Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Working Lives and Spatial Practices of Digital Media Developers

University Of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington KY

Investigators

Abstract

This project will analyze the production of digital media and software and the spatial transformations and work practices and places to which they contribute. Its specific aim is to examine the systems of privilege - especially gendered privilege and exclusionary standards of masculinity - that influence the work practices and workplaces of digital media developers to shed critical light on the conditions leading to and perpetuating the exclusion of women software engineers from digital media firms. Specific research questions to be investigated include: How are everyday work practices conducted and structured in digital media work by its developers? What are the physical working spaces of digital media developers and how do they support or restrict particular work practices? In what ways are digital media developers' work practices and spaces gendered? Through a detailed study of the gendered spatial practices and dynamics of power in digital media workplaces in San Francisco, this research will contribute theoretical understanding to a range of scholarly disciplines including the sociology of work, new media, social media, geography, feminist theory, and STS. In terms of broader impacts, the findings of this research will inform and enhance efforts to expand participation in the STEM workforce by under-represented segments of the population. The theoretical framework in which this research project is situated incorporates insights from cultural economic geography, feminist economic geography, and the sociology of work, which emphasize the importance of language, meaning, symbols, power, and subject identities and gendered and/or racialized performances in the economic sphere. The project draws on and contributes to research in these fields that point to the manner in which high tech and other high end service sector (e.g., finance) work presents particular workplace practices and performances of masculinity that are exclusionary. By analyzing precisely how gender bias constitutes a cultural component of economic practice that is normalized in everyday settings, the overarching objective of this study is to assess how positive change toward the broader inclusion of women and other under-represented groups in the digital media and software industry may be accomplished. Methods to be utilized include participant observation and semi-structured interviews with digital media developers in San Francisco, where several hundred digital media firms are located.