my thesis and defense

Want to read my thesis? Get a copy! Contact Kristin Sandberg at the Department of media and communication, phone: +47 22 85 04 02, k.l.sandberg at media.uio.no

/EDIT/ I don't think there are any printed copies left, but I'd be happy to send you a pdf-version of my thesis if you're interested. Let me know.

My trial lecture is next Tuesday (18th of December) from 5.15 pm - 6pm, aud. 2, Sophus Bugges hus at Blindern (at campus). Assigned title: "Changes and consistencies in subjectivity in an age of new media"

The defense will take place on the 19th of December at 9.15 am, aud. 2, Sophus Bugges hus at Blindern.

Committee: Professor Charles Ess (Drury University) and Professor Nancy Baym (University of Kansas). Third member of the committee is Associate Professor Tanja Storsul (University of Oslo).

It'll be fun, I'm sure!

Ambivalence Towards Convergence

One of my thesis-articles, "Converging forms of communication?", is one of the contributions in a newly published anthology: Ambivalence Towards Convergence. Digitalization and Media Change, edited by Tanja Storsul and Dagny Stuedahl.

Concepts of convergence and converging processes have triggered considerable attention and activities in media research during recent years. This has been an inspiring context for the discussions and analyses presented in this book.

The book elucidates a variety of understandings related to the concept of convergence, and at the same time reflects on the analytical advantage of the concept. The contributions discuss the impact of media digitalization and the degree to which the prospects of convergence have been realized. The studies range from investigations of institutional and regulatory change within media and cultural institutions, to analyses of communicative genres and social practices related to digital media.

For table of contents and ordering the book, visit Nordicom.

transcending souls?

For the qualitative-minded researcher, the open-ended interview apparently offers the opportunity for an authentic gaze into the soul of the other... (Davd Silverman (2003) "Analyzing Talk and Text: 343).

In an otherwise interesting article, I believe Silverman reads too much into the intentions of researchers conducting qualitative interviews. This sentence really jumped out on me. I'm preparing two lectures in methodology that I agreed to do at the Department of Political Science. At first I regretted having said yes, but clearly it might just make me more prepared for critical methodological comments on my PdD-thesis. There, I immediately felt sick thinking about it. My defense, if it is approved will take place on the 19th of December. Touch wood.

summary of my phd-thesis

Being in mediated spaces: An enquiry into personal media practices

The main purpose of this thesis has been to analyse mediated practices among young people: what significance do use of personal media have for the individual user? The concept of personal media is understood as denoting tools for interpersonal communication and personal content creation. Although the history of personal media did not commence with digital network technologies, the development since the mid 1990s indicates that new patterns of being in mediated spaces have materialised. The consequences are potentially considerable, and it is therefore vital to understand personal media practices from a user-perspective. Moreover, the recent development affects previous notions of communication media. A crucial ambition has consequently been to conceptualise the notion of personal media and the distinctions between personal communication and mass communication. This study is primarily based on qualitative interviews with 20 users, aged between 15 and 19 years old. Participants all have a multifaceted online presence and, accordingly, a particular knowledge on the area of study. Throughout the research project I also observed their ever-changing presence online.

The thesis opens with a synthesizing discussion, in which I present previous research on personal media; introduce eight specific research questions; consider the methodological approaches pursued; and theoretically deliberate on aspects concerning communication, subjectivity and privacy in networked cultures. The opening discussion is followed by five articles, which comprise the main part of the thesis.

In “Conceptualising personal media”, I explain the main characteristics of personal media. I introduce a two-dimensional model, locating personal media and mass media differently according to a horizontal interaction axis, and a vertical institutional/professional axis.

In “Mediated subjects: how personal media affect performances of selves”, I examine perceptions of self-performances. Mediated communication is characterised by other qualities than offline communication, and users regularly disclose private information. As a consequence boundaries between what is considered public and private are changing, yet the constructed mediated self cannot be described as unfiltered.

The main purpose of “Becoming more like friends: a qualitative study of personal media and social life”, is to examine the qualities of mediated interaction and the integration of mediated and immediate social spheres. Mediated communication differs from face-to-face communication, not by being less meaningful, but by enabling other forms of disclosing practices. I argue that the ability to integrate different social spaces has become a characteristic element of social competence in network societies.

“’I made this!’ Being through creative digital practices” was written in order to analyse the creative aspects of being in mediated spaces. Sharing fragments of everyday stories appears to be important for media practices to be personally and socially meaningful. I argue that perceptions of creative strategies are connected to originality and the ability to create aesthetically pleasing expressions. Creative practices are nonetheless ordinary and essential parts of life, and being creative in mediated spaces is a way of being social and receiving recognition from peers.

In the final article “Converging forms of communication? Interpersonal and mass mediated expressions in digital environments”, I examine the grey-areas, which cannot be described as purely interpersonally mediated or mass mediated. The concept of communication is discussed by examining aspects of interaction, participation and social integration. These aspects are applied as variables in an analysis of conversations in a personal weblog, Underskog and a reader-discussion in the online edition of the Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet.

being in mediated spaces

My now submitted PhD-thesis is entitled Being in mediated spaces: An enquiry into personal media practices. Yet, curb your enthusiasm, no need to get all excited yet. After all, I now have to wait for almost six months before I know whether the thesis-committee will even approve my work. I feel kind of empty and anxious since I can no longer re-write, re-work and improve my thesis.

I loved being a PhD-student.

mediate/immediate

Lately, I have sometimes been using "immediate interaction" to describe face-to-face interaction, though I'm not at all sure whether it is an appropriate term. According to the Wordnet Database, immediate can be defined as "having no intervening medium", which is of course how I think of it as opposed to mediated interaction. Clearly, I am aware that communication is never immediate, but, in face-to-face situations, always mediated through the body, language, speech, non-verbal signs. I do like the online/offline distinction, but this is not always appropriate as I also discuss communication mediated through phones and even postal letters.

I can't believe I barely have six weeks left to finish my thesis. I will make it, but it feels weird. The last three years have been wonderful.

narrated memories

It's hardly too late yet to search for books and anthologies I still need to read, or at least browse, in order to be able to finish my thesis? Don't think so. Besides, some are really short, like Annette Kuhn's Family History. Acts of Memory and Imagination.

I am of course already familiar with relevant literature. Literature, which indicates that the relatively long history of documenting experiences, interactions and thoughts through journals, photographs and letters imply that subjects appear to embrace possibilities to create traces of life and social relationships. Personal media, such as mobile phones, instant messenger and social network sites, are similarly useful machines, facilitating interaction and the active creation of narrated memories.

Some of these are essentially ephemeral, such as telephone conversations, usually not recorded for the future. Others are, at least claimed to be, for better or worse, digital traces for eternity. The increasing potentials to document all aspects of life through textual, visual and audible traces, and additionally to archive these traces in private, semi-public and public digital spaces, can clearly be seen to have consequences for our individual sense of self, both present and past. It seems so significant that I easily forget that most people in the world do not have very extensive online presences.

What is a paradox?

I'm sometimes puzzled by how I apply certain concepts and then realise I might be using them all wrong. For instance how I use "paradox" in a work-in-progress (which will be part of a mighty interesting Norwegian anthology to be published in the fall):

The opportunity to design personal performances through edited pieces of textual, visual and sonic elements denotes that the individual has control with her or his own presentation, but only to some degree. As such online personal practices are characterised by a control-paradox: on the one hand individuals can construct filtered yet accurate and beneficial self-presentations (both socially and professionally); and on the other hand, once published, users have little control over content and little chance of preventing abuse such as republishing without consent.

Considering actual definitions of "paradox" I am not at all sure this is the concept I should be using.

Paradox: an argument which seems to justify a self-contradictory conclusion by using valid deductions from acceptable premises.

Other definitions.

By the way, the actual article concerns digital dilemmas: briefly summarised:

Users of social network services experience that having a publicly available online presence is meaningful. However, sharing texts, photos, videos, communicative acts and visualisations of social networks with known and unknown others may contest issues of privacy. Users consequently face a dilemma with two unfavourable options: protecting one’s privacy by not using social network services, despite potentially undesirable personal and social consequences. Or, alternatively, choosing to have an online presence and hence put one’s privacy at risk.

IM vs. face-to-face interviews

Interestingly, when reading my thesis-articles, quotes from face-to-face interviews appear just as eloquent as quotes from instant messenger-interviews. Yet talking (putting experiences into narratives on the go), is rarely a very smooth process, and I have edited quotes from face-to-face interviews to make them more readable (I'm not doing a conversation analysis in any case). I consequently disguise a rather interesting and important methodological aspect of instant messenger versus face-to-face interviews.

Consider the following excerpt from a face-to-face interview with 17-year old Morten:

"I have therefore added many people to my Live Journal friends-list just so that I can read what they write by watching my friends updates without them having the possibility to. Maybe they think they are on my friends-list and get to read all of my entries, but they really don’t get access to read my closed entries, because they are not in the right group like, you know."

I was rather intrigued when I realised how much I have actually edited the above quote, but I guess (hope) the meaning is intact:

"I’ve added many people to my Live Journal friends-list to be able to keep track of their updates. Maybe they think they get to read all of my closed entries, but they can’t because they are not in the right friends-group."

My MSN-interviews (only five) last longer in time, but yield about 1/3 of the words if compared to face-to-face interviews. The answers are more concise with a lot less filling-words. Consequently they do not contain a lot less in "content".

mystery

How is it that whenever, and I mean every single time, I have to shorten an article I've written (argh, did they mean max. 8000 words including notes and references!), the result is always an improved article? I've just cut nearly 2000 words in one of my articles, and it reads so much better now. I guess this means I should definitely work to keep number of words in my final dissertation down to a minimum, right?

personally mediated expressions seen from three angles

Yesterday I was fortunate to get a chance to present some of my work for people at QUT (thanks Axel for organizing the seminar). I'm beginning to realise that my overall project can be seen as an effort to understand individual mediated practices from three angles: as expressions of subjectivity, as a way of being social, and as creative acts. These aspects are clearly strongly interconnected, and yesterday I tried to focus on these interconnections.

Thanks to people for showing up and for asking me really interesting questions!

Lasse and I only have 9 days left in Brisbane, but we're definitely going to Jean's final seminar (12-2 on the 8th of Dec) and Jaz' confirmation seminar (2.30-4.30 on the 8th of Dec) before we leave. I'm really looking forward to both!

pleasing your readers

In the article I submitted to JCMC a few months ago, I integrated the theoretical discussion in the actual analysis. One of the reviewers suggestsed to restructure and separate the theory and the analysis. In my article about mediated subjectivites, a lengthier theoretical discussion precedes the analysis. The editor at Gyldendal, she's sharp and very efficient, suggest to integrate them. It can sure be difficult to satisfy readers or what?

Work all of a sudden piled up. A lot of it at once, isn't that just typical? I'm not complaining, luckily I love what I do.

soufflés, trees and contexts

"Suppose you draw a picture alone in your room, or make a soufflé or write a song. Is this still creative? Only potentially."

This quote has amused me since I first read it a couple of days ago. It's from Keith Negus and Micheal Pickering's Creativity, Communication and Cultural Value. They try to explain how creativity is only realised when it is achieved within some social encounter (page 23). Humans do not create ex nihilo/from nothing and creative practices are part of a societal context, but I think I might answer their question with a yes: you can bake a soufflé alone at home, and it will be a creative practice. Or at least you would respond to your own creative act. Alter/Ego.

The quote is of course reminiscent to "if a tree falls down in the woods and no one is around to hear it- does it make a sound?"

Update: Negus and Pickering make no reference to Luhmann, but their argument is strongly similar to his idea of communication. To Luhmann communication is only factual as far as Ego, a receiver, creates an understanding from a communicated utterance (The Reality of the Mass Media).

working with qualitative data

What's the perfect time to do qualitative interviews for a research-project? Depends on how much knowledge there is about your research-theme? You need to do some reading and preferrably some writing to know what to ask for in the interviews? That's my experience. I started as a PhD-student in January 2004 (somehow that's almost three years ago, what happened with time?), and I did most of my interviews during 2004 and 2005. Should I have done follow-up interviews? I haven't. I'm still observing my informants through their online presence though. Qualitative interview-data are generally very rich, and I'm more interested in analysing the interviews I already have than go on and do more interviews.

However, I was somewhat worried about my latest article-in-progress. I wasn't totally convinced that the interviews would be useful for an article focusing specifically on creative practices. Turns out, they are.

...
An update on my computer/screen problems: changing the cable didn't help. I've connected my powerbook to a QUT-screen, covering the flickering screen of my own computer with a paper-bag.