Tracking Expectations

mapping cycles around a mediated action

Can you identify a moment in your data that concentrates attention around some small action or object in a naturalized social practice--an action so commonplace that it is only noticed when it's carried out incorrectly, or in the wrong context, or by an unexpected someone? In this example, we are surprised when babies can easily manipulate a tablet by using the ubiquitous action of tapping a touchscreen. Nexus analysis unpacks and analyzes three trajectories that influence how we read this tiny mediated action: interaction orders, historical bodies, and discourses in place.

interaction orders

interaction orders are typical groupings for participating in an event or situation

historical bodies

historical bodies are engrained social practices and expectations for belonging

discourses in place

discourses in place are meanings embedded in materials and their placement in a site

To map the three trajectories in the mediated action in the screenshot below, nexus analysis tracked back the cycles of histories and expectations for toddlers' use of touchscreens.

To annotate a screenshot or photo, import the image into a program such as Word, PowerPoint, Preview, or Google Draw and and use the formatting tools to add shapes and text boxes for labels. For better clarity in the visualization, each photo unpacks a just one trajectory to show how it shapes the meanings of the mediated action. Each oval shape represents a chain of influencing events in a cycle that flows in and out of this frozen moment of action. The oval shapes are formatted with lines only and no fill, then layered onto the image, converging at the mediated action (small yellow dot). The large dots are inserted along each cycle to indicate points where user relations, social practices, or dominant discourses build expectations that influence how we interpret a baby's tap on a tablet touchscreen. The multiple overlapping cycles produce a complex mix of histories and expectations feed into this moment where cexpectations can confirm or conflict with one another to create contestation such as the ongoing screen time debate that surrounds children's use of technology.

layered interactions

In this YouTube video, a baby appears to be an independent player of Angry Birds. But many interaction orders are happening simultaneously -- a caregiver is with the baby videotaping the child subject, a social media user posts the video, and the YouTube audience respond to make it a viral video. Another cycle tracks a consumer's interactions and the commercial production and marketing in a family's purchase that provided the technology.

histories of practices

Small physical actions get interpreted according to histories of typical practices and user expectations. Points on the cycles mark key practices of multiple entities that show how practices and expectations come together and spark contradictory meanings around a moment of child's play.

converging discourses

Conflicting discourses produce contestation around the meanings of materials. In this case, opposing discourses by advocacy groups justify contradictory visions of children as technology users and produce shifting policies on access to and use of tablets that enable or limit young children's access to touchscreen technology.

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