Space: Creating Networks for Daily Living Through Pervasive Media

225 Pages·2016·1.44 MB·English

Old Dominion University
ODU Digital Commons
English Teses & Dissertations English
Summer 2016
Communities in (Digital) Space: Creating
Networks for Daily Living Trough Pervasive
Media
Jamie Lynn Henthorn
Old Dominion University
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Henthorn, Jamie L.. "Communities in (Digital) Space: Creating Networks for Daily Living Trough Pervasive Media" (2016). Doctor
of Philosophy (PhD), dissertation, English, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/ph8v-y765
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COMMUNITIES IN (DIGITAL) SPACE:
CREATING NETWORKS FOR DAILY LIVING THROUGH PERVASIVE
MEDIA
by
Jamie Henthorn
B.A. May 2005, Emory & Henry College
M.A. May 2008, The American University

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of
Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ENGLISH

OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY
August 2016

Approved by:
David Roh (C0-Director)
Kevin Moberly (Co-Director)
Dana Heller (Member)
Avi Santo (Member)
ABSTRACT

COMMUNITIES IN (DIGITAL) SPACE:
CREATING NETWORKS FOR DAILY LIVING THROUGH PERVASIVE MEDIA

Jamie Henthorn
Old Dominion University, 2016
Co-Directors: Dr. David Roh
Dr. Kevin Moberly

Studies of online communities often focus either on communities that produce
texts or the texts with which individuals engage. This dissertation examines online
communities that practice in ongoing activities, in their leisure time, often with no end
goal of producing any final text. Through interviews, surveys, and community forum
analysis of running, gaming, and translation communities, this study finds that place
and everyday habits factor heavily into the ways that sustained online communities
structure their work. “Place” can have several meanings within this context, including
the communities valuing specific locations or working with specific individuals because
of where they live. Due to the rise in use of pervasive mobile devices, online community
access often weaves into members’ offline lives. This knowledge of life ancillary to online
community adds a layer of affective work to online community participation.
Throughout the data collected from these communities, stories pertaining to the
work of community maintenance dominated the conversation. Participants defined
“work” as managing community involvement around other obligations, maintaining
relationships across distances, and acknow ledging the benefits that corporate entities
derive from these c ommunities. By investigating work within this context, we expand
our understanding of the ways less visible populations work online in their leisure time.
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Copyright, 2016, by Jamie Henthorn, All Rights Reserved.
iv
This dissertation is dedicated to my son, Dorian, who has grown up alongside it.
You will never know what it meant that you imagined me to be the smartest person in
the world while I was writing it.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dissertations are genuinely collaborative endeavors and I have many to thank. I
want to first and foremost thank David Roh, for agreeing to oversee this dissertation and
for remaining dedicated to this project as you moved on to the University of Utah. I am
equally indebted to my other committee members: Kevin Moberly, Avi Santo, and Dana
Heller, who have all been outstanding mentors as I have progressed from student to
faculty. You gavem e more opportunities than nay grad student deserves and I hope to
return on the investment.B ecause not all mentors esrve on committees, thank yo uBeth
Vincelette and ShelleyR odrigo for teaching me the inner workings of academic . l ife
I am lucky to have been part of a strong campus community at Old Domin ion.
Working with top tier academics over the yesa ras we haver esearched, published, and
presented together has only sharpened my skills. Ind issertatni g I am particularly
grateful for Dissertation Bootcamp, an accountability group for ODU dissertators. Laura
Buchholz, Vincent Rhodes, Carmen Christopher, and Danielle Roach defended before
me and taught me how to write a dissertation in and between lIif hea. ve enjoyed
writing, dissertating, and commseirating with othe rBootcamp members:A pril Cobos,
Megan McKittrick,S arah McGinley,S heri Mungo, Chvonne Parke, rZack Hill, and Diane
Cook. I have learned so much from your research and look forward to your defenses and
the future you bring to knowledge . To my closest colleagues, Megan Mize, Sarah
Spangler, and Matt Beale, thanks not only for being amazing scholars I look up to , but
also for reminding me that taking a break is sometimes the best way to get writing do ne.
Some people happen into a doctorate, but I have wanted this since I first saw
Raiders of the Lost Ark and have only been slightly disappointed at how few Nazis there
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hav e been to punch. In this nleifaer-l ong quest, I am indebted m tyo parent,s Jima nd
Mary T urner. T hank y ou for keepi hnogu ase full of boo,k ns ev er limiting my intere tsot s
age appropriatene,s asnd for listening to the research papers I assigned my self over
summers. I am who I am because you never yelled at me for staying up all night reading ,
but also kicked me out of the house during the day to play with my friends. Thank-you,
Chris, for being my best friend in the many moves the military invited us to enjoy and
for being the kindest of brothers . To Amanda, it has been such a joy wat ching you gr ow
up, and now to watch you love on our kids the way Chris and I loved on you.
To Gavin, I’m not sure if at eighteen anyone can know where their lives will take
them. I would not have developed this study of games if I had not married a fello w
gamer to test ideas and theories on. Thank you for the sense of adventure and humor
that you bring to all far reaching and overly complicated situation s I find our way into. I
have been so lucky to have such a friend and partner through study, travel, parenthood ,
and general adulthood . I eagerly anticipate what is next for us .
Finally, to Dorian, b efore I applied to PhD programs holding a bab,y all my
research concluded that being a mother-scholar was essentially impossible. At the first
conference I went to after your birth, an older woman laughed at me for trying.
However, I am so happy I listened to my gut. My fondest memories of this dissertation
include you curled up next to me during 5am writing sessions, half asleep, as I read
sentences out loud to myself. No one else has been so integrated into t he everyday work
of my research, which often extended to public playgrounds, swim lessons, and
gymnastics practice. I’m not sure you can remember a time when I was not writing this
dissertation, or understand that most people do not write their dissertaiotns with young
children, but know you being you was integral to my success.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... ix
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1
LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................... 6
SPACE VS. PLACE ............................................................................................................... 6
ONLINE COMMUNITY AND PLACE ............................................................................... 7
THEORETICAL METHODOLOGY...................................................................................... 16
NEW M EDIA AND T HE INT ERFA..C...E....................................................................... 17
LEISURE AND PLACE: A MARXIST CRITICAL L...E...N...S......................................20
METHODS .............................................................................................................................. 26
DATA COLLECTION .........................................................................................................30
METHODS OF ANALYSIS................................................................................................ 32
STUDY LIMITATIONS...................................................................................................... 34
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................... 34
CHAPTER SUMMARIES ...................................................................................................... 35
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 35
(IMAGINED) COMMUNITIES OF RUNNERS ............................................................. 35
BANDS OF BROTHERS, GIFTING IN FPS CLANS ..................................................... 38
I HAVE ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS.I NTERNATIONAL FAN
PROFESSIONALIZATION ON VIKI ...............................................................................40
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 42
II. (IMAGINED) COMMUNITIES OF RUNNERS ................................................................ 43
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 43
RUNNING, LEISURE, AND DISCIPLINE ..................................................................... 44
RUNNING AND THE SMARTPHONE ...........................................................................50
RUNNING AND PLACE.................................................................................................... 52
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RUNNING COMMUNITI E...S............................................ 55
APPLICATION: RUNNING, PLACE, AND ONLINE COMMUNITY ............................. 59
THE COMMUNITIES OF ZOMBIES, RUN ...!...............................................................60
FAN-DRIVEN RUNNING COMMUNITIES ...................................................................... 63
LEARNING TO RUN AROUND OTHERS ..................................................................... 64
RUNNING ALONE, TOGETHER .................................................................................... 67
RUNNING WITH OTHERS .............................................................................................. 72
CONCLUSIONS ZOMBIES, RUN!................................................................................... 75
BALANCING WORK AND HOME WITH MOM ON THE RUN ..................................... 77
GETTING STARTED, RUNNING ALONE FOR OTHERS ...........................................80
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Chapter Page

WRITING MOTR INTO RUNNING ................................................................................ 82
CONNECTING OFFLINE ................................................................................................. 85
CONCLUSIONS MOM ON THE RUN ............................................................................ 86
CONCLUSIONS ON DIGITAL RUNNING COMMUNITIES........................................... 87
III . BANDS OF BROTHERS, GIFTING IN FPS CLANS ....................................................... 92
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 92
GAMING, LEISURE, AND DISCIPLINE........................................................................ 93
CALL OF DUTY, CONSOLES, AND CONNECTIVITY ................................................. 98
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GAMING COMMUNITIES ................................................105
PLACE, GIFTS, AND DIGITAL ECONOMIES ............................................................. 110
APPLICATION: GAMING, GIFTING, AND ONLINE COMMUNITY .......................... 118
EMPLACED LIVES AND CO ...D....................................................................................120
GIFT ING WITHIN DIGITAL ECONOMY .................................................................... 128
WORK/PLAY .................................................................................................................... 133
CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................... 136
IV. I HAVE ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS. INTERNATIONAL FAN
PROFESSIONALIZATION ON VIKI ..................................................................................... 138
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 138
VIKI AND PLACE ............................................................................................................. 144
OPEN SOURCE, OPEN ACCESS: COMMUNITY WIKI BUILDING ........................ 152
LANGUAGE, LEISURE, AND INTERNATIONAL FILM ........................................... 156
APPLICATION: BUILD A PROFESSIONAL WORKFORCE OF VOLUNTEERS .......160
VIKI, MELODRAMA, AND PLACE ............................................................................... 161
WORK AND LEISURE .................................................................................................... 168
COMMUNITY ...................................................................................................................180
CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................... 185
V. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 188
REVIEW................................................................................................................................. 191
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS…………………..………………………………………………………… 195
FUTURE AVENUES OF RESEARCH................................................................................ 198
RUNNING COMMUNITIES ........................................................................................... 198
GAMING COMMUNITIES ............................................................................................. 199
TRANSLAT ION COMMUNITIES ................................................................................. 200
WORKS CITED .........................................................................................................................201
MEDIA AND SOFTWARE CITED ................................................................................. 213
VITA ........................................................................................................................................... 215
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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Post in an online community. Screenshot by author. ......................................................... 1

2. Players pick up supplies, receive messages, and listen to music while running.
Screenshot by author. ........................................................................................................60

3. Descent is one of few missions where the player has choices within the narrative.
Screenshot by author. ........................................................................................................ 62

4. Players search out players e qual both in skill and life stage. Screenshot of public
forum by author................................................................................................................ 110

5 . Viki shares sty list ic lay outs with other streaming serv ices. Viki.com. Sbcyr eenshot
author................................................................................................................................ 143

6. Viki privileges fan participation by giving it space on the front page. Viki.com.
Screenshot by author. ...................................................................................................... 144

7. Segmenting interface. Screenshot by author. .................................................................. 170