TY - JOUR
T1 - Context collapse
T2 - Theorizing context collusions and collisions
AU - Davis, Jenny L.
AU - Jurgenson, Nathan
PY - 2014/4
Y1 - 2014/4
N2 - The collapsing of social contexts together has emerged as an important topic with the rise of social media that so often blurs the public and private, professional and personal, and the many different selves and situations in which individuals find themselves. Academic literature is starting to address how the meshing of social contexts online has many potentially beneficial as well as problematic consequences. In an effort to further theorize context collapse, we draw on this literature to consider the conditions under which context collapse occurs, offering key conceptual tools with which to address these conditions. Specifically, we distinguish two different types of context collapse, splitting collapse into context collusions and context collisions. The former is an intentional collapsing of contexts, while the latter is unintentional. We further examine the ways in which both technological architectures and agentic user practices combine to facilitate and mitigate the various effects of collapsing contexts.
AB - The collapsing of social contexts together has emerged as an important topic with the rise of social media that so often blurs the public and private, professional and personal, and the many different selves and situations in which individuals find themselves. Academic literature is starting to address how the meshing of social contexts online has many potentially beneficial as well as problematic consequences. In an effort to further theorize context collapse, we draw on this literature to consider the conditions under which context collapse occurs, offering key conceptual tools with which to address these conditions. Specifically, we distinguish two different types of context collapse, splitting collapse into context collusions and context collisions. The former is an intentional collapsing of contexts, while the latter is unintentional. We further examine the ways in which both technological architectures and agentic user practices combine to facilitate and mitigate the various effects of collapsing contexts.
KW - computer-mediated-communication
KW - identity
KW - social networking
KW - social theory
KW - sociology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897380294&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1369118X.2014.888458
DO - 10.1080/1369118X.2014.888458
M3 - Article
SN - 1369-118X
VL - 17
SP - 476
EP - 485
JO - Information Communication and Society
JF - Information Communication and Society
IS - 4
ER -