Ideologically Informed Orchestration:
Perceptions of Technology, Family Life, and Mediation of Digital Practices
José Ramón Lizárraga, Daniela DiGiacomo, Joanne Tien, Jennifer Higgs, Arturo Cortez, Elizabeth Mendoza, Kris Gutiérrez
Background: This poster presents our initial findings on how ideologies and perceptions of technology in family life inform the ways parents orchestrate the everyday use of digital media tools for their children. We examine how parental concerns for family safety, health and education manifest through the mediation and hyper-mediation of digital practices in the home.
Theoretical Framework: Utilizing perspectives from sociocultural theories of learning and cultural historical activity theory (Gutiérrez & Stone, 1998), our analyses are grounded in the understanding that parent ideologically-informed perceptions around technology, and technology’s purpose in the everyday, are co-constructed between the families and the local, social, and historical contexts (Cole, 1998).
Theoretical Framework: Utilizing perspectives from sociocultural theories of learning and cultural historical activity theory (Gutiérrez & Stone, 1998), our analyses are grounded in the understanding that parent ideologically-informed perceptions around technology, and technology’s purpose in the everyday, are co-constructed between the families and the local, social, and historical contexts (Cole, 1998).
Methods:
Study Design
The analysis reported here developed within the context of a larger multi-sited ethnography (Marcus, 1995). We took an ecological approach to our inquiry, noting daily routines, social networks, family routines, and family beliefs about health, education, energy, social networks, and digital media use to understand how ideologies inform practices in the home.
Participants
14 families in total participated (12 Latino, 2 White). Families self-identified as working class. We focus here on 4 families ( 3 Latino, 1 White).
Data Sources & Analysis
•Video and audio data logged in 2- and 10-minute segments.
•Units of analysis: Family home practices (Level 1); Instances of ideological orchestration (Level II).
•Subcodes (Level III) developed inductively during systematic coding of video recordings, interview transcripts, survey responses, field notes, and video logs.
Findings:
•Mothers played an important role in orchestrating how digital technologies are used by the children of the household.
•Digital media activities that were perceived as encouraging family time, or that allowed families to learn together around a set of tools (labeled joint media engagement by Takeuchi & Stevens, 2011), were often privileged over solitary types of gaming activity.
•Parents’ ideologies influenced the cultivation of their children’s futures and management of digital media use in the home. In one family, a “do-it-yourself” ideology was paired with both skepticism about the ability of formal schooling to advance the autonomous self-direction of their children, and support for independent gameplay.
•Despite ideological emphasis on individual autonomy, children’s engagement with digital media was always mediated through joint activity.
Significance:
•Our study extends multi-sited ethnographic orientations (Marcus, 1995; Vossoughi & Gutiérrez, 2014) that call for in-depth exploration of the learning that occurs for youth across contexts.
•We elucidate how families’ perceptions of technology and home pedagogies influence how they conceptualize what constitutes ‘good learning’ and ‘productive family time’--perceptions that may occasionally be at odds with those of the school context.
•This work makes visible these tensions and multiple ways in which families perceive of, use, and negotiate tech use in the home.
Study Design
The analysis reported here developed within the context of a larger multi-sited ethnography (Marcus, 1995). We took an ecological approach to our inquiry, noting daily routines, social networks, family routines, and family beliefs about health, education, energy, social networks, and digital media use to understand how ideologies inform practices in the home.
Participants
14 families in total participated (12 Latino, 2 White). Families self-identified as working class. We focus here on 4 families ( 3 Latino, 1 White).
Data Sources & Analysis
•Video and audio data logged in 2- and 10-minute segments.
•Units of analysis: Family home practices (Level 1); Instances of ideological orchestration (Level II).
•Subcodes (Level III) developed inductively during systematic coding of video recordings, interview transcripts, survey responses, field notes, and video logs.
Findings:
•Mothers played an important role in orchestrating how digital technologies are used by the children of the household.
•Digital media activities that were perceived as encouraging family time, or that allowed families to learn together around a set of tools (labeled joint media engagement by Takeuchi & Stevens, 2011), were often privileged over solitary types of gaming activity.
•Parents’ ideologies influenced the cultivation of their children’s futures and management of digital media use in the home. In one family, a “do-it-yourself” ideology was paired with both skepticism about the ability of formal schooling to advance the autonomous self-direction of their children, and support for independent gameplay.
•Despite ideological emphasis on individual autonomy, children’s engagement with digital media was always mediated through joint activity.
Significance:
•Our study extends multi-sited ethnographic orientations (Marcus, 1995; Vossoughi & Gutiérrez, 2014) that call for in-depth exploration of the learning that occurs for youth across contexts.
•We elucidate how families’ perceptions of technology and home pedagogies influence how they conceptualize what constitutes ‘good learning’ and ‘productive family time’--perceptions that may occasionally be at odds with those of the school context.
•This work makes visible these tensions and multiple ways in which families perceive of, use, and negotiate tech use in the home.
Emergent Questions:
•How can home pedagogies around digital tool use be leveraged in school settings?
•How can schools and novice teachers work to leverage the fluid and ever-changing repertoires of practice that youth bring into school settings?
•How can conceptualizations of mothers’ use of technology and their repertoires of practice equitably inform the co-design of ‘new futures’ for youth?
References:
Cole, M. (1998). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Engeström, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of education and work, 14(1), 133-156..
Gutiérrez, K. D., & Stone, L. D. (1998). An Emerging Methodology for Cultural-historical Perspectives on Literacy Learning: Synchronic and Diachronic Dimensions of Social Practice.
Marcus, G. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117.
Takeuchi, L., & Stevens, R. (2011). The new coviewing: Designing for learning through joint media engagement. New York, NY: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
Vossoughi, S. & Gutiérrez, K. (2014). Toward a multi-sited ethnographic sensibility. In J.Vadeboncoeur (Ed.), Learning in and across contexts: Reimagining education NSEE Yearbook Volume 113 (2). New York:Teachers College.
•How can home pedagogies around digital tool use be leveraged in school settings?
•How can schools and novice teachers work to leverage the fluid and ever-changing repertoires of practice that youth bring into school settings?
•How can conceptualizations of mothers’ use of technology and their repertoires of practice equitably inform the co-design of ‘new futures’ for youth?
References:
Cole, M. (1998). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Engeström, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of education and work, 14(1), 133-156..
Gutiérrez, K. D., & Stone, L. D. (1998). An Emerging Methodology for Cultural-historical Perspectives on Literacy Learning: Synchronic and Diachronic Dimensions of Social Practice.
Marcus, G. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117.
Takeuchi, L., & Stevens, R. (2011). The new coviewing: Designing for learning through joint media engagement. New York, NY: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
Vossoughi, S. & Gutiérrez, K. (2014). Toward a multi-sited ethnographic sensibility. In J.Vadeboncoeur (Ed.), Learning in and across contexts: Reimagining education NSEE Yearbook Volume 113 (2). New York:Teachers College.