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PN 107 Managing Boundaries in Communicative Mobility
M. Berg1, C. Roitsch 1
1 University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
One central aspect in the discourse on recent media and communicative change is the concept of the dissolution of boundaries: Slogans such as the “al‑
ways-on mode” of communication (Ito et al., 2008: 15) or “being permanently online” (Vorderer & Kohring, 2013: 190) go back to the vast opportunities
offered by digital media in general and mobile technologies in particular. Mediated connectivity is seen as permeating all spheres of life and thus dissolving
the boundaries of e.g. professional and private life (Krotz, 2003), work and play (Wittel, 2008) or the public and the private sphere (Marwick & boyd, 2014).
In our presentation, however, we want to show that communicative networking today should be rather understood as a dialectic of dissolution as well as
separation. Exemplarily looking at communicative mobility as a process perspective on the intersection of different forms of physical movement and media
use, it turns out that boundaries between spheres of life such as the private-professional-dichotomy are not simply turning obsolete. Rather media are used
for different forms of boundary management comprising practices of integration as well as separation. Central to our analysis are the temporal as well as
the social dimensions of boundary management. In this presentation, however, we want to focus the spatial dimension of communicatively integrating
and separating different spheres of life, represented in either single social relationships or different communitizations on the whole. Especially in situations
of mobility, complex patterns of boundary management concerning local as well as translocal connectivity are applied. Empirically, our presentation com‑
bines the findings of two qualitative research first study investigates the role of digital media for the relationshipmaintenance of 22 individuals
in situations of intense job-related mobility. The second study focuses the interrelations of communicative networking and local as well as translocal forms
of communitization. Its sample comprises 160 ethnographic miniatures of people aged 16 to 88. Both research projects were carried out in Germany and
follow a qualitative network analysis approach (Hepp et al., 2016). Combining qualitative interviews (meaning dimension), open network maps (structural
dimension) and media diaries (processual dimension) practices of communicative networking are analyzed from an ego-centered perspective. References
Hepp, Andreas/Berg, Matthias/Roitsch, Cindy (2016): Investigating communication networks contextually: Qualitative network analysis as cross-media re‑
search. In: MedieKultur 32(60) (accepted for publication). Ito, Mizuko/Horst, Heather/Bittanti, Matteo/boyd, danah/Herr-Stephenson, Becky/Lange, Patricia
G/Pascoe, C.J./Robinson, Laura (2008): Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Online:
ed.gov/fulltext/ED536072.pdf [02–11–15]. Krotz, Friedrich (2003): Die Mediatisierung der Lebensräume von Jugendlichen. Perspektiven für die Forschung.
In: Bug, Judith/Karmasin, Matthias (eds.): Telekommunikation und Jugendkultur: Eine Einführung. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 167–183. Marwick,
Alice E/boyd, danah (2014): Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media. In: newmedia & society 16(7), 1051–1067. Vorderer, Pe‑
ter/Kohring, Matthias (2013): Permanently online: A challenge for media and communication research. In: International Journal of Communication 7(2013),
188–196. Wittel, Andreas (2008): Towards a network society. In: Hepp, Andreas/Krotz, Friedrich/Moores, Shaun/Winter, Carsten (eds.): Connectivity, Net‑
works and Flows: Conceptualizing Contemporary Communications. Cresskill: Hampton Press, 157–182.
PN 108 The Matter of Presence and Mobile Communication Rituals
C. Linke1
1 University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany
This contribution presents research focusing on mobile communication in the theoretical tradition towards a ritual interaction order (Goffman, 1989;
Bergesen, 1999).The center question raised is in how far mobile media communication is strengthening social bonds in creating new forms of ritual interac‑
tion and social cohesion or if an increasing mediation and virtualization is disrupting social interaction and connection in the here and now. Hereby different
levels of social processes are relevant: There are ritual elements on a linguistic level of everyday communication and interaction which are performatively
and meaningfully enacted on a micro-level of codes (Bergesen, 1999). Furthermore, there are interaction rituals on a meso-level (Goffman, 1989), as
an embedding of communicative symbols, like greetings and formulas, in people’s everyday life. On a macro-level there a ceremony interactions respectively
events that can be differentiated from habitualized action as they have a subjective meaning for the people and include an emotional component (Collins
2004). Concerning the role of media communication in everyday life this research is based on a broad understanding of media, which again is based on
face-to-face communication as the prototype of human social interaction (Berger/Luckmann, 2004). The communicative experience is enabled beyond
single media usage in a convergent communicative repertoire. The advent of mobile communication technologies have brought new qualities of people
connecting and feeling connected with each other: Christian Licoppe (2004) has been describing a notion of connected presence, as mobile communica‑
tion technologies enable an ongoing contact with others. At the same time Kenneth Gergen’s concept of absent presence (2002) highlights the sharing
of people’s attention between here and now and a virtual communication space. Following Randall Collins’ theory of ritual interaction chains (2004) and
his assumption that ritual interaction can only be created in vis-à-vis situations, recent concepts on the topic (e.g. Ling, 2008) are discussed and developed
further for the issue of communication in convergent media repertoires. Hereby the micro-level of codes (linguistic, visual, audiovisual), the meso-level
of interaction in (mediated, virtual) interpersonal situation and media ceremonies and events as rituals on the macro-level are elaborated and connected
through empirical case studies. The research brings up conceptual questions of mediated experience as social process including readings of representation,
(co-)construction of identities and belonging and relating to or distinguishing from others. In discussing these issues, the relevant concepts and theoretical
terms are challenged. References Berger, Peter L., and Luckmann, Thomas (2004). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowl‑
edge. Garden City: Doubleday. Bergesen, Albert (1999). The Ritual Order. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 25, 157–197. Collins, Randall (2004). Inter‑
action Ritual Chains. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Goffman, Erving (1989). Interaction ritual : essays on face-to-face behavior. NewYork : Pantheon
Books. Licoppe, Christian. (2004). Connected presence: The emergence of a new repertoire for managing social relationships in a changing communications
technoscape. Environment and Planning: Society and Space, 22, 135–156. Ling, Rich (2008). NewTech, NewTies: HowMobile Communication Is Reshaping
Social Cohesion. Cambridge / London: MIT Press.