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Contextualing cyberspace: a photographic study of landscapes of Internet access
Technology in Society 25 (2003) 117–130 www.elsevier.com/locate/techsoc
Contextualing cyberspace: a photographic study of landscapes of Internet access C. Holligan ∗ Faculty of Education and Media, University of Paisley, University Campus, Ayr, Beech Grove, Scotland KA8 0SR, UK
Abstract The paper examines contemporary issues surrounding the internet as a tool for promoting social inclusion. By means of case studies based on a photographic method we seek to unravel relationships between the social meanings associated with the sites of internet access and how the status of those viewing those sites influences how they are understood. Our approach is informed by the ideas of the Marxist intellectual Louis Althusser. For him dominant images circulate within society and these images impact upon how persons construct their identities and affiliations. For example, commercial advertisers seek to “recruit” us into the consumption of particular life-styles. The paper concludes with a discussion of how inclusivist policies should acknowledge the powerful effects of images in an individual’s decision-making. Images, it is suggested, inform how individuals regard the “landscapes” within which cyberspace is positioned for consumption. 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Internet; Cyberspace; Images; Althusser; Social inclusion; Photographs
1. Introduction 1.1. Research background The purpose of the exploratory case-study research reported in this paper is to contribute to our knowledge about processes of technological inclusion by illuminat∗
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ing the meanings associated with internet access. These meanings, it is argued, are real for individuals in terms of how they affect their motivation. For example, it is argued that different people react in systematically different ways to a range of images, and that such differences are possibly connected with social group membership. It is suggested that visual representations of the ‘landscapes’ surrounding the internet have the effect of potentially including or excluding individuals from participating in the information society. The Marxist intellectual Louis Althusser’s ideas about interpellation are utilised in order to theorise the nature of the processes which may be involved in how images impact on individuals [1]. The concept of interpellation concerns processes of identification that individuals undergo in their everyday dynamic relationships with culture and society. According to Macey (2000) “...Interpellation is the mechanism that produces SUBJECTS in such a way that they recognise their own existence in terms of the dominant ideology of the society in which they live. The French ‘interpellation’ is commonly used to mean ‘taken in by the police for questioning.’ ... Althusser’s basic illustration of the mechanism exploits this sense of ‘questioning’ or ‘hailing’. An individual walking down the street is hailed by a police Officer—‘Hey, you there!’ —and turns round to recognise the fact that he is being addressed. In doing so the individual is constituted as subject...the idea of interpellation demonstrates that subjects are always and already the products of ideology, and thus subverts the idealist thesis that subjectivity is primary or self-founding” [2] (p.203). By virtue of ‘identifying’ with socially important images our subjectivity as individuals is constituted by the power contained within those images. For Althusser the images which circulate in society serve to ‘educate’ subjects into systems of belief and action. In this sense they are like ideologies which gain a hold over the outlook of individuals. Capitalism, as a system for conceptualising the world and explaining behaviour in a market economy, is an example of such an ideology represented, for instance, as a narrative in images advertising life-styles in the Western world. The meanings embedded in images serve to recruit followers. They interpellate individuals as subjects who then adhere to holding the values implicit in the particular ideology. For instance, the success of the advertising industry is to some extent a testimony to the power of images to tap into and influence the subjective needs of individuals as consumers. Advertisers target commercially lucrative markets, tapping into a human need to belong and conform. A brief review of the literature relevant to themes connected with aspects of the internet, society and social policy follows in order to educate the reader further about the rationale for and contribution of this study to understanding the links between technology and society. Speculative claims about computers as drivers of social change and human experience are abundant. McLucan (1967) claimed that computer technology would facilitate human forms of globalisation: “...the computer promises by technology a Pentecostal condition of universal understanding and unity...Our current translation of our entire lives into the spiritual form of information seems to make the entire globe, the human family, a single consciousness...” [3] (p.90). His visionary statement can be found to resonate among many social theorists. Wiener (1968), for instance,
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claims that “...To live effectively is to live with adequate information ... communication and control belong to the essence of man’s inner life...” [4] (p.19). Bell (1980) likewise posits the computer as the “central symbol” of the post-industrial society where, he argues, “...knowledge and information are becoming the strategic resource and transforming agents...” (p.531). Naisbitt (1984) believed that the availability of information through the internet would change entrenched social structures and foster greater social justice: “...we are beginning to abandon the hierarchies that worked well in the centralised industrial era. In their place we are substituting the network model of organisation and communication which has its roots in the egalitarian and spontaneous formation of groups among like-minded people...” [5] (p.281). Clearly there is no shortage of authoritative pronouncements about the internet. One should be prudent however before committing to these theoretical pronouncements in view of their dubious foundations as evaluated by social scientific criteria (see, for example, Mackay et al., 2001 [6]). Despite the generally equivocal nature of the implications of the available research data about the internet the United Kingdom government and its European partners have developed major social policies which rely upon internet technology as one of a range of tools aimed at challenging poverty and alienation [7,8]. Although European governments avoid the use of the term ‘underclass’ and cognate words in the context of debates about poverty in the United Kingdom it is nevertheless groups of socially and economically marginalised individuals who are the targets of policies designed to ’reconnect’ them with mainstream norms of consumer society. It is in this regard that Castells’ (1989) [9] ‘digital divide’ notion of social polarisation informs the character of the United Kingdom’s Economic and Social Research Council’s [10] Virtual Society programme. Conceptually ‘social exclusion’, a policy term currently favoured by the United Kingdom government, is defined by Madanipour et al. (1998) as being: “...a multidimensional process in which various forms of exclusion are combined; participation in decision-making and political processes, access to employment and material resources and integration into common cultural processes that when combined create acute forms of exclusion that find a spatial manifestation in particular neighbourhoods...” [11] (p.22). (See also Askonas and Stewart, 2000 [12]). It is known that social inclusion has additional complex dimensions, social status being one of them [13–15]. Licklider and Taylor (1968) attribute the achievement of greater happiness to participation in cyberspace communities: “...life will be happier for the online individual because the people with whom one interacts most strongly will be selected more by commonality of interests and goals than by accidents of proximity” [16] (p.31). Jones (1998) [17] however regards cyberspace differently: cyberspace communities, he perceives, are impoverished contexts for the satisfaction of human needs: their users, he thinks, are social elites and dialogue within them is in any case fragmentary, unrewarding. Clearly value judgment, due to the paucity of empirical data and complexity of the subject, is unavoidable when making claims about the internet and the benefits or otherwise of cyberspace. Official policy rhetoric does nevertheless suggest that technology can provide a ‘quick fix’ to social inequality (The Guardian newspaper, 25th October, 1999). Additionally it is argued
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that through internet access the consequential effects on individual empowerment will undermine socio-economic and geographic constraints hampering community well being [18]. Levitas (1998), correctly in my opinion, argues that social exclusion is an “essentially contested concept” [19] (p.3) about which a consensus is lacking with regard to what causes it and how best to overcome its negative impact. And so it is possible that the mere achievement of greater digital inclusion will not logically guarantee any amelioration of social exclusion. In the United Kingdom there are also plans to develop e-government on a largescale which, to be successful, would require not only technical access to the internet, but also a willingness to participate. Huitema (1988) [20] notes that the official objective of 1Png (Internet Protocol, new generation) would make the failure of internet access for all citizens an immoral position. He leaves unresolved the wider question about the effect of access on promoting social justice outside of cyberspace. In the USA surveys have identified a persistent ‘digital divide’. This divide reflects sociological measures based upon ethnic status and income [21]. By attempting in this paper to explore and characterise how perceptions of the landscapes of cyberspace access might articulate with generalised notions of social exclusion and inclusion I realise not only that Levitas’s point is convincing, but also that any interpretations which I construct on the basis of my research data are at best provisional.
2. Research design In view of the rationale for my paper given earlier and in the context of speculative claims about the internet’s capacity to drive social transformation, I sought to determine whether at the local level of internet access features of social spaces were themselves contributing to the achievement of social inclusion. Should it be the case that potential users find the venues themselves either ‘threatening’ or ‘attractive’ to their own identity affiliations then it could follow that they may be denied the benefits that digital inclusion offers. Hine (2000) argues that our understanding of the social semiotics surrounding the internet is very limited. Internet access, Bijker (1995) [22] argues, is influenced by symbolic variables, not merely factors concerning its economic affordability. Toren (1998) defines ethnography as follows: it is the “comparative, descriptive analysis of the everyday, of what is taken for granted and is phenomenologically oriented” [23] (p.102). Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) define ethnography as a form of qualitative research which is in opposition to positivistic research paradigms such as controlled experiments and questionnaire-based quantitative surveys: “The search for universal laws is rejected in favour of detailed descriptions of the concrete experiences of life within a particular culture...” [24] (p.8). The concept of ‘grounded theory’ arises within this research approach by way of its offering a contrast with the deductive, hypothesis-testing design where an explicit framework already exists for analysing data prior to that data becoming available as a result of field work. The ‘groundedness’ of the qualitative design to data analysis resides essentially
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in one waiting until one has examined the research data before making claims about findings. The ‘theory’ in the grounded approach, it is important to recognise, emerges as part of the process of trying to make sense of the data in terms of the perspectives of the research participants themselves. By contrast in the deductive research design one already has a theory which one is utilising to analyse one’s data in, to put it crudely, a top-down fashion. Hine (2000) claims, rightly in my opinion, that ethnography is “a way of seeing through participant’s eyes, a ‘grounded’ approach that aims for a deep understanding of the cultural foundations of the group” [21] (p.21). Flick (1998) adds that qualitative methodology entails a focus “on the subject’s points of view and on the meaning they attribute to experiences and events as well as their orientation towards the meaning of objects...” [25] (p.19).
3. Internet venues: places and people Three internet venues were selected for study based on the criteria of difference followed by social anthropologists [26]. The venues fictional names are: (I) Cyberia (ii) Teleport (iii) Easy. They differed in physical location in a Scottish town. Informal conversations with employees in the venues supported my view that the venues would indeed cater for different kinds of clients in relation to, for instance, the variables of age and social class. Cyberia lies in the affluent area, Teleport the poor area and Easy is in the town centre. The sample of respondents in all areas were mixed in terms of age, gender and socio-economic status. I approached individuals—ten from each area—in the areas close to the venues. As a proxy measure of social class I asked informants about their jobs: individuals sampled in the Cyberia area held mainly professional/managerial positions; those in the Easy area could not be so easily classified, but they tended to be young, educated and were either in employment or traveling around Europe. In deciding upon social class categorisation I followed the Goldthorpe et al. (1992) [27] framework where class position is based upon occupation. Almost all informants in the Teleport area were long-term unemployed. I explained to each informant that my study was an academic study and that they would not be identified in the research report. The interviews based around the photographs were conducted in local cafes.
4. Using the photographs Becker (1981) has justified the role of photographs in research for illuminating culture and interpretative insight [28]. Following the ideas of Wakeford (1999) in her London study of an internet cafe the cafe or venue itself constitutes a ‘translation landscape’ of computing where the internet is produced and interpreted for ‘ordinary people’ [29]. The latter consume time on the machines, and/or food and drink (p. 180); this is a form of their involvement with cyberspace. Ball and Smith (1992) refer to photographs as ‘visual data’ stating that “The social world is in part a seen world available to most of its participants via the medium of vision [30]. The appear-
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ance of the built environment, artifacts, persons and courses of action plays an indispensable role in the conduct of our daily lives, for these appearances have a variety of beliefs and expectations about the nature and workings of the world associated with them.” Bartes (1996) [31] has outlined a method of using photographs to elicit verbal accounts as has Harper (1994) [32]. Historical accounts of the development of photography demonstrate how photographs have inextricably linked meanings. The latter are bound up with the images contained within them [33]. Following Harper’s (1994) photo-elicitation technique I sought to create as comprehensive range of representations of each venue as was feasible [32]. To validate my choices I also asked the venue managers to say whether I’d missed anything of importance about their venue. I then interviewed an opportunity sample of individuals on a oneto-one basis about their ‘readings’ of the material captured in the images (ten colour prints of each venue, as described below): 4.1. Descriptions of venue photographs 4.1.1. Cyberia 1. Cyberia is seen from outside in the street. The photo captures a side view as seen from the pavement. It is a white first floor grand building with the word Cyberia in upper case along the front. 2. Cyberia as seen from the front looking at it from the other side of the road. A spacious place with five grand windows looking out onto a busy street and a front door. Clearly shown is the grand stone building in which it is situated. 3. A modern futuristic interior is shown. The lights are unique in shapes hanging from the ceiling. The walls are a soft blue colour and hanging on them are several interesting paintings. The lighting is atmospheric. 4. A painting of a nude female in repose on a pink wall above the PCs. The painting is in modernist style. It is positioned in one of the side areas of Cyberia. 5. Two males are sitting facing the PC monitors. Beside one of them is another male looking at the monitor of one user. They face a very large window which looks out into the street. The walls are painted a cream colour and the area is spacious. 6. This is a personalised advertisement in trendy silver lettering above the bar area. Internet Services, Web Services and Cafe Hire are written in capitals. The colouring of the wall is a distinctive red. 7. A large personal room space is shown. It includes three paintings, a futuristic light and a Christmas tree. Tables are set out with a few chairs behind the PCs being used by three young people. 8. This is a modernist large painting of a female nude in repose along a large wall area. 9. This shows the area of the coffee bar and snack area. It is set out in a trendy way and is minimalist in style. 10. One young male is working at a PC. It faces the street outside. There is a large plant beside him. Two other monitors on each side of him are vacant. The lighting is natural and soft.
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4.1.2. Easy 1. A very large, supermarket style space. Very clean and functional space with scores of flat screens in standardised spaces. A red screen saver matches the red user instructions beside each monitor fitted to a wooden panel. 2. The street area outside of the Easy building is pedestrianised and during a quiet time of the day only one person is walking along. A large reddish stone type office building is shown. 3. One Asian young male sitting facing one monitor on his own. A poster stating Advertise Here! is on the white wall behind him. 4. A close-up photograph of Easy with the company red used prominently to display advertising phrases, e.g. “400 more PCs upstairs”, “easy Internet Cafe”. It is a functional front like the entrance to a department store. 5. A large wall poster themed in company red advertising a DIY credit card system and other commercial offers asking lookers to “Apply online now”. 6. A red company wall poster of a security notice in capitals “SECURITY NOTICE”. It says “Please keep your belongings safe and secure at all times and shows a hand going into an open attache´ case below stating “don’t be a victim of crime!” 7. This shows the opposite side of the large space from photo number one. The well-kept shinning wooden floor is seen as well as three large waste bins along the aisles. 8. Three people sitting at a distance from each other at their keyboards. They sit intently not communicating with each other. On the wall is a company poster giving warnings about theft. The overhead lighting is from panel type industrial fittings. 9. Two people, a male and a female sitting next to one another stare intently at their monitors. It is the entrance floor area with about 20 monitors and on the walls above them are company posters making commercial advertisements and giving security warnings. 10. A young man waits for service at the Nescafe snack bar. A female assistant smiles back. The products advertised are on a large Nescafe wall poster. Cakes and sweets are also shown. 4.1.3. Teleport 1. Three elderly people, two in casual clothes sit facing each other around a table. A coffee mug sits on the table. Another elderly male sits on his own looking towards the pair with a smile on his face. A couple of PCs are on a table behind them and two posters show a padlock. 2. Four middle-aged/elderly people sit facing PCs. Two chat with each other. The others have headphones on and look intently at the monitors. A large poster above their heads has the words Skills, knowledge with tick marks beside them. 3. An old-fashioned factory type white building with about eight cars parked in front of it. It is made of white stone and has small windows. 4. Two young males, one sitting facing a monitor and the other standing looking at the same monitor. They seem to be engaged in a shared task.
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5. Two males, one standing and one sitting looking at a PC monitor. They seem to be in conversation. The room walls are a plain white and blank. There are four vacant seats. 6. Two PCs and a large wall poster with the words “The only way is UP” and beneath them are ticks beside four statements: “fresh start”, “new direction”, “bright future”, and “better life”. 7. A large globe is shown and beneath this wall poster are the words “Home of the TECHNO TOTS, KEYBOARD KIDS AND CYBERGRANNIES”. 8. A large wall poster showing a big golden padlock with the words next to it saying “Unlock YOUR potential” and below that a free phone telephone number is given. 9. Two males sit staring intently at the same PC monitor. There is a wall poster of the globe behind them. The other space in the room is vacant. They look serious, as though they are at work. 10. The office type room space is empty. Two PCc are shown. A table with three chairs is vacant. The poster “The only way is UP” is on the wall above the PCs. There is a mug on the table. As a focus for these interviews the respondents were encouraged to offer views about their preferences for the venues and reasons for holding such preferences. For example, I asked them to talk about ‘readings’ of the kinds of places represented in the photographs and their views about the ‘audiences’ that they thought the places might attract. In Althusser’s [1] terms individuals might be ‘hailed’ or interpellated differently by the ‘ideology’ inherent in these representations [34]. From their verbal accounts I developed an analysis aimed at identifying themes using the concept of “grounded theory” outlined earlier [25].
5. Research findings The themes identified are elaborated below through illustrative quotation. These themes were ‘discovered’ through a grounded analysis of the interview data. Following the custom in this mode of reporting qualitative data results the themes are given a label based upon interpretations of their characterisations of the landscapes of Internet access. As a way of informing the reader about the social class of the informant the areas they come from has been put in brackets after their fictional name. The five themes are: 앫 앫 앫 앫 앫
social inclusion friendliness learning contexts cafe ambience functionality
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5.1. Social inclusion All informants characterised Teleport images as ones with the potential to ‘hail’ members of local communities, but it was favoured less by those in the areas of Cyberia and Easy: “Teleport is “IT for All”. These photos show this partnership with the global village. It is real people who can use it—only commercial clients. I can see there is an ethical and economic mission coming over from the wall posters which contain images of people from different ethnic groups and include ones of the elderly...” (Andy: Teleport) “The Teleport photos show me a training type of place for people who want to learn new things. I can see you can have help there if you get stuck.” (Lisa: Easy) “It looks like a fairly low key kind of place where you can easily talk to people there without feeling that everybody was rushing madly about doing their own things regardless.” (Tom: Teleport). And in connection with the images of Cyberia in the photographs some revealing comment from those in the Cyberia area included:“It’s the cool kind of place that I would drop into to have a coffee and hang out. I don’t think I would like Teleport for that reason. Looks too practical for me! Easy looks too much like a supermarket.” (Sam: Cyberia). “Looking through all three sets of photos personally I’d go for Easy. Teleport looks like it is for older people and Cyberia is too arty-farty. I like the big space of Easy and just feeling you’d be left to get on with it.” (Anna: Cyberia). “If I wanted to learn things and stay around for a while I would go to Teleport. I know some people who go there. Those other places don’t look the sort of place I’d feel comfortable in. Cyberia seems for a student person and Easy looks too unfriendly.” (Lisa: Teleport). 5.2. Friendliness This theme means forms of sociability where users actively enjoy the company of others rather than being there only to participate in the functions afforded by the internet. And so the venue is also a context for keeping in touch with others with similar interests: “It’s a relaxed atmosphere (Teleport) and people chat with each other. That photo shows a cyber granny talking to a silver surfer about her evacuation during the war. You can see it is a community based place rather than it being commodified relationships that you can see in those photos of Easy where everyone is just staring at screens. It looks a lonely place. The pictures of the wall in Cyberia would put me off using it. They are gothic! I’d rather see posters telling you where you are at, not odd art things! In Easy it’s a sterile looking place. Like battery chickens being fed the internet. I don’t see signs “You are welcome here!” The security signs in Easy make it feel very sanitised.” (Mike: Teleport).“Cyberia is an intellectual’s venue. Just look at the intimacy of the area and the interesting paintings. I’d definitely go there if I wanted to stay for a while and talk and drink coffee. But Easy is too impersonal. I can see it would have its uses if people had to rush to read e-mails over their lunch. I don’t see it as a place for getting to know anyone or for conversation. Teleport, well it looks a bit run down, like an old school classroom space.” (Dianne: Cyberia).
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5.3. Learning contexts Differences emerged within the sample in terms of their perceptions of responsiveness of the venues to supporting the needs of users engaging in novel forms of learning, users who are new to the internet, for example: “I get the impression that in Teleport they would help you from scratch. Cyberia really looks like a place for highbrows or rich dudes. It doesn’t look homely! You’d have to know your stuff already if you went there.” (Steve: Easy). And “I doubt if I’d use Teleport it looks like an old school place, boring! If I wanted to use the internet to find out whatever it would have to be in a less functional looking place with people more like my own age. I like the cool pictures in Cyberia and they probably play music I bet. Music helps me to concentrate better.” (Tom: Cyberia). And “I think looking at those shots that you would have to have experience before you could learn through the internet in Cyberia and Easy. I can see older people feeling a bit threatened by those places. In Teleport it looks as though the playing field for starting out would be more level. It seems to give vocational training. These experiences in Teleport would increase their capacity for learning straight away.” (Emily: Easy). “My wife and I would like the Teleport place the most I think. I can see youngsters have no problem with the machines. They’ve had it all at school. But not my generation! I can see it being a place where they’d give you time and you could always ask the other people in that place.” (John: Teleport). “You can see Teleport is for older clients. The quality/style of the clothes says they are less well off. Teleport is about unlocking potential, about personal growth. It has a much wider agenda than just providing functional access to the internet. People are communicating with each other. They are using the functional space to achieve a lot more, and they are having a social life there. It looks like a community resource.” (Teresa: Cyberia). 5.4. Cafe ambience The middle-class setting and character of Cyberia as a place with eating facilities were things picked up in the images: “Cyberia has a relaxed, cool atmosphere. Easy is less cosy and a bit intimidating. Easy is too high tech, too corporate.” (Elaine: Cyberia). “Cyberia looks like a great cafe, a great space, nice ambience. That’s what would attract me there. I like the spaces that would give you more privacy than Easy and Teleport. I can see why it might be intimidating though as a place for working class people, poor kids. Cyberia is for a middle-class market.” (Vince: Cyberia). “I’d go to Cyberia. It looks more comfortable than Easy. I’d enjoy looking at the exhibition! It would appeal to a younger, more professional educated audience. There is communication between people using it. In Easy they are isolated units. It provides enjoyable food and drink. Flavoured coffee! The front is elegant and contemporary. The colours inside are all attractive and contemporary. Thought has been put into the aesthetics of the place. The cafe is giving an aesthetically appealing experience. It will appeal to people who have control over their life-style.” (Teresa: Cyberia).
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“I’d imagine Cyberia is well-run. It looks a happy place that makes you feel good. I like the central focus with computers around the outside of the space not in the centre so that you can enjoy its soft, relaxed ambience.” (Carol: Cyberia). “Cyberia seems calming, homely. The style of decoration is really nice. New Age! Easy is not the kind of place I’d use to chill out with friends. I know that Teleport is not far from here, but it looks too serious for me!” (Eva: Teleport). 5.5. Functionality Perceptions of images connoting functionality were a significant feature of comment about Easy: “Easy is a big place with chained rows of identical screens. It’s like a library where you would go to book flights and things like that. If I was in a big rush I’d probably use it.” (Helen: Cyberia). “It seems to me Easy is like a MacDonald’s of the internet, like a mass market place, bums on seats. If you are short of time I’d imagine you’d go to it, but it’s not conducive to relaxing like Cyberia would definitely be.” (Sandy: Cyberia). Being a functional space in a different sense captures some perceptions of Teleport: “You can see Teleport is for people to be with an instructor who trains them. It’s a more educative place where Cyberia is more for the consumer. There is a classroom feel to Teleport. That’s fine if that’s what you need. I did computers at university so Easy would be OK for my needs, you’d just be left in peace to use the PCs as you wanted. It’s practical.” (Steve: Easy). “Easy is the best concept for the internet when you are travelling, it’s so cheap. I would come to do my e-mails. Teleport looks like a job-centre for going to get information. The utility of the space at Easy will attract on its cheapness, but it is impersonal. You wouldn’t take a friend there. It would be like sitting in a department store!” (Barbara: Easy). For Teresa (Cyberia) Easy is perceived as a venue for “...young people for a lot of functional reasons—they’d not go for the sake of the place itself but for what you want to achieve there. Orange colouring does not help people to relax. It’s for people on a budget—the window advertising emphasises that. Easy is like an airport check-in area. The very basic snacks give you the basic sustenance to keep you going. It has no exclusivity about it. The security notice reinforces the fact you are in a very public environment. The people sit next to each other but focus is on their own individual project, not talking to each other.”
6. Discussion In postmodern theory, images communicate through cultural representations which ‘aim’ at the involvement of a subject-spectator [35,33]. Most of us are familiar with car adverts on television that aim at ‘recruiting’, for example, younger male or female drivers to purchase products. Such processes of ‘picturing’ are bound up with the organisation of looking and the formation of subjectivity [36,37]. In terms of this
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constructivist perspective individuals [38] generate meanings that are conditioned by their social positions and identities. Media discourses [39,35] actively construct for subjects, following Althusser, positions of enunciation into which they are ‘summoned’, ‘hailed’ or ‘recruited’ [1]. To reiterate his view ideology is itself a ‘Representation’ that occurs in the mental life of subjects who, in imagining themselves in a particular relation to a specific discourse, find themselves projecting themselves into the point of view of a discourse. In connection with the current research findings it is tempting to speculate that the photographic images ‘exercised’ their influential effects in ways which varied depending upon how the research participants were interpellated as subjects. For instance, informants from the impoverished location (Teleport), one might conjecture, are ‘hailed’ or ‘recruited’ by photographic meanings predicated less on a high, middle-class culture and more on gaining transferable skills for employment within a training ethos. By comparison informants from the affluent location (Cyberia) might, it can be speculated, be ‘hailed’ by photographic discourses representing forms of being in the world that indicate affluence. To some extent this expectation is consistent with the findings in this paper. The Cyberia sample’s sense of social inclusion, it can be argued, is one which might be based upon values which sustain the capitalist mainstream’s understanding of success in terms of affluence and intellectual play [40,41]. Does other evidence from the current research data support these speculations? The preferential analyses of the sets of photographs given by the different informants bore a relationship with the geographic area in which they were interviewed and so with social class. In other words there was a suggestive trend in these data for interviewees in the Teleport area, for instance, to be ‘hailed’ more by Easy and Teleport representations and to feel excluded by Cyberia’s manifestly more upper class, affluent representation. The highly explicit learning context ethos and other dimensions of the visual representation of Teleport seemed not to ‘recruit’ middle-class informants. Informants from the Teleport area may have experienced ‘alienation’ or feel less comfortable with the intellectually highbrow semiotics characterising the decor of Cyberia. One implication for social policy and internet access generally from these modest research findings is that policy-makers tasked with addressing the complex web of issues surrounding social exclusion ought to also consider the meanings connected with potentially classist cultural discourses and their associated social identities. If the latter are neglected then we may continue to contribute to the perpetuation of social divisions with all the misery that associates with them. Internet access, following the logic of this paper’s thesis, is more likely to become something that all will welcome and enjoy if account is taken of the landscapes within which the internet is itself situated. In the Teleport area, for instance, it was rare for younger age groups (18–45) to frequent Teleport at all. And so while this venue offered free access and was there to cater for local people entire groups, one can argue, were excluded by its representation of itself. In conclusion a fruitful line of enquiry for further research could involve examining whether, having been ‘recruited’ by particular images, internet users go on to behave differently in their utilisation of the capabilities offered by the internet. If
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one found, for example, that once connected they used their time, as Allen and Miller (2000) suggest “in front of the screen primarily to play games ... to engage in chat room talk about sex or to do tele-shopping, then yet again the promise of enhanced democratic participation through the new medium is hardly likely to be fulfilled” [42] (p. 60), then access may not entail social inclusion. Policy-makers must take care that internet access for all does not engender novel forms of social exclusion. Acknowledgements I am very grateful to the Andrew Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for a research grant to support this original study. I would also like to thank Mr. Malcolm Errington, Senior Lecturer, University of Paisley, Faculty of Education and Media for his valuable support. And finally I must thank a colleague and friend Dr. Charles Gore, Lecturer in Social Science, Open University and a practitioner in social anthropology for pointing me in the direction of Althusserian concepts as a tool for engaging with visual texts. Finally thanks are due to Harry Merrick, Senior Lecturer and Janice Craig, Print Room Manager both of the University of Paisley for excellent technical assistance in helping me with processing the photographs for inclusion in this article. The photographs: Teleport: 10 photographs; Easy: 10 photographs; Cyberia: 10 photographs. References [1] Althusser L. Ideology and the ideological state apparatuses. In: Evans J, Hall S, editors. Visual culture. London: Sage Publications; 1999. [2] Macey D. The Penquin Dictionary of Critical Theory. London: Penquin Books; 2000. [3] McLucan M. Understanding media: the extension of man. London: Sphere Books; 1967. [4] Wiener N. The human use of human beings: cybernetics and society. London: Routledge; 1968. [5] Bell D. Beyond modernism, beyond self, in sociological journeys: essays 1960–1980. London: Heinemann; 1980. [6] Mackay H, Mapls W, Reynolds P. Social science in action: investigating the information society. Open University Press; 2001. [7] O’Connor W, Lewis J. Scottish Executive Central Research Unit, No. 73, Scottish Office: HMSO; 1999. [8] Wyatt S, Henwood F, Miller N, Senker P. Technology and in/equality: questioning the information society. London: Routledge; 2000. [9] Castells M. The information city: information technology, economic restructuring and the urbanregional process. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell; 1989. [10] Economic and Social Research Council. Virtual society? Profile. London: ESRC; 2000. [11] Madanipour A, Cars G, Allen J (Eds.). Social exclusion in European cities. London: Jessica Kingsley; 1998. [12] Askonas P, Stewart A. Social inclusion: possibilities and tensions. New York: Palgrave; 2000. [13] Martin C. The debate in France over social exclusion. Social Policy and Administration 1996;30(4):382–92. [14] Byrne DS. Tyne and Wear UDC: turning the uses inside out—active deindustrialization and its consequences. In: Imrie R, Thomas H, Editors. British Urban Policy and the Urban Development Corporation, 2nd ed. London: Paul Chapman; 1999. [15] Shaw P. Gay men and computer communication: a discourse of sex and identity in cyberspace. In: Jones SG, editor. Cybersociety 2.0 Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; 1998.
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[16] Licklider JCR, Taylor RW, The computer as a communication device. Science and Technology 1968;1(3). [17] Jones SG. Information, internet and community: notes towards an understanding of community in the information age. In: Jones SG, editor. Cybersociety 2.0 Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage; 1998. [18] Thomas T, Wyatt S. Access is not the only problem: using and controlling the internet. In: Wyatt S, Henwood F, Miller N, Senker P, editors. Technology and Inequality: Questioning the Information Society. London: Routledge; 2000. [19] Levitas R. The inclusive society? Hampshire, UK: Palgrave; 1998. [20] Huitema C. Ipv6: The new internet protocol, 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall; 1998. [21] Hine C. Virtual ethnography. London: Sage; 2000. [22] Bijker WE. Of bicycles, bakelite and bulbs: towards a theory of sociotechnical change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 1995. [23] Toren C. Ethnography: theoretical background. In: Richardson JTE, editor. Handbook of qualitative research methods for psychology and the social sciences. London: British Psychological Society Books; 1998. [24] Hammersley M, Atkinson P. Ethnography: principles into practice. London: Routledge; 1983. [25] Flick U. An introduction to qualitative research. London: Sage; 1998. [26] Barnard A. Social anthropology. Studyates.co.uk; 2000. [27] Goldthorpe JH, Heath AF. Revised class schema 1992, JUSST Working Paper no. 13, Nuffield College, Oxford University and SCPR; 1992. [28] Becker HS, editor. Exploring society photographically. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 1981. [29] Wakeford N. Gender and the landscapes of computing in an Internet cafe. In: Crang M, Crang P, May J, editors. Virtual Geographies: Bodies, Space and Relations. London: Routledge; 1999. [30] Ball MS, Smith GHW. Analysing visual data. London: Sage; 2000. [31] Bartes R. Camera lucida: reflections on photography. New York: Hill and Wang; 1996. [32] Harper D. On the authority of the image: visual methods at the crossroads. In: Denzin N, Lincoln YS, editors. Handbook of Qualitative Research. London: Sage; 1994. [33] Jeffrey I. Photography: a concise history. London: Thames and Hudson, 1998. [34] Bartes R. Rhetoric of the image. In: Evans J, Hall S, editors. Visual Culture. London: Sage Publications; 1999. [35] Naisbitt J. Megatrends: ten new directions transforming our lives. New York: Warner Books; 1984. [36] Bartes R. The photographic message. In: Heath S, editor. Image, music, text, trans. New York: Hill and Wang; 1977. [37] Heck MC. The ideological dimension of media messages. In: Hall S, Hobson D, Lowe A, Willis P, editors. Culture, media, language. London: Hutchinson/Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies; 1980. [38] Burr V. An introduction to social constructivism. London: Routledge; 1995. [39] Mackay H. Consumption and everyday life. London: Sage; 1997. [40] Giddens A. The third way: The renewal of social democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press; 1998. [41] Heffernan R. New labour and thatcherism. New York: Palgrave; 2001. [42] Allen R, Miller N. Panaceas and promises of democratic participation: reaction to new channels, from the wireless to the world-wide web. In: Wyatt S, Henwodd F, Miller N, Senker P, editors. Technology and in/equality: Questioning the information society. London: Routledge; 2000. Christopher Holligan studied philosophy at York University before becoming an English Teacher in Scotland for a few years. He then completed a masters in social science at Aberdeen University followed by a doctorate in psychology at St. Andrews University. Following a year as a Research Officer at the Scottish Council for Research in Education he took up a post as lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Media at Paisley University. He has lectured extensively in psychology and social theory throughout Europe and the Far East. He is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and four children and spends his spare time ski-ing and hill walking in the Scottish Highlands.
Contextualing cyberspace: a photographic study of landscapes of Internet access C. Holligan ∗ Faculty of Education and Media, University of Paisley, University Campus, Ayr, Beech Grove, Scotland KA8 0SR, UK
Abstract The paper examines contemporary issues surrounding the internet as a tool for promoting social inclusion. By means of case studies based on a photographic method we seek to unravel relationships between the social meanings associated with the sites of internet access and how the status of those viewing those sites influences how they are understood. Our approach is informed by the ideas of the Marxist intellectual Louis Althusser. For him dominant images circulate within society and these images impact upon how persons construct their identities and affiliations. For example, commercial advertisers seek to “recruit” us into the consumption of particular life-styles. The paper concludes with a discussion of how inclusivist policies should acknowledge the powerful effects of images in an individual’s decision-making. Images, it is suggested, inform how individuals regard the “landscapes” within which cyberspace is positioned for consumption. 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Internet; Cyberspace; Images; Althusser; Social inclusion; Photographs
1. Introduction 1.1. Research background The purpose of the exploratory case-study research reported in this paper is to contribute to our knowledge about processes of technological inclusion by illuminat∗
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ing the meanings associated with internet access. These meanings, it is argued, are real for individuals in terms of how they affect their motivation. For example, it is argued that different people react in systematically different ways to a range of images, and that such differences are possibly connected with social group membership. It is suggested that visual representations of the ‘landscapes’ surrounding the internet have the effect of potentially including or excluding individuals from participating in the information society. The Marxist intellectual Louis Althusser’s ideas about interpellation are utilised in order to theorise the nature of the processes which may be involved in how images impact on individuals [1]. The concept of interpellation concerns processes of identification that individuals undergo in their everyday dynamic relationships with culture and society. According to Macey (2000) “...Interpellation is the mechanism that produces SUBJECTS in such a way that they recognise their own existence in terms of the dominant ideology of the society in which they live. The French ‘interpellation’ is commonly used to mean ‘taken in by the police for questioning.’ ... Althusser’s basic illustration of the mechanism exploits this sense of ‘questioning’ or ‘hailing’. An individual walking down the street is hailed by a police Officer—‘Hey, you there!’ —and turns round to recognise the fact that he is being addressed. In doing so the individual is constituted as subject...the idea of interpellation demonstrates that subjects are always and already the products of ideology, and thus subverts the idealist thesis that subjectivity is primary or self-founding” [2] (p.203). By virtue of ‘identifying’ with socially important images our subjectivity as individuals is constituted by the power contained within those images. For Althusser the images which circulate in society serve to ‘educate’ subjects into systems of belief and action. In this sense they are like ideologies which gain a hold over the outlook of individuals. Capitalism, as a system for conceptualising the world and explaining behaviour in a market economy, is an example of such an ideology represented, for instance, as a narrative in images advertising life-styles in the Western world. The meanings embedded in images serve to recruit followers. They interpellate individuals as subjects who then adhere to holding the values implicit in the particular ideology. For instance, the success of the advertising industry is to some extent a testimony to the power of images to tap into and influence the subjective needs of individuals as consumers. Advertisers target commercially lucrative markets, tapping into a human need to belong and conform. A brief review of the literature relevant to themes connected with aspects of the internet, society and social policy follows in order to educate the reader further about the rationale for and contribution of this study to understanding the links between technology and society. Speculative claims about computers as drivers of social change and human experience are abundant. McLucan (1967) claimed that computer technology would facilitate human forms of globalisation: “...the computer promises by technology a Pentecostal condition of universal understanding and unity...Our current translation of our entire lives into the spiritual form of information seems to make the entire globe, the human family, a single consciousness...” [3] (p.90). His visionary statement can be found to resonate among many social theorists. Wiener (1968), for instance,
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claims that “...To live effectively is to live with adequate information ... communication and control belong to the essence of man’s inner life...” [4] (p.19). Bell (1980) likewise posits the computer as the “central symbol” of the post-industrial society where, he argues, “...knowledge and information are becoming the strategic resource and transforming agents...” (p.531). Naisbitt (1984) believed that the availability of information through the internet would change entrenched social structures and foster greater social justice: “...we are beginning to abandon the hierarchies that worked well in the centralised industrial era. In their place we are substituting the network model of organisation and communication which has its roots in the egalitarian and spontaneous formation of groups among like-minded people...” [5] (p.281). Clearly there is no shortage of authoritative pronouncements about the internet. One should be prudent however before committing to these theoretical pronouncements in view of their dubious foundations as evaluated by social scientific criteria (see, for example, Mackay et al., 2001 [6]). Despite the generally equivocal nature of the implications of the available research data about the internet the United Kingdom government and its European partners have developed major social policies which rely upon internet technology as one of a range of tools aimed at challenging poverty and alienation [7,8]. Although European governments avoid the use of the term ‘underclass’ and cognate words in the context of debates about poverty in the United Kingdom it is nevertheless groups of socially and economically marginalised individuals who are the targets of policies designed to ’reconnect’ them with mainstream norms of consumer society. It is in this regard that Castells’ (1989) [9] ‘digital divide’ notion of social polarisation informs the character of the United Kingdom’s Economic and Social Research Council’s [10] Virtual Society programme. Conceptually ‘social exclusion’, a policy term currently favoured by the United Kingdom government, is defined by Madanipour et al. (1998) as being: “...a multidimensional process in which various forms of exclusion are combined; participation in decision-making and political processes, access to employment and material resources and integration into common cultural processes that when combined create acute forms of exclusion that find a spatial manifestation in particular neighbourhoods...” [11] (p.22). (See also Askonas and Stewart, 2000 [12]). It is known that social inclusion has additional complex dimensions, social status being one of them [13–15]. Licklider and Taylor (1968) attribute the achievement of greater happiness to participation in cyberspace communities: “...life will be happier for the online individual because the people with whom one interacts most strongly will be selected more by commonality of interests and goals than by accidents of proximity” [16] (p.31). Jones (1998) [17] however regards cyberspace differently: cyberspace communities, he perceives, are impoverished contexts for the satisfaction of human needs: their users, he thinks, are social elites and dialogue within them is in any case fragmentary, unrewarding. Clearly value judgment, due to the paucity of empirical data and complexity of the subject, is unavoidable when making claims about the internet and the benefits or otherwise of cyberspace. Official policy rhetoric does nevertheless suggest that technology can provide a ‘quick fix’ to social inequality (The Guardian newspaper, 25th October, 1999). Additionally it is argued
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that through internet access the consequential effects on individual empowerment will undermine socio-economic and geographic constraints hampering community well being [18]. Levitas (1998), correctly in my opinion, argues that social exclusion is an “essentially contested concept” [19] (p.3) about which a consensus is lacking with regard to what causes it and how best to overcome its negative impact. And so it is possible that the mere achievement of greater digital inclusion will not logically guarantee any amelioration of social exclusion. In the United Kingdom there are also plans to develop e-government on a largescale which, to be successful, would require not only technical access to the internet, but also a willingness to participate. Huitema (1988) [20] notes that the official objective of 1Png (Internet Protocol, new generation) would make the failure of internet access for all citizens an immoral position. He leaves unresolved the wider question about the effect of access on promoting social justice outside of cyberspace. In the USA surveys have identified a persistent ‘digital divide’. This divide reflects sociological measures based upon ethnic status and income [21]. By attempting in this paper to explore and characterise how perceptions of the landscapes of cyberspace access might articulate with generalised notions of social exclusion and inclusion I realise not only that Levitas’s point is convincing, but also that any interpretations which I construct on the basis of my research data are at best provisional.
2. Research design In view of the rationale for my paper given earlier and in the context of speculative claims about the internet’s capacity to drive social transformation, I sought to determine whether at the local level of internet access features of social spaces were themselves contributing to the achievement of social inclusion. Should it be the case that potential users find the venues themselves either ‘threatening’ or ‘attractive’ to their own identity affiliations then it could follow that they may be denied the benefits that digital inclusion offers. Hine (2000) argues that our understanding of the social semiotics surrounding the internet is very limited. Internet access, Bijker (1995) [22] argues, is influenced by symbolic variables, not merely factors concerning its economic affordability. Toren (1998) defines ethnography as follows: it is the “comparative, descriptive analysis of the everyday, of what is taken for granted and is phenomenologically oriented” [23] (p.102). Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) define ethnography as a form of qualitative research which is in opposition to positivistic research paradigms such as controlled experiments and questionnaire-based quantitative surveys: “The search for universal laws is rejected in favour of detailed descriptions of the concrete experiences of life within a particular culture...” [24] (p.8). The concept of ‘grounded theory’ arises within this research approach by way of its offering a contrast with the deductive, hypothesis-testing design where an explicit framework already exists for analysing data prior to that data becoming available as a result of field work. The ‘groundedness’ of the qualitative design to data analysis resides essentially
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in one waiting until one has examined the research data before making claims about findings. The ‘theory’ in the grounded approach, it is important to recognise, emerges as part of the process of trying to make sense of the data in terms of the perspectives of the research participants themselves. By contrast in the deductive research design one already has a theory which one is utilising to analyse one’s data in, to put it crudely, a top-down fashion. Hine (2000) claims, rightly in my opinion, that ethnography is “a way of seeing through participant’s eyes, a ‘grounded’ approach that aims for a deep understanding of the cultural foundations of the group” [21] (p.21). Flick (1998) adds that qualitative methodology entails a focus “on the subject’s points of view and on the meaning they attribute to experiences and events as well as their orientation towards the meaning of objects...” [25] (p.19).
3. Internet venues: places and people Three internet venues were selected for study based on the criteria of difference followed by social anthropologists [26]. The venues fictional names are: (I) Cyberia (ii) Teleport (iii) Easy. They differed in physical location in a Scottish town. Informal conversations with employees in the venues supported my view that the venues would indeed cater for different kinds of clients in relation to, for instance, the variables of age and social class. Cyberia lies in the affluent area, Teleport the poor area and Easy is in the town centre. The sample of respondents in all areas were mixed in terms of age, gender and socio-economic status. I approached individuals—ten from each area—in the areas close to the venues. As a proxy measure of social class I asked informants about their jobs: individuals sampled in the Cyberia area held mainly professional/managerial positions; those in the Easy area could not be so easily classified, but they tended to be young, educated and were either in employment or traveling around Europe. In deciding upon social class categorisation I followed the Goldthorpe et al. (1992) [27] framework where class position is based upon occupation. Almost all informants in the Teleport area were long-term unemployed. I explained to each informant that my study was an academic study and that they would not be identified in the research report. The interviews based around the photographs were conducted in local cafes.
4. Using the photographs Becker (1981) has justified the role of photographs in research for illuminating culture and interpretative insight [28]. Following the ideas of Wakeford (1999) in her London study of an internet cafe the cafe or venue itself constitutes a ‘translation landscape’ of computing where the internet is produced and interpreted for ‘ordinary people’ [29]. The latter consume time on the machines, and/or food and drink (p. 180); this is a form of their involvement with cyberspace. Ball and Smith (1992) refer to photographs as ‘visual data’ stating that “The social world is in part a seen world available to most of its participants via the medium of vision [30]. The appear-
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ance of the built environment, artifacts, persons and courses of action plays an indispensable role in the conduct of our daily lives, for these appearances have a variety of beliefs and expectations about the nature and workings of the world associated with them.” Bartes (1996) [31] has outlined a method of using photographs to elicit verbal accounts as has Harper (1994) [32]. Historical accounts of the development of photography demonstrate how photographs have inextricably linked meanings. The latter are bound up with the images contained within them [33]. Following Harper’s (1994) photo-elicitation technique I sought to create as comprehensive range of representations of each venue as was feasible [32]. To validate my choices I also asked the venue managers to say whether I’d missed anything of importance about their venue. I then interviewed an opportunity sample of individuals on a oneto-one basis about their ‘readings’ of the material captured in the images (ten colour prints of each venue, as described below): 4.1. Descriptions of venue photographs 4.1.1. Cyberia 1. Cyberia is seen from outside in the street. The photo captures a side view as seen from the pavement. It is a white first floor grand building with the word Cyberia in upper case along the front. 2. Cyberia as seen from the front looking at it from the other side of the road. A spacious place with five grand windows looking out onto a busy street and a front door. Clearly shown is the grand stone building in which it is situated. 3. A modern futuristic interior is shown. The lights are unique in shapes hanging from the ceiling. The walls are a soft blue colour and hanging on them are several interesting paintings. The lighting is atmospheric. 4. A painting of a nude female in repose on a pink wall above the PCs. The painting is in modernist style. It is positioned in one of the side areas of Cyberia. 5. Two males are sitting facing the PC monitors. Beside one of them is another male looking at the monitor of one user. They face a very large window which looks out into the street. The walls are painted a cream colour and the area is spacious. 6. This is a personalised advertisement in trendy silver lettering above the bar area. Internet Services, Web Services and Cafe Hire are written in capitals. The colouring of the wall is a distinctive red. 7. A large personal room space is shown. It includes three paintings, a futuristic light and a Christmas tree. Tables are set out with a few chairs behind the PCs being used by three young people. 8. This is a modernist large painting of a female nude in repose along a large wall area. 9. This shows the area of the coffee bar and snack area. It is set out in a trendy way and is minimalist in style. 10. One young male is working at a PC. It faces the street outside. There is a large plant beside him. Two other monitors on each side of him are vacant. The lighting is natural and soft.
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4.1.2. Easy 1. A very large, supermarket style space. Very clean and functional space with scores of flat screens in standardised spaces. A red screen saver matches the red user instructions beside each monitor fitted to a wooden panel. 2. The street area outside of the Easy building is pedestrianised and during a quiet time of the day only one person is walking along. A large reddish stone type office building is shown. 3. One Asian young male sitting facing one monitor on his own. A poster stating Advertise Here! is on the white wall behind him. 4. A close-up photograph of Easy with the company red used prominently to display advertising phrases, e.g. “400 more PCs upstairs”, “easy Internet Cafe”. It is a functional front like the entrance to a department store. 5. A large wall poster themed in company red advertising a DIY credit card system and other commercial offers asking lookers to “Apply online now”. 6. A red company wall poster of a security notice in capitals “SECURITY NOTICE”. It says “Please keep your belongings safe and secure at all times and shows a hand going into an open attache´ case below stating “don’t be a victim of crime!” 7. This shows the opposite side of the large space from photo number one. The well-kept shinning wooden floor is seen as well as three large waste bins along the aisles. 8. Three people sitting at a distance from each other at their keyboards. They sit intently not communicating with each other. On the wall is a company poster giving warnings about theft. The overhead lighting is from panel type industrial fittings. 9. Two people, a male and a female sitting next to one another stare intently at their monitors. It is the entrance floor area with about 20 monitors and on the walls above them are company posters making commercial advertisements and giving security warnings. 10. A young man waits for service at the Nescafe snack bar. A female assistant smiles back. The products advertised are on a large Nescafe wall poster. Cakes and sweets are also shown. 4.1.3. Teleport 1. Three elderly people, two in casual clothes sit facing each other around a table. A coffee mug sits on the table. Another elderly male sits on his own looking towards the pair with a smile on his face. A couple of PCs are on a table behind them and two posters show a padlock. 2. Four middle-aged/elderly people sit facing PCs. Two chat with each other. The others have headphones on and look intently at the monitors. A large poster above their heads has the words Skills, knowledge with tick marks beside them. 3. An old-fashioned factory type white building with about eight cars parked in front of it. It is made of white stone and has small windows. 4. Two young males, one sitting facing a monitor and the other standing looking at the same monitor. They seem to be engaged in a shared task.
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5. Two males, one standing and one sitting looking at a PC monitor. They seem to be in conversation. The room walls are a plain white and blank. There are four vacant seats. 6. Two PCs and a large wall poster with the words “The only way is UP” and beneath them are ticks beside four statements: “fresh start”, “new direction”, “bright future”, and “better life”. 7. A large globe is shown and beneath this wall poster are the words “Home of the TECHNO TOTS, KEYBOARD KIDS AND CYBERGRANNIES”. 8. A large wall poster showing a big golden padlock with the words next to it saying “Unlock YOUR potential” and below that a free phone telephone number is given. 9. Two males sit staring intently at the same PC monitor. There is a wall poster of the globe behind them. The other space in the room is vacant. They look serious, as though they are at work. 10. The office type room space is empty. Two PCc are shown. A table with three chairs is vacant. The poster “The only way is UP” is on the wall above the PCs. There is a mug on the table. As a focus for these interviews the respondents were encouraged to offer views about their preferences for the venues and reasons for holding such preferences. For example, I asked them to talk about ‘readings’ of the kinds of places represented in the photographs and their views about the ‘audiences’ that they thought the places might attract. In Althusser’s [1] terms individuals might be ‘hailed’ or interpellated differently by the ‘ideology’ inherent in these representations [34]. From their verbal accounts I developed an analysis aimed at identifying themes using the concept of “grounded theory” outlined earlier [25].
5. Research findings The themes identified are elaborated below through illustrative quotation. These themes were ‘discovered’ through a grounded analysis of the interview data. Following the custom in this mode of reporting qualitative data results the themes are given a label based upon interpretations of their characterisations of the landscapes of Internet access. As a way of informing the reader about the social class of the informant the areas they come from has been put in brackets after their fictional name. The five themes are: 앫 앫 앫 앫 앫
social inclusion friendliness learning contexts cafe ambience functionality
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5.1. Social inclusion All informants characterised Teleport images as ones with the potential to ‘hail’ members of local communities, but it was favoured less by those in the areas of Cyberia and Easy: “Teleport is “IT for All”. These photos show this partnership with the global village. It is real people who can use it—only commercial clients. I can see there is an ethical and economic mission coming over from the wall posters which contain images of people from different ethnic groups and include ones of the elderly...” (Andy: Teleport) “The Teleport photos show me a training type of place for people who want to learn new things. I can see you can have help there if you get stuck.” (Lisa: Easy) “It looks like a fairly low key kind of place where you can easily talk to people there without feeling that everybody was rushing madly about doing their own things regardless.” (Tom: Teleport). And in connection with the images of Cyberia in the photographs some revealing comment from those in the Cyberia area included:“It’s the cool kind of place that I would drop into to have a coffee and hang out. I don’t think I would like Teleport for that reason. Looks too practical for me! Easy looks too much like a supermarket.” (Sam: Cyberia). “Looking through all three sets of photos personally I’d go for Easy. Teleport looks like it is for older people and Cyberia is too arty-farty. I like the big space of Easy and just feeling you’d be left to get on with it.” (Anna: Cyberia). “If I wanted to learn things and stay around for a while I would go to Teleport. I know some people who go there. Those other places don’t look the sort of place I’d feel comfortable in. Cyberia seems for a student person and Easy looks too unfriendly.” (Lisa: Teleport). 5.2. Friendliness This theme means forms of sociability where users actively enjoy the company of others rather than being there only to participate in the functions afforded by the internet. And so the venue is also a context for keeping in touch with others with similar interests: “It’s a relaxed atmosphere (Teleport) and people chat with each other. That photo shows a cyber granny talking to a silver surfer about her evacuation during the war. You can see it is a community based place rather than it being commodified relationships that you can see in those photos of Easy where everyone is just staring at screens. It looks a lonely place. The pictures of the wall in Cyberia would put me off using it. They are gothic! I’d rather see posters telling you where you are at, not odd art things! In Easy it’s a sterile looking place. Like battery chickens being fed the internet. I don’t see signs “You are welcome here!” The security signs in Easy make it feel very sanitised.” (Mike: Teleport).“Cyberia is an intellectual’s venue. Just look at the intimacy of the area and the interesting paintings. I’d definitely go there if I wanted to stay for a while and talk and drink coffee. But Easy is too impersonal. I can see it would have its uses if people had to rush to read e-mails over their lunch. I don’t see it as a place for getting to know anyone or for conversation. Teleport, well it looks a bit run down, like an old school classroom space.” (Dianne: Cyberia).
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5.3. Learning contexts Differences emerged within the sample in terms of their perceptions of responsiveness of the venues to supporting the needs of users engaging in novel forms of learning, users who are new to the internet, for example: “I get the impression that in Teleport they would help you from scratch. Cyberia really looks like a place for highbrows or rich dudes. It doesn’t look homely! You’d have to know your stuff already if you went there.” (Steve: Easy). And “I doubt if I’d use Teleport it looks like an old school place, boring! If I wanted to use the internet to find out whatever it would have to be in a less functional looking place with people more like my own age. I like the cool pictures in Cyberia and they probably play music I bet. Music helps me to concentrate better.” (Tom: Cyberia). And “I think looking at those shots that you would have to have experience before you could learn through the internet in Cyberia and Easy. I can see older people feeling a bit threatened by those places. In Teleport it looks as though the playing field for starting out would be more level. It seems to give vocational training. These experiences in Teleport would increase their capacity for learning straight away.” (Emily: Easy). “My wife and I would like the Teleport place the most I think. I can see youngsters have no problem with the machines. They’ve had it all at school. But not my generation! I can see it being a place where they’d give you time and you could always ask the other people in that place.” (John: Teleport). “You can see Teleport is for older clients. The quality/style of the clothes says they are less well off. Teleport is about unlocking potential, about personal growth. It has a much wider agenda than just providing functional access to the internet. People are communicating with each other. They are using the functional space to achieve a lot more, and they are having a social life there. It looks like a community resource.” (Teresa: Cyberia). 5.4. Cafe ambience The middle-class setting and character of Cyberia as a place with eating facilities were things picked up in the images: “Cyberia has a relaxed, cool atmosphere. Easy is less cosy and a bit intimidating. Easy is too high tech, too corporate.” (Elaine: Cyberia). “Cyberia looks like a great cafe, a great space, nice ambience. That’s what would attract me there. I like the spaces that would give you more privacy than Easy and Teleport. I can see why it might be intimidating though as a place for working class people, poor kids. Cyberia is for a middle-class market.” (Vince: Cyberia). “I’d go to Cyberia. It looks more comfortable than Easy. I’d enjoy looking at the exhibition! It would appeal to a younger, more professional educated audience. There is communication between people using it. In Easy they are isolated units. It provides enjoyable food and drink. Flavoured coffee! The front is elegant and contemporary. The colours inside are all attractive and contemporary. Thought has been put into the aesthetics of the place. The cafe is giving an aesthetically appealing experience. It will appeal to people who have control over their life-style.” (Teresa: Cyberia).
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“I’d imagine Cyberia is well-run. It looks a happy place that makes you feel good. I like the central focus with computers around the outside of the space not in the centre so that you can enjoy its soft, relaxed ambience.” (Carol: Cyberia). “Cyberia seems calming, homely. The style of decoration is really nice. New Age! Easy is not the kind of place I’d use to chill out with friends. I know that Teleport is not far from here, but it looks too serious for me!” (Eva: Teleport). 5.5. Functionality Perceptions of images connoting functionality were a significant feature of comment about Easy: “Easy is a big place with chained rows of identical screens. It’s like a library where you would go to book flights and things like that. If I was in a big rush I’d probably use it.” (Helen: Cyberia). “It seems to me Easy is like a MacDonald’s of the internet, like a mass market place, bums on seats. If you are short of time I’d imagine you’d go to it, but it’s not conducive to relaxing like Cyberia would definitely be.” (Sandy: Cyberia). Being a functional space in a different sense captures some perceptions of Teleport: “You can see Teleport is for people to be with an instructor who trains them. It’s a more educative place where Cyberia is more for the consumer. There is a classroom feel to Teleport. That’s fine if that’s what you need. I did computers at university so Easy would be OK for my needs, you’d just be left in peace to use the PCs as you wanted. It’s practical.” (Steve: Easy). “Easy is the best concept for the internet when you are travelling, it’s so cheap. I would come to do my e-mails. Teleport looks like a job-centre for going to get information. The utility of the space at Easy will attract on its cheapness, but it is impersonal. You wouldn’t take a friend there. It would be like sitting in a department store!” (Barbara: Easy). For Teresa (Cyberia) Easy is perceived as a venue for “...young people for a lot of functional reasons—they’d not go for the sake of the place itself but for what you want to achieve there. Orange colouring does not help people to relax. It’s for people on a budget—the window advertising emphasises that. Easy is like an airport check-in area. The very basic snacks give you the basic sustenance to keep you going. It has no exclusivity about it. The security notice reinforces the fact you are in a very public environment. The people sit next to each other but focus is on their own individual project, not talking to each other.”
6. Discussion In postmodern theory, images communicate through cultural representations which ‘aim’ at the involvement of a subject-spectator [35,33]. Most of us are familiar with car adverts on television that aim at ‘recruiting’, for example, younger male or female drivers to purchase products. Such processes of ‘picturing’ are bound up with the organisation of looking and the formation of subjectivity [36,37]. In terms of this
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constructivist perspective individuals [38] generate meanings that are conditioned by their social positions and identities. Media discourses [39,35] actively construct for subjects, following Althusser, positions of enunciation into which they are ‘summoned’, ‘hailed’ or ‘recruited’ [1]. To reiterate his view ideology is itself a ‘Representation’ that occurs in the mental life of subjects who, in imagining themselves in a particular relation to a specific discourse, find themselves projecting themselves into the point of view of a discourse. In connection with the current research findings it is tempting to speculate that the photographic images ‘exercised’ their influential effects in ways which varied depending upon how the research participants were interpellated as subjects. For instance, informants from the impoverished location (Teleport), one might conjecture, are ‘hailed’ or ‘recruited’ by photographic meanings predicated less on a high, middle-class culture and more on gaining transferable skills for employment within a training ethos. By comparison informants from the affluent location (Cyberia) might, it can be speculated, be ‘hailed’ by photographic discourses representing forms of being in the world that indicate affluence. To some extent this expectation is consistent with the findings in this paper. The Cyberia sample’s sense of social inclusion, it can be argued, is one which might be based upon values which sustain the capitalist mainstream’s understanding of success in terms of affluence and intellectual play [40,41]. Does other evidence from the current research data support these speculations? The preferential analyses of the sets of photographs given by the different informants bore a relationship with the geographic area in which they were interviewed and so with social class. In other words there was a suggestive trend in these data for interviewees in the Teleport area, for instance, to be ‘hailed’ more by Easy and Teleport representations and to feel excluded by Cyberia’s manifestly more upper class, affluent representation. The highly explicit learning context ethos and other dimensions of the visual representation of Teleport seemed not to ‘recruit’ middle-class informants. Informants from the Teleport area may have experienced ‘alienation’ or feel less comfortable with the intellectually highbrow semiotics characterising the decor of Cyberia. One implication for social policy and internet access generally from these modest research findings is that policy-makers tasked with addressing the complex web of issues surrounding social exclusion ought to also consider the meanings connected with potentially classist cultural discourses and their associated social identities. If the latter are neglected then we may continue to contribute to the perpetuation of social divisions with all the misery that associates with them. Internet access, following the logic of this paper’s thesis, is more likely to become something that all will welcome and enjoy if account is taken of the landscapes within which the internet is itself situated. In the Teleport area, for instance, it was rare for younger age groups (18–45) to frequent Teleport at all. And so while this venue offered free access and was there to cater for local people entire groups, one can argue, were excluded by its representation of itself. In conclusion a fruitful line of enquiry for further research could involve examining whether, having been ‘recruited’ by particular images, internet users go on to behave differently in their utilisation of the capabilities offered by the internet. If
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one found, for example, that once connected they used their time, as Allen and Miller (2000) suggest “in front of the screen primarily to play games ... to engage in chat room talk about sex or to do tele-shopping, then yet again the promise of enhanced democratic participation through the new medium is hardly likely to be fulfilled” [42] (p. 60), then access may not entail social inclusion. Policy-makers must take care that internet access for all does not engender novel forms of social exclusion. Acknowledgements I am very grateful to the Andrew Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for a research grant to support this original study. I would also like to thank Mr. Malcolm Errington, Senior Lecturer, University of Paisley, Faculty of Education and Media for his valuable support. And finally I must thank a colleague and friend Dr. Charles Gore, Lecturer in Social Science, Open University and a practitioner in social anthropology for pointing me in the direction of Althusserian concepts as a tool for engaging with visual texts. Finally thanks are due to Harry Merrick, Senior Lecturer and Janice Craig, Print Room Manager both of the University of Paisley for excellent technical assistance in helping me with processing the photographs for inclusion in this article. The photographs: Teleport: 10 photographs; Easy: 10 photographs; Cyberia: 10 photographs. References [1] Althusser L. Ideology and the ideological state apparatuses. In: Evans J, Hall S, editors. Visual culture. London: Sage Publications; 1999. [2] Macey D. The Penquin Dictionary of Critical Theory. London: Penquin Books; 2000. [3] McLucan M. Understanding media: the extension of man. London: Sphere Books; 1967. [4] Wiener N. The human use of human beings: cybernetics and society. London: Routledge; 1968. [5] Bell D. Beyond modernism, beyond self, in sociological journeys: essays 1960–1980. London: Heinemann; 1980. [6] Mackay H, Mapls W, Reynolds P. Social science in action: investigating the information society. Open University Press; 2001. [7] O’Connor W, Lewis J. Scottish Executive Central Research Unit, No. 73, Scottish Office: HMSO; 1999. [8] Wyatt S, Henwood F, Miller N, Senker P. Technology and in/equality: questioning the information society. London: Routledge; 2000. [9] Castells M. The information city: information technology, economic restructuring and the urbanregional process. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell; 1989. [10] Economic and Social Research Council. Virtual society? Profile. London: ESRC; 2000. [11] Madanipour A, Cars G, Allen J (Eds.). Social exclusion in European cities. London: Jessica Kingsley; 1998. [12] Askonas P, Stewart A. Social inclusion: possibilities and tensions. New York: Palgrave; 2000. [13] Martin C. The debate in France over social exclusion. Social Policy and Administration 1996;30(4):382–92. [14] Byrne DS. Tyne and Wear UDC: turning the uses inside out—active deindustrialization and its consequences. In: Imrie R, Thomas H, Editors. British Urban Policy and the Urban Development Corporation, 2nd ed. London: Paul Chapman; 1999. [15] Shaw P. Gay men and computer communication: a discourse of sex and identity in cyberspace. In: Jones SG, editor. Cybersociety 2.0 Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; 1998.
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