Centre
for Research on Innovation and CompetitionCentre
for Research on Innovation and Competition
This paper offers a preliminary analysis of a web-based questionnaire on mobile culture and entertainment. Respondents were found to value the advice of those in their informal social and knowledge networks when choosing mobile operators and ME products and services. Respondents demonstrated their reluctance to switch operators, in spite of indications of dissatisfaction with their current providers. Despite high usage levels of fixed-line Internet for entertainment purposes respondents were less than enthusiastic about mobile entertainment. Gaming, taking and sending pictures, watching video clips and listening to music on mobiles were all met with a lack of enthusiasm, with the majority of our sample emphasising the importance of the more ’traditional’ communicative functions of mobiles. Evidence of conflicting views on content pricing and handset usability demonstrates the embryonic nature of the ME market. Consumer expectations are still in the process of being formed. In terms of consumer concerns, our results suggest that health worries and the protection of minors from ’inappropriate material’ were minimal amongst this particular set of respondents. ’Junk text’ was highlighted as the major source of concern. Respondents appeared reluctant to buy into the convergence trope of ’one device for all’ although modernist notions of continuous technological progress were evident in user expectations. Given the ’early adopter’ and ’highlevel user’ status of the majority of our respondents, their views on the future direction of mobile entertainment services are highly relevant here. Further work is needed to reach a greater understanding of the relationship between user and technology, between consumer and mobile entertainment product, as this embryonic market gradually matures.
Keywords:
mobile entertainment, users, consumer expectations, service adoption, regulation.
Published as: Bryce, J., Moore, K. & Rutter, J., 2004. "Mobile Entertainment Users: Headline results from an online survey", in Moore & Rutter (eds) Proceedings of Mobile Entertainment: User-centred Perspectives, CRIC, University of Manchester, pp.86-99.
PDF (431Kb)
This paper looks at the consumer perception to developments around mobile entertainment. After providing a brief overview of the current state of the mobile and mobile entertainment markets this paper details focus group research undertaken in the UK, Sweden, Finland and France involving actual, potential and non-users of mobile entertainment. It highlights six recurrent themes emerging from the research: ’Clarity’, ’Compactness and Coolness’, ’Complexity’, ’Convergence’ – the four Cs - and ’Access and Affordability’, ’Age and Context Appropriateness’ – the two A’s . Moving away from the digital optimism of commercial market analysts the authors argue that there is utility in understanding consumer perceptions of the use of current and future technologies and micro-level behaviour in order to inform planning and foresight at a macro level. Implicit throughout the paper is a belief that a particular focus of users’ understandings and practice had significant value in supporting development and implementation of mobile entertainment.
Keywords: mobile phones, mobile gaming, mobile entertainment, 3G, consumer research, users.
Published as: Moore, K. & Rutter, J., 2004. “Understanding Consumers’ Understanding of Mobile Entertainment”, in Moore & Rutter (eds) Proceedings of Mobile Entertainment: User-centred Perspectives, CRIC, University of Manchester, pp.49-65.
PDF (417Kb)
The increasing popularity of computer gaming as a contemporary leisure activity, together with the use of PCs and games consoles as leisure technologies are evidence of the increasing convergence of new technology and leisure practice. The size and popularity of the games industry stands out in contrast to the lack of understanding of computer gaming as a serious leisure activity. Previous research on computer game playing has tended to focus on the negative aspects of gaming such as aggression, addiction, and social isolation, rather than viewing it as an activity which forms an important part of many people’s leisure lifestyles. This paper presents a very different image of gaming and gamers. It investigates computer gaming as a serious and competitive leisure activity. The paper looks at the gendered use and negotiation of leisure spaces by gamers in the context of the expansion of gaming into space and place outside the traditional domestic contexts and which blur boundaries between domestic and public leisure spaces. As such it assumes a perspective on computer gaming in which the activity is seen as part of the everyday leisure routines of gamers rather than a spectacular and notable stimulus or event. The paper argues that although certain aspects of computer gaming involve technological mediation and disembodiment, the changes in gaming texts and contexts have not radically improved the leisure constraints associated with gendered space and technologically-mediated activities. To this end, the paper draws on the existing gaming literature and preliminary ethnographic research of public competitive gaming
Keywords: Computer games, Internet, gendered space, leisure constrains, technology.
Published as: J. Bryce & J. Rutter, 2003. “The Gendering of Computer Gaming: Experience and Space”, in S. Fleming & I. Jones, Leisure Cultures: Investigations in Sport, Media and Technology, Leisure Studies Association, pp.3-22.
PDF (246Kb)
Approaches to gender and computer gaming have been dominated by textual and content analysis at the expense of broader understandings of gaming. This paper examines computer games through gendered game content, game spaces and activities. The paper suggests that despite the popular stereotype of the computer gamer as an antisocial male teenager, there is increasing evidence of female gaming. This suggests the need to examine the relationship between gender and this activity in greater depth and within everyday contexts. The authors examine the possibility of computer gaming as a potential site for challenging dominant gender stereotypes, relating this to the production and consumption of contemporary leisure.
Keywords: Gender, leisure spaces, gendered technology. Published in CGDC Conference Proceedings, University of Tampere Press, Tamapere
PDF (114Kb)
Drawing upon an ethnographic study of the sociability practices of a virtual community, this paper identifies certain paradoxical respects in which the ethnographer can be regarded as both present in and absent from the setting. By definition, virtual ethnography describes places that are not spaces. Disembodied persons inhabit those places. Negotiating access to the setting and core aspects of data collection seem to involve deskwork rather than fieldwork. The virtues of conventional fieldwork activities for virtual ethnography are outlined. In particular, it is the trust bred by face-to-face dealings that enable some of the practical obstacles that researchers face to be overcome. Trust founded in the face-to-face also helps deal with some ethical dilemmas. Online ethnographers still encounter difficulties in precisely identifying the boundaries of their research settings. However, there seems every reason for continuing to insist upon the application of traditional standards of ethnographic conduct and recognized criteria of adequacy in this new field.
PDF (139Kb)
A revised version of this paper is in press in Christine Hine (ed) Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet, Berg.
Published as J. Bryce & J. Rutter, 2002. "Spectacle of the Deathmatch: Character and Narrative in First Person Shooters" in G. King & T. Krzywinska (Ed.s), ScreenPlay: Cinema/videogames/interfaces, Wallflower Press, pp.66-80
PDF (90Kb)
Despite the size of the gaming market in Europe, there remains a lack of understanding of computer gaming as a serious leisure activity or within an interactive context. This poster investigates the emergence of public forms of gaming such as national competition. This is done through exploring notions of presence at these events and three interlinking places of presence are explored:
This paper focuses on the importance of trust in business-to-consumer e-commerce. Divided into three sections the paper first asks the question of why trust is important to the development and implementation of e-commerce and suggests some of the areas where user trust is specifically important. The second offers a view of trust developed using sociological theory and interactionism and looks at how this can inform our understanding of e-commerce users. Finally, the paper suggests a number of non-technical ways in which successful e-commerce retailers build trust and offer potential for further exploration.
Keywords: Trust, interaction, business-to-consumer e-commerce
Published in International Journal of New Product Development & Innovation Management, 2 (4), 2001. pp.371-385
PDF (168kb)
Many of the goods that at first glance appear attractive to sell to consumers online may present e-tailers with a range of problems. In some cases, like food, these problems relate to issues of delivery of goods. In other cases, like white goods, it may not be possible for e-tailers to substitute 'online' the tactic practices that surround the process of consumption. Furthermore, the jury is still out on whether e-shopping can live up to its promised of greater access, convenience and lower prices.
Published in Consumer Policy Review, 10 (4), 2000, pp.139-144
PDF (48Kb)
Issue: A new paradigm for e-commerce is being created not only around Internet and the Web but also around smart household technologies. However, the diffusion of new consumer technologies (such as digital TV and mobile telephones) and persistence of EDI systems suggest the importance of other access paradigms.
Relevance: As Internet and e-commerce use has largely been led by the United States it is tempting to assume a "catch-up" model for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce. However, this is not the only scenario, and policymakers and entrepreneurs need to be informed about the socio-economic impacts of the alternatives.
Published in IPTS Report Special Issue: Technology & Policy Frameworks for E-Commmerce, 42, 2000, pp.31-37
The advent of hypertext as a technology, and the active process of reading it creates, has many implications as technological processes and critical analysis blur (Landow: 1992). It is becoming increasingly implausible to accept that a text exists in isolation and without relation to other documents. Indeed, the nature of what counts as a text has changed. Nowhere is this clearer than in the rich networking of information on the Internet: texts link to and embed each other in an often fluid way and may contain not only the written word but images, sounds, speech, music, etc. This paper draws upon developments both social and literary theory, to explore the case of one particular newsgroup subscriber who comes to be constructed and presented as an outsider. It looks at the development of the triptych of characters for this person (Steve/Evil Steve/Trucker) and the manner in which his “talk” and actions eventuate in his placement on the periphery of the community and categorisation as the RumCom bogeyman. Our exploration will take in the migration of the "Trucker" character into new newsgroups and the development of “Evil Steve” web pages which archive his thoughts, writings and software pranks. Further, it draws upon interviews with newsgroup members whose narratives surrounding Steve/Evil Steve/Trucker offer further insight into the dynamics of the exclusionary process and the construction of a “destructive” identity.
PDF (119Kb)
"Laughingly Referred To.." is a unique resource for the humour researcher. Originally developed for distribution on the HUMOUR-RESEARCH mailing list this bibliography now contains over 3700 individual references.
The printed version of "Laughingly Referred To" is now available (ISBN 090443 22 3) and costs only £8 for UK orders and £10 for international orders. Contact Mary Byrne at m.byrne@salford.ac.uk for ordering information and credit card purchases. Currently out of print - expect a new edition in 2002
Two recurrent traits in contemporary research of humour and joke telling are an emphasis on the structure of joke texts and a lack of in situ investigation into audience laughter. This paper offers a different approach by exploring the introduction of stand-up performers by compères in comedy venues. Taking this neglected, but omnipresent, aspect of stand-up performance it argues that the introduction sequence plays an important role in framing a series of individual comedy sets into a single performance. It suggests that through encouraging audience involvement and interaction the introduction sequence provides a foundation onto which the comedy that follows is built. Further, the paper argues that these introduction sequences take a form which is common from compère to compère and venue to venue. Through the analysis of performance transcripts it is demonstrated that compère introduction sequences are built around a series of six turns which have a preferred organisation that is recognised both by performers and audiences. This structure is presented in both a rule-based and diagrammatic manner.
Published in The Journal of Pragmatics, 32 (2000), 463-483
PDF (954Kb)
This paper explores a set of resources for the investigation of newsgroup postings. It suggests that there is considerable potential in using sociological analyses of sociability and social interaction (and in particular the work of Goffman) for this task. A framework for analysis derived from Simmel and Goffman is presented. The paper examines five features of the production of convivial sociability: thread organization and content; terms and techniques of address; broadcast requests; playful recontextualizations; and sociability thresholds. It concludes that investigation of the production features of online sociability yield insights into the complexities of netiquette’s enactment.
PDF (54Kb)
Paper presentated at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, August 1999.
An udpated vesion of this paper is available above.
This paper looks at the presentation of self in one online community through
examining the organisation of the “talk” that goes on within an
ISP specific newsgroup. It looks not at the spectacular identity play often
described as taking place in virtual environments but rather at the management
of identity in the everyday newsgroup interaction. The sense of community
that exists in the newsgroup relies heavily on posters' ability to know with
whom they are interacting. A practised familiarity with others allows members
to understand the nature of their online relationships, assess the validity
of information offered to them by others, and place in context comments and
actions of other posters. Unlike the often-fantastical environments of some
synchronous online interaction, the identities enacted in the newsgroup are
taken to be “real” in a serious sense. When messages are posted
to the group or address individuals a level of trust is offered and expected
between those involved in the group.
To this end rather than bending gender and pick-and-mixing personal histories
people posting to RumCom.local consistently employ techniques for sharing
and reinforcing details of their "real life" with those with whom
they share asynchronous interaction. This paper describes and illustrates
a number of these techniques by, in turn, exploring:
Display - the offering of background information on the self such
as physical make-up, employment, family, etc.
Management - Declining to offer requested information on one's self,
choosing to deliver it in a different forum (i.e. direct e-mail, selective
IRC, etc.)
Orientation - which types of thread does a contributor to the group
regularly contribute to or demonstrate an expertise in
Transtextuality - reference to TV programmes, books, music., web
pages, etc. either because of it "says" something about the poster
or displays cultural capital
Signature practices - text files appended to postings that
reinforce the identity with quotations from favoured, reference to hobbies
and interests, and, URLs of their own web pages
It is argued that these devices are used to present a commonly acceptable self to those copresent in the newsgroup and to blur distinctions between on- and offline selves.
PDF (45Kb)
This paper explores a set of resources for the investigation of newsgroup postings. It suggests that there is considerable potential in using sociological analyses of sociability and social interaction (and in particular the work of Goffman) for this task. After brief overview of our working concepts the paper looks at thread organisation and content, focusing on four areas: terms and techniques of address; broadcast requests; playful recontextualisation; and sociability thresholds. It concludes that the enactment of netiquette is a complex phenomenon deeply linked to the development of a sense of community.
PDF (69Kb)
CRIC has combined with PREST to form the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR).
New book: Trust in Food, A Comparative and Institutional Analysis by Unni Kjaernes, Mark Harvey & Alan Warde.
CRIC Final Report to ESRC:"Main Report" and "CRIC Performance Indicators 1997-2006".
'Instituted Or Embedded? Legal, Fiscal and Economic Institutionalisation of Markets' by Mark Harvey
'Beyond Efficiency and Market Shares: Competition within the Finnish Games Industry' by Mirva Peltoniemi
'Accounting for Economic Evolution: Fitness and the Population Method' by Stan Metcalfe
'Innovation and Final Consumption: Social Practices, Instituted Modes of Provision and Intermediation' by Andrew McMeekin & Dale Southerton
'Alfred Marshall’s Mecca: Reconciling the Theories of Value and Development' by Stan Metcalfe