Interpreting digital gaming practices: singstar as a technology of work

Light, BA

Abstract

Embedded within discourses of the enactment of information and communications technologies (ICTs)
at work is often a tightly constrained range of legitimate application areas of study, a rather thin
concept of user-developer relations and a context of use that precludes simultaneity, multiplicity and
informality. This situation persists despite the increasing relocation of work to informal settings
beyond the traditional boundaries of the work organization. In this paper we argue for the
consideration of digital games as premier and hallmark examples of socially rich ICTs and demanding
the attention of researchers concerned with work orgainzations. Through two intersecting
ethnographies of the use of the Sony PlayStation console game, SingStar, we provide an account of
ICT mediated experiences associated with playing the game. We consider SingStar in particular as
socially rich as it invites us to think about: the wider capabilities of ICTs beyond work-orientated
organisations; the expansion of conditions of ICT appropriation, extended collaboration practices and
the co-production of sociotechnical arrangements in situ. We argue that SingStar can be thought of as
glue technology that assists in crafting and strengthening social linkages amongst players. Our
examination of the play and experience of this game provides a fuller account of the interrelationships
of people to socialising technologies that reaches beyond traditional discourses
regarding technology, organizations and work.

Citation

Light, B. (2011, January). Interpreting digital gaming practices: singstar as a technology of work. Presented at European Conference on Information Systems, Helsinki, Finland

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: European Conference on Information Systems
• Conference Location: Helsinki, Finland
• Start Date: Jan 1, 2011
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Sep 2, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Keywords: Digital games, user relations, technologies of play, collaboration
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference