positions Netflix within a contemporary media landscape, paying particular attention to how it relates to branding strategies of multi-platform serialised content and subscription cable channels in the United States. It considers Netflix-produced season 4 of Arrested Development (Fox, 2003–2013, Netflix, 2013) as a case study to explore how Netflix positions itself in relation to contemporary ‘quality’ and ‘cult’ TV and associated viewing practices and draws on theories of post-postmodern capitalism to understand its function within a broader socio-political context. As such, it places Netflix within discourses of VOD, TVIII, branding, contemporary viewing practices and consumer practices in post-postmodern capitalism.
TL;DR: The case of video game commentators and examples from research are used to highlight implications for conceptualizing the concept of “architectures of digital labor” and how technological features designed into YouTube create a set of probable uses/meanings/practices for users while serving YouTube’s business interests.
Abstract: This article uses the case of video game commentators and examples from research to highlight implications for conceptualizing the concept of “architectures of digital labor.” The concept draws attention not only to the social practices that position activities straddling labor/leisure into a commercial framework but also to the technological platforms that make that possible in a seemingly invisible fashion. The main analytical lens is that of “affordances.” It is used to map how technological features designed into YouTube create a set of probable uses/meanings/practices for users while serving YouTube’s business interests. The analysis is transferable to other social web platforms whose central business model focuses on user-generated content (UGC).
TL;DR: The App Generation defines today’s young people as the “App Generation,” using the literary device of the authors’ own configurations across generations to present a unique perspective on the discussion of what the authors know of as “digital natives.
Abstract: When I finished reading The App Generation by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis, I was struck by an example in the book about young people who have never been lost because of their smart phones. With a global positioning system (GPS) app or Google Maps at their disposal, they have never had to problem-solve or orient themselves based on a landmark, or rely on memory. This, the authors say, is an example of the impact digital media have had on today’s youth. Howard Gardner is a professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences. His coauthor, Katie Davis, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington Information School studying the role of technology in teens’ lives. Combined, they present a unique perspective on the discussion of what we know of as “digital natives.” They set out to define today’s young people as the “App Generation,” using the literary device of the authors’ own configurations across generations. The three generations used as a framework are Howard, a digital immigrant who grew up in the 1950s in America; Katie, who grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s in Bermuda; and Molly (Katie’s younger sister), who grew up in Bermuda and the United States and cannot remember a time without digital media. The authors define the word “app” as a software program, often made for a mobile device, utilizing one or more operations. It can be a shortcut that takes you straight to where you want to go with no searching on the Internet or in your own memory:
TL;DR: Jackie Greenfield has chosen to shift her career toward popular writing, on topics on which she has not done original research, while trading on her status as a scientist.
Abstract: Online attacks on Greenfield have at times seemed personal. She has also been criticized for promoting her ideas publicly and not subjecting them to professional scrutiny. Competing philosophies are at play about the public role of scientists. Greenfield has chosen to shift her career toward popular writing, on topics on which she has not done original research, while trading on her status as a scientist. Should her book therefore be dismissed completely? No. Is this practice good for science and society, and do the circumstances in this case justify it? Reasonable people could disagree.
TL;DR: Insight is provided into stigmatized identity performances in networked publics while situating context collapse within a broader understanding of impression management, which paves the way for future research exploring the identity implications of everyday SNS use.
Abstract: This study extends previous research into social networking sites (SNSs) as environments that often reduce spatial, temporal, and social boundaries, which can result in collapsed contexts for social situations. Context collapse was investigated through interviews and Facebook walkthroughs with 27 LGBTQ young people in the United Kingdom. Since diverse sexualities are often stigmatized, participants’ sexual identity disclosure decisions were shaped by both the social conditions of their online networks and the technological architecture of SNSs. Context collapse was experienced as an event through which individuals intentionally redefined their sexual identity across audiences or managed unintentional disclosure. To prevent unintentional context collapse, participants frequently reinstated contexts through tailored performances and audience separation. These findings provide insight into stigmatized identity performances in networked publics while situating context collapse within a broader understanding of impression management, which paves the way for future research exploring the identity implications of everyday SNS use.
TL;DR: Results show that sociodemographics alone account for up to half of the variance in usage in these high-penetration countries, with age being the strongest predictor.
Abstract: Based on representative surveys on Internet use, this article advances comparative research on the second-level digital divide by modeling Internet usage disparities for five countries with narrowing access gaps. Four core Internet usage types are constructed and predicted by sociodemographic variables in a structural model. Overall, the findings confirm the recently identified shift in the digital divide from access to usage in five further countries. Results show that sociodemographics alone account for up to half of the variance in usage in these high-penetration countries, with age being the strongest predictor. Measurement invariance tests indicate that a direct comparison is only valid between three of the five countries explored. Methodologically, this points to the indispensability of such tests for unbiased comparative research.
TL;DR: Both online respect and civic engagement were negatively related to online harassment perpetration and positively related to helpful bystander behaviors, after controlling for other variables.
Abstract: There is an increasing interest in improving youth digital citizenship through education. However, the term ‘digital citizenship’ currently covers a broad range of goals. To improve education, the current article argues for a narrower focus on (1) respectful behavior online and (2) online civic engagement. Using this definition, a digital citizenship scale was developed and assessed with a sample of 979 youth, aged 11–17 years, and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) supported measurement of both constructs: online respect (7 items, Cronbach’s α = .92) and online civic engagement (4 items, Cronbach’s α = .70). Online respect scores decreased with youth age, and scores on both subscales were higher among girls than boys. Both online respect and civic engagement were negatively related to online harassment perpetration and positively related to helpful bystander behaviors, after controlling for other variables. Implications of the study findings for developing and evaluating digital citizenship educational ...
TL;DR: Bring home now the book enPDFd the marvelous clouds toward a philosophy of elemental media to be your sources when going to read to not only display in your racks but also be the one that can help you fining the best sources.
Abstract: Bring home now the book enPDFd the marvelous clouds toward a philosophy of elemental media to be your sources when going to read. It can be your new collection to not only display in your racks but also be the one that can help you fining the best sources. As in common, book is the window to get in the world and you can open the world easily. These wise words are really familiar with you, isn't it?
TL;DR: It is argued that leaving is not a singular moment, but a process involving layered social and technical acts – that understandings of and departures from location-based media are bound up with an individual’s location.
Abstract: Grindr is a popular location-based social networking application for smartphones, predominantly used by gay men. This study investigates why users leave Grindr. Drawing on interviews with 16 men who stopped using Grindr, this article reports on the varied definitions of leaving, focusing on what people report leaving, how they leave and what they say leaving means to them. We argue that leaving is not a singular moment, but a process involving layered social and technical acts – that understandings of and departures from location-based media are bound up with an individual’s location. Accounts of leaving Grindr destabilize normative definitions of both ‘Grindr’ and ‘leaving’, exposing a set of relational possibilities and spatial arrangements within and around which people move. We conclude with implications for the study of non-use and technological departure.
TL;DR: It is suggested civic hackers can be framed as a form of data activism and advocacy: requesting, digesting, contributing to, modeling, and contesting data, and concluded civic hackers are utopian realists involved in the crafting of algorithmic power and discussing ethics of technology design.
Abstract: The civic hacker tends to be described as anachronistic, an ineffective “white hat” compared to more overtly activist cousins. By contrast, I argue that civic hackers’ politics emerged from a distinct historical milieu and include potentially powerful modes of political participation. The progressive roots of civic data hacking can be found in early 20th-century notions of “publicity” and the right to information movement. Successive waves of activists saw the Internet as a tool for transparency. The framing of openness shifted in meaning from information to data, weakening of mechanisms for accountability even as it opened up new forms of political participation. Drawing on a year of interviews and participant observation, I suggest civic data hacking can be framed as a form of data activism and advocacy: requesting, digesting, contributing to, modeling, and contesting data. I conclude civic hackers are utopian realists involved in the crafting of algorithmic power and discussing ethics of technology des...
TL;DR: This study explores how social interaction and news-seeking behaviors on social media lead to diverse networks, exposure to dissenting political opinion, and ultimately reconsidering and changing one’s political views.
Abstract: News use via social media has been linked to pro-democratic political behaviors. However, most people use social media for non-political purposes, like connecting with friends and browsing news feeds. Recent research indicates these behaviors may also have democratic benefits, by means of political expression in social media. Drawing on panel data from a nationally representative sample, this study extends this line of research by exploring how social interaction and news-seeking behaviors on social media lead to diverse networks, exposure to dissenting political opinion, and ultimately reconsidering and changing one’s political views. Social media are a unique communication platform, and their attributes might influence exposure to political information. The tendency for users to build and maintain friend networks creates a potential deliberative space for political persuasion to take place. Consistent with prior literature, news use leads to political persuasion. More interestingly, apolitical, but soci...
TL;DR: The findings suggest the resilience of digital inequalities among children, showing how social inequalities intersect with divides in access and result in disparities in online activities, with children who benefit from a greater autonomy of use and a longer online experience also reaching the top of the ladder of opportunities.
Abstract: Based on data collected through the Net Children Go Mobile survey of approximately 3500 respondents aged 9–16 years in seven European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom), this article examines the diffusion of smartphones among children and contributes to existing research on mobile digital divides by investigating what influences the adoption of smartphones among children and whether going online from a smartphone is associated with specific usage patterns, thus bridging or widening usage gaps. The findings suggest the resilience of digital inequalities among children, showing how social inequalities intersect with divides in access and result in disparities in online activities, with children who benefit from a greater autonomy of use and a longer online experience also reaching the top of the ladder of opportunities.
TL;DR: This article identified social norms that were formed around the prevailing sharing practices in the two sites and compared them in relation to the sharing mechanisms, and revealed that automated and manual sharing were sanctioned differently.
Abstract: “Profile work,” that is strategic self-presentation in social network sites, is configured by both the technical affordances and related social norms. In this article, we address technical and social psychological aspects that underlie acts of sharing by analyzing the social in relation to the technical. Our analysis is based on two complementary sets of qualitative data gleaned from in situ experiences of Finnish youth and young adults within the sharing mechanisms of Facebook and Last.fm. In our analysis, we identified social norms that were formed around the prevailing sharing practices in the two sites and compared them in relation to the sharing mechanisms. The analysis revealed that automated and manual sharing were sanctioned differently. We conclude that although the social norms that guide content sharing differed between the two contexts, there was an identical sociocultural goal in profile work: presentation of authenticity.
TL;DR: What do you do to start reading values at play in digital games?
Abstract: What do you do to start reading values at play in digital games? Searching the book that you love to read first or find an interesting book that will make you want to read? Everybody has difference with their reason of reading a book. Actuary, reading habit must be from earlier. Many people may be love to read, but not a book. It's not fault. Someone will be bored to open the thick book with small words to read. In more, this is the real condition. So do happen probably with this values at play in digital games.
TL;DR: How online sources have changed the journalist–source relationship regarding selection of sources as well as verification strategies is evaluated and how the use of online sources changes audience perceptions of news is discussed.
Abstract: This review article provides a critical discussion of empirical studies that deal with the use of online news sources in journalism. We evaluate how online sources have changed the journalist–source relationship regarding selection of sources as well as verification strategies. We also discuss how the use of online sources changes audience perceptions of news. The available research indicates that journalists have accepted online news sourcing techniques into their daily news production process, but that they hesitate to use information retrieved from social media as direct and quoted sources in news reporting. Studies show that there are differences in the use of online sources between media sectors, type of reporting, and country context. The literature also suggests that verification of online sources requires a new set of skills that journalists still struggle with. We propose a research agenda for future studies.
TL;DR: An exploratory effort, studying traces of permanent campaigning in two similar countries—Norway and Sweden, provides insights into “the election effect”—heightened levels of online activity among the Norwegian parties and politicians that can perhaps best be understood in relation to an ongoing election.
Abstract: Many claims have been made regarding the influence of social media like Facebook on activities undertaken by political actors. While the study of online political communication provides several different perspectives, few studies have attempted to uncover tendencies of so-called permanent campaigning in online environments. The term signifies campaign-like activities at the hands of politicians also during non-election periods and has spawned a number of conceptual discussions. This article presents an exploratory effort, studying traces of permanent campaigning in two similar countries—Norway and Sweden. As the former of these countries underwent a parliamentary election during the studied period, the study provides insights into “the election effect”—heightened levels of online activity among the Norwegian parties and politicians that can perhaps best be understood in relation to an ongoing election.
TL;DR: The article underscores the need for a ‘critical pedagogy’ of online abuse, but it also argues that social media is rendering the homosociality and misogynist strains of online publics visible and therefore contestable.
Abstract: Drawing on focus group research, this article examines the impact of norms of publicity and privacy on young people as they negotiate technologically mediated intimate and peer relations This article argues that digital images of bodies circulate online in manner that reinforces gender inequalities, as the public feminine body is conflated with pornography in contrast to the range of meanings that can append to the public masculine body While the exposed female body was subject to pejorative ascriptions of sexual promiscuity, the exposed masculine body could serve a range of purposes, including its deployment in sexual harassment Young people tended to ignore male perpetration and hold girls and women responsible for managing the risks of online abuse The article underscores the need for a ‘critical pedagogy’ of online abuse, but it also argues that social media is rendering the homosociality and misogynist strains of online publics visible and therefore contestable
TL;DR: An early ethnographic exploration of the Dark Web Social Network (DWSN), a social networking site only accessible to Web browsers equipped with The Onion Router, which traces the DWSN’s experiment with power/freedom through three practices: anonymous/social networking, the banning of child pornography, and the productive aspects of techno-elitism.
Abstract: This essay is an early ethnographic exploration of the Dark Web Social Network (DWSN), a social networking site only accessible to Web browsers equipped with The Onion Router. The central claim of this essay is that the DWSN is an experiment in power/freedom, an attempt to simultaneously trace, deploy, and overcome the historical conditions in which it finds itself: the generic constraints and affordances of social networking as they have been developed over the past decade by Facebook and Twitter, and the ideological constraints and affordances of public perceptions of the dark web, which hold that the dark web is useful for both taboo activities and freedom from state oppression. I trace the DWSN’s experiment with power/freedom through three practices: anonymous/social networking, the banning of child pornography, and the productive aspects of techno-elitism. I then use these practices to specify particular forms of power/freedom on the DWSN.
TL;DR: This article reviews existing theoretical approaches to the study of technology appropriation and draws inspiration from three Latin American cultural traditions, baroquization, creolization, and cannibalism to propose a new theoretical framework that informs an in-depth study of the social, economic, and political impacts oftechnology appropriation.
Abstract: Appropriation is the process through which technology users go beyond mere adoption to make technology their own and to embed it within their social, economic, and political practices. The appropriation process is a negotiation about power and control over the configuration of technology, its uses, and the distribution of its benefits. The negotiation surrounding technology appropriation echoes earlier creative tensions in the New World regarding the appropriation of cultural objects and ideas from abroad. This article reviews existing theoretical approaches to the study of technology appropriation and draws inspiration from three Latin American cultural traditions, baroquization, creolization, and cannibalism. It proposes a new theoretical framework that informs an in-depth study of the social, economic, and political impacts of technology appropriation.