Uses of the Biographical Approach: The Construction of Youth Technobiographies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-24.3.4025Keywords:
biographical interviews, semi-structured interviews, qualitative methods, Afghan youth, technobiographies, digital technologies, discourse analysis, thematic analysisAbstract
In this article, we report on our analysis as part of a research project conducted from 2012 to 2018, and we explore the potential of the biographical approach in studying the appropriation of digital technologies (DTs). The biographical approach (SAUTÚ, 2012) is described as a theoretical-methodological strategy to address how people, through time and space and within the framework of certain cultural and socioeconomic contexts, connect with various digital technologies and how they construct meanings, practices, and relationships.
With the analysis of a series of technobiographies (CHING & VIGDOR, 2005) of young people, we reflect on the ability of the method to capture the symbolic dimension of access to DTs, reconstruct the acquisition of digital skills and their role in educational transitions, and understand the links between biographical trajectories and broader social processes, such as those that constitute and reproduce social inequalities in contemporary societies. We show that technobiographies are a useful construct to identify repetitions, trends, and patterns of behavior, but also to pinpoint anything that is out of the ordinary in the paths of the appropriation of DTs of each particular group.
Downloads
References
Arriazu Muñoz, Rubén (2007). On new means or new forms of investigation. A methodological proposal for online social investigation through a virtual forum. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 8(3), Art. 37, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-8.3.275 [Accessed: February 7, 2023].
Bertaux, Daniel (1999 [1980]). El enfoque biográfico: su validez metodológica y sus potencialidades [The biographical perspective: Methodological validity and potential]. Proposiciones, 29, https://www.sitiosur.cl/publicaciones/Revista_Proposiciones/PR-0029-3258.pdf [Accessed: September 1, 2023].
Bidart, Claire (2020). Crisis, decisiones y temporalidades: sobre las bifurcaciones biográficas [Crisis, decisions and temporalities: On biographical turning points]. Revista Contenido, Cultura y Ciencias Sociales, 10, 43-80, https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03096627/document [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Biggart, Andy; Furlong, Andy & Cartmel, Fred (2008). Biografías de elección y linealidad transicional: nueva conceptualización de las transiciones de la juventud moderna [Choice biographies and transitional linearity: Re-conceptualizing modern youth transitions]. In René Bendit, Marina Hahn & Ana Miranda (Eds.), Los jóvenes y el futuro [Young people and the future] (pp.49-71). Buenos Aires: Prometeo.
Black, Joanna; Castro, Juan Carlos & Lin, Ching-Chiu (2015). Youth practices in digital arts and new media: Learning in formal and informal settings. New York, NY: Palgrave.
Boyd, Danah Michelle (2014). It's complicated. The social lives of networked teens. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Boyd, Danah Michelle (2015). Making sense of teen life: Strategies for capturing ethnographic data in a networked era. In Christian Sandvig & Eszter Hargittai (Eds.), Digital research confidential: The secrets of studying behavior online (pp.79-102). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Burrell, Jenna (2009). The field site as a network: A strategy for locating ethnographic. Field Methods, 21(2), 181-199.
Ching, Cynthia Carter & Vigdor, Linda (2005). Technobiographies: Perspectives from education and the arts. Presentation, First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, May 5-7, http://www.iiqi.org/C4QI/httpdocs/qi2005/papers/ching.pdf [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Coombs, Philip H. & Ahmed, Manzoor (1974). Attacking rural poverty. How nonformal education can help. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkin University Press, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/656871468326130937/pdf/multi-page.pdf [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Cornejo Cancino, Marcela; Faúndez, Ximena & Besoain, Carolina (2017). Data analysis in biographical-narrative approaches: From methods to an analytic intentionality. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18(1), Art. 16, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-18.1.2491 [Accessed: February 7, 2023].
Coward, Chris & Sey, Araba (2013). Global impact study of public access to information and communication technologies. Final technical report, https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/10625/51519/IDL-51519.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed: February 10, 2023].
Daza Prado, José Daniel (2019). Libertades enredadas. Etnografía del aprendizaje y el activismo en los informáticos que arman redes inalámbricas libres con Internet comunitaria en Buenos Aires [Entangled liberties. An ethnography of learning and activism among computer scientists who build free wireless networks with communitarian Internet in Buenos Aires]. Dissertation, social anthropology, National University of San Martin, Argentine, https://ri.unsam.edu.ar/handle/123456789/1109 [Accessed: February 7, 2023].
Dabenigno, Valeria (2017). La sistematización de datos cualitativos desde una perspectiva procesual. De la transcripción y los memos a las rondas de codificación y procesamiento de entrevistas [The systematization of qualitative data from a processual perspective. From transcription and memos to coding rounds and interview processing]. In Pablo Borda, Valeria Dabenigno, Betina Freidin & Martín Güelman (Eds.), Herramientas para la investigación social. Serie: cuadernos de métodos y técnicas de la investigación social ¿Cómo se hace?. No 2 Estrategias para el análisis de datos cualitativos [Tools for social research. Series: How is it done? Social research methods and techniques, (2), Strategies for qualitative data analysis] (pp.22-71), https://iigg.sociales.uba.ar/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/11/DHIS2.pdf [Accessed: September 1, 2023].
Duero, Dante & Limón Arce, Gilberto (2007). Relato autobiográfico e identidad personal: un modelo de análisis narrativo [Biographical narrative and personal identity: A narrative analysis model]. AIBR Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana, 2(2), 232-275, http://www.ubiobio.cl/miweb/webfile/media/267/62320205%5B1%5D.pdf [Accessed: February 7, 2023].
Dughera, Lucila; Segura, Agustín; Yansen, Guillermina & Zukerfeld, Mariano (2012). Sobre los aprendizajes de los trabajadores informáticos: los roles de la Educación formal, No formal e Informal en la adquisición de técnicas [On computer workers learning processes: The roles of formal, non-formal and informal education in the acquisition of techniques]. Revista Educación y Pedagogía, 23(62), 79-101, https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=4161040 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Fay, Michaela (2007). Mobile subjects, mobile methods: Doing virtual ethnography in a feminist online network. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 8(3), Art. 14, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-8.3.278 [Accessed: February 2, 2023].
Ferrarotti, Francois (2011). Las historias de vida como método [Life stories as a method]. Acta Sociológica, 56, 95-119, https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/ras/article/view/29459 [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Galperín, Hernán (2021). "This gig is not for women": Gender stereotyping in online hiring. Social Science Computer Review, 39(6), 1089-1107.
Hareven, Tamara & Masaoka, Kanji (1988). Turning points and transitions. Perceptions of the life course. Journal of Family History, 3(13), 279-289.
Helsper, Ellen (2017). The social relativity of digital exclusion: Applying relative deprivation theory to digital inequalities. Communication Theory. Communication Theory, 27(3), 223-242.
Henwood, Flis; Kennedy, Helen & Miller, Nod (2001). Cyborg lives: Women's technobiographies. York: Raw Nerve Books.
Hine, Christine (2004). Etnografía virtual [Virtual ethnography]. Barcelona: UOC.
Isabella, Simona (2007). Ethnography of online role-playing games: The role of virtual and real contest in the construction of the field. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 8(3), Art.36, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-8.3.280 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Ito, Mizuko; Baumer, Sonja; Bittanti, Matteo; boyd, Danah; Cody, Rachel; Herr-Stephenson, Becky, Horst, Heather A., Lange, Patrick G.; Mahendran, Dylan; Martínez, Katinka Z.; Pascoe, C. J.; Perkel, Dan, Robinson, Laura, Sims, Christo & Tripp, Lisa (2010). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out. Kids living and learning with New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/2344/Hanging-Out-Messing-Around-and-Geeking-OutKids [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Juhasz, Anne (2009). Processes of intergenerational transmission of citizenship and belonging among immigrant families in Switzerland. In Gabriele Rosenthal & Artur Bogner (Eds.), Ethnicity, belonging and biography. Ethnographical and biographical perspectives (pp.325-346). Berlin: LIT.
Kennedy, Gregor E.; Judd, Terry S.; Churchward, Anna; Gray, Kathleen & Krause, Kerri-Lee (2008). First year students' experiences with technology: Are they really digital natives?. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(1), 108-122, https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/1233/458 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Kennedy, Helen (2003). Technobiography: Researching lives, online and off. Biography, 26(1), 120-139.
Lemus, Magdalena (2018). Articulaciones entre desigualdades y tecnologías digitales: un estudio de las trayectorias de vida de jóvenes de clases medias altas, La Plata 2012-2017 [Articulations between inequalities and digital technologies: A study of the life trajectories of young people from the upper middle classes, La Plata 2012-2017]. Dissertation, social sciences, National University of La Plata, Argentine, https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/tesis/te.1741/te.1741.pdf [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Lemus, Magdalena & Benítez Larghi, Sebastián (2023). El enfoque biográfico y apropiación de tecnologías digitales: una propuesta teórica-metodológica [The biographical approach and appropriation of digital technologies: A theoretical-methodological proposal]. Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de la Investigación Social, 13(25), 54-70, https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.15691/pr.15691.pdf [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Lisdero, Pedro (2017). Desde las nubes ... Sistematización de una estrategia teórico-metodológica visual [From the clouds ... Systematization of a visual theoretical-methodological strategy]. Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de la Investigación Social, 13(7), 69-90, http://www.relmis.com.ar/ojs/index.php/relmis/article/view/67 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Livingstone, Sonia & Helsper, Ellen (2007). Gradations in digital inclusion: Children, young people and the digital divide. New Media and Society, 9(4), 671-696.
Machado Pais, José (2007). Chollos, chapuzas y changas. Jóvenes, trabajo precario y futuro [Bargains, botch jobs and casual jobs. Young people, precarious work and the future]. Barcelona: Anthropos.
Márquez, Francisca (1999). Relatos de vida entrecruzados: trayectorias sociales de familia [Life stories intertwined: Families social trajectories]. Proposiciones, 29, http://www.sitiosur.cl/publicaciones/Revista_Proposiciones/PR-0029-3255.pdf [Accessed: August 31, 2023].
Marradi, Alberto; Archenti, Nélida & Piovani, Juan Ignacio (2010). Metodología de las ciencias sociales [Social sciences methodology]. Buenos Aires: Cengage Learning Argentina.
Marsick, Victoria J. & Watkins, Karen (1990). Informal and incidental learning in the workplace. London: Routledge
Mora Salas, Minor & de Oliveira, Orlandina (2014). ¿Ruptura o reproducción de las desventajas sociales heredadas? Relatos de vida de jóvenes que han vivido situaciones de pobreza [Rupture or reproduction of inherited social disadvantages? Life narratives of young people living in poverty]. In Minor Mora Salas & Orlandina de Oliveira (Eds.) Desafíos y paradojas. Los Jóvenes frente a las desigualdades sociales [Paradoxes and challenges. Young people facing social inequalities] (pp.245-312). México: Colmex.
Morales, Soledad; Cabrera, Magela & Rodríguez, Gabriela (2018). Estrategias de aprendizaje informal de habilidades transmedia en adolescentes de Uruguay [Informal learning strategies for transmedia skills in adolescents in Uruguay]. Comunicación y Sociedad, 15(33), 65-88, https://comunicacionysociedad.cucsh.udg.mx/index.php/comsoc/article/view/7007 [Accessed: February 10, 2023].
Muñiz Terra, Leticia (2012). Carreras y trayectorias laborales: una revisión crítica de las principales aproximaciones teórico-metodológicas para su abordaje [Labor careers and paths: A critical review of major theoretical and methodological approaches]. Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de las Ciencias Sociales, 1(2), 36-65, https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.5218/pr.5218.pdf [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Muñiz Terra, Leticia (2018). Biographical events and milestones: A methodological proposal to analyze narratives of life. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 19(2), Art. 13, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-19.2.2564 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) (2023). Censo nacional de población, hogares y viviendas 2022: resultados provisionales [National population, households and housing census. Provisional results]. Buenos Aires: INDEC, https://www.indec.gob.ar/ftp/cuadros/poblacion/cnphv2022_resultados_provisionales.pdf [Accessed: June 30, 2023]
Peirone, Fernando (2022). Resolución e innovación en las juventudes actuales. Claves de lectura sobre la cultura emergente [Resolution and innovation in today's youth. Keys to reading about the emerging culture]. Revista Hipertextos, 10(17), 101-120, http://revistahipertextos.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Hipertextos1017_peirone.pdf [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Prensky, Mark (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf [Accessed: February 7, 2023].
Pries, Ludwig (1996). ¿Institucionalización o desinstitucionalización del curso de vida? Biografía y sociedad como un enfoque integrativo e interdisciplinario [Institutionalization or de-institutionalization of the life course? Biography and society as an integrative and interdisciplinary approach]. Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos, 11(2), 395-417, https://doi.org/10.24201/edu.v11i2.975 [Accessed: August 31, 2023]
Proenza, Francisco (Ed.) (2015). Public access ICT across cultures: Diversifying participation in the network society. London: MIT Press
Reygadas, Luis (2008). La apropiación: Destejiendo las redes de la desigualdad [Appropriation: Unweaving the web of inequality]. México: UAM, Anthropos Editorial.
Roberti, Eugenia (2012). El enfoque biográfico en el análisis social: claves para un estudio de los aspectos teórico-metodológicos de las trayectorias laborales [The biographical approach in social analysis: Keys to the study of the theoretical and methodological aspects of career paths]. Revista Colombiana de Sociología, 35(1), 127-149, https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/bitstream/handle/unal/41908/31341-113517-1-PB.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Roberti, Eugenia (2017). Hacia una crítica a la sociología de la transición: reflexiones sobre la paradoja de la desinstitucionalización en el análisis de las trayectorias de jóvenes vulnerables en Argentina [Toward a critique of transitions sociology: Reflections on the de-institutionalization paradox regarding vulnerable youth trajectories in Argentina analysis]. Estudios Sociológicos, 105, 489-516, https://estudiossociologicos.colmex.mx/index.php/es/article/view/1468/ [Accessed: February 8, 2023]
Rosenthal, Gabriele & Köttig, Michaela (2009). Migration and questions of belonging. Migrants in Germany and Florida. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(3), Art. 19, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.3.1372 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Rubilar Donoso, Gabriela (2015). Practices of memory and the construction of research testimonies. A methodological reflection about self-interviewing, testimonies, and social workers' accounts of their research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 16(3), Art. 3, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-16.3.2257 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Sandvig, Christian & Hargittai, Eszter (2015). Digital research confidential. The secrets of study behavior online. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Santos Sharpe, Andrés (2020). Discontinuar (en) la universidad. Análisis de experiencias de discontinuidad de los estudios universitarios en distintos campos disciplinares a partir de relatos de vida [To discontinue (in) college. An analysis of discontinuity experiences of university studies in different disciplinary fields based on life stories]. In Ernesto Meccia (Ed.) Biografías y sociedad: métodos y perspectivas [Society and biographies: Perspectives and methods] (pp.225-256). Santa Fe: Ediciones UNL, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: Eudeba.
Saraví, Gonzalo (2009). Transiciones vulnerables. Juventudes, desigualdad y exclusión en México [Vulnerable transitions. Youth, inequality and exclusion in México]. Mexico City: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.
Sautú, Ruth (2012). Estilos y prácticas de la investigación biográfica [Practices and styles in biographical research]. In Ruth Sautú (Ed.) El método biográfico [The biographical method] (pp.21-60). Buenos Aires: Lumiére Ediciones.
Scolari, Carlos (2018). Estrategias de aprendizaje informal [Informal learning strategies]. In Carlos Scolari (Ed.), Adolescentes, medios de comunicación y culturas colaborativas. Aprovechando las competencias transmedia de los jóvenes en el aula [Adolescents, media and collaborative cultures. Harnessing young people's transmedia skills in the classroom] (pp.13-23). Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Scribano, Adrián (2017). Miradas cotidianas. El uso de WhatsApp como experiencia de investigación social [Everyday views. The use of Whatsapp as a social research experience]. Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de la Investigación Social, 13, 8-22, http://www.relmis.com.ar/ojs/index.php/relmis/article/view/63/66 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Sefton-Green, Julian (2013). Learning not at school: A review for study, theory and advocacy for education in non-formal settings. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Thompson, John (1998 [1995]). Los media y la modernidad [The media and modernity]. Barcelona: Paidós.
Van Deursen, Alexander J.A.M.; Van Dijk, Jan A.G.M. & ten Klooster, Peter M. (2015). Increasing inequalities in what we do online: A longitudinal cross-sectional analysis of Internet activities among the Dutch population (2010 to 2013) over gender, age, education, and income. Telematics and Informatics, 32(2), 259-272, https://alexandervandeursen.nl/Joomla/Media/Journal/2015%20-%20Increasing_Inequalities_DeursenDijkKlooster.pdf [Accessed: February 10, 2023].
Verd, Joan Miquel & Lozares, Carlos (2016). Introducción a la investigación cualitativa. Fases, métodos y técnicas [An introduction to qualitative research. Techniques, methods and phases]. Madrid: Editorial Síntesis.
Winocur, Rosalía (2009). Robinson Crusoe ya tiene celular: la conexión como espacio de control de la incertidumbre [Robinson Crusoe already has a mobile phone: Being online as control of uncertainty]. Mexico City: Siglo XXI, UAM.
Wittel, Andreas (2000). Ethnography on the move: From field to net to Internet. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 1(1), Art. 21, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-1.1.1131 [Accessed: February 8, 2023].
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Magdalena Lemus, Sebastián Benítez Larghi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
