University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Making meaning out of high tech: A critical ethnographic retelling of personal stories about the information age

Woodward, Wayne David

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Description

Title
Making meaning out of high tech: A critical ethnographic retelling of personal stories about the information age
Author(s)
Woodward, Wayne David
Issue Date
1991
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Christians, Clifford G.
Department of Study
Communication
Discipline
Communication
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Anthropology, Cultural
  • Mass Communications
  • Information Science
Language
eng
Abstract
  • "The principal concern of this study is to explore the character and origins of people's everyday knowledge about phenomena that are typically considered as part of an ""information age,"" ""computer revolution,"" or ""high-tech society."" Based primarily on ethnographic interviews, the research attempts to elicit and to analyze narrative expressions of how people may connect these purportedly global phenomena with their own life stories, or personal biographies."
  • In line with an emerging literature of critical ethnography, as exemplified by James Clifford and George Marcus, among others, the study undertakes to link methodological analysis with substantive, theoretical findings. Drawing upon Gregory Ulmer's paradigm for developing forms of analysis that integrate three levels of discourse--personal, popular, and disciplinary--the study combines consideration of the ethnographic data with reflexive commentary on its own research methods, as well as on the contributing influence of personal and public symbols associated with technology.
  • "The study is conceived ultimately as a contribution to a ""theory of fictions"" that James W. Carey joins with Clifford Geertz to call for as a principal contribution of cultural studies."
Type of Resource
text
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/23403
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 1991 Woodward, Wayne David

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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses - Communication