A ‘Small and Thick’ Portrait of Kabelo’s Digital Play

Shafika Isaacs

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-49932-7_87

A ‘Small and Thick’ Portrait of Kabelo’s Digital Play

Shafika Isaacs

SARChI: Integrated Studies of Learning Language, Mathematics and Science in the Primary School

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

This article analyses the part of a broader ethnographic narrative portrait of a boy called Kabelo that deals with his everyday digital play. Kabelo lives and schools in Soweto, South Africa and was followed over 16 months. His portrait is a response to the dearth of sociological knowledge on the everyday digital lives of African children. A social justice orientation combined with critical ethnography, narrative inquiry and portraiture provided the conceptual and methodological framework and guided the use of a range of qualitative data collection strategies. Through activity systems analysis (ASA) (Engeström 2015) the interrelationships and tensions within his world of digital play are anaysed. The study concludes that Kabelo’s relative access to mobile digital technologies illuminates his mobilities within and between his world of digital play and enables his voice, agency and capabilities. However, tensions exist based on the misrecognition of the subject’s agency and capabilities in policy. The study recommends the socially-just recognition of digital play capabilities as part of a list of children’s play capabilities for inclusion in policy and formal learning systems. Attention to the production of small and thick digital ethnographies to complement big and broad data is also recommended.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Internet of Things, Infrastructures and Mobile Applications - Proceedings of the 13th IMCL Conference, IMCL 2019
Editors	Michael E. Auer, Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages	938-949
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Print)	9783030499310
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49932-7_87
Publication status	Published - 2021
Event	13th International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication, Technologies and Learning, IMCL 2019 - Thessaloniki, Greece Duration: 31 Oct 2019 → 1 Nov 2019

Publication series

Name	Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing
Volume	1192 AISC
ISSN (Print)	2194-5357
ISSN (Electronic)	2194-5365

Conference

Conference	13th International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication, Technologies and Learning, IMCL 2019
Country/Territory	Greece
City	Thessaloniki
Period	31/10/19 → 1/11/19

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 Quality Education
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

Boys
Capabilities
Children
Digital ethnography, narrative, portraiture, South Africa
Digital play
Play
Social justice
Soweto
m-Learning

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Control and Systems Engineering
General Computer Science

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-49932-7_87

Cite this

Isaacs, S. (2021). A ‘Small and Thick’ Portrait of Kabelo’s Digital Play. In M. E. Auer, & T. Tsiatsos (Eds.), Internet of Things, Infrastructures and Mobile Applications - Proceedings of the 13th IMCL Conference, IMCL 2019 (pp. 938-949). (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing; Vol. 1192 AISC). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49932-7_87

@inproceedings{2d0039a2519c4fd7b2fefd7f9e4edd27,

title = "A {\textquoteleft}Small and Thick{\textquoteright} Portrait of Kabelo{\textquoteright}s Digital Play",

abstract = "This article analyses the part of a broader ethnographic narrative portrait of a boy called Kabelo that deals with his everyday digital play. Kabelo lives and schools in Soweto, South Africa and was followed over 16 months. His portrait is a response to the dearth of sociological knowledge on the everyday digital lives of African children. A social justice orientation combined with critical ethnography, narrative inquiry and portraiture provided the conceptual and methodological framework and guided the use of a range of qualitative data collection strategies. Through activity systems analysis (ASA) (Engestr{\"o}m 2015) the interrelationships and tensions within his world of digital play are anaysed. The study concludes that Kabelo{\textquoteright}s relative access to mobile digital technologies illuminates his mobilities within and between his world of digital play and enables his voice, agency and capabilities. However, tensions exist based on the misrecognition of the subject{\textquoteright}s agency and capabilities in policy. The study recommends the socially-just recognition of digital play capabilities as part of a list of children{\textquoteright}s play capabilities for inclusion in policy and formal learning systems. Attention to the production of small and thick digital ethnographies to complement big and broad data is also recommended.",

keywords = "Boys, Capabilities, Children, Digital ethnography, narrative, portraiture, South Africa, Digital play, Play, Social justice, Soweto, m-Learning",

author = "Shafika Isaacs",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.; 13th International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication, Technologies and Learning, IMCL 2019 ; Conference date: 31-10-2019 Through 01-11-2019",

year = "2021",

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language = "English",

isbn = "9783030499310",

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publisher = "Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH",

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Isaacs, S 2021, A ‘Small and Thick’ Portrait of Kabelo’s Digital Play. in ME Auer & T Tsiatsos (eds), Internet of Things, Infrastructures and Mobile Applications - Proceedings of the 13th IMCL Conference, IMCL 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol. 1192 AISC, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 938-949, 13th International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication, Technologies and Learning, IMCL 2019, Thessaloniki, Greece, 31/10/19. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49932-7_87

A ‘Small and Thick’ Portrait of Kabelo’s Digital Play. / Isaacs, Shafika.
Internet of Things, Infrastructures and Mobile Applications - Proceedings of the 13th IMCL Conference, IMCL 2019. ed. / Michael E. Auer; Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2021. p. 938-949 (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing; Vol. 1192 AISC).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Isaacs S. A ‘Small and Thick’ Portrait of Kabelo’s Digital Play. In Auer ME, Tsiatsos T, editors, Internet of Things, Infrastructures and Mobile Applications - Proceedings of the 13th IMCL Conference, IMCL 2019. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. 2021. p. 938-949. (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-49932-7_87

A ‘Small and Thick’ Portrait of Kabelo’s Digital Play

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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