Frédérik Lesage
Biographic Data
| ID | 288554 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Frédérik Lesage |
| GIVEN NAMES | Frédérik |
| FAMILY NAME | Lesage |
| SIGNATURE | LESAGE F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Simon Fraser University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9539-0958 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Testing creativity: Towards a processual understanding of GenAI image-making tasks
We argue that everyday creative tasks that involve generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) are tacitly performed within computational test environments that not only enable and constrain human agency but also shape the epistemic conditions that allow us to ascertain what constitutes creativity itself. Without making such taken-for-granted conditions explicit, society will remain unable to critique them. To make these conditions explicit, we co…
Figurations of Mentorship for Cultural Work
As cultural work becomes increasingly precarious and digitally mediatized, we ask how mentorship can continue to play a crucial role in shaping how the know-how of cultural work is organized and shared. Drawing on a case study of a mentorship program for cultural work taking place in Greater Vancouver, Canada, we propose conceptualizing mentorship as a figuration, which we describe by tracing three interdependent threads: a constellation of actor…
Finding a rhythm: The mediality of researching digital skill as process
Our objective for this article is to illustrate the importance of understanding digital skill as process by taking its mediality—interweaving tools, technologies, and media—into consideration. Drawing on 12 case studies with participants performing digital tasks, we use Ingold’s four phases of skill (getting ready, setting out, carrying on, and finishing off) to research and represent the rhythm of digital skill. By using medialities of inscripti…
Searching for Tasks: Task-Orientation and the Processuality of Digital Skills
Skills are not “out there” to be learned but develop through their enactment in situ. Rather than defining skills using a tool- or media-driven approach, we understand skills as situated, embodied processes known as ‘task-orientation’. Coined by Tim Ingold (2011, p. 195) this term refers to “any practical operation, carried out by a skilled agent in an environment as part of his or her normal business of life”. Part of this approach entails takin…
Caring Time in a Hybrid Digital Media System: The Tragically Hip, Public Broadcasting, and Networked Media Events
Background This article tackles the concern that meaningful collective experiences of large-scale media events are no longer possible because contemporary hybrid digital media systems disrupt the temporal coordinating function, or formatting, traditionally performed by broadcast media. Analysis Drawing from media events literature, this article puts forward a conception of caring time to show that while the means for sharing the temporality of me…
Expectation and anticipation: Research assemblages for elections
In this paper we interrogate how different research assemblages act as affect-enhancing devices for elections by drawing from the 2015 Canadian Federal election. The paper uses scholarship from media events traditions to devise an ontological framework for analysing the mediatization of elections and to show how research assemblages propagate a myth of the mediated centre. We then discuss two examples of how research assemblages are deployed as m…
Investigating politics through artistic practices: Affect resonance of creative publics
While artistic practices have been central to political movements throughout the 20th century, much analysis treats these modes of expression as distinct or separate from more traditional forms of civic practices and everyday political participation. Building on discussions of the cultural turn in civic agency and the shortcoming of cultural citizenship, the authors of this article interrogate the relationship between affect, artistic practices a…
Warren Buffet is my cousin: Shaping public understanding of big data biotechnology, direct-to-consumer genomics, and 23andMe on Twitter
Scholars, educators, regulators, pundits, and other observers are advocating for regulation and oversight of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomic testing. As a result, the technology has been subject of highly visible public and regulatory controversy. In this article, we explore the nature and the shape of the sentiment of public discourse about the DTC company, 23andMe. We conduct a quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis on …
A Cultural Biography of Application Software
In a blog post from 2012, Michael Lopp compares the Valve-designed videogame Portal to Adobe Systems’ digital-imaging application software Photoshop. While both appear to be very different kinds of digital media objects, Lopp argues that they share certain characteristics in terms of user experience and that because of these shared traits designers of Photoshop stand to learn how to improve its user experience by studying Portal’s design. In the …
Shifting media imaginaries of the Web
This exploratory paper sets out a conceptual model for investigating how media imaginaries of the Web shape its design and use over time. We draw from the work of scholars who have devised models for the study of techno-social imaginaries of information and communication technologies, including Patrice Flichy and Robin Mansell. Based on these works, we devise a case study of contrasting media imaginaries of the Web by drawing on textual analysis …
Keeping up” through Teaching and Learning Media Software: “Introducing” Photoshop
Research on cultural industries suggests that the constant and rapid change to digital technologies used by creative practitioners requires that they continually upgrade their skills in order to remain relevant in their occupations. In this article, we present the results of an investigation into the mediation of Photoshop, focusing on how this digital imaging application software and its content are used to mediate access to cultural work. Teach…
Between Objectivity and Openness—The Mediality of Data for Journalism
A number of recent high profile news events have emphasised the importance of data as a journalistic resource. But with no definitive definition for what constitutes data in journalism, it is difficult to determine what the implications of collecting, analysing, and disseminating data are for journalism, particularly in terms of objectivity in journalism. Drawing selectively from theories of mediation and research in journalism studies we critica…
Cultural Biographies and Excavations of Media: Context and Process
This article reviews and compares historical approaches to the study of digital media. Its focus is an examination of how biographical methods for the study of media and the research tradition known as media archaeology can be usefully combined as part of a research methodology for the study of media software. After introducing Igor Kopytoff's concept of the cultural biography of things, I assess how some scholars have applied this concept to the…
Sensory Threads
Sensory Threads is a pair of interlinked experiences, which explore the way in which sensing can give us insight into how our bodies are a part of their wider environment. Sensory Threads seeks to investigate what happens when wearables move beyond being technologies designed for individuals and are transformed into tools of ‘collective sensing’. It aims to stimulate participants' behaviours through their own emergent and unpredictable actions in…
Cultural Biographies and Excavations of Media: Context and Process
This article reviews and compares historical approaches to the study of digital media. Its focus is an examination of how biographical methods for the study of media and the research tradition known as media archaeology can be usefully combined as part of a research methodology for the study of media software. After introducing Igor Kopytoff's concept of the cultural biography of things, I assess how some scholars have applied this concept to the…
Warren Buffet is my cousin: Shaping public understanding of big data biotechnology, direct-to-consumer genomics, and 23andMe on Twitter
Scholars, educators, regulators, pundits, and other observers are advocating for regulation and oversight of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomic testing. As a result, the technology has been subject of highly visible public and regulatory controversy. In this article, we explore the nature and the shape of the sentiment of public discourse about the DTC company, 23andMe. We conduct a quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis on …
Figurations of Mentorship for Cultural Work
As cultural work becomes increasingly precarious and digitally mediatized, we ask how mentorship can continue to play a crucial role in shaping how the know-how of cultural work is organized and shared. Drawing on a case study of a mentorship program for cultural work taking place in Greater Vancouver, Canada, we propose conceptualizing mentorship as a figuration, which we describe by tracing three interdependent threads: a constellation of actor…
Investigating politics through artistic practices: Affect resonance of creative publics
While artistic practices have been central to political movements throughout the 20th century, much analysis treats these modes of expression as distinct or separate from more traditional forms of civic practices and everyday political participation. Building on discussions of the cultural turn in civic agency and the shortcoming of cultural citizenship, the authors of this article interrogate the relationship between affect, artistic practices a…
Sensory Threads
Sensory Threads is a pair of interlinked experiences, which explore the way in which sensing can give us insight into how our bodies are a part of their wider environment. Sensory Threads seeks to investigate what happens when wearables move beyond being technologies designed for individuals and are transformed into tools of ‘collective sensing’. It aims to stimulate participants' behaviours through their own emergent and unpredictable actions in…
Cultural Biographies and Excavations of Media: Context and Process
This article reviews and compares historical approaches to the study of digital media. Its focus is an examination of how biographical methods for the study of media and the research tradition known as media archaeology can be usefully combined as part of a research methodology for the study of media software. After introducing Igor Kopytoff's concept of the cultural biography of things, I assess how some scholars have applied this concept to the…
Between Objectivity and Openness—The Mediality of Data for Journalism
A number of recent high profile news events have emphasised the importance of data as a journalistic resource. But with no definitive definition for what constitutes data in journalism, it is difficult to determine what the implications of collecting, analysing, and disseminating data are for journalism, particularly in terms of objectivity in journalism. Drawing selectively from theories of mediation and research in journalism studies we critica…
Shifting media imaginaries of the Web
This exploratory paper sets out a conceptual model for investigating how media imaginaries of the Web shape its design and use over time. We draw from the work of scholars who have devised models for the study of techno-social imaginaries of information and communication technologies, including Patrice Flichy and Robin Mansell. Based on these works, we devise a case study of contrasting media imaginaries of the Web by drawing on textual analysis …
Keeping up” through Teaching and Learning Media Software: “Introducing” Photoshop
Research on cultural industries suggests that the constant and rapid change to digital technologies used by creative practitioners requires that they continually upgrade their skills in order to remain relevant in their occupations. In this article, we present the results of an investigation into the mediation of Photoshop, focusing on how this digital imaging application software and its content are used to mediate access to cultural work. Teach…
A Cultural Biography of Application Software
In a blog post from 2012, Michael Lopp compares the Valve-designed videogame Portal to Adobe Systems’ digital-imaging application software Photoshop. While both appear to be very different kinds of digital media objects, Lopp argues that they share certain characteristics in terms of user experience and that because of these shared traits designers of Photoshop stand to learn how to improve its user experience by studying Portal’s design. In the …
Warren Buffet is my cousin: Shaping public understanding of big data biotechnology, direct-to-consumer genomics, and 23andMe on Twitter
Scholars, educators, regulators, pundits, and other observers are advocating for regulation and oversight of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomic testing. As a result, the technology has been subject of highly visible public and regulatory controversy. In this article, we explore the nature and the shape of the sentiment of public discourse about the DTC company, 23andMe. We conduct a quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis on …
Investigating politics through artistic practices: Affect resonance of creative publics
While artistic practices have been central to political movements throughout the 20th century, much analysis treats these modes of expression as distinct or separate from more traditional forms of civic practices and everyday political participation. Building on discussions of the cultural turn in civic agency and the shortcoming of cultural citizenship, the authors of this article interrogate the relationship between affect, artistic practices a…
Searching for Tasks: Task-Orientation and the Processuality of Digital Skills
Skills are not “out there” to be learned but develop through their enactment in situ. Rather than defining skills using a tool- or media-driven approach, we understand skills as situated, embodied processes known as ‘task-orientation’. Coined by Tim Ingold (2011, p. 195) this term refers to “any practical operation, carried out by a skilled agent in an environment as part of his or her normal business of life”. Part of this approach entails takin…
Caring Time in a Hybrid Digital Media System: The Tragically Hip, Public Broadcasting, and Networked Media Events
Background This article tackles the concern that meaningful collective experiences of large-scale media events are no longer possible because contemporary hybrid digital media systems disrupt the temporal coordinating function, or formatting, traditionally performed by broadcast media. Analysis Drawing from media events literature, this article puts forward a conception of caring time to show that while the means for sharing the temporality of me…
Expectation and anticipation: Research assemblages for elections
In this paper we interrogate how different research assemblages act as affect-enhancing devices for elections by drawing from the 2015 Canadian Federal election. The paper uses scholarship from media events traditions to devise an ontological framework for analysing the mediatization of elections and to show how research assemblages propagate a myth of the mediated centre. We then discuss two examples of how research assemblages are deployed as m…
Finding a rhythm: The mediality of researching digital skill as process
Our objective for this article is to illustrate the importance of understanding digital skill as process by taking its mediality—interweaving tools, technologies, and media—into consideration. Drawing on 12 case studies with participants performing digital tasks, we use Ingold’s four phases of skill (getting ready, setting out, carrying on, and finishing off) to research and represent the rhythm of digital skill. By using medialities of inscripti…
Figurations of Mentorship for Cultural Work
As cultural work becomes increasingly precarious and digitally mediatized, we ask how mentorship can continue to play a crucial role in shaping how the know-how of cultural work is organized and shared. Drawing on a case study of a mentorship program for cultural work taking place in Greater Vancouver, Canada, we propose conceptualizing mentorship as a figuration, which we describe by tracing three interdependent threads: a constellation of actor…
Testing creativity: Towards a processual understanding of GenAI image-making tasks
We argue that everyday creative tasks that involve generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) are tacitly performed within computational test environments that not only enable and constrain human agency but also shape the epistemic conditions that allow us to ascertain what constitutes creativity itself. Without making such taken-for-granted conditions explicit, society will remain unable to critique them. To make these conditions explicit, we co…
Computer Science (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Media studies (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Media Studies and Communication (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · World Wide Web (4 works) · Art (3 works) · Citizen journalism (3 works)