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Abstract
In this project we use interview data from the United States and Europe to map field dynamics within an emerging techno-journalistic space of news app design. We describe this space in terms of institutional theory and field-level studies of news production and report on a series of interviews we conducted with senior news app designers and lead programmers. Part of a larger empirical study on mobile news app design, we focus here on analyzing how designers understand their work in relation to journalism as a profession and process, and how they see themselves as like or unlike others in their field. We conclude with reflections on how these designers are helping to constitute the organizational field of news app design by creating and sustaining boundary infrastructures that constitute an emerging “liminal press.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank: Erhardt Graeff and Heather Casteel for their research assistance and help coding data; Microsoft Research New England and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for their support; the Social Media Collective for valuable feedback and a rich intellectual environment; the organizers and participants of the International Communication Association workshop “The Objects of Journalism” and our Frontline Club hosts, where this work was first presented; and special thanks to our participants for generously sharing their time and reflections.