Racing and Queering the Interface

Abstract

This essay is concerned with social and cultural problems of producing, consuming, and using technology. Based on epistemologies of doing, we race and queer the interface while doing technologies as they are located in specific contexts and moments. Our multi-vocal cyberethnographic engagement explores the production of selves at the intersection of online/offline activities. Our narratives shed light on how power works in multiply mediated contexts and reveals how ideology, discourse, and material practice interweave in the production of global/local cyberselves. Situated in her own specific socio-cultural personal context, each one of us attempts to understand the processes of identity production at the computer interface and to capture the (in)visible code that serves as the framework for the interaction.

Narrative vignettes and online enquiry in researching therapist accounts of practice with children in schools: An analysis of the methodology

“…Authors such as Frost et al (2010) argue that a key aspect of subjectivity in qualitative research can be understood as a specific sort of transaction and relationship, with particular value in meaning making: 'subjectivity in qualitative research can be taken to mean the living knowledge of an individual, which is drawn into the co-construction of the meaning of an experience by researcher and researched ' (2010, p. 454). The valuing of such subjectivity was much commented on by participants in their reflections.…”

“…The following analysis examines the innovative potentials of the approach to maximise the opportunities for narrative self-authored vignettes accompanied by Internet mediated joint interpretation and evaluation, to offer rich understandings of therapists' use of the core processes in their practice. The research methodology, in part, responded to debates within the literature relating to the 'challenges' to qualitative researchers concerning the opportunities and 'false promises of internet technology' (Gajjala, Rybas, & Altman, 2008;Kien, 2008;Tutt, 2008). Gajjala et al (2008), for example, express the need for researchers to find innovative ways of enabling greater understanding of meaning making within web based qualitative research interactions.…”

“…The research methodology, in part, responded to debates within the literature relating to the 'challenges' to qualitative researchers concerning the opportunities and 'false promises of internet technology' (Gajjala, Rybas, & Altman, 2008;Kien, 2008;Tutt, 2008). Gajjala et al (2008), for example, express the need for researchers to find innovative ways of enabling greater understanding of meaning making within web based qualitative research interactions. The methodology developed in the following research can be seen as a response to Kien's call for work that progresses researchers' encounters with 'the intersection of online and offline practices ' (2008, p. 1106) and Tutt's (2008) concern that there is a division between online interaction and offline practices.…”

“…The methodology developed in the following research can be seen as a response to Kien's call for work that progresses researchers' encounters with 'the intersection of online and offline practices ' (2008, p. 1106) and Tutt's (2008) concern that there is a division between online interaction and offline practices. The article responds to Gajjala et al's (2008) challenge to deepen our understanding of the nature of such communication and meaning making within Internet mediated research by including an analysis of the participant's reflections in the method. The inclusion of this analysis aims to offer an additional perspective in considering the ways the methodology enabled insight into participants' understandings of their practice.…”

YouTubing Difference: Performing Identity in Video Communities

“…We can make the argument that picking a certain race and gender for an avatar becomes the essential part of an online interaction. Racialization at the interface is determined by how gender, geography, caste, colonization, and globalization overlap (Gajjala & Rybas, 2008). Yet race is sometimes overlooked in virtual worlds, perhaps due to unequal access to the Internet (Nakamura, 2002).…”