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Joanna Łucja Kędra

~ visual education & research

Joanna Łucja Kędra

Tag Archives: WhatsInApp

About images without images – New article just accepted (edit: published!)

16 Monday Jan 2023

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iconology, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Mitchell, new article, transnational family communication, visual culture studies, WhatsInApp

How to write about images without looking at them but only hearing about them from the study participants? How to analyze images without images? How to conduct “visual studies” if you end up only with verbal narratives as your data? – These were the challenges I faced when I completed data collection for the project What’s in the app? Digitally-mediated communication within contemporary multilingual families across time and space (2018-2022), led by Professor Åsa Palviainen. My work in the project ended in March 2021 and the article on narratives about family photography was submitted in May. After two rounds of reviews in three different journals, the article WhatsApp iconology: Narratives on in-app photographic practices in (transnational) family communication was finally accepted in mid-January 2023 by the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

I learned a lot while working on this article. Thanks to colleagues from the ECREA Visual Cultures Section, I was able to start the whole analysis as they guided me toward W.J.T. Mitchell’s ideas on imagetext and iconology. This theoretical framework helped me to look at images without seeing them (so having no visual data at hand) but hearing about them (so working on what participants told about their visual communication practices in mobile communication in transnational family context).

The study presented in the article lays at the intersection of visual culture studies, mobile communication, migration and transnationalism (transnational family communication). Hence, I also faced difficulties in finding the most suitable forum to publish it (and so, two journals rejected it in the second review round). However, I found the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies as the most welcoming and encouraging place for this article. And I am happy it will be published with all the elements I really wanted to keep there, including a personal, an ethnographic-like twist in the beginning, referring to my reading of R. Barthes’ Camera Lucida as a student, many years back.

EDIT: As of January 31, 2023, you can now read the article here (the link provides access to the free copy of the article).

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Virtual proximity and transnational familyhood – new article!

29 Thursday Oct 2020

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digital media, ethnography, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, migration, new article, Poles in Finland, Polish migrants, WhatsInApp

In the study published in the article: Virtual proximity and transnational familyhood: a case study of the digital communication practices of Poles living in Finland I use a concept of virtual proximity, meaning the emotional closeness between individuals afforded by digital technologies and mobile communication. Through ethnographically driven inquiry among five Polish-speaking families living in Finland, I identified four thematic patterns in participants’ practices in digital habitats: (i) children’s agency in creating family WhatsApp groups, (ii) the use of family in-app communication for language learning purposes, (iii) digital caregiving strategies and arrangements, and (iv) the use of digital photo-sharing as a form of visual co-presence.

The study is part of the project ‘Whats in the App? Digitally-mediated communication within contemporary multilingual families across time and space’ supported by the Academy of Finland (grant number: 315478). And the article is open access!

Interactive collage as elicitation technique – new article!

23 Thursday Jul 2020

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interactive collage, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, new article, visual elicitation, WhatsInApp

Enjoy reading my article discussing some of the results of my fieldwork among Polish transnational families living in Finland: Performing transnational family with the affordances of mobile apps: A case study of Polish mothers living in Finland, published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

In the auto-driven visual elicitation interviews with Polish mothers, I look at family constellations and technologically mediated communication practices. Applying the technique of an interactive collage, study participants visualised kinship relations, using colored cards showing silhouettes of adults and children and icons of mobile apps. The technique of an interactive collage is my contribution to enrich visual elicitation methodology.

The study presented in this article was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 315478] and conducted as part of the project: What’s in the app? Digitally-mediated communication within contemporary multilingual families across time and space (2018-2022).

Visual prompts and visual methods in multilingualism research

16 Tuesday Jul 2019

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collage, conference workshop, interactive collage, MultiLing, University of Oslo, visual research methods, WhatsInApp

A real eye opener to practiced-based visual research methods, variety of approaches and innovative ideas – a 3-day workshop “Visual prompts and visual methods in multilingualism research”, organized by the MultiLing Research Center at the University of Oslo, Norway, that took place 17-19 June 2019 (and that I was lucky to participate in).

I must confess to my initial skepticism regarding the content and context of this event: visual research methods and language studies brought together… I know, of course, that visual methods are multidisciplinary. However, my initial encounter with VRM scholarship within the discipline of linguistics raised many questions and doubts. These mainly concerned an issue if the methods applied and referred to are, actually, visual research methods (in a way I used to know them). In this context, the Oslo workshop truly enriched my knowledge about VRM. It also demonstrated that VRM can be, indeed, applied across disciplines.

The paper that I found particularly interesting and “absolutely visual” in approach was a study of sign language in a form of auto-driven visual elicitation. Maartje De Meulder and Annelies Kusters used a well-known (in language studies) method of a language portrait (a method that I would have questioned the most, based on my initial readings). However, examples of data that they showed were very reach, with a variety of participants’ approach to the idea of “drawing the language”. In addition, and as a common practice in sign language research, they presented extracts from video interviews. Here, participants could really explain and present their relationship with language(s). I was truly surprised by how the language can be embodied – that was both showed in the drawings of language portrait and in the video interviews.

In addition to many interesting papers, I was also positively surprised by a new format of a material session. It can be understood as a more relaxed and even more engaging variation of a traditional poster session. In this case, presenters were introducing their cases, or actually the methods they applied, in a form of a variety of materials they could have brought to the table (so there was no actual posters, but table-spots with a scholar you could approach for further explanation of her/his research).

In addition to the regular paper, I was also presenting my auto-driven elicitation method of an interactive collage in the material session. A method of an interactive collage, I have recently applied in the fieldwork with Polish-speaking families living in Finland (as part of the ‘WhatsInApp’ project). And again – I was positively surprised by a high interest in both the method and my project. I came to this workshop as a sort of “outsider”, visual scholar with a background in communication studies. I thought I will not be able to find a common language (sic!) with language scholars. And it turned out to be the opposite – actually, here, I finally talked to researchers who are very practice-oriented. They also really kept the focus on visual methods, which I could not always observe with my visual cultures/studies colleagues on some other occasions. At the “Visual prompts” workshop there were, of course, some papers and discussions that I was not able to follow and engage in, having no background in linguistics. Nevertheless, these three days were very refreshing and particularly important in bringing new ideas and motivation for my further fieldwork in the ‘WhatsInApp’ project.

Workshop summary with a focus on researcher position in the research process (in a fieldwork) and in relation to images.

WhatsInApp Project & Postdoc Post

07 Thursday Feb 2019

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collaboration, postdoctoral project, project, WhatsInApp

From January 2019, I have started a new two-year post as Postdoctoral Researcher in the project “What’s in the App? Digitally-mediated communication within contemporary multilingual families across time and space”. The PI of this project – WhatsInApp – is Prof. Åsa Palviainen. Project is financed by Academy of Finland (Sept 1, 2018 – Aug 31, 2022) and is conducted in the Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, with an extensive international collaboration. More information about the project can be found here.

Recent Posts

  • About images without images – New article just accepted (edit: published!)
  • “Visual Pedagogies” book launch summary
  • “Visual Pedagogies” Book Launch
  • Book: Visual Pedagogies in Higher Education
  • IVLA 2022 Conference in Jyväskylä (10-12 August)

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