Postdigital Interfaces and the Aesthetics of Recruitment

Abstract

This paper analyses reconfigurations of play in emergent digital materialities of game design. It extends recent work examining dimensions of hybridity in playful products by turning attention to interfaces, practicesand spaces, rather than devices. We argue that the concept of hybrid playrelies on predefining clear and distinct digital or material entities that then enter into hybrid situations. Drawing on concepts of the ‘interface’ and ‘postdigital’, we argue the distribution of computing devices creates difficulties for such presuppositions. Instead, we propose thinking these situations through an ‘aesthetic of recruitment’ that is able to accommodate the intensive entanglements and inherent openness of both the social and technical in postdigital play.

Makerspaces in early childhood education: Principles of pedagogy and practice

“…Although play was significant for all early years settings that participated in the MakEY project, it was evident that the nature of play is changing in a world in which technology is ubiquitous. Fleer (2017) has argued that technologies are changing the conditions for play, and, consistent with the concept of postdigital play (Jayemanne et al, 2016), the MakEY project indicated children's initiative, competence, and confidence with those technologies. Throughout the MakEY project, children moved across digital and nondigital domains in their play with materials.…”

“…However, the nature of play has changed over the years, with technology playing an increasingly significant role (Marsh & Bishop, 2014). While various concepts have been developed to explain the nature of contemporary play in a digital landscape, such as connected play (Marsh, 2017), and ecology of play (Arnott, 2016), in this paper we draw on the concept of postdigital play (Jayemanne et al, 2016). As outlined in the work of Marsh and Arnott, among others, The term emphasizes the way in which the digital is so embedded in everyday play practices that it is no longer meaningful to consider the digital in contrast to nondigital.…”

“…In this paper, we suggest that makerspaces in early childhood settings enable children to develop individual agency, they foster social interaction and enhance relational knowledge through enabling children to draw on their maker funds of knowledge, and, finally, they can shape institutional pedagogical practices in ways that enable children to move seamlessly across digital and nondigital domains in their maker play, a phenomenon captured by the concept of postdigital play, (Jayemanne, Apperley, & Nansen, 2016). These three concepts are outlined in the following section.…”

Family mediation of preschool children’s digital media practices at home

“…Notably, family members extended existing media interests across new media and non-media contexts. The ease with which family members steer their children's activities across digital and non-digital boundaries speaks to Jayemanne, Apperley, and Nansen's (2016) notion of the postdigital.…”

A systematic review of physical–digital play technology and developmentally relevant child behaviour

“…Studies suggest that early year engagement in makerspaces enables the development of individual agency, fosters social interaction and allows children to transition seamlessly across digital and non-digital domains in their maker play [182]. This final aspect has the potential to shape institutional pedagogical practices, coined in the literature as 'postdigital play' [183]. Whilst the focus of this review was restricted on play purely for enjoyment purposes, future research would benefit from trying to apply the strong concepts developed in it to research on makerspaces and postdigital play.…”