Computers, Phones and the Internet: Domesticating Information Technology

Ch. 8. The Consumption Junction Revisited: Networks and Contexts. Maria Bakardjieva

ABSTRACT:

This paper analyzes the process of becoming a domestic Internet user drawing on “actor network” theory. The paper is based on the findings of an ethnographic study of domestic (home-based) Internet use conducted in Vancouver, Canada. The narratives of respondents reveal how the home Internet connection had emerged as a “heterogeneous network” (Callon, 1987) of technical, social, cultural and cognitive elements. The paper identifies the various components, or “actors” and “actants,” making up this network and offers a perspective on how and why the connections among them arose. A typology of user-Internet relations is proposed. The structure of amplifications and reductions of user autonomy and power for action implicit in these relations is discussed. Finally, the paper suggests directions for cross-cultural research examining how the process of becoming a domestic Internet user unfolds in different national and cultural contexts.

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