This paper explores the relationship between networked radio, media participation, and accountabi... more This paper explores the relationship between networked radio, media participation, and accountability in Ghana. Specifically, we examine how networked radio, the hybrid media space that is the convergence of radio and social media practices, works as a means of democratic accountability through citizen participation in media. We do this through an analysis of how two English-speaking radio stations in Ghana act as intermediaries between citizens and the state, underscoring how the networked elements of radio production facilitate public discourse and make the state less opaque to citizens. We show that while networked radio does provide multiple opportunities for media participation, this participation is relatively passive for the majority of listeners, in part because producers face increased interactivity in-studio and must employ gate-keeping tactics to fit the constraints of airtime. This trade-off inadvertently privileges elite voices over others, even if the radio stations wo...
This article examines how returnee technology entrepreneurs in Ghana articulate and enact the not... more This article examines how returnee technology entrepreneurs in Ghana articulate and enact the notion of develop-ment through their motivations for return, work choices, and practices within the ICT industry. Drawing on interview data, the article shows the ways in which these returnees integrate a transnational outlook into a localized sphere of development activities that, although ultimately privilege speciªc forms of knowledge and experience, still have the potential for social, cultural, and economic transfers in support of capacity building and service provision within the industry. 1.
Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, 2019
This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that inves... more This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that investigate the past to inform the design, critique and conceptualization of technology. At this workshop, we will learn from examples of historically-based CSCW and HCI work, explore issues in historical method that come up in such work, share methods and techniques, provide feedback and support to ongoing investigations; and define a shared agenda for future research on this topic. The workshop will also highlight research and methods that focus on non-Western contexts and that give voice to historically marginalized groups. Based on the workshop, we will develop a white paper and a website that will collect resources to support CSCW based historical investigations.
Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, 2019
This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that inves... more This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that investigate the past to inform the design, critique and conceptualization of technology. At this workshop, we will learn from examples of historically-based CSCW and HCI work, explore issues in historical method that come up in such work, share methods and techniques, provide feedback and support to ongoing investigations; and define a shared agenda for future research on this topic. The workshop will also highlight research and methods that focus on non-Western contexts and that give voice to historically marginalized groups. Based on the workshop, we will develop a white paper and a website that will collect resources to support CSCW based historical investigations.
This article proposes a feminist geopolitics of technology framework that analyzes the connection... more This article proposes a feminist geopolitics of technology framework that analyzes the connections between global politics and techno-empires through the lens of feminist scholarship. This framework has three dimensions: (1) grounding in place, (2) attention to everyday surviving and thriving, and (3) community. We draw on two long-term, community-oriented ethnographic research engagements in Cambodia and Ghana to illustrate how this approach might be used. This framework provides a resource for scholars to make sense of the contrasts between dominant narratives and lived experiences, particularly encouraging more sensitive and generative approaches to analyzing the conditions and dimensions of a shifting geopolitics of technology. In writing stories of caring, thriving, and grounded alternatives, we hope to foster and support initiatives that encourage personal agency and living the full human experience amid inequality and structural violence.
This paper examines how globalization and the media influence young democracies in developing cou... more This paper examines how globalization and the media influence young democracies in developing countries. It focuses on interactions between evolving technology, regulation and internationally savvy local entrepreneurs, analyzing their combined effect on media ecologies. Drawing on interviews and history, the author suggests that three things have revived the public sphere in Ghana and created a new cultural elite: the opening of the radio broadcasting industry to competition, the expertise of “glocal” entrepreneurs, and the proliferation of new media, such as mobile phones and the Internet.
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2021
This paper contributes to the development of an under-utilized area of focus for CSCW research an... more This paper contributes to the development of an under-utilized area of focus for CSCW research and design: history. The design and evaluation of technology, as practiced in the field, has positioned CSCW as a largely forward-looking community. The enduring "presentism' and lack of historical view threatens to leave out a wealth of resources that can inspire design, support comparative analysis, and develop a deeper understanding of technology development and its social consequences. This paper argues that a historicist sensibility should inform the due diligence of all CSCW research, and we present connection points for the various ways in which historical research might more deeply inform CSCW, while offering a selection of historiographic challenges to sensitize CSCW scholars as we seek to better situate our collective work within both the present moment as well as ongoing temporal change.
Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for huma... more Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for humanity, is bound up in past and ongoing ideals of modernity, progress, and “development.” As a particular form of hope and aspiration, techno-optimism is harnessed for nation-building and economic development projects that invest in the promise of scaling. This article demonstrates that this enduring techno-optimism requires various forms of entrepreneurial labor, and that the promise of scaling and technological progress together form a contemporary technique of governance.
Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for huma... more Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for humanity, is bound up in past and ongoing ideals of modernity, progress, and “development.” As a particular form of hope and aspiration, techno-optimism is harnessed for nation-building and economic development projects that invest in the promise of scaling. This article demonstrates that this enduring techno-optimism requires various forms of entrepreneurial labor, and that the promise of scaling and technological progress together form a contemporary technique of governance.
This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveal... more This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveals them to be essential parts of radio’s infrastructure; one that is social, informal, and transnational. Using the radio tuning feature on mobile phones as an emblematic device, this article unpacks the sociotechnical infrastructure underpinning radio’s continued dominance in Ghana, revealing the intersecting logics that help to sustain the media technology landscape in the country.
This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveal... more This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveals them to be essential parts of radio’s infrastructure; one that is social, informal, and transnational. Using the radio tuning feature on mobile phones as an emblematic device, this article unpacks the sociotechnical infrastructure underpinning radio’s continued dominance in Ghana, revealing the intersecting logics that help to sustain the media technology landscape in the country.
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2019
Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for emplo... more Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for employment in the new economy, where digital technologies play a central role in bridging access to resources, connections, and opportunity. Drawing from multi-year studies of entrepreneurs in Accra and Detroit, two cities that continue to experience high rates of inequality and persistently low incomes for the majority of their residents, this article highlights three key challenges to self-entrepreneurialization in the digital age: self-upgrading, maintaining technology, and overcoming exclusion. Locating these challenges at the intersection of (1) two powerful global discourses of entrepreneurialism and technology upgrade and (2) class frictions and racial dynamics, this paper uncovers ways in which CSCW might support entrepreneurialism in the new economy, particularly given that it is becoming a de facto space of work and mode of living.
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2019
Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for emplo... more Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for employment in the new economy, where digital technologies play a central role in bridging access to resources, connections, and opportunity. Drawing from multi-year studies of entrepreneurs in Accra and Detroit, two cities that continue to experience high rates of inequality and persistently low incomes for the majority of their residents, this article highlights three key challenges to self-entrepreneurialization in the digital age: self-upgrading, maintaining technology, and overcoming exclusion. Locating these challenges at the intersection of (1) two powerful global discourses of entrepreneurialism and technology upgrade and (2) class frictions and racial dynamics, this paper uncovers ways in which CSCW might support entrepreneurialism in the new economy, particularly given that it is becoming a de facto space of work and mode of living.
The Oxford Handbook of Networked Communication, 2018
The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located prima... more The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located primarily in the Southern Hemisphere—is a fact that is often repeated in popular discourse as well as academic research. In the years since it became a favorite factoid, there have been shifts in some of the most well-known patterns of use, with new data being created and collected. To a large extent, communication and information researchers have yet to fully address the opportunities and challenges regarding these changes. This chapter outlines some of the shifts in usage trends, what kinds of data they generate, and what kinds of questions they can help answer about social and economic ties, mobility and location, and innovation and design. These can strengthen theorizing new communication practices and generate greater knowledge about life in a networked age for those in resource-constrained environments.
The Oxford Handbook of Networked Communication, 2018
The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located prima... more The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located primarily in the Southern Hemisphere—is a fact that is often repeated in popular discourse as well as academic research. In the years since it became a favorite factoid, there have been shifts in some of the most well-known patterns of use, with new data being created and collected. To a large extent, communication and information researchers have yet to fully address the opportunities and challenges regarding these changes. This chapter outlines some of the shifts in usage trends, what kinds of data they generate, and what kinds of questions they can help answer about social and economic ties, mobility and location, and innovation and design. These can strengthen theorizing new communication practices and generate greater knowledge about life in a networked age for those in resource-constrained environments.
This paper explores the relationship between networked radio, media participation, and accountabi... more This paper explores the relationship between networked radio, media participation, and accountability in Ghana. Specifically, we examine how networked radio, the hybrid media space that is the convergence of radio and social media practices, works as a means of democratic accountability through citizen participation in media. We do this through an analysis of how two English-speaking radio stations in Ghana act as intermediaries between citizens and the state, underscoring how the networked elements of radio production facilitate public discourse and make the state less opaque to citizens. We show that while networked radio does provide multiple opportunities for media participation, this participation is relatively passive for the majority of listeners, in part because producers face increased interactivity in-studio and must employ gate-keeping tactics to fit the constraints of airtime. This trade-off inadvertently privileges elite voices over others, even if the radio stations wo...
This article examines how returnee technology entrepreneurs in Ghana articulate and enact the not... more This article examines how returnee technology entrepreneurs in Ghana articulate and enact the notion of develop-ment through their motivations for return, work choices, and practices within the ICT industry. Drawing on interview data, the article shows the ways in which these returnees integrate a transnational outlook into a localized sphere of development activities that, although ultimately privilege speciªc forms of knowledge and experience, still have the potential for social, cultural, and economic transfers in support of capacity building and service provision within the industry. 1.
Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, 2019
This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that inves... more This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that investigate the past to inform the design, critique and conceptualization of technology. At this workshop, we will learn from examples of historically-based CSCW and HCI work, explore issues in historical method that come up in such work, share methods and techniques, provide feedback and support to ongoing investigations; and define a shared agenda for future research on this topic. The workshop will also highlight research and methods that focus on non-Western contexts and that give voice to historically marginalized groups. Based on the workshop, we will develop a white paper and a website that will collect resources to support CSCW based historical investigations.
Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, 2019
This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that inves... more This day-long workshop aims to support and grow the community of CSCW and HCI scholars that investigate the past to inform the design, critique and conceptualization of technology. At this workshop, we will learn from examples of historically-based CSCW and HCI work, explore issues in historical method that come up in such work, share methods and techniques, provide feedback and support to ongoing investigations; and define a shared agenda for future research on this topic. The workshop will also highlight research and methods that focus on non-Western contexts and that give voice to historically marginalized groups. Based on the workshop, we will develop a white paper and a website that will collect resources to support CSCW based historical investigations.
This article proposes a feminist geopolitics of technology framework that analyzes the connection... more This article proposes a feminist geopolitics of technology framework that analyzes the connections between global politics and techno-empires through the lens of feminist scholarship. This framework has three dimensions: (1) grounding in place, (2) attention to everyday surviving and thriving, and (3) community. We draw on two long-term, community-oriented ethnographic research engagements in Cambodia and Ghana to illustrate how this approach might be used. This framework provides a resource for scholars to make sense of the contrasts between dominant narratives and lived experiences, particularly encouraging more sensitive and generative approaches to analyzing the conditions and dimensions of a shifting geopolitics of technology. In writing stories of caring, thriving, and grounded alternatives, we hope to foster and support initiatives that encourage personal agency and living the full human experience amid inequality and structural violence.
This paper examines how globalization and the media influence young democracies in developing cou... more This paper examines how globalization and the media influence young democracies in developing countries. It focuses on interactions between evolving technology, regulation and internationally savvy local entrepreneurs, analyzing their combined effect on media ecologies. Drawing on interviews and history, the author suggests that three things have revived the public sphere in Ghana and created a new cultural elite: the opening of the radio broadcasting industry to competition, the expertise of “glocal” entrepreneurs, and the proliferation of new media, such as mobile phones and the Internet.
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2021
This paper contributes to the development of an under-utilized area of focus for CSCW research an... more This paper contributes to the development of an under-utilized area of focus for CSCW research and design: history. The design and evaluation of technology, as practiced in the field, has positioned CSCW as a largely forward-looking community. The enduring "presentism' and lack of historical view threatens to leave out a wealth of resources that can inspire design, support comparative analysis, and develop a deeper understanding of technology development and its social consequences. This paper argues that a historicist sensibility should inform the due diligence of all CSCW research, and we present connection points for the various ways in which historical research might more deeply inform CSCW, while offering a selection of historiographic challenges to sensitize CSCW scholars as we seek to better situate our collective work within both the present moment as well as ongoing temporal change.
Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for huma... more Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for humanity, is bound up in past and ongoing ideals of modernity, progress, and “development.” As a particular form of hope and aspiration, techno-optimism is harnessed for nation-building and economic development projects that invest in the promise of scaling. This article demonstrates that this enduring techno-optimism requires various forms of entrepreneurial labor, and that the promise of scaling and technological progress together form a contemporary technique of governance.
Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for huma... more Techno-optimism, or the enduring belief that technology use and production are promising for humanity, is bound up in past and ongoing ideals of modernity, progress, and “development.” As a particular form of hope and aspiration, techno-optimism is harnessed for nation-building and economic development projects that invest in the promise of scaling. This article demonstrates that this enduring techno-optimism requires various forms of entrepreneurial labor, and that the promise of scaling and technological progress together form a contemporary technique of governance.
This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveal... more This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveals them to be essential parts of radio’s infrastructure; one that is social, informal, and transnational. Using the radio tuning feature on mobile phones as an emblematic device, this article unpacks the sociotechnical infrastructure underpinning radio’s continued dominance in Ghana, revealing the intersecting logics that help to sustain the media technology landscape in the country.
This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveal... more This article argues that the material history of mobile phones as they took shape in Ghana reveals them to be essential parts of radio’s infrastructure; one that is social, informal, and transnational. Using the radio tuning feature on mobile phones as an emblematic device, this article unpacks the sociotechnical infrastructure underpinning radio’s continued dominance in Ghana, revealing the intersecting logics that help to sustain the media technology landscape in the country.
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2019
Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for emplo... more Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for employment in the new economy, where digital technologies play a central role in bridging access to resources, connections, and opportunity. Drawing from multi-year studies of entrepreneurs in Accra and Detroit, two cities that continue to experience high rates of inequality and persistently low incomes for the majority of their residents, this article highlights three key challenges to self-entrepreneurialization in the digital age: self-upgrading, maintaining technology, and overcoming exclusion. Locating these challenges at the intersection of (1) two powerful global discourses of entrepreneurialism and technology upgrade and (2) class frictions and racial dynamics, this paper uncovers ways in which CSCW might support entrepreneurialism in the new economy, particularly given that it is becoming a de facto space of work and mode of living.
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2019
Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for emplo... more Workers are increasingly expected to take on the responsibility and effort of preparing for employment in the new economy, where digital technologies play a central role in bridging access to resources, connections, and opportunity. Drawing from multi-year studies of entrepreneurs in Accra and Detroit, two cities that continue to experience high rates of inequality and persistently low incomes for the majority of their residents, this article highlights three key challenges to self-entrepreneurialization in the digital age: self-upgrading, maintaining technology, and overcoming exclusion. Locating these challenges at the intersection of (1) two powerful global discourses of entrepreneurialism and technology upgrade and (2) class frictions and racial dynamics, this paper uncovers ways in which CSCW might support entrepreneurialism in the new economy, particularly given that it is becoming a de facto space of work and mode of living.
The Oxford Handbook of Networked Communication, 2018
The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located prima... more The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located primarily in the Southern Hemisphere—is a fact that is often repeated in popular discourse as well as academic research. In the years since it became a favorite factoid, there have been shifts in some of the most well-known patterns of use, with new data being created and collected. To a large extent, communication and information researchers have yet to fully address the opportunities and challenges regarding these changes. This chapter outlines some of the shifts in usage trends, what kinds of data they generate, and what kinds of questions they can help answer about social and economic ties, mobility and location, and innovation and design. These can strengthen theorizing new communication practices and generate greater knowledge about life in a networked age for those in resource-constrained environments.
The Oxford Handbook of Networked Communication, 2018
The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located prima... more The rapid uptake of mobile phones in the global South—that is, developing countries located primarily in the Southern Hemisphere—is a fact that is often repeated in popular discourse as well as academic research. In the years since it became a favorite factoid, there have been shifts in some of the most well-known patterns of use, with new data being created and collected. To a large extent, communication and information researchers have yet to fully address the opportunities and challenges regarding these changes. This chapter outlines some of the shifts in usage trends, what kinds of data they generate, and what kinds of questions they can help answer about social and economic ties, mobility and location, and innovation and design. These can strengthen theorizing new communication practices and generate greater knowledge about life in a networked age for those in resource-constrained environments.
This paper examines recent efforts by five global technology firms-Internet.org, Spacex, OneWeb, ... more This paper examines recent efforts by five global technology firms-Internet.org, Spacex, OneWeb, O3b, and Google Loon-to expand internet connectivity primarily to the global south. Eschewing the cable-based infrastructure that provides internet through the global north, these global connectivity efforts utilize new technologies like low orbit satellites that are poised to consolidate control and ownership. We analyze the discourse around these companies' efforts by situating company PR materials and press coverage within the social and policy contexts of global internet provision and the geopolitics of north-south relations. Our findings suggest these companies strategically frame their efforts as humanitarian/development aid, portraying " connectivity " itself as a basic human right at the expense of other internet policy concerns. Moreover, while the technologies and strategies signal a new direction in global technology infrastructure, we find that these companies rely on old narratives and lead efforts that may ultimately replicate longstanding inequalities.
Social media and mobile communication have facilitated new forms of interactivity online, as well... more Social media and mobile communication have facilitated new forms of interactivity online, as well as on-air on radio. In Ghana, old and new media intersect in ways that reveal broader changes to public discourse, particularly on issues of citizenship and class. Through an analysis of an urban English-speaking station's interactions both on air and online, this paper shows why radio remains a significant social and cultural institution in the country, and how convergence underscores broader cultural shifts, not just technological change.
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Papers by Seyram Avle