Madianou, M;
Miller, D;
(2013)
Polymedia: Towards a new theory of digital media in interpersonal communication.
International Journal of Cultural Studies
, 16
(2)
169 - 187.
10.1177/1367877912452486.
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Abstract
This article develops a new theory of polymedia in order to understand the consequences of digital media in the context of interpersonal communication. Drawing on illustrative examples from a comparative ethnography of Filipino and Caribbean transnational families, the article develops the contours of a theory of polymedia. We demonstrate how users avail themselves of new media as a communicative environment of affordances rather than as a catalogue of ever proliferating but discrete technologies. As a consequence, with polymedia the primary concern shifts from the constraints imposed by each individual medium to an emphasis upon the social, emotional and moral consequences of choosing between those different media. As the choice of medium acquires communicative intent, navigating the environment of polymedia becomes inextricably linked to the ways in which interpersonal relationships are experienced and managed. Polymedia is ultimately about a new relationship between the social and the technological, rather than merely a shift in the technology itself.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Polymedia: Towards a new theory of digital media in interpersonal communication |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/1367877912452486 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367877912452486 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s) 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm). |
| Keywords: | ethnography, convergence, interpersonal relationships, media ecologies, new media, transnational families |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1396351 |
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