Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations

Discourse, Context & Media xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations Damian J. Rivers Center for Meta-Learning, Future University Hakodate, Japan

a r t i c l e

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Article history: Received 1 May 2019 Received in revised form 3 September 2019 Accepted 3 September 2019 Available online xxxx Keywords: Affordances Discourse Motivation Online social fitness network Strava

a b s t r a c t The number of interactive fitness technologies, applications and networks which have gamified and biomedicalized real-world activities such as cycling have increased significantly over recent years (e.g., Endomondo, Fitocracy, Runtastic, Map My Ride, Nike+ Running and Zwift). Given the rising popularity of these Online Social Fitness Networks (OSFNs), it is important to understand their motivational affordances and the discursive communities of practice which they facilitate. Framing Strava as a case in point, the current article adopts a content analysis approach to data drawn from 162 registered cyclists on Strava to explore the motivational affordances and discursive practices dominant within the Strava OSFN. The perceived motivational affordances of the technology are shown to reflect a coherent Strava discourse relating to self-tracking, data, community and dependency. Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Recent years have seen the development of a number of interactive fitness technologies, applications and networks (e.g., Endomondo, Fitocracy, Runtastic, Map My Ride, My Fitness Pal, Strava and Zwift). Mediated by these platforms, activities such as running and cycling have become increasingly gamified and biomedicalized in ways which have reconfigured the socio-technological practice of exercise participation (Carter et al., 2018; Middelweerd et al., 2014; Nadler, 2008). Complementing the increased technological provisions for the quantification of exercise behavior (Lomborg and Frandsen, 2016; Lupton, 2018), and on the understanding that all social practices have a discursive aspect (Foucault, 1969/1972), many current Online Social Fitness Networks (OSFNs) have reshaped the participatory landscape by providing a discursive space for users to interact with each other as part of normalized social practice. Within the context of OSFNs it can be said that ‘‘discourse acts as a facility, a medium and a technical apparatus that enables the perception, categorization, differentiation and explication of the world” (Schirato, 2013, p. 2). OSFNs can therefore be seen as technologically-bounded platforms that represent a discursive field of individual and community practice. To this end, contemporary OSFNs provide an ideal context for language and media related research as the contextualized discursive formations and the rhetorical positions adopted within them have the potential to facilitate online and offline interactions. E-mail address: [email protected]

Using the ‘Strava’ OSFN as a case in point, the current article frames such OSFNs as hybridized environments of confluent spheres, meanings and behaviors wherein real-world exercise activities, the motivational affordances of the technology and the discursive potential for interaction co-exist (Barratt, 2017; Centola, 2013; Smith and Treem, 2017). Adopting a content analysis approach, qualitative data is drawn from 162 registered cyclists on Strava to explore the motivational affordances and discursive practices dominant within the Strava OSFN. The current study assesses to what extent the discursive practices among Strava users point toward a coherent Strava discourse via the identification of ‘‘a specific ensemble of ideas, concepts, and categorizations that are produced, reproduced, and transformed in a particular set of practices and through which meaning is given to physical and social realities” (Hajer, 1995, p. 44). 2. Background 2.1. Technological affordances Technological platforms, whether sports related other otherwise, are designed in ways specific to the producer’s ambitions and the speculated needs of the intended user. Therefore, in the first instance, platforms which facilitate discursive interactions and community participation are designed in relation to basic principles of human psychology, principles which can be framed as motivational affordances. An affordance refers to the motivational properties emergent between an object (i.e., a technology) and an

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Please cite this article as: D. J. Rivers, Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations, Discourse, Context & Media, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100345

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agent (i.e., a technology user). It is a concept premised upon the ways in which an individual perceives context in terms of action possibilities. Affordances encourage individuals to undertake action that satisfies inner-drives or needs resulting from an actual or imagined deprivation. Consequently, an affordance can be situated as the foundation of motivational intent (see Atkinson, 1957; Festinger, 1957; Hull, 1943). In social science research, the notion of an affordance originates from the work of James Gibson (1979/1986) who argues that affordances resist the objectivesubjective dichotomy as their realization is dependent upon an active agent being perceptually aware of the contextual possibilities. Affordances, even within the domain of technological innovations, are inherently social as their existence is conditional and abstract (Hafermalz et al., 2015; Jenkins, 2008). Optimal technological affordances are the concern of technology designers who attempt to engineer a bounded context that satisfies the needs and desires of the perceiving user or agent. From this point of departure, Zhang’s (2008) Information Communication Technology (ICT) affordance framework can be used to demonstrate how technology designers attempt to satisfy the psychological, social, cognitive and emotional needs of the technology user. The framework is divided into five conceptual categories pertaining to, autonomy and the self, competence and achievement, relatedness, leadership and followership and affect and emotion. Furthermore, each category serves to advance two specific motivational principles (see Table 1). The first two principles address the psychological needs of the technology user in relation to autonomy and the self and relate to the idea that ‘‘autonomy-supportive social contexts tend to facilitate self-determined motivation, healthy development, and optimal functioning” (Zhang, 2008, p. 146). Principles three and four concern cognitive beliefs and expectations in relation to competence and achievement on the understanding that challenges slightly above maximum threshold are the most powerful motivators and developers of competence (see Locke and Latham’s (1990) goal-setting perspective on motivation). Moreover, one’s cognitive performance on such challenges is not referenced in relation to personal beliefs, but rather, through competence affirming feedback from others. Principles five and six address the social psychological need of relatedness as outlined in self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 2002), or in other words, the desire to experience humanto-human interaction in a way that promotes social bonds between individuals. Blanchard and Markus (2004) have described how a

sense of community or interpersonal relatedness is developed via interactional processes of identification, support, relationship, emotional attachment and obligation. Relevant to the provisions of OSFNs, these interactional processes are dependent on the provision of discursive opportunities among individuals. The seventh and eighth principles denote the social psychological need for leadership and followership, or the attainment of satisfaction derived from influencing others and being influenced by others. Within OSFNs these principles also serve to support the establishment of a hierarchy of knowledge and experience with distinctions made between expert users and beginners. The final two design principles pertain to the affective and emotional aspects of motivation derived through direct interactions with the technology. These principles concern the initial stimulation of user interest in the short term and then the maintenance of user interest in the long term. 2.2. The Strava OSFN Strava was released in 2009 and is an OSFN focused on cycling, running and, to a lesser extent, swimming. It allows users to track, record, analyze and share real-world exercise activities captured via a GPS-enabled device such as a smartphone, smartwatch or domain specific head unit such as the Garmin Edge device (see Fig. 1). Strava is currently available in 14 different languages and was originally conceived of as a platform to enhance the experience of cycling alone through promoting camaraderie between cyclists in different physical locations (Wallace, 2012). In psychological terms, the Strava OSFN is underpinned by the work of Norman Triplett (1898) who pioneered an approach to human performance premised on the idea that individuals invest more effort in activities when compared against others. Cottrell et al. (1968) further describe how a primary driver of human performance is not the actual presence of other individuals but rather, the impetus provided through fear of negative evaluation (e.g., as is the case in the virtual context of the Strava OSFN when a user uploads and shares a real-world activity within the community and thus is exposed to appraisal). Reflecting the social significance and capital of the Strava OSFN, the current usership is estimated at around 40 million spread across 195 different countries with 15 million activities being uploaded per week (Strava Business, 2019). Since its inception the technological provisions of the Strava experience have continued to expand through more in-depth performance quantification

Table 1 Zhang’s (2008) ICT motivational affordance framework. Motivational source and needs

Design principles

Psychological: Autonomy and the Self Cognitive: Competence and Achievement Social and Psychological: Relatedness Social and Psychological: Leadership and Followership Emotional: Affect and Emotion

1 2 3 4

Support autonomy Promote creation and representation of selfidentity Design for optimal challenge Provide timely and positive feedback

5 6

Facilitate human-human interaction Represent human social bond

7 8

Facilitate one’s desire to influence others Facilitate one’s desire to be influenced by others

9

Induce intended emotions via initial exposure to ICT Induce intended emotions via intensive interaction with ICT

10

Fig. 1. The Garmin Edge 1000 Head Unit. Source: https://www.99bikes.com.au/ computer-gps-garmin-edge-1000-head-unit.

Please cite this article as: D. J. Rivers, Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations, Discourse, Context & Media, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100345

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metrics. However, in 2017 significant non-analytical changes were implemented following the recruitment of James Quarles as chief executive officer. Quarles had previously served as vice president of Instagram Business and as the former regional director of Facebook in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Craft, 2018). The changes included the ability to upload non-activity posts, to directly upload photographs without connection to Instagram, and an Instagram inspired non-chronological timeline. These changes prompted significant backlash from users with many of the criticism raised concerning accusations that Strava was attempting to mimic social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram (see Bromhead, 2017; Robertshaw, 2017; Shead, 2017). In recent years, the Strava OSFN has attracted research interest from a variety of scientific domains (see Griffin and Jiao, 2015; McArthur and Hong, 2019; Musakwa and Selala, 2016). Through a phenomenological exploration of the Strava community, Smith (2014) shows how the real-world experiences of cyclists are mediated by the OSFN in relation to five thematic clusters, king of the mountain (i.e., the fastest rider up a mountain), ethical dilemmas (i.e., issues associated with cheating), a social technology (i.e., the community aspects of Strava), an emotion-laden experience (i.e., the emotional language used to describe Strava) and an augmented experience (i.e., the benefits of Strava use). Smith (2017) later examined the practices and perceptions of sportsmanship and ethics on Strava and demonstrated how the interactive feedback features of such as giving kudos (i.e., a digital thumbs-up) and commenting, function as legitimations of sportsmanship among cyclists within the mediated environment. In a study on persistence and habitual OSFN use, Stragier et al. (2016) used largescale survey data from Strava to argue that self-regulatory and social motives were direct predictors of habitual Strava use among cyclists. To date, the research evidence indicates that Strava is changing the way in which cyclists ride and interact (Vanderbilt, 2013) and that social motives or those that form communicative, interactive and/or emotional links between users, are the prominent motivators underpinning such changes. 2.3. Strava as a discourse field Influential new media technologies such as Strava can be framed as social constructs that dictate the desired forms of discursive practice to a community of users. That is, the mediated communities in which Strava users exist are regulated by the socio-discursive practices required for competent participation. As evidenced by the aforementioned 2017 Strava changes and the subsequent backlash, technological practices are increasingly defined within a bounded context of features and functions in service of ‘imagined user modes’ (Bengtsson, 2012). These imagined user modes are formulated through estimations of the personal, cultural and social value systems in which the technology itself and the targeted users are situated. The Strava OSFN therefore represents a structured community of practice in which users must learn to how competently participate, moderate interactions and relationships with others and to organize themselves within the confines of the technological acceptability (Smith and Treem, 2017). Vital to the community of practice concept and the establishment of an accepted language of participation is the Bordieuan notion of habitus which reflects the classification process through which conditioned ways of interacting are naturalized and established as normative within and among a particular context (Dauncey and Hare, 1998). Such a conceptualization relates to the work of Pinch and Bijker (1987) who, as part of the social construction of technology, describe how ‘‘relevant social groups” negotiate the meaning of a technological context. The authors contend that it is therefore imperative to the success of the technology that ‘‘all members of a certain social group share the same set of

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meanings, attached to a specific [technological] artefact”, thus reflecting a clear discursive field of practice. One way in which this discursive field of practice is established is through the observation of clustered discursive formations. Foucault (1969/1972) defines discursive formations as being groups of statements which address the same object, are enunciated through the same modality, are similar in conceptual organization and relate to similar themes and theories (Sawyer, 2002). The Strava OSFN provides users with a variety of imagined user modes or channels through which to communicate and interact with other users. Strava users are situated within a minimalistic context in which real-world exercise activity data is visualized through a route map alongside various other data metrics relating to performance (e.g., distance, time, average speed, heart rate, heat maps, power output, elevation etc.) (see Fig. 2). Cycling activities can be personalized when uploaded in terms of title and description and can also be accompanied by activity or non-activity photographs. All activities uploaded are shared on a non-chronological timeline of followers who are able to open the activity and view the performance data. Followers, and nonfollowers depending on privacy settings, are able to give a thumbs-up in the form of kudos and to post comments on specific rides. In addition, users are able to enter various challenges each month to earn digital badges and trophies. The challenges often relate to distance ridden or elevation gained and are each accompanied by a discussion forum in which users are able to interact. Finally, and as a means of self-tracking, personalization and social identity representation, all users are assigned a personal profile page upon which their lifetime Strava achievements and records are accessible (e.g., https://www.strava.com/athletes/3714458). 3. The current study 3.1. Participants and procedure A total of 162 participants originating from 32 different countries were recruited via a discussion forum post uploaded on to one of Strava’s monthly challenges. The participants were experienced cyclists, cycling for an average of 14.45 years and riding an average of 155.3 km each week. The details of the research were outlined and potential participants were invited to follow a URL link to a short online survey. The survey consisted of seven openended questions concerning motives for registering as a cyclist on Strava, perceptions of Strava related to data-tracking and social networking, beliefs concerning the influence of Strava on riding habits and routines, assessments of Strava’s role in facilitating accomplishment and satisfaction, experiences creating friendship networks and riding partners through Strava, thoughts on Strava as a facilitator of competition and rivalry, and opinions on how cycling would be different without Strava. After a data collection period of three weeks, a total of 15,534 words had been returned. 3.2. Analytical approach Content analysis aims to facilitate the production of valid inferences from data-in-context for the purpose of advancing knowledge and insight as a practical guide to future action. It reduces large amounts of data into smaller systematically categorized units. Krippendorff (1980, p. 51) outlines how a great deal of ‘‘content analysis research is motivated by the search for techniques to infer from symbolic data what would be either too costly, no longer possible, or too obtrusive by the use of other techniques”. Adopting a content analysis approach, the current study used MAXQDA software to process the 15,534 words of data attained. The first step was to undertake a word frequency appraisal. The MAXQDA

Please cite this article as: D. J. Rivers, Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations, Discourse, Context & Media, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100345

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Fig. 2. An example of the Strava OSFN interface.

‘‘lemmatization” feature was used during this procedure which extracted all unique words of three characters or more. The lemmatization procedure combines words with the same root meaning regardless of declination (e.g., only the word ‘‘give” will be counted for the various forms ‘‘give”, ‘‘gave”, and ‘‘given”). This initial step produced a reduced data set of set 7,958 words. For practical reasons the word frequency list was then reduced to show only the 21 most frequent words (see Table 2). While word frequency lists are useful, they are somewhat susceptible to misuse for reasons inclusive of unequal category weightings, stylistic differences in terms of language use among

participants, the lack of contextual information provided, and issues with words that may have multiple meanings. One method through which to overcome such limitations involves the combined use of a word frequency list with a keyword-in-context analysis. Therefore, the frequency data shown in Table 2 was then used to perform a keyword-in-context analysis which generated 1893 individual extracts (see Fig. 3). The 1893 individual extracts generated were then subject to a coding and categorization procedure involving the author and a

Table 2 The 21 most frequently used words extracted from the data set. Word

Frequency

%

Rank

ride track datum use strava segment see friend challenge cycle compare social time route effort tool feel people help myself new

269 225 164 138 135 127 123 119 91 71 66 63 62 60 58 58 54 52 47 46 46

3.43 2.87 2.09 1.76 1.72 1.62 1.57 1.52 1.16 0.91 0.84 0.80 0.79 0.76 0.74 0.74 0.69 0.66 0.60 0.59 0.59

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 20

Fig. 3. The keyword-in-context data.

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non-authoring colleague. The steps followed included an independent review and preliminary coding and categorization of the data, a side-by-side comparison of the respective coding and categorization outcomes and a back-and-forth negotiated settlement on the most representative coding and categorization themes. Positioning discourse as a coherent ‘‘group of statements. . .[that]. . .belong to the same discursive formation” (Foucault, 1969/1972, p. 117) which in turn ‘‘create a self-confirming account of social reality” (Bibri, 2015, p. 41), the discursive formations agreed upon were labelled as (1) discourses of self-tracking, (2) discourses of data, (3) discourses of community and (4) discourses of dependency. These discursive formations were then explored in order to establish a coherent Strava discourse relating to the motivational affordances of the technology.

4. Discussion 4.1. Discourses of self-tracking From the categorization and coding process it was apparent that the capacity to self-track cycling activities was the dominant motive given by participants for registering with Strava. Lupton et al. (2018, p. 648) outline how the concept of ‘‘self-tracking involves creating and then disciplining, managing, and interpreting such information about the self and the body” and evidence of this was widespread. In the first instance, this discursive formation reflects the motivational affordance of affect and emotion in relation to Principle 9 (the induction of intended emotion via initial exposure to ICT) and Principle 10 (the induction of intended emotion via intensive interaction with ICT). Strava facilitates selftracking in a variety of ways inclusive of route and heat mapping, distance, time, power, heart rate in addition to several other more complex exercise quantification metrics. The discursive formation of self-tracking framed the practice as normative and desirable. Representative comments included, ‘‘I keep track of my routes, distance and fitness”, ‘‘I track my rides, make routes and segments”, ‘‘It sounded like a good way to track my rides and routes”, ‘‘I track my own rides and performance” and ‘‘I joined to track my cycling data and fitness level”. Clusters of comments such as these indicate the affective appeal of Strava in relation to the original imagined user mode of Strava, that being, the mediated tracking of cycling activities. These self-tracked activities can then be shared either for personal or community consumption through the Strava OSFN which opens up consequential interaction possibilities in the form of kudos or comments from other community members. Indeed, a secondary self-tracking cluster was observed in relation to the theme of relatedness and the facilitation of human-human interaction (Principle 5) and the representation of social bonds (Principle 6). Representative comments included, ‘‘I wanted to keep track of my progress and compare it with my friends”, ‘‘I like tracking activities and comparing with others in segments”, ‘‘I track my activities, distance, and try to find other cyclists”, ‘‘I use it for data tracking and social networking with friends and club members” and ‘‘the tracking and sharing of your experiences allows you to feel even better about your cycling experiences, and feel a part of a broader community of cyclists with shared experiences”. These comments frame the practice of self-tracking as an initial motivational affordance which is positioned alongside a subsequent affordance such as a desire to compare the tracked self with others and the desire to create and communicate with other unknown community members. In this way the basic technological provision for self-tracking opens up discursive possibilities within the community among friends and persons unknown.

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Several participants aligned the self-tracking motive with aspects of individual competence and achievement, or in other words, factors relating to design for optimal challenge (Principle 3) and the provision of timely and positive feedback (Principle 4). For example, ‘‘It is a way to track my rides and compete against myself via segments”, ‘‘I like keeping track of my activities as this provides motivation to me to set and attain goals” and ‘‘I track my rides and use data to analyze my improving performance”. These comments highlight how the self-tracking motive can be used for the purpose of individual or personal competence and achievement, rather than as a foundation for social comparison and expanding one’s communicative potential. Strava supports such autonomous decision making by allowing users to make their activities and profiles private in which case activity data can only be seen by a list of accepted followers. These provisions are informed by Zhang’s (2008) category of autonomy and the self which focuses on supporting autonomy (Principle 1) and promoting the creation and representation of an ideal self-identity (Principle 2). While observed within the data to a lesser extent, leadership and followership or the desire to influence others (Principle 7) and the desire to be influenced by others (Principle 8), was an affordance referenced in relation to self-tracking. Such affordances acknowledge that individuals will assume and position others within different social roles at different times, a relational act which serves to motivate through processes of comparison (Harjumaa et al., 2009). Examples comments included, ‘‘I keep track of my rides and find new routes by looking where other cyclists are riding” and ‘‘I track myself and often copy routes from other people”. Within OSFNs such as Strava the affordances created by a desire to lead and follow reflect the establishment of a hierarchy of knowledge and experience with distinctions made between expert users and beginners. These distinctions in the context of cycling might manifest through performance aspects (i.e., riders who are fastest on certain segments or who ride the furthest distances) or through discursive aspects (i.e., ride or route posts which include a more detailed description of the activity alongside pictures). Both the performative and discursive manifestation of experience within Strava are likely to draw an increased number of likes or kudos and an increased number of comments from others (i.e., greater interactional potential) as a form of respect on the basis of a desirable achievement.

4.2. Discourses of data As reflected in the keyword frequency list, the concept of data was widely addressed in relation to different aspects of Strava use and thus comprised a clear discursive formation. Reflecting the technology design category of competence and achievement, several participants framed Strava data as a platform for optimal challenge (Principle 3) and as a source of timely and positive feedback (Principle 4). Clusters of comments which combined these two affordances were commonplace. For example, participants explained how Strava provides, ‘‘great data, great feedback” which is then used within a ‘‘circle of Strava companions to egg each other on and support each other” and the extent to which ‘‘Strava pleases my data freak side and my love for mapping. I also like to compare my time to friends or other athletes”. Strava data was also cited as a foundation for promoting other benefits such as goal setting which were then seen to have additional benefits including increased fitness and wellbeing. For instance, ‘‘Strava data helps me to reach and exceed my goals. Reaching my goal translates directly into being fitter and healthier. Achieving one or more goals is good for my mental and physical wellbeing. Strava helps me stay on track”. These comments suggest that while data may have its own intrinsic meaning as a quantification of real-world cycling performance, data as a rela-

Please cite this article as: D. J. Rivers, Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations, Discourse, Context & Media, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100345

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tional construct served many additional functions unrelated to actual performance. It is clear from the comments surrounding data that Strava is able to regulate real-world behaviors to such an extent that the data feedback functioned as a virtual coach or personal trainer. One way in which this digital coach acts to motivate users is through the provision of digital rewards (i.e., badges and trophies) and incentives (i.e., monthly challenges). Clusters of representative comments included, ‘‘virtual badges showing my stats such as mileage and my biggest ride in a visually pleasant way”, ‘‘It’s definitely amazing how a stupid digital badge can serve as a motivational goal” and ‘‘I like challenges, because it gives virtual badges which are kind of memorable proof of my achievement”. These comments align with other research outcomes into cycling motivation which affirm the ways in which digital incentives and rewards are able to impact real-world exercise behaviors (Chen and Pu, 2014; Huang et al., 2018; Kwon et al., 2015). The quantification of real-world activities promotes discursive interactions among participants as the metrics used and the visualizations presented are standardized across the platform for all 40 million users. This creates a common Strava language for interactions to centralize upon, or in other words, it contributes to the creation of ‘‘a specific ensemble of ideas, concepts, and categorizations that are produced, reproduced, and transformed in a particular set of practices and through which meaning is given to physical and social realities” (Hajer, 1995, p. 44). The significance of the data quantification, feedback and challenges was also reflected by participants in relation to its emotional meaningfulness. Zhang (2008, p. 147) describes how ‘‘the combination of goals/challenge and feedback produces an emotionally meaningful mixture: goal attainment engenders emotional satisfaction, while failure to reach one’s goals breeds emotional dissatisfaction”. Discourses of data inclusive of an emotional referent, particularly in relation to the use of Strava over a sustained period of time (Principle 10) included, ‘‘I love to look back at the data I generated with my activity. It gives you a good indication on how well (or not) you are developing your body. So, it is a very good reflective tool”, ‘‘I love extending my personal heatmap, therefore I tend to explore more new areas rather than riding the same tracks over and over again”, ‘‘I love data from cycling and spend a lot of time analyzing the data”, ‘‘I love to see my data after hard training” and ‘‘by tracking my data and tools such as heatmaps I can take pride in the efforts I’ve made over a period of time. Satisfaction comes from seeing improvements in power and distance covered month on month and year on year”. Another participant talked about, ‘‘the small buzz you get when you beat a PR and love getting all the kudos” which provides further indication of how quantified performance data, challenges, feedback and discursive interactions facilitate emotional experiences (i.e., love, pride, satisfaction). 4.3. Discourses of community Aspects of relatedness including the facilitation of humanhuman interaction (Principle 5) and the representation of human social bonds (Principle 6) were also frequently referenced by participants in a way that formed a coherent discursive formation. Clustered examples included, ‘‘It’s sure a good feeling to know that there’s a community behind it all”, and ‘‘I am able to be part of a community and better myself”. Vital to the transformation from a solitary experience to a mediated communal experience is the concept of sharing within the online community. Participants described how ‘‘sharing also means more togetherness” and that through ‘‘the range of possibilities provided in clubs, fly-bys etc., users are able to constantly feel that they exist in a community full of likeminded individuals with similar goals and motivations”. The sense of a watching community was also referenced as having a motiva-

tional influence upon real-world behaviors. One rider described how ‘‘having Strava means that people see what and how you are doing. This alone is motivation to get out on my bike, as I don’t want people to think that I am too old or lazy to ride”. Such a comment reflects the impetus provided through fear of negative appraisal and evaluation (Cottrell et al., 1968). Connected to the category of relatedness were several responses pertaining to leadership and followership, or the desire to influence others (Principle 7) and the desire to be influenced by others (Principle 8). Many of the clusters identified spoke of pre-established friendship groups or communities of local cyclists who had joined Strava together and who were therefore able to influence each other on the same routes and courses. For example, ‘‘I compare myself with my friends, cheer friends on and have friends cheer me on”, ‘‘I like to check and motivate friends”, ‘‘I usually follow a friend and copy his routes”, ‘‘I get more of my motivation from seeing my other friends riding more than me”, ‘‘I like to compare my rides but also see the fitness and inspiration from others” and ‘‘as a competitive person, seeing how others do helps me to keep pushing myself”. Fewer participants spoke of friendships created exclusively through Strava with riders in other parts of the world. Comments such as, ‘‘I like the social aspect to compare activities with friends around the world” emphasize the discursive potential of Strava as a distinctive field of practice, one which technologically mediates the realworld activity of cycling through the promotion of camaraderie and community among individuals who have never met and who are riding in different contexts. The promotion of human-to-human online and offline relationships focused on the shared interest in cycling is perhaps the most obvious way in which Strava stands as a discursive field of practice and as a potential facilitator of discursive opportunities among users, even when such discursive interaction take place away from the OSFN. Some users described how they were able to meet people offline having joined an online cycling club, ‘‘Strava clubs is a good way to meet people online and to gauge performance against others, but these clubs are also physical and allow cyclists to meet fellow cyclists they might not have otherwise outside of the site”. Others used Strava to connect with cyclists that they had seen or spoken to during a real-world riding activity, ‘‘I can locate people after the ride that I chatted to. That’s cool”. These community formation and interaction opportunities were also referenced in relation to the evolution of Strava from a data-tracking platform to a social network. For example, ‘‘Strava wears two hats. For me it’s datatracking tool, for some of my friends it’s one more social network”. However, several participants spoke more negatively of the social networking functions, ‘‘I know Strava has wanted to convert the system to social interaction, but I know a few of my friends that have actually cut all their ties to Strava because of the social interaction” and ‘‘I don’t need nor want Strava to be my social group - I have set up my own. I want Strava to help me view my successes, build routes, and reach my goals”. The extent of community participation is dependent upon the needs and desires of the individual user with some users being more solitary and performance focused, while others gained satisfaction from the community interaction and networking features. 4.4. Discourses of dependency Kiernan (2018, p. 10) outlines how digital media innovations surrounding the sport of cycling have ‘‘a number of features that are subtly but radically reshaping the social world in general, as well as specifically impacting the cultural and communicative context of cycling communities”. On the basis of this observation and related to the affordance category of affect and emotion and the emotions evoked via initial (Principle 9) and prolonged technology usage (Principle 10), participants were asked how their cycling

Please cite this article as: D. J. Rivers, Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations, Discourse, Context & Media, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100345

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habits and routines would be impacted if Strava ceased to exist. Several clusters of comments emerged which referenced varying degrees of attachment to Strava and thus varying degrees of potential disruption should Strava be withdrawn. A small number of users framed Strava as a pleasurable support tool, but one which was ultimately separate from the real-world activity of cycling. For example, ‘‘I like having Strava but the main thing is definitely the cycling itself” and ‘‘Strava isn’t the reason I ride. It is just a nice tool to measure how I am riding”. Similarly, others acknowledged that the withdrawal of Strava would promote less motivation and satisfaction but insisted that their real-world activities would be generally unchanged, ‘‘I would be less challenged and less satisfied. But, I love sports and cycling in particular so I wouldn’t ride less when I was not on Strava” and ‘‘I would feel accomplishment and satisfaction with cycling without Strava, but Strava is a great tool to keep things exciting and expand my efforts in new directions”. These comments show an emotive attachment first and foremost to the sport of cycling while acknowledging the additional value provided by the Strava OSFN. A larger number of participants suggested that the withdrawal of Strava would have a negative impact upon their real-world cycling habits and behaviors in terms of motivation. For instance, ‘‘I probably would not ride as much, as riding solo is boring. There is a good chance, I would become lazy and just not bother after a while”. Such a comment emphasizes how for some riders Strava adds significant value to the sport of cycling and that cycling without Strava would not be seen as an enjoyable and satisfying interest. Where this exact value originates from is person specific although variations on the fun factor provided by Strava were commonly referenced. For example, ‘‘I’d probably get out less, Strava adds a new dimension too it which is quite fun”, ‘‘I would be far less motivated, I know this as my wife and my motivation when through the roof when we got onto Strava”, ‘‘I think it would be less engaging. Strava adds another dimension - putting data in the mix adds interest in general and for those who dive into it, the opportunity to break down performance and seek performance gains”, ‘‘It would be less fun for sure. Part of the fun is riding but looking through the data and through the riding calendar is inspiring to keep going. I also draw inspiration from seeing other people riding on Strava”. A smaller cluster of participants viewed Strava as integral to the real-world cycling experience, ‘‘It is hard to imagine life without Strava now, if I were to forget my Garmin and go for a long ride, it would almost feel as though it didn’t happen”, ‘‘I am a competitive person. Without Strava, I would not be able to track how I am doing and cycling would lose its appeal! It is a critical part of my cycling motivation”, ‘‘I dread to think! I’m such a data nerd that if I forget to charge my Garmin (and therefore can’t upload to Strava) I won’t even go out for a ride! I’ll wait for the Garmin to charge first. No Strava, no ride!”, ‘‘I’d probably give up cycling if I could no longer use Strava! Tracking my progress and viewing my stats makes cycling so much more fun” and ‘‘I can’t imagine life without Strava”. Such declarations highlight the significance and social capital of Strava in relation to real-world cycling behavior and habits to the extent that the removal of the OSFN would directly threaten participation in real-world activities.

5. Conclusions As users are further immersed into networked digital communities, there is increasing evidence that new media technologies, applications and networks are having an affective role upon realworld attitudes, motivations and behaviors. The current study has assessed the extent to which the discursive practices among Strava users point toward a coherent Strava discourse via the identification of ‘‘a specific ensemble of ideas, concepts, and

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categorizations that are produced, reproduced, and transformed in a particular set of practices and through which meaning is given to physical and social realities” (Hajer, 1995, p. 44). Casting the individual user or perceiving agent as possessing discursive capabilities which may be facilitated or inhibited by the imagined user modes of the technology, the data presented within the current study points toward a coherent Strava discourse related to discursive formations on self-tracking, data, community and dependency. These discourses have manifested ‘‘a self-confirming account of social reality” (Bibri, 2015, p. 41) emergent from within the context of the Strava OSFN. The emergent discourse and their discursive formations lend support to the findings of Smith (2014, p. 81) who outlines how it is important that user motivations concerning Strava ‘‘not be viewed in ‘static’ and ‘purely psychological’ terms” as ‘‘motivations are adaptable, often cultivated through discourse and the persuasive nature of outside factors”. The current study has further shown how platforms such as Strava are now entrenched as discursive fields of practice via the community of millions of registered users operating inside and outside of a bounded-technological space, and also in relation to the mediated discursive possibilities which the technology facilitates. For many users, the technological affordances of Strava and its motivational potential are an integral and highly valued component of their real-world cycling experiences. Reasons for Strava’s significance among users are varied but ultimately revolve around the significant scope offered to users for individual autonomy and the community representation of an ideal self among others with similar interests. The desire for personalization and the ideal representation of the self within a networked community is a significant draw of OSFNs and one derived from the wider sphere of social media sites (e.g., Instagram and Facebook). Following a kind of selfdiscrepancy format (see Higgins, 1987), freedom and autonomy are promoted alongside entrapment and conformity (i.e., the bounded parameters set by the technology provider). Sites such as Instagram and Facebook present users with psychological cues, hints and strategic guidance as to what the ideal self should look or sound like within the context of a particular community. While Strava began with a focus on camaraderie and the social facilitation of enhanced exercise performance, since the changes introduced in October 2017 the platform has tapped into those habit-forming properties of traditional social networking sites wherein, and often through the process of appraisal and comparison, the online experience acts as a partial substitute for real-world deprivations and needs not met (Blanchard and Markus, 2004; Blachino et al., 2016; Chen and Pu, 2014; Masur et al., 2014). As the technological capabilities for self-tracking increase and real-world activities are quantified to increased levels of data complexity, Deleuze’s (1992, p. 5) notion of the ‘‘dividual” or the ‘‘administrative numeration that indicates his or her position within a mass” suggests that caution is needed. One could argue that Strava facilitates the creation of ‘data point identities’ where individuals partake in constant self-surveillance and become consumed with the ways in which their life is reflected through various data-metrics and quantification indices. Such entrapments, now reflected in the common popular culture meme of ‘‘if it’s not on Strava it didn’t happen”, challenge the authenticity of cycling and its ability to locate satisfaction and pleasure within the depths of physical and psychological suffering. It has been noted how road cycling is a ‘‘sport that demands and respects many of the emotional or personality traits and characteristics associated with war (e.g., sacrifice, perseverance, and discipline)” (Ross and Rivers, 2018, p. 183) and to place these cycling specific attributes secondary seems unfortunate. Future discursive research might therefore inquire how Strava threatens the embodied sensations of real-world cycling. Whatever the future of Strava and its influ-

Please cite this article as: D. J. Rivers, Strava as a discursive field of practice: Technological affordances and mediated cycling motivations, Discourse, Context & Media, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.100345

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