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2.
Stories,
myths and metaphors: Explaining self-exclusion and Internet
use in the home
Authors:
Joanne Doherty; Kathy Keeling; Terry Newholme; Denise Fowler;
Peter McGoldrick; Linda Macaulay
Abstract:
The future of Internet use within the home relies not only
on provision of access, whatever the platform, but also on
the willingness of people to use the Internet within the home
environment. Most often, prominence is given to the provision
of technical access and decrease in financial costs as driving
forces for adoption. Kubicek (2000) argues that media economists
regard the current under-representation of certain groups
as a time delay that is normal in the diffusion process. However,
even with significant decreases in cost of access in both
financial and effort terms, there are still concerns about
'Internet refusers' (Schauer, 2002), as exemplified by differential
rates between those who currently can afford access and actual
use.
Employing
techniques derived from qualitative and ethnographic research,
we seek to understand people's perceptions of the Internet
located in the wider social and domestic context in which
they occur (e.g. support networks; familial/communal norms
and values).
We
take the approach that people make sense of their lives and
connection to others through telling stories. Within stories,
the use of metaphor and myth can contribute to our understanding
of their perceptions and experience, and the meanings they
attach to them. Understanding their expression in our life
stories may communicate deeper influences, desires and motivations,
e.g., Stefik (1996) argues that metaphors influence what we
think the Internet can become and links this to Jungian archetype
theory.
20
Internet users and 12 non-computer users in the UK were involved
in initial interviews, participant diaries, observations and
a series of subsequent conversations. The data were categorised
and analysed collaboratively by four researchers using the
'contextual analysis' method.
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