Digital Intimacies : Doing Digital Media Differently
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Digital Intimacies Doing Digital Media Differently Helga Sadowski Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 691 Faculty of Arts and Sciences Linköping 2016 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 691 At the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. This thesis comes from Unit of Gender Studies at the Department of Thematic Studies. Distributed by: Department of Thematic Studies Linköping University 581 83 Linköping Helga Sadowski Digital Intimacies Doing Digital Media Differently Edition 1:1 ISBN 978-91-7685-718-2 ISSN 0282-9800 © Helga Sadowski Department of Thematic Studies 2016 Covert art: Helga Sadowski Artwork chapter title pages: Sarah Hornikel & Carmen Geduhn Printed by: LiU-Tryck, Linköping 2016 Acknowledgements The past years as a PhD student have been very insightful, eventful and exciting, and I am very thankful to all the people that affected me, this thesis and its formation process in uncountable, most versatile and in- timate ways. Firstly, my deepest gratitude goes out to my amazing supervisors Cecilia Åsberg and Jenny Sundén. Thank you Cissi for your optimism, for always believing in me and for probably being my biggest cheer- leader. That helped a lot. Thank you for helping me to develop my pro- ject in this friendly feminist setting of unconventional and interdisci- plinary (post-) humanities. Thank you for all the creative input, for the laughs, and for introducing me to so many helpful and mind-bending academic texts (No worries, I will return the pile of books that you lent me soon ;-). Thank you also for occasionally taking me out of my com- fort zone, which for example made me find myself networking at the other end of the world. Every time you (gently) pushed me out of that comfort zone, it proved to be incredibly useful for me and the develop- ment of my work. Thank you so much for all your help and support, Jenny. I am su- per impressed by your ability to somehow know what I want to say when I am still struggling to find the words or to organize my thoughts. Your feedback has been indispensable and always inspiring. Thank you also for not minding (too much I hope) feeling like a broken record, when you had to explain certain things to me multiple times ;-). I al- ways enjoyed visiting you at Södertörn Högskola a lot, or when we met up in one of Stockholm’s Cafés. I always felt more hopeful afterwards. I also would like to thank Jeff Hearn who accompanied me in very early stages of the PhD process, when my project was very different from what it is now. Thank you for your dedication and kind support, for ‘showing me the academic ropes’, and for your great humor. Thanks also to the fantastic five, which are my co-PhD students starting also in September 2011. I am in awe when I see your incredible transformations into the brilliant and passionate scholars that you are, Tara Mehrabi, Line Henriksen, Marie-Louise Holm, Marietta Ra- domska and Desireé Ljungcrantz. Thank you for all your encouraging words, PhD student survival tips, cozy dinners and occasional crazi- ness. You are definitely ready to take over the world. Warm thanks go also out to all who have participated in my 60% seminar and final seminar, and offered thoughtful and enlightening comments. Thank you Jette Koefoed for providing much needed advice in how to structure my text at a point when it was still rather messy. Thank you Lissa Holloway-Attaway for engaging with my text in such a thorough manner. Thank you also Anna Lundberg for acting as a dis- cussant for my dissertation back then and now, and for pointing out the appearances of irony in some of my material as well as their entan- glement with neoliberal market logics. Thank you also Bodil Axelsson for your insightful comments, for welcoming me so warmly during my brief, but intense, interludes at and with Tema Q und ACSIS, and ena- bling and facilitating the exchange with the ICS at the University at Western Sydney. Thank you also Karin Fast for your extensive and con- siderate comments during and after the final seminar, and for the amazing course on mediatization processes. A big thanks also to the PhD student discussants at those seminars, Lisa “Simpson” Lindén and Marietta Radomska, you are walking encyclopedias of awesome knowl- edges to me. My gratitude also goes out to all who acted as (more or less) vol- untary proofreaders of my text during different stages of messiness. Thank you Carmen Geduhn, Daniel Sadowski, Jami Weinstein, Hanne Fjelde and Reinert Huseby Karlsen for fighting fearlessly through the chaos and offering thoughtful advice on how to get a grip on it. Thanks go also out to Sarah Hornikel and Carmen Geduhn for the artwork on the separation pages (I love it!), and to Liz Sourbut for the English lan- guage check and working ‘outside the office hours’ in order to help me meeting the deadline. I am grateful for all my wonderful colleagues who made and make Tema Genus such an extraordinary place and for all the things that you taught me over the years. Thank you Alma Persson (also for you help with the Swedish abstract), Alp Biricik, Anna Wahl, Anne-Charlott Callerstig, Anne-Li Lindgren, Åsa-Karin Engstrand, Berit Starkman, Björn Pernrud, Dag Balkmar, Edyta Just, Elisabeth Samuelsson, Emma Strollo, Frida Beckman, Jami Weinstein, Justin Makii, Kathe- rine Harrison, Klara Goedecke, Linn Sandberg, Lotta Callerstig, Madina Tlostanova, Magda Górska, Malena Gustavson, Margrit Shil- drick, Marianna Szcyzgielska, Monica Obreja, Nina Lykke, Olga Cielemęcka, Pat Treusch, Pia Laskar, Redi Koobak, Roger Klinth, Silje Lundgren, Stina Backman, Tanja Joelsson, Tanya Bureychak, Ulrica Engdahl, Victoria Kawesa, Wera Grahn, Wibke Straube, and others in various degrees of attachment to the Tema G universe. Thank you also Ian Dickson, Eva Danielson, Carin Ennergård, Barbro Axelsson, Camilla Jungström Hammar, Micke Brandt, Beatrice Rågard, and Anne-Christine Lindvall for technical and administrative support, and your patience with me. Big thanks also go out to all involved at the Posthumanities hub for all the though-provoking discussions (Thank you Cissi and all visit- ing scholars!), and to Iris van der Tuin and all involved in the on ‘How Matter Comes to Matter’ COST action. In particular, the ‘New Materi- alism Embracing the Creative Arts’ work group and Marie-Luise An- gerer who facilitated my short research stay at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne which influenced my take on affect and ASMR. Above this, I would also like to acknowledge some people who con- stantly have backed me up and reminded me of the pleasurable sides of life during a sometimes bumpy PhD ride: Thank you Annekatrin, Colin, Hanne, Holly, Ida, JM, Josefin and Magnus for unforgettable Midsommar celebrations, wild Thanksgivings, and long-lasting ‘After- works’. You made me grown attached to Uppsala. Thank you Agnes, Bea, Diana, Marc, Martin and the rest of the crew for the Sarek trek, dinner parties in the company of many quadrupled friends, and for car- rying boxes up and down the stairs every time we moved. Thanks also to the Huseby Karlsens for always welcoming me so warmly to their home and for the wonderful cross-country skiing excursions including barbequing in the snow. Thank you also Tove, Veronica, Elisabeth, Camilla, and Carin: It still brings back a smile to my face when I think of our Oxford adven- tures and the puffins. Thank you also to Mina, Måns and Tintin for be- ing such great short-term flatmates. My deepest gratitude furthermore goes out to my dearest friends Carm, Tine, Julia, Doro, Katha, Nadine and Stefan: you will always be my role models for life. I admire you for being so strong, independ- ent and groovy at the same time, and I will forever be grateful that I can be a part of your lives. You will be always in my heart. I am sending out big love also to my Amsterdam/Utrecht crowd: Kathrin, Olli, Nina, Robin, Fidel, Marlenchen: Hanging out with you on Nootje or at Roest are my idea of ‘a happy place’. I miss you very much! I thank my parents and brother for unconditional love and support all my life. It means everything to me! Last but not least I want to thank my partner Reinert. I could not have done this without you. You made the past nine years the best of my life and I am looking so much forward to the adventures to come. Everything is better when you are around. Linköping, 3rd November 2016 Helga Sadowski Table of Contents 1 Introduction: Digital Intimacies in Everyday Internet Cultures .................................................................... 15 1.1 Aims and Research Questions .................................................. 18 1.2 Hate and Hostility Online ......................................................... 23 Hatr: Countering Online Hate .............................................. 27 1.3 Women in Tech 2.0 ................................................................... 28 Women*-Centered Coding Initiatives ................................... 30 1.4 The Whispering Women of ASMR ........................................... 32 On Whispering and Gazing .................................................... 34 1.5 Digital Inimicalities and Doing Digital Media Differently ...... 35 Outline of the Book ................................................................ 37 2 Theories of Intimacy