Frameworks for Studying Social Media Interaction: A Discussion on Phenomenology and Poststructuralism

Abstract

During the past decade or so, much HCI research has, according to many researchers, become increasingly phenomenologically oriented. Some have gone so far as to argue that HCI is now in a phenomenological paradigm. But how does such a paradigmatic view work for understanding interaction in the ever growing sphere of social media? Prima facie it may look as it would work only well since social media has become increasingly richer in terms of the sheer range of phenomenologically possible user experiences provided by new and emerging interaction technologies. However, through a critical reading of three major phenomenological works in HCI, we argue that phenomenology as traditionally applied in HCI points indirectly to alternative approaches for engaging in much of contemporary social media research due to its associated semiotic and relationally oriented contents. One possible family of approaches for analyzing such content can be found, as we will argue, in poststructuralist theory. We propose an increased engagement with poststructuralist semiotics grounded in Jacques Derrida's philosophy and exemplify how this could contribute to the study of social media in the context of HCI.

Parsing through paradigms: uncertainty and decision-making in human information behavior

“…To unpack its meaning, it is important to understand the Derridean semiotic theory of différance , intentionally misspelled to highlight a French linguistic play between ‘differ’ and ‘defer’. Recently, différance has been drawn into information science by human computer interaction researchers Henrik Åhman and Anders Hedman (2019). They summarize, “ Différance is a term that Derrida formulated to describe how meaning emerges through a differential play between semiotic signs.…”

“…The concept suggests an ambiguity in the construction of semiotic meaning. The word différance entails both a spatial dimension (differ) and a temporal dimension (defer)” (Åhman and Hedman, 2019, p. 711). The spatial dimension of différance refers to the physical materiality of signs—their individual differences from each other.…”

“…The spatial dimension of différance refers to the physical materiality of signs—their individual differences from each other. The temporal dimension, on the other hand, “adds a chronological aspect,” accounting for the way in which signs are laid out or spoken one after another (Åhman and Hedman, 2019, p. 711). Meaning is therefore not inherent to an individual sign; “Instead, meaning is an emergent quality that grows out of a differential process where the sign is constantly awaiting a new meaning from future reconfigurations and repositionings within the linguistic structure” (Åhman and Hedman, 2019, p. 711).…”

“…This is because everything humans can interact with has a semiotic function; “they function as signifiers. They carry meaning in the sense that we have socially constructed ideas of what roles they play in our lives and our society” (Åhman and Hedman, 2019, p. 712). Therefore, when Derrida proclaims that there is nothing outside the text, he does not mean that social, political and economic influences are not important.…”