Haddon’s article is written in order to provide a framework for research on Mediated Communication in general. The premise of the article is the new era of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) , characterised by more communication options, varied communication practices, how we manage them, and the dynamics of these practices over the long term. It aims to give us guidelines for researching and understanding the take-up of new communication options, why they are used and our degree of commitment to them.
Firstly Haddon begins by asking us as potential researchers to challenge what we consider communication. Rather than focusing on the act itself, he argues we should consider the broader practices of communication. This is important for Haddon because it affects how we conceptualise communication and subsequent claims about society. These communication practices which otherwise might be perceived as superfluous, or at the boundary of the ‘actual’ communication may in fact greatly affect the communication experience.
The second factor Haddon asks us to consider is the continuity of (communication) practice between media. New devices or uses of devices he argues are often extensions of what has gone before, ‘the use of new tools is grafted on to the practice of the older ones’ (p 10). This ‘continuum of uses’ a terms which he borrows from Millerand (et al, 1999) can help explain patterns of use. I found his example of studies which showed early TV broadcasts were based on the principles of Radio Broadcasting interesting, and this reminded me of how much early cinema and photography had a ‘staged’ quality, where the audience viewed the film or image through the 4th wall exclusively. The innovators of cinema were those who pioneered new practices and techniques which advanced or abandoned these adopted constraints of the previous medium. One famous example being the Lumiere Bros famous L’arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat (The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895), which shows a train pulling into a platform at 45 degrees, and was so revolutionary and real to audiences that it was reported many people jumped out of the way of the screen as the train approached. The point is here, that there is not really a natural continuum implied in the media devices or technologies, it is our practice of use that media which provides the perceived continuum. This is important for media studies as this continuum pof practice shapes our experience and everyday lives.
Thirdly, Haddon asks us to challenge the displacement theory of media studies which posits that new media displace use of older media. Instead he argues as the media options, especially those surrounding communication become more varied, we need to shift our conception away from media audiences which connote passivity, to ‘being a manager of communications’ (p.12). This implies a developed strategy of the part of the manager, which is far from passive. It also accounts for the fact that our repertoire of communication media is expanding, and our decisions on which media to employ given any number of social, personal or financial constraints, internally and or externally imposed, to name just a few, are becoming increasingly complicated. One example I found particularly resonate, was the case study of an individual who tried to adopt email into their repertoire of ICTs and abandoned it, because she did not get the outcome she expected. In my working life, whether as a PA managing executive diaries, or as a Distribution and Purchasing manager with staff of 20, an increasing part of my roles was managing relationships with individuals and companies internally and externally. I would often use email, as a way of confirming a phone or verbal conversation, putting it on record, to ensure both parties agreed what was decided and had a record of the conversation. More importantly, despite my own preference for email, I would recognise that certain individuals had a preference for the phone or face to face communication over email, and I would be more likely to get the desired outcome if I communicated on the this way. Part of being a manager, was managing my communication, choosing the medium which delivered the desired outcome most efficiently. Just one note on convergence, have you ever not been able to sleep because of all the things you had to do the next day? This used to happen to me a lot. I tried writing lists but I would never remember to take them to work. Finally one night, at 3am, realising my phone (aka alarm clock) was under my pillow, I picked it up, dialled my work line and left myself a voicemail reminding me what I had to do that day. Convergence enabled me to communicate effectively with myself. The continuum of practice was writing a note, but the note became digital audio.
The last aspect Haddon asks us to consider is the long term dynamics of our communication repertoire. This is harder for the researcher to capture, as the moment when a possible dynamic fails or succeeds is often so fleeting you can miss it, and if it does succeed the way in which the communication practice can so quickly become normalised and domesticated can obscure the obstacles it overcome in the process. However it is the factors that lead to these changes over time that are of importance socially, the types of ‘changes in the balance of practices’ (p.19), are the ones we should be aiming to uncover. I feel he does not explicitly state why this is important but I surmise that this type of research is broadly located as Interpretivist research, with the aim of understanding and describing meaningful social action.
Haddon, Leslie. “Research Questions for the Evolving Communications Landscape” in Ling, Rich and Pedersen, Per, Eds. Mobile Communications: re-negotiation of the Social Sphere. London: Springer- Verlag, 2005, 7-22. Week 8 Blog
Tags: annarigg, arts1090, communication repertiore, F13B, ICT
