The Contribution of Domestication Research to In-Home Computing and Media Consumption

This article deals with the contribution made by domestication research to our understanding of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in everyday life, especially in the home. It first provides a sense of the diversity of research in this tradition and how this is evolving. The article then reflects upon and illustrates different elements of research in this tradition, providing examples of how these help to explain patterns of ICT experience, the way people evaluate that experience, and what bearing it has on their lives. To contextualize domestication research further, it considers overlaps with other traditions of research before moving on to the core, and the range of methodologies that have been employed. Finally, the article examines some of the general insights from domestication research, as well as more specific applications to the commercial and policy fields.

Keywords:

• domestication
• information and communication technologies
• method
• research history
• theory

Notes

1. For Norwegian examples, see Sørensen (1994), Berg (1997), and the collection by Lie and Sørensen (1996a).

2. Dutch examples include Bergman & van Zoonen (1999), Frissen (2000), and Rommes (2002). Belgian examples include Punie (1997), (2005) and Hartmann (2005a). Ward (2005a) provides an Irish example.

3. Lally (2002) in Australia, Bakardjieva and Smith (2001) and Barkardjieva (2005a) in Canada, Russo Lemor (2005) in the United States, and Lim (2005) in China have also drawn upon this approach.

4. Little behaviour genre refers to typical styles of linguistic interaction appropriate for certain situations, such as the casual conversation of the drawing room.

5. This research required students to conduct one self-interview and interviews with 6 others—generating 550 semistructured interviews. A subset of these was selected for more detailed analysis.

6. However, we do not know if that related in any way to our recommendations—one of the common problems of commercial research is not knowing when happens once the report is handed over.