Around the Screen: Computer activities in childrens everyday lives

Omkring skärmen. Barns datoraktiviteter i vardagen

Avhandlingen fokuserar barns vardagliga datoraktiviteter, i såväl skola som hem. I studien deltog dels 16 elever i årskurs 7, dels 22 barn i åtta familjer. Datamaterialet består av videoinspelningar, fältanteckningar och intervjuer. Avhandlingen är inspirerad av diskursanalytiska och etnografiska perspektiv. Begreppen activity frame och participation framework (Goffman, 1974; 1981) diskuteras särskilt.

Avhandlingen omfattar fyra delstudier. Den första delstudien beskriver elevers online chattande på lektionstid. Studien visar hur skillnaden online/offline görs relevant vid aktivitetsbyten, distinktionen är varken given eller statisk. På så vis synliggörs att begreppen sideplay , byplay och crossplay (Goffman, 1981) blir otillräckliga i situationer där flera aktiviteter pågår samtidigt. Vidare visar studien att identiteter online i form av vad som här kallats tags (visuella-textuella identitetsmarkörer) är relaterade till barnens vardagsliv i skola och på fritid (offline). Den andra delstudien visar hur spelkonsolers placering i hemmet kan ses som ett uttryck för familjelivets vardagslivspolitik. Spelkonsoler finns först och främst i familjers gemensamma utrymmen. Distinktionen offentlig/privat aktualiseras i deltagarnas förhandlingar om tillgång till spelkonsoler, samt vilka spel, när och hur länge spelaktiviteter får pågå. I förhandlingarna används två strategier för appropriering av gemensamma spelutrymmen, inkludering och exkludering. Den tredje delstudien diskuterar kompetensskillnader vid datoranvändning, vad som har kallats generationsklyftan . Studien visar hur barn och vuxna positionerar varandra som de som vet (barnen) och de som ska lära (vuxna). Generationsklyftan används som en resurs i social interaktion av både barn och vuxna. Den fjärde delstudien uppmärksammar spelande i hemmet mellan kamrater och hur detta är en aktivitet där response cries (Goffman, 1981) liksom animerat prat och medsjungande utvidgar spelets gränser i den sociala interaktionen omkring skärmen. Dessa kommunikativa uttryck kan ses som en action aesthetic , en form av performativ handling som skapar och upprätthåller samarbete. Detta kan i sin tur ses som en del i intersubjektivitetens arkitektur (Heritage, 1984). Utifrån avhandlingens resultat problematiseras barns datoraktiviteter i relation till distinktionerna mästare/lärling, offentligt/privat, reellt/virtuellt och subjekt/objekt.

Around the Screen: Computer activities in children s everyday lives

The present ethnography documents computer activities in everyday life. The data consist of video recordings, interviews and field notes, documenting (i) 16 students in a seventh grade class in a computer room and other school settings and (ii) 22 children, interacting with siblings, friends and parents in home settings. The thesis is inspired by discourse analytical as well as ethnographic approaches, including notions from Goffman (1974, 1981), e.g. those of activity frame and participation framework, which are applied and discussed.

The thesis consists of four empirical studies. The first study focuses on students illegitimate use, from the school s point of view, of online chatting in a classroom situation. It is shown that the distinction offline/online is not a static one, rather it is made relevant as part of switches between activity frames, indicating the problems of applying Goffman s (1981) notions of sideplay, byplay and crossplay to analyses of interactions in which several activity frames are present, rather than one main activity. Moreover, it is shown that online identities, in terms of what is here called tags, that is, visual-textual nicknames, are related to offline phenomena, including local identities as well as contemporary aesthetics. The second study focuses on placement of game consoles as part of family life politics. It is shown that game consoles were mainly located in communal places in the homes. The distinction private/communal was also actualized in the participants negotiations about access to game consoles as well as negotiations about what to play, when, and for how long. It is shown that two strategies were used, inclusion and exclusion, for appropriating communal places for computer game activities. The third study focuses on a digital divide in terms of a generational divide with respect to ascribed computer competence, documenting how the children and adults positioned each other as people in the know (the children) versus people in apprentice-like positions (the adults). It is shown that this generation gap was deployed as a resource in social interaction by both the children and the adults. The forth study focuses on gaming in family life, showing that gaming was recurrently marked by response cries (Goffman, 1981) and other forms of blurted talk. These forms of communication worked as parts of the architecture of intersubjectivity in gaming (cf. Heritage, 1984), indexing the distinction virtual/ real . It is shown how response cries, sound making, singing along and animated talk extended the virtual in that elements of the game became parts of the children s social interaction around the screen, forming something of an action aesthetic, a type of performative action for securing and displaying joint involvement and collaboration. As a whole, the present studies show how the distinctions master/apprentice, public/private, virtual/real and subject/object are indexicalized and negotiated in computer activities.