Where do you want to sit today? Computer programmers' static bodies and disability

White, Michele

doi:10.1080/13691180600751363

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…It would be easy to argue that videogaming, as part of a broader ‘screen culture’, is an incapacitating and sedentary practice (on the relationship between movement and screen use, see White 2006). What I have argued here is that videogames are far from incapacitating.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teleplastic technologies: charting practices of orientation and navigation in videogaming

Ash¹

2010

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

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In this paper I develop the concept of ‘teleplastic technologies’– technologies that pre‐shape the potentials and possibilities for human action, movement and sense – through the example of videogaming. I develop a case study of videogame users through which I unpack the characteristics of teleplastic technologies and the ways in which they operate to reorganise the capacities and capabilities of users’ bodies through spatial means. In the first section I argue that teleplastic technologies should be understood from a spatial/ethological perspective and show how ethologically limited videogame environments encourage users to act and move without conscious thought in response to various inhibitors and disinhibitors designed into that environment. In the second section I show how the somatic techniques users develop in response to these worlds reorganise the cardinal orientation of users’ bodies and, thus, how the ‘geography’ of teleplastic technologies shape the potential and possibilities for spatial sense.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teleplastic technologies: charting practices of orientation and navigation in videogaming

Ash¹

2010

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

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“…Hilda described her poor eyesight as a reason for not using the computer, saying ' apart from anything else, I think my eyesight would go against it '. As found by studies of other age groups, more general experiences of bodily pain and discomfort can limit computer use (Lupton 1995;White 2006). For example, Andrew and Jenny found the 'physical aspects' of computing restricting, and described how too much time on the computer could make your ' eyes hurt' or your ' back ache '.…”

Section: Computer Use Constructions and Experiences Of The Ageing Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An examination of the interconnection of these different aspects of embodiment will illuminate our understanding of the relation between embodiment and technology use, as demonstrated by studies of other social groups. For instance, White (2006) showed that computer programmers' accounts of their working experience displayed a strong awareness of bodily pain and discomfort, and included frequent references to their bodies as ' large and sedentary'. Their accounts were situated within broader discourses around gender and technology, and while technical mastery was linked with hegemonic masculinities, the construction of the computer programmers' bodies as static, fat and lazy was associated with de-valued masculinities.…”

Section: Reconstructing Technology and Embodimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, these theories conceptualise embodiment as the ' basis of our being-in-the-world ' (Williams and Bendelow 1998: 8), which challenges the idea that the mind can become detached from the body, as our perceptions, meanings and experiences of the world are inseparable from our embodied interactions with it (Dourish 2001). Building on such critiques, recent sociological work has examined the relation between information technologies and discursive constructions of disabled bodies (Moser 2006) and embodied gender identities (Bryant 2003;White 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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E-scaping the ageing body? Computer technologies and embodiment in later life

Buse

2010

Ageing and Society

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This paper explores the embodied dimensions of computer and internet use in later life, and examines how technology use relates to constructions and experiences of the ageing body. It is argued that previous research on technology use and embodiment has neglected older bodies, in contrast to research on gender and disability. Furthermore, while earlier theorisations presented internet use as disembodied, it is argued that the experience of using such technologies is grounded in our embodiment. In the light of these limitations and arguments for more complete theories of the body, this paper explores how technology use relates to various aspects of embodiment. These issues are examined in the light of data from qualitative interviews and time-use diaries completed by retirees in 17 households in the United Kingdom. By examining the 'technobiographies ' of these older computer users, it is shown that changes in body techniques are prompted and in some cases required by broader cultural and technological change. The findings evince the process of acquiring computing skills as an embodied competency, and as a form of 'practical knowledge' that can only be ' learned by doing '. These experiences of technology use were embedded within constructions and experiences of ageing bodies. Although the participants drew on discourses of ageing in complex ways, their coding of computer technologies in terms of the competences of youth often reproduced hierarchies between young and old bodies.

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“…Current digital divide studies have a tendency either to ignore disability as a separate category for analysis, or to assume that it can be conflated with other potentially disadvantaged categories, and much of the literature is relatively uncritical in its enthusiasm for ICTs to alleviate social exclusion (Adam & Kreps, ; Cole et al, ). Scholars indicate that the engagement of the disabled is rarely mentioned, or is addressed and then elided in such research areas as new media (Goggin & Newell, ; White, ). When addressed, we find that certain groups of the disabled with particular conditions have attained equality of ICT access (Dobransky & Hargittai, ).…”

Section: History Of Disability Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Modern-DayTalaria:Mobile Phones and the Mobility-Impaired in Singapore

Chib

Jiang

2014

J Comput-Mediat Comm

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Where do you want to sit today? Computer programmers' static bodies and disability

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

Teleplastic technologies: charting practices of orientation and navigation in videogaming

Teleplastic technologies: charting practices of orientation and navigation in videogaming

E-scaping the ageing body? Computer technologies and embodiment in later life

Investigating Modern-DayTalaria:Mobile Phones and the Mobility-Impaired in Singapore

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