| In this seminar I would like to share some findings from an ongoing programme of research that I am engaged with alongside Dr. Gordon Fletcher, a colleague at the University of Salford. |
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| Within Information Systems, ICTs, even those that might predominantly be seen as 'socialising technologies' such as groupware, are generally conceptualised in organisational terms which does not readily capture the day-to-day appropriation of these technologies beyond the meanings of '9 to 5'. Accompanying the insistence for an organisational context is often a narrowing of what is deemed a legitimate application area of study, a thin concept of user-developer relations and a context of use that precludes simultaneity, multiplicity and informality. In contrast, in this paper we argue for the consideration of digital games as premier and hallmark examples of socially rich ICTs. Through two intersecting ethnographies of the use of the Sony PlayStation console game, SingStar we provide an account of ICT mediated experiences associated with playing the game. We consider SingStar in particular as socially rich as it invites us to think about: the wider capabilities of ICTs beyond work organisations; the expansion of conditions of ICT appropriation, extended collaboration practices and the co-production of sociotechnical arrangements in situ. We found that SingStar can be thought of as glue technology that assists in crafting and strengthening social linkages amongst players while also enabling new forms of re-engagement with popular culture and the creation an additional broader social identity founded around common 'insider' knowledge of the game. Our examination of the play and experience of this game, we argue, provides a fuller account of the inter-relationships of people to socialising technologies that reaches beyond 'straight' organisational usages. |
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| Speaker's biography |
| Ben Light is Professor of Technology and Society and Director of the Information Systems, Organisation and Society Research Centre within the Informatics Research Institute at the University of Salford. His research concerns the appropriation of 'configurable technologies' within work organisations and society. This has led him to explore the use of large-scale enterprise resource planning packages, call centre working and, recently, social networking sites such as those that support Internet dating and digital gaming activities. He has published in journals such as Communications of the ACM, Information Systems Journal, New Technology, Work and Employment, and the European Journal of Information Systems. |
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| Contact information: |
| Paolo Perego | Anna Nöteberg | | Email | Email |
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