Patricia G. Lange

California College of the Arts · Critical Studies (undergraduate); Visual & Critical Studies (graduate)

YouTube is a public video-sharing website where people can experience varying degrees of engagement with videos, ranging from casual viewing to sharing videos in order to maintain social relationships. Based on a one-year ethnographic project, this article analyzes how YouTube participants developed and maintained social networks by manipulating ph...

Informal, online environments facilitate creative self-expression through typographic and orthographic stylistics. Yet, ideologies of writing may be invoked to discourage written forms that are purportedly difficult to read. This paper analyzes how members of an online, text-based, gaming community negotiate appropriate, written communications as e...

The author traces her journey into the exotic, early world of video blogging, in which participants used video to share the self, develop empathy for others, and exchange knowledge. Moving from modest video blogs to an internationally-screened film demonstrated in a direct way that under the right circumstances participatory cultures work. Peer-to-...

Ranting is often conflated with flaming and hating, which are frequently interpreted as inappropriate forms of online interaction. Scholars have categorized rants, which contain emotional criticisms of something or someone, as “anti-social” (Vrooman, 2002). However, scholars are moving away from universal interpretations of inappropriateness, and n...

Certain binaries have dominated scholarly approaches to research on digital video creation. The first is concerned with comparing videos made by professionals versus amateurs. The second is the binary contrasting the use of images for memory preservation versus sharing experiences and negotiating identities. The present case study of teen video mak...

Games have received increased scholarly attention due to the economic value they generate. Yet, some studies still conceptualize games as ‘‘virtual’’ realms that are theoretically distinct from ‘‘real world’’ experiences. Based on an ethnographic investigation of two online, text-based gaming environments, this study analyzes dynamics such as techn...

Technologists often support the idea that knowledge exchange is best achieved by engaging in debate that does not involve moral considerations. Such a position is difficult to achieve given that technical choices are often morally laden. Indeed, many supporters of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) movement use specific technologies because...

The Importance of One's Own RoomWhat Constitutes an Interruption?Advantages and Disadvantages of On-Line InterviewingMoral Implications of Multitasking and IntertaskingOn the Demographic Dimensions of “Multitasking”Negotiating InterruptionsDiscussionConclusion NotesReferences Cited

Conventional wisdom about young people's use of digital technology often equates generational identity with technology identity: today's teens seem constantly plugged in to video games, social networks sites, and text messaging. Yet there is little actual research that investigates the intricate dynamics of youth's social and recreational use of di...

I analyze ethnographic practices in a distributed, on-line research project. Through self-reflexive investigation of interactions with family and interviewees, I discuss challenges that I faced when doing distributed work from home and I problematize assumed benefits of “multitasking” and “flexible” home-based work. By examining remote work (such a...

Many scholars characterize um as an involuntary emission that is devoid of meaning. Other scholars classify um as a non-linguistic signal that conveys certain messages or resolves a conversational problem, such as determining next speaker. Um is often assumed to signal `powerless language' because it displays speaker uncertainty. Yet an examination...

Many concepts—such as “computer mediated versus face-to-face interaction,” “virtual versus real,” “flaming,” and “anonymity”—that scholars have used for decades have led to theoretical misunderstandings about online and offline communication. This chapter discusses theoretical problems that standard terms introduce. The goal is not simply to urge m...

YouTube is a public video-sharing website where people can experience varying degrees of engagement with videos, ranging from casual viewing to sharing videos in order to maintain social relationships. Based on a one-year ethnographic project, this article analyzes how YouTube participants developed and maintained social networks by manipulating ph...

Enthusiasm for adding sociality to Web sites is mounting. Yet, the YouTube experience shows that participation in social networking sites is complex and potentially contentious. Meaningful participation in part depends upon participants' ability to respond to others and contribute to a site. While some participants demand more active involvement fr...

,Abstract: Scholars suggest that certain “lessons” supposedly learned from studying text- based information technologies may be applied to video-mediated environments. Some scholars believe that a key limitation of online text-based environments is a prevalence of anonymity which directly spawns antagonism. According to this view, increased amounts...

Flaming studies often argue that the assumed paucity of social cues in online environments leads to disinhibition and increased flaming online. Other studies empirically challenge the idea that flaming behaviors are an inevitable by-product of computer-mediated communication. Nevertheless, both camps share the view that a category of social phenome...

Many technologists rely on informal mentoring conducted in social circles that lie outside of their immediate workplace. One crucial mentoring method involves answering questions, which may help novices solve problems, master technical skills, and learn proper social behavior. Yet, asking and answering questions can mark the questioner and/or respo...

Despite predictions that the Internet would become an egalitarian forum for the free exchange of ideas, social inequities are being observed. Members of online groups recognize social cues such as hierarchical ways of communicating. Yet, how do some online participants attain high status online, while others do not? Comparing two transnational, onl...