Performance ritual and the design of mobile devices Submitted by Kym R. Campbell th 30 May 2016 Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Abstract This thesis argues that concepts of secular ritual, drawn from the work of Erving Goffman and James Carey, can provide a useful way of understanding the relationship between the production and design of mobile devices and their use, and hence provides further insights into the broader relationship between mobile technologies and society. This argument is developed by reviewing scholarship on the relationship between technologies and society, before engaging with ritual as a secular concept and a way of understanding human relations with technology. James Carey's work on ritual and communication is key to linking technology with ritual, while Erving Goffman's work on ritual and performance provides a way to develop a framework for further analysis. The ritual performance-oriented framework is described here as the theatre of design, and acts as a metaphor for describing the dynamic between society and the mobile device. In essence, this approach argues that we can understand our relationship with mobile devices as a performance in which the device can be a prop, users can be thought of as actors, and designers take on the role of director. To develop this framework further, the device is examined through a sociocultural lens. Du Gay et al’s circuit of culture is utilised to illustrate how meaning comes to associate with the technology. In the context of this thesis, however, Rook's work on consumerist ritual provides a way to link the circuit of culture back to the concept of ritual, uniting the idea of a circuit of meaning-making activities, which involve production and consumption, within the theatre of design. iii While this approach could be used to focus only on the relationship between the user and the mobile device, the focus of this thesis is on the ways that performative ritual-like activities are embedded into the processes of production and design. This concept is explored in this thesis by conducting in-depth interviews with key informants, which both informed the development of the framework, and also served to ground it in practice. The interviews with key informants found both support for the theatre of design framework, and provided insights, which guided its development. Five key themes emerged from the interviews which together show that there is evidence for performative uses of mobile devices being central to the concerns and processes of mobile device design. In particular, ritual-like engagement with devices is embedded into the design process through design concepts such as affordance, emotion, experience and sharing and exchanging. iv Acknowledgments My thanks, respect and appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Sam Hinton, for without his unwavering guidance, care and optimism this thesis would not have been possible. Also thanks to James Martin for proof reading this thesis in accordance to the guidelines laid down in the Universities national guidelines. To my mother, Joy whose continual support and calmness helped me to understand that all things are possible. And my brother Marc, whose strong will always acted as a reminder to me. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Susan, who always had faith in my abilities. Her inquisitive intelligence and infectious enthusiasm about technology and research always helped to bring out the very best in me. And to my son, Kim, who makes me proud every day and shows me that life is full of optimism and infinite surprise. This thesis is a tribute to my late father Aylmer John Campbell, who taught me the art of simplicity, determination and patience. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgments vii Table of Contents ix List of Figures xv 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Structure of the Thesis 2 2. Technology, Society and the Mobile Device 11 2.1. Overview 11 2.2. Technology and Society: Science and Technology Studies 13 2.2.1. The Social Construction of Technology 15 2.2.2. Actor-network theory 19 2.3. Overview of the mobile device 22 2.3.1. Definition of Mobile Devices 24 2.3.2. The PDA as precursor to the Mobile Device 26 2.4. Mobile as a Technical Device 32 2.4.1. Emergence of the Smart Phone 42 2.4.2. Operating Systems 45 2.5. The Mobile as Cultural Object 48 2.5.1. The Apple iPhone 52 2.6. Conclusion 60 3. Ritual, performance and technology 63 3.1. Overview 63 3.2. Ritual 64 ix 3.2.1. A Secular Approach to Ritual 67 3.3. Carey, Ritual and Communication 72 3.3.1. Communication as Ritual 73 3.3.2. Carey, Ritual and Technology 77 3.4. Goffman, Ritual and Performance 79 3.4.1. Goffman’s Ritual 82 3.4.2. Collins and interaction ritual chains 85 3.4.3. The Performative Turn 87 3.5. Theatre of design 89 3.6. Conclusions 95 4. Consumption Ritual and the Mobile Device 97 4.1. Overview 97 4.2. The Mobile Device as a Socio-cultural object 98 4.2.1. Cultural circuits 99 4.2.2. Julier’s Domain of Design Culture and du Gay et al.’s Cultural Circuits 101 4.2.3. The Sony Walkman and the Identity Moment 104 4.3. Consumption, production and design 110 4.3.1. Circuits and Domains: production and design 111 4.3.2. Making meaning 112 4.3.3. Designers and conceptual spaces 115 4.3.4. Extending the fictional space 119 4.3.5. The use of story to create fictional space 122 4.3.6. Apple Products and the walled garden 127 4.3.7. Samsung Bada 128 4.4. Consumerist rituals 129 4.4.1. The ritual artefact 130 4.4.2. The ritual script and performance 131 x 4.4.3. The ritual audience 136 4.4.4. Public ritual and technology 137 4.4.5. The Apple Store as ritual-like activity – theatre of distribution 138 4.5. Conclusion 140 5. Production and the Mobile device 141 5.1. Overview 141 5.2. Design - What is Design? 142 5.2.1. Form and function as narrative in design 147 5.2.2. Designing a Mobile Device 150 5.3. Designers 153 5.3.1. The design team 153 5.3.2. Design process 156 5.3.3. User-centred design 161 5.3.4. Designer-centred design 168 5.4. Embedding value 170 5.4.1. Affordances 175 5.4.2. HCI and form 177 5.4.3. Experience design 180 5.4.4. Emotion in design 181 5.4.5. Aesthetics and sound 183 5.4.6. Designing by sound 184 5.4.7. Company design strategy: mobile device – package design 186 5.5. Conclusions 192 6. Methodologies and methods 193 6.1. Overview 193 6.2. Research Methodology 194 6.2.1. Grounded Theory 195 xi 6.2.2. Technology and grounded theory 201 6.3. Data Collection 205 6.3.1. Method overview 206 6.3.2. Key Informant Interviews 207 6.3.3. Sample Size and Selection 209 6.3.4. Interview Method 213 6.3.5. Ethical Considerations 217 6.4. Data Analysis 218 6.4.1. Summarising interviews 219 6.4.2. Manual coding 221 6.4.3. Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) 226 6.4.4. CAQDAS methods and analysis 228 6.4.5. Individual data analysis 235 6.5. Conclusion/Summary 237 7. Findings 239 7.1. Overview 239 7.1.1 A note on interpretation of leximancer graphics 240 7.1.2. Main Themes 242 7.2. Summary of Findings 243 7.3. Theme: people 246 7.3.1. People and market 247 7.3.2. People and work 249 7.3.3. Work and interaction 250 7.4. Concept of Look 258 7.4.1. Prominence of themes 264 7.5. The Pattern 266 7.6. The social in design 267 xii 7.7 Limitations and strengths to coding and software analysis 278 7.8. Conclusion 279 8. Conclusion - The Value of Ritual 281 8.1. Introduction 281 8.2. Summary 284 8.3. Recommendations for further research 293 8.4. Limitations of the study 296 8.5. Conclusion 297 9. Bibliography 301 10. Appendices 335 10.1. Appendix A: NEAF approved letter of participation and consent form 335 10.2. Appendix B: Leximancer result of normal themes and maximum concepts of all participants 339 10.3. Appendix C: Leximancer results of normal themes and maximum concepts of individuals 341 10.4. Appendix D: Summarised raw interview transcripts and manual categories 347 xiii List of Figures Figure 2-1. Nixdorf LK-3000 ................................................................................................................................ 26 Figure 2-2. Psion Organiser................................................................................................................................. 27 Figure 2-3. Police in Chicago using a radio telephone, Time, US, Bettman Corbis ............................................ 34 Figure 2-4. Prototype of the DynaTAC mobile telephone, Meyers ....................................................................... 35 Figure 2-5. Motorola MicroTAC .......................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 2-6. IBM Simon (US, 1993)....................................................................................................................... 39 Figure 2-7. Nokia 9000 Communicator (US) ....................................................................................................... 40 Figure 2-8. 2G to 4G Networks, Interpreting Srivastava system from The Mobile Makes Its Mark .................... 43 Figure 2-9. Timeline of Apple products from 1976 - 2010, Wiki .......................................................................... 53 Figure 3-1. The theatre of design illustrating the stage and circumstances ......................................................... 92 Figure 4-1. The first Sony Walkman, TPS-L2, Sony, (Japan) ............................................................................. 106 Figure 4-2. The Founding Prospectus of the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation (Sony) ..... 107 Figure 4-3. "Skins" used in personalising mobile devices in Kyoto, (Japan, 2011) ........................................... 110 Figure 4-4.