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COMMUNITY:
Mass Media Article

“Queue up, you stupid!”: communicating about technology problems. An exploratory study of warning messages posted on machines in public places

July 24, 2015 | Media and Technology
Communication about technology has long been neglected within the field of science and technology communication. This visual exploratory study focuses on how users can communicate with and about technology in public places through warning signs posted on technological devices. Three broad categories of messages have been identified: bad design, malfunctioning and disciplining users. By analyzing examples within each category, we suggest that studying these communicative situations can be a key to understanding how users are engaged in continuous, elaborate and sometimes even conflicting framing of technological devices (e.g. with regard to their purpose, appropriate uses, shifting boundaries between functioning/malfunctioning); how such framing, in turn, can be used to readjust/realign social behavior and organizational routines.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Beatrice Arbulla
    Author
    University of Trento
  • Massimiano Bucchi
    Author
    University of Trento
  • Citation

    ISSN : 1824-2049
    Publication Name: Journal of Science Communication
    Volume: 14
    Number: 3
    Resource Type: Reference Materials
    Discipline: Technology
    Audience: General Public | Scientists
    Environment Type: Media and Technology

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