Narratives of new media in Scottish households: The evolution of a framework of inquiry

The authors describe a study of the social dynamics of new media in Scottis h households. The evolving project drew on dialogues with multiple househol d members elicited in group conversations. This approach to interviews capt ured different and conflicting points of view, a feature shared with certai n social approaches to systems design. Analysis of the interview transcript s revealed that there are recurrent narratives and behavioral genres across households (and across sample groups), and that these reflect tactics, str atagems, and plans by means of which respondents navigate social space. The authors' approach contrasts with prevailing 'needs and uses" models in inf ormation science, in offering a methodological framework based on group nar rative and genre analysis that contributes to a theory of social informatic s in the household.