Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Working Lives and Spatial Practices of Digital Media Developers

博士论文研究：数字媒体开发人员的工作生活和空间实践

• 批准号: 1536265
• 负责人: Matthew Zook
• 金额: $ 1.58万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2017-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1536265&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Working; Lives

This project will analyze the production of digital media and software and the spatial transformations and work practices and places to which they contribute. Its specific aim is to examine the systems of privilege - especially gendered privilege and exclusionary standards of masculinity - that influence the work practices and workplaces of digital media developers to shed critical light on the conditions leading to and perpetuating the exclusion of women software engineers from digital media firms. Specific research questions to be investigated include: How are everyday work practices conducted and structured in digital media work by its developers? What are the physical working spaces of digital media developers and how do they support or restrict particular work practices? In what ways are digital media developers' work practices and spaces gendered? Through a detailed study of the gendered spatial practices and dynamics of power in digital media workplaces in San Francisco, this research will contribute theoretical understanding to a range of scholarly disciplines including the sociology of work, new media, social media, geography, feminist theory, and STS. In terms of broader impacts, the findings of this research will inform and enhance efforts to expand participation in the STEM workforce by under-represented segments of the population.The theoretical framework in which this research project is situated incorporates insights from cultural economic geography, feminist economic geography, and the sociology of work, which emphasize the importance of language, meaning, symbols, power, and subject identities and gendered and/or racialized performances in the economic sphere. The project draws on and contributes to research in these fields that point to the manner in which high tech and other high end service sector (e.g., finance) work presents particular workplace practices and performances of masculinity that are exclusionary. By analyzing precisely how gender bias constitutes a cultural component of economic practice that is normalized in everyday settings, the overarching objective of this study is to assess how positive change toward the broader inclusion of women and other under-represented groups in the digital media and software industry may be accomplished. Methods to be utilized include participant observation and semi-structured interviews with digital media developers in San Francisco, where several hundred digital media firms are located.

该项目将分析数字媒体和软件的生产以及空间转换和工作实践以及它们所贡献的地方。其具体目标是审查特权制度-特别是性别特权和男性特征的排斥标准-这些制度影响数字媒体开发人员的工作实践和工作场所，以批判性地揭示导致和维持数字媒体公司排斥女性软件工程师的条件。具体的研究问题进行调查包括：如何进行日常工作实践和结构的数字媒体工作的开发人员？数字媒体开发人员的物理工作空间是什么？它们如何支持或限制特定的工作实践？数字媒体开发人员的工作实践和空间以何种方式性别化？通过对旧金山弗朗西斯科数字媒体工作场所中性别空间实践和权力动态的详细研究，本研究将有助于对一系列学术学科的理论理解，包括工作社会学，新媒体，社交媒体，地理学，女权主义理论和STS。在更广泛的影响方面，本研究的结果将为扩大STEM劳动力中代表性不足的人群的参与提供信息并加强努力。本研究项目所处的理论框架融合了文化经济地理学，女权主义经济地理学和工作社会学的见解，强调语言，意义，符号，权力，以及经济领域的主体身份和性别化和/或种族化的表现。该项目借鉴并促进了这些领域的研究，这些领域指出了高科技和其他高端服务部门（例如，金融）工作呈现出排斥男性的特定工作场所做法和表现。通过精确分析性别偏见如何构成在日常环境中正常化的经济实践的文化组成部分，本研究的总体目标是评估如何实现数字媒体和软件行业中更广泛地纳入妇女和其他代表性不足的群体的积极变化。将使用的方法包括参与观察和半结构化的采访数字媒体开发人员在旧金山弗朗西斯科，那里有数百家数字媒体公司。